CRESTWOOD CITIZENS ASSOCIATION

Join us!
Crestwood Citizens Association meeting
Tuesday, January 17 – 7pm
1761 Crestwood Drive NW

Winter Updates, Spring Dreams: Come to the Association meeting Tuesday 1/17 

Our first meeting of 2012 is just days away.

If you can’t wait for spring, come to the meeting and get valuable tips from our neighborhood’s gardening experts on how to design or add to your beautiful, sustainable garden…and share your own experiences. We will also get updates about the current crime situation (see the December crime log below) and about initiatives at the ANC level. We’ll announce the date of our next park clean-up day—probably in early February—to remove strangling vines from trees bordering Crestwood. And it’s a great opportunity to get together with your neighbors.

The meeting is Tuesday, January 17th at 7 p.m. at 1761 Crestwood Drive. See you there!

For our March meeting, we are inviting the new Superintendent of Rock Creek Park, Tara D. Morrison. We look forward to hearing about a variety of issues, including upgrades to the hiking/biking trail along Beach Drive, the environmental impact of Broad Branch Road reconstruction and how our community can work together even more closely with Park authorities.

Crestwood Tree Project Springs Forward

The Association’s partnership with Casey Trees continues this spring with a fourth round of tree plantings—this time on the 1800 block of Varnum Street and the 1900 block of Shepherd Street.

The goal of the project is to enhance and protect the canopy and understory trees that make Crestwood such a special neighborhood. Through our partnership, we are inventorying the trees throughout the neighborhood, identifying where replacement trees are needed, planting new trees and making sure they are cared for.

The Project will hold an education session for homeowners in the targeted blocks at 7 p.m. on January 23rd at the home of Stella Dawson, 1811 Varnum Street. This will be a time to learn about this program and the tree species that will be available free from Casey Trees. After that meeting, Association Green Team leader Doug Barker and Casey Trees forester Jeff Furr will be contacting homeowners on those blocks to select trees and tree planting locations in advance of filing tree requests with Casey Trees by February 8th. We expect a tree planting date sometime in March or April.

As in the past, we expect that a limited number of trees may be available for homeowners outside of the three target blocks.

If you have any questions about the tree project and our three previous plantings, please contact Doug Barker (dougabarker@yahoo.com), Frank Samuel (fsamuel39@sbcglobal.net) or any of the other members of the project’s working group. They include Peggy Beers, Gale Black, Jolyon Bowman, Steve Klein, Betsy Kraft and the block captains involved in the new round of plantings: Stella Dawson (Varnum Street) and Kathy Frank (Shepherd Street).

From the Association President: 2012 Greetings, 2011 Review

Happy New Year and thank you for being such good neighbors. I wish you a safe, peaceful and interesting year. Make one of your resolutions to get, or stay, involved in your community. One person can make a huge difference. We need your support.

We are entering the season when there likely will be some dangerous inclement weather. Let’s look out for each other. If you need assistance with snow clearing or other needs (especially you seniors), let us know.

During 2011, the Association held six community meetings. The May meeting featured Mayor Vincent Gray, who addressed the community and answered your questions on such topics as Walmart, Walter Reed, ground water contamination, gridlock and ethics issues. Other meetings focused on schools, aging-in-place initiatives, PEPCO reliability, and environmental issues from solar power cooperatives to recycling. The Association meets every other month, usually on the 3rd Tuesday of the month.

The Association organized the annual Fourth of July Kids Parade, the Sunday after Labor Day Picnic, Halloween Party, and Easter Egg Hunt. We also thank Kathy and Arthur Frank for hosting the Association’s recent Holiday Open House. The Green Team pushed ahead with the Tree Project and park area cleanups. The Association installed benches at the Point at 18th and Shepherd Streets. And we worked to get our ANC to pay for restoring the Crestwood signs at the foot of Mathewson Drive and for installing pet waste bag dispensers and signs.

We look forward to the reopening of Broad Branch Road (promised for early February), and will push to make sure the bridge is repaired on time and the future restoration of the entire road within the park is done sooner rather than later.

Spring might seem far away. But it won’t be that long until we can again open our windows. The Association has received numerous requests that neighbors respect the peace and quiet. So please keep the noise down, restrain your dogs and, if you must use leaf blowers, look for quieter models and don’t power them up too early or too late in the day. Thank you.

We will continue to keep in touch through the Crestwood website, through our own Crestwood email list and via the Crestwood list-serve. You can access all of these resources and more at www.crestwood-dc.org

Have a wonderful 2012!
—Gale Black

Klingle Road Complaint Filed in Court 

Five private citizens filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in D.C. to get the federal government to review the proposal to put a trail in the middle of Klingle Road. The federal government and the city have asked for more time to respond to the 80-page complaint.

Total Crime Down in December, But Thefts from Auto Still a Problem

12 crimes were reported or documented in December in Crestwood, down from 13 in November. However, seven of these incidents were thefts from auto—continuing a trend that included multiple car break-ins on the night of November 29.

In Police Service Area 404 as a whole, 49 crimes were reported or documented in December, down from 59 in November. Thefts from autos more than doubled to 24, although other thefts dropped dramatically.

As of the first of the year, the Metropolitan Police realigned the boundaries of PSA 404. Crestwood remains within PSA 404, but the PSA now includes fewer total blocks. The area no longer extends as far to the east, ending at Georgia Avenue. But it adds new blocks—to Gallatin Street on the north side and Spring Road to the south. As a result, future data reported for PSA 404 will not be comparable to earlier figures.

The PSA is led by Captain Kevin Anderson (202-715-7445) and Lieutenant Michael Whiteside (202-730-0601).

Here are the December crime stats (also available on the Crestwood website):

CRIMES REPORTED IN PATROL SERVICE AREA 404
From December 1 through December 31, 2011

* Data include one December crime documented by residents (in Crestwood) but not reported by MPD; and include one November crime (not in Crestwood), but exclude one pre-November crime (in Crestwood), not previously reported by MPD.

Crestwood Crimes By Block:

Thefts from Auto (7):

Theft (3):

Stolen Auto (1):

Burglary (1):

The 4A08 File: Report from the Crestwood ANC
(Advisory Neighborhood Commission Single-Member District, 4A08) 

ANC 4A meets on the first Tuesday of every month. The Commissioner for Crestwood (4A08), Gale Black, reports that these are among the issues she has been following for the neighborhood:

1. Changes to the DC Zoning Map. The city proposes to do away with the requirement that the Zoning Director certify, date and initial the official zoning map as accurate. The city also wants to have the GIS system (electronic) as the official map. ANC 4A questioned why these changes are necessary and what the impact will be on residents. Will the map still be consistent with the city’s zoning regulations? The ANC passed a resolution opposing the change and Commissioner Black presented the resolution to the Zoning Commission on December 22, 2011.
2. Emergency Preparedness. Your ANC Commissioner has been in contact with DC’s Emergency Preparedness officers regarding the draft plan for our area. The city would like to hear from neighbors in our district on suggested ways to make the plan better. Please forward any idea you have in this critical area.
3. New house on Mathewson Drive. You may have noticed the new construction, now in progress. The permits and plans were submitted and approved by the ANC in February of 2011.
4. ANC Redistricting. The Ward 4 Task Force adopted the recommendations of ANC 4A to unite all of census tract 26 under one ANC single-member district. Under the new borders of 4A08, the part of the neighborhood north of Allison Street would be united with the rest of the community starting with the 2012 election cycle. The Crestwood single member district will include all homes from Colorado Avenue south to Piney Branch Parkway, and between Rock Creek Park and the west side of 16th Street.
5. New Signs. The Crestwood signs at the foot of Mathewson Drive were refurbished and restored through an ANC 4A08 project to preserve a piece of our history. The “doggy poop” signs and bags were also financed through ANC 4A for the benefit of the 4A08 area. The ANC also pushed for the repairs to the water-overflow at 17th and Taylor Streets, NW.
6. Group Homes. We are monitoring the placing of group homes and non-residential uses of the area.
7. Day Care. Amazing Life Games Daycare (16th and Varnum Streets) is requesting the continuance of its permit to operate out of Grace Lutheran Church. It is expected that ANC 4A will support the request.
8. Broad Branch Road. The ANC 4A08 commissioner participated in a meeting over the summer regarding Broad Branch restoration and urged the Park Service to give its sign-off. The repairs are supposed to be done within 45 days of December 19th.
9. Trees. We continue to urge the city to address the dangerous overhanging branches on a number of our Crestwood streets. A list was submitted to the city in October. Some of us are still waiting.
10. Fire at the Crestwood Apartments. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, there was a fire at the Crestwood Apartments in a unit on the fifth floor. People living on the third floor, including a wheelchair-bound resident, were unable to leave. During fires, the elevator is shut off. This incident highlights the need for an evacuation plan for all residents. Firefighters had to climb up the side of the building to bring assistance to our trapped neighbor.
11. In addition, the ANC single-member district commissioner responds to requests for animal rescue, street light repairs, bulk trash pick-up, thefts and animal negligence. Residents can call to place service requests by calling 311 or making the requests online through the DC website.
12. Repairs at 16th and Arkansas – There will be repairs to the sewer lines, which may disrupt traffic during non-rush hour times during the week.
13. Repairs are also being proposed for Military Road and for the Kalmia Culvert – which could impact this area.

For further information about the Crestwood Association or the ANC 4A08 that covers all of Crestwood, visit the website.