Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3F

North Cleveland Park ▪ Forest Hills ▪ Tenleytown

3F01 - Carl R. Kessler, Treasurer

3F02 - Karen L. Perry, Vice Chair

3F03 - Robert V. Maudlin

3F04 - David J. Bardin, Secretary

3F05 - Judith M. Bernardi

3F06 - Catherine J. Wiss, Chair

3F07 - Stephen N. Dennis

PMB 244

4401- A Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008-2322 web site: www.anc3f.org

e-mail: ANC3F@juno.com

Phone: 202.362.6120

Fax: 202.686.7237

November 18, 2003

Mr. Dan Tangherlini, Director

District Department of Transportation

Reeves Building – 6^th Floor

1400 U Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20009

Re: Emergency Vehicle Access to Van Ness Street, east of Connecticut Avenue, N.W.

Dear Director Tangherlini:

ANC 3F requests that DDOT implement as soon as possible Resident Safety Recommendation #22 of the Connecticut Avenue Transportation Study (Final Report, August 2003) prepared for DDOT by DMJM+HARRIS, Inc., dealing with the difficulty for emergency vehicles to access Van Ness Street, east of Connecticut Avenue, N.W., when trucks are double-parked.

These measures include the installation of “No Double Parking or Standing” signs and greater enforcement of parking regulations on Van Ness Street, east of Connecticut Avenue.

Van Ness Street, east of Connecticut Avenue is a local residential dead-end street, with residential parking on both sides of the street except for a no standing, no parking area on the north side of the street from the intersection of the alley to Connecticut Avenue. Van Ness Street provides the only means of vehicle ingress and egress for the more than 3000 residents living in The Consulate, the Van Ness East Condominium, and the Van Ness South Apartment building. In addition, Van Ness Street serves as the only means of vehicle entrance and exit to the Howard University School of Law parking lot located off of Van Ness Street. Double parked cars, trucks, and moving vans in front of the Consulate block all street and sidewalk visibility for drivers entering or exiting the garages of these buildings. In addition delivery trucks and furniture moving vans for 4201 Connecticut Avenue and adjacent stores park and double park at the bottom of Van Ness Street, leading to only one lane of traffic for both inbound and outbound vehicles. All three high-rise buildings have off-street loading docks for moving vans and large trucks and all three buildings have off-street circular drives at their front entrances which can be accessed by small trucks and delivery vans such as UPS, Federal Express, Metro Access buses, etc. so there is no reason for delivery trucks and moving vans to double park on Van Ness Street.

Dan Tangherlini, Director

November 18, 2003

Page 2

The businesses on Connecticut Avenue between Van Ness Street and Veazey Terrace, N.W. have delivery access via the alley directly behind the businesses.

Van Ness Street residents began seeking safety improvements and greater parking enforcement for Van Ness Street beginning in 1987, when 4 representatives from the fire department, attended the March 30, 1987, ANC public meeting and reported that they had been blocked trying to enter Van Ness Street by a truck double parked at the bottom of Van Ness Street and that Van Ness Street is not like other streets in that they only have one way in and that this block has the most people living on any dead-end street in the city. Attached is ANC 3F’s letter following a June 22, 1992, public meeting, wherein then Battalion Fire Chief Fleming, also advised the ANC in writing, after visiting the Van Ness cul-de-sac with the Battalion’s larger fire apparatus, “that with parking on both sides of the street, the larger types of fire apparatus which might be called to the scene for fire safety purposes would obstruct the passage of ambulances or other vehicles into and out of the three high-rises,” and he also indicated that “if an automobile were to ‘double park’ in between two legally parked autos, the space necessary for the aerial ladder trucks to set-up correctly would not be available, due to the need to extend the stabilizer jacks on each side of the truck.”

In light of the documented resident concerns and the testimony of the District’s Fire Department, ANC 3F requests that DDOT expedite the placement of “No Double Parking /No Standing signs on Van Ness Street and that the no parking, no standing signs at the bottom of Van Ness Street be enforced.

Approved by a vote of 7-0-0 at a duly noticed meeting of ANC 3F on November 17, 2003, with a quorum present (four constituting a quorum).

Sincerely,

/s/ Cathy Wiss

Cathy Wiss,

Chair, ANC 3F

cc: Colleen Smith Hawkinson, Ward 3 Transportation Planner

Commander Jeffrey Moore, 2^nd District Metropolitan Police Department