Glover Park Gazette Sept
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Glover Park SEPTEMBER 2014 The Monthly Newsletter of the Glover Park Citizens' Association All Work and No Play at Guy Mason Playground Randy Rieland or the next three months, it will be all work and no play among Fthe swings and slides next to the Guy Mason Recreation Center. In mid-August, the playground was shut down and ringed with a construction fence, the first step in a million-dollar makeover. If the weather cooperates, the project should be finished by Thanksgiving. What Glover Park’s young kids and toddlers will get is a mini-theme park—in this case, the theme is the night sky, a nod to the legacy of the Naval Observatory nearby on Massa- chusetts Avenue. A kid-sized observa- tion tower constructed at the Calvert Street side of the park will be designed to provide a view of ground-level constellations outlined in the play- ground with balance beams and small, colored “domes.” And the walkways will roughly mimic the shape of the Final Guy Mason Playground Concept constellation Pisces. The celestial symbolism will likely be of the walkways and some of the playground center. The little dog park out front will stay lost on some kids for whom the point of a equipment to avoid damaging the roots of open. So will the basketball courts. playground is no more complicated than the trees circling much of the park. That’s Brent Sisco, the landscape architect at swinging on swings and sliding down slides. in response to a point clearly made in a the Department of Parks and Recreation They’ll be able to do that, of course—there series of community meetings earlier this overseeing the project, and representatives of will be just as many swings and slides, year—people in the neighborhood wanted to the construction company, KADCON Cor- including one made out of rollers—as there preserve the trees that provide so much shade poration, presented the final plans to a small were in the old park. Plus, there will be a for the playground. After an inspection by an group of community residents at a meeting at sandbox, a covered pavilion where parents arborist over the summer, however, the deci- Guy Mason in early August. Several of those can cool their heels, and a new water play sion was made to remove two trees, one that’s in the attendance asked if while the grounds space—a circle dotted with spraying jets diseased and another, a Norway maple, that’s are being dug up, a concerted effort can be of water. considered an invasive species. made to get rid of the rats that roam the park Originally, the water circle was meant to The plans also will include the building at night. be bigger—it now will be 18 feet wide—but of a ramp down from Wisconsin Avenue, Sisco said that in addition to making analysis of the site determined that it has a making it much easier to push strollers to sure that all weeds, scrub, and debris are high water table, meaning that an under- the park. removed from the site, rat traps will be “stra- ground water tank needed for the larger water While a large chunk of the Guy Mason tegically placed” throughout the area. area had to be dropped from the plans. The property will become a construction zone, it See page 9 for several photos from the designers also needed to adjust the location shouldn’t affect activities inside the recreation construction site. 2 Join In • Make a Difference Glover Park Participate • Get Involved • Engage Elected Officers of the Glover Park Citizens' Association (GPCA) President Sheila Meehan ([email protected]) Contents 1st Vice President Melissa Lane ([email protected]) 2nd Vice President Allen Tomlinson ([email protected]) Treasurer Cheri Meyer ([email protected]) Guy Mason Playground ....................1 Secretary Jarrett Ferrier ([email protected]) President's Report ............................3 Sergeant at Arms Jack Everett ([email protected]) GPCA May Minutes ..........................3 Federation Reps Patricia Clark, Frank Martorana, and Karen Sprecher-Keating ([email protected]) ANC 3B News ..................................4 Membership Director Allen Tomlinson ([email protected]) Glover Park History ..........................5 Glover Park Day Amanda Gant and Cheri Meyer ([email protected] or [email protected]) Farmers' Market ...............................5 Gazette Staff Morning Haiku .................................5 Editor Cheri Meyer ([email protected]) Rats in Glover Park ...........................6 Design and Production Nora Korc ([email protected]) Advertising Manager vacant Where Am I? ....................................7 Contacts Glover Park Village ...........................7 Advertising [email protected] Commercial Strip Confidential .........8 Editorial [email protected] Little Free Library .............................9 Delivery Dick & Elaine Sullivan ([email protected]) The Gazette is distributed door-to-door throughout Glover Park by volunteers. Guy Mason Renovation Starts ..........9 If you do not receive the Gazette and/or would like to volunteer to deliver it, contact Parenting in the Park ......................10 Elaine Sullivan at [email protected]. Babes in the Nabe ..........................10 Responsible letters to the editor will be published as space allows. Living Healthier ..............................11 What’s new in Glover Park? Check us out on both Facebook and Twitter! Call us at: 202-379-4824. Community Yard Sale .....................12 Visit www.gpcadc.org to keep up with community news! If you love living in Glover Park, get involved! Join the Glover Park Citizens' Association today! Generously support the group that takes care of your neighborhood. Preserve the family-friendly quality of our community. Communicate your ideas to improve your neighborhood. Act locally to get things done. Annual Membership fees Single $20 Double $35 Name(s) Senior $15 Business/corporation (no vote) $75 Address Donation $____ Return form and fee to GPCA, P.O. Box 32268, Washington, DC 20007 Make check payable to GPCA. Email Glover Park Gazette 3 President’s Report Welcome Back Sheila Meehan y Washington standards, this past Guy Mason Playground Renovation summer was spectacularly nice, with Under Way. The project was delayed a bit, but Glover Park Citizens' Association Bamazingly moderate temperatures and work is very much in full swing now. Chain September 2 • 7:00 p.m. generally low humidity. It wasn’t your typical fences ring the work area and the truck en- GP Community Center at Stoddert sleepy summer either—there’s been a lot going trance, but the field, dog park, and basketball on in Glover Park. court remain open, as does the Guy Mason Police Report JP’s Evicted. In case you missed it, JP’s Recreation Center building. DPR promises Over the Summer… was evicted for failure to pay rent and its to post regular updates by the dog park. It’s Glover Park Day Report furnishings removed. The license remains a complex project because it will tackle the Gazette Matters in the custody of the property’s owners and area’s perennial mud issues as well as updating W Place Mural & Sign Maintenance it is uncertain who the next tenants might equipment. See Randy Rieland’s story on the 501(c)(3) Status be (see ANC 3B News on page 4). What is front page and some photos from the first Membership clear is that the GPCA and ANC were right day’s work on page 9. Treasurer’s Report to challenge the renewal of JP’s liquor license Tunlaw Work in Progress. The play- Secretary’s Report and to press the Alcoholic Beverage Regula- ground was not the only part of Glover Park New Business tion Administration to exercise much more under construction. That jungly strip of Please check www.gpcadc.org for updates. due diligence in looking at JP’s purported Tunlaw atop the W Place steps is at long last management team. getting a facelift. The gnarly tangle of weeds The Public Charter School That Wasn’t. and underbrush has been dug up and the proj- be a lot to talk about, including a police report The bolt-out-of-the-blue news in August was ect’s plans call for a pavement to be put down on the summer months, Glover Park Day’s that Shining Stars Montessori Academy was in the 2100 block of Tunlaw to connect the success, Stoddert’s demountables, Gazette fi- seeking to lease the union building at Calvert sidewalks along the eastern side of that stretch. nances and other matters, the current status of and Wisconsin. School officials met with All of this in preparation for Jarrett Ferrier’s the W Place mural and Welcome Sign mainte- neighborhood representatives, and the mood mural on W Place! nance, prospects for obtaining 501(c)(3) status was supportive, though practical questions GPCA Meetings Start Up Again. Our for the GPCA, and more. abounded. As it happened, negotiations re- first meeting of the 2014–15 year will be on We also would want to know what’s on portedly broke down over liability concerns. Tuesday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. There will your mind. Hope you can join us. GPCA May 2014 Minutes Jarrett Ferrier The meeting opened at 7:05 p.m. with a police and cited the value of vegetation in minimiz- nominations from the floor. None were made. report by Sgt. Benjamin Firehock (crime) and ing reflected light. A neighbor suggested The current slate of officers was re-elected Officer Alton Bryant (traffic). Sgt. Firehock she approach Georgetown University about unanimously. noted a drop in crime from last year, though leaving the lights of Yates Field on when not W Place Mural and Archway. Jarrett he indicated that theft was up. in use. Finally, she reminded Glover Parkers Ferrier reported that the DC Commission Officer Bryant cautioned that neighbors that tours of the Naval Observatory have on the Arts and Humanities will be respon- continue to leave valuables in their cars and resumed and take place on Mondays, every sible for all maintenance for the project.