5
Mini-Parks Growing Trend in DC; Parks Dep’t. Focus Increasing in that Direction By Larry Ray* O n Sunday, June 24, 2018, Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the ribbon on the Petworth Meditation Garden. This mini-park (or “parkette,”) is located at the intersection of 13th Street and Kansas Avenue, NW. The parkette focuses on meditation and relaxation, pro- moting wellness and health. Among her remarks at its dedi- cation, the mayor said, “The Petworth Meditation Garden is an example how we can trans- form a small space into a tremendous community amenity. We thank the com- munity for working with us to create such a unique and innovative space.” As Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Director Keith A. Anderson stated at the time in a press release, “We are excited about the new life that has been given to this lawn. This will be something residents will gravitate to and we are excited about turning some of our other small parks into mediation gardens.” This garden has ADA-accessible, per- meable paved paths throughout which allow for reduced rain water runoff. Amenities include a water spigot for the plantings, a drinking fountain for people and pets, bike racks, seating benches, and a vegetated buffer on the western edge along 13th Street. Additionally, every morning at 6:30 free yoga sessions are conducted by Mary Mbaba, made possible through myFit- DC, a program launched by Mayor in 2015 and managed by the District’s parks and recreation (DPR) and health (DOH) departments. Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd told The InTowner that he “was proud to secure funding for and sup- port the Petworth Meditation Garden.” Continuing, he said, “It is a vital and innovative recreation investment that I look forward to seeing replicated across Ward Four’s 20 neighborhoods and the District as a whole.” But former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner 4C05 Zachary wonders expressed reservations: “ I think the idea was laudable but don’t see the park much in use. I’d be curious to see some data on how it’s being used now and how that var- ies with before. Perhaps warmer weather will bring more people to the space.” DPR (parks and recreation depart- ment) oversees 900 acres of parks and 68 recreational facilities. This includes 25 outdoor pools, eight spray parks and 10 indoor pools. Parks were a major compo- nent of the city under the L’Enfant plan (1791). Antecedents of DPR date back to the 1901 McMillan Plan. DPR also oversees other specialty parks, of which dog parks seem to attract the greatest public awareness. Of the several existing dog parks, one of the best known is Dupont East’s triangular space bordered by 17th and S Streets on the east and south, respectively, and New Hampshire Avenue on the north. Neighbors often refer to it as “the no Now Into Our Half Century of Continuous Publication TheInTowner Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods ® MARCH 2019 Vol. 50, No. 9 Next Issue April 12 What’s Inside? Editorial / Are Streetscape Projects Problematic? ...................... 2 Letters / Comment on Drones ............. 4 Art & Culture / Norman Rockwell ........5 jjjjjj On the Website Pages Community News Reader Comments & Opinions Recent Real Estate Sales Restaurant Reviews Washington History Reader Comments & Submissions n ‘DC Council's “Returning Citizens” Initiative’ n Balancing Neighborhood Retail: The 25% Rule n CareFirst: Two Big to Regulate? n Reconstructing Historic Holt House n When Does My Cast Iron Staircase Need Attention? photo—Larry Ray—InTowner. Petworth Meditation Garden photo—Larry Ray—InTowner. It was still winter but signs of spring appeared in the Duke Ellington mini-park downtown at New Hampshire Ave. & M St., NW. photo—Olivia Kibler, Compass Realty. Morning of Dec. 14th, seen on 17th Street, NW: Nancy Pelosi with Floriana’s bar manager Dito Sevilla admiring the fab Christmas tree. Cont., MINI-PARKS, p. 3 Annual Dupont Circle Gala Event Set; Hilton to Host, All DC Residents Invited By Bill McLeod* H istoric Dupont Circle Main Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling and Silent Auction on Thursday, March 21st at the Washington Hilton. This year’s event will include a fabulous buffet dinner, silent auction, and smooth jazz music throughout the evening, once again provided by the Herb Scott Trio. And, as in previous years, the buffet dinner will be a complete treat, this year featuring New York strip steak and Caprese salad, a tortellini bar, dessert, and cash bar. Without a doubt, this is the best bargain in Dupont Circle! The silent auction will include more than 50 items donated by Dupont Circle businesses ranging from hotel packages to restaurant vouchers to artwork and salon treatments. There will be many bargains to be had. Come early to scope out the deals and bid often. “Once again, our Spring Fling welcomes everyone from the community for a night of dinner, fun, and bargains,” said Susan Taylor, HDCMS’ board secretary and promotions committee chair and national public affairs director at the Church of Scientology’s nation- al affairs office. “Our long-standing partnership with the Washington Hilton Hotel,” Taylor added, “makes our Spring Fling fabulous! The food is outstanding, and our silent auction is a great place to pick up bargains. The Washington Hilton Hotel has for over 15 years been the bedrock of Main Streets’ success in the Dupont Circle area.” Since this event also serves as HDCMS’ annual meeting, there will be a brief presen- tation about the organization’s many accom- plishments over the last year: the expanded First Friday art gallery events; the 17th Street Festival, which turned out to be more popular and l bigger than it has ever been; participa- tion in the city-wide Art All Night attracted 21,000 people to 18 locations in the Dupont area; Taste of Dupont featuring the markets, cafés and restaurants in greater Dupont. New this past year, we were able to offer a social media consultant to business owners and man- agers needing help marketing their business on line or getting control of their Yelp page. This will be the 10th annual Spring Fling organized by Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets, which is a fundraiser for the 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. All proceeds from the event will be used to support com- munity programs and general operations of the organization which was established in 2003. HDCMS’ mission is to promote, coor- dinate, and maintain improvements of the cultural, economic, and environmental qualities of Dupont Circle so as to make it an exemplary place to live, work, shop, and play. *The writer is HDCMS’ executive director. Copyright © 2019 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §§ 107 & 108 (“fair use”). Tickets are available for $20 in advance or $30 at the door, and can be purchased by clicking here.

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Page 1: Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods …intowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InTowner-mar19.pdf · Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling

Mini-Parks Growing Trend in DC; Parks Dep’t. Focus Increasing in that Direction

By Larry Ray*

On Sunday, June 24, 2018, Mayor Muriel Bowser cut

the ribbon on the Petworth Meditation Garden. This mini-park (or “parkette,”) is located at the intersection of 13th Street and Kansas Avenue, NW. The parkette focuses on meditation and relaxation, pro-moting wellness and health. Among her remarks at its dedi-cation, the mayor said, “The Petworth Meditation Garden is an example how we can trans-form a small space into a tremendous community amenity. We thank the com-munity for working with us to create such a unique and innovative space.”

As Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Director Keith A. Anderson stated at the time in a press release, “We are excited about the new life that has been given to this lawn. This will be something residents will gravitate to and we are excited about turning some of our other small parks into mediation gardens.”

This garden has ADA-accessible, per-meable paved paths throughout which allow for reduced rain water runoff. Amenities include a water spigot for the plantings, a drinking fountain for people and pets, bike racks, seating benches, and a vegetated buffer on the western edge along 13th Street.

Additionally, every morning at 6:30 free yoga sessions are conducted by Mary Mbaba, made possible through myFit-DC, a program launched by Mayor in 2015 and managed by the District’s parks and recreation (DPR) and health (DOH) departments.

Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd told The InTowner that he “was proud to secure funding for and sup-port the Petworth Meditation Garden.” Continuing, he said, “It is a vital and innovative recreation investment that I look forward to seeing replicated across Ward Four’s 20 neighborhoods and the District as a whole.”

But former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner 4C05 Zachary wonders expressed reservations: “ I think the idea was laudable but don’t see the park much in use. I’d be curious to see some data on how it’s being used now and how that var-ies with before. Perhaps warmer weather will bring more people to the space.”

DPR (parks and recreation depart-ment) oversees 900 acres of parks and 68 recreational facilities. This includes 25 outdoor pools, eight spray parks and 10 indoor pools. Parks were a major compo-nent of the city under the L’Enfant plan (1791). Antecedents of DPR date back to the 1901 McMillan Plan.

DPR also oversees other specialty parks, of which dog parks seem to attract the greatest public awareness. Of the several existing dog parks, one of the best known is Dupont East’s triangular space bordered by 17th and S Streets on the east and south, respectively, and New Hampshire Avenue on the north. Neighbors often refer to it as “the no

Now Into Our Half Century of Continuous Publication

TheInTownerSince 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods

®

MARCH2019

Vol. 50, No. 9

Next Issue

April 12

☞ What’s Inside? Editorial / Are Streetscape Projects Problematic? ...................... 2Letters / Comment on Drones ............. 4Art & Culture / Norman Rockwell ........5

jjjjjjOn the Website Pages

Community News Reader Comments & Opinions

Recent Real Estate Sales Restaurant Reviews Washington History

☞ Reader Comments & Submissionsn ‘DC Council's “Returning Citizens”

Initiative’

n Balancing Neighborhood Retail: The 25% Rule

n CareFirst: Two Big to Regulate?

n Reconstructing Historic Holt House

n When Does My Cast Iron Staircase Need Attention?

photo—Larry Ray—InTowner.

Petworth Meditation Garden

photo—Larry Ray—InTowner.

It was still winter but signs of spring appeared in the Duke Ellington mini-park downtown at New Hampshire Ave. & M St., NW.

photo—Olivia Kibler, Compass Realty.

Morning of Dec. 14th, seen on

17th Street, NW: Nancy Pelosi

with Floriana’s bar manager Dito Sevilla

admiring the fab Christmas tree.

Cont., MINI-PARKS, p. 3

Annual Dupont Circle Gala Event Set;Hilton to Host, All DC Residents Invited

By Bill McLeod*

Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets (HDCMS) will hold its

10th annual Spring Fling and Silent Auction on Thursday, March 21st at the Washington Hilton. This year’s event will include a fabulous buffet dinner, silent auction, and smooth jazz music throughout the evening, once again provided by the Herb Scott Trio.

And, as in previous years, the buffet dinner will be a complete treat, this year featuring New York strip steak and Caprese salad, a tortellini bar, dessert, and cash bar. Without a doubt, this is the best bargain in Dupont Circle!

The silent auction will include more than 50 items donated by Dupont Circle businesses ranging from hotel packages to restaurant vouchers to artwork and salon treatments. There will be many bargains to be had. Come early to scope out the deals and bid often.

“Once again, our Spring Fling welcomes everyone from the community for a night of dinner, fun, and bargains,” said Susan Taylor, HDCMS’ board secretary and promotions committee chair and national public affairs director at the Church of Scientology’s nation-al affairs office.

“Our long-standing partnership with the Washington Hilton Hotel,” Taylor added, “makes our Spring Fling fabulous! The food is outstanding, and our silent auction is a great

place to pick up bargains. The Washington Hilton Hotel has for over 15 years been the bedrock of Main Streets’ success in the Dupont Circle area.”

Since this event also serves as HDCMS’ annual meeting, there will be a brief presen-tation about the organization’s many accom-plishments over the last year: the expanded First Friday art gallery events; the 17th Street Festival, which turned out to be more popular and l bigger than it has ever been; participa-tion in the city-wide Art All Night attracted 21,000 people to 18 locations in the Dupont area; Taste of Dupont featuring the markets, cafés and restaurants in greater Dupont. New this past year, we were able to offer a social media consultant to business owners and man-agers needing help marketing their business on line or getting control of their Yelp page.

This will be the 10th annual Spring Fling organized by Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets, which is a fundraiser for the 501 (c)

(3) nonprofit organization. All proceeds from the event will be used to support com-munity programs and general operations of the organization which was established in 2003.

HDCMS’ mission is to promote, coor-dinate, and maintain improvements of the cultural, economic, and environmental qualities of Dupont Circle so as to make it an exemplary place to live, work, shop, and play.*The writer is HDCMS’ executive director.

Copyright © 2019 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §§ 107 & 108 (“fair use”).

Tickets are available for $20 in advance or $30 at the door, and can be purchased by clicking here.

Page 2: Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods …intowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InTowner-mar19.pdf · Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling

Page 2 • The InTowner • March 2019

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DC Must do Better to Alleviate Disruption to Small Businesses During Street Work

We were quite struck by what Washington Post columnist John Kelly reported on March 5th, as slightly edited below:

“The store south of Dupont Circle is called the Proper Topper. . . .“When employees of the shop -- which sells hats, clothing, jewelry, gifts and accessories -- arrived

. . . [on Saturday, the 2nd] to open up, they found their way blocked by orange cones, construction barriers and a guy in a hard hat with a message: None shall pass.

“The sidewalk in front of 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW was like an open mineshaft. Ladders led down into the chasm. A mobile crane blocked the street.”

The culprit that day, the shop’s proprietor, Anna Fuhrman, told Kelly, was Sprint. But, notwith-standing that their permit authorizing the work required that “applicant shall inform residents and business of intent,” she never was notified.

When we read this we were not one bit surprised. Cavalier plowing ahead with work causing major disruptions (and loss sales income for the day or even longer) is par for the course all over the city. We have reported on this problem in more than one front page news story over the years, like back in February of 2008 about how the P Street project west of the Circle “had caused real hardship while construction was underway, and that the disruption contributed to diminished revenues.” In that case, fortunately, there was a silver lining thanks to in intercession of Historic Dupont Main Streets (HDCMS) which did much to alleviate the potential of even more harm.

But what about businesses –- and for that matter, residential properties -- facing risky impedi-ments to ingress and egress, for example? Not all are so fortunate to be in places served by organiza-tions like HDCMS or the Adams Morgan BID which effectively went to bat to mitigate losses on behalf of its 18th Street businesses.

In our November 2011 issue we published an editorial headlined with the question, “Are Streetscape Projects Truly Worth the Business Sales Losses Suffered?” That question is still unan-swered to this day; now seems to be a good time to re-visit what we had to say. Accordingly, we set out below portions of we wrote then (slightly updated to reflect that it is now more than seven years later):

“Our headline poses an important question and, while the question may be moot with regard to 18th Street or other commercial streets already completed, such as P Street and 17th Street in Dupont Circle, there are many more of these projects on the drawing boards thanks to . . . financ-ing already in place. . . .

“. . . The appearance of the new sidewalks, the planting of new trees, the new street lighting and other ancillary fixtures along the 17th Street neighborhood business strip is definitely more invit-ing. But do these undertakings actually translate into the retailers, restaurants and other businesses pulling in more customers? Maybe time will tell and maybe on some major streets where tourists might be in evidence it could bring in more customers. But on neighborhood commercial strips like 17th Street we are dubious; the shops and restaurants and bars are for the most part serving the neighborhood and immediate surrounding areas. . . .

“Again, let us make it clear: We are not opposed to these projects; we do like them very much. But where we think they have gone wrong is not to have included within their budgets sufficient funding to be used for reimbursing the affected businesses for provable lost sales. One would have thought that after the years-ago debacle with the construction of Metro along U Street and the more recent adverse effect of a streetscape enhancement project on the businesses along P Street west of the Circle, this issue would have been properly addressed and funds included. For the city council to have only [in 2011] authorize[d] a paltry $3 million fund . . . [for that purpose] was not a very helpful approach and certainly counter to the oft-stated claim of the politicians that they are all for creating an environment that will serve to enhance business opportunity and bring in significant new tax revenues to boot.”

A major challenge to coping with these projects is often the lack of tightly focused commu-nications protocalls between the city, its contractors, and the affected merchants. Even though progress has been made over the years, it is disturbing to read in Kelly’s report that Anna of the Proper Topper store, despite having reached out to DDOT for explanation, had not yet received any response.

Further, DC project coordinators must be more on top of what is actually likely to be disrupted beyond ingress and egress impediments. For example, the profusion of community events that take over sidewalks and roadways throughout the year must be better anticipated. Reminds us of our reporting at the time that DDOT’s public outreach coordinator for the U Street restoration project did not know that its planned days for closing the street were to be smack dab in the middle of the annual “Dog Days of Summer” huge multi-block and multi-business sidewalk sales event which attracts large numbers of shoppers and accounts for a major cash infusion at a normally slow time for neighborhood retailers.

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie on March 5th introduced a bill to provide imme-diate relief for qualifying small businesses. We urge the council to enact it without delay.

OPT

Page 3: Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods …intowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InTowner-mar19.pdf · Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling

Page 3 • The InTowner • March 2019

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• Research and documentation of historic properties • National Register of Historic Places and DC Inventory nominations • Preservation planning, project development, and implementation • Work with architects, developers, contractors, property owners,

neighbors, and organizations in understanding and applying preservation laws, regulations, design standards and guidelines

The mission of Historic Dupont Main Streets is to promote, coordinate, and maintain the cultural, economic, and environmental qualities of Dupont Circle to make it an exemplary place to live, work, shop, and play.

www.DupontCircleMainStreets.org

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Spring Fling: Silent Auction

Bid on 100 items on Thursday, March 21st from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in the Washington Hilton;

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Auction items range from:

• hotel packages• restaurant vouchers • salon services

The gala is a fun event for the whole community with music, a full dinner buffet, and a Silent Auction. All proceeds support Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets. Tickets are $20 in advance; $30 at the door.

Visit www.SpringFlingDupont.org

people park” since the fence design keeps non-dog people out of nearly three-quarters of the green space.

This may be one of the oldest and most well known dog parks. It has a high fence, Astroturf, good drainage and water access. Yelp reviews seem to be largely positive, though with some caveats, like the one posted on Yelp by Erika K:

“Nice park and I don’t mind the astro turf. They have little plastic pools you can use for your dogs on hot days. The biggest problem is that you have to keep a watchful eye on your dog because most owners don’t pay adequate attention to theirs. I have seen dogs get out of control quick so I watch my baby like a hawk. Also, people don’t pick up the dog poop around the perimeter where there is dirt. These areas also get very muddy on rainy days.

“It’s all one park — no separate areas for small/large dogs. The trash cans often get to overflowing which draws many flies around it. They have plenty of poop bags. It’s better than average.”

Farther uptown, in Columbia Heights, is a 7,355 square-foot undeveloped property owned by WMATA (Metro) which now is up for sale; asking price is $2.1 million. Several years ago former Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, at the urging of his constituents in the neighborhood, negotiated with Metro to allow that grassy lot with trees still standing to this day to be used as a community dog park. With the District presently considering purchasing the property, it would mean that its use would continue not only as a dog park but also be enhanced to serve as a gathering space.

This plan, however, could be controversial. Already at least one dissenting voice has come to the attention of The InTowner. In a post-ing on the February 16th Columbia Heights yahoogroups.com listserv, [email protected] had this to say:

“I have to apologize for not speaking up earlier and taking action on the 11th & Bark dog park fiasco. I did not really take seriously the prospect of a $2.7M plus dog park, until I read an article [ed. note: Washington Post, 5/14/18] identifying 5 alternative locations. The time and energy being wasted on this boondoggle is getting pretty silly, tortured and a little shameful. A lot of this has to do with the “you can have your cake and eat it

too” nonsense coming from factions of the New Urbanist Smart Growth movement. And their role in Ward 1 becoming such a wasted opportunity, we deserve better from our lead-ership and ourselves.

“Back to the dogs. There are really only two reasonable options for a dog park in the area of 11th & Bark Metro site, The Columbia Heights Green and Bruce Monroe Park and then only in the context of larger public space needs. And would in no way come at the expense of much needed affordable housing and other neighborhood needs as the current privilege and boondoggle driven approaches will.

“I’ve learned a lot from former OP Director Harriet Tregoning and DDOT Director Gabe Klein, but there policies are nuts and their impacts on Columbia Heights counter-productive at best. They have a lot to do with why almost 10 years later the Ward’s leader-ship is wasting time trying to come up with silly dog park ideas, while other public spaces crumble around us. They owe us an apology.”

The Shaw neighborhood also offers a dog park at 11th Street and Rhode Island Avenue along with a skate park just north at Q Street featuring generous space for roller bladers to test and hone their skills.

Noteworthy, also, is the small park at 11th and Monroe Streets which originally was the site of the early 20th century 11th Street streetcar line turnaround, and here is memo-rialized in the park’s design.

An especially noteworthy restoration of a triangular parkette is the one a few blocks north of Washington Circle bounded by New Hampshire Avenue on the west, M Street on the south, and 21st on the east. Named in honor of Duke Ellington, it was completely redesigned by the nearby sustainability archi-tecture firm CallisonRTKL, transforming what had been an underused open space to a sustainable gathering place.

This project was made possible by a grant to the Golden Triangle Business District (BID) for its initiative from the DC Department of Energy and Environment (FDOEE).

The park’s 4,575 square feet now cap-ture and treats water flowing from more than 10,000 square feet of existing untreated impervious surfaces, including surrounding street and sidewalk storm water runoff which is captured, retained and reused.

The rainwater runoff flows into the spe-cially designed rain garden and permeable pavers, then into a 2,000 gallon underground

MINI-PARKSFrom p. 1

photo—Larry Ray—InTowner.

This gate makes it clear that only people with their four-legged companions are welcome.

photo—Erika K.

These happy doggies having fun at the 17th St. dog park.

photo—Larry Ray—InTowner.

Only a short block north of Rhode Island Avenue, NW, the skate area is part of the Cardozo Playground.

Cont., MINI-PARKS, p. 4

photo—Larry Ray—InTowner.

Restored oasis in the midst of the traffic-clogged New Hampshire Avenue & M Street, NW intersec-tion; on the east side of this triangular mini-park is the short stretch of 21st Street connecting M with New Hampshire.

Page 4: Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods …intowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InTowner-mar19.pdf · Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling

Page 4 • The InTowner • March 2019

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A Reader Comments on Last month’s Drones Article

My personal interest in drones thus far has been focused on their use in military war-fare and other military-related applications. I shall readily admit that I have serious reserva-tions about their escalating use that seemed to be an increasingly integral part of warfare that started with the Obama Administration. Boots on the ground of foreign soil can create public political outcry that may be absent in stealth military engagements.

Your article suggests that civilian applica-tions of drone usage are here to stay. Perhaps you are right. However, my big fear — by no means as a citizen with any expertise in drone usage — is that genie can never be put back into the bottle, if down the road governmental regulators come to realize that they have created a “monster,” as it were. What then?

When Galileo invented the telescope, many feared his new device would be used to spy on God’s heavens, and that would be inherently wrong. Am I as much off base as

the critics of his day?The essence of my fear in the military

environment is that when warfare can be conducted by perpetrators far removed from any experience of the horrific blood and gore of the daily battlefield except by vicarious, remote cameras, a certain degree of the hor-rors of war is not appreciated.

If a soldier can go to work each day in a highly classified location inside the conti-nental US with a mission to annihilate lives in being in the Middle East or some other hot spot location in the world, and then after work he/she can remember to stop at a convenience store on the way home to pick up a quart of milk and orange juice before later kicking back in an easy chair with a beer before dinner, I fear that an overall sense of reality of war by that soldier’s daily lifestyle can insulate him/her from the realities of one’s day job.

Have you reflected on drone use by the Department of Defense?

Winston M. HaytheColonel, U.S. Army (Retired)

Dupont Circle

LETTERS

tank where it is filtered for reuse through the irrigation system for sustaining the land-scaping and trees, along with providing water for the decorative fountain. This is an example of the benefits of rainwater harvest-ing by means of bioretention.

Crispus Attucks Park has a unique history which explains why it is not part of DPR’s portfolio. The 1.6 acre parcel on the edge of the Bloomingdale neighborhood, acces-sible through the alley complex behind the unit blocks of U and V Streets,.NW. and the 2000 blocks of 1st and North Capitol Streets, N.W., this privately owned parcel was donated some 15 years ago by Verizon which had no need for the long-crumbling C&P telephone Company switching station on the site.

In February of 2004, the non-profit Attucks Development Corporation was cre-ated to support the transformation of this abandoned space into what is now a lovely

park, named in honor of the man believed to have been the first casualty of the Boston Massacre, with a Memory Garden, yoga, yard sales, music, and movies.

Postings on Facebook have been positive, like that of Walter, who wrote, “This sur-prisingly quiet, tucked-away park provides much-needed green space . . .[a] relaxing place to read a book or have a picnic.” Also one from Jennifer: “Great space! Another DC secret that you just stumble into!”

By way of conclusion, as DPR Public Affairs Specialist Michael Tucker, Jr. told

The InTowner, “Each of our park improve-ments are unique in their own right due to site history and site conditions.”

Larry Ray is former ANC Commissioner in Dupont Circle and later Columbia Heights. He is also Senior Adjunct faculty at The George Washington University School of Law.

Copyright © 2019 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Larry Ray. All rights reserved.

MINI-PARKSFrom p. 3

photo—crispusattucksparkdc.org

What once was bleak nowadays blooms with life.

photo—crispusattucksparkdc.org

Blooming Community Day features the Taste of Bloomingdale and a huge community yard sale is a major annual community event as well as a major fundraiser for the garden.

Page 5: Since 1968 • Serving Washington D.C.’s Intown Neighborhoods …intowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/InTowner-mar19.pdf · Streets (HDCMS) will hold its 10th annual Spring Fling

Page 5 • The InTowner • March 2019

George Washington University Museum 701 21st St. NW; (202) 994-5200

By Joseph R. Phelan*

Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt

& the Four Freedoms (through April 29, 2019)

It almost didn’t happen. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech

became a rally cry for American involvement in World War II and a political vision for the postwar world. But the ideals laid out in the president’s speeches didn’t capture the American imagination all at once, or on their own; the vibrant oils of Norman Rockwell were needed to make them enduringly popular. This his-toric collaboration between the elegant president and the maga-zine illustrator is the focus of the fascinating touring exhibition and of the handsome accompany-ing catalog.

In FDR’s State of the Union speech of Jan. 6, 1941, deliv-ered 11 months before Pearl Harbor, the president warned of the looming danger posed by Germany and Japan, pro-posed a Lend-Lease program to help beleaguered allied nations, and called for a major increase in arms production. At the speech’s conclusion he looked forward to a peaceful future, to a world founded upon these four essential freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and free-dom from fear.

Later that summer, the pres-ident, in concert with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, reiterated these goals for the postwar world in the Atlantic Charter.

As James Kimble writes in his well-researched article for the cata-log, the full propaganda machine of the Roosevelt administration was enlisted to sell the program. There was a booklet written by Archibald MacLeish, Malcolm Cowley, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and E.B. White. There was an open invita-tion to the artistic world to interpret them after Pearl Harbor. Yet after two years, a survey commissioned by the government showed almost no public understanding, much less acceptance, of the Four Freedoms. Clearly there was a problem.

Enter Norman Rockwell. As the United States entered the war, the artist was too old to serve, but he wanted to contribute to the war effort. While he was in Washington, DC delivering a poster to the Office of War Information in 1942, he learned about the challenge that government faced in promoting the Four Freedoms. On the train back to Vermont, Rockwell read the Atlantic Charter hoping to be inspired.

“I hadn’t been able to get beyond the first paragraph,” he later recalled in his autobi-ography. “The language was so noble, plati-tudinous really, that it stuck in my throat.” “How,” he wondered, “am I to illustrate that? I’m not noble enough. Besides, nobody I know is reading the proclamation either, in spite of the fanfare and hullabaloo about it in the press.”

As Kimble tells it, Rockwell found him-self frustrated as he continually generated and discarded ideas for the series. Then, in

a “classic eureka moment” so common to artists, he had a vision at three o’clock one morning. He visualized a recently attended town hall meeting where his next door neigh-bor spoke against rebuilding the local school that had been destroyed in a fire. The rest of those in attendance listened patiently, although disagreeing with him. The memory gave Rockwell a sudden jolt. That moment

of tolerant democracy, he realized, was exact-ly the scene he needed.

“My gosh,” he remembered thinking, “that’s it. There it is. Freedom of Speech.”

It was a creative breakthrough. Using his neighbors as models to show people living the Four Freedoms “in simple, everyday scenes” was the perfect way to take the Freedoms “out of the language of the proc-lamation and put them in terms everybody [could] understand.” He proceeded to work out the remaining three freedoms in the same way.

A few months later with sketches for all

four paintings, Rockwell headed back to Washington to show off his work. A series of bureaucrats politely told him thanks but no thanks. Dejected but not defeated, he stopped off in Philadelphia to show the sketches to his new editor at the Saturday Evening Post. With over 3.5 million subscrib-ers it was by far the most popular magazine of the period. The editor loved the work and

began to plan a series of essays written by distinguished writers to accompany the pub-lication of the pictures which would run in consecutive issues to strengthen their impact.

The public response to these pictures was tremendous. So much so that the Treasury Department which had been looking for a way to sell war bonds quickly realized these paintings could help. They arranged for a national fundraising tour showcasing the paintings which would not be exhibited in museums or galleries, but in department stores for a year during the depths of World War II.

A 100,000 people came to see the pictures in Washington and New York, and a million more in other major cities across the coun-try. They raised millions of dollars for the purchase of war bonds, and were reproduced in over four million copies. They made an already well-known illustrator into a house-hold name.

Years of illustrating magazine covers had honed Rockwell’s storytelling skills. He knew how to distill the core concerns of his audi-ence into a memorable vignette. “Using a classic pyramidal composition,” art historian Bruce Cole writes, “he focuses attention on the standing speaker whose age, worn and

stained jacket, rough hands with dirty fingernails, and plaid shirt set him apart from the neat coats, ties and white shirts of the older men in the audience.” Standing tall and unafraid, the face and figure of the speaker are reminiscent of the young Abraham Lincoln. The speaker becomes “the very embodiment of free speech, a living manifes-tation of that abstract right.”

In his catalog essay, museum director Brian T. Allen observes that by using the town meeting as a setting and a symbol for freedom of speech, Rockwell made a convincing reference to a pillar of American self-govern-ment, a “tradition both ancient and enduring.” Town meetings have been the quiet unassum-ing bedrock of self-government throughout our history. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed in his classic study Democracy in America, “Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it.”

Opinions vary about the aesthetic quality of the four paintings, with the great majority viewing Freedom of Speech as the masterpiece. The first floor of the exhibition covers the WWII period in Rockwell’s career making the case that his experience and success with the Four Freedoms project transformed him from a some-what kitschy illustrator to a citizen artist. The upper floor surveys the next two decades as Rockwell contin-ued to tackle big ideas, creating such images of the founding of the United Nations (whose charter was framed around the Four Freedoms); the Golden Rule, which graced a cover of the Saturday Evening Post; and three powerful paintings commissioned by Look magazine documenting the civil rights movement when the nation faced head-on the challenge of secur-ing freedom and equality for all. His last canvas, The Right to Know, painted during the Vietnam War, offers a bracing commentary on the Pentagon Papers case.

All in all this is a superb show well worth your attention and attendance.

*Joseph R. Phelan is a Washington based author and teacher. He is the founding edi-tor of Artcyclopedia.com, the fine art search engine. He has taught at the Catholic University of America and the University of Maryland University College.

Copyright © 2019 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Joseph R. Phelan. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, except as provided by 17 U.S.C. §107 (“fair use”).

Art & Culture

Rockwell, Freedom of Speech (1943). [Illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 20, 1943. Collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.]

Rockwell, Freedom of Worship (1943). [Illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 27, 1943. Collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.]

Rockwell, Freedom from Want (1943). [Illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 6, 1943. Collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.]

Rockwell, Freedom from Fear (1943). [Illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 13, 1943. Collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum.]