Tag Archives: porter st
Trees Continue Falling in Cleveland Park
If you get stuck heading to Columbia Heights from Cleveland Park tonight, it might be because of the down tree pictured below. On a relatively peaceful (weather-wise) afternoon in Cleveland Park, this tree gave way and fell onto the road and a few cars. The tree seems to have fallen just past China House and across from the 2501 Porter St apartments. Residual storm damage or random accident?
Friday Traffic in Cleveland Park
The center of Cleveland Park was clogged with traffic for much of the day today. You might guess that the source of this congestion was throngs of people pouring into the Tiger Mart for MegaMillions tickets. Sorry, that’d be a wrong guess, you’re clearly spending too much time look at your Twitter feed. The source was much more banal … the continued water main project along Porter St. By 3PM things were starting to clear up some.
Bus Stop Parking Tickets
Last week, we got a series of emails from Porter St about the new bus stop in front of 2501. It seems that during the construction of the new crosswalks on Porter, the bus stop sign was moved into areas where residents usually park. This seems to have been done without the proper signage to mark off a new bus stop area. Worse still, the signs from the old bus stop area remain in place, preventing parking in that space as well. Sadly, the bus cannot use this old space because of the newly installed crosswalks.
ANC3C Commissioner Richard Steacy informed us that DDOT is aware of the problem, yet will not have anything fixed for 10-15 business days. This seems ridiculous since this is an easy fix that should have been completed immediately upon movement of the stop, AND a 311 request regarding the stop seems to have been made on March 6.
For those of you who received tickets, we apologize… that sucks. Steacy says, “I would certainly urge them to challenge the tickets. With photos of the signs in relation to the bus stop.”
Best of luck, and please let us know the outcome. Despite the inconsistency in sign placement, the parking code does seem to have two different bus stop violations. DCMR subsection 2409.3 orders a $100 violation for obstructing a bus zone delineated with signs and 2409.8 is a $50 violations for parking within 20 feet of a bus zone that is not marked by signs.
Poor Porter St. Not only do they have to contend with walking up the hill, but they also have the speed cameras, terrible road conditions, and unfair parking tickets galore.
The new bus stop with one person parked in it
As you can see, the sign indicates the stop is to the right of this vehicle (as it used to be)
A view of the old stop, with the new crosswalk in the middle of it
ANC3F to Vote on Supporting Speed Cameras
ANC3F (North Cleveland Park, Forest Hills, Tenleytown) will be discussing additional photo enforcement for traffic violations at its next meeting on March 12, 2012. On hand will be MPD representative Laura Sutter, who will take questions. This agenda items comes on the heels of the speed camera on Porter St in Cleveland Park being the subject of significant online debate. Although most online chatter toward the cameras is negative, it tends to be for practical (not principle) reasons.
Make your voice heard in the comments – should ANC3F pass a resolution in support of addition photo enforcement?
Update: ANC3F voted 4-1 in favor of supporting additional photo enforcement.
$900,000 Real Estate in Cleveland Park
Here’s a really nice property pending sale in Cleveland Park. The location is 3200 Porter St NW, Washington, DC. The asking price is $900,000 for this 3 bedroom + 2 bedroom in-law suite. From the listing agent
Elegant and pristine 3 bedroom, semi-detached home plus a gorgeous, renovated 2 bedroom in-law suite. This open floor plan creates functional flow and is great for entertaining yet allows cozy gatherings at the living room fireplace or quiet times with a book in the sunroom, on the deck or in the screened porch. At the hub is an open, table space kitchen with ample work space and room to gather around the counter and breakfast nook.
This is a unique property blocks from the metro and significantly below $1 million. It’s only been on the market for 21 days and, not surprisingly, already has a contract pending…
My favorite things are the property are its outdoor spaces…
and the open concept.
Check out a 360 degree tour of the house. This property is listed by Marjorie Dick Stuart.
Porter St Speed Camera Begins Pulling its Weight
Wog: repeat offender or caught in an unfair trap?
Just when we credited the Porter St disrepair with lowering revenues for the newly installed speed camera, we get word of a whopping $875 in fines for one person during one month. As WMAL reports, Cleveland Park resident Ann Wog has received 11 infractions in the mail recently all stemming from mid-December and beyond. Unfortunately for Wog, the first warning of her transgression did not come until 28 days after it occurred.
I recall hearing that people have gotten out of these “successive” tickets, but cannot find any evidence of that. Have any Cleveland Parkers been in a similar situation?
Porter St Paving Coming Soon
Traveling down Porter St today, I noticed a series of “Emergency no parking” signs that have been put up. Unfortunately, as is apparently common, the company failed to comply with DC regulations which requires 72 hours notice for all unmetered parking spaces. These signs were put up on January 31st for “no parking” beginning on February 1 (less than 24 hours notice). Sorry about those tickets, folks. Additionally, the regulations clearly state that you cannot put your signs on trees (see below) or other people’s property. In both cases Capitol Paving Company of DC has failed. Given that their website declares that they have been in business for 20 years, it’s surprising to see this.
Oh ya, the good news is that it seems likely that the street is going to be paved.
Update: It seems as if many cars have been ticketed on Porter St. today (Feb 1). One unfortunate soul is pictured below. Also, unfortunately, it does not appear that the paving being done is to complete the unfinished water main project.
What’s up with the condition of Porter St?
Anyone traveling down Porter St. NW between Connecticut and Williamsburg in the past few weeks has noticed the pitiful condition of the road. Before taking a nice jaunt over to Columbia Heights or onto Rock Creek Parkway, drivers are met with a series of bumps. As you can see, a rather long scar in the road starts around 2501 Porter St. and continues to Williamsburg Lane. This unusual road irregularity has served as a veritable 30 yard pothole ready to damage cars and bicyclists.
So what’s the cause of this enormous winter pothole? Water system upgrades. Starting this past June, Sagres Construction of Alexandria started a critical project to repair water mains and replace fire hydrants.
The project got off to a conspicuous start this summer, when multiple neighbors complained the construction company did not follow DC regulations for establishing its “no parking zones”. On numerous occasions in June and July the company plunked down its “emergency no parking” signs without the proper notice. The company was required, by its agreement with the city, to provide 72 hours notice. Unfortunately, its signs read that their “emergency no parking” rights began in April. Had the cones been up this entire time, there would have been no issues. However, Sagres would randomly put up the cones, snaring unknowing residents and visitors. Police saw the April start date, probably not knowing the cones were just placed that day, and began ticketing liberally on Porter St for weeks.
Since then, the project has progressed neatly as the mains were fixed all the way up to the intersection of Connecticut and Quebec St. Currently, there does not seem to be any activity on the road, nor has there been for weeks. All that’s left is a rather large scar in the road and a series of duplicate fire hydrants that are covered saying “out of service”. Not surprisingly, many people seem scared to park in front of these out of service fire hydrants, probably fearing Sagres will come along and pull the cover off of them. These “duplicate” hydrants have been seen flooding the street (and occasionally the sidewalk), I am not sure if this is part of the system upgrade.
Because of this we reached out to Maria Gigova, Project Manager for the Department of Engineering and Technical Services. Ms. Gigova was kind enough to promptly respond to our request for information stating that “at this time only temporary pavement is installed associated with the new water main installations at this location and our contractor will replace the areas in the roadway where this installation is failing as soon as possible.” Additionally, “all affected areas in the roadway will be re-paved and restored per the DDOT standard requirements after all new water main installations are completed and tested.” The new estimated timeline has been pushed back (this project was originally supposed to be completed in 2011) to March 2012.
The one bonus of this problem is that people are slowing down so much for the large pothole that the city’s new speed camera must be incredibly inefficient.
Update: Two days following this posting most of the long scar that we discuss above was paved over making for a smoother ride along Porter St.
