Norton's Ward 3 Community Meeting to Bring Feds and D.C. Officials Together to Resolve DHS Nebraska Avenue Issues
Norton's Ward 3 Community Meeting to Bring Feds and D.C. Officials Together to Resolve DHS Nebraska Avenue Issues
October 21, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will hold a Ward 3 Community Meeting on Tuesday, October 25 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Horace Mann Elementary School, 4430 Newark Street, NW to discuss traffic and parking issues arising from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Nebraska Avenue Complex. Norton will be joined by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh and officials from DHS, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Police Department and the District of Columbia Department of Public Works. Norton wants officials to hear from Ward 3 residents, particularly in the Ward Circle and American University Park communities, regarding parking by federal contractors and construction workers in neighborhoods, as well as the significant traffic congestion emanating from the DHS Nebraska Avenue Complex and the small GSA construction projects ongoing on the Nebraska Avenue Complex due to the old age of the complex. Norton has met in her office with all of the agency officials who will be participating in the meeting, and has asked the officials to prepare remarks on their efforts to resolve, or the steps that are needed to resolve, neighborhood issues.
"In this unique city, with the District government and the federal government often joined at the hip, it is not unusual to need a combination of federal and city agencies to resolve issues," Norton said. "Limited space in the District, coupled with a large federal employee presence that swells the city's population each day of the work week, produces traffic issues because of federal employees who drive to work, including those who are not able to park within their building sites. However, neighborhood streets are not there for the convenience of federal employees or contractors. I believe that what is needed is a face-to-face discussion between the community and federal and local agency officials."
The community meeting will facilitate problem-solving, and the Congresswoman is particularly interested in hearing the ideas from the complex's neighbors, who know the community best.