1. The NorThwesT CurreNTWednesday, January 27, 2016 Serving Communities in Northwest Washington Since 1967 Vol. XLIX, No. 4
Calendar/14
Classifieds/21
District Digest/4
Exhibits/15
In Your Neighborhood/12
Opinion/6
Police Report/8
Real Estate/11
School Dispatches/18
Service Directory/19
Sports/9
Week Ahead/3
INDEXSHERWOOD
Weather-weary
Spring is in sight, but still far
from today’s streets as cleanup
efforts drag on / Page6
BUSINESS
Nutritionaltreatment
New Friendship Heights clinic
looks to plant-based diet as
part of path to recovery / Page3 Tips? Contact us at newsdesk@currentnewspapers.com
SPORTS
Cathedraldiverwins
Freshman stands out at ISL diving
championship, benefiting from
prior gymastics work / Page9
Brian Kapur/The Current
After more than a foot of snow blanketed the District, local
residents took to area parks to enjoy sledding, snowball
fights and snowman building. In Georgetown, residents took
to Book Hill Park for their fill of winter games.
BOOkING IT
By CUNEYT DIL
Current Correspondent
Tenleytown community leaders
are calling on the city to make a
number of traffic safety improve-
ments along Wisconsin Avenue
NW and in the area near Deal
Middle School and Wilson High
School.
On a stretch of Chesapeake
Street NW where students from
both schools regularly cross,
Advisory Neighborhood Commis-
sion 3E (Tenleytown, Friendship
Heights) wants the city to consider
creating a three-way stop at the
intersection of 40th Street. The
commission is also requesting a
stop sign at 41st and Chesapeake
streets going northbound and a
raised crosswalk at Chesapeake
Street and Belt Road, among other
tweaks.
Meanwhile, ANC 3E also
passed a lengthy list of recommen-
dations targeting curb cuts and
other issues along Wisconsin Ave-
nue, from Van Ness Street NW
north to the Maryland line. The
commission’s resolution, directed
at the D.C. Department of Trans-
portation, lists dozens of addresses
that have curb cuts or driveways
that either don’t comply with city
regulations or often draw cars to
park on public space.
The city’s practice has been to
grandfather existing curb cuts that
are too close to an intersection or
to each other, as well as parking
spaces that are on the public space
between the street and property
line, even though these practices
are no longer allowed. Commis-
sioners said the addresses they
TenleyANCseekstrafficsafetyupgrades
Brian Kapur/The Current
The commission is worried about
pedestrian safety at several sites
near Deal Middle School.
By MARk LIEBERMAN
Current Staff Writer
Justin Anderson’s tiny base-
ment apartment in Tenleytown
was filled with four of his col-
leagues on Friday night. One per-
son slept on a futon, another on a
couch. Two more rested on air
mattresses.
“It’s not the biggest in the
world, but we
make it work,”
said Anderson,
manager of
Osman & Joe’s
Steak ’n Egg
Kitchen at 4700
Wisconsin Ave.
NW, which promises 24-hour ser-
vice in all kinds of weather.
Steak ’n Egg was one of numer-
ous local businesses that kept their
doors open during the weekend
blizzard that blanketed the city
under 18 to 24 inches of snow.
Anderson’s colleagues stayed with
him overnight so they could make
the mile trek to the restaurant for
work.
The tight squeeze paid off,
Anderson said — as of early Sat-
urday afternoon, during the height
of the snowfall, between 40 and
80 paying customers had already
come in, ranging from snowplow
operators to the usual types of
passerby. Even the looming threat
of a power outage (which never
materialized) didn’t faze Ander-
son, who noted that the grill and
other appliances don’t require
electricity.
The restaurant has built a repu-
tation in the community for reli-
able, consistent service, and
Anderson wasn’t willing to let a
snowstorm ruin that. “As long as
we can see, we can work,” Ander-
son said.
The story was similar at Glen’s
Garden Market at 2001 S St. NW
Localbusinessesbrushoff
blizzardtoserveneighbors
By MARk LIEBERMAN
Current Staff Writer
Residents who live near the
former Washington Post complex
got a brief promise of respite last
week from the planned 24-hour
demolition of the buildings —
only to have it ripped away a day
later, as the Office of Administra-
tive Hearings reversed course and
allowed the work permit to con-
tinue.
A final ruling on the case will
come from the office after a Fri-
day hearing. For now, the latest
decision allows around-the-clock
construction to proceed at the
complex at 15th and L streets NW,
after the office ultimately reversed
a decision to grant a motion to
suspend the work permit.
Arguing his case at Friday’s
hearing will be Mike Fasano, who
lives nearby in the Presidential
Cooperative. He believes the per-
mit for overnight work was issued
illegally and that the D.C. Depart-
ment of Consumer and Regulatory
Affairs should have sought feed-
back from the community before
Hours in flux
for permit at
old Post site
By MARk LIEBERMAN
Current Staff Writer
Murch Elementary School stu-
dents will relocate to a trailer
complex on the University of the
District of Columbia campus next
school year, then move back to
campus in fall 2017 to ride out the
remainder of the construction,
D.C. Public Schools announced
Friday.
City agencies have been delib-
erating for weeks about the most
feasible plan of action for Murch,
which will undergo a two-year,
multi-phase renovation beginning
this summer. At the end of the $68
million project, the school’s exist-
ing building will be upgraded,
while an addition will house a new
cafeteria and gymnasium.
School system officials floated
several “swing space” options for
Murch students at a community
meeting in December. The final
decision is a compromise between
two of those ideas. Relocating to
UDC was the most expensive pro-
posal, but the current solution will
use that strategy for only one
Murchstudentstosplit
timeduringrenovation
■ Education:Parentleaders
objecttoschoolsystem’splan
Brian Kapur/The Current
Georgetown’s Via Umbria stayed
open during the blizzard, with
several employees staying at the
nearby Georgetown Inn.
See Murch/Page 13
See Storm/Page 5See Safety/Page 10
See Demolition/Page 5
■ SERVING
THE NEEDY:
Nonprofits gave
out extra food,
clothes before
storm. Page 2.

2. T
he Federal-style home at
4636 Kenmore Drive NW
offers ample space, with
five bedrooms and five-and-a-
half bathrooms, and a gracious
atmosphere for entertaining. This
home, located in the quiet but
convenient area of Foxhall, is on
the market for $1,895,000.
Guests are offered a warm
welcome the moment they step
through the door. The entrance
foyer is a harmonious blend of
grays and apricot tones, from the
soft gray of the walls to the
honey color of the oak staircase
and the Brascia travertine that
swirls the two colors together. A
study to the left features custom
shelves and cabinets, designed to
prominently display art and clev-
erly hide office supplies.
The circular floor plan of the
first level is perfect for entertain-
ing — in the past the house has
welcomed presidents and ambas-
sadors as well as family and
friends. A formal step-down liv-
ing room and parlor combination
offers ample space and visual
continuity, with warm oak floors,
a cool gray marble fireplace, tall
windows and a Palladian window
overlooking the back patio, filling
the room with sunlight.
The parlor leads into the for-
mal dining room, where French
doors under another half-circle
window open out onto the private
slate patio with stone planters,
forest-like landscaping, a lap pool
and a pool house. The opposite
side of the dining room steps up
into the fully equipped chef’s
kitchen, perfect for a true gour-
met with top-of-the-line Viking
gas range and grill, Miele dish-
washer and Sub-Zero refrigerator,
as well as thoughtful custom
built-ins, such as a drawer that
reveals a chopping block.
Other intuitive touches include
complementing maplewood cabi-
netry and a granite floor inlay in
the high-traffic sink area, which
uses the same Baltic Brown gran-
ite as the countertops. The texture
of the granite gives the room a
contemporary feel, while hand-
painted European backsplash tiles
create an Old World, pastoral
ambiance.
The kitchen opens onto the
large step-down family room with
a cathedral ceiling and floor-to-
ceiling stone fireplace. Custom
shelves in pale birch wood, a soft
gray ceramic tile floor and French
doors overlooking the patio give
the impression of a cool retreat
from summer weather.
The second level holds three of
the house’s five bedrooms. Two
cozy bedrooms, one with an en-
suite bathroom with contemporary
fixtures, reveal more storage than
meets the eye, with ample closet
space and custom built-in shelves,
drawers and cabinets.
The master suite begins with
an anteroom that can serve as a
dressing room, a second study or
an infant’s room. The bedroom
enhances its square footage with
recessed ceiling and three win-
dows overlooking the patio. The
entire second level features wall-
to-wall carpets for noise reduc-
tion, but the upholstered walls in
the master further muffle any
hubbub. His-and-hers walk-in
closets offer double the storage
space. A 2008 renovation of the
bathroom added heated floors, a
soaking tub, a rain shower with a
no-slip river stone floor, and a
black granite double vanity with
rough-hewn granite bowels and
zebra wood cabinetry.
A Look at the Market in Northwest Washington January 27, 2016 ■ Page 11
Federalhomeprovidesspacious,graciousliving
Photos courtesy of Long & Foster Real Estate
This Federal-style five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath house on
Kenmore Drive NW in the Foxhall area is priced at $1,895,000.
ON THE MARKET
LEE cannon
See Kenmore/Page 13

3. The Current Wednesday, January 27, 2016 13
Northwest Real Estate
school year — setting up students
in trailers on the campus field
closer to Van Ness Street NW,
with the field closest to Yuma
Street NW serving as play space.
The following year, students and
staff will relocate back to Murch’s
existing building and some tempo-
rary trailers there as construction
continues.
“The builder will focus on get-
ting the existing Murch building
renovated and complete and ready
for students inAugust 2017, which
means many of the students will
have access to a modernized space
a year earlier than anticipated,” a
letter from D.C. Public Schools
told parents on Friday.
Martha McIntosh, co-president
of the Murch Home and School
Association, described the school
system’s choice as a hasty one
influenced by outside factors.
McIntosh said she heard from
D.C. Public Schools representa-
tives that UDC’s under-negotia-
tion plans to build a new turf field
in 2017 would limit Murch stu-
dents’ stay on the campus to one
year. The school system only start-
ed considering the option of split
locations once it heard that news
from UDC — less than 72 hours
before officials made their final
decision.
McIntosh said the decision was
announced only a few hours after
her team had a conference call
with school system officials. She
also said the officials told her
team that splitting the locations
was not their first choice.
It wasn’t the top choice for
McIntosh’s team, either, she said:
“The SIT made clear to them that
it was not only not our first choice,
but we felt it had significant prob-
lems and was really a bad choice.”
The parents’ first choice for the
students would have been to spend
the full length of the construction
at UDC. Without that option,
McIntosh and others want the
school to continue to work with
them on finding a solution that
puts them in an alternative single
place for the duration. Community
members had opposed proposals
to use Lafayette Elementary’s
trailer complex or to stay at Murch
throughout the renovation; a third
option, the Capital Memorial Sev-
enth-day Adventist Church at
3150 Chesapeake St. NW, never
gained much support.
The school system’s letter to
parents acknowledges that some
will find the decision frustrating
and pledges to let all voices be
heard as plans move forward.
The letter says the D.C. Depart-
ment of General Services, which
oversees school renovations, and
its builders “are still working
together to examine exactly what
the site will look like after 1 year,
but it will be safe and ready for
students when they return. As we
have outlined in previous commu-
nications, there is not a perfect
solution, and this plan is not with-
out challenges.”
McIntosh and others are con-
cerned that the additional reloca-
tion will cause significant disrup-
tion to the students and staff, who
will have to pack up their class-
rooms on three different occasions
before the dust is settled.
There are also concerns about
the decision’s impact on project
costs. The school system previ-
ously indicated that the relocation
effort is part of the project’s $68
million budget, but the school
improvement team hasn’t yet
determined whether this split
effort will be more cost-effective
than just one of the alternatives.
D.C. Public Schools spokes-
person Michelle Lerner relayed
comment from the Department of
General Services in response to a
question about cost.
“Given the level of complexity
involved with all the swing space
solutions which have been consid-
ered over the last several weeks,
DCPS is considering allocating
additional funds to ensure the
swing space can be constructed
without impact to the moderniza-
tion plans,” Lerner wrote.
Plans for addressing new traf-
fic patterns at the swing space
locations also haven’t been dis-
cussed publicly or with Murch
parents, according to McIntosh.
She also said the university’s field
space is currently overgrown and
not completely suitable for play.
Lerner relayed another com-
ment from the Department of
General Services in response to
questions about traffic and play
space, noting that the latter agency
has hired a traffic consultant and
is in talks with UDC about letting
Murch use its northern soccer
field.
Maggie Gumbinner, co-presi-
dent of the Murch Home and
School Association, said she
hopes the team can change the
school system’s mind, or at least
convince officials to provide
clearer information about future
plans. “What’s sad to me about
this is it doesn’t seem to be a deci-
sion made based on what’s best
for the students or what’s best for
the school, but rather what’s going
to be the easiest for them to deal
with,” Gumbinner said.
School improvement team co-
chair Laura Kaiser acknowledged
that some parents have said they’re
willing to weather the difficulties
of the years ahead because it will
mean a larger, more modern build-
ing at the end. But Kaiser said her
team plans to fight for what they
believe is a better solution.
Lerner said D.C. Public
Schools will continue to work
with stakeholders and review con-
troversial aspects of the project.
MURCH: Parents decry latest plan
From Page 1
The third level is a hidden
gem, revealing a guest bedroom
with round accent window, spa-
cious closets, a full bathroom and
two large alcoves for exercise
equipment or an artist’s studio.
The treat for climbing to the top
of the house is a wide wooden
deck overlooking the tree-lined
neighborhood.
A finished basement offers the
fifth bedroom and another full
bath, as well as a large family
room with wrap-around oak
bookcases and contemporary
accents on the recessed ceiling.
The basement level also provides
access to the extra-deep garage,
suitable for one or two cars with
room left over for bicycles. The
driveway adds one more parking
space, while Kenmore Drive also
affords plenty of street parking.
The lane is so quiet it’s easy to
forget that shopping, dining,
Georgetown and MedStar
Georgetown University Hospital
are all within easy reach.
This stately home is well-suit-
ed for a growing family, George-
towners wanting more space or
those looking to shorten their
D.C. commutes. Proximity to
Reservoir and Foxhall roads NW
makes for easy uptown or down-
town travel. Chain Bridge and
Key Bridge are equally conve-
nient, making this home a good
option for Virginia-bound com-
muters as well.
The five-bedroom, five-and-a-
half-bath house at 4636 Kenmore
Drive NW is listed for $1,895,000
by Long & Foster Real Estate.
For details, contact Salley Wid-
mayer at salley.widmayer@gmail.
com or 202-215-6174 and Ste-
phen Vardas at stephenvardas@
mris.com or 202-744-0411.
KENMORE: Foxhall home offers space to roam
From Page 11
n ch
1210 F St, NE Washington, DC 20002
Capitol Hill Charmer, 2BR, 2 Bath
JUST SOLD $620,000
o: 202.491.1275
m: 301.943.0314