President’s Message

By Eric Langenbacher, president@burleith.org

I hope everyone is making it through the cold and snowy weather. It does look like a warmup is in sight and spring flowers will soon follow.

The BCA is once again hosting our Gløgg party. This will actually be the 10th annual event and the first one since 2020, in light of pandemic cancellations and last year’s Centennial Gala. To refresh your memories, gløgg is a delicious Scandinavian mulled wine. But there will be many other drink choices, as well as light snacks. The party will take place on Sunday, February 11, from 4–6 pm at the home of Linda Brooks, 3600 T Street. Yes, this is Superbowl Sunday, but kick-off will be at 6:30. This is always a great opportunity to chat with neighbors. Councilmember Brooke Pinto has been invited.

All Burleith residents and BCA members are welcome. To attend, RSVP by Thursday, February 8, by contacting Linda at (202) 333-2826 or lbrookslb@gmail.com. Please provide the name, address, phone number, and email address for each guest. Please note if you want a non-alcoholic drink (i.e., if the attendee is under 21 or prefers a non-alcoholic drink). We will prepare name badges (your free admission ticket) for all attendees to facilitate meeting new neighbors. Massive thanks go to Linda Brooks for organizing and opening her home.

Regarding the on-going plague of package thefts, there are some measures that everyone can take. 1) Think about installing a camera and utilizing the District’s rebate program; 2) Have a chest or cabinet of some kind by your door to provide a place to shield deliveries from view; 3) Consider using Amazon locker. There is one on the ground level of the Safeway on Wisconsin (between the front door on Wisconsin and the entrance to the garage) called Amazon-Caliente; 4) As reported at the last ANC meeting, the police are soon going to start a service where deliveries can be directed to police headquarters. The Second District building is up on Idaho Avenue near the Giant.

In the various and sundries department, it is budget season in the District, and city representatives have asked for any funding requests/ideas. I have requested that the city budget replace all of the green trash bins across the District. When the Mayor came to the BCA annual meeting in November, she said that she had requested this last year, but the item was stricken from the budget at one point. I believe that new green bins would vastly aid efforts to control and eradicate rats, which is a massive issue throughout Burleith and city-wide.

You might recall that the fields and tennis court by Hardy Middle School were padlocked after the renovations were completed last summer. I lobbied the school principal to unlock the space so that the community could have access (as we always have had) outside of school hours. The space was indeed unlocked for a while, but padlocks have recently gone up again. Perhaps this is because of the snow, but I will monitor the situation and take action if necessary.

Finally, the Citizens Association of Georgetown (CAG) has started a “Public Safety Petition to Support Secure DC Omnibus Bill,” which is legislation sponsored by our Ward 2 Councilmember Pinto. You can find the link here if you are interested.

I hope to see you at the Gløgg party! All the best.