President’s Message

By Eric Langenbacher, president@burleith.org

It is hard to believe that summer is almost here and the school year is rapidly drawing to a close. The various local universities have concluded their graduation ceremonies and the K–12 schools will conduct theirs in the next few weeks.

The BCA’s signature event, the Burleith Summer Picnic is coming up on Saturday, June 14, from 3:30–6:30 pm at the Green Lot (37th & Whitehaven Parkway). This is a particularly meaningful year, because the Burleith Citizens Association is celebrating our centennial! As always, we will have live music, Rocklands BBQ, a variety of activities, and a raffle. Mayor Bowser has confirmed her attendance (around 5 pm), and there might be a surprise activity relating to a local sports team. Stay tuned for details! I am extremely grateful to our co-organizers Lenore Rubino and Melanie Gisler. We are looking for volunteers especially for setting and cleaning up on that day.

Right before the picnic, from 3–4 pm, Dwane Starlin, a member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides and co-author of the book Images of America: Burleith, will lead a free pre-picnic tour of our unique village within the city. Highlights include a visit to all five of the refurbished call boxes and stories about presidential candidates and their grandchildren, World War II generals, US astronauts, spies, celebrities, artists, poets, and other well-known residents of our neighborhood. Meet at the Green Lot bus stop at 3 pm; the one-hour tour ends at the same location. The Burleith book will be available at the picnic for the special event price of $15 (cash or check).

The BCA’s Beautification Committee has been diligently working on getting welcome signs to the neighborhood produced and installed. There have been a few bureaucratic hurdles in procuring the necessary permits, given the various landowners (city, NPS, private). We had hoped to have one sign installed before the picnic, but will likely miss that deadline. As soon as we have the various permits, we will engage in an intensive fundraising drive. All donations will be channeled through the Burleith Community Fund (BCF) so they will be tax deductible.

The other, on-going community issue is the renovation plans for the Duke Ellington Field. As mentioned in the community Zoom that we conducted a couple of months back, there are many questions about the permitting process behind the installation of 80-foot lights. The BCA lodged an appeal with the Board of Zoning Adjustment (Case No. 21314), which was accepted. The BZA hearing will be in September, so community members will potentially have an official opportunity to make their voices heard. This process should not delay the project because other components like the renovation of the field houses or re-doing the field are currently continuing.

In the meantime, the BCA has started a dialogue with the lawyers representing the District in an effort to discuss the neighborhood’s concerns in advance of the appeal hearing. Finally, at its April meeting, ANC 2E decided to request that the Department of Parks and Recreation respond in writing to a variety of community concerns: hours of operation, especially for the lights, issues of community access, how unpermitted activities will be dealt with, etc.

As I have mentioned before, the BCA will need a new generation of volunteers going forward. We have been able to fill positions such as advertising (Noah) and the Burleith Bell editor (Stefano Calvetti). We are looking for organizers for the picnic and community clean-ups, as well as some BCA Board members. We also need a listserv moderator. Melanie Gisler will take over from Nan Bell on the Georgetown Community Partnership (GCP) steering committee. But, there are other roles to fill on the GCP, especially the environmental and landlord committee. Please reach out any time if you are interested in volunteering for any of these positions.

For newcomers in the neighborhood, please think about joining the BCA and our listserv. (To subscribe, email burleith+subscribe@groups.io.) Although the rat situation seems a little better as of late, proper disposal of garbage is crucial. Make sure all of your waste (especially take out) is properly bagged. If your green bin is damaged or absent, please order a new one through 311—or ask your landlord to take care of it. You can also submit a 311 request for a new lid. The same applies to the blue recycling bins. Also, you need to keep the bins on your property except for garbage day. Finally, if you put yard waste in paper bags, you will need to call 311 for a pickup—the regular trash folks will not pick it up if it is not in a green bin.

I hope to see many of you at the picnic. Happy Summer!