D.C.’s Department of Transportation is putting together a Transportation Operations and Parking Plan, which will be used to make sure people can go to and from home, work or events quickly and safely.
As D.C.’s Department of Transportation is working on a plan for managing traffic and parking around Capital One Arena, some community members are expressing concerns about possible restrictions that could be included in it.
The agency is putting together a Transportation Operations and Parking Plan, which will be used to make sure people can go to and from home, work or events quickly and safely. It’ll aim to minimize the impact of restrictions on residents and businesses, organize pick up and drop-offs involving taxis and ride-share vehicles, and encourage the use of public transportation, such as Metrorail or Metrobus, according to a transportation plan shared during a community meeting this week.
The plan, according to DDOT Chief of Staff Matthew Marcou, includes collaboration with the Department of Public Works, which enforces parking and removes or relocates vehicles, the Department of For-Hire Vehicles, and Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which oversees event operations and manages the Lexus Garage. DDOT is planning to develop the final plan later this year.
Advertisement
“We want to make it as intuitive and as fluid as possible so that people are able to get to and from where they need to go on a timely basis and safely,” Marcou said during the community meeting Tuesday night.
Before events, Marcou said F Street NW in front of the arena will likely be closed, as it already is under those circumstances. But after events, he said, there’s a “much more substantial footprint.”
Sixth Street is closed “immediately to either side of the stadium,” and 7th Street is closed too.
As part of a pilot program during the Washington Capitals’ playoff run, the city helped coordinate a taxi stand zone and for-hire vehicle zone. It was a “preliminary plan that was a pilot just to see how it worked. It can be informed by where people are coming from,” Marcou said.
One community member criticized the location of the taxi stand zone, 7th and G Streets, because it’s in front of Chick-fil-A and Dos Toros, “the busiest third-party area in all of Chinatown. It created complete havoc.”
Advertisement
Howard Marks, vice president of the Residences at Gallery Place condo building, called blocking 6th and 7th streets after events at the arena “a non-starter for us.”
“We depend on deliveries in our building, whether it’s food deliveries, whether it’s takeout,” Marks said. “We have people who leave from our building with ride-share services like Uber or Lyft. It would really be devastating, it would be difficult, and we would have rebellion on our hands from the 300 people who live in our building.”
Another attendee said some sidewalks around the arena get so backed up that pedestrians are walking into the street to navigate around them. A different community member criticized a lack of security in a parking garage, but Marcou said there’s a point at which the agency’s plan ends and “private responsibility begins and that candidly will be one of them.”
The city is still accepting feedback via an online survey.
“We want to make sure we’re minimizing, to the greatest extent possible, and making the event experience as positive both externally as well as for people traveling to and through the area,” Marcou said.
Advertisement
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
Associated Students of GCU President Judah Floyd (left) and Vice President Gracie Zimbardi (right) participated in a workshop with Arizona Congressman Eli Crane at the Campus Victory Forum conference in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., has been a popular spot this summer, especially since it’s the nation’s 250th anniversary. And it’s where many Grand Canyon University students have traveled, including the campus’s student body leaders.
Associated Students of GCU President Judah Floyd and Vice President Gracie Zimbardi traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Campus Victory Forum conference and celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence.
“It was a humbling opportunity to be able to represent GCU and be poured into by so many admirable Christian leaders,” Floyd said. “It reminds me of the leader I want to be as a Christ follower and as someone who’s been put in a position to have influence on the students of GCU.”
Outside of conference sessions, Judah Floyd and Gracie Zimbardi explored Washington, D.C.
The three-day conference was organized by Campus Victory, an organization empowering collegiate leaders to step into civic engagement. It featured workshops, sessions and activities that equipped students with practical tools to step into their leadership roles.
Roughly 250 student leaders from universities all around the country traveled to the nation’s capital for the conference, where they met and heard from politicians and community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona.
Advertisement
He addressed the young crowd with a personal testimony about his experience in public leadership and gave an empowering message from 1 Timothy 4:12, which reads, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
He encouraged students to boldly press on in their positions despite their young age.
Sharing a home state with Crane was made extra special to Floyd and Zimbardi when Crane invited all Arizona students backstage to meet and have conversations with him.
“He was phenomenal,” Zimbardi said. “He talked about how being firm in our faith is so important in this time, and though we are young leaders, we do have the knowledge, experience and people to look up to, so use it. It was so inspiring to hear from him.”
Gracie Zimbardi (left) displayed her patriotism with student leaders from other universities.
When sessions concluded, students explored significant landmarks, including memorials, museums, and federal and local government buildings.
Everything was decked out in red, white and blue, with flags and banners hanging everywhere to commemorate the milestone anniversary.
Advertisement
Celebratory events unfolded one after another on Independence Day, finishing with the largest fireworks show in history. Some 850,000 pyrotechnic effects were detonated over 40 minutes, with thousands gathered for the once-in-a-lifetime event.
Floyd waited five hours in line to attend Salute to America 250, which concluded yearlong celebratory festivities. The six-hour event on the National Mall featured presidential remarks, musical performances and military flyovers.
While in Washington, D.C., Judah Floyd (center) met with other student leaders.
“President Donald Trump talked about how America is really a land of people of faith and people who overcome challenges time after time,” Floyd said. “It really rekindled in us the spirit of liberty that we all carry as Americans and the importance of defending that liberty for generations to come.”
Military veterans were brought onstage and honored for their commitment to serving the country. Flags from every generation of America were displayed, and singer Lee Greenwood led the crowd in singing “God Bless the U.S.A.”
The World Cup was happening at the same time. While Floyd and Zimbardi were in Washington, D.C., they witnessed another level of patriotism when a Team USA vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina watch party, complete with a projector screen, was organized in front of the U.S. Congress.
“Thousands of people all wearing U.S.A. jerseys were shouting and screaming and spraying water in the sky when we scored a goal. It was deafening,” Floyd said.
Advertisement
Judah Floyd and Gracie Zimbardi celebrated the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., with student leaders from around the country.
As the start of academic year approaches, Floyd and Zimbardi’s tenure as student body president and vice president will soon commence.
The duo said that participating in the Campus Victory Forum conference, networking with student body presidents and vice presidents from other universities, and witnessing everyone’s patriotism prepared them to lead with passion and boldness.
“It means a lot to me that someone in this organization thought of us, GCU, and said, ‘We need them there.’ Zimbardi said. “It was really unique hearing from other students about how they do things at other universities.
“We got to sit down and spitball back and forth. We talked about things like, ‘Wow, that’s what works for you? We are struggling in that area, do you mind if we try it?’ Having conversations like that is extremely helpful, and it is cool how unified we can all become.”
***
Related content:
Advertisement
GCU News: Ingram Honors students visit nation’s capital in honor of its 250th anniversary
GCU News: Critical Mass in harmony with national jubilee of prayer in Washington, D.C.
Dozens of Iowa National Guard soldiers leaving Iowa today will spend the next six months serving in Washington, D.C..
Last August, President Trump issued an executive order declaring there was an epidemic of crime in the nation’s capitol and he immediately mobilized National Guard troops from the District of Columbia. The Pentagon then started asking state guard units to deploy to D.C. and made a request of Governor Kim Reynolds last year. “They asked earlier and I said no because we had one of the largest deployments that we’ve had for a long, long time and I just felt we were stretched pretty thin,” Reynolds said.
In May of last year, nearly 2000 Iowa National Guard soldiers were deployed to the Middle East. The final group of those soldiers returned to Iowa last month. Reynolds said the Pentagon “circled back” recently and asked her to send a group of Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. and she’s deployed 120 Iowa Guard soldiers to D.C. “to ensure the safety and security” of people who are in the nation’s capitol, “especially with everything that’s going on with the 250th birthday of our country,” Reynolds said, “and so we were able to participate and do our share.”
Reynolds told reporters the federal government will pay the entire cost of the deployment. Reynolds will speak this morning at a private send off ceremony for the Iowa Guard soldiers before they leave for D.C. There were over 5000 National Guard troops in Washington this past Sunday, including 185 from Nebraska and over 100 from Minnesota.
