Forest Hills Connection || News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Covering Forest Hills, Van Ness, North Cleveland Park and Wakefield
by Marlene Berlin Starting this winter, DC Water is set to undertake the rehabilitation of the century-old Soapstone Valley sewer system. The goal is to keep the sewer pipes whole and harden them against erosion and other severe weather impacts for decades to come. The design of infrastructure projects such as these is determined in […]
by Marlene Berlin Trees are looking parched, with curled up leaves. Plants are wilting. But we are not in a drought, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). COG’s July 15th report on the region’s water supply declared it so. The report acknowledges below normal precipitation in the preceding 30 days, and that […]
by Ann Kessler A 1913 real estate map of Washington makes it look easy to drive into Rock Creek Park from Connecticut Avenue. Just turn onto Albemarle Street and continue straight into the park. The publisher of this map obviously took liberties, perhaps taking to heart this description of Albemarle in The Washington Post in […]
In 2019, we published a series of recollections by Fred Rhodes (1913-2001), a federal worker whose long and varied resumé included the Manhattan Project and the Nixon administration. But a century ago, he was just a kid in Forest Hills, and the Soapstone Valley was his playground. His memoir Four Seasons in the Soapstone Valley, shared […]
Rock Creek Conservancy has been co-hosting a series of fascinating virtual panels on the history and people of the park. The latest, on July 27th, featured three women who have served as the park’s superintendents over the decades. Says the Conservancy: “Georgia Ellard became the first Black woman to serve in this highest position of […]
The Murch and Wilson students who work on their school newspapers have left us with some great summer reading material. You can read the final 2020-2021 print edition of The (Wilson) Beacon here. And read The (Murch) Blue and Gold here. They’ve had quite a year. And before they started their hard-earned summer break, they […]
We write letters: DDOT is set to make a decision soon about the fate of the Connecticut Avenue reversible lanes. Mark Moran, who writes about education for Forest Hills Connection, recently wrote a Washington Post op-ed arguing that the reversible lane needs to go. Whatever DDOT decides, safety improvements are not guaranteed. ANC 3F chair […]
by Ann Kessler I miss the Van Ness Centre Mall. Granted, it only existed for 16 years, but from 1967 on through 1983 it was part of the community and a major convenience for shoppers in the neighborhood. Now, only the original ground floor tenants of the mall remain: Giant Food, CVS (formerly Peoples Drug […]
After Kathy Sykes, a certified Master Gardener, submitted her opinion piece calling for a pesticides ban in DC, we had some questions for her, including: Are weeds in a grass lawn the main target of herbicides? Is lawn fertilizer harmful to humans? And what are some alternatives? Here are her answers. Herbicides are a type of […]
The choice of Moonstruck for the inaugural “Movie Night in the Park” was so perfect, we thought Van Ness Main Street and UDC had planned it that way. The weather was great for a night at the UDC amphitheater. And a sellout crowd spread out blankets and picnics under a full strawberry moon. Full Strawberry […]
