Neighborhood in the News: DCist closure questions, the return of UDC’s student newspaper, bumpy ride for bike lanes

Questions remain after WAMU’s DCist shutdown. And the cuts announced in February went deeper than the online news site, as Washingtonian’s Andrew Beaujon reveals in his deeply reported article, the result of several interviews with current and former WAMU employees and the public radio station’s general manager.

Welcome back to UDC’s The Trilogy. A decade after it was last published, UDC’s student newspaper is being revived thanks to a grant from the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University. UDC is sharing the $200,000 award with nine other historically Black colleges and universities.

“There are so many talented storytellers on campus who are ready to do great reporting,” Trilogy editor Asha Moore-Smith said in a statement. “This award will help us afford the tools and resources we need to create the highest quality content we can. We’re really grateful for the Newsroom Innovation Challenge award.”

The winding path of the Connecticut Avenue safety project. This is going to need bullet points:

• DDOT’s acting director told the DC Council in April that the project would proceed without bike lanes.
• Within days there was a Connecticut Avenue protest ride. Fox 5, WUSA9 and NBC4 were there.
• The following month, the DC Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment “recommended including the bike lane in the city’s budget and criticized the mayor’s office for ditching its own plan for the lane.” (The Washington Post)
• The budget proposal Council Chair Phil Mendelson presented last week for the initial Council vote did not follow that recommendation. “I don’t think the council should be voting on bike lanes,” Mendelson said. (Post)
• And on June 3rd, DDOT released a new concept for Connecticut Avenue between Calvert and Chevy Chase Circle that does not include bike lanes, but does include dedicated 24/7 parking lanes on both sides of the street. (Washingtonian, WUSA9)

If you missed DDOT’s presentation and wish to see the video and slides for yourself, you can find them here.

A creek rescue. At Broad Branch Road and Brandywine Street:

For the Bridgerton fans: If watching the Netflix series isn’t enough, a visit to the Hillwood Museum might be the next best thing. “[It] could easily be the home of the next powerful Lord or Lady to be introduced on the show!” says Secret DC.