Neighborhood in the News: Local shutdown impacts; reversible lanes; first Forest Hills residents

The government shutdown in 2013 was more visible, with signs at the Soapstone Valley trailheads. This time, access has been preserved, but Rock Creek park services and buildings are not accessible.

The government shutdown tops our latest roundup of neighbor and neighborhood news mentions. They’re too numerous to list here, but most lists of shutdown-related closures in the District include Peirce Mill and the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and Planetarium. They are both National Park Service properties.

Deer management road closures: Presumably, the Park Service’s efforts to control Rock Creek Park’s white-tailed deer population are on hold during the government shutdown. But the plan was, from late November through March, to close some roads while “trained firearms experts” reduce the deer numbers. (WTOP)

Connecticut Avenue in the news: WAMU reporters have a front row seat to the reversible lane changes every morning and afternoon. So they were among the first to cover DDOT’s plans to study the lanes’ efficacy at moving traffic, and safety in doing so. WUSA*9 also took a look. We covered it too – with details on the timetable and community engagement.

DC Council votes to curb rent “concessions”: Rent increases are a fact of life for apartment tenants, but they are supposed to be predictable for those who live in the buildings governed by the District’s rent control laws. Some landlords found a way around limits on annual rent increases by offering leases at a lower monthly rate, but calculating rent increases based on a higher one. At-Large Council member Anita Bonds introduced a bill intended to end the practice. The Council approved it in November and again in December. Next stop: the mayor’s office. (Greater Greater Washington)

The first residents of Forest Hills: They were not the National Bureau of Standards scientists who built homes near work, or farmers such as the Peirce and Shoemaker families and the enslaved people who worked the land and Peirce Mill. They were the Nacotchtanks, a tribe that quarried the Soapstone Valley for the soapstone, of course. (The Washington Post)

Embassy culture and cuisine year-round: We saw long lines in May at the embassies that participated in the annual Around the World tour. But a few offer events throughout the year, and some of the most “diverse” diversions are hosted the Embassy of Austria at 3524 International Court, NW. (The Washington Post)