Coming Up At The

Emergence Community Arts Collective

733 Euclid St. NW

Washington, DC 20001

(202) 462-2285

www.campaign.ecacollective.org

Shop With A Heart at the ECAC Online Gift Bazaar

Our first annual Gift Bazaar features handmade crafts, new kitchen appliances, coupons for services and many other items generously donated by ECAC patrons.  We are also offering three DVDs that will make great gifts � �Infinity - The Ultimate Trip�, �2012 The Odyssey�, and �Dianetics � An Introduction� (while supplies last).  A catalog with photos of the items and descriptions is now available at www.ecacollective.org/documents/ECAC_Bazaar_12-13-09.pdf.  All proceeds benefit the continued operation of our cultural arts and community space.  To purchase an item, email Sylvia@... or call (202) 462-2285 with the item number and name to confirm its availability.  Items may then be purchased online with a major credit card or by check.  All items are available at the ECAC and can be picked up at anytime. 

Wednesday December 16^th from 7:00 � 9:30pm: Understanding and Practicing Forgiveness � a benefit workshop for the ECAC

Our approach will be to open with a conversation, present relevant steps to practicing forgiveness, and then to look for the willingness within the group to demonstrate the actual practice of forgiveness of another, of an institution, or of oneself.  Time permitting, we will close with a brief discussion of the experience.  Al Lingo is a practicing Christian and a Buddhist, a protestant minister and a lay dharma teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.  He lives in and supports The Mindfulness Practice Center of Atlanta in Georgia, and he teaches psychosynthesis, a spiritual psychology, in the American public and abroad.  On a personal note, Al Lingo has been a dear friend, supporter and mentor to me for many years and has been a supporter of ECAC since its beginning.  This workshop will be a benefit for ECAC in its funding drive to meet its financial needs for 2009. RSVP is not required but would be appreciated.
Donation: $25

See you soon,

Sylvia

KALORAMA Q&A

December 11, 2009

Community Question #1: Why don’t the plans show the new french drain between the basketball court (east side) and the new playing field joining up with the sanitary drain system already in place on the south edge of the basketball court?

DPR Response: Yes

Revised plan sheet P-1 shows an underdrain (“French drain”) running the length of the standard gravity retaining wall and special concrete coping and tying into the existing sanitary sewer.

NOTE: The revised plans will soon be posted at: http://dpr.dc.gov/dpr/cwp/view,a,1239,q,640867.asp.

Community Question #2: Why don’t the plans require that the heavily compacted surface area of the new playing field be removed to a depth necessary to reach un-compacted soil? This area was heavily compacted by the contractor’s equipment (bobcats, backhoes, trucks, etc. Since then, two piles of construction spoils (not soil) have been dumped there and have been steadily eroding onto the basketball court with each rain.

DPR Response: DPR has committed to removing the soil that was brought to the Kalorama site from another project site. 

No areas of this site are “heavily compacted.” Compaction routinely occurs on construction sites. All compacted areas are subject to remediation according to contract documents in preparation of final conditions. See generally, Specifications 02200 “Earthwork.”  No “construction spoils” have been dumped on this site. The large pile of soil on site at this time is soil brought from off-site for use as fill between the proposed multi-use court and the existing basketball court, in accordance with the construction documents. See Specifications 02200 Part 1, Section 1.01.C, contractor shall “[p]rovide suitable fill from off-site if on-site quantities are insufficient or unacceptable, and legally dispose of excess fill off-site.”

Before any fill is placed, it will be assessed for suitability according to Specification 02202 Part 2, Section 2.01.C (“Common fill: Mineral soil substantially free from organic and unsuitable materials, and free from rock or gravel larger than 2" in diameter; 80 percent passing No. 40 sieve and not more than 50 percent passing No. 200 sieve.”). 

The area intended for the grass multi-use court as shown on revised plan sheet P-1 will be prepared according to Specification 02200, Part 3, Section 3.01.E: fill will be placed “in layers not more than eight inches loose depth for materials compacted by heavy equipment and not more than four inches loose depth for materials compacted by hand equipment to subgrades indicated as follows:…Common Fill: Use under unpaved areas.

Community Question #3: How can DPR expect the community to believe that those two piles of

refuse would form any suitable part for the construction of the new playing field? The piles are

clay with many small, medium, and very large stones and broken-up concrete mixed in. They are

JUNK. We need new, proper materials for the construction of this field. See attachment of

conceptual plan from DPR.

DPR Response: See above.

Community Question #4: Will the existing “curb” or retaining wall at the east side of the

basketball court be removed and re-built? After just about 5 months in place, it’s already showing

many cracks. This doesn’t bode well for its long-term usefulness. And now that the plan has changed and there will no longer be a ramp next to the curb, it will be asked to hold back a lot

more earth and water.

DPR Response: DPR is aware of one crack in the concrete coping and is pursuing remediation by the

contractor.

The proposed special concrete coping and the standard gravity retaining wall are both DDOT standard

details.

Subsurface water will be directed away from both the special concrete coping and the standard gravity

retaining wall via the capillary action of water through suitably porous backfill into an underdrain

comprised of perforated PVC pipe set in aggregate, as shown in at sheet P-2, detail 3 and sheet P-1detail

1, respectively.

NOTE: “Weep holes” comprise another, different method for releasing the water and the subsequent

pressure (“surcharge”) behind a low retaining wall. The underdrain proposed here is sufficient for

releasing surcharge behind the special concrete coping and standard gravity retaining wall.

Community Question #5: There is a need to have a community discussion about the landscape

plan that has been part of this project. Again, this was not vetted in the community as to type and

number of trees, shrubs and any other plantings or for their suitability, or whether they are native

species and will be likely to prosper. For instance, the plan calls for planting shrubs along 19th

Street where large and understory trees prevent there being adequate sunlight for the new shrubs

to prosper. Please remember that community volunteers have historically taken care of the park’s

planting, watering, pruning and mulching. As a further for instance, the most recent landscape

plan contains 134 Viburnum of two varietals. That’s a LOT of plants to water and prune and care

for in other ways. There are already perhaps a dozen or so on the Mintwood border of the park

that are massively overgrown to about 12-14 feet high.

DPR Response: The plans show that two trees will be replaced with three Paperbark Maple, Acer

griseum, Magnolias are not well suited to life in the shade of the nearby Elms nor life on a slope.

Magnolias are lowland trees, e.g., they do best in swamps, bogs, and other low, level land areas, not

well-drained slopes.

DPR has committed to re-assessing the two dead trees in the park that are designated for removal in the

plans. DPR will coordinate with DDOT’s Urban Forestry Administration and the community to set up a site

visit.

DPR also has committed to consider replacing the two dead trees with other types of trees after input

from the community.

The plants proposed at 19th Street, NW, as shown on sheets L-1 and L-2, require shade and are wellknown, shade-loving, hardy plants commonly planted in this area. See Dirr, M., Manual of Woody Plants (1998), pp. 204-205 (Japanese Plum Yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’, “one of the best

evergreens for use in shade and heat in the South”) and “Recommended Ground Covers for the

Washington, D.C., Area” prepared by Fairfax County Park Authority (Alleghany Spurge, Pachysandra

procumbens).

The plants to be planted in the area of the proposed grass multi-purpose court and existing basketball

court are two species of viburnum well-known for their hardiness in the Washington, D.C. area,

specifically David Viburnum, Viburnum davidii and Burkwood Viburnum, Viburnum Burkwoodii. (NOTE:

“Varietal” is a term properly applied to wine; plants are properly classified as species/genus/variety or

cultivar.) Both are excellent choices for this site. See Dirr, M., Manual of Woody Plants (1998), pp. 1057-

1058 (Viburnum burkwoodii “thrives in a polluted [urban] environment” and “is definitely one of the best

viburnums in the Midwest and South.”) and p. 1064 (Viburnum davidii “is a beautiful Viburnum and if it

never fruited or flowered it would still be a plant of the first order.”)

The plants at property border between the park and Mintwood residences are Wayfaring Viburnum,

Viburnum Lantana, which typically grow to a height of 10-15’ and a spread of 10-15’, and are an excellent

choice for a screening plant between private and public property. See Dirr, M., Manual of Woody Plants

(1998), pp. 1072-1073 (“Used for hedges, screens, massing, shrub border.)

Further, a large canopy tree, such as an oak, Quercus spp., is not recommended because the extensive

root system of the existing Elms would compete adversely for space and nutrients with the root system of

any other large canopy trees planted in the vicinity, thus jeopardizing the health of both the new and the

existing trees. By contrast, Paperbark Maple, as an ornamental tree with an average maximum height of

30’, has a more limited root system that is not likely to compete with the root system of the existing Elms.

See Dirr, M., Manual of Woody Plants (1998), pp. 19-20.

Community Question #6: In June, former DPR Director-nominee Hartsock promised that the

basketball court would be re-surfaced as a part of this project. Cracks in the surface have

multiplied and gotten much wider since the project began, Water from the overly compacted area

to the east is invading under the court. The ground under the court is acting like a sponge and

swelling, causing these cracks.

DPR Response: There is no evidence that any areas of this site are “overly compacted.”

There is no evidence that that “[t]he ground is acting like a sponge and swelling, causing these cracks.”

Asphalt is subject to cracking through normal weathering, as widely evidenced by the streets in the

Washington, D.C. area.

Resurfacing the basketball court and adjoining area is a separate project. DPR will re-inspect the courts

and determine the scope of work for the project and the estimated costs as necessary in early 2010.

Other Discussion Topics

Storage Container –

DPR has committed to removing the storage container until construction re-starts at the site.