[WardFive] RE: Action requested: Move DC Public School Buses from Adams Place NE to Okie St NE

Hello, Mr. Aguirre.

 

Thank you for responding.  Please allow me to chime in on this matter.  The community has reached out to your office for over a year (see email message below) and the problem has not been resolved.  We have reached out to Council, to no avail.  It's disheartening to read, "our responsibility is to transport eligible District of Columbia students in a safe, efficient and timely manner to/from school," yet, we have pictures illustrating OSSE employees making illegal U-turns, in DCPS vehicles, on a bridge, obstructing traffic during the day.  I surely hope there wasn't any kids on that particular bus.  It's also disheartening to witness that our elected officials CONTINUE to ignore the concerns from the community.  When will it end?  Just because the problem is ignored, doesn't mean it goes away.  We now have new residents complaining about the same issue.  I can only pray our community doesn't experience some serious accident before OSSE and/or the Council respond to our concerns. 

 

Regards,

 

Karla Butler, Commissioner

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (5C)

Single Member District (SMD) 5C02

Phone: 202.640.3628

Email: 5C02@anc.dc.gov

Web:  www.karlabutlerdc.com

_______________________________________________________________________

From: "Solchenberger, Ryan (OSSE)" <ryan.solchenberger@dc.gov>
Date: July 1, 2013, 6:33:02 PM EDT
To: "Durso, Emily (OSSE)" <emily.durso@dc.gov>
Cc: "Alvarez, Jose (OSSE)" <jose.alvarez@dc.gov>
Subject: RE: Bus Parking

Hello Emily:

Here are the steps OSSE-DOT will take to mitigate the parking/bus issues near Adams Place bus terminal.

1. We will reiterate, in writing, to drivers and attendants that they are not allowed to block traffic while driving school buses in the Queen Chapel Road neighborhood area. OSSE-DOT will begin to monitor this activity with the GPS system, and document drivers who violate this policy. This strategy worked well to mitigate a somewhat similar situation near St. Coletta's School.

2. OSSE-DOT has been working to identify an alternate parking location for OSSE-DOT bus drivers and attendants and provide morning and afternoon shuttle service to employees. The most likely parking location is on New York Avenue, across from the old Hecht Building. This plan will likely take 2 – 4 weeks to fully execute.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Thank you,

Ryan Solchenberger

Director, OSSE Student Transportation

1709 3^rd St. NE

Washington, D.C. 20002

Cell: 202-421-1029

On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Solchenberger, Ryan (OSSE) <ryan.solchenberger@dc.gov> wrote:

 

Hello Ms. Butler:

It was nice speaking with you today. It's clear that we can work together to resolve the concerns of your constituents. Below is a recap of our conversation; please feel free to add anything I may have missed or ask questions about any of the information.

Immediate Action

1. As of Thursday, August 29, OSSE-DOT drivers will not be providing shuttle services to employees on the following streets: 20^th Place; 21^st St.; 22^nd St; Douglas St.; Channing St.; Bryant St. Lafayette St. For a short period of time, employees may still park on those streets and walk to the bus terminal.

2. OSSE-DOT will modify employee parking on Adams Place to accommodate business owners who need to operate on that street.

3. OSSE-DOT has GPS on every school bus, and we will begin using this system to track buses that violate this policy. For drivers who do violate this policy, disciplinary action will be initiated.

Long Term

1. OSSE-DOT is currently negotiating with a company to allow use of a parking area along New York Ave (1300 block NE). When that agreement is in place, OSSE-DOT employees from the Adams Place bus terminal will park in that lot and be shuttled to and from work.

2. The Department of General Services is also investigating alternate parking locations for our employees to ensure that we have more than one option to move forward.

3. OSSE-DOT is interested in becoming an active member in the beautification programs in the neighborhood around Adams Place terminal.

I will send you regular updates on how many buses GPS shows entering the off-limits areas so that we can track the incidents and ensure that they are decreasing. Please keep in mind that there may be some legitimate school bus routes running through those neighborhoods and that the goal here is to eliminate the practice of school buses picking up and dropping off employees in your neighborhood.

Thank you for your time. Working together, we'll get this done.

Ryan Solchenberger

Director, OSSE Division of Transportation

810 1^st St NE – 4^th Floor, Room 4034

Washington, D.C. 20002

Office: 202-724-5647

Cell: 202-421-1029

 

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From: Aguirre, Jesus (OSSE)
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 7:53 PM
To: Jennifer Gerholdt; woodridge5b@yahoogroups.com; Henderson, Kaya (DCPS); Ruda, Lisa M. (DCPS); kmcduffie@dccouncil.us; woodridgesouth@yahoogroups.com; wardfive@googlegroups.com; ATD EOM MIS; ATD DGS; Butler, Karla (ANC 5C02); Brumley, Gretchen (OSSE)
Subject: Re: Action requested: Move DC Public School Buses from Adams Place NE to Okie St NE

Ms. Gerholdt,

 

Thank you for your email regarding our school buses and the location of our terminal facilities.  I want to clarify that OSSE, not DCPS, is responsible for the District of Columbia's school transportation programs, and our responsibility is to transport eligible District of Columbia students in a safe, efficient and timely manner to/from school.  In order to meet this responsibility, it is imperative that we have appropriate terminal locations, staffing and equipment.  We are currently conducting an analysis of our operational needs that will ultimately determine the right number of terminal facilities and the location of these facilities that will allow us to provide the most efficient and effective operations for our students.  Of course, a significant consideration in this process is ensuring that we do not negatively impact the community in which we ultimately locate our facilities.

Although any decision about future location of our terminal facilities is a longer-term decision, I have shared your concerns with our terminal management team and I am copying our director of transportation, Gretchen Brumley, so that she and her team can directly address the concerns regarding any negative behavior by our staff.  They will work to ensure our staff are adhering to traffic safety laws and properly dispose of their trash items. 

 

Regards,

 

______________________________
Jesús Aguirre

State Superintendent
Office of the State Superintendent of Education
810 1st Street NE | Washington, DC 20002 

P: 202-727-3471 | E:jesus.aguirre@dc.gov

http://osse.dc.gov

https://www.facebook.com/OSSEDC

http://twitter.com/ossedc

From: Jennifer Gerholdt <jennifer.gerholdt@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Jennifer Gerholdt <jennifer.gerholdt@yahoo.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 4:38 PM
To: "woodridge5b@yahoogroups.com" <woodridge5b@yahoogroups.com>, Kaya Henderson <Kaya.Henderson@dc.gov>, "Ruda, Lisa M. (OOC)" <Lisa.Ruda@dc.gov>, Kenyon McDuffie <kmcduffie@dccouncil.us>, "woodridgesouth@yahoogroups.com" <woodridgesouth@yahoogroups.com>, "wardfive@googlegroups.com" <wardfive@googlegroups.com>, ATD EOM MIS <mayor@dc.gov>, ATD DGS <dres@dc.gov>, Jesús Aguirre <jesus.aguirre@dc.gov>, "Butler, Karla (ANC 5C02)" <5C02@anc.dc.gov>
Subject: Action requested: Move DC Public School Buses from Adams Place NE to Okie St NE

Dear Kaya, Jesus, Lisa, and Council Member McDuffie:

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to request action with regards to moving the DC Public School buses from Adams Place NE in Langdon to Okie Street NE off New York Avenue NE, with the other school buses. Many community members, including myself, believe that with a school system of less than 50,000 students, there is absolutely no need for all these school buses, and having two school bus facilities/parking lots located within such close proximity to each other.

I live at 2504 Lafayette Ave NE, which as you can see from the map below, is in close proximity to the bus parking lot on Adams Place NE. DC Public School bus employees park their cars all throughout the neighborhood, especially in front of my house, which results in a lot of unnecessary foot and vehicle traffic. The employees then use the buses as shuttles to pick each other up between 5 and 6am, and drop each other off at the end of the work day between 5 and 6:30pm. This also results in excessive idling and pollution from the exhaust and diesel. 

In addition, I have seen buses doing illegal U-turns on the bridge on Queens Chapel NE right by the Stadium Club and Echo Stage.

Finally, the employees will often leave trash all around my house and nearby houses and green space, which I need to pick up weekly to avoid the neighborhood looking more trashy than necessary.

This situation is having a negative impact on the community and our quality of life. I urge you to take a leadership role and help us in our continual efforts to make Langdon a better and more healthy place to live.

I look forward to hearing from you on next steps, and how I can assist you.

Best,

Jennifer Gerholdt

 

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