District Cancels Permit for Tower
By Debbi Wilgoren

The District government last night revoked the building permit for a huge
telecommunications tower under construction in Northwest Washington, a D.C.
spokesman said. The highly unusual move to stop a half-built project could
land the city in court.

The notice to rescind and cancel the building permit will be delivered this
morning to attorneys for American Tower Systems, said Robert Henry, spokesman
for the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. The tower company
received permission from the District six months ago to erect a 756-foot
antenna tower in the 4600 block of 41st Street NW.

"We know we're going to take a financial hit on this one," Henry said. "We
made a mistake, and we're going to pay for that mistake."

Company attorneys have said they would go to court to try to save the project.

After resident complaints prompted Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) to try to
stop the tower, city attorneys spent more than two days searching for
inconsistencies in the permitting process on which to base their revocation.

Henry said the notice states that the $5 million project should have required
an environmental impact study, which the city did not order. It also faults
American Tower Systems for listing several company names on its application,
at least one of which is not incorporated to do business in the District. The
tower would be used for television, cellular phone and radio antennae.

Zoning and permitting officials approved the original application with little
scrutiny, in part because of a mistake-riddled memo from the city planning
office that wrongly described the tower as a replacement of a structure of
similar size.

(See today's Metro Section for rest of story.)

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Congratulations are in order to all those who worked so hard and
energetically to stop this monster tower. I want to especially thank Jo
Cooper for keeping me informed so that I could keep you up to speed on what
was happening.  I also want to thank Mayor Williams for doing the right
thing, and Kathy Patterson and her Chief of Staff, Joanne Ginsberg for their
swift and decisive work on this problem. A mistake was made, but our
officials stepped up to the plate to correct it.  We should feel good about
that. --  KS
 
 

ELECTION POLL WORKERS DESPERATELY NEEDED
From:   biking2@yahoo.com (Richard Clark)

Hi Ms. Smith, when you talked about the upcoming local
elections, I thought this might be a good time to put
in the pitch for the  DC Board of Elections which is
in DESPERATE need of poll workers for the November 7th
elections.

There is a training session that they would be
required to attend which lasts about one hour,
plus they would help set up the night before.  They
work all day on November 7th. The pay is $100, but
they will derive more benefit from the civic duty
they are performing.

If anyone is interested, please contact the DC Board
of Election at  727-5691 (Mrs. Leslie Hatch)
or  727-2516 (Ms. Jackson)
Thanks.
 
 

MORE RATS IN THE 'HOOD
From:   NancyLeRoy@aol.com

Re: Enid Holden's concern about rats near River Road -- the pizza place at
the corner of Fessenden and Wisconsin is rat's heaven.  A huge dumpster
overflows with stuffed plastic kitchen-type garbage bags.  It's obvious by
the time I get there in the early a.m. that the rats have already gnawed
through some of the bags; crumpled aluminum foil wrap is scattered near the
dumpster.  If the people who eat the food at these places can't be stopped
from throwing their garbage around (I found a tossed bag with food leftovers
in my curbside garden at the corner of River and Fessenden), can't the DC
laws be enforced at commercial establishments?

Any suggestions on what we can do about this? -- KS
 
 

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

**** From: Darnot@aol.com
Please make note of a garage sale to promote F.U.R. (feline urban rescue)
this Saturday, October 7 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. in the alley behind
Chesapeake between 43rd and 44th streets, NW. Tell everyone to come!

**** From: Bkravetz@aol.com
I am looking for someone to do filing and other clerical chores for me ---
maybe 5-6 hours a week, could be a 2-3 hours a day for 2 days or all in one
day.  Very flexible.  Since I have my office at home, the only requirement is
that the person LOVE the dog and cat!  Please contact bethkravetz@aol.com.
Thanks.

****  From: dr.j@erols.com (Janet Solomon)
I'm a consultant working from a home office.  Are there others in the area
who would like to form a support group - electronic or face-to-face - for
similar home-workers?  Janet on Alton Place.
 
 

TENLEYTOWN FIRE HOUSE AND THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
From:   KWisnosky@MEICOMPANY.com (Kerry Wisnosky)

As I have written letters to Council members et al. in the past, I'm shocked
to see how the historical society continues to slow roll and stop every
positive step forward that is attempted to be made in the Tenleytown area.
The thing that is most amazing, is that I would guess that greater than 90%
of these members don't even live in this area.

I have talked to at least 15 firemen and women over the last 6 months at the
Tenleytown station and EVERY SINGLE one of them has said they wish the
station would be replaced with a new modern one that is right for the 2000's
year timeframe and not the early 1900s.

I have small children who go visit the station a few times a week.  It's
dangerous, unhealthy, and way out dated.  Seems like every step forward gets
us a step back.

Another good example is the Home Depot backout.  Once again, our "Historical
geniuses" greatly limited their flexibility so Home Depot had no choice but to
go elsewhere.  So now we've got to continue trucking all the way to Rockville
to get basic hardware supplies.

So we residents, who really live in this specific area and pay our
extraordinary taxes for the benefit of living in the city, are left out in
the cold.

How do we stop them?