Phil Toomajian, ANC6A Chair

⚠️ REMINDER ⚠️

It’s a big day tomorrow! Thousands of students will be going back to school which means more young people will be walking, biking, and scooting!

If you’ll be driving — slow down! Let’s keep our kids safe and work together to make this an amazing school year.

Dear neighbors,

For the past 8 years, I’ve been privileged to represent our community as the Commissioner for ANC6A02. I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Mayors, Councilmembers, and dedicated Commissioners as well as numerous other ANC6A residents to help tackle issues big and small in our community. I’m tremendously proud to have played a small part in many large changes in our area. Looking back, we’ve renovated schools and we’ve added a few new playgrounds at our community schools and parks. We’ve implemented important traffic calming including road diets, added bike lanes, all-way stop signs, speed humps, and curb extensions to help make our streets safer for all users and to take steps to get closer to the Vision Zero goal of truly safe streets. We’ve repaired and replaced vacant and blighted buildings, added affordable housing, and improved H Street and all while building community through our ANC, our schools, our parks, and our great local businesses. Our ANC has continued a fine tradition of excellent service and engagement and I’m proud to say it remains one of the very best ANCs in DC. It’s been wonderful working with so many of you who share the commitment to this community to help make it an even better place to live for all who call it home.

The time has come for me to return my refocus my attention on my family and my other responsibilities and to make room for others with the energy and call to serve here. Thus, I will not be seeking re-eleciton to ANC6A this year.

I am thrilled to share that two outstanding current constituents of mine have stepped forward to run to represent our community as commissioners for the new ANC6A02 and ANC6A03 districts. Mike Velasquez and Roberta Shapiro are both longtime residents in our community with demonstrated records of serving their neighbors, working on our ANC’s volunteer communities and both will make us proud as Commissioners going forward.

Roberta Shapiro is a longtime F Street NE resident who currently serves on our ANC’s Economic Development and Zoning Committee. She has an extensive record of volunteer work in our community and is a fixture on F Street NE where she works to bring neighbors together to address matters big and small. She’s worked with me on various matters of import in her corner of the district and has regularly brought new and old residents to the attention of the ANC, Council and other district agencies. Roberta has helped address street safety, pedestrian and cyclist concerns, residential parking, construction and housing affordability. She's previously been a leader with the Capitol Hill Village where she helped coordinate services and assist our seniors with aging in place. I am thrilled she is willing to serve as our elected Commissioner for the new 6A03 (largely 7th to 12th, D to G Street NE) going forward and I very much look forward to voting for her in November. Roberta is copied here and can be reached at [email protected]. Please let me know if I can help you get to know Roberta better or if you have any questions about why I support her to be our next representive.

Mike Velasquez is also very well-equipped to be our new 6A02 Commissioner and will be a terrific representative for residents along G Street NE and to the north, Mike and his family are longtime G Street NE fixtures where they are already well-known community leaders. For years, Mike has helped bring his neighbors together for block parties and front porch gatherings and works closely with neighbors new and and old to build community, discuss challenges, and engage the District agencies, the ANC, and the Council to help bring attention to maters for importance. I have regularly relied on Mike to help connect me with residents along 12th, 13th, G, Linden and other nearby streets who he knows well from his unofficial leadership role in that part of our neighborhood. Mike has been engaged on H Street, street safety, traffic calming, housing, development, and more. He’s been a parent leader at local schools Ludlow-Taylor and Stuart Hobson and has been a volunteer stalwart in Capitol Hill Little League as well. Mike already serves on on the ANC’s Alcohol and Beverage Licensing Committee where he helps support local businesses and helps navigate good relationships between the businesses and neighborhood residents. I am grateful that Mike stepped up to continue his service to our community by running to serve as the Commissioner for the new 6A02 district, which includes the northern part of the district I have represented as well as parts of H Street and areas just to its north. But for redistricting placing MIke’s house and mine in different single member districts, I would be thrilled to vote for Mike this fall and I look forward to supporting him going forward. Mike can be reached at [email protected]. Please let me know if I can help share more information about Mike’s background and service in our community, both of which well-qualify him to represent us going forward.

I also want to echo Chair Gove’s request for residents to join one of our ANC committees. Non-commissioner volunteers lead our Transportation and Public Space, Economic Development and Zoning, Community Outreach, and Alcohol licensing committees and we are always seeking more volunteers to get involved there. If you wish to be more involved in our community, these are great opportunities to get to know neighbors and serve and the best way to get more involved in our ANC. Many current and past commissioners, including myself, were previously members of the ANC6A committees. The requirements for participation are not burdensome and the value residents add to the Commission’s work is great. Please feel free to reach out to me, your commissioner, or the chair of any of the ANC6A committees to learn more.

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve as your Commissioner. I look forward to completing my current term and to remaining involved as an engaged neighbor going forward. Please join me in supporting Roberta and Mike as they step up their service to our community.

Best,

Phil Toomajian
Commissioner, ANC6A02

There are great resources at our local COVID centers, including rapid tests, PCR tests, and KN95 masks. There is a COVID center on Barracks Row and another just west of us near 10th & F Streets NW.

Residents now have access to free KN95 masks, vaccinations, boosters, take-home rapid antigen tests as well as a new self-administered PCR test — all in one place. Here are today's COVID Centers.

For more info visit coronavirus.dc.gov/covidcenters

Mark your calendars for the Ward 6 Public Schools Parent Organization’s Middle School Principal Panel Discussion on Wednesday, March 9, at 7:30 pm. See attached flyer for details.

Principals Greg Dohmann (Jefferson Middle School Academy), Marlene Magrino (Eliot-Hine Middle School), Erik Fraser (Stuart-Hobson Middle School), and Kim Adutwum (Capitol Hill Montessori@Logan) will share their ideas on what makes a good middle school, how their schools help all students reach their highest potential, what extracurricular activities they offer, and more. Denise Forte, the interim CEO of the Education Trust, will be the moderator.

The renovated School Within School building is starting to come together. Looking forward to having it back and fully open this summer.

Free at-home rapid and PCR tests available via DC Govt. & special availability nearby for seniors!

DC is making free COVID tests available to residents through a few different sites and means. The Rosedale Library/Community Center and the NE Branch Library both generally have PCR tests available to pick up, take at home, and drop off in drop boxes outside the locations. These typically take about 2 days to receive results, though they have sometimes taken longer as the number of residents testing has surged with holidays and the rise of Omicron.

DC is also making rapid at-home tests available now. Unfortunately, the closest locations that they are available to all are the SW Library and the Shaw Library.
For both rapid and PCR test pick up locations, you can check to confirm that the location has tests available and in stock at https://coronavirus.dc.gov/testyourself

As of tomorrow, Rapid at home tests will also be available for Senior Citizens to pick up on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (1-3 pm) at the Hayes Senior Wellness Center (500 K St NE). Please help alert our eligible family members and neighbors of this opportunity and help keep yourself and those around you healthy and safe.
The CDC and FEMA also recently reopened an in-person PCR testing site near the Building Museum (401 F St NW). https://ineedacovid19test.com/

Thanks,
Phil

www.ineedacovid19test.com

Please join me in supporting the Stuart Hobson school library!

Welcome My Students Back to School With New Library Books!, a project from Ms. Tomlinson Help me give my students a library full of new, high-interest, diverse books! My students are bookworms with varied reading interests and preferences that reflect the diversity of our school commun...

Relieved to share that DPR/DGS will repair the long broken/semi functioning merry go round at Sherwood tomorrow. This will result in a temporary closure of the playground. We hope it will reopen by the end of the day and that the merry go round will be fully functioning then.

Sherwood Playground Will Be Closed Mon..4/26 for Maintenance from DC Dept of Parks and Recreation : Nixle The DC Department of Parks and Recreation and the DC Department of General Services are both pleased to share with the community that the Sherwood Playground will be closed Monday, April 26, 2021 to ...

William is too young to vote, but he’s already becoming a strong community advocate.

Protip: constituent requests that arrive in hand written letters from children go to the top of an ANC Commissioner’s to do list.

Neighbors,

Please join us by pitching in this weekend and picking up trash to help clean our community.

I’m excited to co-host a clean up with Councilmember Charles Allen at Sherwood Rec Center on Saturday morning starting at 10 am. We’ll have gloves and bags for you to use to collect trash at and around Sherwood or on other nearby blocks of your choosing. Please feel free to come by (mask on) to pick up supplies or to use your own supplies. Contact me or ANC6A resident and Councilmember Allen staff member Jen Demayo with questions or to arrange to meet up.

There are a number of additional sites where cleanups are taking place in our community this weekend that have been organizing by ANC6A commissioners and residents including Wylie and I Streets NE, 1400 blk Duncan Place NE, 1300 blk E St NE, and H Street from 8th to 14th St NE. Whether you join us at one of these locations or just pick up any trash that may have accumulated on your block or your walking route, please join us in pitching in by picking up this weekend. Let’s all do our part to help the neighborhood shine and to keep litter out of our rivers.

Thanks,

Phil Toomajian
Commissioner, ANC6A02