WARD 1 COUNCIL CANDIDATES FORUM, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 7:30 P.M.: THE KALORAMA CITIZENS ASSOCIATION will host a special forum featuring the candidates vying for the WARD 1 COUNCIL SEAT on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, at 7:30 P.M., at GOODWILL BAPTIST CHURCH, 1862 Kalorama Road, NW.
Three-term Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau is stepping down, leaving a crowded field of candidates hoping to replace her. Those slated to attend the special KCA forum are: RASHIDA BROWN, ANC commissioner in ANC1E Park View; TERRY LYNCH, long-time Mount Pleasant resident and executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations; APARNA RAJ, Columbia Heights resident committed to the issues of housing, schools, union jobs, and public transit; JACKIE REYES-YANES, executive director of Mayor Bowser’s Office of Latino Affairs; and MIGUEL TRINDADE DERAMA, chair of ANC1B serving lower Columbia Heights. All are welcome to attend this KCA event. Bring your questions!***
The farmers market on the plaza, 2016 (photo by Mary Belcher)
KCA, AM4RD, AND JUBILEE REACH AGREEMENT IN WIN FOR ADAMS MORGAN
The Kalorama Citizens Association and Adams Morgan for Reasonable Development on December 12, 2025, successfully concluded their lawsuit against Jubilee Housing Inc. with an agreement that ensures continued community access to the 4,000+-square-foot plaza at 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW.
Jubilee, which became the property owner during the eight-year legal battle, will build deeply affordable housing on the footprint of the old bank building at the site and construct a new, greatly improved plaza. KCA and AM4RD negotiators worked with Jubilee and its architects, Eric Colbert and Associates, to design the future plaza, which will include seating, greenery, a covered portico area, and a small stage. The DC Historic Preservation Review Board in September 2024 approved Jubilee’s construction plans. (See the building and the beautiful plaza that will serve the neighborhood for years to come.)
The lawsuit began in 2017, when KCA and AM4RD sued then–property-owner SunTrust Bank to preserve public access to the plaza, which was created for community use in the late 1970s. SunTrust planned to sell the site to developers who wanted to construct a luxury condo building that would have covered the entirety of the plaza.
The lawsuit, Kalorama Citizens Association vs. SunTrust Bank Company, made its way through the legal system with mixed rulings for each side. In December 2022, the DC Court of Appeals ruled that the case should go to trial, in a win for KCA and AM4RD. SunTrust, which became Truist Bank during the course of the case, then donated the property to Jubilee Housing, Inc.
Paul Zukerberg, the attorney who originally represented KCA and AM4RD in the case, retired before its end. Attorneys Cynthia Pols, who also worked on the case from the start, and Amanda Fox, brought the lawsuit to its successful conclusion. The attorneys provided their expert legal services to KCA and AM4RD pro bono, while KCA donations helped cover court costs.
After nearly three years of discussion, KCA, AM4RD, and Jubilee reached agreement to ensure the public’s continued use of the privately owned plaza. Under the agreement, Jubilee, the property owner, granted KCA a conservation easement to help plan events, recommend upgrades, and ensure continued community access to the existing and future plazas in perpetuity.
Judge D.W. Tunnage of the D.C. Superior Court dismissed the case on December 12, 2025. You can read the Jubilee-KCA easement agreement here.
***
THANKS TO KCA MEMBERS, WE’LL BE DONATING A NEW BENCH TO THE “ANCESTORS PAVILION” AT WALTER PIERCE PARK! KCA raised more than $3,500 in recent months to donate a wood-and-steel bench to the Ancestors Pavilion at Walter Pierce Park, so that visitors can fully enjoy the commemorative space.
The All Souls Unitarian Church choir helps dedicate the Ancestors Pavilion with song in September 2024. (Photo by Nancy Shia)
The Pavilion, dedicated in September 2024, features nine signs listing the names, ages, and death dates of 8,428 African American and Quaker Washingtonians buried in two 19th century cemeteries at the site. Interspersed among the names are images that tell the stories of the people laid to rest there.
The grassroots Walter Pierce Park Archaeology and Commemoration Project has been supported by KCA members since 2005, when concerned community members, descendants of the buried, and Howard University joined forces to protect the site. Descendants and their allies worked closely with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation and DC Department of General Services for the last several years to create the Ancestors Pavilion. You can learn more about the remarkable history of the park at The Walter Pierce Park Cemeteries | Commemorating the African American and Quaker Cemeteries at Walter Pierce Park in Washington, DC.
***
KCA MARKS ADAMS MORGAN’S TWO UNDERGROUND RAILROAD SITES
Mary Belcher, Sylvia Y. Cyrus of ASALH, Denis James of KCA, Underground Railroad expert Jenny Masur, and the District’s Historic Preservation Officer David Maloney at Kalorama Park in 2019. (Photo by Kent Boese)
Descendants unveil the National Underground Railroad markers at Walter Pierce Park, December 2021. (Photo by Mary Belcher)
The four Underground Railroad markers at the Calvert Street entrance to Walter Pierce Park were dedicated in December 2021 by descendants of the Colored Union Benevolent Association, which founded D.C.’s busiest Reconstruction Era Black cemetery, which occupied the park site from 1870 to 1890.
The signs focus on the activism of the Colored Union Benevolent Association; the cemetery’s links to the 1848 escape of 77 enslaved people on the schooner Pearl; the soldiers, sailors, and self-emancipated refugees of the Civil War buried at the site; and the Howard University archaeological survey of the site conducted by biological anthropologist Mark Mack and concerned community members from 2005 to 2013. The Walter Pierce signs were written by historians Mary Belcher and Mara Cherkasky and designed by Janice Olsen in coordination with rangers at Rock Creek Park of the National Park Service, which owns the Calvert Street entrance to the park. The grant obtained by KCA paid for three of the signs at Walter Pierce Park, and Rock Creek Park paid for the fourth. Read the Kalorama Park Underground Railroad nomination here, and a later submission to the National Register of Historic Places here. Read the Walter Pierce Park Underground Railroad nomination here.***
KCA: WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO
THE KALORAMA CITIZENS ASSOCIATION is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization founded in 1919 to promote the interests of the residents of Adams Morgan, DC. Meetings take place at Good Will Baptist Church at Kalorama and Columbia roads, where we host civic leaders, activists, and experts on a range of timely issues. Our activities are:- Historic Preservation: KCA is Adams Morgan’s chief advocate for historic preservation. Click on Historic Adams Morgan for details and reports.
- Parks: KCA supports the Biltmore Triangle Garden and sponsors walking tours of Kalorama and Walter Pierce Parks. Click on Parks for more.
- Neighborhood Development and Zoning: KCA works to mitigate challenges to our neighborhood’s quality of life that arise from development pressures. Click on Development & Zoning for more.
- Neighborhood agreements with liquor-serving establishments: KCA pursues voluntary agreements with liquor-license-holding establishments to ensure that the interests of residents are being served. See Business Agreements for details.