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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Neighbors want campus’s brick sidewalks fixed

Residents are requesting that the city fix its deteriorating brick sidewalks in the Foggy Bottom area, an issue the University is also trying to address with its campus streetscape plans.

Irked with the sidewalks, the Foggy Bottom Association and Advisory Neighborhood Commission are calling on Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans for support.

“Residents are concerned because a poorly tended brick sidewalk is a serious safety hazard, especially in the evenings or during bad weather,” Foggy Bottom Association President Asher Corson said. “Our request is very simple: fix the sidewalks.”

Evans’ spokesman Andrew Huff said the council member’s office is working on the issue.

“We are working to ensure that District Department of Transportation addresses the issue in a timely manner,” Huff said. “Temperatures must remain at a certain level for a specific number of days in order for the materials to set properly.”

University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said GW agreed to limit the use of brick paving to certain campus streets in response to community concerns since the campus plan’s approval.

“To ensure pedestrian safety and address concerns about brick maintenance, GW will.minimize heaving by using brick pavers laid on concrete slab, with adequate slope to ensure proper drainage and each paver will have a non-slip finish,” Sherrard said.

Heaving is the action of bricks rising out of position, and this can be caused by poor drainage.

Sherrard said the University believes the streetscape plan balances both the community’s concerns and GW’s “desire to maintain an integrated campus identity and ‘sense of place’.”

Corson said some residents want brick sidewalks to be “done away with entirely,” but added that he didn’t expect that outcome.

“It would be expensive in a time of financial hardship for D.C. and also there are many residents who like the look that the bricks bring to the neighborhood,” Corson said.

Katherine Rodriguez contributed to this report

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