Press Advisory for Immediate Release September 14, 2005 Mayor’s Great Streets Initiative Seeks Citizen Comment (Washington, DC) The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will kick off the $100 million, five-year Great Streets program at a public meeting for residents, businesses, and city officials. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm, Wednesday, September 14, in the former Council Chambers at 441 4th Street, NW. The meeting is accessible on the Red Line, Judiciary Square Metro stop. This major transportation investment will transform the following thoroughfares into Great Streets: H Street NE and Benning Road, NE/SE; Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue, NE; Pennsylvania Avenue, SE; Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, SE and South Capitol Street; Minnesota Avenue, NE/SE; and Georgia Avenue and 7th Street, NW. Improvements include new sidewalks, lighting, paving, and street trees to improve the physical setting, reduce crime, and attract private investment. Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced the Great Streets initiative at the State of the District address in March. “Our commercial corridors…must be the arteries of the city, carrying us from one neighborhood to another, and pumping new life into communities too long ignored.” The $8 million, award-winning 8th Street/Barracks Row development is one of the models for Great Streets. This project on Capitol Hill has already attracted over $10 million in private investment, including 34 new businesses, since it was completed three short years ago. While Greet Streets planning proceeds, construction is just around the corner along the 22 miles of roadway. Improvements will begin for Benning Road and South Capitol this fall, with activity on H Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Pennsylvania Avenues next year.