No commercial use on the first floor.
So what is the concern of the RCO?
You can unmute yourself, ma'am, and continue to testify.
Ms. Brutus?
Excuse me, ma'am, you need to unmute me.
Okay, I was muted.
Did you hear what I had to say?
Yes, and I'm just begging your indulgence to allow me to say what I have to say.
The community concern in the letter that you received from the community, and I'm just looking for the date,
in April 2001 made it clear that this variance poses concern about traffic and what the traffic
being proposed by this project will do to the surrounding community. Even though it is
unfortunate that the neighbors at the attached twin did come to some kind of agreement that
they are willing to agree with this, that the overall concern that this project proposes
affects the entire community along the Olney 2 and Olney corridor, impacting residents
trying to access I-95 along the Ogons Avenue corridor, and that the traffic will be grossly
affected for the entire surrounding community. This case for us is not about that house
or that building. It is about what the proposed use is going to do to the entire community and
the traffic flow. If you remember, for a decade or more, the entire impacted community protested
when LaSalle sought to have 20th and Worcester made one way, which created an off jump for
commuter traffic in route to I-76. That closure did occur. So the only off jump for the community
now is Worcester Street and this project along Worcester Street will grossly impair the traffic
flow going to I-76 for the entire community. We are not focused on what is happening on that
property and it was indicated very clearly in the 2019 letter and it is stated repeatedly in the
additional letters um once the only um i have allison weiss on the on the line and i'm sure
And I'm sure this board is aware that I can't fumble with my screen or I'm going to be cut off.
this board is aware that i can't fumble with my screen or i'm going to be cut off she
She has the photo exhibits that will easily, and if I may say, more quickly demonstrate the concern than me reading the letters that were written, which are in quite detail.
So if Allison Weiss can be allowed to share her screen, we can just briefly go over the actual community concern.
And while Allison is, is that okay?
If she wishes to testify, have her raise her hand, please.
Allison, can you raise your hand and then let them instruct you on sharing your screen?
LaSalle University has worked with the community since this project has come about
because they are aware, and when her screen is up, I'll...
Ms. Weiss, would you please identify yourself, spell your full name, and I'll swear you in.
Ms. Weiss?
Ms. Weiss, can you not mute yourself?
Sorry. Sorry.
Please spell your full name.
Allison Weiss, A-double-L-I-S-O-N-W-E-I-S-S.
You swear if I'm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Can she share the screen for me, which is what I asked her to be?
Yes, just one question.
What is she sharing?
she has a photo exhibit um of uh that outlines the community concerns with regards to this project
okay miss sunken is that okay
okay miss allison you can proceed
okay it's not did did that work i
no ma'am um you can just hit the share screen
button at the bottom of your uh right okay yes it's coming up now
and right now we're just looking at an email
did that come up
so what did you you have to do is just unshare
unshare yeah just um put your dot okay here it go is up now okay
Are you able to see it?
No, we're still looking at an email.
What would you have to do is unshare, have the document up already, and then share the screen.
unshare stop share okay yep if you have your document up just click the share screen and then
choose the document document is up do you want me to open the document i guess yes open the document
okay and then you can hit your uh share screen
and just click on the documents
that you want to share.
Ms. Weiss, maybe you can just,
let's see if it comes up now.
Here we go.
And she's already swore in, right, Chair?
Okay, so you can proceed, ma'am.
I'm just acting to...
Sandra will be speaking
Sandra will be speaking.
Ms. Brodus or Ms. Weiss
someone needs to begin speaking
we have photograph of what looks like
Ogons Avenue and I'm not sure what the intersection
street is that's all we see so could someone
begin speaking about
speaking about this
this application and what
your concerns are
I think
Sandra has her hand raised
she's already unmuted she could
begin talking
am I unmuted yes you are
Ms. Brodus all right thank you very much
okay so
as you can see
The first picture is the Omni Avenue corridor that extends back to Worcester Street, where this property is located.
Partially down the street is 20th Street.
Allison, if you can present, and you can see the traffic backlog, and this is in the afternoon.
It's very-
Ogon's, where is this intersection, the one with the bus?
Where is this intersection in relationship to the 541 East Worcester?
Worcester Street, if you look at the next screen, 20th Street is the next block up, and Worcester Street is half a block up from there.
20th Street used to be a jump-off for this traffic you see in this photograph, the first photograph.
So their cars trying to get to I-76 and major highways could access Belfield Avenue.
20th Street was closed after much protest by the community about this exact traffic log.
So Worcester Street is now the only jump off for this traffic.
And halfway, Worcester Street, Allison, can you move the screen, can you move the screen down some more to the next picture?
Next picture.
So we're leaving 20th Street down to the next picture.
Okay, this is Worcester Street, which is half a block up from where you saw, from 20th Street.
Go back, Allison.
No, you're going the wrong way.
You're going the wrong.
Okay, stop there.
Go back.
I need you to go to the third picture, Allison.
One more.
Right.
Okay, I can't see what you're seeing, so I'm just going by you.
Okay, and you know what?
You all might not be seeing what I'm seeing because my screen is huge because I can't see.
So am I directing her properly?
Are you looking at Worcester Street at this point where the new library for the school is?
all i see is a residential street and it's heading towards a four or five story okay stop
stop stop now can you see it stop can i see what can we see what can you see worcester street the
the new la salle um library uh medical school is is uh on the corner i i assume that's worcester
street it is worcester street okay worcester street is currently a two-way street and halfway
down Worcester Street is where this project is proposed. The buildings that you see next to the
medical school are new projects that have gone up along Worcester Street, some of which are
apartments that Osal was participating in, and what has occurred is that Worcester Street is now
a traffic nightmare. It has relied upon artery for the community, for people coming from as far
as Mount Airy from Germantown who traveled to I-76 using this route. It backs up intensely.
Students coming to LaSalle, students coming to and from Central High School, as you saw on the
first slot picture at Ogun's Denali and parents dropping off children, plus residents driving
from as far up as Sheltonham Avenue, down Broad Street.
down Broad Street, to access I-76 are all piled up at the next corner in the first picture.
This artery of Worcester Street cannot be compromised by additional traffic, which is
what this new project is proposing. The bigger issue is that LaSalle has indicated to us and
we have walked through and we have looked that the pre-existing and new apartment buildings
that have been put along this corridor have vacancies. There is absolutely no need for this
new project to go up. There was certainly... That's a decision that the developer has to make,
whether it makes sense economically to build or not, whether vacancies... We're saying there was
no need economic there was no need for the neighbor to have to um compromise their home
and and live with a detached project there was no urgency because the project is not even needed
um to go there um allison can you go down a little bit further i'd just like to i'm sorry
chair this is for you guys we need for i'm sorry tanya yeah no sir i'm just i apologize for the
interruption i just wanted to make everyone aware that um we do have others waiting some who have to
go to lerp as well and we do have four other hands up to testify for this particular case
just to make you aware to you tanya can you hear me ma'am with all due respect you have said
repeatedly you talk about the traffic about you know i haven't even begun to talk about the oh
I think you have. With all due respect, you've talked about the traffic, about I-76. This is a thoroughfare to I-76 and other points. Would you please summarize so we can get to the other witnesses? Thank you.
Okay. Mr. Chair, we have been on this line since 9.30. This is the fourth time that we've had to do this.
And we moved.
We should make our case.
I need one at a time. I need one at a time, please, for the accuracy of the record. Thank you.
And we have moved other cases that are ahead of you to get to your case first.
And I just please ask that we now be allowed to present our case because we've been very
indulgent listening to other people test to present for hours.
Our case is not about that house.
It is about what the proposed project is going to, how it is going to impact the overall
community.
And next to Worcester Street, and as you can see where the yellow building is on the first
and the above picture is a residential block of Elkins Avenue.
They too can only exit their block by entering onto Worcester Street.
And they are literally entrapped in their block as they're trying to get out.
There's no right of way. And Worcester Street, as you can see from the photos, backs up and there's no right of way.
This corridor cannot handle any further traffic, any further traffic in this area.
It is posing a hardship and endangerment to not just the immediate neighbors, but it is endangering the rest of the community that has to navigate around this.
The Penn area neighbors have agreed to this.
The Bellfield area neighbors have agreed to this.
LaSalle University is strongly concerned about this.
And I'd like to just show you some of the things that are going on that you asked me,
what were the concerns with the other concerns about this project?
So let's just move off of traffic and go down to the next picture, please.
Can you go down to the next picture, Allison?
I'm going.
Okay, I'm sorry.
All right. You're somewhere in between. Go back. Okay. Okay. How many? You're going kind of fast. Okay. Go back. Go back. Okay. Stop. Stop there.
Okay, so this is the intersection of Worcester and Armstrong Street, the corner, the exact property that is being proposed for this use.
As you can see, the cars park all along the corridor, this parking all along the side of the property.
This is essential parking.
There is hardly any parking on that block already.
There are apartments to the point of hazardous saturation, and they park everywhere, anywhere, because there is no place else to.
and they park everywhere, anywhere, because there is no place else to put another car or another
human being. The picture to the right is, in fact, cars trying to jump off of Armstrong Street
into the Worcester Street traffic, and at the bottom of the hill is Belfield Avenue. These
pictures were taken at around 11 o'clock in the afternoon, I mean in the morning, and the traffic
was that bad at that time of day.
So you can only imagine that multiplied
by rush hour traffic and cars coming in
and out of that corridor.
It is simply not,
it is going to present a hazard to the community.
Go down one more picture, please.
Again, here are the oncoming cars.
And as you can see in the rear, the trees,
that that is the proposed location for this new condo development and next to it is the residential