The Washington Post - 05.08.2019

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MONDAY, AUGUST 5 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/REGIONAL EZ RE B

JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

Getting away from it all on

vacation sounds nice —

until you get away from

the WiFi. B

THE DISTRICT

Prepare to spend more to

park in Penn Quarter and

Chinatown when variable

pricing starts today. B

OBITUARIES

Read about the lives of

residents of the D.C. area

at washingtonpost.com/

76 ° 84 ° 79 ° 79 ° obituaries.

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 3 p.m.

87

°

Precip: 55%

Wind: E

4-8 mph

BY KATHERINE SHAVER

Delivery drivers jockeying for

parking on D.C. streets can now

reserve curb space in advance —

part of the city’s attempts to

discourage double-parked vehi-

cles that block traffic, bike lanes

and crosswalks.

A 12-week pilot project

launched Thursday allows deliv-

ery drivers, including those in

private vehicles, to reserve curb

space in nine areas of the city via

the website curbFlow. Motorists

may reserve space up to 30 min-

utes in advance and remain as

long as they are actively loading

or unloading, a curbFlow spokes-

woman said.

CurbFlow “ambassadors,” pro-

vided at no cost, will record the

types of vehicles that use the

delivery zones, as well as their

arrival and departure times.

Three to five parking spaces will

be removed from each of the nine

curbFlow locations during the

pilot project, a District Depart-

ment of Transportation spokes-

woman said. Street parking will

be removed to make way for the

loading zones.

City officials say they plan to

use the data to determine how to

better manage — and possibly

expand — commercial loading

SEE PARKING ON B

D.C.’s

test case

for curb

space

9 LOADING ZONES

NOW RESERVABLE

Pilot program designed

for delivery vehicles

BY PERRY STEIN

The standardized test scores at

Washington Latin Public Charter

School are among the best in the

District. The waiting list of fami-

lies clamoring to enroll in the

middle and high school clocks in

at more than 1,500 students. And

the school, which educates about

700 children and boasts a rigor-

ous classical curriculum, sends

its graduates to the nation’s most

prestigious universities.

But when Washington Latin

sought permission from the city

to double in size and open a

second campus, it was not a slam-

dunk decision.

Two of seven members on the

D.C. Public Charter School Board

— the oversight panel that de-

cides which charters open and

close — voted against the school’s

application. Other board mem-

bers expressed their reluctance.

And while the board voted in July

to allow Washington Latin to

establish a second campus for the

2020 -2021 academic year, board

members made school leaders

agree to more than a half-dozen

conditions.

The reason: Washington Latin

educates a smaller percentage of

children from disadvantaged

families than that of almost any

school in the District. In a city

with one of the largest achieve-

ment gaps between students

from low-income families and

their more affluent peers, critics

argue the school is not doing its

part to help close that divide.

In the District, about 46 per-

cent of students are considered

at-risk, which means they are

homeless or in foster care, their

families qualify for public assis-

SEE SCHOOL ON B

Low at-risk

enrollment

puts school

in spotlight

BY HANNAH NATANSON

Erica Eriksdotter always

paints the eyes first.

“The eyes are the most impor-

tant part,” Eriksdotter said of her

hand-painted portraits of dead or

dying pets. “The eyes are the

windows to the soul, basically. So

if you do not get the eyes right,

you’re screwed.”

Eriksdotter, 39, spends her

days painting pictures of de-

ceased pets — as well as healthy

animals — in her Reston home

studio. She’s been doing it since

she quit her job as a public

relations consultant in 2017 to

focus on her business, Studio

Eriksdotter. Painting has been a

favorite pastime for much longer:

ever since she sold her first pic-

ture of a red balloon at age 10.

Her pet portraits start at $

for a 12-by-12-inch canvas and go

up from there. Each one takes her

about a month to complete.

The price tag may seem hefty,

but demand for her portraits is

exploding among D.C.-area pet

owners: Eriksdotter’s wait list is

six months long. And her work is

starting to catch on outside the

Washington area. Of the more

than 60 pet portraits she has

completed, about two dozen have

shipped to households in other

states, she said. She also paints

bridal bouquets and other flow-

ers, but her focus is pets.

So far, she has painted only

dogs and cats, documenting all of

her work on Instagram. Eriksdot-

ter is willing to paint pretty much

any animal, though. She’s “hold-

ing out hope” f or a snake some-

time soon.

“That would be such an inter-

esting challenge,” s he said.

The pet portraits’ popularity

may be because of Eriksdotter’s

unique process, suggested Anton-

ietta Corvasce, a D.C.-based psy-

SEE PETS ON B

Pet portraits lead to ‘place of healing’

Reston artist’s business is booming, and grief counselors say it may be helping patrons get over their loss

PHOTOS BY MATT MCCLAIN/THE WASHINGTON POST

BY MARISSA J. LANG

When several small buildings

in Northeast Washington were

put up for sale last year, threaten-

ing to displace the working-class

families and fixed-income resi-

dents inside, something unusual

happened: The tenants won.

The odds were not in their fa-

vor.

Renters in small buildings

whose homes are on the market

rarely manage to scrape together

the money needed to hang on. In

this case, the homes were being

sold by the biggest Catholic

church in North America, the Na-

tional Shrine of the Immaculate

Conception, which ignited out-

rage among neighbors, housing

activists and Catholics and en-

ticed a developer to try something

new to help residents keep their

homes.

“Tenants c an be poor or low-in-

come, we can be working day or

night, and it can seem next to

impossible” t o fight displacement,

SEE BASILICA ON B

Developer

helps prevent

displacement

in Northeast

Erica Eriksdotter never took an art class, but after years of

spending about 20 hours a week behind an easel, she quit her

public relations job in 20 17 to focus on art. Today, her wait list is

six months long, and her portraits, mostly of pets — alive and

deceased — start at $7 74 for a 12-by-12-inch canvas.

BY MARISA IATI

For 63 years, the low-slung,

brick church on Twinbrook

Parkway has proudly advertised

its progressive values. Its logo

incorporates rainbow colors. Its

members march in Pride pa-

rades. A sign formerly on the

front lawn declared, “A ll Are

Welcome. Really.”

Twinbrook Baptist Church in

Rockville has long been a pow-

erful advocate for a wide range

of marginalized groups — from

children with autism, to stu-

dents with lunch-money debt,

to LGBTQ Christians seeking a

safe place to worship.

So when declining member-

ship forces Twinbrook’s minis-

try to end in August, the Rev. Jill

McCrory says she’ll rest easy

knowing that her congregation

will build on its legacy by selling

the church and donating $

million of the proceeds.

“I’m proud of them for doing

that this way,” McCrory said in

an interview. “Many churches

wait until the last minute, and

they just dwindle and dwindle

and dwindle.”

SEE CHURCH ON B

Twinbrook Baptist leaves ‘the best legacy’

As a progressive Rockville church closes its doors, it plans to donate $1 million to charities

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST

Pastor Jill McCrory embraces a member of Twinbrook Baptist Church. Like other congregations

dwindling in membership, the church will close later this month and donate what’s left.