Howard University homecoming passed neighborhood meeting

WASHINGTON- The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for the 1B community passed all required permits needed for Howard University’s annual homecoming event taking place Oct. 20-28.

The ANC 1B serves the communities of U Street, LeDroit Park, Columbia Heights, Pleasant Plains, Lower Georgia Avenue and the Shaw-Howard area. Meetings occur the first Thursday of every month.

“The ANC 1B board is the voice of the community between its residents and the agencies,” Raessa Singh, the administration consultant for 1B, said.

Every year Howard hosts a homecoming week for students, faculty, administration, alumni and the community. The week is filled with various events that are open to everyone. The most notable and biggest events are Yardfest and the homecoming parade.

Yardest is an outdoor concert that takes place on the yard at Howard. Previous years the school has had notable artist such as Drake, Lil Uzi and Rick Ross. Because of the size of both events, permits for street closures are required because the campus is located in the middle of residential neighborhoods.

“For our homecoming planning, we make sure we have the support of our ANC 1B commission because annually we have to present not only to the commission for approval, but it is also a part of our Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs requirement,” Andrew Rivers, executive director of events and protocol at Howard, said.

In the audience accompanying Rivers was a junior, T’Keyah Hayes, who sits on the student homecoming planning committee. Hayes feels the meeting is beneficial for the lines of communication between Howard and the 1B community.

“We are required to keep the surrounding neighborhoods in the loop, so the committee has the opportunity to review and discuss what issues could come up, solutions and questions they might have,” Hayes said.

Prior to the Thursday meeting, the 1B commission voted unanimously to support the university’s traffic and transportation plan which required shutting down portions of Georgia Avenue and Barry Place.

“Howard’s administration put forward a very clear plan that showed they had done the logistical work, made our decision to approve these street closures simple,” Nicole Cacozza, 1B’s transportation committee chair, said.

Rivers assured the commission and community members that despite the mass of people homecoming will bring, having a large population gives small local businesses an opportunity to thrive.

Yardfest alone is expected to have 35 local business vendors and six food vendors from the community.

Howard was the main topic of the meeting, but the committee also approved new restaurants to move forward for licenses they needed to start up. There was also a small debate as to whether a resident could build a second attached garage in the alley behind his house.

In the end, ANC 1B Chairman James Turner led the board of commissioners in a secondary vote on Howard’s traffic and transportation plans where they received secondary approval for all homecoming activities in the community.

“This is an exciting event for Howard students, alum and the community and we are excited to continue the rest of our planning,” Hayes said.

The Advisory Neighborhood Commission for the 1B community voting on Howard University’s transportation plans for homecoming. (Photo by Jaha Knight)