Has Councilmember Thomas taken a vacation from the vision that he had for Rhode Island Avenue NE? When he spoke in Mt. Rainer over a year ago about their redevelopment, he spoke of bringing that kind of redevelopment to RIA.
Now, Councilmember Thomas wants to allow “special” signs to be erected along RIA. Maybe Councilmember Thomas would like to send the Rhode Island Insider an explanation of his reasons for this bill that I can post for our readers. We’ll see….
In case you missed it, here is an explanation of the bill:
The bill can be read at : Sign Bill
And would allow for 12 signs only in Ward 5…
“.is authorized to issue permits for the placement of not more than twelve
(12) Special Signswithin the boundaries of Ward 5 in commercial, light manufacturing, and
industrial areas suchas:
(1) Bladensburg Road, NE at Eastern Avenue NE to H Street, NE;
(2) Rhode Island Avenue, NE and Eastern Avenue, NE to North Capitol Street,
NE and Rhode Island Avenue, NE;
(3) V Street, NE from South Dakota Avenue, NE to Bladensburg 1 Road, NE;
Brentwood Road, NE at Rhode Island Avenue, NE to New York Avenue, NE;
(4) West Virginia Avenue, NE at New York Avenue, NE to Bladensburg Road,
NE;
(5) 9th Street, NE to Brentwood Road, NE;
(6) 12th Street, NE and Franklin Street, NE to Rhode Island Avenue, NE;
(7) New York Avenue, NE and Florida Avenue, NE to South Dakota Avenue and
New York Avenue, NE; and
(8) From 4th Street, NE and Florida Avenue, NE to Mt. Olivet Road, NE.”
rhodeislandavene.com 
were some errors made in the creation or transcription of this list? because there are a couple roads on here that just don’t exist. for example:
-4th street NE does not extend to mt. olivet road
-west virginia avenue does not extend to bladensburg road
this makes me skeptical about the entire thing here, since it’s not clear that this list was complied by someone who is actually familiar with the extent of the roads in the ward.
Makes you wonder who reviews these bills before they are presented?
It was probably put together by billboard developers, who also paid Thomas off. When are elections? I think it’s time to get Thomas outta here.
I think it’s time to get a lot of these bums out of their positions. I’ve wanted Thomas out for years now and Fenty better go as well. Both of them are corrupt as can be.
Since when is RIA between eastern and North cap “industrial”? What are these guys smoking? Why does our area always get crapped on? Who wants these ugly bilboards? I certainly hope he gives a *clear* explaination for this. I would also like a list of everything our ward has received in money, projects, parks improvement, etc. I’m not sure what our councilman has done for us lately…or at all.
Billboards? Really? He’s completely failed to procure Ward 5’s piece of the proverbial spending pie and now he wants to allow billboards? Thomas is a joke…a bad one and we are the punchline.