WHEREAS residents and small business owners have a vision to make the Lower Georgia Avenue community a vibrant arts and cultural center with themes of educational excellence and environmental sustainability; and WHEREAS the Lower Georgia Avenue Great Streets Project was planned in 2006 as a key component in integrating the major development coming to Georgia Avenue; and WHEREAS the Lower Georgia Avenue Great Streets Project will facilitate engagement of Howard University students with new and old residents, attract patrons of new retail and attract visitors to the new Georgia Avenue/Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail with better lighting, walkways, trees, and traffic control; and WHEREAS the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force adopted a recommendation on 11/1/10 to work to fully restore and expand funding for the Great Streets Program; and WHEREAS correspondence from then Chairman Vincent Gray in response to Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force questions on 9/9/10 stated “Therefore, I am committed to ensuring that Georgia Avenue has equal access to the city’s development dollars, including funding from the Great Streets and Main Street programs.”; and WHEREAS the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force has outlined a proposal for productive use of the Georgia Avenue Great Streets funding on critical sections of Georgia Avenue not impacted by current development or the Howard University Campus Plan; and WHEREAS funds for the Georgia Avenue Great Streets project have been reduced since plans were completed in 2006 leading to the continued deterioration of the neighborhood; and WHEREAS Mayor Gray is proposing to remove $1.44 million from the Georgia Avenue Great Streets Project as reported 8/10/11 by the Washington Business Journal: Now, therefore be it RESOLVED, that on August 21, 2011 the undersigned residents and small business owners of Lower Georgia Avenue register a strong and formal protest to the action of Mayor Gray to remove $1.44 million from the Georgia Avenue Great Streets project; and be it further RESOLVED, that members of the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions 1A and 1B meet with representatives from the Mayor’s Office, the DC Department of Transportation, and Councilmember Jim Graham to outline a plan for productive use of the funds on Lower Georgia Avenue.