Schools Join List of NATO Closings

Related Links Map: Street, Office Closings

By Maria Elena Fernandez
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 17, 1999; Page B1

District of Columbia schools and much of the D.C. government will be closed Friday for the first day of NATO's 50th anniversary summit, along with the Federal Triangle Metro stop and most of the Smithsonian museums on the Mall.

The three-day meeting of 19 NATO presidents and prime ministers, along with the NATO secretary-general and the heads of 23 other governments, will take place mostly inside the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. Special events will be held at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress and the National Building Museum.

"We are trying to be user-friendly," said D.C. police Cmdr. Michael Radzilowski, of the special operations division. "It is really wise and in people's best interest to use public transportation on Friday. The streets will be saturated with officers for traffic control. But if the streets are overloaded, it won't do anybody any good. We can't make traffic disappear."

Federal workers can stay home if they are deemed nonessential and their offices lie within an area bounded roughly by 19th Street NW on the west, K Street NW on the north, Seventh Street NW on the east and the Southwest Freeway on the south. The D.C. government will close for all but essential employees. Officials still are drawing up a list of employees who will have to show up for work, spokeswoman Peggy Armstrong said.

"It is being done primarily for traffic reasons," she said of the government's closure. "Part of it is trying to be a good host, to make sure that all of the international visitors to the city can move through. And that the traffic doesn't create problems for our residents and employees. . . . Moving through the city is going to be very, very difficult that day."

The Federal Triangle Metro station will be closed from 1 a.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Monday, April 26.

D.C. police will close the following streets to vehicles from Thursday at 8 p.m. through Sunday: from Ninth to 15th streets, between Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues. Pedestrians will be prohibited from entering that area except to walk on Pennsylvania Avenue between Ninth and 12th streets.

Pedestrians must obtain credentials through the Secret Service to walk from 12th to 15th streets, between Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues.

To reach the businesses between 10th and 14th Streets, and the block between E Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, people must get permission from officers at the barricades.

While 800 summit participants dine at the White House on Saturday night, 15th Street will be closed from Independence Avenue to New York Avenue, and 17th Street will be inaccessible from Constitution Avenue to H Street.

Judicial officials are taking extra precautions because of the possibility of protests spurred by the war in Kosovo, said Robert Rigsby, the District's principal deputy corporation counsel.

Although most judges will be attending a judicial training conference, D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Eugene N. Hamilton has promised to have judges and staff available to handle cases of anyone arrested during the summit. Arraignment courts will operate as usual. Lawyers from the U.S. attorney's office and the corporation counsel's office will be on call, Rigsby said. D.C. corrections officials have made preparations for handling a crush of prisoners.

D.C. public schools will be closed, but it is unclear whether employees who work in the downtown administration building will report to work Friday, spokeswoman E. Vernell Jessie said.

All of the the Smithsonian Institution's museums on the National Mall will be closed on Friday except the three most popular ones, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History and the Natural Museum of American History, said spokesperson David Umansky. Those three museums will be open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The shops in those museums will be open, but the cafeterias will be closed, Umansky said.

On Saturday and Sunday, all museums will be open for regular hours. The National Gallery of Art will maintain regular operating hours.

"This is the most important special event we've had in Washington that anyone can remember," Radzilowski said. "Law enforcement in Washington is very experienced at handling these events, and we are confident things will run smoothly."

Staff writers Bill Miller and Valerie Strauss contributed to this report.