Downtown Holiday Set for NATO Summit

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 2, 1999; Page B01

In an effort to reduce traffic and lower the District's collective blood pressure, nearly 90,000 federal workers in downtown Washington will be granted an unscheduled holiday on April 23, the day the curtain rises on the NATO military alliance's 50th anniversary summit.

Thousands of D.C. government workers are also likely to be given a day off, while countless other federal workers in the District will be encouraged to take a vacation day and steer clear of the city, summit organizers said yesterday.

"Make no mistake about it," said Army Maj. Gen. Joseph G. Garrett III, the summit's vice director, "it will be a far-from-routine traffic day in the District. If you don't have pressing business in the District that day, it is better to schedule your visit for another time."

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 be Washington's largest gathering ever of such high-ranking foreign dignitaries.

To keep traffic gridlock and frustrations to a minimum, federal workers deemed nonessential can stay home with pay if their office lies within an area bounded roughly by 19th Street on the west, K Street on the north, Seventh Street on the east and the Southwest Freeway on the south.

More than half of the city's federal workers are based along or within those boundaries, said Janice R. Lachance, director of the Office of Personnel Management. She estimated that more than 85 percent of those workers will be permitted to stay home.

The agencies affected include the departments of Interior, Commerce, Agriculture, Energy, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development as well as the FBI and the Department of Justice. Supervisors will determine who is essential and must report to work.

The District government is developing a similar policy on employee leave, said Reba Pittman Evans, the mayor's chief of staff. About 7,500 D.C. workers report to duty within the same boundaries. She said the city will balance administrative leave against the need to provide city services to the summit and residents alike.

On another front, as strategists and organizers work to set a sober tone for the summit against the backdrop of the war in Kosovo, an April 24 party sponsored by the local host committee and Mayor Anthony A. Williams will probably be called a reception and not a gala.

Planners will be sending 1,900 invitations to the event at the National Building Museum. Even the musical selections are being carefully considered. Guests may be encouraged to become involved in the Kosovo relief effort in a way not yet determined, said Kay C. McGrath, an assistant to Williams.

Scheduled for the city where the original NATO treaty was signed April 4, 1949, the summit was initially intended to celebrate the 50 years of NATO's existence and herald the arrival of the alliance's three newest members -- each a former member of the Soviet-controlled Warsaw Pact.

Stylish lunches and fancy dinners are scheduled for the White House and across the city. But because of the events in Kosovo, organizers are choosing the word "commemoration" over "celebration" and are stressing the seriousness of the work to be done during the NATO gathering.

Traffic and transportation are preoccupying many minds in the local and federal governments. Motorcades will crisscross the capital, delivering dignitaries from the region's three commercial airports and Andrews Air Force Base to hotels and receptions and working sessions at the Ronald Reagan Building.

The logisticians' biggest traffic worry is gridlock April 23, the day NATO leaders assemble before noon on Constitution Avenue between 12th and 14th streets NW for a formal 50th anniversary ceremony.

Organizers predict 1,700 delegates will be in Washington for the summit, along with at least 3,000 media workers and the traditional complement of tourists in town for the city's busiest tourist month. Some streets will be closed and Metrobus routes altered, with details to be announced later.