Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

In an extremely, yet somehow appropriately, warm room at the Cleveland Park library, residents gathered last night for the final open house to discuss a transportation study that includes the disputed Connecticut Avenue service lane.

Starting at 5 p.m., a steady stream of people began trickling in to examine the District Department of Transportation’s draft recommendations for the area. Many wore buttons that read “Cleveland PARK,” silently lending their support to keeping the service lane and its 30 or so parking spaces intact.

Susan Linh, owner of the service lane-adjacent Wake Up Little Suzie and co-chair of the Cleveland Park Business Association, has been a vocal opponent of removing the lane for years. She stood outside the library last night to tell passersby about the issue.

“If the service lane is eliminated, it will basically destroy the businesses,” she said last night. “We do not have enough parking as it is.”

Linh said that, as small, local businesses, they need the city to help them, not work against them. She noted that the nearby Cathedral Commons development will feature 500 parking spaces.

“It’s vital to our neighbors,” she continued. “A lot of people actually do drive to get here.” Linh said the businesses “need to draw our customers from all over.”

Of her interactions with DDOT, Linh described them as “interesting.”

“These presentations that they have do not allow for discussion,” she said. “It’s like a game show. I feel that people really do want to discuss it.” Indeed, last night’s open house felt like a sweaty cocktail party, without any cocktails. People mingled around the room chatting and viewing print-outs of the recommendations, while others sat at a table in the center of the room filling out a recommendations sheet.

Linh said she received a release this week from DDOT that said “the momentum was to keep the road” and that the agency wouldn’t go forward with the plans to do otherwise. This was reported by Fox 5’s Beth Parker. But the next day, DDOT spokeswoman Monica Hernandez said in an email they “have not made final recommendations yet,” but would have a final plan by the end of the month. DDOT will accept comments on the draft plans until November 13.

A draft recommendation on the service lane states that “Based on public feedback collected during the study process, the largest sentiment expressed to date by community members and stakeholders is a desire to retain the service lane as it exists today.” But: “Of the four concepts presented, the next most desirable option among community members and stakeholders was Option 4 ‘Restore Historic Sidewalk.'”

DDOT says they’ve received over 500 emails, feedback sheets and letters about the issue. These were displayed at the open house in a thick binder. The agency says they offered to do a pilot study on the service lane, but they “have heard from various stakeholder groups in Cleveland Park that they are not interested in” one.

As Linh was chatting with DCist, a fellow Save the Service Lane supporter approached a woman with two children about the issue. The woman replied that she was in favor of making the service lane a sidewalk: “Kids not cars.” The supporter responded, “Well, you’ll see a lot of empty storefronts.”

Inside the library, the woman, an 11-year resident of D.C. named Nancy, said that a sidewalk would make the area better for families, as well as tourists. “We just feel like that area is so crowded and dangerous,” she said. “It would make it more attractive. It would make it safer and more conducive to the kind of living the city in general, and Cleveland Park in particular, is moving towards.”

When asked if she thinks closing the lane would hurt businesses, Nancy said she didn’t think so. “I think that’s a very dated view,” she said.

Linh, clearly, disagrees. “People may not like parking, but it’s a way of life,” Linh said. “People park. … People do have cars. I’m sorry, but it’s a fact of life.”