I got to the meeting late because I was waiting for a phone call that did not come.
I saw the police cruiser but apparently missed the police person(s) that came with it. So I have no clue if the shooting death of the Howard student over on the 1700 blk of 3rd street was covered or what other citizen crime complaint was covered.
I did get there in time to hear Josh Burch (?) of Shaw EcoVillage and he had some news. For one they will be moving from the corner of 6th and R Sts. to 1416 North Capitol, yes, that includes the bike shop. Also he is looking to see if any group would be interested in sponsoring or hosting a rainbarrel workshop. If you attend a rainbarrel workshop you will get a FREE rainbarrel. I have one still and that sucker is big. They have 8 more workshops left, so please contact them if you want to host or attend.
Next topic was ReStore DC. ReStore DC offers technical assistance to any group. Art Slater passed out a survey form to list the kinds of businesses or community amenities (dog park) we’d like to see AND that we would support. [Editorial- I’m underlining the last one because a business is a business and not a not profit charity and if they cannot make money in our neighborhood then we would have done a great disservice to them if we brought them. Also with support, means we would support other impacts as in if a drive thru Starbucks ever plopped down on North Cap would we bitch loudly about the traffic coming off the main road and on to the residential streets?] Also Art has been in contact with Clear Channel about the property they own on the corner of NJ and P Street where they have the billboards. Apparently one letter got them to mow the corner. Art is also the Land Use, Planning and Economic Development Committee Chair for the BACA (correct me if I am wrong) mentioned a comprehensive plan, which is a document regarding land use in the city. Art has been talking with the Office of Planning, about what, my notes don’t say. But the exciting thing my notes do say is that THE FIREHOUSE ON NORTH CAPITOL WILL BE UP FOR BID. I think it is the one in Eckington by Quincy and R Sts. The Firehouse is a wonderful piece of property and would make the best luxury lofty condos evah! Or really cool office space or a restaurant with wait staff.
The next speaker was Thomas Gore, from Renewal in Education which is over at 45 P Street. His group has been there for 18 years with 2 Head Start classes and before and after school programming. They take in kids as early as 7am and end the day around 7 or 8pm. His group has been trying to purchase the property from the city but to no avail. Now the city is putting the property up for bid and there are several developers looking into it and Mr. Gore brought one from United Development (I looked for more info for UD and all I could find was PMA which shares the same address). The UD developer passed out a proposed drawing of what he wanted to do with the property that the Slater and Langston Schools sit on. He wants to build a 8-9 story building on top of what I think is now the playground, and it will be moderate income (60% AMI) senior housing. There was a spirited discussion about senior housing and the one woman peanut gallery, the burgundy dyed island accented misanthrope, had a lot to say against him…. of course. She questioned the source of his funding, was it government funding? Tax incentives from the IRS and private equity would fund the proposed project. Then she and others got into why senior housing, why not luxury housing. This is where the developer could have said more than what he said with some numbers. He said that the rents in the area don’t support the kind of rents for luxury housing, and as one who has tried to rent out things here, they don’t. Homeowners can wait for amenities because our homes are investments, renters on a 1 year lease want the here and now. What’s here right now does not support luxury rental housing.
At this point because of the spectacle of disrespect and evil emitting from the unpleasant woman I stopped taking notes.
But I still have the meeting agenda. Mary Ann Wilmer spoke about Flower Power 2005 and there will be a meeting tonight at Scott and Matt’s house, check the Truxtoncircle.org site for meeting time and place, for the garden club to talk about how to do it. This year it may be a garden tour where tickets are sold and people walk around and judge the gardens and treeboxes. Then Linda Perkins, Director of Constituent Services for the Orange spoke. Orange. Contracts. Government Contracts. Orange. Then I can’t remember any thing else. Oh, the Brown Report from Kwame Brown’s office was passed out at some point. All hail the Brown. Jim Berry said something, what, I don’t remember. We adjourned and ate Mary Ann’s Grand Marnier soaked pound cake and staggered home…..
Where I killed 7 slugs in my backyard. I asSALTed them first and when they took too long to die, particularly the really big ones, I squished them. Let them be a warning to all other slugs in my backyard.
I’ve had my eye on that firehouse, I wonder if the pole is still intact?
CC
Dear RestoreDC,
Yes, we support a Starbucks. ALso, can you work on getting us a Whole Foods? Thank you!
What’s with guys and poles? Gawd, Nathan also wants the firehouse for the darned pole. Maybe it can be an office building or restaurant where they sell rides down the pole to residents with fireman fantasies in exchange for zoning and permit approvals.
Also I notice Starbucks will open a free standing store (stores within stores or little stands don’t count) in just gentrified hoods, not pre-gentrifying. Like any business they are very cautious. Like notice when the Starbucks at U Street and 13th opened. Post Harrison Square and things like the Ellington had already broke ground.
MM…I think I know the woman you mentioned…she usually makes a scene at every ANC meeting. Does she AnnUNCIATE when she apeaks?
GS…as a former grocery industry person, I doubt that they would site another WF anywhere near 14th and P…also looking at what the DC Council put them through to get it, I doubt that it would ever happen.
With that being said, how about a few nice (no fast food, Ethopian, Thai, Chineese and or take out) restaurants
that will allow for a small commercial stip to be built on 7th and 9th Streets? Maybe wipe out the entire block north of Bread for the City and allow small businesses to move in AFTER they REBUILD THE ENTIRE BLOCK…not piecemail? MM, I think you mentioned in the past you would like to see a gym…they are putting one in that block.
Also, how about a few small stores like Home Rule/Pulp and others that were located on 14th street pre turnaround? How about a few nice bar/restaurants (like Cafe St Ex)?
No more “dollar stores”…bring sustainable small businesses into the area instead of things that 6 months from now will be out of business and leave us kicking ourselves because it is another vacant property.
Home Rule came 1st. Pulp showed up later, so they shouldn’t get any credit for being pioneers.
Okay, fishing back into my very bad memory this is how I think it went:
Whole Foods– CVS– Sparky’s– Hamburger Mary’s– Caribou Coffee– Home Rule– Gomammago!– Logan Hardware– those pet stores– Flower shop– Garden District– Logan Tavern– Starbucks– that chichi furniture store on RI & 14th– Candida’s Bookstore– Pulp– Storehouse.
Then there was stuff already there pre- Whole Foods that just got better or changed to cater to newer clients: Studio Theater, that liquor store next door to WF, the ‘antique’ stores on 14th, the live jazz place across the street from WF, Lincoln Theater, and the Ethiopian restaurant on 14th & P.
AND there is stuff still there that doesn’t fit with the whole gentrified look but you can ignore it like the cheap seafood restaurant on 14th & P, the Pawn Shop on 14th, Q St Dry Cleaners (only $2.95!), the rug store near the Post Office, and the ghetto Micky D’s on 14th & U.
THE FIREHOUSE ON NORTH CAPITOL WILL BE UP FOR BID< Must… buy… firehouse…
Yo and piecemeal can be done if it’s done with a plan.
I’d love to see 7th Street develop if I don’t lose my laundromat! And that dollar store does serve the needs of our less than wealthy neighbors like me (I got in as a homeowner before it got out of hand around here).
That said, that whole strip could use some infill! I totally support new restaurants, a coffee house (preferably not an over-roasted Starbucks), a bakery, a hardware store, etc. We should work on Marvelous Market, no?
This is a big year for slug-kind. Last year it was cicadas, this year it is slugs, mainly due to our very cool and wet spring.
My old backyard was slug-haven, and they were eating my plants. Two simple methods for poison-free control: a bowl of beer placed on the ground at night will attract them, when they go to drink, they somehow drown in it.
I also bought a bunch of those rubber medical gloves at wrist-length, just because the slime was hard to get off your hands. Go out after an evening rain. Have an old butter or yogurt tub ready filled with soapy water. The slugs will be out frolicking. Pick slugs by hand and put them in the soapy water. They will die in the soapy water. Leave yogurt tub out that evening. Dispose of slimy gloves. Return the next day when all slugs in tub are dead. Pour out dead slugs into a grave in your soil, it makes good fertilizer and the soapy water ain’t toxic either!
The first pioneering businesses on 14th back inna day were what was once called Dogs by Day and Home Rule, and that club just south of Dogs by Day. I used to live on 15th and Swann, and had to stop and look at the puppies a lot. And the Liz Taylor clinic waaay before that (1998?) if you count new services as development.
Jimbo thanks for the tip!
a bowl of beer placed on the ground at night will attract them, when they go to drink, they somehow drown in it.
For some reason this reminded me of this quote the greatest adaptation of Hamlet ever:
My brother and I used to say that drownin’ in beer was like heaven, eh? Now he’s not here, and I’ve got two soakers… this isn’t heaven, this sucks.