http://theother35percent.blogspot.com/
My new blog focusing on life in DC and other random musings is up and running with its first two posts. The blog will follow the local news and events, the D.C. Council and neighborhood politics, and occasional personal stories or other observations.
You can view it here: http://theother35percent.blogspot.com/
Mark it in your favorites, visit often, and please share your thoughts.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...A new park is quickly taking shape for the Mount Vernon, Penn Quarter, and downtown area.
Located at 2nd Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, this park was all but abandoned by the District government for years until residents of the Sonata and the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association, made it their mission to transform it from an unsafe eyesore into an asset for the community. We began our efforts last month when I organized a meeting with Council Member Tommy Wells, Department of Parks and Recreation officials, and interested residents. We all agreed that it was time to fix this sad park, one of many forgotten around the city, which is located at the gateway to downtown, D.C.
Last night, thanks to the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District (CID), we had another meeting to move the process forward. In the long term, the District is seeking funding to undertake a major renovation to the park through funding from a developer who is negotiating to obtain air rights over I-395. Short term, however, the District is submitting today a grant proposal to the federal Department of Transportation for a transportation enhancement grant that will be used to fix the crumbling retain walls around the center point, repave the sidewalks, and install benches, lighting, trees, and irrigation. In addition, they plan to move plantings and furnishings from the Old Convention Center’s artwalk to the park. In addition, the city will attempt to make the intersections leading to the park more pedestrian friendly by restriping, lengthening the walk signal time, installing way finding signs, and possibly narrowing the width of the street. Since this park is at a major intersection, it qualifies for transportation funding. If U.S. DOT awards us the grant, funding will be available as soon as FY 2009, which begins this October! That’s exciting.
This is all great news and kudos goes to the Department of Parks and Recreation and Office of Planning for helping make this happen. They need your support. Please send a letter of support for the USDOT grant via e-mail to Sarah Moulton by Friday, August 8. Please also e-mail me if you are interested in joining a friends of [park] (to be named) group. This group will begin community discussions on long-term plans for the park, advocate for it, and plan beautification and clean up days.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...You may have missed them, but there were recently two interesting articles on the retail in and around the Washington Convention Center.
In its July edition, The Intowner featured a story noting some of the challenges nearby small business owners face, such as Azeb Desta, owner of Azi’s Café, who says, “Business is getting better but is not okay,” noting that “maybe twice” have conventioneers come to her business just a block away. Chatman’s D’Vine Bakery & Café owner and baker Debra Chatman, agrees that “it is really hard getting people to come in.”
Wednesday’s Washington Times reports on lawsuits stemming from the Convention Center’s retail space, which, five years after opening, still is not completely filled. This week, the Convention Center was hit with a half million dollar verdict for conspiring to keep local disadvantaged small businesses out of the retail space within the building in order to favor a politically connected businessperson. According to The Times:
The dozen retail spaces that line the outside of the convention center have been a sore spot for the five-year-old complex. At least four tenants have filed lawsuits against the WCCA over problems with construction on their spaces. In addition, eight neighboring retailers have filed a joint suit against the convention center charging that it hasn’t lived up to promises made before construction started.
Once touted as economic development catalyst, the 12 spaces still haven’t all been leased.
My opponent routinely hails the Convention Center as one of his achievements for Ward 2. It cost the taxpayers of this city $850 million in public financing, just short of the baseball stadium, and it’s not delivering. We are paying about $36 million each year alone on debt service associated with its construction. But that’s ok, because it created jobs and brought in more conventioneers to the city who spend money here, right? Wrong. According to a Brookings Institution report, “After building an entirely new
convention center with almost double the exhibit space, the Washington Convention Center Authority has seen effectively no increase in attendance or hotel use.”
The fact of the matter is, the Convention Center has truly become the great white elephant that some feared. It is a convention center designed solely for conventioneers, not as a means for neighborhood revitalization. The first of the retail spaces were not ready for occupancy until three years after opening, and are still not finished today. Conventioneers enter through Massachusetts Avenue or are dropped off and picked up by bus on L Street, giving them no incentive to visit neighborhood businesses. Even the retail spaces inside the convention center don’t actually connect to convention center space. Seventh and Ninth Streets are mostly lined with a long wall, providing no street life. A Convention Center hotel, long planned, is still several years away. It’s an unforgivable case of poor planning and a tremendous missed opportunity.
There still is a chance to reclaim some of the lost potential. Let’s get way finding signs with maps and directories of neighborhood restaurants and shops up along Massachusetts Avenue and L Street. Let’s take action with respect to long vacant commercial properties that line 7th and 9th Street. Let’s finish filling the retail spaces and resolve outstanding lease disputes with small business owners. Let’s get our priorities back on track.
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Occasionally, I read something in the newspaper that hits a little too close to home. This morning, I learned of the death of Alice Swanson, a 22-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a garbage truck while riding her bike to work just north of Dupont Circle at 20th and R Streets. (Examiner, Washington Post, WTOP, DCist). She was a cautious and safe bicyclist, warning others to wear their helmets. I did not know Alice, but I’d be very surprised if our paths have not crossed or if we didn’t have mutual friends. My heart goes out to her family and friends.
Most days, I bike to work and to get around town, and I frequently ride through the area where Alice was hit. It’s sad and disturbing when something like this happens. When I mentioned the article to a friend who lives a few blocks away from the accident, his reaction was “those garbage truck drivers are crazy. They go 40 miles per hour down my block.” I don’t know if that is what occurred here, but I hope there is a full investigation of what occurred, that the police are closely enforcing our traffic laws, and that the city raises awareness of bike safety for both drivers and bicyclists.
Everyone, please be careful and safe.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...The Gales School is located at 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW.
The DC Council is considering legislation to move the Central Union Mission from 14th and R Street NW in Logan Circle to the Gales School, which sits between Union Station and Mt. Vernon Triangle, just north of Chinatown, on Massachusetts Avenue. Central Union Mission is in Ward 2. The Gales School is currently situated on the Ward 6 side of the 2/6 border.
You may recall that Central Union Mission, which provides shelter for homeless men within a structured program, was originally slated to move to a Petworth location on Georgia Avenue. Under the proposed legislation, the District will purchase the four Petworth properties (18,552 sq ft) from the Mission for $7 million (2009 assessed value is $3.79 million). The government will use the Petworth properties as part of Mayor Fenty’s plan to place 400 of the city’s homeless into permanent supportive housing units. The Petworth properties will provide 50 of these units.
According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Gales School, built in 1881, last served as a school in 1944. Since that time, it was used for government offices and a winter hypothermia center for the homeless. In 2003, it was slated to house Safe Shores, a children’s advocacy center. Those plans changed and Safe Shores is now supposed to move into the Bundy School located on the 400 Block of O Street in Shaw. (That move is long delayed, leaving Bundy vacant, to the frustration of neighborhood residents). Now, Central Union Mission has committed to provide emergency shelter for 150 men on the site for the next 40 years.
The Franklin School, located at 13th and K Street NW, is also part of this mix. The Franklin School, which provides emergency shelter to about 400 men downtown is viewed by just about all in the District, including homeless advocates, as not helping the homeless as it should. It lacks structure, services, or programming, and simply provides a free hotel at night and kicks everyone out into the parks and libraries during the day. The Franklin School is slated to close in October 2008, or whenever the new Central Union Mission and sufficient permanent supportive housing comes online.
The future of the historic Franklin School is uncertain. Two years ago, there was discussion of turning the building into a boutique hotel, a deal orchestrated by politically connected developer Herb Miller. That proposal ultimately got nixed, but that didn’t stop Mr. Miller from suing the District for cutting off the deal. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the District paid Mr. Miller’s Western Development $500,000 to settle the lawsuit. The planned use or disposition of the Franklin School is not addressed in the legislation pending before the DC Council. It will be an issue to watch very closely as the Gales School transfer moves forward to make sure that this historic public building is put to an appropriate use.
Documents of interest:
Office of the Mayor’s Analysis of Economic Factors, Disposition of Gales School Site
Gales School Disposition Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2008 (PR17-0898)
Gales School Disposition Emergency Approval Resolution of 2008 (PR17-0899)
Discussion of meeting I jointly coordinated among the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association and the Downtown Neighborhood Association, homeless advocates, and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development to further a dialog on homeless issues: MVSNA, campaign website, Mt. Vernon Triangle blog.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...On July 1, I visited the firehouse at 13th and L Streets N.W. to introduce myself, tour the facility, and listen to questions and concerns from firefighters.
Engine 16 is among the top five busiest engines in the city, responding to 18,000 calls per year, and is the first to report to the White House in the event of an emergency. It serves all of Ward 2. Nicknamed the “Midnight Express,” Engine16, Tower3, Amb16, and BFC6 received the Company of the Year award in 2007.
I discussed issues of importance to firefighters and public safety with Battalion Fire Chief Kenneth L. Crosswhite. Firefighters are particularly concerned that their facilities, many of which are 70 years old, are in desperate need of renovation. According to Chief Crosswhite, renovations are delayed due to lack of available funds and restrictions imposed by historic preservation regulations. Firefighters are also concerned that disability benefits are inadequate and that their pay that is lower than the regional average. Firefighters are told by the city government to do more with less, according to Chief Crosswhite, who hailed the effectiveness of DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Dennis Rubin.
Although many firefighters would like to live in the District, most cannot afford to do so. According to Chief Crosswhite, nine out of ten firefighters live outside of DC. Most live about 25 miles of the city, which would make it difficult for them to assist should there be an emergency.
I also spoke with Chief Crosswhite about inoperable fire hydrants around the city, which fall under the responsibility of DC WASA. Inoperable fire hydrants are supposed to be repaired within 5 or 10 days. In addition, DC’s hydrants need to be fitted so that they will work with the equipment of neighboring states, which is particularly essential in case of a disaster or terrorist attack. This process is underway.
As a full-time council member, I will protect public safety and ensure that the needs of the fire department are understood and met.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Jul 1st, 2008 by cary
On June 30, I joined the Chinatown Revitalization Council as they discussed several issues of importance to the community. Participants discussed the impending sale of the Wah Luck House. I am closely monitoring the situation and has alerted the DC Tenants’ Advocacy Coalition (TENAC) to ensure that the elderly tenants’ rights are fully protected. Residents are in the process of forming a tenants association, a necessary step to exercising their rights to purchase the building. The CRC also announced that they will be having a walk through of Chinatown’s Friendship Arch, at 7th and H Streets NW, with government officials on Wednesday, July 2, at 3:30pm. The walk through stems from a meeting with Mayor Fenty in May at which the city pledged to make needed repairs to the arch. Finally, the group discussed the International Lantern Festival, for which I serve as co-chair, a new event planned for DC tentatively for May 2009.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...On June 24, I joined the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association, whose membership includes both area businesses and residents, for their monthly breakfast meeting with MPD Assistant Chief Diane Groomes and Jaleo owner José Andrés.
Issues raised with Chief Grooomes focused on the need to address quality-of-life offenses, such as tour buses idling in front of condos, drummers playing well into the night, and aggressive pan handling. Chief Groomes also noted the challenge of community policing in Police Service Area 101, which runs from 17th Street to Union Station.
I believe in a “broken windows” approach to policing and agrees with residents that rigorous enforcement is key to safer and more liveable, vibrant communities. I supported the original noise bill before it was stripped and passed as an empty shell by the DC Council. As Council Member, I pledge to provide the Penn Quarter community with its own Police Service Area and political representation, recognizing that it has evolved into a distinct neighborhood.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...I’ve found time and time again that those who fight hardest for Ward 2 residents are often members of the Council from other parts of the city or elected at-large. Today, was another perfect example.
First, the Council gutted the noise bill. The original bill would have placed reasonable restrictions on the volume of daytime noncommercial speech (i.e. people shouting into loud speakers) that goes on for prolonged periods, intruding into people’s homes and places of work. DC has absolutely no limit, unlike any other major city, and what was originally proposed was still more lenient than places like New York City. An amendment proposed by Council Member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5), which was essentially a rewrite of that proposed by Council Member Evans and defeated last month, passed 9-4 this time, after some unions ran radio ads threatening two members up for reelection, Kwame Brown (D-At Large) and Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7). It raises the decibel level limit from 70 to 80 dB, restricts the limit to R-1 through R-4 zones (i.e. there is no limit for areas in which there are large apartment buildings or downtown), and changes the place of measurement to inside the home rather than 50 feet from the noise.
Those fighting for Ward 2 on the noise bill included Council Members Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), David Catania (I-At-Large), and Carol Schwartz (R-At Large). While Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans represented that he has never received a noise complaint from residents of his Ward that would be protected by the legislation, Catania and Cheh discussed a different reality. Catania, himself a Ward 2 resident, expressed outrage that the children of Stevens Elementary School (located in West End/Foggy Bottom) lost an entire semester of school because of a prolonged protest across the street by hired hands. Cheh suggested that Penn Quarter residents ask why they are being treated differently — why they get no protection in their community and in their homes, noting that, “just because [you] live in a mixed [residential / commercial] area, Penn Quarter residents will have to suffer from noise assaults.” Cheh noted that under the Evans’ supported amendment, the noise can go 7am-9pm every day, all day, no matter how long, how loud, how amplified — “you get no protection whatsoever, none.”
“Penn Quarter, I hope you are listening, you are being written off.”
–Council Member Mary Cheh (Ward 3), quoted in the Washington Post
Council Member Wells, who shares a portion of Penn Quarter with Ward 2, attempted to amend the Thomas amendment to restore some protection for downtown, but failed. In the end, Cheh and Wells, the primary sponsors of the bill, voted against the do-nothing legislation.
Lost in all the noise over the noise bill were two very other important quality of life proposals on the Council’s Tuesday agenda: single sales of alcoholic beverages and vacant property.
The Council passed a ban on the sale of single alcoholic beverages for Wards 4, 7, and 8, with Council Member Wells pledging to add the entirety of Ward 6, which already has a partial ban, at the next meeting. Council Member Evans, spurred by the action of his colleagues, has after 17 years of complaints from neighborhoods residents, committed to proposing a similar ban for Ward 2. But his proposed ban, yet to be introduced, will cover only two Advisory Neighborhood Commission areas, Logan Circle (ANC 2F) and Shaw/Mt. Vernon/Penn/Chinatown Quarter (ANC 2C). Residents of Dupont Circle, Foggy Bottom/West End, Georgetown, and downtown should prepare to see more public intoxication, public urination, aggressive panhandling and trash, as those who cannot get a cheap drink in more than half of the rest of the city (Ward 1 already has a partial ban) find your corner and liquor stores.
Finally, the Council took on long-delayed legislation designed to move owners of vacant property to put their property to productive use. The legislation increases the vacant property tax rate from about 5x the regular occupied rate for residential property to 10x, while eliminating many of the loopholes that allowed derelict owners and speculators to avoid the higher rate for decades. It was Council Member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) who sought to fight off a series of 11th hour amendments that would have placed some of those exemptions back in the law and created a few new ones. That included a complete exemption on properties within the central business district proposed by Council Member Evans. It was withdrawn when it came under fire from Graham and Council Member Barry (D-Ward 8). Council Member Evans also proposed an amendment to increase the period of time before the higher rate sets in from 1 year (existing law) to 2 years and for residential property to 1 year (same as existing law, but the bill would have reduce dit to 8 months). That proposal passed. Another Evans proposal, to restore a loophole providing a 24-month exemption for properties under a deed of trust, was removed after Graham objected.
Graham also attempted to fight off, with some success, amendments proposed to allow the Mayor to single handedly exempt properties (passed subject to renewal by Mayor every 24 months), to exempt newly constructed buildings (passed limited to 4 years), and to require government inspectors evaluating whether a property is indeed vacant to consider the owner’s alleged “intent” to return.
It’s time we had a Ward 2 Council Member who places his constituents before developers, unions, and other special interests. By the way, what happened to the idea of creating a livable downtown? With the carving out of downtown from the noise bill and an attempt to take the central business district out of the vacant property protections, residents should be very concerned.
What people are saying about the noise bill’s silencing (no one is happy):
Quest for Quiet blog
PQ Living blog
Greater Greater Washington blog
DCist
DC Wire blog
The Express
Washington Post
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Does it bother you too?
The DC Council is now apparently developing legislation to allocate $150 million of public funds to building a soccer stadium. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see a new soccer stadium in the District. In fact, this year, I got together a group of friends to go to a DC United game on my birthday.
But $150 million in public money for construction costs?
This is on top of the $800 million spent on the baseball stadium and reports that my opponent is now pushing for a new football stadium for the Redskins.
Sure, let’s support owners who will make an investment in DC by locating here by improving the infrastructure to make it happen — expanding metro capacity and upgrading stations, repaving streets and reorganizing traffic flow, installing new sidewalks and street lighting, developing new bus routes — everything that is needed to make it safe, easy, and enjoyable to go to a game. But paying for construction for a private business, that’s where I would draw the line. I’d like to open a nice deli, but I’m not asking the DC government to build me a store.
Just last night, I organized a meeting with government officials and about two dozen downtown residents to develop a plan for improving a long neglected and forgotten neighborhood park, one of many in the District. The circle center of the park was filled with cardboard boxes of those who had made the park a semi-permanent home. The park reminds me of ancient ruins I explored on a recent visit to Israel — stones around the perimeter have crumbled and are in disarray, the sidewalks are grown over with weeds and grass, remnants of light fixtures of a time past line the park. Residents avoid the area, which is between Union Station and the Convention Center, the gateway to downtown, because they do not feel safe. Of course, the question of the night was where will the city find the money for renovating the park when they can’t even seem to maintain it? Well, when it comes to a few hundred million here and there for stadiums, finding money seems to be no problem. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Professional sports teams get money for stadium construction and luxury boxes. Residents scramble to organize clean ups to make the filth of neighborhood parks bareable. Kids are left on the streets.
It’s time to tell the DC Council that we expect a change in priorities. Before the city spends $150 million on construction costs for another stadium, let’s see it adequately maintain and renovate every single one of our neighborhood parks so that they can be used by residents and their children. Before the city provides another multimillion dollar giveaway for a ballpark, let’s see the city provide enough funding to keep its recreation centers open on weekends. Before the city writes that next big check to a wealthy sports team, let’s see it find the money to give significant tax relief to struggling small businesses.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...