Shawington

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 ...

454 N Street NW is owned by the DC-government. It has sat vacant for years. The property was boarded up and surrounded by a chain link fence after I discussed it in testimony before the DC Council. Meanwhile, a nearly identical property two doors east has been renovated, sold, and is now occupied.

Addressing vacant and nuisance property, as you may know by reading this blog, is an issue importance to me. In most cases, my solution is to make sure we are taxing them at the higher vacant property tax rate (most of the time, the city is not doing so), make the owner clean it or lien it, condemn the property if it is not in habitable condition as required by law, and, ultimately, send it to tax sale. Those who allow historic properties to fall can get in trouble for demolition by neglect. But what is to be done when the property is owned by the the DC-government itself?

I came across this situation several times this year. A DC-owned vacant property came tumbling down feet from a day care center. Then another collapsed. I reported another, a bare facade, only to have DC board it up with chain link fence put around it. In another case, a series of lots awaited transfer to an anxious developer for mixed-income housing for several years without result. According to DC records, there are about 100 vacant houses (improved properties) and several hundred vacant lots in DC government hands. These are properties that generally came into DC ownership due to abandonment, illegal activity, fire, or some other calamity. Many of these are slated for future housing, but they have sat vacant for years.

The city has put a lot of time, effort, and money into bringing those who wear D.C. sports uniforms back into the city. As your Council Member, I’ll focus on bringing back those who wear a different kind of uniform - our police officers and firefighters - and put my time into assisting the public servants who would like to live in the District, but cannot afford to do so.

I propose a new city program that will help more of the District’s police officers, firefighters, and public school teachers to live in our neighborhoods. Let’s put these vacant DC properties to good use by providing affordable housing opportunities to those who are vital to the District’s safety and education. Sell the vacant homes and lots directly to the District’s police officers, firefighters, and teachers at reduced rates. Then, the new owner would commit to restoring the vacant house or building a new home on the vacant lot within two years, and agree to live in that home for at least five years.

I’ll also explore incentives for police officers, firefighters, and teachers to choose to live in the District, such as “city living salary supplements.” The supplement would recognize the increased cost of living in the District and the benefit to the community of having them within the city limits.

It’s a matter of common sense. We’d be a lot safer if more of the District’s 3,800 police officers and 1,800 firefighters remained in DC at the end of their shift. We’d benefit from their eyes and ears. If there’s a disaster, emergency, or terrorist attack, we want them nearby. Our children would benefit from increased tutoring, school programs, and interaction between teachers and the community if we can bring educators back into our neighborhoods.

There do not appear to be any firm publicly available statistics as to the precise percentage of police officers, firefighters, and teachers that live in the District. Some estimate about 20-25% of police officers, even less for firefighters. As the District recruits many highly qualified new teachers from throughout the nation, will they settle in DC, or live in Maryland or Virginia?

Let’s set a goal of having 33% living within the District by 2010 and 50% by 2012.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Tonight, I testified before the Zoning Commission in support of the long-awaited O Street Market (now known as City Market) project. The Commission, which will formally vote on the proposal on March 24 after hitting an earlier snag, appears likely to approve the project. A summary of my testimony is available on the Mount Vernon Square blog.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

That’s the sign that recently appeared on this Ward 2 property. Oddly, the strewn trash in front of the house, the weeds arising from cracks in the concrete front yard, and the previous “for sale” sign that has been up for months remain.

This property has been vacant for quite a while. Yet, according to the District of Columbia records, it was purchased by the current owner over two years ago, is being taxed at the occupied rate, and is receiving the Homestead Deduction. (The property to the right, which is advertised for sale with the same phone number, is apparently under different ownership and properly recorded as vacant.) I wonder if these new for sale signs appeared as an attempt to evade imposition of the significantly high property tax rate imposed on vacant properties. $757,490 doesn’t pass the straight-face test.

Folks, it’s time to get serious about vacant and nuisance properties. While your taxes go through the roof, derelict owners take tax cuts while allowing their vacant properties to deteriorate, get dumped on, and become magnets for crime. I will push for enforcement of our tax laws, demolition by neglect laws, dumping laws, and laws requiring housing be kept in “habitable condition,” and, where needed, public nuisance actions, as a comprehensive approach to addressing properties that are a blight on our neighborhoods.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Today, Mayor Fenty held a press conference to tout legislation that will finance the O Street Market revitalization, called “CityMarket at O.” Finally, the end is in sight. This project began in 2001 when Roadside Development purchased the historic market. Then, in 2003, the market’s roof caved in under a heavy snow storm.

Unlike the quick citywide action we saw earlier this year when Eastern Market went on fire, the O Street Market, which will provide extraordinary boost for the Shaw community, got stuck in red tape: hearing after hearing from historic preservation to zoning. It’s final (hopefully) two hearings are coming up in July before the DC Council, as it considers the tax increment financing package (TIF) to move it forward. It’s about time. Actually, it’s way past due.

City Market at O will bring the largest Giant in the District, retail and restaurants, affordable senior housing and market-rate apartments and condos, and a significant amount of underground parking. The project will also reopen 8th Street (currently an island in the Giant parking lot) to traffic.

It’s not quite over yet. After approval of its financing package, Roadside will need to obtain the necessary permits to begin construction, a process that is expected to take an additional year. After groundbreaking, construction is expected to take 12 to 18 months. During that time, Giant will provide free shuttle bus service to nearby stores.

I’ve supported and cheered for this project for years — as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in adjacent Logan Circle, as a board member of Shaw Main Streets, and as president of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association.

The real hero in this battle is Roadside Development. How many others would have held on after so many years?

This is a big step forward and there is much more work to do. Onward and upward to addressing vacant and nuisance properties, bringing retail, and making the neighborhood a safer place to live.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

On June 24, I joined Shaw residents as they discussed a surge of recent shootings and ongoing criminal activity at a meeting of the Convention Center Community Association.

Police have recorded at least 11 incidents of gunfire over the past 6 weeks, with a shooting averaging about every third day, as reported on Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kevin Chapple’s website. One individual was shot multiple times on June 20. His wounds were not life threatening. Police believe he came into the area for a drug purchase.

In addition, Shaw residents expressed their frustration with the lack of police attention to obvious and ongoing criminal activity, including craps games, pot smoking, and late night noise, and a situation in which police did not immediately respond to a report of gunfire. Third District Commander George Kucik attended, answered questions, and committed to providing increased attention to the neighborhood.

I have strongly advocated for immediate installation of ShotSpotter, technology that will allow officers to respond immediately and with pinpoint accuracy to gunfire. I am also working with Shaw residents to find solutions to crime and to strengthen community policing.

(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 ...

Soon, there will be one less vacant property in the area surrounding the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. But this occupancy doesn’t have residents cheering. The vacant storefront, in a prime location, could contribute to the neighborhood with long-sought retail or as a cafe. Yet, it has been vacant for over a decade, has somehow consistently avoided the significantly higher tax rate set for vacant property, and has housed some failed political candidates.

“What a waste,” said one local resident on a neighborhood blog, who would like to see a Starbucks or an independent coffee shop. “They are going to leave it a flurry of old papers and trash just like the last person in there did.”

Here’s another resident’s take along with the original story on the Washington CityPaper blog.

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Photograph of J. Seward Johnson, Jr.’s The Awakening (previously) located at Hains Point, Washington, D.C. Photographer: Ryan Sandridge

The Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center will come to life in Prince George’s County next month, providing a stark comparison to the lost opportunity and promise of DC’s own convention center. To add insult to injury, National Harbor snatched “The Awakening” straight out of District soil in Hains Point to become the centerpiece of the MD gateway, and hosted the Nationals 2008 fundraising gala. And look what else is coming, according to the Washington Business Journal:

This initial phase will house some 330,000 square feet of retail — including 10 to 12 restaurants as well as an entertainment district — all to be completed in a year. The developer has firm commitments on 60 percent of the first phase of retail space, with most retailers signing three- to 15-year leases and receiving tenant improvement allowances.

Some District businesses are opening new locations in National Harbor, such as the U Street favorite Cake Love. In addition to the 2,000 rooms at the Gaylord Hotel, there will also be a Hampton Inn and a Westin.

Compare to our own Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where it took years for the first shops to open, and the small amount of retail space included in the building (and not well thought out) has yet to be filled. A few months ago, a deal was finally announced to bring in a long-expected convention center hotel — in 2011!

Meanwhile, the bold owners of the few small businesses that opened on the 7th and 9th Streets, such as Breakwell’s Coffee and D’Vine Bakery & Cafe, are struggling to survive. Those located within the convention center itself are reportedly engaged in disputes over their lease stemming from the expensive build out expenses that were placed on the owners. Vacant property continues to line the surrounding area.

The District is already losing business to its new Prince George’s competition. According to The Washington Informer:

The District’s hotel, the 1,300-room Marriott Wardman Park on Connecticut Avenue, NW, has lost three events to the Gaylord–two military-related shows and a major computer software company’s meeting, according to its general manager. He reported that losing the three annual shows cost him $6 million a year in room revenue, food and beverages, and banquets.

The loss of tax revenues will also impact District of Columbia coffers. National Harbor will pump nearly $1 billion in tax revenues into Prince George’s County during the next 30 years.

UPDATE 4/11: And the Washington Post, in an article noting that National Harbor has now also taken Cirque du Soleil from the District, says:

The lavish resort has garnered many of the reservations that would have gone to the District’s hotels and Convention Center.

It seems that our conventioneers, our local businesses, even our public art, and, most importantly, our chance to make a lasting improvement in the heart of DC, were stolen right out from under our nose. How did this happen? When Washington Harbor opens will DC have an awakening?

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...