wifi

from the March 5, 2007 BACA Meeting


Wireless Network Proposal: ANC 5C Commissioner Stuart Davenport , SMD 5C03, made a presentation regarding his interest in possibly constructing a wireless network in the Bloomingdale-Shaw East/Truxton Circle communities. Such a network would give residents of the immediate area free access to the World Wide Web and, in theory, could improve communications between and among residents as well as the members of indigenous neighborhood organizations. Commissioner Davenport envisions this project as one that would be implemented and maintained via the use of grant funding and a secondary benefit of the project concerns the educational value that it would have to those students from Dunbar Senior High School as well as the McKinley Technology High School who would be asked to actively participate in the actual construction of the network. At this point, Commissioner Davenport's ideas about the proposed network are very preliminary. Indeed, he will continue to work on them and keep us posted of further developments concerning this proposal as they ripen and are poised to be put into action.


next meeting
Monday, April 2, 2007
Mount Sinai Baptist Church
3rd and Q Streets, N.W.
Rooms 1 and 2
7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

update on EC-12, the firehouse.

Saw this in a neighborhood email



Dear Engine Company 12 Neighbors,

As part of our ongoing efforts to communicate with our neighbors and friends as to the status of this historic neighborhood landmark, we're going to start producing some short newsletters to let all of you know the status of Engine Company 12's major redevelopment into a restaurant and destination in the North Capital area.

NC Firehouse, LLC. is proud to announce that we have just achieved a significant milestone in the redevelopment of Engine Company 12. We have just received the officially signed and executed contract for the purchase and redevelopment of EC12 from the city.

What does this mean?

Now that we have a signed contract, we can begin the work of renovating this old building into the beautiful landmark it deserves to be. We understand the visual blight an abandoned building brings to the neighborhood and we will work to reduce that as much as possible.

As part of our contract, the city has agreed to cooperate with us in expediting the permit process which can be very lengthy. Settlement of all fees and title transfer is keyed upon issuance of the permits or end of fiscal year, whichever is sooner. Construction drawings have to be completed and approved before we can apply for permits.

We’ve already done some cleanup on the outside of the property, and we would like to press on to some cosmetics for the building as well. While this is only a short term situation, at the moment we cannot do anything that requires permits. We also can’t make substantial improvements to a building that doesn’t yet officially belong to us.

While we continue working on basic cleanup, we will also be working with the architects and engineers to turn our conceptual drawings into construction plans. When these plans are complete, we can apply for permits from the city and then the construction side of the project can begin.

We are extremely proud and excited to have been selected as the developer for such an important project and we wish to thank the city, Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., and of course the neighbors of EC12 for the amazing support and cooperation we have received so far.

We look forward to working with you to rebuild and preserve this beautiful old building and create a place that we will all be proud of when it is done.

Thanks for reading this newsletter and we'll keep you in the loop as we proceed.

Sincerely,

Brian Brown
NC Firehouse, LLC

a bear stands guard over first street.

i didn't get a picture, but i saw this new bloomingdale sentry myself.

i think its made of wood.

TOMORROW - running through the neighborhood- UPDATE

the national marathon has charted its path(pdf) to run through bloomingdale on Saturday, March 24, 2007


The course has changed for 1st street to NORTH CAPITOL.
the race starts at 7 am.

the point of historic preservation

i thought this was a good post on a very interesting blog. It concerns a brick wall and an alley in NYC.

read
Post here

NoMa gets a BID

NoMa will become an official Business Improvement District, or BID.
Look HERE.

some other related links:
NoMa Corridor
Wiki NoMa
Swamppoodle
Washington Gateway Project
North Capitol Main Streets

brentwood town center?

DCMUD bringing it home to brentwood .

check this out

"Described as a renaissance for the area, the project’s 370,000 sf will include 274 rental apartments and 70,000 sf retail space that will spread along Rhode Island Avenue NE and surround the entrance to the metro station."

article on h street.

washington post article on h street ne

i think this is a great article. it covers some of the compexity of emotions on h street, and has two excellent video interviews.


updated*******
seems lots of peole hated this article.
read some reactions here:
citypaper
Frozen Tropics
Washington Post Chat.


i can see some of their points, but i thought it was fine....

homes with parking spots.

For work i drive.
Since i do decorative artworks in peoples homes, i generally have lots of things to transport around. Ladders, buckets, paints, etc... Because of this i wanted to live in a place where i could easily park. While there is still easy parking in my corner of bloomingdale, and was a lot of easy parking on my street when i moved here, my realtor suggested that an offstreet parking spot weigh in my considerations.

Personally, i'm very glad i have alley parking. I can't say as its a nice spot, or that at times i'd prefer a more proper patio. It does allow me lazy nights of not wanting to unload things.

As for street parking, its really odd. Sometimes my street will go a week at 70% full, then sometimes even at 6PM you can't find a spot. It seems to be entirely random.

heres a washington post article about parking and real estate.

kanlaya

there is a thai restaurant that i have been to a lot in chinatown, Kanlaya.

Despite the fact they they deliver, and that my house is 5 minutes from them (4 minutes by mapquest) they won't deliver to me.

Sad. very sad. it would have been nice if they told us that when we called to order, instead of calling back when the delivery should have arrived.

do you drive?

check this out:
gas price map

bloomingdale on flickr maps...

i'm testing the flickr map and my ability to use it.. yes.. i'm a late adaptor.

FLICKR map

please consider posting bloomingdale photos to the bloomingdale photo group

street sweeping resumes on monday march 26th.

On Monday, March 26, 2007, residential street sweeping and alternate-side of the street parking restrictions will resume. Be sure to move your cars when indicated by the red and white No Parking, Street Cleaning signs or face a $30 fine and possible towing.



******
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "street sweeping resumes on monday march 26th.":

We actually have another week on the ticketing front, see this: "Parking tickets, which carry a $30 fine, will be issued, beginning April 2, to vehicles parked during street sweeping hours in areas posted with “No Parking/Street Cleaning” signs."
******

thanks for leaving that comment!

apparently dcist thinks there is an old firehouse on north capitol.

they talk about it here

apparently its going to become a restaurant, as recently reported by Express.

good to know.

total lunar eclipse in 5 hours.

read here

new restaurant/cafe on north capitol

the word from Kris Hammond ( ANC 5C-02) is that "J. Bell's" will be opening at the corner of p and north capitol within the next month.

Mr. Julius Bell is seeking a liquor license and approval from the 5C Advisory Neighborhood Commission. His plans also include a permit for a sidewalk cafe with 24 seats. He will be providing guests with a full menu.