Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sunday, October 7th -- Three Communities Festival -- on the unit block of T St NW

On Sunday, October 7, 2012

on the unit block of T Street NW

from noontime to 8 pm
 
there will be

      
Community Festival
                                                       
Celebration of Three Communities -
Past Present and Future
Bloomingdale - Bates - Eckington


Note that the Marshall Keys Trio is scheduled to perform between 12 pm and 3 pm.

DJ Jams from 3 pm to 5pm.

Live rock band from 5 pm to close.

Vendors mall 12 pm to 5 pm -- art, jewelry, clothing, crafts and more!

Kids activities all day.

And a cool Scavenger Hunt.

See the attached flyer!

 




Community Festival FlyerUpdate 9292012

Open Houses in and around Bloomingdale for Sunday 09/30/12

Here are the open houses in the general area scheduled for Sunday. Here is the same info in a map format.

**Agents, to have your open houses listed in this weekly post, you must tag them in MRIS by the Friday before the open house. If you have an open house in the immediate area (Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park, Eckington, Shaw, Truxton Circle) that does not show up, please add in the comments below.

McMillan: "proposed DC flooding fix a tricky task"

See this Washington Examiner article on the idea of potentially storing stormwater somewhere at Bloomingdale's McMillan Sand Filtration to help address flooding in Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park during heavy thunderstorms.  Anne Corbett of Vision McMillan Partners is quoted.

Local: DC
Proposed D.C. flooding fix a tricky task
September 29, 2012 | 8:00 pm
by Liz Farmer, Examiner Staff Writer
 

    
An idea being floated to use a former water filtration site to temporarily help alleviate flooding problems in the District is a little more complicated than it sounds, an official with that site`s redevelopment team has told The Washington Examiner.
          
DC Water officials have said they are looking at using the historic McMillan Sand Filtration Site near Howard University that`s slated for redevelopment as a temporary water storage facility during flash rainstorms. The site sits north of Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park, two areas where homeowners have endured thousands of dollars in damages after the antiquated sewer serving the neighborhood caused backups four times this summer.
              
But accessing the site`s underground sand filtration cells, which haven`t been used since 1985, isn`t as simple as rerouting excess runoff during rainstorms, said Anne Corbett, Envision McMillan`s project director.
     
``It`s not just water running downhill that we can corral up into a pond at McMillan,`` she said.
  
And any action taken at the site would require approval from the Historic Preservation Review Board.
    
``Deciding to use McMillan as an interim storm water retention function would still require significant development design and approval process because it`s still a historic landmark,`` Corbett said, adding that could also delay the development process.
    
But Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh didn`t think it would add delays.
     
``My own experience with these big developments is that it takes long enough that we could use that site to deal with the flooding and use it for development, so why not?`` she said. ``It`s just sitting there, so let`s use it.``
   
But developers are open to using the site as a more permanent solution to the flooding and have talked with at-large Councilman Michael Brown, who chairs the economic development committee, and with Ward 5 Councilman Kenyan McDuffie about using the site.
  
Such a solution would enlarge the development`s water retention tanks ?-- but, Corbett said, the city would need to foot the bill for the added cost.
    
``We have said for a long time we have the capacity to be open to that certainly in partnership ... the construction needs to be paid for by DC Water or D.C. or whoever,`` she said.
     
The 25-acre McMillan site has been closed to the public since the 1940s and was purchased by the District from the federal government in 1987. Previous plans to redevelop the area have stalled, but Envision McMillan, a proposal that includes mixed-use office and apartment buildings with ground-floor retail, townhouses and a four-acre park in the center, is now being weighed by the historic preservation board.
                        
DC Water presented its flooding mitigation ideas last week at a D.C. Council hearing on the chronic flooding in the Northwest neighborhoods.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

cat still missing

See this message:
 
Lost cat: My cat has been missing since Wednesday. He's a friendly and chubby orange tabby. His name is Sunshine. Please see the attached picture. If found, please capture and/or call 202 607-7221 or email kmlewis777@gmail.com. If you are unable to contact me ASAP and you cannot keep him, please bring him to the DC Animal Shelter/Washington Humane Society at 1201 New York Ave NE. Their telephone number is 202 576 - 6664. You can also return him to the unit block of R St NW and he will find his way home.
 
 

upcoming sewer inspections in Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park

From: Emanuel D. Briggs <Emanuel.Briggs@dcwater.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2012 12:09 AM
Subject: RE: Bloomingdale/LeDroit Park Sewer Cleaning
Bloomingdale/LeDroit Park Residents:
Please see the below schedules for upcoming sewer inspections in your area:
Date
Start Time
End Time
Location
10/1/2012
9:00pm
4:00am
North Capitol St and Bryant St NW
10/2/2012
9:00pm
4:00am
North Capitol St and W St NW
10/3/2012
9:00pm
4:00am
North Capitol St and Rhode Island Ave NE
10/4/2012
9:00pm
4:00am
North Capitol St and T St NW
10/4/2012
9:00pm
4:00am
North Capitol St and Randolph Pl NE and Seaton Pl NE
Date
Start Time
End Time
Location
10/1/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st St NW and Bryant St NW
10/2/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
Adams St NW and Flagler PL NW
10/3/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st St NW and W St NW, and Flagler Pl NW
10/4/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st NW and V St NW, and Flagler Pl NW
10/5/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1 St NW and S St NW, and 2nd St NW
Date
Start Time
End Time
Location
10/1/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st St NW and Bryant St NW
10/2/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
Adams St NW and Flagler PL NW
10/3/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st St NW and W St NW, and Flagler Pl NW
10/4/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1st NW and V St NW, and Flagler Pl NW
10/5/2012
7:00am
4:00pm
1 St NW and S St NW, and 2nd St NW
Thanks much, and please let me know if you have questions regarding this work.
Have a great weekend!

Friday, September 28, 2012

FREE rain barrel & cistern program for Bloomingdale/LeDroit Park residents

From ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:
 
Please see the updated flyer emphasizing that the Bloomingdale / LeDroit Park Rain Barrel & Cistern program is FREE for local residents.
 
When you see your neighbors in the streets, please inform them of the program and encourage them to call (202) 535-2239 to register.
 
Unlike the backflow preventer program, the rain barrel program lacks any requirement to sign away your first-born child etc.
 
Thank you,
    
Hugh
--
Hugh Youngblood
ANC, SMD 5C03
202.630.2262
FREE_Bloomingdale-LeDroit Rain Barrel Pgm Flyer_28Sept2012

Community Festival scavenger hunt !

See this message about the Sunday, October 7, 2012 Community Festival titled "Celebration of Three Communities - Past,Present & Future - Bloomingdale, Bates, Eckington."
   
The event will be held on the unit block of T Street NW from noon to 5 pm.
                                                   
Yes, there will be a fun Scavenger Hunt! See below.
  

First on First Scavenger Hunt

Must be completed and submitted by 12pm on Saturday October 6th.
    
Prizes are:
  
1st place:
Two tickets to the Nationals first play-off game.
One case of mixed wines,
One bottle of jameson Irish whiskey,
One bottle of high west double rye whiskey,
$25 gift Certificate to rustik tavern,
$25 gift Certificate to Boundary Stone,
$10 Gift Certificate to City Cleaners,
One Boundary Stone shirt,
Six pint glasses with Rustik Tavern logo,
Gift card to Big Bear and...
a high five.
2nd place:
Two tickets to nationals first play-off game,
$25 Gift Certificate to Boundary Stone,
$25 Gift certificate to Rustik Tavern,
One Bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey,
One Boundary Stone Shirt,
Three pint glasses with Rustik Tavern logo.
3rd place-:
One $20 gift cards to City Cleaners,
One bottle Jameson Irish Whiskey,
One 10$ gift card to boundary stone,
One $10 gift card to Rustik Tavern
One boundary stone shirt and
Three pint glasses with rustic logo.
4th place-
One Boundary Stone Shirt and
Three pint glasses with Rustik Tavern logo
5th place – One bottle of DASANI water for you efforts.
Scavenger Hunt - 2012

HPRB on McMillan: "berm along Channing St NW should not be brought down to street level"

I did not attend yesterday's DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) hearing on Bloomingdale's McMillan Sand Filtration site. I did, however, watch the live webcast.
    
I tweeted while watching the hearing.
     
I captured my set of tweets in a chirp story.
 
My chirp story may be found here.

       

Start at the bottom and read up.
       
A big item of potential interest for Channing Street NW residents: HPRB Chair Maria Casarella commented that the high berm along Channing Street NW should remain and not brought down to the existing street level of the rowhouses on the south side of Channing Street NW. She said that there are examples of retaining an existing berm elsewhere in the city (no specific examples provided).
    
The HPRB members seem to chime in unison that the design plan presented is too generic and does not specifically speak to the site. Chair Casarella said that the HPRB "gets a lot of that" -- design plans that are generic which can apply to many other projects.
    
And note that most HPRB members acknowledged the hard work that Envision McMillan has put in to the project and the complexities of the site.
        
So let's see what the DC Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and Envision McMillan do at this point.      
 

looking to start a Suzuki Violin group in Bloomingdale

Suzuki Violin Lessons led by Amy Beth Horman now available in and around Bloomingdale!
        
Amy Beth Horman is now offering weekly private lessons along with bi-monthly group classes for parent and child in the Bloomingdale area.
              
About the teacher: Amy Beth Horman is an avid solo performer and teacher in the Metropolitan Area. She holds the European equivalent of a doctorate in solo violin and has been teaching violin at all levels for 20 years. Ms. Horman currently runs a private studio of young violinists in DC as well as serves as adjunct professor in Violin Performance at both Catholic University and Montgomery College. She has given lectures on the Art of Practice to Performance at the University of Maryland, is a regular coach for the Chamber Music held at the Levine School of Music, and was a mentor for the Artists in Residence (AIR) program at Strathmore Hall. 
                      
While Ms. Horman’s current studio focuses on intermediate and advanced playing, this year marks the first year in many that she has made beginners lessons back available as her own daughter, Ava is beginning Suzuki violin. Ms. Horman wishes to find a group of preschoolers to join her daughter thereby forming a new component to her private studio.
            
About the Method: The Suzuki Method centers around the belief that all children can learn music if given the right environment, support, and example. Much like learning a language, the Suzuki method immerses the child in music allowing them to mimic slowly the motions and sounds they hear in an encouraging and rewarding environment. Private lessons and group classes are for both parent and child and can begin as young as 2 or 3.
           
Fees: 6 week session - $270 a student
This includes 6 half hour private lessons and three 45 minute group classes. Parents will be responsible for purchasing materials and the eventual rental cost of violins. This process will be made simple through our meeting detailed below.
         
Session will start as soon as we have a class of 5.
        
If you are interested in taking Suzuki violin with Ms. Horman, please contact her directly . She is planning a meeting at no cost for all parents interested entitled “Intoduction to Suzuki” to familiarize you with the Method and give everyone a chance to ask questions.
                                                                     

Bloomingdale resident & artisan Sean Hennessey exhibiting at GooDBuddy tonight, 09-28-2012

From Bloomingdale resident and artisan Sean Hennessey:
 
I have a new series of work that I am exhibiting at 410 Goodbuddy, the art space at 410 Florida Avenue NW.
                
There will be a reception on Friday September 28th from 5-8 PM
 
More information can be found here .
 
 

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Florida Avenue Baptist Church forum on this year's election -- Friday, 09/28/2012

From: Marc Morgan <morgan@morganfordc.com>
To: LeDroitPark@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 4:06 PM
Subject: [LeDroitPark] Florida Avenue Baptist Church - Up-Coming Events

 

 

Florida Avenue Baptist Church centennial concert -- Sunday, 09/30/2012

From: Lonell Johnson lonell.johnson@verizon.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 3:27 PM
Subject: Florida Ave Baptist Church Concert Reminder 

 

 

"Cool video of the People`s Plan for McMillan Park"

From ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood: 


Here`s a cool video of The People`s Plan for McMillan Park in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, DC, created by Collage City Studio under the leadership of Professor Miriam Gusevich.
                 
Published on Sep 27, 2012 by Hugh Youngblood

Video 3D rendering of a creative alternative master plan for historic McMillan Park developed by Collage City Studio in collaboration with the McMillan Park Committee and the Friends of McMillan Park on behalf of the people of Washington, DC.

Harry Thomas Sr Rec Center, survey and report

Passed along by ANC 5C03 Commissioner Hugh Youngblood:
 
From: ileana schinder
Date: Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Subject: Harry Thomas Sr Rec Center, survey and report
To: Ileana Schinder

Dear friends and neighbors,

I know that many of you have already heard of my efforts to make Harry Thomas Sr Rec Center a welcoming place for all. This short email is to ask you for a bit of help. After my original assessment of the grounds, I am collecting public information through a survey. I would like to have as many responses as possible to make sure everyone`s voice is heard and results are not biased.

Please send the link to the survey to anyone you know in Eckington, Bloomingdale, Brookland and surrounding areas. Here`s the link.

You can forward it to listservs, facebook, twitter and emails.

The photographic study of the Rec Center can be found here .
 
Thank you so much for your help.
 
ileana

today's HPRB hearing on McMillan: "high berm along south end of site along Channing should remain"

I did not attend today's DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) hearing on Bloomingdale's McMillan Sand Filtration site.  I did, however, watch the live webcast.

I tweeted while watching the hearing.

I captured my set of tweets in a chirp story.

My chirp story may be found here.
 


Start at the bottom and read up.

A big item of potential interest for Channing Street NW residents: HPRB Chair Maria Casarella commented that the high berm along Channing Street NW should remain and not brought down to the existing street level of the rowhouses on the south side of Channing Street NW. She said that there are examples of retaining an existing berm elsewhere in the city (no specific examples provided).

The HPRB members seem to chime in unison that the design plan presented is too generic and does not specifically speak to the site.   Chair Casarella said that the HPRB "gets a lot of that" -- design plans that are generic which can apply to many other projects.

And note that most HPRB members acknowledged the hard work that Envision McMillan has put in to the project and the complexities of the site.

So let's see what the DC Historic Preservation Office (HPO) and Envision McMillan do at this point.

DC Water backflow preventer workshops: PDF of the presentation given

From DC Water:

We have added a PDF of the presentation given at the Backlow Preventer workshops.
 
 

Bloomingdale resident Tracye McQuirter's book on black women & veganism

Thanks to Bloomingdale resident Em Hall for spotting, in Vegetarian Times, an article by Bloomingdale resident Tracye McQuirter and her book By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat.   
             
 
 

Author, speaker, and public health expert Tracye McQuirter, MPH, has been promoting veganism for the past 25 years and continues to get the word out with her best-selling book, By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat.

McQuirter points out that African Americans have been pioneers in the plant-based food movement, including starting the first vegan health food stores and cafés in the nation’s capital in the 1980s. “Yet many in the black community are experiencing an explosive health crisis related to the unhealthy animal-based foods far too many eat today,” she says. “It’s especially critical with black women in this country, about 80 percent of whom are overweight, and 50 percent are obese. With that comes increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and cancer. We need to be targeted with information about how a plant-based diet can change all that.”

“Information and access are key,” adds McQuirter. “While food deserts are a real challenge for many people throughout the country, we have to remember that communities of color have a strong legacy of successfully organizing around and providing access to good, healthy food in our communities for decades. We need to continue to organize through our faith-based, civil rights, and social justice organizations, and fraternities and sororities to bring healthier foods into our schools and communities.”

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Housing Complex: "full development of McMillan could wait another decade"

Okay, it is a McMillan afternoon.
 
See this post from Aaron Wiener, the new Washington City Paper Housing Complex reporter:


 

McMillan Development: Underwater Again?

want to watch the part of the HPRB hearing on McMillan ?

Watch McMillan at HPRB live!  McMillan is on the schedule from 9:00 am to 10:30 am.

See this message from the DC Historic Preservation Office (HPO):
                             
From: DC Government
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:40 PM
Subject: Live Video Webcast - HPRB September 27, 2012
       
Live Video Webcast - HPRB September 27, 2012
   
Live webcast of tomorrow's HPRB Hearing begins at 9:00 am. The program may be accessed through this abbreviated URLPlease select "View Live Video".

The Agenda and staff reports related to the hearing are posted on our website. You may access that information via the following abbreviated URL

Bruce Yarnall
Historic Preservation Office/DC Office of Planning
1100 4th Street SW Suite E650
Washington, DC 20024
T (202) 442-8835
F (202) 442-7638
Visit the DC Office of Planning on Facebook and on Twitter @OPinDC
 

WaPo's Mike DeBonis: "Can the McMillan site help solve flooding in Bloomingdale?"

Posted at 03:15 PM ET, 09/26/2012

Can the McMillan site help solve flooding in Bloomingdale?



Could McMillan’s subterranean filtration cells again hold water? (Claire Bedat - ASLA)
                                                                                          
Residents of the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods took their complaints about frequent flooding to the D.C. Council on Tuesday. Denizens of those low-lying neighborhoods renewed their pleas for relief more effective than backflow preventers and rain barrels but more immediate than the 10- to 15-year project to dig a massive underground storage tunnel.
But there was a novel medium-term solution discussed that could help alleviate drainage issues that led to three major flooding incidents over 10 days in July.
D.C. Water General Manager George S. Hawkins said his agency is exploring whether the historic McMillan Sand Filtration Site north of Bloomingdale could be used as a place to store storm runoff during major storms, easing the aging and overloaded sewers downhill.
Storing water at McMillan, which hasn’t filtered water since 1985, would be unlikely to prevent all flooding, Hawkins said. But in combination with other efforts, such as installing a “relief sewer” or transferring some flow to other “trunk” sewers, he said, “we’ll be able to get a dent.”
D.C. Water spokesman Alan Heymann said Wednesday that engineers are exploring whether the subterranean sand filtration facility is structurally sound enough for the job and whether it could hold the millions of gallons of storm runoff necessary to provide meaningful relief to the downhill neighborhoods.
The concept is that, during major storms, storm sewers upstream from Bloomingdale would dump runoff into McMillan’s filtration cells, where it would stay until the weather passes. Once downstream sewers were less taxed, the runoff would then be pumped though to be processed at Blue Plains.
Without endorsing the McMillan idea specifically, City Administrator Allen Y. Lew said Tuesday he would work up a medium-term relief plan within 30 days, with an eye toward implementing it in about a year. Hawkins indicated money shouldn’t be a problem: “I am confident that the financing element will not be as much a challenge as some of the other elements will be,” he said.
The McMillan-as-stormwater-impound idea has won fans among some area residents. Russell Kinner, who testified at the hearing, suggested that it would be using the site for “its original industrial purpose.” That is: “Keep it more or less the way it is, and store water there during storms.”
But keeping it more or less the way it is could mean tossing aside, or at least modifying or delaying, grand redevelopment plans for the site.
If D.C. Water and city officials decide they need to use McMillan’s underground filtration cells until the planned storage tunnel is complete in 2025, that stands to affect how redevelopment will proceed — perhaps it could be done in phases, or perhaps it would have to wait until the tunnel is fully in service. Jose Sousa, a spokesman for the city economic development office, said only that there have been “conversations” about using the McMillan site for stormwater impoundment.
D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who has both been intimately involved in the McMillan planning and has been crusading for storm-ravaged residents, said it’s “a little too early to get residents’ hopes up” about McMillan. But he said his first priority would be using the site for flood relief: “Given the devastation that the residents have experienced, the costs and the toll that been taken, then all options should be on the table.”
But McDuffie said he hasn’t given up on development, either. “The question I will have is, can we do both?” he said. “I haven’t heard that the two are mutually exclusive at this point.”

By | 03:15 PM ET, 09/26/2012