Artomatic in NoMa!

For immediate release

NoMa BID media contact: Artomatic media contact:

Leslie Braunstein Marina Reiter

703-234-7762 202-271-4748

info@lhbcommunications.com reiter.marina@gmail.com

Artomatic Comes to NoMa May 9–June 15, 2008

Up to 800 artists and 50,000 visitors expected in
D.C.’s most exciting new neighborhood

The NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) will host this year’s Artomatic, the Washington, D.C. area’s homegrown art extravaganza. From May 9 through June 15, 2008, up to 800 local and regional artists will exhibit their works on eight floors of the Capitol Plaza 1 building, located at 1st and M Streets, N.E., just one block from the New York Avenue Metro station.

Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic transforms an unfinished indoor space into an exciting and incredibly diverse arts event that is free and open to the public. In addition to displays and sales by hundreds of artists, the event features free musical, dance, and theater performances; holiday celebrations; films; educational presentations; and much more.

This year’s Artomatic, occupying 200,000 square feet at Capitol Plaza 1, will be the largest to date. Designed by renowned architect Shalom Baranes and owned by an affiliate of The Polinger Company, Capitol Plaza 1 offers 293,000 rentable square feet of Class A office space, with dramatic Capitol and city views from the upper floors.

“We are thrilled to partner with Artomatic in an event that will bring tens of thousands of people to NoMa,” said Elizabeth Price, president of the NoMa BID. “It is a great opportunity to showcase the transformation that is underway in NoMa and infuse it with the energy and creativity of the artistic community.”

"Artomatic has come back to its roots in D.C. with our largest event ever,” said George Koch, Chair of Artomatic. “We are excited about our partnership with the NoMa BID and their help in bringing this new space to our attention. Artomatic 2008 will have an abundance of exhibit and performance space that will be open to all — from recognized artists to undiscovered talents.”

Registration for artists and performers who wish to participate in Artomatic will be open soon. To stay up to date on the event details and schedule, visit www.artomatic.org and sign up to receive the Artomatic newsletter.

###

About the NoMa BID:

NoMa is an emerging mixed-use neighborhood north of the U.S. Capitol and Union Station in Washington, D.C. Private developers have invested almost
$2 billion in 2007–2008 alone, with plans to develop more than 20 million square feet of office, residential, hotel, and retail space in the 35-block area covered by the NoMa BID over the next 10 years. For more information about the BID, including an interactive development map, see the BID Web site at www.nomabid.org.

About Artomatic:

Artomatic is a creative community that collaborates to produce and present a free arts spectacular. Participation is open to all, from recognized artists to undiscovered talents, who work in a variety of arts forms. In partnership with the development community, Artomatic transforms unused building space into a playground for expression, serves as a catalyst for community growth in up-and-coming neighborhoods, and helps to grow our creative economy. The nonprofit Artomatic organization is headed by a volunteer Board of Directors and is funded in part by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.artomatic.org.

Walk around the block, Bloomingdale

Bloomingdale.....N. Capital Street, on a nice day, it is a great street. The other day, as I waited for the light to change, I ran into T, the fellow who wanders around aimlessly. He asked how my husband was, I asked him how his morning had been... a white car pulled slowly up to the curb and with his hand low by his side, T motioned, rapidly waving back and forth. The car turned onto Quincy. Then Tony abruptly said ...got to go. Hmm. A close friend.

The other night my husband and I had dinner with a friend of ours who is a banker. She has worked closely with a number of developers. I told her our ideas to help N. Capital Street...perhaps neighbors could form an LLC and purchase a building and fix it up. Perhaps businesses on N. Capital could partner with Catholic Univ School of Architecture to help design new enticing facades, or perhaps we, as a neighborhood, could court deep pocket investors.
She felt that an investor or developer would not be interested in purchasing a single building, but rather a block. I indicated that I did not think we wanted big development like 7th street, but rather something more small-business oriented, like 14th street. Admittedly, this is my preference.

On a lark, I decided to do some investigating. I found a building between R and Quincy NE on N. Capital with a wrinkled, crumbled, hidden Caldwell-Banker FOR SALE sign. What if we could entice a developer with this block. So I walked around the block and took some pictures. My next step is to meet the current business owners and find out if they would be interested in selling, or if they would prefer to stay, and if so, would they like some help to improve the facade of their building.

My idea is to provide a short report to anyone interested on just this block....the current buildings, the status of those building, and what they might become...perhaps with renderings of how fabulous building in lovely Bloomingdale, with a glimpse of the Capital and thousands of cars driving by each day could be....does anyone know of an artist or draftsperson who would like to help?

But Bloomingdale, what do you think? Is this a good idea, should I even be trying to pull in a developer, what do you think? This is our neighborhood...and it is a good one....but I think N. Capital needs a hand. Neighbors and I are meeting on Tuesday, March 25th 7:00 at Nellie’s Sports Bar. Can you join us?

Take a walk around the block with me. Think about it.

bike sharing in ward 2

Bike Sharing Program in Ward 2

See this 3/17/2008 post from the blog of ANC 2C02 Commissioner Kevin Chapple:

From Paris to Shaw: Bike Sharing Comes to Ward 2

According to a Ward 2 News District Beat article (pdf only), Shaw, Logan, Mt Vernon Sq, U St, Dupont and other neighborhoods will soon be served by a "free" bike sharing program. The program is one way that the District Department of Transportation and Clear Channel Outdoors Smart Bike program are trying to better serve residents and visitors by offering a carbon neutral and generally healthy way to get around the District. If you plan to make use of the program often, it would be wise to also invest in a bike helmet.

Apparently, according to DDOT's bike crash summary, it also helps to avoid accidents if you are female, under 25 and over 35, stay away from vehicles with non-district license plates, and avoid biking on Thursdays.

Initially, the program will make 110 bike available at local kiosks throughout the greater downtown area between 6am and 10pm. The program will require a $39 fee for an annual membership card that, at least initially, will allow users to rent a bike for free for up to 3 hours. The cost per usage may increase to $2 at some point.


Use of a bicycle helmet is the single, most effective preventive measure of reducing head injuries 85%, and brain injuries or serious disabilities by 88% from bicycle accidents.
-- DDOT's 2002 bicycle laws (http://www.ddot.washingtondc.gov/ddot/frames.asp?doc=/ddot/lib/ddot/information/bicycle/laws/bicyclelaws.pdf)

"We are just extremely excited and proud that this is going to be the first system of its kind in the country. DC is really ahead of the curve on this one."
-- Eric Gilliland, Executive Director of Washington Area Bicyclist Association [WABA - www.waba.org]

Officer of Cultural Tourism DC's Neighborhood Heritage Trail

See this message from Bloomingdale Civic Association President Cassandra Costley:


Ledroit Park and Bloomingdale have a wonderful opportunity to become a tour of choice in a city of wonderful touring options. Earlier this month the Executive Committee of the Bloomingdale Civic Association had dinner with Ledroit Park Civic Association president Robert Sullivan, ANC 5-C Commissioner John Salatti, and Jane Freundal-Levy, Chief Program Officer of Cultural Tourism DC's Neighborhood Heritage Trail to discuss how that could happen. Ms. Levy and her assistant explained the process by which Ledroit Park and Bloomingdale can become part of the city's ever expanding network of neighborhood heritage trails.

Those who don't already know about these trails can go to www.culturaltourismdc.org to learn more. Completed trails bring positive attention to the neighborhoods they grace. The process of putting the trails
together brings neighborhoods together to talk, to research, to learn, to listen, and to laugh. Long-time residents get an opportunity to preserve for posterity all the things they have loved about the place they live. Newer residents get a chance to do research on their new home and to meet neighbors they might otherwise never get a chance to befriend. "Building" these trails has given whole communities an opportunity to learn more about their physical space and the people who once lived there. If you'd like to capture a bit of that magic for Bloomingdale and yourself, please volunteer to support this effort when the collaboration with Ledroit Park begins in May.

No particular skills or abilities are required. An abiding interest in people, history, and storytelling will come in handy. Otherwise, we'll find something for you to do if you can walk, talk, cough, or smell nice. We'll use the time between now and when our collaboration begins to plan how to involve everyone in our community who wants to play a role and to determine how to collect all of the stories of all of those who have stories to tell.

Email us at BloomingdaleCA @ gmail.com to volunteer, ask questions, or comment on this initiative.

Thanks,

harris teeter in NoMa

you know, every time i go to the Giant at Brentwood Shopping Center i vow to never go there again.

i like cooking a lot and i like shopping for food. i go to lots of different places and am not really a big fan "one stop shopping". i try to go to area farmers markets, the florida avenue markets, trader joes, grand mart, shoppers, safeway, whole foods, even costco, glut, a couple of the indian markets in langley park, timor bodega, etc.. i hit them all. but really i only go to the giant when i'm already picking up stuff from home depot, or if i need something quickly, because its the most convenient grocery store to my house.

But at the end of 2010 i wont have to make my convenient runs to giant anymore. i'll have a new grocery store thats closer that i can complain about:

Harris Teeter. will be opening a store at First and M NE.






hopefully it wont be as expensive as the ones i've been to in virginia. ; )

any way check out the great renderings of Constitution Square here
and the official announcement on the NoMa BID site

this is the lot in this picture

1.5 years ago.

big bear
Originally uploaded by Scenic Artisan

not that long ago, really.

Meet Bloomingdale!

Ever wonder what it would take to change the direction of North Capital Street? Specifically the area between Rhode Island Avenue and New York Avenue. In the past few weeks I have found neighbors with an interest/curiosity about how we, as Bloomingdale neighbors, can help North Capital Street regain it’s footing as a great street. Imagine, the power of a group of neighbors to buy one vacant building on North Capital Street. Daunting and exciting.

Let’s meet.

My agenda is to meet you. ....and,

• Talk about what is needed to form an LLC. How is an LLC different/better than a 503c. Is there a better option?


• How would we start? Would we have an initial investment amount per person? $1000, $10,000. More, less?
  


• Do we organize the seed money first, and then find the property....that seems to make sense.


• What is our mission? Is it solely to clean up North Capital? Is it to entice more businesses? Is it to make money? Are we only considering those buildings for sale, or do we approach other businesses....would SAVEMORE be interested in a new facade? Would that be something we would want to think about.
  

So let’s meet Bloomingdale! Tuesday, March 25th, 7:00pm at Nellie’s Sports Bar (9th and U Street). Please email me if you would like to be included: Karen_and_Howard at verizon dot net.

Think. Think. Think about it.

I hear you, Bloomingdale!

You hear my plot to get North Capital in shape...maybe another 14th Street...cool shops, restaurants, wine bars, galleries...maybe some Dupont Circle excitement with sweet yoga, bookstores, tea houses...perhaps some Columbia Heights and taco joints and gala stages. And then there is H Street with all things possible. Something, something, something. What is it?

And Ahhh..yes, we may need 20% down on a commercial building. And Yes! we can do this. And Yes! It does take a lawyer to navigate the waters of an LLC v. 503c. And we can think about risks, (dollars and otherwise), and rewards, (dollars and otherwise). And we are smart, Bloomingdale...we can figure all this out!

In the past week, I attended a lecture on Great Streets held at the Building museum... what makes a street a ‘great street’...is it a change of scenery every 20 paces? Diversity of architecture, people, atmosphere? I stood and asked why North Capital Street is only a great street to buy drugs. Why is that? It has nice architecture, it has a view of the Capital (certainly that must be great), it has diversity, the scenery changes. The audience laughed. Sigh. Is that the response that we should get? East Capital Street is great. Why isn’t North Capital Street.

After the lecture, I cornered one of the speakers. He was one of the early proponent/investors of the revitalization of 14th street. He sits on a committee called the retail committee. I asked if the retail committee would like to visit Bloomingdale and see what we have. He invited me to the next meeting. And so, I will go. Maybe I can talk them into visiting our piece of the pie. What would it take to get investors interested.

I would like to meet you, my Bloomingdale neighbors. Let’s think about what we can do. Let’s do it. Things like this have been done in urban neighborhoods in Philly, Detroit, Seattle...all over. We can do it too. I am not exactly certain how at this point, but I think we can figure it out.

Washington is a lovely place to live...and we all have friends who know things, big things...like how to form an LLC, where to get investors. Tomorrow night we are having dinner with our friend the banker. Maybe we can find those investors... Ask your friends what their ideas are...they know big things. You know big things.

And so, Bloomingdale. Ready?

more stuff coming to noma.

NPR to Relocate to NoMa in Washington, D.C.

NPR has acquired the 165,000 square foot building at 1111 North Capitol Street, N.E. from J Street Development of Washington, D.C. Built in 1927 as a warehouse for the old Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, it is currently used as warehouse space by the Smithsonian Institution.


All of NPR’s 600 Washington-based journalism, multimedia, business and executive activities will be housed in this new facility, with occupancy planned for 2012.

read about it here

interesting footnote about the Washington Gateway Project here
the city allowed the developer to measure the building’s height from New York Avenue, which soars up above surrounding street level to leap the train tracks. From the rest of the neighborhood, therefore, the building is going to look like one of the tallest in the city.

30 People Cleaning 7th Street

30 People Cleaning 7th Street

The next TreeboxVodka monthly clean up project is Saturday, March 8th. We are looking to have 30 volunteers out there - help us make our goal. The more people means the more litter we can can clean up and we can clean out the dirty treeboxes. Our target area is 7th street. Starting at Rhode Island Ave/7th and working our way down and hitting the connecting streets as well.

Details
Date: Saturday, March 8th
Time: 10:30 AM
Where: 7th & Rhode Island Ave. NW
What: We'll be starting at 7th and RI and working our way down 7th street picking up Velicoff and Steel Reserve.
Bring: Gloves, friends, any additional tools you want to use for cleaning.
I'll Supply: Trash bags, I'll have a few extra gloves, and some trash picking tongs.

What else do you need?
Truly, I don't know. Hanging out on Saturday picking up beer cans and fast food wrappers seems like reward enough. But for those inclined to incentives, then we have you covered. Come out and join us three Saturday's and you'll receive a Shaw goodie. Past 3-time litter-pickers walked away with an I (heart) t-shirt. They were very happy.

Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

TODAY'S LABOR HISTORY: British soldiers, quartered in the homes of colonists, took the jobs of working people when jobs were scarce. On this date, grievances of ropemakers against the soldiers led to a fight. Soldiers shot down Crispus Attucks, a black colonist, then others, in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Attucks is considered the first casualty in the American Revolution (1770).

Bloomingdales very own secret park in named in honor of Crispus Attucks.

another volunteering opportunity.

Volunteers needed:

4 DC hospitals in Washington ( Washington Hospital , Children's, National Rehab and Veterans Affairs) are conducting an exercise involving a dirty bomb scenario and we will need about 100 victim volunteers. Please feel free to announce this volunteer opportunity through your network and ask that those interested in volunteering contact me prior to March 26.

The volunteer duty would be on Friday, April 4, 2008, 008:30-12:30. Refreshments would be provided.

Volunteers will receive a briefing and receive "role assignments" describing their injuries and condition. Some would be bomb blast victims, some would be existing patients requiring transfer due to facility damage, and some would be designated as "contaminated" and would require decontamination via a "dry run' through the VA hospital's Decontamination Shower System. A few may play roles as concerned friends or family members.

Please contact me at via e-mail (preferred) or phone if you wish to register as an exercise volunteer. Provide your cell phone number or other contact number. We request that if you have a cell phone that you bring it on the day of the exercise so we can communicate.

I will contact all those who register a week or so prior to the exercise.

Stephen Mabley, MS, CIH
Area Emergency Manager
Emergency Management Strategic Healthcare Group (EMSHG)
Veterans Affairs Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5)
50 Irving Street, NW , Washington , DC 20422
Steve.Mabley@ va.gov
202-745-8181 office
720-240-7725 cell
877-385-2138 SkyTel pager
202-745-2282 fax
intranet: http://vaww1. va.gov/emshg/
internet: http://www1. va.gov/emshg

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!

WHAT: Ward 5 Community Assessment
We are going door-to-door in the Ward 5 Focus Improvement Area, to ensure that all residents are informed about this initiative and have access to government services.

WHEN: Saturday, March 8th, 11:30am-2:30pm

WHERE: Meeting location is the Harry Thomas Recreation Center, all volunteers should meet here at 11:30 for a briefing. We will start the canvassing at Noon.

CONTACT: Please contact LaToya Moore 202-330-2894 OR by email latoya.moore@dc.gov

Washington Flower Center, Eckington

Info from Cassidy and Pinkard


Summary

For sale is the Washington Flower Center, a 52,740 square foot industrial/flex building constructed in 1987 and currently occupied by a group of wholesale florists. The building sits on a 1.9 acre development site and is located in Washington, DC’s most exciting submarket, NoMa (North of Massachusetts). The site is currently zoned M with a 6.0 FAR, which allows matter-of-right use as office, industrial or hotel. Through the Planned Unit Development (PUD) process, an owner is likely to achieve C-3-C zoning, providing for an FAR of 6.5, or as much as 538,616 square feet of development.

With three hotels, a grocery store and approximately two million square feet of office development delivering by 2010, NoMa is quickly becoming the area’s preferred mixed-use neighborhood. Union Station, only one Metro stop from the site, abounds with retail and dining options, and extensive retail is planned along 1st Street, NE, the primary commercial corridor of the submarket. The area’s growing commercial base also will support residential development, and Trammell Crow Residential is currently in the planning stages for a 650-unit rental project adjacent to the Washington Flower Center site. NoMa’s future is a “24-hour” mixed-use environment, and Washington Flower Center is well-positioned to capitalize on this dynamic transformation.

Size
52,740 square foot industrial/flex building located on 1.9 acres (82,864 square feet)

Location
Located in Washington, DC’s dynamic NoMa submarket, the property is only a five minute walk from the New York Avenue Metro Station, part of Metrorail’s Red Line, the most heavily traveled in the Washington, DC region. The site enjoys convenient access to major arteries including 1st Street, NE, New York Avenue (Route 50), Florida Avenue, North Capitol Street and I-395. The site is also proximate to the Metropolitan Branch Trail which, along with the New York Avenue Metro station, will encourage pedestrian and commuter access to and from the site.

Market
NoMa submarket of Northeast Washington, DC

big and empty

big and empty
Originally uploaded by Scenic Artisan

second and florida nw.

REMAX: when realtors steal

now, its pretty irksome, not to mention illegal, when someone steals your pictures for monetary gain, but its just preposterous that they add a copyright to your own snapshot.


here is my photo:


webpage


here is my stolen photo:


a copyright on MY PICTURE!



here is the page i found it
oh. and here



now, i dont really mind my snapshots being used in a way that promotes the neighborhood, but if you're going to be making money off of that usage, please have the common decency to ask. and definitely dont claim you hold copyright.

Open Houses.

Here is a list of open houses in the neighborhood today.

Photos of Bloomingdale

Here is a photo stream from the Bloomingdale Flickr Group. Its free to join if you'd like to share your pictures of the neighborhood.