hanging at Big Bear Cafe: photos by high school students working with Critical Exposure

See this message from Big Bear Café`s Lenora Yerkes:

I wanted to let you know about the photos that are hanging at big bear right now and give you a little blurb for the neighborhood listserv:

Big Bear Cafe is hosting a series of photographs taken by DC-area high school students working with the non-profit Critical Exposure. Students learn the fundamentals of photography and use their skills to document issues in education, such as underfunding, poor school conditions and the drop-out rate, from their own point of view. Learn more about Critical Exposure at http://www.criticalexposure.org and come by the Cafe to see the DC high school experience through the eyes of these burgeoning photographers!

more info: www.bigbearcafe-dc.com

L•E•N•O•R•A•Y•E•R•K•E•S

candidate for ANC 507 commissioner in November: James Fournier

Dear Neighbors,

My name is James Fournier and I am running against Barrie Daneker to be the Commissioner for ANC 5C-07. I know this position is important to the direction the development for the McMillan Sand Filtration Site and the development of neighborhood businesses, so I wanted to reach out to you and let you know that I am available to talk.

You can read my public statement at my website at www.jamesjfournier.com .

Soon I will be having a couple of meet and greets at supporters` homes. I will be in contact again and I hope that you can come.

I know you all have been working hard to get your voices heard over years. I look forward to working with you and the neighborhood in a positive, respectful, and open way.

I think we have a lot to look forward to.

James

James Fournier
Fournier for ANC 5C-07
james.fournier9@verizon.net

can I crash on your floor tonight ?

See this 09/27/2010 message from a resident on the unit block of R Street NW:

We live at First and R NW. This past week Thursday night, my housemate was arriving home around 1:30 a.m. A young (late 20s), white woman with dark hair walked up on the stoop as my housemate was locking up her bike and asked if she could crash on our floor for the night, that something had happened downtown and she just wanted to get inside, etc. My housemate told her she couldn`t let her in, went inside the house and the woman presumably left.

My housemate`s friend who lives at First and O NW experienced the same thing with a young black man who approached him making similar claims a few months ago. I wonder whether this is a tactic that is being used to attempt to get inside houses to then steal from the house, or whether there`s some other explanation.

Anyway, thought it would be worth sharing to see if anyone else has had similar experiences or any insight.

painter referral

See this painter referral from a Bloomingdale resident:

I would like to give a good recommendations on a very very reasonable painter that I know through my friends and have seen their work. He and his friend charge $100 for a small room and $200 for a large room. And they do a beautiful job. I hope you can post this and would be helpful to our Bloomingdale community. His name is Himeh and phone number is: 240 701- 6195.

Open Houses scheduled in and around Bloomingdale for 09/26/2010

There's a nice range of homes for sale being held open on Sunday. Here's the list and here is the map. The info on the map is the same as what's on the list. To see info about individual listings, scroll over the push pins. There are also directions to each home on the map page.

Bloomingdale Property Featured on www.princeofpetworth.com

In addition to contributing to this blog, I also write a weekly post for www.princeofpetworth.com. It's always fun when I get to focus on a property in Bloomingdale. This week's "Good Deal or Not Revisited" (GDoN-R) featured a sale in 70 Rhode Island Ave NW, also known as "The Providence". Here is the post.

There was some confusion as the unit that I profiled was not actually the one that was featured in the original "Good Deal or Not" (GDoN) post. The information provided on the building as it relates to condo prices in Bloomingdale, is accurate nonetheless. (If you don't know what I am talking about, you can just read the post and ignore this comment.)

Rustik Tavern -Menu and Hours.

Rustik Tavern
84 T St. NW

Hours:
Sun-Thurs 4-12am
Fri-Sat 4-1am.
Happy Hour 4-7pm

click for larger image
or here for
PDF version

North Capitol Main Street brings Storefront Improvement Program (SIP) to neighborhood businesses

See this message from North Capitol Main Street, Inc.

Want to see the nice pretty formatted message? Click here: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=tp9zhzcab&v=0017tAQmPa9WeZeVWClvSsAhqqJLsvp1SaUKTFlLs7OgraUSItus3cnq2NXJ8-pDRmw8MkReWGzJLzWShs6jK054nLeCvnjrzf86p44yGKqes4%3D

North Capitol Main Street Brings Storefront Improvement Program to Neighborhood Businesses

You may have noticed some interesting goings-on at the China Dragon (next to Windows Cafe) this week — painting, new signs, windows. All we’ll say is, “just wait . . . you ain’t seen nothing yet! “

North Capitol Main Street FINALLY received its long-awaited funding to implement its first Storefront Improvement Program.

Over the next several weeks, three lucky businesses (translation: businesses that were able to meet the application requirements) within the North Capitol Main Street service area will get a facelift.

We will be painting, replacing windows, doors, signage . . . going from eyesore to eye-catching in a very short period of time. And if you haven’t seen China Dragon’s new sign, go by and take a look . . . very authentic.

The NCMS Storefront Improvement Program, funded by the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development, has been implemented to stimulate efforts to improve the street appearance of the North Capitol Area neighborhoods’ commercial and business facades.


Two New Businesses Coming to Bloomingdale Center

After Years of Drought Bloomingdale Center’s Well Springs

For some Bloomingdale residents, the idea of multiple new businesses coming to market at the same time (within a month) is hard to believe. “This neighborhood has been underserved for such a long time. I’ve heard that a new cafe and bar is coming, but seeing is believing,” said Debbie Moultry, long-time resident and owner of Nouveau Fleur, a successful floral business on the H Street Corridor.

Yes, it is true, Rustik Tavern is finally opening. Stay tuned for Grand Opening announcements. NCMS believes that Rustik Tavern will be a great enhancement to the quality of life in Bloomingdale, and other sister neighborhoods. Owner, Diton Pashaj, is a fantastic guy with strong family backing and a real community-oriented mindset. We wish him the best of luck.

Also included in the new line up is Amax Cleaners, a drycleaners specializing in organic drycleaning and same-day delivery. Keep your eyes peeled for grand opening events and specials.

Stay tuned here, as North Capitol Main Streets brings you the information you want to know about.


UPCOMING “FACELIFTS”

Watch as NCMS and our local small biz partners transform these shabby spaces to special places . . . Bloomingdale Wine & Spirits and Jam Doung.


Residents Should Urge Newly Elected Officials to Continue Neighborhood Focus

As part of its commitment to community revitalization, city government developed strategies to rebuild business districts and enhance surrounding neighborhoods and our Councilmember Harry (Tommy) Thomas, as well as the presumptive new Council Chair, Kwame Brown, have been instrumental in seeing that these city dollars are spent in Ward 5 neighborhoods like Bloomingdale.

Storefront Improvement Programs, have been a minor piece of the city’s effort to bring revitalization to the neighborhood level.

Since the election is over (all but the formalities of Nov 2nd) it’s up to residents to keep the pressure on city government to continue to focus on neighborhood development in a more consistent and comprehensive way — a challenge to Bloomingdale, Eckington and Shaw Residents to be an advocate for your neighborhood!

Those who demand more, get more . . .


Quick Links…
Our Website (http://www.ncmsinc.org/)

Rustik Tavern opening tonight

See this very welcome message:

Click on this link if you can`t see the message below:
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5d5d31fe45db57c471efa9ac0&id=6d83b7b55b&e=

Rustik Tavern
• A bloomingdale Neighborhood Tavern •

September 23rd, 2010
We are opening at last!
You asked for it, you got it.

We are opening at last!

Starting Friday, September 24th, at 9:00pm, Rustik Tavern will be open to the public.
This is a soft opening, therefore we apologize for any delays in service that you may encounter or random mishaps that may (and will) take place.

We also want to thank you in advance for helping us work out all the kinks, so we hope you will point out them out to us.

We are very excited to be here, and we look forward to meeting you and serving Bloomingdale.

So for crying out loud, come on in, have a beer (or a glass of wine) and have a good time!

Cheers,
Rustik Tavern
www.rustikdc.com
www.twitter.com/rustikdc

Contents
Follow Us: @rustikdc
& Send to a Friend » social@rustikdc.com

Copyright (C) 2010 RustikDC All rights reserved.

Parker Flats hosting Minute to Win It Contest tomorrow, 09-25-2010, to raise money for Halloween Haunted House

See this 09/23/2010 message from Parker Flats residents Cassie and Emily:

REMINDER:

Tomorow, Saturday the 25th, from 1pm-4pm, Parker Flats on 2nd Street NW is hosting a huge community wide Minute to Win It Contest. This event will raise money for the Halloween Haunted House for the children of our community to have a safe and fun place to trick or treat on Halloween night. Please come out and support this event and
support the children of our community. $5 to get in and watch and $10 if you want to participate in the games. There will be raffle tickets for fabulous prizes and refreshments sold inside the gates. This is going to be the event of the year so DON`T MISS IT!!!

If you cannot make it but would like to make a donation to the Halloween event, please contact parkerflatsliving@gmail.com so we can send someone over to pick up your donation.

Blessings of the Animals -- Sunday, 10/3/2010 -- St. George's Episcopal Church

See this message passed along by Bates Area resident Mary Ann Wilmer regarding an upcoming event at St. George's Episcopal Church:

open letter from Mehdi Mansouri regarding notes taken at the August 2010 McMillan Advisory Group (MAG) meeting

Edgewood resident Michael Henderson attended the Thursday, August 26, 2010 meeting of the McMillan Advisory Group regarding the McMillan Sand Filtration site project.

Michael kindly took notes at this meeting and posted them at the EdgewoodDC.org website. Here is the link: http://www.edgewooddc.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/mag_august_2010.pdf. Michael makes it clear that his meeting notes are not official meeting minutes.

His notes were posted at the Historic Washington list at Yahoogroups.

Bloomingdale resident Mehdi Mansouri also attended this August 2010 MAG meeting.

Mehdi has responded with this open letter to Michael Henderson regarding his notes from the MAG meeting:

I have copied in Mehdi's open letter below:

Michael,

Your notes similar to the following were posted on Scott`s news a while ago. I see you are now distributing it to even a wider audience. That is why I think it is important to mention that you seem to be on the side of the City and not people. I say that because a) your notes are (severely) deceptive either intentionally or unintentionally, and that night in the meeting you did a number things to show your support of what the City and developers were saying, which were all nothing but deception. As your actions that might, your notes too are in complete support of the actions of the City, no matter what the City does. For example, you have mentioned ``The City has decided to pull together a full public process; asked a design team to work with the stake holders/ community; will be 3 public meetings; first one will be scheduled in September;`` Some questions are: Why has the City decided to this open process now after three years of telling people that the McMillan has been a ``full public process`` all the time, when in reality it was only the developers and the City who were making the plans behind heavily guarded closed doors? By saying this and doing this, the City is proving that they either lied for the past three years, or they are lying now, or both. If you think I am not right, tell me why am I not right? Why don`t you ask the City what made them ``open`` their process now? And how are they going to ensure that this process will truly involve and include people`s reasonable ideas and is not just anther empty word to deceive people? Why don`t you tell us why you think we can trust the City after three or four years of doing the closed process and now all of a sudden they decide to ``open the process?`` Is it not important to you to find out what changed? And what do you think the difference will be between the plan that will come out of this process this time, versus the infamous ``EYA Plan?`` Is it not important to you that if the City has been deceiving us for three or four years already, there is no reason to trust and believe them now in what they are saying, especially because still the same people with the same ultimate goals are running the ``show?``

I am fairly confident that you won`t answer the above questions or you won`t continue discussion with me until we come at truly logical and reasonable conclusions. My guess is that you have been hired by the City to pretend that you are not affiliated with the City and then distribute reports like this so the City can deceive people even more. If you think I am not correct with my evaluation of your report, I hope you would be willing to answer my above questions and continue our discussion until you truly show why you seem to be fully supportive of the City (because there is no single point in your report about what the City has been and is doing wrong out of countless cases that are there). I look forward to hearing from you.

Mehdi

seeking referrals for basement renovation contractors

See this message from a resident on S Street NW:

We are interested in finishing our basement renovations and are looking for suitable contractor referrals.

Summit at St. Martin's Apartments: an Eckington resident comments

I am cross-posting this item from the Eckington list by "k3n4kevin" regarding the not-yet-opened Summit at St. Martin's Apartments.

I recall reading that all tenats at the Summit are required to be Housing Choice Voucher holders (Section 8). I am not sure if that is true. Perhaps someone could confirm.

Some area residents are supportive of the St. Martin's Apartment project and others oppose it.

From k3n4kevin:

First, we were told affordable apartments were needed because supposedly Eckington was about to be glutted with "luxury" apartments. The community agreed to allow the zoning change, the apartments were built, and they're now being advertised as "affordable luxury apartments".

Don't expect much from the "photo gallery". The exteriors are only shown as architectural drawings. There are a few interior photos, but they are more appropriate for a home furnishing store. One looks like a stock photo of a law library.

With a heavy hand, "Our Location" portrays the developer as a psychic descendant of Joseph Gales and the complex as a parallel of Eckington's historical rowhouses.

Under "Our Community" is only a list of complex "amenities" (this word is heavily utilized), so presumably the "community" stops at the property line.

Eckington residents who thought this large building would overshadow not only the surrounding century old rowhouses, but even McKinley High School - the landmark Eckington has been known by during most of that century - won't be surprised to see the line referring to "hill top residences".

This $28 million dollar project, whose apartments cost an estimated $200/sf, was partially funded by DC taxpayers. It has been extolled by The Washington Post as an example of the kind of public-private partnerships we need more of.

Now, having brought all this up, I will undoubtedly be immediately condemned as racist and anti-affordable housing. That is an underhanded attempt to silence people who question the motives and tactics of public-private partnership principals/advocates, of
large-scale developers, of institutional religious charitable organizations, and of anyone who thinks creating a homogenous socio-economic block of ANY kind is a good idea.

I don't care what color or income bracket my neighbors are, and I think most Eckingtonians feel likewise. But we are too easily manipulated. We can counter charges of racism and classism by demonstrating in our everyday actions just how racist and classist we AREN'T. And we can fight like hell to keep people from looting "the only remaining pool of dumb, unguarded capital left to feed upon: taxpayer money".

http://www.thesummitdc.com/index.htm

The Summit at St. Martin's: "Brand new affordable luxury apartments"

"Not just an apartment. A residence with all the conveniences and services for carefree living.
All the quality touches for gracious living.
All the community facilities & amenities for more than just living space.
And all at truly affordable rental rates.*
Moving up was never easier.

Call 202-526-0060 for all the pleasant surprises.
Welcome aboard.

*To insure affordability, maximum income and rent levels apply"

To see the floor plans of this busy warren and its shaft of totally enclosed 'green space' (a term that got lost somewhere along the way) check out:
http://www.thesummitdc.com/floorplans/lev_1.pdf
http://www.thesummitdc.com/floorplans/lev_2.pdf
http://www.thesummitdc.com/floorplans/SummitFinalGLevel52610.pdf

To attend the "Gala Preview Showing", you must ask for a "Guest Card" - which is obviously meant for potential tenants:
http://www.thesummitdc.com/Contact-The-Summit.php

? new retail/cafe at 512-520 Florida Avenue NW ?

Have you noticed that the former One Drop Records store on the south side of the 500 block of Florida Avenue NW is under renovation? There are great new wooden multi-pane windows with a dark red stain facing Florida Avenue NW.

Note that this property is not part of the Greater U Street Historic District. That begins one block over on the 600 block of Florida Avenue NW, even addresses. So there is no design review for the work planned. (But the replacement windows do look great!)

The address on one of the posted permits is 512-520 Florida Avenue NW. The owner of record from the DC Real Property Assessment Database is: MARYAM FATHI ABBAS FATHI in Gaithersburg.

The posted permit has this text: Permission is hereby graned to Howard University. (to do what?)

Proposed use: Retail or wholesale store.

Eric over at LeftforLeDroit has posted some info: http://leftforledroit.com/2010/09/recent-renovations/

Eric reports that no tenant has been found (yet).

Scenic Artisan took some photos of this building, which can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scenicartisan/5005439089/in/photostream /

Bloomingdale Civic Asssociation meeting -- Monday, 09/20/2010

See this meeting announcement from Bloomingdale Civic Association President Robert Brannnum:

Bloomingdale Civic Association, Inc.
www.bloomingdalecivic.org

September 2010 Monthly Meeting
Monday, 20 September 2010
7:00PM
St. George`s Episcopal Church
2nd & U Streets, NW

AGENDA

I. Special Presentation from DC WATER (formerly DCWASA)
Bloomingdale Resident, Architect, and DC Water Liaison Ms. Serita Sanders - Moderator

II. Office of Council Member Harry Thomas, Jr.

III. Executive Office of the Mayor

IV. ANC Commissioner John T. Salatti

V. BCA & Community Announcements

Beau Thai

 the menu for Beau Thai here:

Beau Thai
1700 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC, 20001
Phone:
2025365636
Mon - Sun:
11:00 am - 10:30 pm

they take credit cards and deliver.

Open Houses scheduled in and around Bloomingdale for Sunday 09-19-2010

There is definitely a marked improvement in real estate activity post-Labor Day. Lots of Open Houses to check out this weekend. For you visual thinker types, Here's the map. Scroll over the push pins to see details on each open house. Enjoy!

McMillan Sand Filtration site development: YouTube videos

See this message from Bloomingdale resident Eva Hambach.

Sent: Fri Sep 10 16:51:42 2010
Subject: Re-McMillan development videos

Hello Thomas Street and neighbors,

Herewith the links to four short videos and interviews meant to help shed some light on planned development at the McMillan Sand filtration site uphill from us.

Please take a look; these videos are meant to introduce or re-introduce residents to a heated debate that has been raging for years and that we all should be aware of. I wasn`t aware of any of this until our friendly ANC Commissioner John Salatti told me about the development plans about a year ago.


McMillan-The Synopsis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kEhLTCccZs



McMillan-The Case for Historic Preservation
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpl1H7WdCDg&feature=channel



McMillan-The Case for Development
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq8HCIjQZi4&feature=channel




Bloomingdale-Toxic Overflow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iN5yOoLLyo&feature=channel

These videos don`t tell the whole story as it is continuously evolving. Please take some time to get more information from various other sources and also visit:

www.ourMcMillan.com
www.eya.com
dc.gov/DC/Government

neighbor jonesing for "eckington we`ll steal your heart and your trash can" bumper sticker

See this message from a Bloomingdale resident:

Any idea where to purchase the Eckington sticker mentioned below? I know that it`s not really your purview, but figured you are in the know about such things :)

Just saw a bumper sticker that said:

eckington we`ll steal your heart and your trash can

hilarious, I want one ;).

Can anyone help this resident?