39 posts tagged “dc”

Good morning, Shaw. Welcome to a wintry wonderland!

Snow in Shaw

So, I've been watching the growth of Twitter for a while, but have never really been interested in getting into it.  I have no desire to share my life with the whole world in 140 character updates every ten minutes.  However, as I've walked around the neighborhood lately, I've been thinking that Twitter could be a great tool if we used it for communicating about the neighborhood.  If I see some cops fly by or something suspicious going on, I can post it to twitter.  If 6th street is suddenly covered with no parking signs and Pepco is digging, I can tweet about it.  If others in shaw do the same, we could have a fast way to exchange info, faster than the listserves.

I don't know if this will work, but if others in Shaw are on twitter, let me know!  I'm a complete twitter novice, so I don't know all the conventions and rules, but it's worth a shot.  Here I am on twitter: http://twitter.com/shawberhood 

After the election results for ANC2C in November, I thought we were entering a new era for Shaw.  I hoped we would see the ANC put its divisive history behind it and actually start working for the neighborhood.  I went to tonight's first meeting of the new ANC2C hoping for fuzzy bunnies and rainbows, as my wife so fittingly put it.  I'm sad to say that no fuzzy bunnies or rainbows were present.

Here's a quick summary:
- Chairperson: Kevin Chapple nominated Alex Padro to be chairperson, Theresa Sule nominated Doris Brooks to be chair person.  Vote tied at 2-2. In face of the tie, Brooks remained Chair as she was Chair during the previous term.
- VIce-Chair: Chapple nominated Padro, Brooks nominated Sule. Vote tied 2-2.
- Secretary: I was a bit confused, but apparently Sule was elected.
- Treasurer: Padro was elected.  Shortly thereafter, Padro resigned from the position. It then seemed that Brooks assumed the position of Treasurer, even though I don't think a vote was taken.
- At this point a gentleman from the Downtown Neighborhood Association stood up and complained that Brooks doesn't represent the downtown portion of her district and never comes to the meetings they invite her to.  Brooks seemed to think that downtown is not a part of her district, even thought the city government maps clearly show her district running through Penn Quarter to the Mall.  Brooks said that she  had tried to come to meetings but couldn't find the location. The DNA guy said that they meet every second Tuesday at 6:30 at Calvary Baptist Church, which is at the corner of 8th & H.
-Theresa Sule then responded to questions from the crowd regarding why she wouldn't support Alex Padro for Chair of the ANC.  Sule explained that she was concerned about a possible conflict of interest between Alex's day job as director of Shaw Main Streets and the role of chair of the ANC.  Alex did not respond.  (Editorial comment: I think this is a completely fair question on Theresa's part.  Alex should have publicly responded.  At the same time, it seems that there was communication prior between the commissioners that led Alex to believe that he would have her support.  The display of bad communication and mistrust at the meeting was extremely disappointing.  The Commissioners should try getting together to discuss things between them and make sure they are communicating clearly.  We elected them to serve the neighborhood, not to fight about who is chair person.)

At this point, the meeting moved into regular business:
-- There will be a Chinese new year celebration on Sunday, February 1, 2-4:30pm.  Parade through Chinatown and festival on H Street between 6th & 7th streets.
-- Good Libations asked for support for a single sales exemption, approved after much discussion.  MVSNA has agreed to specifics about what this exemption would allow.
Announcements:
-- MVSNA meeting Jan 27 7:30pm at Busboys & Poets
-- CCCA meeting Jan 27 at 7pm at Kennedy Rec
-- Street closings for Inauguration announced today
-- Meeting at Convention Center on Thursday regarding security arrangements for Inauguration
-- Alex Padro apologizes for agenda changes.
-- Emmaeus Services for the Aging, Shaw Community Ministry (name?), Judah Project (and maybe one more?) all ask for support for NIF grants.  Commission votes to support.
Adjourned

All in all, much more drama then I had hoped for.  In the end, however, these folks were elected to serve our neighborhood.  I certainly don't want to see fighting and distrust, but I care most of all about them actually getting work done and serving the Shaw community.

This coming Tuesday, November 4, DC residents will go to the polls to vote for a slate of candidates on all levels--from President, to City Council, to the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission representatives.  It is this last and most local level of elections that concern me the most and is arguably the most contested on November 4 (most of the city elections were decided by the primary).

Shaw and most of the Gallery Place/Chinatown/Penn Quarter area are in Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2C.  ANC2C (map) has only four representatives, and for the last two years has been deadlocked on almost everything, facing split votes over and over.  This Tuesday we have a chance to elect commissioners who will change this deadlock and help our neighborhood move forward.  If you live in ANC2C, please, please vote!

A few weeks ago, the Convention Center Community Association (CCCA) held an open forum where all ANC candidates and Ward 2 Council candidates were invited to attend.  Only one candidate for each of the four seats on ANC2C attended, and I think it is reflective of the best options we have for getting our ANC working for the neighborhood again.  Here's a quick rundown:

ANC2C-01: Alex Padro is the current commissioner and was the only candidate for ANC2C01 to show up.  Alex has worked extremely hard for the Shaw area and definitely deserves to get re-elected.  My only hesitation is that he is so closely identifying himself with Jack Evans, our Georgetown-focused Council member...
ANC2C-02: This is my area, and Kevin Chapple is my current commissioner and was the only candidate ANC2C02 to show up at the forum.  Kevin has worked hard and knows his stuff.  I think he deserves the credit for getting such nice brick alleys in the 6th & Marion streets area and his ANC2C-02 website and magazine have been a great tool for communicating here in the neighborhood.  Kevin's opponent is Leroy Thorpe, whose influence on the ANC is the main reason it has been so ineffective.  (Leroy history: City Paper on Leroy Thorpe, City Desk on Leroy Thorpe's coup when he lost the last election)
ANC2C-03: This is the Convention Center and Gallery Place area.  Jessica Lanza was the only candidate to show up, and she certainly deserves to be elected over the current commissioner Doris Brooks.  Doris is a flunky for Leroy and has not been helping our neighborhood.
ANC2C-04: Theresa Sule was the only candidate to show up and she is a rock star!  Theresa's comments produced the most cheering and strongest positive reaction from the crowd at the forum.  She is a graduate of Dunbar High School and has been serving our neighborhood in lots of ways over the years.  She definitely will be an improvement over the current commissioner, Barbara Curtis, another flunky for Leroy.

Voting is obviously a personal choice and responsibility.  I don't take endorsements lightly, but after going to the forum a few weeks ago and attending numerous ANC meetings over the last two years, I think the choices are obvious for a good, functioning ANC that will represent the interests of Shaw, Gallery Place/Chinatown and Penn Quarter.  Go out on November 4 and vote for Alex Padro, Kevin Chapple, Jessica Lanza and Theresa Sule.

The wife and I biked down to the City Vista development at 5th & K streets this weekend to stop in at 5th Street Hardware.  The hardware store looks great, and I'll definitely be going back.  While we were there, we mashed our faces (and iPhones, see below) to the windows and it looks like the Safeway is really coming along.  The only problem we saw while we were there, was the lack of anything to lock our bikes to.  Fortunately, ANC2C blog pointed out yesterday that they have now added bike racks.  I think they will probably be far from enough, particularly once the Giant closes, but at least it's a start.

With the arrival of a Safeway in our neighborhood, the local residents have an important task before us--naming the Safeway.  This is a sacred task that DC residents have passed from one generation to the next, and we are now tasked with coming up with an appropriate name for this Safeway.  For starters, check out this round up of DC Safeway names.  Of course, some names will always be debated.  For instance, which Safeway is truly the Un-Safeway?  I've heard at least three different uses.  Some of the others are instant classics--the Soviet Safeway, the Social Safeway.

All that brings me back to what we should name our new Safeway.  We may not be able to encapsulate the character of the Safeway until after it has opened and become a part of our neighborhood, but I think the discussion should begin now.  Let the debate

Safeway at CityVista 1

Safeway at CityVista 2

O Street Market Hearing

Passage of Bill expected in September, Groundbreaking Fall of 2009

This morning, the DC Council Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by Jack Evans, held a hearing on the O Street Market Tax Increment Financing (TIF) package.  This TIF would provide $35M of publicly backed bond financing to support the high infrastructure costs of the $320M CityMarket at O project.  The hearing was well attended by Shaw residents and was strongly supported by almost everyone.  Evans announced that he expects his committee to mark up the bill (B17-0800) in the near future and have it for a first vote before the full council on July 15, with final passage when the council comes back in session on September 16.  Roadside Development said they don't expect to break ground on the project until the fall of 2009, with construction estimated to take three to three and a half years.  The Giant, however, would be operational within two years, meaning the earliest we can hope to be shopping in the new O Street Market is the fall of 2011.  [Great PDF outlining the O Street Market project is available from Roadside.]

A large number of witness spoke about the O Street project.  I'll give you a brief rundown.  Unfortunately, I didn't grab a copy of the official agenda, so my spelling of names is going to be horrible.  I apologize in advance... (Thanks to Martin for a few corrections.)

Ralph G. Brahbham, Esq, is a Shaw homeowner and started off with themes that most witnesses would echo, voicing his strong support for the project and highlighting a number of things, including the affordable senior housing, restoration of the O Street Market, a new grocery store, underground parking & loading, and the restoration of 8th Street.

Leroy Thorpe, of Red Hats and the ECCA, said he was strongly supportive of the project.

Alex Padro, the ANC commissioner who represents the area that includes the O Street Market, spoke of the "overwhelming community support" for CityMarket at O.

Kevin Chapple, my ANC commissioner, also spoke of the strong community support and excitement about this project. [testimony available here in PDF]

Timothy Mack, chairman of Shaw Main Streets, spoke of his support and the importance of the market to the Shaw community.

Jenny Reed, a researcher with the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, was the only real critic of the TIF bill for this project.  She said that we do not have enough details to know if the TIF really makes sense.  She outlined three main concerns: 1. the District's CFO says it can't tell what the financing gap really is, 2. we don't know if the project will generate enough tax revenue to pay off the bonds, and 3. this brings DC close to its bond limit.  (Evans responded to these concerns later.)

George Jones, executive director of Bread for the City, spoke in support of the project.

Charlie Whitaker, project coordinator for the Shaw Green Team, spoke in support of the project and about the funding that Roadside Development has provided to the Shaw Green Team.

Evans then responded to Reed's concerns about the TIF package by saying that the CFO would be speaking shortly on the gap analysis issue, that TIF funding is never a sure thing, but generally has been wildly successful in DC (he pointed to Gallery Place as an example), and mentioned that the Downtown TIF is a backstop to this TIF, which provides security to the project.

Rev. Joseph Williams, from Emmaeus Services for the Aging, spoke in favor of the project and highlighted the affordable housing for seniors that is being included, and mentioned that Roadside has worked to provide Peapod grocery delivery service to seniors during the two years that the new Giant will be under construction.

Martin Moulton, interim president of the Convention Center Community Association, had the best line of the hearing, saying that "the CityMarket project will finally bring us a grocery store worthy of the name 'Giant.'" [testimony available here in PDF]

Ibrahim Mumin, supported the TIF and talked about his participation in the development of the current Giant store in the 70's.  The current Giant was the first grocery store built in the city after the '68 riots, and it wasn't built until the mid-70's.

The Roadside Development team then spoke and mentioned a few interesting tidbits.  They have entered into a firm agreement with Giant and Giant is contributing $12.5M towards the development and their lease goes until 2051.  Their research shows that the neighborhood could support four additional grocery stores.  Roadside argued that the TIF was needed due to the high infrastructure costs associated with this project: restoration of a historic market, rebuilding 8th Street throught the middle of the project, and the underground loading/parking space.  They estimate $42M in infrastructure costs, of which the TIF is covering $35M.  Roadside is under contract to close the Giant store for a maximum of two years.

Paul Brown, from CPDC--a non-profit affordable housing developer, is the part of the development team working the seniors housing.  They will be developing 80-100 units of affordable senior housing, at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) or less, in 1 or 2 bedroom configurations. 

Raul Horton (??) is a managing partner of Blue Sky Housing, who are working with CPDC on the senior housing.

Dennis Conto & Ben Soto are developing the hotel piece of the project.  LSDB will own 51% of the hotel, and Roadside will own 49%.  They expect to have a 200 room hotel, which will be located on the southwest corner of the development.

Finally, the city government witnesses came to the table.  Valerie Young, the COO for Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Neil Albert, spoke about the TIF package proposed.  The site is a 150,000 sq ft lot that will have 400 apts, 150 condos and 87,000 sq ft of retail (Giant occupies about 70,000 of that).  The legislation seeks issuance of bonds not to exceed $46.5M.  $35M will go toward construction costs and $11.5M will go toward financing the costs of the bonds.  Cost overruns will be born by the developer.  The District's investment is about 15% of the project, similar to other projects the District has supported.  90% of any construction savings will go back to the District.

John Ross, senior advisor to the Chief Financial Officer of DC was the last witness.  He said that they had provided a financial impact statement to the Council.  The CFO does not expect a budget impact until 2012, at which point it will be in the $3-5M range.  This debt service may be needed for an additional 3 years, as they don't expect the taxes from the site to pay for the TIF until 2015 or 2016.  He also said that no gap analysis is possible until the developer reorganizes their financing.  Lastly, he noted that a signed hotel development deal is important for the whole project, as 44% of the taxes for the TIF will be coming from the hotel.

That's a lot, but will hopefully give folks a full picture of the hearing...

The DC City Council has a website from 1997.  I'm not joking.  Maybe Chairman Vincent Gray hasn't heard of the internet, but at least some of the other members should care about having a good website.  The Council is supposed to be the representative branch of the DC government, but their website certainly doesn't make it easy for us ordinary citizens to learn much about the council.  Whoever wins in the various council races for this fall, someone ought to make that website at least usable. Please!

Here's a quote from the main page of the website, just to give you a clue as to how bad it is:

Welcome to the Official World Wide Web site of the Council of the District of Columbia. Our Web site is another way to keep you informed of Council actions and public meetings, invite your participation, and solicit your views. You can see our weekly schedule, read proposed legislation, and e-mail your comments directly to Members.

The website is copyrighted in 1997 and uses frames.  What more need I say?  Perhaps some kind-hearted web design firm here in town would redesign their website on a pro bono basis.  It certainly would be a service to the public...

Next Thursday there will be a meeting regarding the Shaw Neighborhood Investment Fund (NIF) at Shaw Junior High.  Kevin Chapple kindly pointed this meeting out, and I would love to attend, but will be out of town.  I hope others from the neighborhood go to this meeting.  From the Shaw NIF website:

One of the requirements of the enabling legislation, the Neighborhood Investment Act of 2004, is for the Mayor to develop NIF Investment Plans for each of the target area using input from community stakeholders including the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, residents, business owners, faith community, not for profit organizations, among other groups.  The purpose of the Investment Plan is to set community priorities for how the NIF funds should be utilized in the target area over a five year period.

What could we do with a couple million dollars in devlopment funding?  I'll start working on a list.  I suppose speed bumps for Marion Street and bike racks at the south entrance to the Shaw metro would come from other sources of funding...

Many of you have probably already seen this, but one of the neighborhood listserves pointed out this article in the City Paper about gang violence in Shaw.  The author does a good job of showing the connections between the violence--for the most part, these incidents are not random, one act of violence leads to another.  That chain of violence has to be broken, but how?  It seems like the work of the non-profits is not bearing much fruit, but can we really expect much from them?  And what can a white gentrifier like me, who lives in and cares about Shaw, really do to help the situation? 

One interesting paragraph from the article, that I'd love to hear others thoughts on:

The resulting gunfire breaks out at random moments on Shaw’s streets. And gang warfare is not supposed to happen in a long-since-gentrified neighborhood, right next to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and wedged in between the U Street corridor and the Gallery Place-Chinatown area, the epicenter of new D.C.: corporate development and condos galore, loaded with residents who can’t believe their shiny new buildings still haven’t driven out the crack dealers below their windows. Here, four blocks from the Verizon Center, crime landmarks dot a neighborhood with $800,000 homes, chic new eateries, and boutiques that sell purses for $200. The Shaw of yesteryear has disappeared, and yet its crew history is still evolving.

Ok, back to work...