stop, blog, and roll

» "At 108, 'It's a Beautiful Life'" - WaPo, Saturday, January 5. Believed to be the District's oldest resident, Eddye L. Williams lives in NE.

» "KDNY brings Joan of Arc to D.C.'s Dance Place" - DCist, Friday, January 11. The performances will be Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. A neighbor on the Brookland listserv reminds us:

Dance Place sets aside free tickets to each Sunday performance held at Dance Place for Brookland residents! All you have to do is call 202-269-1600 to see if tickets are still available. You must have either a 20017 or 20018 zip code to be able to receive free tickets. Each caller can reserve up to two tickets.

» A drive-by shooting near Langdon Park injures one Friday afternoon; the suspect has been taken into custody - WUSA9, Friday, January 11.

» MPD-5D officer arrested for inappropriately touching a 19-year-old woman on November 16, 2007, while on duty in the area of the 1300 block of Okie Street, NE - MPD, Friday, January 11.

I missed it a couple of weeks ago, but the Post ran a piece on artist housing in DC, featuring the Douglass Street project I mentioned back in July. The application process will likely open up again in the spring, and I'll post the info here if I catch it in time. Overall, a good article, if you just strike the following:

The biggest downside of the Douglass Street project is its location. While Mather Studios is in the heart of downtown, the Douglass [sic] Street project is in Northeast, near New York Avenue.

God forbid. Seriously, who wants to live near the Arboretum, the Gateway Arts District in Maryland, or Abdo's forthcoming Arbor Place? Oh, maybe it's not that bad....


But I digress. Artspace's Dance Place Project is gathering steam, with construction estimated to start in early 2008:

Artspace will develop a mixed-used project that will include 30 to 40 affordable live/work units for artists and a new home for Dance Place, a nonprofit organization that operates a dance company, a school, and a variety of children's programs. Two existing buildings on the site will be torn down to make way for the project.

A hearty welcome to our future neighbors!

Two firefighters were injured in DC's first four-alarm blaze in nearly 7 years....From WUSA9:

DC Fire and EMS units fought a warehouse fire at 2144 Queens Chapel Road, Northeast, Thursday night. The location is off of Bladensburg Road near New York Avenue.

About 60 workers were inside the warehouse when the fire started. They told 9 News Now the flames first appeared near the rooftop sometime before 8pm. They tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher, but when their efforts failed, they called 911.

More than 160 firefighters were still battling the blaze three hours after it started.

"This is a very significant event. You can see the plumes of smoke even in the dark," said D.C. Fire Spokesman Alan Etter.

The first units responding ordered an exterior attack shortly after calling the second-alarm. The fire then grew to four alarms.

"Whenever you get into a sprawling structure like this, there's always a danger to firefighters," said Etter. "Our roof team could actually see part of the roof bowing in, so that's when you got to get everybody out."

At 7:50 p.m., Battalion Chief Kenneth Crosswhite, on the scene, told STATter 911 this is a 200 by 200 foot warehouse housing the DC operation of Coosemans Worldwide Produce. Chief Crosswhite said the crews were pulled out of the building because of the bowing of the exposed bar joist roof structure. He said there was fire throughout the building.

Coosemans workers said there were 8 diesel trucks inside the complex as well as hundreds of boxes containing highly flammable materials. However, firefighters were able to contain the fire so it did not reach those boxes.

Here's how Coosemans DC describes itself on its website:

For over 20 years, Coosemans DC has been providing some of the best specialty and exotic produce in the Washington/Baltimore area. First as Rock Garden and then joining forces with Coosemans, we have steadily grown to become a major importer, re-packer and distributor of over 400 specialty items.

Mayor Adrian Fenty visited the site around 10pm. Firefighters were still using a double ladder hose to reach the deep-seated pockets inside the building.

Fenty compared the fire to the Eastern Market blaze. "This is devastating," he said.

Additionally, about 145 people were relocated from two nearby homeless shelters when the power was shut down on the block.

You can view raw video footage shot by D.C. Fire & EMS photographer Vito Maggiolo here.

» dcfd.com
» dcfire.com

I'm currently on hiatus from the Friends of the Woodridge Library due to a scheduling conflict with my monthly DC Neighborhood College classes, but this was the first group I became involved with when I moved to Woodridge, and we are always looking for new members. FWL raises money to support programs and services at the library and works with other like-minded groups to advocate on behalf of all the city's libraries. Part of this month's agenda will include tentative scheduling for our fall book sale.

When: Saturday, September 8th, 2007, 11 a.m.

Where: Woodridge Branch Library, 1801 Hamlin Street NE (on the south corner of Hamlin and Rhode Island Avenue)

In addition to the details surrounding Odell and Margaret Hale's house at 1923 Rhode Island Avenue NE, longtime neighborhood activist Martha Kinter Ward is quoted and Janice Booker's redevolpment plans along the businees corridor are mentioned in the WaPo article:

The modest 1 1/2 -story residence with the steep stairway and iron railings has been the scene of numerous episodes of drug use, drug sales and prostitution in the past seven years, court records show, so many that police filled 24 pages describing the house's history for a federal judge. Police have searched 1923 Rhode Island Ave. NE six times since 2000 -- four times in the past nine months -- and in each visit have reported finding a combination of cocaine, heroin, guns and prostitutes. In each visit, they said, they also typically found some crimes in progress and have brought charges against the house's owner, Odell Hale, or some of his fellow residents, resulting in numerous convictions.

Woodridge neighbors complain that the house is a base for street-level drug sales day and night, and say that women who appear to be prostitutes, some of whom apparently live in the house's basement, frequently offer their services along the busy avenue in front of the property.

Now, police and federal prosecutors say they are abandoning their regular crime-fighting strategy concerning 1923 Rhode Island. The U.S. Attorney's Office is asking a federal judge to let them seize the property in order to eliminate the nuisance the house has long been.

Authorities say they are concerned about the impact of the house and its activities on the surrounding Woodridge neighborhood, particularly the children. The St. Francis de Sales Grammar School and adjoining convent are a block away, as are a neighborhood playground and the Langdon Park recreation center. Children congregate in the afternoons at the 7-Eleven store a few yards from the property's entrance.

"Since at least April 2000, the defendant property has come to the attention of law enforcement and police authorities because of a shooting on the front porch, drug sales and drug use in the house, related disorderly conduct and residents' activities with prostitutes. . . . For many years, law enforcement officers have undertaken to curb this abuse and nuisance at the defendant property," prosecutors Barry Weigand and William Cowden wrote of the repeated searches and arrests.

The prosecutors said the arrests and pending charges aren't making much of a dent in the activities in the house. They wrote: "Standard law enforcement techniques have not sufficed to cause Mr. Hale to stop using, and allowing the defendant property to be used unlawfully."

....

To neighbors of Woodridge, that sounds a lot better than the seemingly futile police raids at 1923 Rhode Island Ave. Relying on warrants signed by D.C. Superior Court judges, police have searched the house on June 6, 2000; Aug. 23, 2003; Nov. 24, 2006; Dec. 6, 2006; April 20, 2007; and May 25, 2007. In the course of those searches, police have arrested 15 people at the house on various charges, including Hale on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Each time police sought to search the house, they provided to a judge "evidence that a person at or inside 1923 Rhode Island Avenue NE had unlawfully distributed a controlled substance, usually cocaine, to a confidential police informant or special police employee," the prosecutors stated.

To get permission to seize the property from its owners, prosecutors now have to go to federal court. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman is the judge who will rule on whether Hale will have to forfeit his property. Hale listed the property for sale in early June, and a Metro Real Estate for-sale sign remains in the front of the property.

» Watch ABC7's report
» Read Ofc. Maslona's affidavit
» Read the court documents

From MPD:

At approximately 4:14 this morning, Monday, July 23, 2007, police were called to the front of 3040 South Dakota Avenue, NE, for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival officers located 34-year-old Jonathan Silver, of the 1500 block of Madison Street in Hyattsville, Maryland, in the front seat of a Dodge Caravan, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the body. He was taken to the Washington Hospital Center’s MedStar Unit and pronounced dead at 5 am.

The case is under investigation by members of the department’s Violent Crimes Branch. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

The department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in the District of Columbia.

» Also on NBC4

From Cultural Development Corporation's (CuDC) projects in development:

CuDC has partnered with Manna, Inc., to develop approximately 40 affordable work/live housing units for artists and their families at 2414 Douglas Street, NE, in the Woodridge area of Washington, DC. The intent of this project is to create work/live artist housing — units designed primarily as functional studio space with basic living space as an ancillary use. The renovation of an existing warehouse plus new construction will provide units ranging from approximately 700 to 1,050 sq. ft., in addition to 1,390 sq. ft. of flexible space for communal arts activities. To maximize artist eligibility, units will be available at two price points suitable for a range of low- and moderate-income households as defined by DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development. CuDC and Manna anticipate that units for low-income households will be priced starting in the mid-$100Ks. Units for moderate-income households will be priced starting in the mid-$200Ks. Please see page two for income limits.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2008, with occupancy expected in 2009.

Applications are now available. To download the application instructions and form please click here [MS-Word file, 235 KB]. To download the preliminary façade and floorplans please click here [PDF file, 3.3 MB]. CuDC will start accepting applications on Monday, June 4, 2007 at 9 a.m. All applications are due to CuDC no later than 5 p.m., Thursday, August 9, 2007. Applications will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Applications may be hand-delivered or mailed. Mail is typically delivered to CuDC at 3:30 pm; all applications received in the mail will be date and time stamped at that point. We will be accepting applications until August 9, 2007 at 5 p.m. Subject to acceptance of the application and completion of the supporting documentation, eligible artists will have access to purchasing a work/live condominium in the Douglas Street project on a first-come/first-served basis.

PLEASE NOTE: For delivery after June 4th, CuDC’s office is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 12 – 6 p.m.

Questions: contact housing@culturaldc.org
For more info:
CuDC
t: 202.315.1305 or http://www.culturaldc.org/

Just a reminder that the last brunch is this Saturday! Have you been yet? If so, what info/updates/opinions can you share? Also, what would you say if I told you I'm planning on creating an organizational plan for a Community Development Corporation/CDC or Main Street Program for the Rhode Island Avenue NE commercial corridor in Woodridge, 18th Street to Eastern Avenue....Any interest in collectively working to revitalize the broader area to benefit the community?

- - -

Janice Lillian Booker is inviting residents of the Woodridge, Langdon, Gateway, and South Central neighborhoods to attend brunches in June and July to introduce her development projects planned for the 2000 block of Rhode Island Avenue, NE.

Please attend to learn and explore the roles these communities can play to make the revitalization of the Rhode Island Avenue commercial corridor an accomplishment for all of us.

The brunches will take place at 2008 Rhode Island Avenue, NE, from 11am-1pm on:

Saturday, June 2nd
Saturday, June 9th
Saturday, June 16th
Saturday, June 23rd
Saturday, July 14th

Each brunch will accommodate 40 community residents. Pre-registration and registration confirmation are required. Please call 202.529.3610 to reserve a place at the brunch you wish to attend.

Free parking will be available in the lot at 2027 Rhode Island Avenue, NE (the old National Bank of Washington building beside St. Francis De Sales Church - the sign of the last tenant, Educational Solutions Academy, is on the side of the building).

Brunch attendees will include Reena Racki and Associates (architects for Phase I of Ms. Booker's projects); staff from the DC Office of Planning; Eddie Harrison, Woodridge Civic Association; Leslie Bournes, Gateway Citizens Group; Frances Penn, South Central Community Association; Jhaz Phifer, ANC 5A-10 Commissioner; and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.

Just a reminder that only two brunches are left! Have you been yet? If so, what info/updates can you share? Also, what would you say if I told you I'm planning on creating an organizational plan for a Community Development Corporation/CDC or Main Street Program for the Rhode Island Avenue NE commercial corridor in Woodridge, 18th Street to Eastern Avenue....Any interest in collectively working to revitalize the broader area to benefit the community?

- - -

Janice Lillian Booker is inviting residents of the Woodridge, Langdon, Gateway, and South Central neighborhoods to attend brunches in June and July to introduce her development projects planned for the 2000 block of Rhode Island Avenue, NE.

Please attend to learn and explore the roles these communities can play to make the revitalization of the Rhode Island Avenue commercial corridor an accomplishment for all of us.

The brunches will take place at 2008 Rhode Island Avenue, NE, from 11am-1pm on:

Saturday, June 2nd
Saturday, June 9th
Saturday, June 16th
Saturday, June 23rd
Saturday, July 14th

Each brunch will accommodate 40 community residents. Pre-registration and registration confirmation are required. Please call 202.529.3610 to reserve a place at the brunch you wish to attend.

Free parking will be available in the lot at 2027 Rhode Island Avenue, NE (the old National Bank of Washington building beside St. Francis De Sales Church - the sign of the last tenant, Educational Solutions Academy, is on the side of the building).

Brunch attendees will include Reena Racki and Associates (architects for Phase I of Ms. Booker's projects); staff from the DC Office of Planning; Eddie Harrison, Woodridge Civic Association; Leslie Bournes, Gateway Citizens Group; Frances Penn, South Central Community Association; Jhaz Phifer, ANC 5A-10 Commissioner; and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.

Janice Lillian Booker is inviting residents of the Woodridge, Langdon, Gateway, and South Central neighborhoods to attend brunches in June and July to introduce her development projects planned for the 2000 block of Rhode Island Avenue, NE.

Please attend to learn and explore the roles these communities can play to make the revitalization of the Rhode Island Avenue commercial corridor an accomplishment for all of us.

The brunches will take place at 2008 Rhode Island Avenue, NE, from 11am-1pm on:

Saturday, June 2nd
Saturday, June 9th
Saturday, June 16th
Saturday, June 23rd
Saturday, July 14th

Each brunch will accommodate 40 community residents. Pre-registration and registration confirmation are required. Please call 202.529.3610 to reserve a place at the brunch you wish to attend.

Free parking will be available in the lot at 2027 Rhode Island Avenue, NE (the old National Bank of Washington building beside St. Francis De Sales Church - the sign of the last tenant, Educational Solutions Academy, is on the side of the building).

Brunch attendees will include Reena Racki and Associates (architects for Phase I of Ms. Booker's projects); staff from the DC Office of Planning; Eddie Harrison, Woodridge Civic Association; Leslie Bournes, Gateway Citizens Group; Frances Penn, South Central Community Association; Jhaz Phifer, ANC 5A-10 Commissioner; and Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.

What: Ward 5 Townhall Meeting #2 on "Legislation to relocate displaced adult-themed establishments...Share your thoughts with Councilmember Harry 'Tommy' Thomas, Jr." [taken directly from the flyer handed out at last week's ANC-5A meeting]

When: Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 7:30pm

Where: Washington Center for Aging, 2601 18th Street, NE

You can view my previous posts here and here. If you want to catch up with some of the controversy surrounding this legislation, the Brookland listserv is a good place to start (I imagine the discussion is also hot and heavy on the Ward 5 listserv, but I don't have access to it). You can also view a number of links to media coverage in the Brookland messages - I'm preparing to leave town for a conference and simply can't post them all now. Ms. Steptoe mentions this blog in one of her posts; for the record, I have no affiliation with her.

**UPDATE**Yesterday the DC Council agreed to spend $3.6 million on road improvements to calm the neighbors. From The Examiner:

The D.C. Council on Tuesday agreed to spend millions of dollars to lessen the impact of a proposed cluster of relocated strip clubs in Northeast Washington.

....

But Ward 5 Council Member Harry Thomas, who vehemently opposes the measure, said Ivy City residents deserve some level of comfort if they are to be impacted by an influx of club patrons. The businesses, Thomas said, will have a major impact on infrastructure and could "create an unsafe environment."

Thomas asked for and received, as part of Tuesday’s fiscal 2008 budget debate, $3.6 million to improve the major corridors that surround Ivy City: Bladensburg Road, New York Avenue, West Virginia Avenue and Mount Olivet Road.

Also take a look at DCist's "Strip Club Jujitsu in Ivy City." Neither the articles, nor the earmarking of millions for Ivy City, hint at any "compensation" for the other neighborhoods that may be affected (see list below). Does anyone have a definitive list of proposed sites? Any word from Jim Abdo regarding Arbor Place, his forthcoming development (the second link is from 2005) on the NY Avenue/Bladensburg Road/Montana Avenue triangle?

What: Ward 5 Townhall Meeting sponsored by Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. on legislation to relocate displaced "adult-themed" establishments (my previous post is here)

When: Wednesday, May 16th, 2007, 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Bethesda Baptist Church, 1808 Capitol Avenue, NE

The proposed locations (from a Premier Community Development Corporation/PCDC press release):
· 2046 West Virginia Avenue, NE - Ivy City
· 2132 West Virginia Avenue, NE - Ivy City
· 2155 24th Place, NE - Langdon (sometimes thought of as Woodridge)
· V Street Warehouse (behind the Washington Times) - Gateway (sometimes thought of as Woodridge)

» View Bill B17-0109 here
» DC Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta on "the down-and-dirty political brawl over 'gentleman's clubs'"
» Post from Frozen Tropics with zoning maps and 49(!) comments and counting
» More debate on Frozen Tropics
» New Kid on the Eckington Block and what he believes is NIMBYism in Ward 5

To celebrate the first full day of spring, both Rita's Ice and Dunkin' Donuts are offering free goodies!

» Free regular Italian Ice at Rita's - 2318 Rhode Island Avenue, NE (near the corner of Rhode Island and South Dakota Avenues)

» Free 16oz small iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts - 1803 Rhode Island Avenue, NE

Yet more proof that the curfew is nothing more than a band-aid on a festering wound that, I believe, improved social programs and community investment can help heal. The story is on NBC4 and WTOP. The "facts" vary, and why the bus continued en route to Ft. Lincoln remains a mystery, but what seems to jive in all versions is this:

Around 4:45pm Wednesday, September 20, 2006, near Rhode Island and Montana Avenues, NE, a group of juveniles threw either rocks or a brick through a window in the bus. One of the juveniles proceeded to push a gun through the broken window and fire off two rounds. Between 15 and 35 people were on board, and no one was injured. It is believed that the intended target was a group of teens that likely boarded the bus at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro. Before transit police were able to get involved, all of the passengers (i.e. witnesses and potential suspects) were dropped off at their respective stops. I will be terribly impressed if the authorities are able to get any leads now that everyone involved is scattered.

The curfew couldn't stop this; gun control couldn't stop this. Being proactive in our children's lives can. It really does take a village, and anyone who finds that trite or cliché is no better than the problem at hand.

I know most of us take precautions when out in the evenings, but these incidents all occurred in the early morning, presumably as folks are heading off to work or returning from their night shifts. Luckily, no one was hurt, but I can't help but think about how pissed - and perhaps more inclined to use the gun - the perpetrator(s) must be, since two of the attempts failed. I'd like to remind everyone that pepper spray (NOT mace) is legal in the District, though it must be registered with the MPD. I purchased mine from Arnold Passman of Live Safe America when he spoke on personal safety at my office; if you tell him you live in DC, he can supply you with the proper paperwork to file. From MPD:

The Metropolitan Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in identifying and locating the person or persons responsible for a series of similar armed offenses committed against female victims within the Fifth District. None of the victims in these cases sustained physical injuries.

The first offense, an armed carjacking, occurred in the 3400 block of South Dakota Avenue, NE, at about 4:30 am, on Saturday, August 5, 2006. Reportedly, an adult female was approached by a tall, thin black male armed with a silver colored handgun while she sat behind the wheel of her auto at a red traffic light. The suspect entered the passenger side of the auto and made the victim drive. He then directed her pull over in the vicinity of 20th Street and South Dakota Avenue, NE, where he told her to exit the vehicle and then forced her into the trunk of her car. The suspect drove for a while, and apparently picked up another black male. At some point, the victim was coerced into revealing the Personal Identification Number (PIN) for her ATM card. The suspect(s) then obtained cash from the victim's bank account. The victim was released from the trunk of her car in the area of 20th and Franklin Streets, NE, and her car and keys were returned to her before the gunman fled on foot.

The second offense, an attempted armed carjacking, occurred in the area of South Dakota Avenue and 22nd Street, NE, at about 5:17 am, on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. As she sat behind the wheel of her auto, an adult female was approached by a tall, thin black male wearing a white mask and a white tee shirt and armed with a silver colored handgun. The suspect threatened the victim with the gun, but she drove away.

The third offense, an attempted armed carjacking, occurred in the 2600 block of South Dakota Avenue, NE, at about 5:30 am, on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. As she sat behind the wheel of her auto, an adult female was approached by a tall, thin black male wearing a white mask and a white tee shirt and armed with a silver colored handgun. The suspect threatened the victim with the gun, but she drove away.

The fourth offense, an armed robbery, occurred in the 3800 block of 22nd Street, NE, at about 5:44 am, on Wednesday, August 9, 2006. An adult female waiting for a [G8] bus at a bus stop was robbed at gunpoint by a tall, thin black male wearing a white mask and a white tee shirt and armed with a silver colored handgun. The suspect stole the victim's purse and fled on foot through the north alley.

These cases are under investigation members of the MPDC/FBI Robbery Task Force and Fifth District detectives. Anyone with information about these offenses is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any robbery committed in the District of Columbia.

I'll post updates if/when they come in.