What's happening at 5915 Georgia Avenue?

I was riding past this great old art deco building near the corner of Georgia and Missouri and the door was wide open. Major restoration was going on inside. What's moving into this space? The building permit on the window said "Restaurant - A2"...I'm dying to know more...

Georgia Ave resident survey results released

The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force has released the results of the survey that it distributed to residents, businesses, and others who have interest in developement along the Georgia Avenue corridor in the spring of 2010 (the survey focuses on Lower Georgia Ave) .

Reading through the survey results, I gathered that the majority of the respondents have similar feelings (which probably isn't surprising for long-time residents of the area): that Georgia Avenue has huge potential but at the moment is not nearly reaching it. Woefully underutilized commercial spaces, lack of cleanliness, lack of safety, and pedestrian and bike unfriendliness are some of the issues mentioned in the comments section. More businesses are highly desired, with grocery stores and sit-down restaurants topping people's wish lists. Cultural amenities are also desired, but for the most part sparsely available. Respondents stated that what makes them want to go to Georgia Ave is "proximity", but due to the aforementioned shortcomings, residents mostly travel to other parts of the city to meet many retail, cultural, and general quality-of-life needs.

One comment that interested me was the one that states that Georgia Ave is "the Fulton Street of DC", which made me think of the recent "Urbanism comes in many shapes and colors" discussion on Greater Greater Washington. Although Fulton Street's pedestrian mall area appears blighted, it's actually a very financially successful corridor. And yet:

There are other aspects of Fulton Mall that everyone agrees are problematic. For example, there are no benches, and many of the upper floors of the buildings are entirely vacant. Historic buildings have garish facades covering up their beautiful detailing. However, the street has many small, independent shops, good ground floor permeability, some street trees, and excellent transit.

(Sound familiar?)

We need to avoid the tendency to assume that good urbanism only looks like whatever we like. Good urbanism is about creating places that many people want to go, where they are safe, where there are activities, and where they don't have to travel long distances or be forced to use automobiles to satisfy life's everyday needs.

Daniel Nairn, author of Street Value: Shopping, Planning, and Politics at Fulton Mall, suggests that "the perpetual calls to 'revitalize' Fulton may be more situated in particular cultural values than anchored to actual numbers...the real motivation behind the various revitalization schemes has not been to create a more successful retail environment, but rather to create a public amenity attractive to the new affluent white residents moving in to the brownstones and condos around it."

I think these are important points, and I hope they are kept in mind as Georgia Avenue's future is planned.

Old Takoma Ace Hardware opens tomorrow!

I couldn't be happier. This will save me from having to go to Strosniders all the time (not that there's anything wrong with Strosniders, it's just a whole lot easier to get to Old Takoma from Brightwood). From a press release:

Old Takoma Ace Hardware Opens July 7, 2010
A Cool New Addition to Takoma Park

The transformation of Old Takoma continues with the opening of Old Takoma Ace Hardware at 7001 Carroll Avenue in Takoma Park. The store is a part of the group “A Few Cool Hardware Stores” with six other locations in DC and Baltimore, and operates as an independently owned retailer under the Ace Hardware cooperative. This new location has more than 7,500 square feet of retail space with ample parking in back as well as convenient metro accessibility (Takoma Metro Red Line).

Old Takoma Ace is the first suburban store for the group. “We chose Takoma Park for a variety of reasons,” co-owner Gina Schaefer explained. “We prefer vibrant urban locations with a lot of foot traffic. We thought that the residents of Takoma Park would appreciate and understand our business model.”

The store will offer a diverse inventory of more than 25,000 products that will include eco-friendly brands to cater to the green sensibility of the Takoma Park community like no-VOC Mythic paint, Mrs. Meyer’s and Seventh Generation cleaning products, and organic fertilizers from Jobe’s. Old Takoma Ace will also offer specialty services including key cutting, paint matching, glass and wood cutting, and screen repair, plus tool rentals and an enhanced lawn-and-garden section to help customers tackle those weekend projects. Indeed, the store endeavors to be not just a place to stock up on hammers and nails, but to become the community’s home-maintenance hub.

Summer Youth Program taking requests for jobs around the neighborhood

The Coolidge High School base of the DDOE Summer Youth Program is taking requests from neighborhood residents for jobs that need to be done (i.e., picking up trash, landscaping, weeding, mulching, painting decks, planting flowers, transplanting, painting porches, etc) within a one mile radius of the school (an area that includes most of Brightwood, Takoma, and Manor Park).

All the services are free (you supply the materials) and can be scheduled by calling Jacklyn Ellison at (202) 439-5157.

From what I understand, they’re really looking to keep the kids busy, and nobody should hesitate to call with project requests.

I saw the kids this morning as I passed by Coolidge, wearing their reflective vests and armed with garbage bags and trash-picker-uppers. They split up into groups and headed in different directions to do some (much-needed, I must say) clean-up of the sidewalks and streets.

Summary of the first Walter Reed redevelopment community workshop is online

A summary of the first community forum, held on June 9, is available here, complete with plenty of comments from attendees regarding how they'd like to see the area develop, and what they don't want it to become.

(The second of four community workshops will be held on Saturday, July 10 at 10:00 am in Delano Hall on the Walter Reed campus.)

Pawn Shops and Pot in 4B

I was a bad Brightwoodian and failed to attend last night's ANC 4B meeting, at which a vote was placed that will just about kill Famous Pawn's hopes of relocating one of their stores to our neck of Georgia Avenue. Housing Complex gives a summary of the meeting and the issue here.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn And his wife Stephanie, a nurse, were also on hand to discuss their plan to run a medical marijuana dispensary on 4th Street, by the Takoma Metro.

Caribbean Parade 2010

pardon my thumb

The first DC Caribbean Carnival that I experienced as a Brightwoodian got off to an auspicious start; the fact that I live just a couple of blocks from the parade's commencement site meant that the music got started for me and my immediate neighbors at seven a.m., since sound checks started then. Over the past few weeks, various neighbors had warned me that things would get a little nuts up here on the day of the parade, so I was somewhat prepared for our sleepy little residential area that normally doesn't see much action except for the occasional homicide or two to be turned into a party zone for one day.

And it was quite a fun day. I spent most of it biking up and down Georgia Avenue, following the parade route (occasionally being told by cops to "ride closer to the curb"...so I could collide with pedestrians?! made no sense to me, MPD-4D), which was by far the best way to get around the clusterfluckiness of it all and enjoy the festivities.

Muriel Bowser led the parade; I caught up with her around the intersection of Shepherd St. (about halfway through the three-mile-plus parade route from Missouri Avenue to Banneker H.S.) and she looked like the heat was going to get the best of her pretty soon...I would have handed the poor woman my water bottle, if I had any water left in it. Fenty and his sizable entourage followed her, with the Mayor dancing (?!?!) exuberantly and joyfully tossing Fenty-green Mardi Gras beads into the crowd. A few more political folks followed (Vince Gray, Clark Ray, Leo Alexander...) before the fun parts came along; throngs of people adorned in feathers, booty shorts, sequins, bustiers, and every color of body paint you can name. The vibe was incredible.

And that vibe was felt well into the night, after the parade ended, on Georgia Avenue, even far north of Banneker, where the Carnival was being held. Riding up and down the street in the evening, there were more people out than usual, more music than usual, more businesses being patronized than usual, all with a fun and celebratory mood. I wish it happened more often than just one day out of the year.

Fenty canvasser allegedly selling crack

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/fenty-canvasser-allegedly-sell.html

A canvasser for the campaign of D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) was fired after being arrested Friday in connection with an alleged attempt to sell crack to an undercover police officer in Northwest.

Demetrius Eccles was arrested at Georgia Avenue and Piney Branch Road, according to a law enforcement source. No age or address was available. He began working this month for the campaign, but a campaign spokeswoman said he is “no longer” on the staff. She said he was not on duty at the time of his arrest.

Trouble on the 71

Metrobus driver accused of assaulting passenger. This happened on the 71 bus, on Georgia near Van Buren Street.

Homicide in 5900 block of Georgia Ave. last night

From 4th District Commander Kimberly Chisley-Missouri:

Around 11:30 pm, units were summoned to the 5900 blk of Ga Ave for sounds of gunshots. 3 juvenile shooting victims were located and transported to area hospitals. Detectives are on the scene investigating.

And later, from Captain Francis Hill:

Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, one of the individuals who was shot could not be saved and has succumbed to his injuries. This is still an open case, and anyone with any information is asked to call the Homicide Branch on 202-645-9600.


And from the WP:

Investigators said early Saturday that the shooting apparently followed a go-go concert on Georgia Avenue at which fights broke out.