Future of the K Street Streetscape

On two occasions I've recapped the planned upgrades to Fourth Street according to the Final Report for the Mount Vernon Triangle Transportation and Public Realm Design Project. The aim of this posting is to outline the plans for K Street between 7th Street NW and New Jersey Ave NW.

Running east-west through the center of the Triangle, K Street is the neighborhood’s major commercial and activity corridor. Verdant in character, K Street also functions as shared urban green space connecting the northern and southern halves of the Triangle. The generous proportions of the street allow for large public gatherings and events, while the development of ground-floor commerce reinforces the street’s function as a neighborhood economic artery. The variability of architectural form and function along the street is addressed by a consistent, unifying streetscape that is still flexible enough to respond to unique conditions.

The spatial configuration, material palette, and programming of the K Street landscape accommodate both commerce and daily neighborhood life. Along most of its length, the wide building setback is divided into three zones: a “promenade” sidewalk zone adjacent to the street, a wider “meander” sidewalk zone adjacent to the buildings, and a substantial “median” in between with canopy trees and lush understory planting. Distinct paving differentiates the two pedestrian zones, while a palette of contemporary streetlights, benches, and trash receptacles unifies the entire street and distinguishes it from most other streets within the Triangle.

Plans for K Street include the following:

• 50 foot wide streetscape divided into 3 zones: promenade sidewalk along street, landscaped median, and meander sidewalk adjacent to buildings.
  
• Meander sidewalks to use pressed concrete pavers while promenade sidewalks offer contrast with brick.
  
• 5th and K "neighborhood center" to have a four plaza configuration with special pavers.
  
• Public art should be integrated, at every opportunity, into the K Street streetscape in a manner appropriate to an active commercial corridor and a residential neighborhood.
  
• Alley and Parking lot curb cuts should be consolidated. Future curb cuts should be kept to a minimum.
  
• Typical K Street streetscape pattern will be modified to accommodate and preserve existing trees in front of Museum Square.
  
• Contemporary lighting, benches and trash cans installed on K Street to contrast the traditional offerings on surrounding streets.
  
• Installation of "pay and display" multi-space meters
  
• A mid block cross walk for the 400 block of K Street (which is a "double block").
  
• Bicycle lanes and racks will be added to K Street.
  
• All utility structures, including grill-covered area ways, should be located in alleys or on private property, not in the sidewalk or in public space areas.
  

Click any of the images below to enlarge:




All renderings taken from Final Report for the Mount Vernon Triangle Transportation and Public Realm Design Project

Twitter

I added a Twitter feed to the far right hand margin of the blog over the weekend. Most of my twitter postings will be to share facts that aren't worth a full blog post (such as today's re: museum square) or hint at posts to come. Occasionally my personal responses to other bloggers twitters will find their way into this stream.

Perfect Score

Last summer Front Seat upgraded their Walk Score product by issuing rankings and heat maps for major cities across the United States. These new features were covered heavily in the D.C. blog-o-sphere and there wasn't much for me to add to the story. Besides, at the time only Fifth Street Hardware was open and contributing from City Vista to our neighborhood's Walk Score.

Fast forward to today with Busboys, Safeway, Results and Chevy Chase Bank open and the corner of 5th and K (inputted as 1025 5th St NW) now has a perfect Walk Score of 100.

Walk Score for 5th & K

Walk Score is still a little wonky. Inputting 475 K Street, only a few hundred feet from the corner, gets a noticeably different score. The tool also does not recognize Safeway as being within close range of Madrigal Lofts.

Transit time from 5th & K

Front Seat continues to evolve its products. The newest addition, in beta release, is a Transit Time heat map that combines metrorail data with the company's Walk Score technology. WMATA only made their data feed publicly available last Monday so Metrobus data is not yet integrated but should be in the plans.

Fourth Street upgrades to begin in June

Word is that upgrades to Fourth Street could begin as soon as June. The plans for the overhaul to Fourth Street are outlined in the Final Report for the Mount Vernon Triangle Transportation and Public Realm Design Project.

click to enlarge; image from 2005 DDOT Studies

In the study, Fourth Street improvements include:

• Restore two-way traffic from L Street to Mass Ave
  
• New traffic light at Fourth and Eye
  
• Removal of a traffic island on the NW corner of Fourth and Mass
  
• Reconfiguration of the Fourth, Mass and H Street intersection
  
• Redesign slip intersection of Third and H Streets

To accommodate these changes Fourth Street will be widened to support two way traffic and curb parking on both sides of the street. The widening on the west shoulder of 800 block will push back from the DuMont's temporary yellow curb to the true sidewalk. On the east side of the 800 block DDOT will reclaim a few feet of the Madrigal Lofts sidewalk. This has always been the plan and is why the trees were planted off center in the tree boxes to be closer to the condo building than the street.

I am less clear about widening plans for the 900 and 1000 blocks of Fourth Street. Several mature trees on these two blocks, of heights 40 feet and higher, are planted immediately next to the road and would be casualties in any widening. From a continuity perspective I expected these blocks would be widened but I cannot absolutely tell from the renderings. If parking was restricted to just one side on these two segments I suppose they would not need to be widened. But in the long run the infrastructure of the wider street segments will be in the neighborhoods best interest moreso than the downgrade from a mature tree to a younger one planted in reconfigured tree boxes.

CEO of NDC name drops City Vista

Earlier this week DCMud published an interview with Neighborhood Development Corporation (NDC) founder and CEO Adrian G. Washington. NDC was a member of the development team for City Vista and Washington mentioned the project several times as an example of his company's success.

Excerpt:

DCMUD: At this point, it’s safe to say that CityVista has been a success, while other projects in the immediate area have stumbled. What would you chalk that up to?

AGW: It’s funny because we just had a case study that ULI did and they put together all the people –developers, contractors, lawyers and architects. One of the things that we talked about was doing a true mixed-use project – some condos, some apartments and retail. It’s really hard from a construction standpoint, from a legal standpoint, from an architectural standpoint, but if you get right and you get the right mix…synergy is a corny term, but it really applies to this.

We got this great Safeway, we got Busboys and Poets and we have a real mix of retailers at the base, all of which people really want. These kind of lifestyle-type things help it be a place where people really want to be. NoMa is still kind of an emerging neighborhood and people want to feel like they have a sense of community – a place where they can live, they go downstairs to shop, they can go out to eat, they can go to go the gym. And not just a little in-house gym, but a really cool gym like Results.

It’s a really cool place and what we’ve seen is different parts of DC, but we have people from Prince George’s County and Virginia. It’s just been a nice sort of synergy and I think the rental component energizes the condo component that it’s drawn people from all over. You think it would be people who live in and the condo component energizes the retail component and vice versa. And I think it’s priced right. It’s not entry-level pricing, but it’s not super-luxury pricing either and a lot of people can afford it. We knew we were going to sell like that.

NoMA? If you are the CEO of a company that worked on the City Vista project you should know the difference between the Mount Vernon Triangle and NoMA.

Continue reading at DCMUD.

Tree Planting Photos

Great turnout at today's Casey Trees planting event for the park at 2nd and Mass. Roughly 68 volunteers participated including a brief visit from Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells.

Volunteers came from many sources including large groups from Price Waterhouse Coopers, Congress for the New Urbanism, the MVT CID Clean Team, AIPAC, DPR, Tommy Wells staff, and neighboring residential buildings. With direction from Casey Trees staff and Citizen Foresters the volunteers planted 34 trees and removed several Forsythia bushes.




I teamed up with a Citizen Forester from Burtonsville and Sarah Moulton, the community planner from DPR who designed the park's new concept, to plant two Ginkgos along Mass Ave. We had a couple of good chuckles about the new soon to debut Amy Poehler NBC sitcom called Parks and Recreation as we found a bone in the dirt.

Water for the trees was run from a fire hydrant on 2nd Street to fill the 25 gallon ooze tubes. The water source at the park should be functional within the next month. The next upgrade for the park, after the water supply, should occur in the fall with benches, trash cans and lighting will be transplanted from the Art walk to this park. The availability of these materials is dependent on the redevelopment of the Old Convention Center site moving forward.

Lunar Massage

A new business called Lunar Massage (www.lunarmassagedc.com) specializing in seated-chair and fully clothed table massages for on-the-go professionals was featured in Washingtonian this week.


Owner Joanna Robinson describes her business as "a “middle ground” between a spa and the seated-chair massage or tiny massage clinics set up in malls or offices. Each of her seven on-call therapists is a licensed practitioner trained in therapies such as medical massage, sports massage, and shiatsu. The price starts at $26 for 20 minutes and goes up to $108 for 90 minutes."


Lunar Massage is located at 1101 5th Street NW - just across New York Avenue from Safeway's main entrance.

Triangle Times - Winter '09 edition

The Winter '09 edition of the Triangle Times newsletter is available on the MVT CID Website in PDF form. The newsletter has a special focus on employment from the new businesses that have opened in the Triangle since summer '08.


Photo excerpts below. Read the newsletter for the full scoop.

Last Call: Tree Planting event tomorrow

Reminder: please consider registering to participate in the tree planting at the park at 2nd and Mass on Friday March 27th. The planting takes place from 9:00AM to 1:00PM.

Click image to visit Casey Trees calendar entry

Tunnel for Sale

Tunnel Wines & Spirits (311 H Street NW) is on the market. Check out the Trulia listing.

Neon is not a dirty word

The DC DNA launched their new blog yesterday with a posting that calls for "signage legislation that addresses the entire downtown area and a moratorium on any new advertising signage until we have it." The genesis of this call for signage legislation was spurred by Western Development's recent interest in expanding their signage at Gallery Place according to allowances specified in the condo documents.

The proposal for new signage at Gallery Place is a special case as it is multi-media signage (video, no sound) that spans 6+ stories. I won't take a side on that debate one way or another as I don't feel I fully grasp the logistics of the proposed signage or how it would impact the condo residents. I couldn't follow the presentation fully but it may be only feet from the residents windows.

It's hyperbole to suggest Gallery Place is on the brink of becoming Times Square

However, I do want to say that 1) I love what great signs do for a street and the public realm 2) I don't think "neon" is a dirty word and 3) I think downtown DC has a deficit of quality signage. I will also add that I find the Gallery Place is becoming Times Square claims a little silly and akin to every DC neighborhood that worries about about becoming the next Adams Morgan because two bars opened up =)

A few D.C. neon signs:

Central Liquor, Penn Quarter

Studio Theatre, Logan Circle

Lincoln Theatre, U Street

Waffle Shop, formerly Penn Quarter

Signs from other cities: with special emphasis on Belltown which has Seattle's highest population density (~20,000/sqmi) proving neon and residents can co-exist.

Colony Hotel, South Beach

Cyclops Cafe and Lounge, Belltown/Seattle

Elephant Car Wash, Belltown/Seattle

Top Pot Doughnuts, Belltown/Seattle

If downtown signage legislation is needed I hope that it does not close the door to interesting and dynamic signage. Steering signage towards the path of being small and discreet to appease the most objectionable of residents diminishes the ability to create a vibrant place. Let's keep the door open to some forms of colorful signage. Ideally for local businesses like boutique hotels, theatres or restaurants rather than McDonalds or CVS...

Photo credits: M.V. Jantzen, ThomasHawk, ghengis connie, Mr. T in DC, Patrick Saccoccia

DC DNA website upgrade

The Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) has launched a new upgraded website.


A prominent new feature is the the DCDNA blog (dcdna.blogspot.com) which has an initial posting about the need for downtown signage legislation.

Buddha Bar Patio Hours

Last week I recapped a recent open forum discussion hosted by DNA between Buddha Bar ownership and community residents. Eran Gorev, a representative of the owners of the restaurant group, expressed how committed he is to working with the community on issues of noise, lighting, etc... Understandably he was light on specifics regarding these issues as it is early in the process.

What I have seen today is the Buddha Bar's ABC application. The hours of operation for the restaurant are designated as 11:30AM to 2:00AM Sun-Thurs with an extension until 3:00AM on Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant is requesting the same late night hours for their expansive 104 seat patio along Mass Ave.

Buddha Bar sunken patio along Mass Ave

It's important to keep in mind that these hours are the maximum possible hours their liquor license will allow. It does not mean the restaurant manager will necessarily elect to keep the patio open that late. But in an area surrounded by residences some feel patio hours beyond 11PM weekday and midnight weekends are non-starter and that a written voluntary agreement limiting late night patio hours is needed. The community only has true leverage at certain points in the process - the liquor license is one of those points.

Save the Date: Mount Vernon Triangle House Tour

The first ever Mount Vernon Triangle House Tour is scheduled for Sunday May 17th, 2009.

From the CID website:

Mount Vernon Triangle House Tour – May 17

Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District is organizing the inaugural Mount Vernon Triangle House Tour on Sunday, May 17, 2009 from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. – benefiting Strive DC.

The House Tour is designed to showcase the Triangle with its beautiful new buildings, exciting retail, and prime location. Residences with primarily be featured as part of the House Tour, which may include units in 555 Mass, The Sonata, Madrigal Lofts, The L, The V, and The K. Mark your calendar!

Buddha Bar Youtubes

Below are two Buddha Bar virtual tour Youtube videos I found.

Buddha Bar NYC



Buddha Bar Paris


One thing you'll notice is no windows anywhere in either venue. Considering 455 Mass is entirely glass it should be interesting to see how they redesign their space to block the windows yet maintain the exterior aesthetics of the overall building.

Former home to Ruppert's Restaurant available for lease

In mid 2008 the Ruppert family, which has owned property on the 1000 block of 7th Street NW since the 1880s, had begun to ramp down their Warehouse Theater and Cafe operations in anticipation of selling their properties to Douglas Jemal. With the real estate slowdown this fizzled and Douglas Development is looking to push ahead on the development concept for Squares 450 and 451 solely with properties they presently own.

With the change in plans the Warehouse Theater (1021 7th Street NW) has reopened for business. However as Paul Ruppert focuses on the launch of his new Room 11 wine bar in Columbia Heights the former Ruppert's Restaurant space at 1017 7th Street NW has been placed on the market for lease.


From the Craigslist ad (which has rates and contact info):

A total of 3000 SF for lease. First floor (2200 SF) and basement (800 SF) in a historic building across the street from the Convention Center. Home to the acclaimed Ruppert's restaurant for many years. Dining room currently seats 65. Spacious kitchen allows for any cuisine.

Lease 5 years + 5 year option

Ruppert's Restaurant opened in 1992, and was sold to chef John Cochran in 1994. Cochran operated the restaurant until 2002, turning it into one of Washington's best restaurants. Since the restaurant closed the Rupperts have been using the venue as a music and performance space. They hope to attract an independent restaurateur to lease the space.

Washington Home and Garden Show

The Washington Home and Garden Show is at the Convention Center this weekend.


The exhibitor list is very extensive. Prices for adults are $8 on Thursday and Friday and $10 on Saturday and Sunday.

4th and L land ownership

I didn't initially notice her posting, but Si Kailian uncovered the details of land ownership for the gravel lots at 4th and L using the DC Atlas tool.

I've taken the visual representation of her legwork a bit farther below. The land is lots 0837 and 0842 within Square 0525. The DC Real Property database shows the two lots are owned by Golden Rule (aka Bible Way Church) due to a sale in 2005.


This would indeed seem to squash any ideas to transform this area with a dog park or other public amenity.

Reminder: Tommy Wells Community Open House

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells will be at 5th Street Hardware (1055 5th Street NW) for a community open house this Thursday, March 19 between 6:30PM and 8:30PM. The event has no programmed agenda and is a great opportunity to informally share concerns, discuss needed amenities, and to meet our councilmember

Reminder: Tree Planting event on Friday March 27

Reminder: please consider registering to participate in the tree planting at the park at 2nd and Mass next Friday March 27th. The planting takes place from 9:00AM to 1:00PM.

Click image to visit Casey Trees calendar entry

B&M Foodmart seeks Single Serve Exemption

B&M Foodmart (215 New York Ave NW) has begun the process to seek an exemption to the Single Serve Moratorium. The Class B licensed establishment is slated to go before both the ANC6C ABL committee and full commission in April. Last night owner Brenda Keys spoke before the MVSNA to seek a community endorsement of her exemption request.



My recap of the MVSNA discussion is below using both my notes and Jeff Parke's meeting minutes as source material.

Given the floor to state her case Brenda offered the following:

• Owned the store for 30 years
  
• Never had a complaint from the police department or 911 Call
  
• Referred to self as the mother, social worker, minister of the neighborhood
  
• Claimed that customers don’t loiter in front of the store.
  
• Stated that she has sold singles since originally opening and there has never been a problem.
  
• Claimed that single sales are critical to her stores survival

The community pressed for more specifics and learned the following:
B&M Foodstore relies on alcohol sales for 40% of their revenue with nearly all of that (35%) business coming from single sales. Brands sold include both midscale beers and low end malt liquors (Owner cited Heineken, Corona, Budweiser, Olde English, Steel Reserve, Milwaukee's Best, etc..). B&M's lowest price point for single sales is $1.65.

I also brought up the point that B&M Food Store has an unconventional setup. The entirety of the store is behind a security partition except a small foyer. Customers are not buzzed into the store. Rather the customer must tell the cashier what they would like to buy so that it may be retrieved for them. Keys explained that the store has this setup because she was robbed at gunpoint 10 years ago. While I absolutely concede that personal safety is paramount, I believe the store's layout may be limiting its viability every bit as much as competition from Safeway or the single sales ban. Shoppers prefer an experience that empowers them to browse the inventory of products and prices unencumbered to make their selection. B&M should consider reorganizing its layout so that only the cashier's counter is behind a security partition. A lesson from the ongoing eight year singles moratorium in Mt Pleasant is that the ban will force businesses to adapt product inventory and their customer experience rather than cling to the inertia of old business models.

After the questions for Brenda the MVSNA membership delved more into their thoughts on the ban as a whole. Some back and forth on whether the ban is "fair" to small businesses transpired. One board member suggested that the effectiveness of the ban would be undermined if exemptions were extended to the majority of liquor and convenience stores.

The Membership voted to oppose endorsement of the exemption for B&M Food Market. The voting on the resolution to NOT support exemption yielded 8 in favor, 3 in opposition and 4 abstentions. Ultimately ANC 6C will make the one endorsement that carries great weight and B&M will have an opportunity to state their case at their ABRA hearing in April.

Today's blog talk on City Vista

• The Lifein MVSNA blog spreads the word on the affordable housing lottery for the V at City Vista apartments.
  
• DCMetrocentric ganks on the "Not-So-Hot Vistas" at City Vista. Commenters respond in support of the building and our 'hood.
  
• WDCEP and the MVTCID sponsor a small business entrepreneurship training session at Busboys & Poets at 9am on March 17th.
  

Buddha Bar Update

The Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) arranged a small forum to bring together the ownership of Buddha Bar and residents of condo buildings adjacent to the 455 Mass location. Over 30 residents from 400 Mass, 555 Mass, The Sonata, and Madrigal gathered to listen and ask questions.

Image of Buddha Bar Kiev from flickr user strizh

Below are my notes from the forum:

Ownership / Concept

• Maryland based ownership group is licensing concept from original creator George V Eatertainment.
  
• This will be the ownership group's second Buddha Bar with Kiev being the other location
  
• Ownership group has a 15 year presence in the DC Market and has been seeking a Buddha Bar site for 2+ years
  
• Ownership group will invest $4-5 million in build out from cash flow (not financing)
  
• Focus is to be a high quality Pan Asian restaurant rather than a bar. Specifically mentioned their goal to score 26 or 27 Zagat food rating and rank tops for Asian-Fusion/Pan-Asian in the downtown DC market (ed note: FWIW, Buddha Bar NYC & Paris scored <20 on food with Zagat).
  
• Creator George V was involved in the selection process for the new DC location
  
• Restaurant will be one of 12 Buddha Bars worldwide and stay true to theme
  
• Will play the George V branded Buddha Bar ambient music.

Specs

• Site is larger (9455sf) than Las Vegas' Little Buddha (7000sf) but smaller than NYC's Buddha Bar (15000sf)
  
• Estimated to have seating for between 180 and 220 patrons
  
• Bar will have 20 stools, no dance floor on premise
  
• Will have outdoor patio seating during warm months - no outdoor music
  
• Will create over 100+ jobs
  
• Will have all services on Eye Street (parking, valet parking, loading)

Timing

• Class CR ABC license application has been submitted
  
• ANC 6C ABC licensing committee should discuss application in April
  
• Currently working on permits and design - could begin buildout in 4-6 weeks
  
• Too early to really say, but November '09 soft opening may be possible

Good Stuff, PoP and Streetcars

Just got back from a redeye this morning, so a links columns is all I can muster today...

• Frozen Tropics speculates that Good Stuff Eatery may could be part of the retail remodeling at Union Station. I reviewed Good Stuff last fall.
  
• Prince Of Petworth highlights a 2200 s.f. condo just north of the Triangle at 436 M Street NW.
  
• Lifein MVSNA aims to build up support for Streetcars along K Street. I wrote a posting on the Seattle Streetcar last November for Greater Greater Washington.

March MVSNA Meeting

A year ago today

A year ago today I joined the writing team for this blog. Over these 12 months I've contributed around 320 postings!

MVT CID Marketing Committee Meeting Minutes for March

Meeting minutes provided by Bill McLeod for the recent MVT Marketing Committee meeting. Attendees included residents from City Vista, and Madrigal lofts, a representative from both Quadrangle Development and Meany Oliver. I've added relevant links to supply more context.

he Marketing Committee convened at 6:00PM. Mr. McLeod welcomed everyone and the members introduced themselves.

MVTCID was awarded a grant from Casey Trees to plant 34 trees at the park at 2nd and Mass. The tree-planting event (register) will be Friday, March 27 from 9:00AM-1:00PM. Residents are invited to dig a hole and grab coffee.

The Metropolis Club – the local AA chapter – would like to host an open house for new residents. April 29 was considered a good date.

The Mount Vernon Triangle House Tour was discussed as a viable event on May 17. Each property was reviewed for a contact to identify an owner of a larger unit. Mr. McLeod will follow up with each contact. Quadrangle Development (Madrigal Lofts) will be our first sponsor at the Platinum level. Dumont probably won’t be open in time for the tour. Because of budget constraints, the tour guide will be designed and printed in-house. Board members recommended Strive DC as the beneficiary of any net proceeds. NPR will be approached to provide radio ads. Print ads will run in the City Paper, DC North, Blade, and MW. About 60 volunteers will be needed: one at the main door, one to get people up to the units and one in each open room.

Walking Town DC is a free walking tour given throughout the city on May 30-31. Members suggested doing afternoon tours – 1:00PM. Another Walking Town DC is set for September 19-20.

A Mount Vernon Triangle happy hour was suggested for June 17 and August 12 to building community spirit. The event could run on a Wednesday from 6:00-8:00PM on a roof deck of a large building.

Bike Ride with Police was very well received by MPD, so this event will be duplicated July 9.

Another Park Clean Up will be set October 17 from 9:00-11:00AM to prepare the Triangle Park for winter.

With no further discussion, the meeting ended at 7:00PM. The next meeting will be held on April 8 – location to be determined.

Late night jack hammering

Wednesday night residents of 555 Mass were treated to the thundering sounds of jack hammers by the DC Water and Sewer Authority (WASA). The utility company erected lights and pounded the streets with heavy machinery from 10PM to 7AM.

Reading through the email chain what I gathered was:

• DDOT only issues work permits from 7AM to 7PM.
  
• DCRA handles night permits but will only issue them in commercial zones
  
• Utility companies can obtain emergency permits that trump some of standard regulations. Emergency permits should only be issued in cases of "vital loss of service"

The area in question did not have a water main break or other vital service disruption. When the WASA workers were questioned by 555 residents even they did not claim the work was an emergency.

The community flooded the email inboxes of Tommy Wells office and the MVT CID on Thursday. The late night work should cease for now. I know some tired neighbors who appreciate the assistance in mitigating the issue but wish more process were in place to prevent these circumstances.

MVT CID Marketing Committee Meeting Agenda

MVT CID Marketing Committee Meeting
March 11, 2009; 6:00 p.m.
City Vista L Community Room (440 L Street NW)

AGENDA

Welcome and introductions

Approval of the agenda

Tree Planting in Triangle Park

• March 27 – 9:00-1:00
  
• 36 trees
  
• Coffee and donuts provided

Metropolis Club Open House – April 15 or 29

MVT House Tour – May 17

• 555 Mass
  
• The Sonata
  
• Madrigal Lofts
  
• The L
  
• The K
  
• The Dumont
  
• 455 Mass
  
• Vista Green – reception
  
• Sponsorships: Madrigal, CityVista, 455, Dumont
  House Tour Booklet

Walking Town DC – May 30-31 – 1:00 p.m.

Rooftop Happy Hour – June 17 from 6:00-8:00

Bike Ride with Police – July 9 from 6:00-6:30

Rooftop Happy Hour – August 12 from 6:00-8:00

Walking Town DC – September 19-20

Park Clean Up – October 17 from 9:00-11:00

New business

Next meeting date – April 8

Adjourn

Minutes for the February MVT CID marketing meeting can be found here.

High G Paint out on the curb

The contents of High G Paint Company (924 5th St NW) were emptied from the building out onto the sidewalk on Tuesday. A For Sale signed was posted with contact information for Reza Rofougaran of Stein & Associates.


When was the last time High G Paint was open for business? How big is the space and what future uses could you envision?

Hat tip: MVTResident

UPDATE (3/11/09 11:20AM): The building is for sale for $950,000. The 2010 property tax assessment is $869,360. The structure resides within the Mount Vernon Triangle Historic District.

March DNA Meeting

From DNA president Miles Groves:

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 10th at the Calvary Baptist Church. The entrance is at 733 8th Street, NW and starts at 6:30PM.

Besides discussion with PSA 101 West officers, a range of topics are covered. This includes Denielle Vendetti with the recently opened Zola Wine & Kitchen (www.zoladc.com) who will present their program of cooking lessons and other offerings. We will have Jim Pierobon, the Chief Marketing Officer (www.standardsolar.com) with Standard Solar to discuss the viability of retrofitting solar systems in our neighborhood. We also expect Ray Gruendel, a vice president with Western Development, Inc. (www.westdev.com) who will discuss their vision for downtown and advertising signage plans.

March ANC 6C Draft Agenda

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6C
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 7:00 pm
Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue N.E.

Draft Agenda

Call to order
Quorum
Approval of agenda
Approval of January and February minutes
Treasurer’s report

• 2009 budget
  
• New expenses: Website hosting - Comm. Hamilton

Brief community announcements

• Rob Amos award
  
• Sun Trust National Marathon, 3/21 - Diane Thomas
  
• Walk for Lupus, 3/29 - Elizabeth Muniot
  
• Colon Cancer Awareness Event, 4/18 - Julia Clowes
  
• The Examiner boycott - Comm. Hamilton
  
• Historic preservation events
  
• Next ANC meeting Tuesday, April 7 (Passover begins sundown Wednesday, April 8)

Old Business

Public Safety report (Comm. Dixon)

Grants report (Comm. Brown)

Liquor License Committee report (Comm. Phelps)

• Cedar Restaurant
  
• Policy on moratorium, single sales exemptions
  • H Street Liquors, 303 H Street
  • Schneider’s Liquors
• Proposal to allow sales of half-pints in moratorium

Transportation Committee report (Comm. Phelps, introduction of John Kelly, Joe McCann)

• NE Library intersection, 7th and Maryland Ave N.E. - pedestrian safety
  
• 460 L Street NW City Vista

Youth and Education Committee report (Comm. Hamilton)

Zoning and Planning Committee report (Rob Amos)

• H Street history project presentation - Dru Tallant, SPNA
  
• 1213 Fourth Street NE - Concept approval for 3-story/2 flat residential building, HP # 09-107, Owner, Abbas Fathi
  
• Discussion of tax relief for residential development in the District of Columbia - Comm. Docter
  
• 645 Maryland Avenue NE, BZA #17908 - Mark Merlino, request for variance from alley width requirements to allow a single-family dwelling in an R4 district (hearing 4/21)
  
• 317 Constitution Avenue NE, BZA # 17903 - Appeal of DCRA permit # G0800014 authorizing work facilitating use of a building as a parking garage in the CAP/R-4 district. Owner, Ken Golding; rep for appeal, David Brown (hearing 4/21)

4th and L Trash Transfer

A couple of weeks ago we asked what can be done with 4th and L? My intention was to progress that discussion further by now, but I'm still hearing conflicting interpretations on the land ownership.

What news I can share is that there is now a trash transfer station on the site which wasn't in the satellite and streetview images I previously presented. I don't travel this road segment regularly, and I could be mistaken, but I believe this station was not in place around inauguration time.