http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/blog/20828698/congress-heights-tenants-plan-protest-against-developer
sad story that could have a happy ending but likely won't
― curmudgeon, Monday, 25 July 2016 18:05 (eight years ago) link
Report: Dispute over Metrorail operator’s break almost resulted in a head-on collision
― mookieproof, Thursday, 28 July 2016 17:27 (eight years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/07/28/before-construction-can-begin-cost-of-wizards-practice-facility-rises-10-million/
The 118,000-square-foot venue, designed by D.C.-based architects Rossetti and Marshall Moya, would have a minimum of 4,200 seats, down from 5,000 originally planned.
In an interview, O’Dell said the changes reflected a more realistic estimate of what it would take to build an entertainment venue capable of attracting concerts and other performances
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blog/20829382/cost-of-taxpayerfunded-wizards-practice-facility-balloons-to-65-million
DAR Constitution Hall in DC and the Patriot Center(now Eaglebank Arena) are both about that size I think, and neither have that many concerts per year. Who are these folks kidding. Even if they get the circus, its still not many days. Wizards practices, Mystics games and a handful of other events for a lot of DC taxpayer money, that won't generate too many jobs or development.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 1 August 2016 21:40 (eight years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/next-challenge-for-dc-police-chief--how-to-continue-community-engagement/2016/08/17/e4d2d7f0-646a-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4_story.html
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 18 August 2016 17:54 (eight years ago) link
Awww, I'm going to Nats v Os game Wed., which means I will miss DC architecture discussion that night at 7 at The Third Floor (above Slim’s Diner) in Petworth
― curmudgeon, Monday, 22 August 2016 17:38 (eight years ago) link
I'll be part of that discussion!
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Tuesday, 23 August 2016 12:51 (eight years ago) link
I knew that, but wasn't sure if you wanted the millions who read this thread to have me signaling you out
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 14:32 (eight years ago) link
So will a an oversized 7 story hotel really be better than a privately created ugly little plaza in Adams Morgan?
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 14:34 (eight years ago) link
What's with the liquor tasting rooms located right next to animal rescue shelters, folks?
Washington Animal Rescue League -> Don Ciccio & FigliWashington DC Humane Animal Care and Control -> One Eight Distillery
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 23 August 2016 18:38 (eight years ago) link
industrial zoning
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 03:12 (eight years ago) link
I prefer to think that they collude
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 14:25 (eight years ago) link
booze goggles -> old mutts finding homes
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 24 August 2016 14:26 (eight years ago) link
Traumatized animal rescuers need to unwind at least as much as the rest of us.
― Rhys Witherspork (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 20:31 (eight years ago) link
"I Died," did you get hit with tough questions at panel last night?
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 25 August 2016 14:24 (eight years ago) link
Matt Yglesias is looking for a nanny share on DC Urban Moms.Our world.
― El Tomboto, Friday, 26 August 2016 00:01 (eight years ago) link
The boring architecture panel was really fun - moved along fast, lots of great audience comments. They're looking to organize more soon.
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Friday, 26 August 2016 12:17 (eight years ago) link
nice.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 26 August 2016 15:40 (eight years ago) link
BTW did I forget to tell you guys my new master plan for getting representation? DC will band together with Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Marianas, American Samoa and the USVI to form a SUPERTERRITORY with 2 senators and (according to the 2010 Census, 3725789 + 601723 + 159,358 + 106405 + 55519 + 53883 = 4,702,677 residents) 6 reps (exactly the number we all have now, coincidentally). This is the best idea.
― El Tomboto, Friday, 26 August 2016 16:40 (eight years ago) link
I like it, but only if it will be called Wapricoguamariasamaoavirginland.
The flag could be three palm trees above two half-smokes.
― plenty offish (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 26 August 2016 18:33 (eight years ago) link
From Elizabeth and Philip Jennings' training materials....
http://architectofthecapital.org/posts/2016/8/6/hyper-detailed-soviet-maps-of-washington
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Monday, 29 August 2016 17:03 (eight years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/the-essential-guide-to-ice-cream-and-frozen-desserts-around-washington/2015/06/24/02101680-0642-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html?tid=a_inl
Ice Cream Jubilee -- Had Thai iced coffee with banana bourbon caramel ice creams in a waffle cone that quickly fell apart and it was...uh ok. I'm not as wowed by this place as some are (its opening a 2nd location in the 14th street nw area). Also, even worse is the Yards park hood the store is located in. So many private property only & no parking signs to discourage evil car drivers, plus condos and more condos coming soon ones.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 29 August 2016 17:44 (eight years ago) link
car drivers are evil though
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Monday, 29 August 2016 18:20 (eight years ago) link
even uber and lyft ones?
― curmudgeon, Monday, 29 August 2016 19:41 (eight years ago) link
Or especially?
Once safe track gets finished, I'll be taking the train everywhere.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 29 August 2016 19:44 (eight years ago) link
Thanks for that link, Morbs
― Anacostia Aerodrome (El Tomboto), Monday, 29 August 2016 20:01 (eight years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/in-gentrifying-dc-apartments-for-large-families-are-quickly-disappearing/2016/08/29/b93276d6-6aec-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html
Brookland Manor today has 134 four- and five-bedroom apartments. Yet when the new community is built, none of its 1,646 apartments or 114 for-sale townhouses will have more than three bedrooms, and a vast majority will have only one or two.Brookland’s owner, Mid-City Financial Corp., based in Germantown, Md., told the city’s Zoning Commission that four- and five-bedroom apartments “are not consistent with the creation of a vibrant new community.”
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 04:48 (eight years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/digger/wp/2016/09/01/amidst-building-boom-an-effort-to-save-washingtons-last-warehouse-district/?hpid=hp_local-news_digger-11am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Will this attempt be too late?
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 1 September 2016 15:28 (eight years ago) link
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/article/20832984/doors-arent-closing-just-yet-on-latenight-metro-service
Jacob Weisman, a 26-year-old line cook at Daikaya who also pulls some shifts at Bantam King, can’t afford to take an Uber home to Greenbelt, Maryland, when his night ends. And there’s no good bus route for him, either.
Already, Daikaya has reduced weekend hours to close at 11 p.m. so employees and patrons can still take Metro home before the train’s midnight closure during SafeTrack repair work. The notion that Metro would make the change permanent—and also end service at 10 p.m. on Sundays, as Metro general manager Paul Wiedefeld has proposed—strikes Weisman as an assault on the city and the people it serves.
“It’s a huge deal,” he says. “For me personally, there’s not really a bus that goes directly to my place. I think there are three separate buses, and I don’t think they run where I need them to. And calling a car, if there’s a deal, maybe it’ll be $10. But during surge times, it could be upwards of $50 to $65.”
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 8 September 2016 16:39 (eight years ago) link
In the Sunday newsprint version of the New York Times, this article had a different title-- something about "Gritty North Shaw"
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/travel/five-places-to-go-in-washington-dc.html
Here's the opening paragraph:
North Shaw is popping as a vibrant urban landscape with new shops and restaurants and more in mid-construction. Formerly a 15-acre swath known for gritty streets, parking lots, vacant buildings and chain-link fences, it’s the latest residential, retail and creative hub in the nation’s capital. On warm nights now, crowds pack the outdoor tables of tasteful restaurants on the wide sidewalks near the intersection of Florida Avenue and Eighth Street Northwest; street murals by local artists brighten building facades; and posters promote sumo wrestling and free henna tattoos.
Oy veh.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 12 September 2016 18:00 (eight years ago) link
My wife does some volunteer work for the Smithsonian so we got a sneak peek preview of the new National Museum of African American history and culture. Spent 5 hours there and did not see it all. Poignant, often somber, and also inspiring.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 September 2016 14:49 (eight years ago) link
Public opening is the 24th, and there's a fest going on at the mall Friday through Sunday.
http://dcist.com/2016/09/photos_finding_chocolate_city_at_th.php#photo-1
― curmudgeon, Monday, 19 September 2016 15:25 (eight years ago) link
A bunch of Washington Post restaurant lists posted--Sietsema top restaurants one plus Tim Carman on Cheap Eats and Ethiopian ones
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-restaurants-guide-fall-2016/
Sietsema's latest list
Analysis of it by numbers;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/going-out-guide/wp/2016/10/13/tom-sietsemas-2016-fall-dining-guide-by-the-numbers/
Below two are from Tim Carman
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-10-best-places-to-eat-cheap-food-in-the-washington-area/2016/10/07/dbd11f42-8010-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-10-best-ethiopian-restaurants-in-the-washington-area/2016/10/12/0c38147c-8027-11e6-a52d-9a865a0ed0d4_story.html
― curmudgeon, Monday, 17 October 2016 17:57 (seven years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CvOZtzmUAAAr_A8.jpg:small
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 October 2016 17:20 (seven years ago) link
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/article/20837636/blagden-alleys-last-remaining-artist-is-being-priced-out
Overview re Bill Warrell and the history of art spaces downtown, from his dc space club on 7th & E to Warrell's current status as last artist left in Blagden Alley
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 20 October 2016 17:25 (seven years ago) link
x-post-- Funny...but I think Dischord has already shut those items down, as no money was going to the artists not approved , etc.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 October 2016 04:06 (seven years ago) link
The bittersweet Blagden Alley, Warrell piece has me wondering do other cities help artists and musicians via zoning and real estate laws, etc. Is DC worse than others or just the same?
Warrell’s looming departure from Blagden Alley isn’t just another example of an artist being priced out of his neighborhood. In Furioso’s view, it’s emblematic of why the arts have not fared well in D.C.
“The city of D.C. has never given one square foot to the visual arts,” he says. “You can go to almost any town—any city practically—in this country and they’ll give you an old building, an old post office, an old something.”
Furioso has tried to keep Warrell in the building as long as possible. He didn’t raise the rent until last year, when years of property tax increases made it impossible for him to charge the same price as when Warrell moved in.
Furioso wishes the city offered more incentives to developers to keep low-income residents in their buildings. “We’re not even asking the city to do anything except give that deduction through property tax.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 October 2016 15:52 (seven years ago) link
lololol
georgetown-rosslyn gondola feasibility study (pdf)
― mookieproof, Thursday, 3 November 2016 14:44 (seven years ago) link
SummaryIn terms of potential ridership, the findings of thisstudy suggest that a Gondola connecting Rosslyn toGeorgetown could significantly contribute to a moreeffective multi-modal transit system while addressingtransportation needs in the immediate study area. Thissection provides an overview of the development of theridership projections.
Ha. Once they do this and get the trolley going all the way to Georgetown, all of the area's transportation issues will be solved (plus Metro is gonna have non-existent buses take the place of late-night Metro trains...)
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 3 November 2016 15:17 (seven years ago) link
I'm trying to imagine the circumstances in which I'd wait for a fucking gondola rather than just walking across the bridge, and I am failing. However, if you devise a trebuchet that can fling me from Wilson & N. Lynn to a trampoline placed at Wisconsin & M Street, then we'll talk.
― pumpkin spice was the Spice Girl who died suspiciously (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 3 November 2016 15:29 (seven years ago) link
http://local.washingtoncitypaper.com/event/walter-e-washington-convention-center/washington-free-press-50th-anniversary-reunion-cl
Saturday panel discussion on Washington Free Press, 1966 to 1970 DC radical newspaper that was harassed by the FBI
― curmudgeon, Friday, 4 November 2016 12:47 (seven years ago) link
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/11/ted-leonsis-wizards-capitals-verizon-center
In a recent conference call with the Washington Post, Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis grumbled that his teams were “disadvantaged” because he was forced to pay more in building costs than other teams in other cities, in a Verizon Center deal he called “the worst building deal in professional sports.” Leonsis pays an estimated $36 million mortgage annually on the Verizon Center.
He also hinted that in six or seven years’ time, when the mortgage ends, he “will be a free agent,” suggesting that he could could possibly move the teams.
...This is absolutely preposterous. Yes, Leonsis may have to pay more for his mortgage than other professional teams, but just because those other teams duped cities into paying for their stadiums shouldn’t make D.C. fans feel bad about the deal here.
The Wizards and Capitals have spent plenty of money. They’ve spent an ungodly amount of money. The Wizards are currently spending more than the NBA Salary Cap, so for Leonsis to say that he can’t spend enough on his players is outrageous. He can’t spend more on his players because the league expressly prohibits him from doing so. The Capitals are also considered a “cap team,” having spent close to the cap every year in recent history.
The reason the Wizards and Capitals haven’t won a title has nothing to do with Leonsis’ mortgage and everything to do with the fact that he’s hired bad people who have done a bad job. Ernie Grunfeld, as Deadspin pointed out, is still somehow the general manager of the Wizards, even though he hasn’t shown like once in his entire career that he has any idea how to effectively run an NBA franchise. The team has wasted draft picks and signed the wrong guys to big deals and kept ineffective coaches and on and on.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 4 November 2016 14:51 (seven years ago) link
so it seems like we spent about a week staring at the sidewalk and now everybody is gearing up for a long slog. Is that everybody else's take?
― El Tomboto, Friday, 18 November 2016 02:40 (seven years ago) link
yeah. Although it feels like everyone's's going to be far more involved than the passive resignation post-2000 and even 2004.
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Friday, 18 November 2016 06:06 (seven years ago) link
Yeah, it's going to be freezing at the inauguration protests.
― El Tomboto, Friday, 18 November 2016 14:08 (seven years ago) link
true.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 18 November 2016 17:20 (seven years ago) link
DISTRICT II
In less serious news. Lots of exhibits worth checking out around DC. Just noticed that this opened at the Building Museum:
District II
November 19, 2016 - February 12, 2017
This poetic visual essay explores the changing streetscape of downtown Washington in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s through the urban street photography of Bill Barrett, Chris Earnshaw, and Joseph Mills
http://www.nbm.org/exhibitions-collections/exhibitions/district-ii.html
― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 November 2016 15:57 (seven years ago) link
I saw the Van Vechten Harlem Heroes photo exhibit, and the Herman Leonard Jazz photos ones. Both worth seeing although I agree with the following:
Of the two exhibits, Herman Leonard’s jazz photographs exude more verve and cool. Van Vechten’s images, taken as much as 20 years earlier, are more historically groundbreaking and serve as a fitting memorial to Van Vechten’s role as a patron of African-American artists—but as artistic objects, his images fall short.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/museums-galleries/blog/20833380/at-the-smithsonian-american-art-museum-carl-van-vechtens-photographs-of-harlem-heroes
― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 November 2016 18:16 (seven years ago) link
x-post -- there were protesters at the Reagan Trade Center Bldg Saturday protesting the "alt-right" conference there.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 November 2016 18:19 (seven years ago) link