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Articles
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Latest News
| Near Northeast commission endorses developer for 5th and I site |
VOICE writes, "Voice Staff Report
The Near Northeast advisory neighborhood commission, at a May 28 special meeting, voted unanimously to recommend the Donohoe Co. and the Holland Development Group for development rights to build on a city-owned vacant lot at the northwest corner of 5th and I streets NW.
The Donohoe/Holland proposal calls for a mixed-use project that would include an "eco-friendly hotel," a local jazz bar with a restaurant and a neighborhood cafe. It would also include neighborhood-serving retail and 80 units of housing.
The 20,680-square-foot property is located on Mount Vernon Triangle, a 30-acre, 15-block area. Commissioner Anne Phelps characterized the property as "experiencing a radical transformation from a hodge-podge of vacant properties and parking lots into a vibrant, mixed use community."
Four developers submitted proposals to the city, according to Clinton Jackson, a representative of the deputy mayor for economic development. His group will make a recommendation to Neil Albert, deputy mayor for economic development, who will submit his recommendation to Mayor Adrian Fenty. A decision should be announced by July 18.
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Posted on Jun 16, 2008 20:01pm.
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| Union Station may become a transit “intermodal hub” |
VOICE writes, "By ARTHUR DELANEY
The District Department of Transportation recently hosted the first of a series of meetings at Union Station on the fate of the building’s surrounding streetscape, which officials hope will become “an efficient transportation network around a vital historic, cultural, and essential transportation resource.”
The District is studying the feasibility of various improvements to the way the station accommodate buses, cars and trains. Improvement is necessary, the city says.
“If you drove here, you might have rear-ended a bus, or you might have used profane language,” said Transportation Department project manager Tomika Hughey. “That is the reality of transit at Union Station.”
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton delivered opening remarks to the roughly two-dozen neighbors and engineers who showed up at the May 29 Transportation Department presentation at Union Station’s Columbus Club. Norton said she remembers the building as a stately train station when she was little.
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Posted on Jun 16, 2008 20:00pm.
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| Parking complaints yield fixes, but meters still problematic |
VOICE writes, "By Julie Westfall
After a cadre of meetings and complaints, the pilot parking program instituted on the Hill to deal with baseball stadium traffic is being tweaked along the neighborhood’s business corridors and in residential areas around the stadium.
Along Barracks Row and the 200 and 300 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue, parkers no longer have to pay for two-hour parking after 9:30 p.m. on Monday through Saturday, and parking will be free on Sundays. Previously, some businesses -- particularly restaurants and pubs -- said restrictions until midnight were inconvenient for their customers, employees and possibly hurting business. Retailers such as Capitol Hill Bikes told the office of Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells the first set of parking hours worked well for them.
But, “We’ve had several businesses saying it’s not working the way they thought it would. If the businesses are saying this is not helping us manage our businesses the way we want it, we want to help fix that,” said Charles Allen, Wells’ chief of staff.
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Posted on Jun 16, 2008 19:58pm.
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| D.C. Council passes weakened noise bill |
VOICE writes, "By IAN THOMS
Current Staff Writer
The D.C. Council voted 9-4 last week to adopt a stripped-down version of a proposed noise bill designed to quiet demonstrators in residential areas, after local labor leaders launched a no-holds-barred lobbying campaign against the proposal.
Though some council members chastised the unions' tactics as reprehensible, the legislative body ended up backing away from the stricter version of the Noise Control Protection Amendment Act of 2008 that it approved in May, which was spurred by a group of Hill residents on H Street NE who call the amplified speech of corner preachers hateful in content and disturbing in volume.
Instead, the bill now sets the permissible noncommercial noise levels at up to 80 decibels or 10 decibels above the ambient level as measured from inside the nearest occupied residence. The limitation applies only residential areas of the city from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
But essentially, protesters can still legally get as loud as they like when they are downtown or in other nonresidential areas."
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Posted on Jun 16, 2008 19:57pm.
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| A walk from the past to the future |
VOICE writes, "By Carol Buckley
June 6, 2008, was not just another very warm day in late spring for residents of Southwest D.C. On that day, Council members Tommy Wells and Kwame Brown co-sponsored a proclamation declaring the date Anthony Bowen Elementary School Appreciation Day to commemorate the 77-year-old school's closure as part of the D.C. school consolidation plan.
The first and last Anthony Bowen Elementary School Appreciation Day featured a morning of speeches and activities. Students, parents and staff wore sky-blue T-shirts with the school logo as they marched from Bowen to Margaret Amidon Elementary School a few blocks away. Students currently enrolled at Bowen will transfer to Amidon or Jefferson Middle School in the fall. The Coolidge High School marching band led the walkers to Amidon and back, ending the trek in Bowen’s gymnasium.
The last official day of school at Bowen is today.
“We wanted to do something to honor the people who have put so much effort into this school over the years,” said Brown. “It’s also a good opportunity to remember Anthony Bowen the man.” "
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Posted on Jun 16, 2008 19:56pm.
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| Housing town hall hosts plenty of ire |
VOICE writes, "By Arthur Delaney
Between feedback from the sound system and the echo effect of the cavernous venue packed with 400 residents, it was difficult to understand almost anything said into the microphone. But Ward 6 D.C. Council member Tommy Wells started off by acknowledging neighbors’ fears that development spurred by the nearby baseball stadium would overtake the community.
"We're here to address the concern that pretty soon those cranes and bulldozers will come where other people live and there won't be housing left for the people who are here," he said.
The neighbors who stuffed themselves into a town hall meeting on affordable housing at the Greenleaf Recreation Center in Southwest last week largely hailed from the adjacent Greenleaf Gardens public housing complex.
Wells, Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry and at-arge Council member Kwame Brown called the meeting to quell rumors that the city had plans to demolish public housing in Southwest to make way for condos. "
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Posted on May 13, 2008 16:37pm.
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| Noise continues over noise bill |
VOICE writes, "By Arthur Delaney
The D.C. Council gave initial approval to anti-noise legislation following a lengthy and spirited debate on Tuesday, and the bill is set for a second reading in June.
Council members voted 8 to 5 in favor of the bill after a compromise amendment that raised the bill's noise-disturbance threshold from 70 to 80 decibels in downtown areas or 10 decibels above the ambient noise in an area, as measured from a distance of 50 feet. The noise must also be deemed "excessive" by a "reasonable person."
Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh co-introduced the bill last year with Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells, responding to complaints from residents about extremely loud street preachers on H Street NE, who for years have used amplifiers to blast hate-filled sermons on Saturday afternoons. Citing labor unions' free speech concerns, the council tabled the legislation by a surprise vote last February. "
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Posted on May 13, 2008 16:34pm.
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