|
|
|
Articles
|
Latest News
| Brown church expansion OKed |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
The city’s Historic Preservation Review Board approved a proposal to expand Capitol Hill’s Brown Memorial AME Church last month, but there is some neighborhood opposition to the plans. The church still needs approval to use adjacent public space for the expansion and might also need zoning approvals.
The project’s developer, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, needed design approval from the preservation board because the church, at 130 14th St. NE, falls within the Capitol Hill Historic District.
The Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and the North Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association all opposed the project, saying the expansion would intrude on public space — the historic small triangular park called Reservation 236 that fronts the church.
At its March meeting, the neighborhood commission unanimously voted against the project, noting that it would “encroach on several hundred square feet of a historic landmark adjacent to the church’s property.”
“The seizure of any portion of Reservation 236 for private use will compromise the integrity of L'Enfant's Plan,” the commission wrote in a letter to the preservation board. “If allowed in this instance, it opens the door for future requests. The cumulative effect of allowing even small pieces of reservations to be appropriated for private use is akin to death by a thousand cuts.”"
|
Posted on Apr 13, 2008 21:40pm.
(Read More... | 3417 bytes more)
|
| Stadium neighbors confront its impact, expect improvements |
VOICE writes, "BY JULIE WESTFALL and BEN WEINSTEIN
About a half hour before President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch in the Nationals’ bright new baseball stadium, the lights inside the weathered row houses on Carrollsburg Place SW — barely a block from the ballpark — went out.
“Oh, no,” said Nancy Harvin, a seven-year Carrollsburg Place resident. “We can’t have this.”
While many of her neighbors remain adamantly opposed to the stadium, she called herself a skeptic with a wait-and-see attitude.
“We’ll see. It’s a work in progress,” she said. “We’re still in a state of flux about it.”
And when it was her turn to host the weekly Sunday family dinner, Harvin’s neighbors let her borrow two special parking passes that residents who live around the stadium receive, in order to accommodate two family cars.
“There’s 80 games, so I had to make a decision about whether we could keep hosting it here,” she said."
|
Posted on Apr 13, 2008 21:36pm.
(Read More... | 6983 bytes more)
|
| Lincoln Park construction delays |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
Construction of the walkways in Lincoln Park should be finished by the end of the month, and the fences that are blocking access to recreational space will come down at that time, according to the National Park Service.
“The project is currently scheduled to be completed April 30 this year. Of course, that’s weather permitting,” said Frank Young, facility manager for National Capital Parks-East. “Phase one is about 75 percent complete.”
But delays in the first phase of the Lincoln Park walkway work, which began last October and was originally scheduled to end in January, have frustrated residents who regularly use the park for exercise, dog walking and socializing. The park is located at the intersection of East Capitol and Massachusetts avenues.
The first phase of construction, covering the west side of the park, will cost $627,000, and the second phase about $839,000, Young said. The second phase is still unfunded, and when the money will come is unclear.
“I remain pessimistic about that date,” Northeast Capitol Hill neighborhood commissioner Nick Alberti wrote in an e-mail to the Voice. “I have not seen much progress in the past week.”"
|
Posted on Apr 13, 2008 21:32pm.
(Read More... | 2502 bytes more)
|
| Politics, baseball and an epic finish welcome Nationals home |
VOICE writes, "By IAN THOMS
Current Staff Writer
As fans exited the Navy Yard Metro station Sunday night, a gleaming new baseball stadium claimed their eyes, a red carpet waited, and political activists implored them to help save a program for at-risk youth and boo President George W. Bush as he threw the opening pitch.
Baseball had returned to the District, but politics never left.
Some did boo Bush, though others tried to drown the heckling with cheers. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (remember the name, he factors into this story again), the 23-year-old face of the franchise, greeted the president, whose pitch was high, hard and a little up the third base line.
Nationals manager Manny Acta served as his catcher, which was possibly a political move in and of itself. Some pointed out the potential irony of having Bush, a vocal opponent of steroid use in baseball, throwing to Paul Lo Duca, the Nationals’ new catcher who has been linked to steroid use. "
|
Posted on Apr 03, 2008 07:22am.
(Read More... | 6564 bytes more)
|
| Church calls ‘performance parking’ rules untenable |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
Leaders of the Capitol Hill’s Ebenezer United Methodist Church say new street-parking regulations for neighborhoods surrounding Nationals Park will unduly burden congregants of the 170-year-old church.
The new regulations recently went into effect around the church, at 400 D St. SE, reserving one side of streets for Ward 6 residents and the other side for limited out-of-area vehicles.
The District Department of Transportation imposed the one-side, two-hour limit for non-ward drivers — Ward 6 residents can park for unlimited time on either side — to discourage baseball fans from parking in residential neighborhoods.
But Ebenezer congregants say two-hour limits on Sundays are too restrictive and that they often need more time.
“This action by the city means persons can come to church, but likely will be given parking tickets if they do,” said Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, in a recent statement.
The Rev. John Blanchard said Sunday services can go for two hours, and that some people come early to help prepare and stay late for other church activities. "
|
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 19:56pm.
(Read More... | 1671 bytes more)
|
| Residents worry over development in Hill historic district |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
Capitol Hill historic preservationists recently aired their concerns about massive redevelopment in Ward 6 and its potential impact on local neighborhoods and asked at-large D.C. Council member Kwame Brown how he plans to address those problems.
“There’s a lot going on here in Ward 6. I’d imagined development is on the top of a lot of your lists,” Brown said March 13 at a Capitol Hill Restoration Society meeting.
Residents questioned Brown, who is campaigning to retain his seat in November’s election, about the possibility of extending the boundaries of the Capitol Hill Historic District.
“We don’t want to do this because we thought it was a good idea to stomp all over people’s streets,” restoration society president Dick Wolf said of the efforts to survey Ward 6 neighborhoods north and east of the Capitol Hill Historic District. Wolf said Hill East and Northeast Capitol Hill residents have asked about either extending the Capitol Hill Historic District or creating new districts for their neighborhoods."
|
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 19:54pm.
(Read More... | 3037 bytes more)
|
| Commission in tiff over H Street development funding |
VOICE writes, "by Arthur Delaney
Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Schultheiss recalls at-large D.C. Council member Kwame Brown, chair of the D.C/ Council’s Committee on Economic Development, telling commissioners at their January meeting that $25 million in tax-increment financing would be available for businesses on H Street. The funding would be part of a $95 million package designed to subsidize mixed-use and retail development on "Great Streets" corridors throughout the city.
"He [Brown] said, 'This is to benefit the H Street corridor and businesses along H Street,’" commissioner Bill Schultheiss said at last week’s commission meeting. Schultheiss and the rest of the commission thought it sounded like a swell idea.
The city's tax-increment financing program allows the District to sell bonds backed by a development's future taxes. The proceeds of the bond sale go to the developer, who can use them to pay for things like construction.
But the commissioners were disappointed when the city put out its request for proposals Jan. 29, and it turned out only businesses with at least 10,000 square feet would be allowed to apply for the funding. "
|
Posted on Mar 27, 2008 19:51pm.
(Read More... | 2238 bytes more)
|
Page: < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next >
|
|
|
|
Categories
|
|
|
