good news, shaw, you're getting another liquor store

for those of you down in shaw who are keeping up on development issues in your part of the world, here's an interesting one for you. you've got a liquor store from up in glover park looking to transfer to the corner of 6th and rhode island. here's that property:


now i mentioned that corner a couple days ago here, and i noticed while biking past it today there are two placards up mentioning the proposed liquor license transfer. here are two close ups of one of those signs (this is the one you can see hanging above the fence in the picture above:




you can click here you can see where this license currently resides. i'm not familiar with the building, but it would appear to be a liquor store in a condo building in ward 3. i don't have the time to do the extra gumshoe work that's necessary to find out what the full story is here, but i figure those of you in ANC2C02 (kevin chappele's SMD) can take it from here.

the key date appears to be the hearing that will take place on august 29th.

UPDATE: note that, while this license is a class "A" license in glover park, the application lists this as a class "B" license for the location in shaw. can a license be changed like that without much difficulty?

der homeländ

"At this point, I have seen no specific, credible information suggesting that this incident is connected to a threat to the homeland,"

that's a quote from michael chertoff today. can't we just call this country what we always used to: the united states of america??? "the homeland" sounds WAY TOO MUCH LIKE DER VATERLAND. i'm going over into godwin's law territory here, i know, but it sounds so damn nazi-esque.

salute when you say it.

UPDATED (30 June) old tena market, 2nd and rhode island

there has been a burst of construction activity at what used to be the tena market at 2nd and rhode island, nw. new concrete curbing is being poured around the 'front yard' (which appears to be the same as the old curbing, so i'm wondering why they jackhammered it away in the first place. they've bricked in the door on the northwest corner of the building and appear to be gutting the interior. unfortunately, as i don't speak spanish, i wasn't able to ask the gentlemen doing the work if they know what's going in there. does anyone have any hints? drop them in the comments.

UPDATE: here are two pictures of the ongoing construction work. you can see that they've bricked in that door i mentioned, as well as the small transom-type windows that were above the main windows. the roof looks like it's sagging though, and i've got to think they might want to put some work into that to shore things up.

morning complaints, part 223

there were three things this morning (i swear, i don't usually complain THIS much, but the sludgy weather that i had to swim through to bike to work this morning doesn't put you in the best mood, you know?) that got my goat:

• cops that don't follow traffic rules. there was a special operations division police cruiser that went through the red light at the corner of 6th and rhode island this morning and almost hit me. couldn't see the officer clearly because of the extremely dark tinting on the window, but i could make out the cellphone held up to his ear. don't get me wrong, i love having a strong police presence in the neighborhood. until you can demonstrate that we don't need the protection (it's going to be a while, i'm sure), they need to be there, but it would be nice if they followed the same rules we have to
• overgrowth. on that same corner, there is a little parking lot that holds an abandoned semi-trailer and looks like it used to be a car rental place from the signage. they have so much brush growing out front that it's starting to block your ability to see around the corner, and it's eating up the sidewalk. there are a lot of others like this around the neighborhood, and it would be nice if the owners would do a better job maintaining their property. i'm not holding my breath.
• the south exit from logan circle (13th street). drivers ALWAYS ignore the traffic signals there, and it's just a matter of time until one of the maryland commuters and taxi cabs there hit a pedestrian in their hurry to get downtown in the morning. the best part is how they get exasperated when you point out to them that they're driving through a red light and that you have the right of way. sorry to slow you down, richard petty, but driving to work in the morning is not the talladega 500.

new real estate technology used here in the neighborhood

ok, so it's not REALLY in bloomingdale, but eckington [yes, jay, you steal our coffee shop, i steal your homes for sale...but i kid because i care :)], but there was a story on NPR last week about realtors using extremely short distance radio transmitters to broadcast information about a house that's for sale, like how you can get traffic information from short range radio stations on the freeways in some cities. my roommate's parents caught this one, so the shout goes out to them for alerting us to this story.

warehouse in bloomingdale?

if you're familiar with the warehouse theater, bar, performance space, and art gallery, you know that they are talking about the need to close down because of the huge increase in their property taxes. well now, today, dcist and the city paper have both announced that the warehouse will be closing down at least the cafe and music parts of the operation for now, with the theater and gallery staying at least partially open for a while into the near future.

what makes this relevant is that both say the owners are looking at bloomingdale as one of the possible neighborhoods to relocate into. i don't think the space at 1st and seaton could hold everything that they would want (not big enough), but what do you think about other potential spots in the neighborhood. what about the ec-12 space? could they team up with the group trying to bring that plan about?

arrest out front

i don't know what happened, but i just witnessed a car that was pulled over in front of my house and a guy was taken away in cuffs. seemed like everyone was pretty calm and things went routinely, except ending up in the back of a cruiser probably isn't anyone's idea of a routine day.

copier/printer in the white house (updated)

ok, i'm at work....just a quick note here. there is a guy here fixing our color printer (it breaks frequently). he is talking on one of those damned walkie-talkie cellphone things, and talking loudly. i can't concentrate. anyway, he's talking to someone who's working on a busted printer at the white house. apparently it's a phaser 7760. so now you know what karl rove uses to duplicate memos regarding the removal of u.s. attorneys or the slow destruction of civil liberties...

UPDATE: holy lord, this guy doesn't shut up. he's going to work at the new executive office building next, and he just read off his name, social, and birthdate out loud for everyone in the office to hear. does anyone want to steal an identity, i've got all the information written down right here...

action at the corner of 1st and seaton!

so, i just got home, and my landlord is downstairs clearing out the first floor of the building. apparently there are people coming to look at the space in the coming days. i'm not going to spill the beans too much on what i heard, but it sounds good. let's just use the words 'financial institution' and 'restaurant'. i'll update soon when i really can. (sorry to leave you hanging like this.)

oh no! one less yum's!

what are we going to do if all the yum's in the city burn down? one of them did yesterday. check out the topmost 'working incident' on the dc fire department page. this one is in trinidad, and i know there are two on 14th st nw (one at p and one at wallach place) and there's one on kennedy street in brightwood park. does anyone know if/where there are others?

in all seriousness, i hope the owners were insured and are able to rebuild their business quickly.

liquor license map

check out this awesome mapping application that was put together by ANC commissioner Frank Winstead of ANC 3F-04.

alcohol licenses by ANC

pretty neat. you can check out what kind of licenses all of the alcohol-serving establishments in your neighborhood have, and see voluntary agreements as well, if there are any.

making money for metro

check out this dcist story. sommer writes about the possibility that metro will open up a lot more of their surface area (think everything but windows) to advertising. in a perfect world, i would like to see no ads on metro, it takes away from the design, but i know that's just not possible. any way that metro can make money without raising fares (and if that can keep them from cutting back service) is a good thing to me.

that's why i get so damn FRUSTRATED sometimes when i'm riding the bus. i'm sure that metro's ad sales hierarchy goes something like this:

ads in stations > ads in trains > ads on outside of bus > ads on inside of bus

if that is the case, then the inside of the bus is probably lowest priority, and most difficult to sell, because they probably get less bang for the buck. it would explain why i see more public service announcements in the buses than ads, especially on the routes i ride (g8, g2, 80, p6), since our routes aren't on the rich side of town.

but whoever is in charge of metrobus ads needs to be fired. i mean, the g8 tonight was full of p.s.a.'s touting the dc smoking ban. that's wonderful, but the ads happily shout "coming in january"! i mean, can't the ad salespeople at least sell the space for some newer p.s.a.'s, ones that are a little more current? i see this all the time, and it just frustrates me when metro doesn't do everything in it's capability to fill it's own coffers. why am i surprised, though?

harry thomas to the rescue!

the letter writing to councilman thomas with regards to windows cafe seems to be working, because i got this response from him a few minutes ago from him:

This issue is of great concern to me. Ms. Chase in my office went by and we are moving aggressively to ensure that we protect and make certain that we have high police presents [sic] in the area we are trying to treat this as a hot spot and will coordinate with 5d.

damn good to hear!

big bear and windows cafes

i stopped into both today. first time at big bear, and i didn't have a chance to really introduce myself to the owners, since i had a classmate along, and we had a lot of arabic to get through! it was nice there, though. very spartan inside, almost empty. we had the last pastries they had left, and the last of the tea as well. once traffic settles into a pattern there, i'm sure they'll be able to figure out how much of each item they need each day. i'm happy to be able to say that bloomingdale is starting to have an axis of hang-out joints. now, if we can just get one in between the two of them. maybe at seaton and first...

when people ask you for money, what do you do?

when i moved into the city from my small town of only 1000 people in michigan, one of the things i was confronted with that i never dealt with before was panhandling. no one had ever asked me for money on the street back home. we didn't have a lot of poverty, and those who were poor simply didn't ask for money from people they didn't know. now, in DC, i get asked for money on a nearly daily basis. it's a tough thing to deal with for me, because i'm a pretty shy person, and talking to random people whom i don't know on the street is just uncomfortable for me regardless. if they want something from me, it just makes me that much more uncomfortable. now, typing this out on the internet, and talking to potentially many, many people whom i don't know isn't a problem. the whole face to face thing makes a BIG difference, doesn't it?

anyway, i was outside enjoying the cool air tonight, and a guy walked up and asked if he could clean the truck in front of my place for some money. i told him it wasn't my truck (it's not, it belongs to someone a couple doors down), but i don't think he believed me. he finally said he was just hungry, and wanted some food. now, if someone asks me for money (see this), i'm apt to say no, and that's that. but i was raised to be a good christian, and to look out for those less fortunate than me. i'm not rich by anyone's definition of the word, but i'm not starving either, and that's what this guy told me he was (starving). so, i walked with him up to the chinese place next to windows cafe and bought him what he wanted (seven chicken wings with fried rice).

i've been out with my friend frank when he's bought dinner for someone in need, and i've seen people's eyes light up when someone takes the time to help them. i'd like to think i've done the same, but here's my problem. i still feel so uncomfortable dealing with someone asking for money. how do you say no to someone without feeling a touch guilty. i'm still not going to give someone cash so they can just go off and spend it on something destructive. but i don't want to be eaten up by guilt for being selfish either. am i being selfish/stingy for not helping people out, or am i being taken advantage of when i do? all questions that i think about....

gunfire last night?

i woke up at 2 a.m. to what i thought was gunfire. sounded like seven shots, and it sounded like they were right underneath my window. did anyone else in the area of 1st and seaton hear what i did?

windows cafe

i read in the daily bloomingdalian email this morning that windows cafe was robbed AGAIN yesterday. here's the email from the MPD:

I'm sending you this email to let you know what's been happening in Scout 5012's area. On today's [june 6] date at approximately, 10:02 AM the Windows Cafe / Store at 101 Rhode Island Avenue, N. W. was robbed. The suspect was armed with a silver colored hand gun. He is in his late 20's , 6 feet in height and approximately 185 pounds he was wearing a red hoody and blue jeans. He pointed the gun at the owner's head and threaten to kill her if she didn't give him money. There was a patron in the store that was also robbed. The suspect made the owner the patron and an employee get face down on the floor as he made his escape This establishment has been robbed by this suspect before. Please inform everyone in the area of this offense.

the bloomingdalian goes on to explain that the owner's wife was pistol-whipped.

windows is an important, visible, part of our community. it's probably the most visible bloomingdale business, especially to those who are visiting our neighborhood from the outside. needless to say, i'm furious. i'm not afraid to speculate, and i'll bet you anything that the scum who keep holding windows up are some of the same guys who hang around in front of my place, day in and day out, drinking, urinating, fighting, and asking for more money to buy more cheap malt liquor so they can start the process all over again. i hope the perps get caught, and i hope that when they do, we can let the judge know how important it is that the book get thrown at these human filth, and we get them out of our neighborhood for good. these trash shouldn't be allowed to keep this neighborhood from being the beautiful place that it is the vast majority of the time, and they shouldn't be allowed to ruin it for all the great people, young and old, newcomers and oldtimers, black and white, who live in bloomingdale.

wherein i complain or comment on a bunch of stuff

ok, time for a bullet list of issues out there that i just feel like commenting on:

• does anyone know what's going on with the old tena market on the southwest corner of 2nd and rhode island? they jackhammered out the curb that separated their "lawn" from the sidewalk, and there's been no progress for almost 2 weeks. the brick sidewalk is quickly falling apart. i hope they intend to get it done before the whole thing becomes a giant pothole.
• people who don't trim back the weeds along the sidewalk bug me. i understand if you don't want to have a perfectly manicured area in front of your house. heck, the area in front of my apartment is a patch of dirt with weeds in it, but at least i pull the weeds when they get large. there is a house on rhode island between 8th and 9th that doesn't pull their weeds, though, and there are now these HUGE things growing out into the sidewalk, and since there's a treebox directly across, the sidewalk is now about a foot wide in that place. hey 808 rhode island, could you please maintain the place in front of your house a bit so those of us walking by aren't attacked by the plants growing out of your 'lawn'? thanks.
• i was just reading this article in the post, and the guy who is part of the management team for bush construction (is it just me, or is everything related to that surname evil?) has this money quote:

  Yes, there are rats, but "there are issues with that all over D.C. All I know is, I'm glad I'm out here in Virginia."

  read that again. what an ass. basically, here's the translation:

  i'm glad i'm not poor like those suckers at temple courts. screw 'em though, 'cause i'm living it up out here in virginny! yeeeehaw!

  i hope the man gets the vermin infestation from hell in his house and he's forced to stay there. or better yet, clear out temple courts and make mr. viola stay there under solitary confinement for a week. maybe he'll think again about just being so tart about the living conditions of the poor in this city.
• hey, they've painted the front of the empty storefront next door to dc mini mart. still no clue as to what's going in there.

calling out the unit block of t street nw

really, i love the unit block of t street nw, there are very pretty houses there. but here's the thing. i live on the 100 block of seaton nw, and my girlfriend lives on the unit block of todd ne, so i walk the unit block of t street nw often. for some reason though, they have a really difficult keeping trash off the street and sidewalk up there. i see people picking stuff up on my block, even if it's not in front of their own house. on t street though, it just seems like stuff piles up. i mean, someone's picking it up eventually, because they don't have mounds of garbage there, but it just seems like there's always more than a few empty liquor bottles and the like up there compared to other blocks in bloomingdale.

c'mon t street unit block, let's see some block pride!