bike lane, or parking lane?

just an observation from tuesday morning—is there a bike lane on vermont avenue just south of logan circle? i'm not sure. i can never tell because there are ALWAYS cars double parked there...ALWAYS!!!

'dirt drawing' from yesterday's '1st on first' art walk

these are probably being washed away by the rain this morning...

photos from today's 1st on first event

pulling the weeds and cleaning up the sidewalk on first street and mulching the treeboxes was the order of the day to start the morning.

setting up the stage behind windows for the music.


hanging out alongside windows once the stage was set up.

lawn art at 1st and randolph (it says 'the brain').

more lawn art at 1st and s streets.

art in the window at yoga district.

more information about 'first on 1st'

last wednesday, i told you about the art walk coming to first street on august 1st. here's some more information for those who have been asking:

Join North Capitol Main Street &

The Pink Line Project

NCMS partners with The Pink Line Project to bring you First on 1st Street in Bloomingdale, Art + Music Walk . . . featuring contemporary and cutting-edge yard sculpture (for puchase) from local artisans and International Music provided by Pep Rally for Peace.

Featured Activities

* Guided walking art tours
* International Music
* Art Hunt (participate in the Art Hunt and receive free beverages/discounts to local NCMS Bloomingdale businesses)
* Check out local businesses along the tour for free samples -- food, drinks.

First on 1st Art + Music Walk

Bring your blankets, lawn chairs, freezbies (do that still do that?) . . . camp out in the park, enjoy the music, take the tour, stop and shop . . .

ARTISTS
LisaMarie Thalhammer (the muralist behind Boxer Girl)
BK Adams
Margaret Boozer
Peter Wood
Chris Tousimis
DECOY
Patty Firestone
Amber Robles-Gordon
Ten Miles Square
Serinity Knight
Megan Blafas
Ann Bouie

PERFORMERS
Gospel Rap Vocalist Michael Trotter
R & B Hip-Hop Vocalist Senetra Bridgette
Ethiopian Sound Sensation of Tek X Millennium

Plus . . .
Kenneth Smith
3rd Generation Band
Melanie Roberts
Joy Dion
Fatso Hip-Hop
Tameka

For info: 202-905-6039

North Capitol Main Street, Inc. is funded through the DC Main Streets Program under the Department of Small and Local Business Development.

UPDATE—police activity on rhode island avenue in bloomingdale

UPDATE: whatever the situation really was is unknown to me, and it would appear to be over with. false alarm? who knows. but the police have cleared out and traffic is back to normal.

ORIGINAL POST: lots of police activity on rhode island avenue between 2nd street nw and north capitol. eastbound rhode island avenue traffic is being rerouted onto seaton place and 2nd street.

rumor is that there is a suspicious package at north capitol and rhode island. updates to come when i get more concrete information.

flooding at scott circle

this afternoon, this was the view looking south down 16th street towards the white house from a point just south of scott circle. you can see that the road was closed off. why?


here's why. a whole bunch of water!


now, ddot just redid the circle a few years ago. dug everything up, installed new drainage, etc. why isn't the water draining then? i have a sneaking suspicion that the drains aren't being kept clear of debris. it's called maintenance, people. it's a shame that dc isn't so good with that. we build new roads, new buildings, new infrastructure, then just walk away and let it fall into disrepair...

parking rules still don't apply to everyone

i just finished a 3 and a half week stint serving on a jury in a civil case in the DC superior court system. spending every single day at the e. barrett prettyman courthouse gave me an appreciation for the mess that passes for parking around the courthouse complex. i saw a lot of examples of police cars like the one above, parked in a crosswalk, double-parked, or blocking an intersection.

this story has been discussed in the press recently, and it doesn't seem to have a solution, outside of digging out more parking underneath john marshall park, because i'm pretty sure that these police aren't going to be convinced to take public transportation to the courthouse.

WATER YOUR TREES!

trees are dying all around the city. see this post from yesterday. the lack of rain we've had since late june is esepcially stressful to the young, newly planted trees lining our streets.

just because we had a very wet may and june doesn't mean that the ground has stayed wet around the roots of these young trees. street trees need 20 gallons of water a week, and they need it now. go outside tomorrow when you have 5 minutes and pour a bucket of water over the roots of the tree in front of your house. if you have an outdoor hose, run it out there and soak the roots for a few minutes. keep doing this for the rest of the summer!

these pictures show a tree at 14th and R streets nw, with an 'ooze tube' around the base. unfortunately, there's no water in this ooze tube. it serves absolutely no purpose if it's not filled with water.


you can see that this ooze tube says "the mayor's green summer job corps" on it, as well as a logo for ddot. it's great that the city is installing these ooze tubes on trees, but let's be real for a minute here—they need to fill them up upon initial installation and coach the people who live next to these trees (or the adjacent businesses) how to use them.

as it stands, these are just pretty brown plastic doughnuts that serve absolutely no purpose...

please, mayor fenty and the dc government, invest a little more effort into the trees you've spent so much money to plant along our streets. it's criminal to not take care of such a valuable investment!

bloomingdale art and music walk - august 1

i promised a post about the 1st street art program that was being sponsored by the north capitol main stret group. here's the flyer:

The Pink Line Project, in conjunction with North Capitol Main Street invite you to:
First on 1st, Art + Music Walk
Saturday, August 1st, noon to 4 pm
Along First Street NW (between Florida and Rhode Island Avenues)

For More Information contact:
Garry Clark
Executive Director
gclark@ncmsinc.org
1703 North Capitol Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-905-6039

watha t. daniel-shaw library construction update

here's what the construction at the watha t. daniel-shaw library looks like right now. it's a hole in the ground, sure, but it's progress!

eventually, there's supposed to be a live construction camera here. nothing exists for this project yet, but you can look at other DCPL construction projects around the city.