Brad Pitt Has Your Secret Shit: Rolling DC

So yeah, this blew up on popville. what people think? http://www.popville.com/2016/06/well-this-is-depressing/

Honestly this kind of reminded me of that Blowfly song, you know the one.

(except Blowfly was being funny)

lots of clichés in that article. Poverty and crime and policing and good government issues and DC history are more complicated than that guy will acknowledge.

yeah and apparently the greatest political participation the author could muster is an anonymous open letter and moving his small business tax revenue to some undisclosed location that's definitely not DC. He also never actually tried to find out why things were/are bad and terrible, just allocates blame that suits his own bigotry.

The part re: Columbia Heights being evidently worse than it was when I lived there 11 years ago feels about right, sadly.

https://www.borderstan.com/2016/07/06/opinion-popville-op-eds-indictment-of-columbia-heights-difficult-to-agree-with/

ANC 1A chair Kent Boese, whose commission represents Columbia Heights:

My concerns with the District’s police force falls into two main areas 1) the decision a year ago by Chief Lanier to eliminate police district based plainclothes units with little forewarning or community input, and 2) our ability to train and maintain new recruits at a time when we have a significant number of police officers leaving or retiring.
The elimination of plainclothes officers stationed in our communities was a misstep that likely has more to do with MPD’s attrition rate than it does with the changing nature of crime. It was equally disheartening that our Councilmember’s response to concerned residents seeking a return of dedicated plainclothes officers was that of equating plainclothes policing with jump out squads. In conversations with beat officers, DC Police Union members, and the Office of the Attorney General, have all said that addressing the most problematic criminal behavior in our community has become more difficult since the elimination of the vice squads. This is particularly true with nuisance properties – places that can and do harbor drug dealers, illegal firearms, and prostitution.
MPD’s decreasing number of experienced officers is also concerning.

I saw Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and other original Freedom Singers perform, 50 some years later, some of their civil rights anthems last night and talk about them, and it was very impressive and inspiring and occasionally sad and depressing(not the quality of the singing, but the subject matter talked about and sung about). The event at the Metropolitan AME Church in W. DC (where Frederick Douglas long ago once spoke) was part of the March on Washington Film and more Festival going on this week and next. Ysaye Barnswell, who was once in Sweet Honey in the Rock with Johnson Reagon, later did a version of "Wade in the Water" with "Black Lives Matter" in the lyrics. She can still emote powerfully too.

hot enough for ya all

u know it

Ugh, hate

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

Report: Dispute over Metrorail operator’s break almost resulted in a head-on collision

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.

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

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

I'll be part of that discussion!

I knew that, but wasn't sure if you wanted the millions who read this thread to have me signaling you out

So will a an oversized 7 story hotel really be better than a privately created ugly little plaza in Adams Morgan?

What's with the liquor tasting rooms located right next to animal rescue shelters, folks?

Washington Animal Rescue League -> Don Ciccio & Figli
Washington DC Humane Animal Care and Control -> One Eight Distillery

industrial zoning

I prefer to think that they collude

booze goggles -> old mutts finding homes

Traumatized animal rescuers need to unwind at least as much as the rest of us.

"I Died," did you get hit with tough questions at panel last night?

Matt Yglesias is looking for a nanny share on DC Urban Moms.
Our world.

The boring architecture panel was really fun - moved along fast, lots of great audience comments. They're looking to organize more soon.

nice.

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.

I like it, but only if it will be called Wapricoguamariasamaoavirginland.

The flag could be three palm trees above two half-smokes.

From Elizabeth and Philip Jennings' training materials....

http://architectofthecapital.org/posts/2016/8/6/hyper-detailed-soviet-maps-of-washington

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.

car drivers are evil though

even uber and lyft ones?

Or especially?

Once safe track gets finished, I'll be taking the train everywhere.

Thanks for that link, Morbs

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.”

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?

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.”

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.

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.

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

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

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CvOZtzmUAAAr_A8.jpg:small

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

x-post-- Funny...but I think Dischord has already shut those items down, as no money was going to the artists not approved , etc.

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.

lololol

georgetown-rosslyn gondola feasibility study (pdf)

Summary
In terms of potential ridership, the findings of this
study suggest that a Gondola connecting Rosslyn to
Georgetown could significantly contribute to a more
effective multi-modal transit system while addressing
transportation needs in the immediate study area. This
section provides an overview of the development of the
ridership 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...)

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.