The Issue

Go Away, Giant!: Some residents have raised standard NIMBY concerns ranging from parking and traffic to noise and even the glare of a new neon Giant sign at night. The Wisconsin Newark Neighborhood Coalition has filed suit appealing the Zoning Commission's decision, with resident Ann Hamilton and others arguing that the commission doesn't have the authority to green-light a project that conflicts in scale with the current zoning designation, as they say the Giant one does.

Build the Giant, Already!: Pro-Giant residents say the project will revitalize an area that badly needs it, and that opponents are being obstructionist. Jeff Davis of the group Advocates of Wisconsin Avenue Renewal broke the news of the appeal to the listserv on Friday, writing: "I am disappointed that a small group of neighbors chose to delay a project that so many of us in the neighborhood support and to frustrate our efforts to put that divisive issue behind us."

Added resident Anjana: "Whatever happened to democracy and the voice of the majority? How can few that are in the minority decide to block what everyone else wants? Where is justice? Are we living in a third world country? I moved to this country because I thought every voice is heard but majority rules! There should be laws to throw this ridiculous/frivolous opposition overboard."

Next Step: Work at the Friendship Shopping Center site will now be delayed - again. Sharon Robinson, a consultant to the project, said the appeal, while not unexpected, "is subject to a judicial process that will likely take two years or more to complete." But Giant doesn't have plans to back down; it "remains committed to the project."

Brookland Avenue praises some Franciscan Monastery honey: "I was lucky enough to get a behind the scenes tour from Chris Schierkolk a Brookland resident, co-moderator of the Brookland Listserv, FMGG member, and apiarist. Chris gave me a pretty in depth tour of the bee keeping operation on the monastery grounds. There are a total of 5 beekeepers that manage 2 apiaries at the monastery."

The Heights Life praises this past weekend's Columbia Heights Day and has video of the festivities: "I knew Columbia Heights Day was going to be big this year, I just didn't know it was going to be this big. The new Harriet Tubman Elementary Field was a great addition, as was the separate performance area with bleacher seating. And there were plenty of things to do, especially for families. But what I liked best was that much of the soccer field was open so people could just hang out. Or play with hula-hoops, which was my favorite."

The Other 35 Percent has a must-read story with a statistical breakdown of gunshots (or gunshot sounds) per ward. So far this year, Ward 3 had the lowest gunshot sounds with 27 instances. Ward 7 had the highest with 1294. There have been over 5,000 reports of gunfire.

Ward3DC posts some great inside-Cleveland-Park-nerd shit.

Well, this blogger submits that it can't be, even if the Starbucks and 7-Eleven did close. Because its neighborhood listserv - #1 in CP's "Best of D.C." issue - now has its own advice columnist! And she, like, used to dole out advice at Playboy U, the ULTIMATE online campus!

In between requests for good kennels, sale postings for over-sized chairs, notices about water shut-offs, and complaints about the secret machinations of the Cleveland Park Citizens Association, you can ask Kelli Miller, a licensed social worker not from Cleveland Park, all your most personal questions - and then have your neighbors wondering if it was you who wrote in and said your wife is no longer attracted to you, what should you do.

Miller's bio says she has appeared as an expert on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 198 - that's the Playboy channel - and in three independent films (which ones?) and three commercials (for what?). She has also contributed to a number of publications, including This Old House magazine, the Jewish Exponent and something called the Independent Florida Alligator, which would be much funnier if it weren't a student newspaper at the University of Florida.

Cleveland Park says it's the only neighborhood listserv in the country with its own Dear Abby, so start spilling your guts. To send a question, email Kelli at advice@fastmail.fm.

(Photograph from the Cleveland Park listserv)

Colbert King recently wrote a column on the racial paranoia bubbling up on Cleveland Park's listserv. He followed up our own blog post on the subject. Whether residents there are racist or not we can not say. Those stories only prove that people still live in Cleveland Park. There are always the holdouts.

Video and more, below the jump!

With all the bad news surrounding Cleveland Park, we were a bit scared to visit its Connecticut Ave. strip. Had it succumbed to a sort of lawlessness? Were people freaking out over their 'hood losing its Slurpee machine? Would there even be anyone around to talk to? Had its residents started migrating to the hipper Van Ness, a neighborhood that can actually support a Starbucks?

One thing we did prove: You can still get a parking ticket in Cleveland Park.

• Alexandria Police Chief David P. Baker announced his retirement yesterday afternoon, ending a 40-year career in law enforcement.  This comes in the aftermath of his arrest on DUI charges Saturday night, following an accident that sent another driver to the hospital.  The best part about retiring now is that Baker gets to retain his full benefits, regardless of the outcome of today's court hearing in Arlington.

• Sonia Sotomayor is one step closer to joining the Supreme Court.  The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13-6 to endorse the candidate, sending her nomination to a full Senate vote next week.  She's expected to be confirmed with little struggle, but as usual, party affiliations are limiting unanimous support.
• Bruce Johnson is wondering why so many businesses are leaving Cleveland Park.  If major corporations like Starbucks and McDonalds decide to leave the neighborhood and their space can't be filled for upwards of five years, there just might be a problem.

• Borderstan is busy reporting local crimes, some occurring in broad daylight.  Highlights include a car break-in at 9:30 am and a foiled rooftop burglar on Church Street NW.

• It's no longer news that President Obama and the Democratic leadership are determined to push through their first attempt at health-care reform before the August recess.  When Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) announced to his constituency that he would vote for the health-care bill, they were upset.  So upset, in fact, that they hung him in effigy during a rally in Salisbury.  Perhaps Kratovil should spend the recess in Washington so as to avoid some of these more fanatic citizens.

• The Democrats' honeymoon is over.  After six months of working together in supposed harmony, it's back to name calling and back room deals.  So says Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who's blaming the obstruction of the Blue Dogs on Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.  Apparently he recruited them to run while still serving in Congress and has since failed to get them on board with the President's grand plans for reform.  Politics as usual, it's how the federal government runs.

"A six-car Red Line train headed toward Shady Grove was pulling into the station around 12:30 p.m. when witnesses report the man intentionally placed himself on the tracks.   Emergency crews responded to the scene and removed the man from underneath the first rail car of the train. The man was transported to a local hospital."

Single-tracking is in affect between Friendship Heights and Cleveland Park so expect to wait for trains.  Nothing like a delayed Metro to kick off the weekend rush-hour!

To wit:

* Joe on Ross Place: "I had a well dressed black male stop by my house yesterday at around 10am and say he was with a bible study group and wanted to know if I wanted to pray with him. I declined. He came back at around 6pm and asked if I'd like to buy magazines from him."

* Val on Norton Place: "About 5 p.m. Monday, a well-dressed black male knocked on my door. I was at home sick and did not answer, but he had stepped back far enough from the door for me to see him through the window"

* Sally on Quebec Street: "I was out walking and passed this man on mid to upper Porter Street Monday afternoon at approximately 3:30 pm. He was going door to door and was clean-shaven, wearing slacks, a white shirt, and tie." No mention of his race, but it's implied, don't you think?

* Ralph on 30th Street: "A similar young man came by our house yesterday. He said he was 'selling magazines and newspapers,' but he had no paperwork with him and looked like he made it up. When he left, I saw him to the next house and knock on the door."

* The infamous George Idelson: "I observed two African-American men engaged in conversation on my doorstep this morning. They ignored me, jotted something into a clipboard, finished their conversation and retreated down the steps. As they did I noticed the younger man was carrying a magazine labeled 'The Advocate.'"

* Ann With the Older French Husband: Last week, in the evening around 7:00, a not-so-young well dressed african american man (white shirt, crisply ironed trousers) came to our door.  I spoke to him through our storm door. He asked to come in for a moment to speak to me. I thought it was a religious or charity call. I asked the reason for his call. He smiled and tried to joke about he was wondering when dinner was. I asked again and he said he was a salesman. I told him that we were not interested in being approached door to door to be sold anything, and added that usually people who are selling say what it is up front and present a vendors license or organization  identification.  He looked very annoyed and went back down the steps, looking back angrily as I closed the door.  Our son, who is visiting, saw him continue down Idaho towards Macomb St. I again told my older French husband once again to never, ever open the door to strangers. Sigh."

Smokey

Princess

Mike and Ginny Spevak, the well-known Friendship Heights couple murdered in their home last November, left behind a daughter and son, their spouses, a grandson, siblings---a loving family. They also left behind three cats they adored. Two of them now need homes.

The cats were taken in by a family friend just after the tragedy (three suspects have since been arrested by D.C. police). Now that family is having a rough time caring for all three as they try and manage construction projects and other disturbances, says Mary Rowse, who put out a message on the Chevy Chase and Cleveland Park Listservs.

Her plea: "They are very loving and friendly lap cats but do not need to go to a home together. Is anyone willing to foster to adopt one of these two beautiful, shorthaired cats? They are very lonely now because the family taking care of them is only with them during the day and then only for limited periods of time"

"I just feel so sorry for the cats because they really are just wonderful," says Rowse by telephone, explaining she did not know the civic-minded Spevaks well, but thought immediately about their pets when she heard about their murders.

People who can provide a stable home are welcome to call Rowse at (202) 362-9279.

"Princess is a lap cat. Probably Smokey is, too, but no one else can be on a lap when Princess is on it," she says. Smokey would probably do well with another cat in the house.

Both are four years old, vaccinated, and negative for feline AIDS and leukemia. They're indoor-only cats with their claws intact.

First up: Fresh stuff right here on this very Web site. Jason Cherkis has the cops, in their own words, explaining themselves for the DeOnte Rawlings shooting. Of special note: why they not only left the boy bleeding from the back of the head, but why they never even checked to see if he's still alive. Stunning.

Tim Carman's got even more on the eviction of celeb chef Spike Mendelsohn; Amanda Hess is wondering who can tell a rape joke; Ruth Samuelson finds a juicy condo conversion story peopled with phantom tenants; and Dave McKenna finds a guy to lay out in telling detail why DCPS is dysfunctional. LL Weekly to be pimped in forthcoming LL Daily.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, except when it comes to the Cleveland Park Cititizens Association. Marc Fisher today goes after George Idelson and Friends after old George, rather than welcome a bunch of people who don't agree with him into "his" neighborhood group---designed to "make your voice heard and help preserve and improve our neighborhood"---decided instead to postpone/cancel elections. Idelson's a classic NIMBY, of course, who favors "preservation" above development, even if that development includes replacing a crappy grocery store with a noncrappy one. But what Fisher didn't get into is just how quietly effective old George has been over the years. The battles being lost in Cleveland Park now are connected to the "overlay"---the complicated, esoteric formula that dictates how much property and which kind can be commercial. Idelson is its most vocal defender and has successfully fought off scrapping it and drastically changing it. As a result, Cosi fell victim. The Giant project has been stalled for more than 10 years. Empty storefronts at the Park and Shop remain that way. But if old George is forced to open up his fiefdom? Things could finally get interesting in CP.

Moving on to the fact that Virginians are not allowed to smile for their license photos anymore. But they are allowed stupid vanity plates? Oy vey.

More from the D.C. blogoworld:

* Greater, Greater Washington thinks Silver Spring could be like New York and San Francisco.

* Congress Heights on the Rise does some serious gloating about his/her condo and Congress Heights being on the rise.

* DCist gives three stars to Loose Lips. Not that Loose Lips!

* SWDC calls the rotting, trash-filled Town Center Park at 6th and I SW a "disgrace." Tommy Wells responds.

*INDOGURATION UPDATE: Yesterday afternoon, following the President's latest round of cautious optimism, Ted Kennedy presented the Obama famiy with Bo, a six-month-old Portugese water dog .  The Post has video, a bombastic lede, and some Us Weekly-worthy niceties:

About 10 minutes later the First Family emerged again, racing up the hill, with the president doing a nifty maneuver to switch the leash from one hand to another to avoid getting tangled and tripping.

"Pshew! Close call," the episode concludes.

*D.C. Police have found James Duncan, whom they first reported missing last week.  (In unrelated news, they also found a gun).

*SWDCBlog offers some stunning renderings of the Mead Center, Arena Stage's new, er, stage, which is still under construction.  (On its own site, Arena offers a webcam of the construction.)

*WISH LISZT: This evening, the Washington Performing Arts Society hosts a presentation on Franz Liszt's devilishly difficult "Transcendental Études" as part of the "What Makes It Great?" series.  (These études, Mike Paarlberg observes, "showed off Listz’s chops as an unmatched performer and the hardest working touring musician in Europe—something of the Black Flag of his day.")  Will Erik Wemple, noted classical music enthusiast, attend?  Only one way to find out!

*Creative DC is back, while Arjewtino is no more.

*The Prince of Petworth still loves you, Cleveland Park!

The Washington Business Journal is reporting that the ubiquitous coffee chain is shuttering more of its local coffee outlets. Starbucks is pulling out of Northwest! OK, parts of northwest--Cleveland Park and Georgetown are losing an outlet each:

"In D.C., Starbucks will close the 3301 M St. NW location, which has been boarded up for months. Also being closed is the Cleveland Park store at 3420 Connecticut Ave. NW.

Starbucks said 6,000 of the job cuts announced in January would come from the store closures. The company also announced plans to cut an additional 700 non-store jobs, including about 350 at its Seattle headquarters."

But why stop there? Why not kill off at least one in Dupont Circle?

(Via DCist)

I am a little horrified that the moaning and groaning from the neighbors is a deterent for doing business in Cleveland Park, I'd just assumed that rent was prohibitively high. Now I'm annoyed. People should keep in mind that there are a lot of non-drivers in Cleveland Park and when you behave in a way that discourages business owners from setting up shop in the neighborhood, you may be working a real hardship on your neighbors. NIMBY is easy to shout from the rooftops when you're mobile. So for the love of Mike, the next time you're in the car, heading to an establishment that isn't in your backyard, remember, I'm headed there too, ON FOOT. And if you're tempted to shrug your shoulders and say, "there's always Metro," you haven't been riding it enough lately.

Katherine
Quebec Street

Cleveland Park isn't a neighborhood smacking of huge displays of sports fandom. But Libby Kavoulakis, 45, is a lifelong, season-ticket-holding Steelers fan. And besides, she says, "we're world champions." So she put up two banners, one on her garage and another, larger one across the second story of her house on Reno Road at Warren Street. The garage banner was stolen in February. On Saturday morning, as she was about to leave for her office, she noticed the 8-foot "You're in Steelers Country" banner was gone, too.

Last night, someone left her a creepy message about the thefts.

"I have information vital for you to know. I can't speak on the phone, though. It's not safe," the man said and implored her to meet him at a Whole Foods at 11:30 p.m. He ended the call repetitively: "If you want to know where your banners have gone, I have information that's vital to you."

Kavoulakis did not go. She didn't get the message until this morning, "and I wouldn't have gone anyway," she says.

She reported both thefts to the police, who told her that if she finds the banners or discovers who took them, she should call them and not deal with the thief directly. But she wants to know who had the gall to not only take her garage sign, but prop a ladder against her house in the middle of the night and cut down a banner tied there with industrial-strength rope. "It's not the banners I want, it's the person," she says. She's offering $1,000 for information and has advertised as much on her neighborhood Listserv and on a Web site for D.C. Steelers fans.

Last night's call was the first of its kind. Mostly, she says, she's had offers of support, to include "kicking the butt" of whomever dissed her deep-rooted loyalties. Kavoulakis, who moved to D.C. for work in 1992, used to go to the games with her parents, season-ticket holders since the early '70s. When her father died, she and her sister took on the mantle, attending the home games in a section with people who've been sitting with her family for 40 years. She's been to some away games, too, including those at FedExField. "I was among those making too much noise" with the other Terrible Towel-toting non-Redskins fans. When her team's farther down the road, she stays in D.C. and watches, like a lot of Steelers fans, at the Pour House in Cap Hill.

After she put up the banners---which she bought in the Strip District following the AFC Championship---none of her neighbors complained. "No one left a note under my door. People told me they thought it was fun."

Still, no one claimed to have seen anything, either. "The person had to go through a gate, over a stone wall. They trampled my flower bed...and no one saw anyone put up a 20-foot ladder?" she says.

Kavoulakis has suspicions about who would do such a thing. She hasn't ruled out an extreme Skins fan, but it's unlikely. "A lot of people I've talked to agree," she says, "it was probably a Ravens fan."

Flickr photo by daveynin.

My duties have lagged in regard to keeping City Desk readers up to date on the played-out drama regarding the proposed Giant grocery complex on Wisconsin Avenue. And do you know why? Because this NIMBY crap has gone on with this project for 10 YEARS and no one gives a shit anymore.

Please, for the love of God and decent produce, just build the damn thing.

So what's the news? Misery has company. According to a telling but very unscientific poll prompted by Bill Adler, co-founder of the Cleveland Park Listserv, 77 percent of online voters (or 205 people), agree with me. Also-rans include 16 percent (44 votes) who still want to build it, but with conditions; the ANC wants a whole host of those, including a demand that there be no deliveries between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., which seems rediculous for a) running a grocery store and b) running a grocery store in what is already a commercial corridor. Six percent (a whopping 16 votes) agreed with the poll's statement: "This isn't good for the neighborhood: I oppose the Giant's development proposal."

As for where the project stands, Greater Greater Washington has a good summary piece from a recent public meeting. Zoning hearings resume April 6 and could carry on for a night or two after that, so that every NIMBY who's had his say can continue to talk.

Photograph of the current Giant on Wisconsin Avenue by me

Nora Greer, a 55-year-old woman who lives in Barnaby Woods, posted a message to the Cleveland Park Listserv in the hope of finding a kidney donor. It reads:

SOS. Next year I'll need a transplant as I slip closer to acute renal failure. I haven't been able to find a compatible match from family or friends. I'm seeking a healthy person with TYPE O blood willing to consider the donation of a kidney. I know it's a huge gift and can only come from a very special person. I'm desperately trying to avoid dialysis. The official waiting time for a cadaver kidney in DC is four to seven years. All donor expenses will be covered by the recipient.

She also posted to the Chevy Chase board and plans to put a message out on the Listserv for Tenley Circle. So far, she says, she's received well wishes, but no takers. She remains encouraged. Another woman who lives in Scarsdale, N.Y., Beth Abramowitz, received a kidney from a donor who read a plea on Facebook. The plea was posted by an old high school boyfriend and was read by a mother in Tallahassee, Fla., who agreed to give up an organ to a stranger. Abramowitz found out about Greer's appeal and got in touch to tell her to keep trying.

Greer's kidneys are 21 percent functional. As that number dips lower, she'll be forced to go on dialysis. Her doctor told her last summer she'll need a new kidney in 2009 and that she should start asking people she knows. It's a prospect that doesn't thrill her.

"Some of us have trouble asking for rides," she says. "It's a huge thing....Some people I know have come forward, but they're the wrong blood type, or they have physical limitations, or they're the wrong age."

This is a huge problem nationally---and in D.C., where Greer says there are more than 1,000 people in need of kidneys. "There are not enough cadavers, not enough people want to donate their organs."

Greer, a freelance editor and writer, came to D.C. from her native Chicago in 1977. She's married and does not have kids, in part because of the damage to her body caused by lithium treatments administered before she moved here. (She is diagnosed with bipolar disorder; her family, she says, has a history with the disease.) The lithium, widely administered after gaining FDA approval in 1970, also scarred her kidneys, she says.  A study published by the National Institutes of Health states that renal damage is a known side effect and that "although this effect of lithium is probably functional and reversible early in treatment, it may become structural and irreversible over time."

Greer's ideal donor is between 20 and 60 years old, is Type O or Type-O compatible, and has no health problems. For her part, Greer plans to continue to pursue whatever legal means to find a kidney. "But it's scary to me. I'd probably be more of an expert on how to do this at this point, but I put it away some days. Sometimes I don't want to accept this is happening."