Frozen Tropics believes that H Street/Trinidad just might be safer than Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan:

"I feel safer living here than in Columbia Heights. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I know too many people who have been robbed in Columbia Heights. And when I say robbed, I mean pistol whipped, punched, or hit in the head with a brick. None of these people were resisting. By contrast, I only know (personally) one guy who was ever violently attacked during a robbery in this area. That was when he resisted (rightly, because the bastards tried to force him into an alley, and you should resist at that point)...."

JDLand has a review (with photos) of the new beer garden (called I believe the "Bullpen"). She is very kind. That place feels like walking through something Clear Channel barfed: bad cover band, dudes, and the smell of stale beer all in a fenced-in slab of asphalt. On second thought, it's not something that Clear Channel barfed. It feels like a prison yard sponsored by Clear Channel. Awesome redevelopment!

Anyway, JDLand writes: "When I arrived around 6 pm, there was a healthy crowd, and the spirits (emotional and liquid) seemed to be flowing well." How....polite.

And Now, Anacostia profiles a historic piece of Good Hope Road property that's set to be auctioned off on Wednesday.

Penn Quarter Living wonders if work has been completed at 901 E Street NW.

In addition to the new Safeway coming to Georgetown, the go-to D.C. grocery chain is planning similar overhauls at the Southwest Waterfront and Petworth.

At the Waterfront, preliminary work is under way for the new store, which will go up behind the current building near the Metro. When completed in 2011, the old store will be demolished. And, much to the delight of the lunch-starved masses, it will have an enhanced deli with sandwiches made to order.

Petworth's store on Georgia Avenue NW will follow a model similar to what's going on in Georgetown---a new, expanded store will go up where the existing store stands. That means the old store will close at some point. Also, parking will be moved below ground. The space occupied by the current parking lot will be added to the footprint of the new store, taking it from about 20,000 square feet to about 55,000 square feet. Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle says Petworth's plans are not as far along as the Waterfront's and hesitated to give a projected completion date. "I don't have a good sense right now, but I'd say ballpark will be sometime in 2011. It won't be next year, I can tell you that," he says.

Meanwhile, demo is slightly behind schedule at the Social Safeway, which closed last Sunday and will remain closed for nine or 10 months. Knock-down will happen "in the next couple of weeks," says Muckle, who had previously stated it was going to happen right after the store closed. "I'm not going to call anybody out," he says, on why it's taking longer than planned, but added Safeway is going forward with an "aggressive" plan to open the new store by March 2010.

Renovations are also coming to Columbia Road. Adams Morgan's Safeway will stay open during its facelift. Despite the empty storefronts adjacent to the cramped store, there are no plans to expand. "We weren't able to work anything out," says Muckle.

The American Enterprise Institute's financial woes, Campus Progress' smear campaign, and creationists at the Smithsonian below the jump.

• The Washington Indepenent's Dave Weigel has a bang-up story out today about the belt-tightening at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The think tank most famous for providing George W. Bush with intellectual justification in the lead-up to the Iraq War has lost funding from General Motors and the Carnegie Foundation, let go of several scholars, and killed the print version of its political magazine, The American.
• Ross Douthat of The Atlantic will be taking Bill Kristol's spot at the New York Times. As one twitterer said, it's hard to find someone in the political sphere who doesn't think this is a good idea. Douthat bleeds red wine and wafers, sure, but he's brilliant, curious, and upstanding. Which is more than anyone could say for his predecessor or the trouble-makers at Campus Progress, who have dug up Douthat's college journalism clips and excerpted the most offensive bits in hopes of...Well, I haven't figured out what they hope to achieve besides showing Douthat's stellar journalistic development over the last eight years.
• If this lede doesn't prime you for a laugh, I don't know what will: "Every winter, David DeWitt takes his biology class to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, but for a purpose far different from that of other professors. DeWitt brings his Advanced Creation Studies class (CRST 390, Origins) up from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., hoping to strengthen his students' belief in a biblical view of natural history, even in the lion's den of evolution. Whole thing here, courtesy of WaPo's Steve Hendrix.
• Also, Wayne Garcia of Tampa's Creative Loafing has a great update from yesterday's CL bankruptcy case, in which someone--can't say who--tells a fib or two about the state of company morale.

Alright, folks. I'll catch you later.

Penn Quarter Living reports on another inauguration-themed store opening downtown. Ugh. More inauguration crap!

Life In Mount Vernon Square has troubles with the new Safeway. The complaints concern the lack of circulars and the feeling that they've been overcharged:

"The store hasn't had circulars one time that I went in during the past 5-6 weeks.  Annoying yes, but it wouldn't be such a big issue if the store actually labeled the sale items correctly.  I've been caught at the register overcharged, but unable to reference the flyer.  This past week, they didn't even have circulars at the register and the one check out lady who had a flyer indicated that she had to buy the newspaper to get it (she kept it safely tucked in her back pocket).  When I've brought this up to Customer Service, they've given nothing but attitude or acted like they just ran out that morning.  That excuse doesn't work for weeks on end."

New Columbia Heights spots the craziest staircase at 13th and Otis NW.

And Now, Anacostia analyzes the situation at 1918 13th Street SE. The building's zoning has been changed to allow the residential property to be turned into office space. The blogger wonders whether this is a good idea considering the low-density neighborhood. It also sparks a more intense discussion of 13th Street.

The Georgetown Metropolitan notes that the D.C. Police Department has dropped its daily crime summaries from at least one listserv: "Members of the MPD2d listserv may have noticed that they haven’t received a daily summary of crimes for the last two weeks. For those not receiving this listserv, the daily update of crimes provides a listing and description of each crime that occurred in the Second District separated into each PSA (Georgetown’s is 206)." Actually it's for all listservs. The blog quotes a statement from Asst. Chief Diane Groomes as to why the summaries have stopped:

"In the past citizens did receive information via the listserv that was posted by a sworn member of the Department but we have found that the information was not uniform in nature and that some of the information revealed facts that were not for public information and jeopardized our investigatory process."

Maybe this new policy has something to do with a certain officer named Delgado and the incident involving the alleged teenage robber.

Upset the Setup has some brand new DJ Eurok exclusive jams. We really dig "Arizona Cream" for bringing back a classic Public Enemy hook.  And "Crooklyn Klemer" deserves heavy rotation in every U Street club!

*photo courtesy of 7194KK found in our Neighborhood Flickr Pool.