Author Archive
Top Blog Posts of the Past Week…
Fresh organic fruit from Whole Foods–you know you want it.
(1) New Friendship Heights Whole Foods Opening in 2010
(2) Inaugural Edition: ASK HOUSING COMPLEX!
(3) Punches Thrown When “Metropolitan Money Store” Heads Appear in Court!
(4) Towering Accomplishment: Developers Battle Comcast, Actually Win
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Design Competition Launching for New Dunbar High School Building
Dunbar Senior High School in Shaw has always been one of the best examples of the worst in D.C. public school architecture.
Built in 1977, it has that geometric, jailhouse-type look, much like the recently destroyed Bruce Monroe Elementary on Georgia Ave. This morning, the D.C. Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) announced a meeting for the first phase of a competition for Dunbar’s new design.
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Jack Evans, Leave the Biking Up to the Mayor…
Oh this is just so dopey. I love it (scenes from yesterday’s ribbon-cutting for the contra-flow bike lane, featuring Mayor Adrian Fenty, District Department of Transportation head Gabe Klein, and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, courtesy of NBC 4):
You Don’t Need to Ride “Contra-Flow” on the New Bike Lane
Mayor Adrian Fenty by 15th Street’s contra-flow bike lane yesterday—no police escort in sight!
Yesterday, I did a little reporting on D.C.’s brand new, contra-flow bike lane, which is protected by a lane for parked cars (look closely above.) It’s a pilot project on 15th Street NW, and the District Department of Transportation plans to carefully study how riders are responding.
“We want to see how it works. We know it’s not perfect. There are things we can probably tweak,” says John Lisle, spokesperson for DDOT.
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New Condo Building Coming to 14th and R Streets NW
In the last year or so, Logan Circle’s 14th Street corridor has continued its gentrification thanks to hot chocolates named after Bette Davis and Doris Day (ACKC Cocoa Bar); $24 charcuterie plates (Cork Wine Bar); and some Hijiki seaweed-jicama salad and other latin/asian fusion dishes (Masa 14).
Recession be damned, the new restaurants kept coming! Condo buildings, not so much.
In the last few years, as financial chaos ensued, land deals and development in this area slowed. Case in point: The Axiom, a 32-unit condo building with two ground level retail spaces, to be located at the southwest corner of 14th and R Streets NW.
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New Friendship Heights Whole Foods Opening in 2010
View Whole Foods Triangle in a larger map
…Or as an alternative albeit too lengthy headline, I could have written “New Whole Foods to Create Upper Northwest Whole Foods Triumvirate.”
Check that out above: Whole Foods is adding its third location on Wisconsin Avenue, and its third in the same little Bethesda/upper Northwest area. The central one, located in Friendship Heights, has not opened yet, though it has been in the works for a long, long time. DCmud is now reporting that we can expect a ribbon-cutting during the first half of 2010, according to a company spokesperson.
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Check Out the New 15th Street Bike Lane
If you haven’t gotten a chance to see D.C.’s first contra-flow bike lane, well it should look a little something like this:
The lane has been installed on 15th Street between U St. and Massachusetts Ave. in Northwest. The southward bike lane is separated from traffic by an 8-foot parking lane.
Streetcars Coming to Alexandria Too?
Coming to a D.C. street near you: Washington’s streetcars are on their way from the Czech Republic.
Everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon now. D.C.’s getting streetcar lines, as are Arlington and Fairfax, and now a group of Alexandria residents is hoping the idea will catch on there too.
Last night, an Alexandrian group promoting smart growth launched a new initiative called the Northern Virginia Streetcar Coalition. They envision the Arlington streetcar extending into Alexandria and would like the city to order a feasibility study.
“There are three possibilities for extending the streetcar line into Alexandria: just into Potomac Yard, both at Potomac Yard and into NOVA and Mark Center, or all of the above connecting east and west with an extension down Duke Street along the designated rapid transit lane. This last alternative would create a loop facilitating the operation of the streetcar line as the cars would not have to turn around,” the group writes on their website.
A Few More Tips for First-Time Homebuyers
For last week’s column, I wrote about the first-time homebuyer credit and provided some tips for people interested in taking advantage of the “free money,” as we wrote on our cover.
Well now, the Wall Street Journal-–bunch of copy cats!—has a similar story on their website. I think we covered most of the same bases: the new income limitations; deadlines to be mindful of; communicating with your lender.
But the WSJ has some fresh material. Anyway, here are their added tips:
- Be mindful of interest rates
Interest rates are low right now, but will likely rise next year, Ms. Warren says. Higher rates will affect your monthly mortgage payments, thus the affordability of the house you are buying.
Chat With DDOT’s Gabe Klein on Friday
Missed all the streetcar meetings? Got a gripe about the new 15th Street bike lane? Wonderin’ when you can get some of that DDOT grant money next year?
Well, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Gabe Klein will take questions from an online audience during a live chat this Friday, November 20, 2009, at 12:30 pm, the department announced today.
