In this week's column, Housing Complex looks at the issues surrounding a tricky service lane on Connecticut Avenue NW between Ordway and Macomb streets in Cleveland Park. To see just how dicey the narrow sidewalk can be for a pedestrian, we walked the length of the lane with a video camera in tow.

As you can see from the footage, our cameraman had to step into the lane three times to circumvent a crowded route without breaking his pace. We also see a bicyclist's close call, and notice how quickly stollers and shopping carts become obstacles. Is it enough to reclaim the space for walkers?

Shot and edited by Matt Bevilacqua

From developer's concept package. Note the hazy Lowe's sign in the far background.

Developer Rick Walker and Walmart community affairs director Keith Morris said that a Lowe’s hardware store could possibly share the large triangular space reserved for one of the four Walmarts slated come to D.C. by 2012.

Speaking at a public meeting convened last night by Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Walker–the man behind the area’s Giant Food Store, Home Depot and AJWright–said that he also plans to build smaller retail stores, two drive-through banks, and maybe restaurants on the 12-acre site now covered by defunct auto repair lots.

If the partnership with Lowe’s comes to pass–from the tone of the meeting, it sounds likely–then the project will reflect a similar Walker venture in Baltimore, where this year he proposed to build a Walmart and Lowe’s side by side.

Walker and Morris also touched upon some tentative parking ideas. While reluctant to reveal specific information about design, they did mention that they plan to use square footage comparable to Home Depot’s underused lot on Rhode Island Avenue. They would mitigate the sprawl, however, by dividing the spaces throughout a three-story, aboveground garage which, they said, wouldn’t rise higher than 40 feet tall. Cars could access the lot through at least five entryways: one from New York, two from Montana Avenue, and two from Bladensburg.

Residents gave the presentation a lukewarm reception. The only time things got relatively tense came when several residents asked about getting Walmart’s promises in writing, so that the community could hold them to it should things change.

Morris responded by pointing out that the company generally stays away from community benefits agreements, saying that “we don’t think they’re the best way” to plan a project with local input. He and Walker did say they were open to signing other documents as the plans for development become more concrete.

Thomas remarked that he would hold Walmart accountable himself.

From developer's "concept package"

Besides that, the meeting didn’t yield much that Walmart and the city haven’t already said. More information, especially specifics on design, is supposed to come out at a future meeting hosted by the Arboretum Civic Association. No dates have yet been scheduled. For now, all we have are these vague sketches.

(Matt Bevilacqua)

Two of the District’s busiest fire companies are back in their old home, and everyone in Trinidad and Ivy City should feel safer for it.

The D.C. Fire Department's Engine 10 and Truck 13 returned this month to the historic firehouse they share on Florida Avenue NE after a 2.5-year absence, during which the century-old building underwent renovations. The companies had separated in the interim, with Engine 10 temporarily housed on the western side of the Gallaudet University campus, and Truck 13 stationed a whole 12 blocks south on C Street SE.

Both still took calls from their original Northeast neighborhoods, but being that much farther away noticeably extended response times, said Truck 13 driver Mike Fulcher.

A department veteran for 19 years, Fulcher credited the move back to the old station – now outfitted with some novel perks – for bringing the companies back to their old efficiency. He couldn’t give a precise measurement, but he said he can easily tell how much faster his unit can handle emergencies since the return to Trinidad.

Nicknamed the “House of Pain” (insanely aggressive website here), the firehouse that sees more action than any other in the city had been falling behind the times. And before restoration, it failed to meet several of the District’s structural regulations.

For instance, an outdated drainage system in the garage made the floors uneven, so that firefighters had to anticipate slopes and dips as they walked to and from their vehicles. The old doors were barely wide enough for a fully outfitted engine to pass through. In a touch of irony, the building lacked what fire safety officials largely call the best defense against blazes: a sprinkler system.

Now, in addition to remedying these issues, the remodeled station boasts an updated watch system where firefighters can see their runs on the computer even before a dispatch comes through, said deputy fire chief Chris Jordan, who oversees DCFD renovations. A new ventilation system filters fumes from the trucks’ exhausts out of the building, whereas before they were just released into the garage. Contractors built a fence around the property, replaced rotting wood floors with concrete, and adjusted the windows to allow more light through.

Truck 13 backs in after a call. (Matt Bevilacqua)

Adhering to the city’s standards hasn’t made everything easier, however. A stairwell used to run from the second floor, where there are bunks for firefighters working night shifts, directly to the garage, or “apparatus room.” But since the personnel’s living quarters must stay separate from the apparatuses, the stairs have become more roundabout (though I did see four fire poles, which appealed to the 6-year-old inside me).

Also, mandatory lockers have made things more cramped in the garage. In past years, Fulcher said, firefighters would leave their suits on open hooks, since “nobody fucked with anybody’s shit.” But now they must secure their equipment in an island of lockers that takes up a lot of room between the two trucks–space where, Fulcher said, he and his colleagues could play wiffle ball and football in their downtime.

Not that the 56 firefighters at the station have much of it. Calls come in constantly–I saw at least three during my tour alone–and despite the all the clean, newfound niceties, the members of Engine 10/Truck 13 still bust their asses more than most.

John Little probably sipped mint juleps around here.

To most joggers and dog walkers in Kalorama Park, there's little evidence of a sprawling 150-year-old plantation that once covered the three-acre site. But that might change: Yesterday, the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board voted to grant the site landmark status, giving it more protections and higher visibility as a piece of slavery history.

On the northern two-thirds of Kalorama once stood what historians call the “Little House,” the nucleus of a 56-acre estate operated by aristocrat and slave owner John Little in the mid-19th century, when the neighborhood was a D.C. exurb. Archaeologists came upon the house’s remnants last year during a project to improve the park’s drainage system, and things got really interesting when it was discovered that the plantation saw an escape attempt–in 1861, 20-year-old Hortense Prout made a break for it and took refuge among federal troops, but was quickly recaptured and served ten days in jail before being returned to the plantation.

The Little House wound up abandoned by 1927, and had already toppled when the city built a public park on the location in the 1940s.

The site is already a part of the National Park Service's Underground Railroad Freedom Trail, a national program to educate tourists about the importance of certain landmarks in helping American slaves achieve freedom. Now, the Board would like the site to get a spot on the National Register of Historic Places as well.

It was a special day at yesterday's HPRB hearing–archaeological nominations don't come around that often anymore. Long-time board member Bob Sonderman, who serves as the staff archaeologist at the National Park Service, said he hadn't seen a case before the panel in at least ten years.

The site.

Photo By Darrow Montgomery

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn's plan to open the first medical marijuana dispensary in D.C. might have overcome some of its many impending obstacles last night. Then again, it might also have to face some new ones.

ANC 4B—representing the area where Kahn wants to locate his mom 'n pop pot shop, the Takoma Wellness Center—voted at a special public meeting to recommend that the city council alter provisions attached to the law, approved in May, that legalized the use and sale of cannabis in the District for medical purposes. ANCs have until September 20 to get their non-binding recommendations in.

Most importantly, the commissioners suggested that ANCs be granted veto power—which no ANC has enjoyed before—over any proposal for a medical pot dispensary or cultivator to move into its jurisdiction. In the somewhat unlikely event that the city council agrees, the Takoma Wellness Center would have to win a majority vote of ANC 4B.

Commissioner Judi Jones can probably be counted as a “no.”

Jones, who initially moved to effectively make no recommendation, said that she didn’t have a problem with legalized medical marijuana itself, but objected to the manner in which single-purpose businesses, which all D.C. dispensaries are required to be under the law, would keep and sell the pot under a few specific roofs.

"You're basically promoting an open-air drug market in a retail setting," Jones said, storming out of the meeting before the final vote, when other commissioners threatened to strike the term "retail" from the ANC’s revised statement.

Caren Woodson, director of government affairs at the patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA)—who has five sick relatives who used marijuana as medicine—said that neighborhood dispensaries would keep needful patients out of situations in which they must obtain the pot illicitly.

"Patients shouldn't be subjected to the open-air market you're talking about," Woodson told Jones.

The ANC did ultimately incorporate into its recommendations some of ASA's own proposed amendments to the law, many of which will help potential distributors like Kahn run their businesses smoothly.

For instance, both ASA the ANC are hesitant about the fact that oversight rests with the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration and not the Department of Health, saying the latter will be much more prone to respond to patients' needs (and reputedly cooperates better with ANCs). ASA also suggested that the five spots be awarded in a merit-based process that chooses retailers based on security and expertise, rather than the current first-come, first-serve plan.

"You really cut the competitive process out of the entire system," said Woodson, adding that "[what] Rabbi Kahn has undergone here is a result of a rush for access" to the five available spots.

Finally, the ANC proposed that four new seats be added to the official panel overlooking the medical marijuana trade in the District, satisfying ASA’s request for a patient voice by giving patients and their doctors one seat each. (Though they also suggested that two seats be reserved for ANC members themselves).

While Jones fears that allowing dispensaries to open in Takoma "will undo all our work in 20 years," referring to the methadone clinics that used to dot the area, Woodson reminded those gathered that someone will eventually have to welcome dispensaries and their operators into District neighborhoods.

"This is going to be a law forever on the books in D.C.,” Woodson said. "You guys are going to have to begin these conversations now.”

A miniseries in which we examine the Mystery of the Vacant Condo.

The property: 738 Longfellow St. NW #108

The price: One-bedroom condos from $179,000; two-bedroom condos from $199,000

The leasing agent: Eugene Gallagher, Gallagher & Co. Real Estate Inc.

Listed since: February 6, 2008

The story: Of the 66 units listed since February of 2008, 12 remain vacant. "We were moving these very nicely and rapidly until the climate of the finance market changed," Gallagher observes, noting as well that a stricter screening process for potential buyers and the fluctuating availability of HPAP money have proved impediments.

Second Opinion: City Lights editor Mike Riggs, who lives a block from the property, expresses reservations about the neighborhood. "I'm not surprised they can't sell it," Riggs says. "MPD had an enormous, generator-powered spotlight right at the corner of 7th and Longfellow. Who wants to pay to go through a police checkpoint every three months?"

Sweetening the pot: Potential 738ers have a couple new incentives these days: the builder is paying 3% of the closing costs; Gallagher is throwing in a storage unit and paying a year's condo fee (roughly $200 per month, depending on the size of the condo).

The silver lining: Gallagher reports that unit 308 was sold only yesterday. "Adjusting" the price by about $10,000 didn't hurt.

"I think people are unaware that this location is so convenient—to transportation, to downtown, to Silver Spring, to Columbia Heights," Gallagher says. The same unit in Columbia Heights goes for $100,000 more and it's less than a mile and a half away."

Joseph has been trying to secure the rent from Karina Okoro, who occupies a one-bedroom unit in Joseph's 23-unit Petworth apartment building, since November of last year. At one point, marshals arrived at the complex ready to evict Okoro, who asked for an hour to get Joseph his money. When he came to collect, she was gone.

At her court date in front of Judge Joan Zeldon this morning, Okoro again proved a no-show. During the course of the proceedings, it was suggested that Okoro may be in a more relaxed state than her anxious landlord—she was spending some time in Florida.

Zeldon, unable to make long-distance phone calls from the court's land line, asked to borrow Joseph's cell phone in order to give Okoro a little tinkle. Later, Zeldon realized that despite Okoro's exotic locale, the number was kosher to call from court.

But Okoro failed to make a long-distance appearance as well. "Tell her this is Judge Zeldon calling from the bench," Zeldon said to whoever was screening Okoro's calls. She had a message regarding the landlord. "It looks like she's just stonewalling him, and I just really can't permit that to happen."

Reporting by Ruth Samuelson

As someone who writes on the Internet all day for a living, you'd think I'd just suck it up and spring for the wireless. Hell, you'd think my employer would suck it up and spring for the wireless. But you would be underestimating my laziness, cheapness, and hubris—not to mention the whole bankruptcy thing.

I used to be like you. I had my own ten-character password consisting of numbers, letters, and symbols. I could stream entire episodes of Lost without interruption. I paid for the Internet. But a few months ago, one of my house-mates moved out and, in a bizarre act of vindication—long story—took our shared wireless router with her. My housemates and I are still "thinking about getting wireless." In the meantime, I've been living on the edge, searching for rogue, unprotected wireless connections that lurk just within my windows.

Join me.

* Survey the landscape. Boot up your laptop. (If you don't have a laptop, buy a laptop and boot it up). Take a look at your neighbor's Internet connection names that pop up in your wireless menu. Begin speculating as to which neighbor chose the name "fuzznuggets." Take note of the names that aren't password-protected, and prepare to both cherish and resent them, depending on their signal strength. "Linksys," baby, if you're reading this, I appreciate everything you've done for me.

* Maneuver. Make sure your laptop is good and charged, and then stalk through every floor and room of your house, holding the computer open and checking signal strength every couple of steps. Check out the front and back yards, too—you might be putting in some overtime on the stoop this summer. Take care to scope out the wireless scene near walls and windows, but don't discount the idea that there may be some pockets of signal strength in the interior. If you find a good spot and then lose the connection, moving or rotating the machine a couple inches can sometimes work wonders.

* Rearrange your furniture to fit the hot spots. In my living arrangement, the desk is pushed all the way to the back of the house for a reason. Our other workspace (okay, my bed) is pushed all the way to the front. Downstairs, you'll often find a stray living-room chair cozied up next to the trash near the back door of the kitchen—it may not be the loveliest space in the house, but it's the sweetest spot we've got.

* Prepare to brew some conspiracy theories. I am firm in my belief that the nearly-transluscent bedroom curtain that hangs between my laptop and the open window causes airspace interference, and must be tied back for optimal connection speeds. My boyfriend, who finds this preposterous, believes that the couple squatting in the abandoned row-house next door lack electricity, but still shell out the cash for their own wireless signal. Alas, it is password-protected.

* Don't try to watch videos. It's not worth it.

* Don't panic. A couple months ago, there were a few days where we thought our main source of poached Internet would be lost to us forever. This particular access-point is kind of like the neighborhood bicycle of Internet connections—we can get it in the front of the house, in the back of the house, on the first floor and on the third. The connection didn't suddenly decide to require a password to access it—it just disappeared. For days. It eventually came back, but there was an upside to it leaving us unconnected for a time—we were forced to find another unprotected connection that we've been hooking up with ever since.

* Look on the bright side. On days when the rogue Internet connections just aren't coming your way, take it as an opportunity to leave your work—and useless online procrastination—in the office. Also, take a step back and realize that you've begun bestowing your neighbors' Internet connections with pet names. ("Here, neener neener!") Sometimes, it's good to take a break.

* Know the risks. The FCC defers to local law-enforcement on this one. On the local level, unauthorized use of another's wireless network is usually only prosecuted when a crime is committed—if you use the network to download illegal pornography, say, or to send out spam.

* Never tell your neighbors that you do this.

* Give back to the community. When you get your own Internet connection, you can always leave it unprotected in an act of solidarity. For a more secure option, you can also give a donation to Open Park, a local non-profit committed to providing free public Internet in hotspots around the Washington, D.C. area. Some open wireless networks are meant to be that way—find one near you.

Photo by altemark.

(1) What's the Skinny?

(2)14th and T: Room & Board Deal Falls Apart

(3)U Got Sales?

(4)Best of D.C.: Accepting Nominations for ‘Best New Condo Building’

(5)Best of D.C.: Accepting Nominations for ‘Best Building Amenities’

(6)Lots of Price Drops in Shaw, Not So Many in Cleveland Park

(7)Where Should Rahm Emanuel Live?

(8)Your Spite House Roundup

Vornado Realty Trust, the biggest owner of office properties in D.C. and New York, lost more than $200 million last quarter as it wrote down the value of some assets.

Vornado lost $216.8 million, or $1.40 per share, compared to net income of $90.9 million, or 57 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue was $696.3 million, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Funds from operations, considered a better guide for real estate investment trust performance, was a negative $78 million, compared to a positive $193.4 million in the same quarter of 2007.