Vacant properties are not a sexy topic, and the Government Accountability Office is no Danielle Steele, but the agency's recent report on the matter is a pretty interesting read for anybody who cares about how all those empty buildings came to be that way and their effect on local governments. Even though loan servicers are [...]
The endgame of Occupy D.C.'s short-lived attempt to erect a 17-foot-high, wooden-framed structure at McPherson Square featured a strange bit of law enforcement theater: The Park Police called the District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, which tracked down the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs' weekend duty building inspector, who came by and deemed [...]
Navigating the District’s byzantine regulatory processes is no easy feat: An alphabet soup of codes and boards determines what you’re allowed to build where, costing potentially thousands of dollars if you don’t get it right the first time.
One entrepreneur, Shannon Christmas, is hoping that’s enough to drive renovators and builders to seek expert assistance. Over [...]
The District’s biggest, nastiest, longest-running rent control battle isn’t in a low-income apartment complex, or even a run-of-the-mill building in some gentrifying neighborhood. It’s in a historic art deco tower tucked into the side of the National Zoo, long viewed as one of Washington’s finest addresses—and the fight is finally [...]
Nicholas Majett, the newly-appointed director of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, is pretty much a D.C. government lifer: Before coming to DCRA in 2006 as deputy director for inspections and compliance, he spent 19 years in the Attorney General’s office, litigating cases on the District’s behalf. Last week, Majett sat down with Housing [...]
It's been more than half a year since community members launched their crusade against a proposed pawn shop on the corner of Georgia Avenue and Fern Street NW, which resulted in a minor overhaul of money lending regulations and granted ANCs "great weight" in deciding whether or not a pawn shop gets licensed.
Well, turns out [...]
It's been five months since the Office of Planning firmly denied Milton McGinty's request to demolish the Takoma Theater, his long-shuttered venue on 4th and Butternut Streets NW. Since we spoke in early June, he first insisted that he would sue in Superior Court to reverse the decision, and then backed off that promise. "I [...]
A couple of years ago, fueled by neighborhood complaints, the Fenty administration went on a jihad against used car lots all around the city. A city investigation had found that many were not selling cars at all: Rather, about half of the 106 dealerships investigated were being used as storage facilities hile the cars were [...]
A few weeks ago, several dozen Woodley Park residents sicced Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh on the subdivision of a corner lot on Garfield Street NW, where the Zuckerman Partners were planning to build two gigantic houses on spec. Since then, they’ve gotten the support of five more councilmembers, who all signed a letter asking [...]
If you're applying for any sort of permit or license right now, you're going to wish you hadn't procrastinated so long: Yesterday a host of new fees went into effect that will make everything from throwing a "lawn fête" to starting a bowling alley a little bit more expensive. You can read through the list [...]
