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):

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.

Read More “Check Out the New 15th Street Bike Lane” »

View Larger Map

The development of the West End library is a storied project.

Back in 2007, the library’s land was almost sold off to developer Eastbanc as part of emergency legislation. When the company’s president earnestly discussed his plans with neighborhood folks, they responded with “derisive laughter,” as we reported back then.

“My colleagues will probably throw tomatoes at me for getting them into this,” Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans also said at the time.

Read More “City Attempts to Develop West End Library…Again” »

The Convention Center Hotel, located at 9th Street and Massachusetts Ave.

“I want you to imagine a District of Columbia without a Verizon Center and a Convention Center,” stated Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans. “It would probably look like Detroit.”

“We are now spending records amounts of money in our school system. We are spending record amounts in our human services system. Those record amounts of money are generated in economic development,” Evans stated.

These comments came midway through today’s hearing on the convention center hotel, a long-stalled project which was kicked into gear again earlier this month.

The success of the convention center and the city’s tourist industry, according to various DC officials and business leaders, rests on the completion of this 1,170-room Marriott, which would have 100,000 square feet of meeting space.  Shaw locals that testified about the project seemed pretty jazzed about the retail/restaurant possibilities for the neighborhood as well.  Read More “‘Build it for the Children’ and Other Highlights from the Convention Center Hotel Hearing” »

This Wednesday, two D.C. council committees will hold a joint hearing on the Washington Convention Center’s hotel, which may finally be built after years of stalling (not to mention, a recent announcement from competitor National Harbor that Disney was going to build there).

When the hotel idea was first revived, the city was considering issuing $750 million in bonds to help fund the project,  breaking the city’s bond cap,  and possibly pulling subsidies from some other projects, which sent Southwest neighborhood activists—fearful their local developments would lose funding—into total freak-out mode.

Read More “DC Council Hearing on Convention Center Hotel Scheduled for Wednesday” »

This is clearly not the best economic time for reviving long dormant projects. But earlier this week, D.C. officials implored that the long-awaited convention center hotel must begin construction pronto—or else D.C. could lose serious convention business to P.G. County’s National Harbor and other cities with all their luring amenities in place.

The question now, of course, is how the city will raise funds. Here’s one idea that’s being floated, according to a Washington Business Journal article: Read More “One Way We Could Fund the New Convention Center Hotel” »

The CityMarket at O Street is a huge mixed-use project that will include more than 600 residential units, 87,000-square-feet of retail, and a colossal new Giant Food Store, partially inside the old market building at the corner of 7th and O Streets. At least this is the description that’s recorded on Roadside Development’s website. It’s possible the group’s made adjustments. The plan has been sitting up there for a while. 

Last fall, I wrote about the CityMarket project. Since then, I’d heard developers were struggling to find funding.

The project seems crucial to the continued rejuvenation of Shaw. There’s no great supermarket in the area—nothing like the new Safeway in Mt. Vernon Square, the Harris Teeter in Adams Morgan, and the Giant up in Columbia Heights. The current O Street Market shell is an eyesore. And the parking lot at the site is just an empty, underused space. 

The D.C. Council clearly recognized the importance of the project and yesterday agreed to fork over $1 million to Roadside Development to help with financing, according to the Washington Examiner.   Read More “D.C. Council Gives $1 Million to Shaw Giant Development” »

View Larger Map

Frederick: Pretty damn far away from Washington D.C.

Does anyone want D.C. United?

First Washington D.C. rejected the soccer team because, as Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans stated, the project lacked a “champion.”

Then yesterday, the P.G. County Council voted 8-0 against a proposal authorizing a feasibility study for the new stadium. According to the Washington Business Journal, “[The legislation authorizing the study] is stalled in the Statehouse and likely will die without the support of the Prince George’s Council.”

Read More “Looks Like D.C United Isn’t Moving to P.G. County—What About MoCo or Frederick?” »