MIDCITY APRIL 2013
CONTENTS APRIL 18
MIDCITY
10 GO SEE DO 12 Calendar out and about 18 21 22
38 44
Insatiable • Jonathan Bardzik Retail Therapy • Mariessa Terrell Jazz Avenues • Steve Monroe
your neighborhood 23 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 37
The Nose • Anonymous E on DC • E. Ethelbert Miller District Beat • Martin Austermuhle The Numbers • Ed Lazere Free Ride! Part 2 • Amanda Abrams Logan Circles • Mark F. Johnson Bloomingdale Bites • Jazzy Wright Shaw Streets • Ralph Brabham ANC6E Report • Steve Holton
kids and family 38
Kids and Family Notebook • Kathleen Donner
at home 42 44
Changing Hands • Don Denton Garden Fairy • Frank Asher
46 Classifieds COVER: Retail Therapy’s Mariessa Terrell power dressing at Zophia
DCRA’s Permit Operations Division Announces Two New Initiatives 1) Electronic plans submission & review via ProjectDox now available, and 2) Plats can now be ordered online from the Office of the Surveyor
The SBRC Presents its “DC Farmers’ Market Seminar” April 22nd , 2013: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, Room E-200 In Partnership w/ The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), The SBRC Presents its “Smart Money for Small Business 8 Week Workshop” Week 1: Financial Management – March 21, 2013
DCRA Will Be Closed Thursday, April 11, 2013 for Offsite Staff Training DCRA offices will reopen at 8:30 am on Friday, April 12, 2013.
Available services: Online applications for preparing building permit applications, for getting supplemental and postcard permits, and for scheduling permit-related inspections will be available: · Online permit application · Supplemental permit issuance · Post card permit application and issuance To schedule your permit inspection - call 442-9557 and follow the prompts (more information is available on DCRA’s website).
Week 2: Credit Reporting – March 28, 2013 Week 3: Banking Service – April 4, 2013 Week 4: Insurance – April 9, 2013 Week 5: Organization Types – April 18, 2013 Week 6: Tax Planning and Reporting – April 25, 2013 Week 7: Recordkeeping – May 2, 2013 Week 8: Time Management – May 16, 2013
Note: Each session will be held in room E-4302; from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
To register for the SBRC workshops go to: https:bizdc.ecenterdirect.com For assistance with registering for the SBRC workshops call: 202-442-4538
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs 1100 4th Street, SW Washington, DC 20024
Hill Rag • Mid City DC • East Of The River • Fagon Community Guides Capital Community News, Inc. 224 7th Street, SE, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20003 202.543.8300 capitalcommunitynews.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Melissa Ashabranner • melissaashabranner@hillrag.com
Publisher: Jean-Keith Fagon • fagon@hillrag.com Copyright © 2013 by Capital Community News. All Rights Reserved.
Look for Next Issue of MidCity DC on May 11 Staff Managing Editor: Andrew Lightman • andrew@hillrag.com CFO & Associate Editor: Maria Carolina Lopez • carolina@hillrag.com School Notes Editor: Susan Braun Johnson • schools@hillrag.com Kids & Family Notebook Editor: Kathleen Donner • kathleendonner@gmail.com
BEAUTY, Health& Fitness Patricia Cinelli • fitmiss44@aol.com Ronda Bresnick Hauss, LCSW • quiet_waters_center@yahoo.com Mariessa Terrell • mterrell@sbclawgroup.com Candace Y.A. Montague • writeoncm@gmail.com
Arts, Dining & Entertainment Art: Jim Magner • jjmagner@aol.com Dining: Emily Clark • clapol47@gmail.com Celeste McCall • celeste@us.net Hit the City: Joylyn Hopkins • joylyn@joylynhopkins.com Literature: Karen Lyon • klyon@folger.edu Movies: Mike Canning • mjcanning@verizon.net Music: Jean-Keith Fagon • fagon@hillrag.com Stephen Monroe • samonroe2004@yahoo.com Retail Therapy: Scott Fazzini • scott.fazzini@gmail.com Theater: Barbara Wells • barchardwells@aol.com Travel: Maggie Hall • whitby@aol.com The Wine Guys: Jon Genderson • jon@cellar.com
KIDS & FAMILY Kathleen Donner • kathleendonner@gmail.com Susan Johnson • schools@hillrag.com
Calendar & Bulletin Board Calendar Editor: Kathleen Donner • calendar@hillrag.com, bulletinboard@hillrag.com
COMMENTARY Ethelbert Miller • emiller698@aol.com The Nose • thenose@hillrag.com
General Assignment Martin Austermuhle • martin.austermuhle@gmail.com Maggy Baccinelli • mbaccinelli@gmail.com Dana Bell • dana@hillrag.com Elise Bernard • elise.bernard@gmail.com Ralph Brabham • ralphbrabham@yahoo.com Stephanie Deutsch • scd@his.com Kathleen Donner • kathleendonner@gmail.com Michelle Phipps-Evans • invisiblecolours@yahoo.com Gwyn Jones • gwynjones@aol.com Stephen Lilienthal - stephen_lilienthal@yahoo.com Celeste McCall • celeste@hillrag.com Charnice Milton • charnicem@hotmail.com John H. Muller • jmuller.washingtonsyndicate@gmail.com Alice Ollstein • alice.ollstein@gmail.com Will Rich • will.janks@gmail.com Linda Samuel • indabsamuel@yahoo.com Heather Schoell • schoell@verizon.net Virginia Avniel Spatz • virginia@hillrag.com Michael G. Stevens • michael@capitolriverfront.org Peter J. Waldron • peter@hillrag.com Roberta Weiner • rweiner_us@yahoo.com Jazzy Wright • wright.jazzy@gmail.com Jennifer Zatkowski • jenn@hillrag.com
Society & Events Mickey Thompson • socialsightings@aol.com Homes & Gardens Rindy O’Brien • rindyob@mac.com Derek Thomas • derek@thomaslandscapes.com Judith Capen • judith.capen@architravepc.com HomeStyle: Mark Johnson • mark@hillrag.com Catherine Plume • caplume@yahoo.com
Production/Graphic/web Design Art Director: Jason Yen • jay@hillrag.com Graphic Designer: Kyungmin Lee • lee@hillrag.com Web Master: Andrew Lightman • andrew@hillrag.com Advertising & Sales Account Executive: Kira Means, 202.543.8300 X16 • kira@hillrag.com Account Executive: Jennifer Zatkowski, 202.543.8300 X20 • Jenn@hillrag.com Classified Advertising: Maria Carolina Lopez, 202.543.8300 X12 • carolina@hillrag.com Distribution Distribution Manager: Andrew Lightman Distributors: MediaPoint, LLC Distribution Information: distribution@hillrag.com Deadlines & CONTACTS Advertising: sales@hillrag.com Display Ads: 15th of each month Classified Ads: 10th of each month Editorial: 15th of each month; submissions@hillrag.com Bulletin Board & Calendar: 15th of each month; calendar@hillrag.com, bulletinboard@hillrag.com
We welcome suggestions for stories. Send queries to andrew@hillrag.com. We are also interested in your views on community issues which are published in the Last Word. Please limit your comments to 250 words. Letters may be edited for space. Please include your name, address and phone number. Send Last Word submissions to lastword@hillrag.com. For employment opportunities email jobs@hillrag.com. 8 u midcitydcnews.com
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GO.SEE.DO. Hello, Dolly! at Ford’s
In the Tony-winning musical farce Hello, Dolly!, the cantankerous half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder hires matchmaker Dolly Levi to find him a wife. Dolly soon hatches a plan to woo and win Vandergelder’s hand herself, while simultaneously arranging romantic prospects for his niece, his clerks and two of Manhattan’s most eligible shop girls. Jerry Herman’s memorable score and charming lyrics place the irresistible Dolly center stage, making the role one of the most celebrated and high-spirited in musical theatre. Tthrough May 18. The production features Broadway’s Nancy Opel in the title role and Edward Gero as Horace Vandergelder. Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. fords.org Edward Gero (Horace Vandergelder) and Nancy Opel (Dolly Levi) in Ford’s Theatre’s “Hello, Dolly! Photo: Scott Suchman
Smithsonian Craft Show
America’s finest craft artists will come to the National Building Museum to participate in the 31st Annual Smithsonian Craft Show. Widely regarded as the country’s most prestigious juried show and sale of fine American craft. Opening Thursday, April 25 through Sunday , April 28, the show will feature One-of-a-kind or limited edition works in 11 different media—from furniture and ceramics to glass and wearable art by 121 artists, 46 first-time exhibitors. Proceeds from the Craft Show are distributed directly to the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and galleries, 9 research facilities, 20 libraries, and the National Zoo by the Smithsonian Women’s Committee through an annual competitive grants program. More than $10 million in grants and endowments has been awarded since 1966. For more information on the craft show and for a list of recent grants, go to SmithsonianCraftShow.org. Basket art by Kari Lonning. 10 u midcitydcnews.com
n g l t e m s , e n d r
2013 Earthday Cleanup and Celebration
On Saturday, Apr 20, 9 a.m.-noon, join about 2000 Anacostia Watershed Society volunteers as they remove thousands of pounds of trash from neighborhoods, streams, and the Anacostia River! The celebration that follows will include free food and drink prepared by Seafarers Yacht Club, a long-time Earth Day partner. There will also be live music, local exhibitors, and notable speakers. All volunteers are welcome! Registration is not required for the celebration but is required for the cleanup. There will be approximately 20 cleanup sites around the Anacostia Watershed in Washington, DC, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland. The post-cleanup celebration event will be held from noobn-2 p.m. at Bladensburg Waterfront Park, 4601 Annapolis Road, Bladensburg, MD. anacostiaws.org
Courtesy of Crystal City BID
Crystal City Art Underground
Five blocks of Crystal City’s interior retail space has been transformed into a vibrant arts and cultural destination with galleries, studios, interactive exhibits and activities, performance and classroom spaces, and a host of special events. Art Underground includes: Studios Underground for local artists to create, practice and showcase their talents while providing an engaging cultural experience for area residents, employees, visitors and guests; a Gallery Underground showcasing of original artwork by regional artists with monthly rotating exhibits to excite the imagination, stimulate creativity, and encourage repeat visitation; the Synetic Theater, the premier American physical theater, fusing dynamic art forms such as text, drama, movement, acrobatics, dance and music; and special events such as ArtJamz sessions. 2100 Crystal Drive. crystalcity.org
2012 Bladensburg Waterfront Park cleanup. Photo: Courtesy of Anacostia Watershed Society
Out of Site in Plain View: A History of Exhibiting Architecture since 1750
Barry Bergdoll, 62nd A. W. Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, spring 2013. Photo: Robin Holland © 2008 The Museum of Modern Art.
The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery of Art were established in 1949 to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the fine arts. Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, and professor, Columbia University, will present the 62nd A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts. The series will include the following lectures: April 7 - Framed and Hung: Architecture in Public from the Salon to the French Revolution; April 14 - In and Out of Time: Curating Architecture’s History; April 21 - Not at Home: Architecture on Display from World’s Fairs to Williamsburg; April 28 - Better Futures: Exhibitions between Reform and Avant-Garde; May 5 - Conflicting Visions: Commerce, Diplomacy, and Persuasion; May 12 - Architecture and the Rise of the Event Economy. All lectures take place Sunday afternoons at 2:00 p.m. in the East Building Auditorium. In anticipation of high attendance, the six lectures in this series will be video recorded. A screening of the recording will be shown the week after each lecture at noon also in the East Building Auditorium. nga.gov Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 11
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Jennifer Mendenhall and Alexander Strain. Photo by Stan Barouh
EMANCIPATION DAY Emancipation Day Parade. Apr 16, 11:00 AM-2:00 PM. Emancipation Day is an official public holiday in Washington DC. It is celebrated with a parade, honoring the anniversary of the signing of the DC Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed 3,100 enslaved persons and ended slavery in DC on Apr 16, 1862. Public officials, schools and community groups come together for a family friendly event. The parade route is Pennsylvania Ave. NW, between 3rd St. and 13th St. Dining Out for DC Emancipation Day. Apr 16, 11 a.m. until midnight, diners can visit LINCOLN Restaurant, at 1110 Vermont Ave. NW, in honor of DC Emancipation Day. The restaurant will donate twenty percent of sales on that day to President Lincoln’s Cottage in this first-time partnership. lincolncottage.org Book Talk & Reception with Lucinda Prout Janke. Apr 16, 11:00 AM-2:00 PM. On the 151st anniversary of the signing of the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act, Janke will discuss its effects on the city’s demographics and how the law got its own local holiday. Carnegie Library, 801 K St. NW.
Andy and the Shadows at Theater J. Through May 5. A comedy about family with Freudian hallucinations and pre-marital angst, from Theater J’s Artistic Director and award winning playwright. Zipping from one rite-of-passage (and time period) to the next, Andy Glickstein is the filmmaking son of Holocaust refugees looking back at the wild weekend of his engagement to Sarah-as party plans fall apart; a famous film flop is hilariously re-made; duendé is discovered; and two vulnerable, differently indomitable parents and their pasts become more deeply understood. Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW. 202-518-9400. washingtondcjcc.org
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The Original Copy of the Emancipation Proclamation on Display. The original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, signed by President Lincoln, is on display in the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center at President Lincoln’s Cottage. President Lincoln’s Cottage is located on the Armed Forces Retirement Home campus in NW. The entrance is the Eagle Gate, located at the intersection of Rock Creek Church Rd. NW and Upshur St. NW. The street address is approximately 140 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW. lincolncottage.org
EARTH DAY Earth Month at Union Station. Apr 1-30. Earth Month will feature a film festival, a farmers’ market, alterna-
tive energy demonstrations, a green fashion show and a science fair with local schools. There will also be programmed activities, entertainment, discussion panels, contests, games, giveaways and much more throughout the month, with a full day of special events and entertainment on Earth Day, Monday, Apr 22. The events are free and open to all ages. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org Celebrate Earth Day! at the Botanic Garden. Apr 19, 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. Join the U.S. Botanic Garden as they celebrates the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. Enjoy cooking demonstrations with seasonal produce and meet with representatives of environmental organizations from throughout the region. Drop by and learn all the ways that you can make the planet a healthier place and become a more active steward of the plants that support life on earth. US Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave. SW. 202-2258333. usbg.gov Anacostia River Watershed Earth Day Cleanup. Apr 20, 9:00 AM-noon. Approximately 20 sites around the Anacostia Watershed in Washington, DC, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland. anacostiaws.org Earth Day Service at Kenilworth Park. Apr 20, 9:00 AM-1:00 PM. Join them for the celebration of the 42nd Earth Day celebration. 150 plus volunteers are sought to assist National Park Service staff with a variety of park improvement projects. RSVPs recommended. Contact Tina O’Connell at tina@ friendsofkenilworthgardens.org. Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, 1550 Anacostia Ave. NE. friendsofkenilworthgardens.org National Zoo’s Earth Day for the Planet. Apr 20, 11:00 AM-2:00 PM. Come to the National Zoo for a free public event to celebrate Earth Day and the Zoo’s commitment to green practices. “Earth Days” at the National Archives. Apr 21, 7:00 PM. In conjunction with our exhibit “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” they present Earth Days (2009; 102 mins.), which looks back to the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement. Denis Hayes, environmental activist and national coordinator of the first Earth Day, will introduce and discuss the film. Presented by the
Charles Guggenheim Center for Documentary Film in partnership with the 2013 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital. William G. McGowan Theater, National Archives, 700 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 202-3575053. archives.gov Reclaiming the Edge on Earth Day. Apr 22, 11:00 AM-3:00 PM. Through hands-on activities, tours, storytelling, and more, learn how to live greener and cleaner and leave a smaller carbon footprint. Also, see demonstrations on recycling and green container gardening. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu Arbor Day at the Anacostia Community Museum. Apr 26, 11:00 AM-3:00 PM. Arbor Day was founded in the US in 1871 by Sterling Morton as a holiday to encourage the planting and care of trees. Today, we highlight the importance of trees in our community with a series of demonstrations, plantings, workshops, and hands-on activities for all ages with experts from Groundwork DC, Smithsonian Gardens, and Casey Trees. Free. For reservations, call 202-633-4844. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu
SPECIAL EVENTS Washington International Film Festival. Apr 11-21. Now in its 27th year, Filmfest DC is back to entertain and provoke movie lovers in a fun and enjoyable atmosphere. Films presented in the festival are Washington, DC premieres and provide an excellent opportunity to see award-winning cinema and meet internationally renowned directors who will attend the festival to present and discuss their work. filmfestdc.org Washington National Cathedral Flower Mart. May 3-4. This wonderful annual outdoor spring festival sponsored by the Cathedral’s All Hallows Guild features plant sales, floral and horticultural displays, boutique booths, tasty foods, music and entertainment, plus fun activities for children, including rides on the antique carousel. Proceeds benefit the Cathedral’s gardens, grounds and woodlands. Free admission. Rain or shine. Tower climbs offered on Saturday, May 4. Climbs are offered from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (except noon) every half hour. $10 per
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person; tickets available on Saturday onsite only. nationalcathedral.org
MUSIC AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD Music at The Howard. Apr 14, The Color Purple Twisted; Apr 15, Chris Dave and the Drumhedz; Apr 16, Teddy Riley and Blackstreet; Apr 17, Finseca Ilusion World Tour; Apr 18, D.L. Hughley; Apr 20, Steven Wilson; Apr 21, Shuggie Otis; Apr 22, Sammy Adams and T. Mills; Apr 23, Ben Kenney and DJ Kilmore (of Incubus); Apr 24, Michael Rose and Sister Carol; Apr 26, David Grisman and John Sebastian; Apr 27, MTV Jams; Apr 28, Rockapella; Apr 29, Kaki King Retrospective Tour; Apr 30, Sergent Garcia; May 3, Amel Larrieux; May 4, Jarabe De Palo; May 8, The Carl Palmer Band; May 9, Alexander O’Neal. Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-8032899. thehowardtheatre.com Miri Ben-Ari at Sixth and I. Apr 27, 8:00 PM. The GRAMMY Award-winning Israeli violinist’s revolutionary fusion of clssical style with jazz and R&B has garnered collaborations with some of today’s biggest names in pop and hip-hop music. Ben-Ari is a classically trained violinist and studied under the late classical master Isaac Stern. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-4083100. sixthandi.org Mika Karni & Kol Dodi at Sxith and I. May 1, 8:00 PM. Led by Israel’s acclaimed female vocalist Mika Karni, this ensemble of Israeli, Moroccan, Yemenite, and Ethiopian musicians and singers combines traditional Jewish melodies with African ethnic rhythms and a dash of folk. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org Sunday Gospel Brunch Featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir. Every Sunday, 12:30-2:00 PM. $30-$45. The Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com Church of the Epiphany Weekly Concerts. Every Tuesday, 12:10 PM. Free but free will offering taken. 1317 G ST. NW. 202-3472635. epiphanydc.org 1st Thursday @ First Church. First Thursday of every month, 5:30-7:00 PM. First Congregational United Church of Christ hosts a “Different kind of Happy Hour” for those passing by the corner of 10th and G sts. NW-music, art, refreshments and conversation. Childcare provided. 945 G St. NW. FirstUCCDC.org National City Christian Church Organ Concerts. Every Friday, 12:15-1:15 PM. Free. 5 Thomas Cir. NW. 202-232-0323. nationalcitycc.org
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Steinway Series of classical music concerts at American Art Museum. Second Sunday, 3:00 PM The Steinway Series is a classical music concert that features the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s refurbished Steinway Concert Grand piano. Free. McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level American Art Museum (between Seventh and Nineth and and F and G sts. NW.) 202-633-1000. americanart.si.edu
tween a grandson who can’t face his life and a grandmother who is starting to forget hers. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. 202332-3300. studiotheatre.org
“Take Five” (free jazz at the American Art Museum). Third Thursday, 5:00-7:00 PM. Smithsonian American Art Museum, (Great Hall on the 3rd floor), Eighth and F sts. NW. 202-633-1000. AmericanArt.si.edu
American Utopias at Woolly. Through Apr 21. Mike Daisey takes us all over the map to pursue the story: from Disney World and its nostalgic theme park perfection, to the drug-fueled anarchic excesses of Burning Man, to Zuccotti Park, where in the unlikeliest place the Occupy Wall Street movement was born. Gun-play, giant glittery dildos, raving animatronic presidents, and brutal police actions come together to paint the landscape of our new American dream. After record-breaking performances in New York, Chicago, and Boston, American Utopias returns to where it all began at Woolly Mammoth. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St. NW. 202-393-3939. woollymammoth.net
THEATER, COMEDY AND FILM All the Man Need at the Atlas. Apr 6-21. “All The Man I Need” is a stage play about a 39 year old Financial Planner and Investment Strategist named Erica, who has a successful career in finding the right investments for her clients, but has been unsuccessful in finding love and the “right man” for herself. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org Mart T and Lizzy K at Arena. Through Apr 18. Writer-director Tazewell Thompson stitches together an insider’s look at the unlikely friendship between First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and her talented seamstress, the successful freed slave Elizabeth Keckly. As one woman’s skilled hands work overtime, creating the most beautiful garments of her career, the other’s reality continues to slip ever further from her grasp. Old wounds and new recriminations explode in this riveting drama about loss, love and the importance of promises, both kept and broken. This world premiere drama is the first commission of Arena Stage’s American President’s Project. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. arenastage.org Sinbad at the Lincoln. Apr 19, 7:00 PM. Stand-up comedy. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. 202-328-6000. thelincolntheatre.org W Kamau Bell at Sixth and I. Apr 21, 8:00 PM. W. Kamau Bell is one of the fastest rising socio-political comics in the United States. He is currently starring in his own weekly half-hour series on FX, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, executive produced by Chris Rock. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org 4000 Miles at the Studio. Through May 5. A compassionate and unsentimental drama about the life-changing relationship be-
Hello, Dolly at Ford’s. Through May 18. The production features Broadway’s Nancy Opel in the title role and Edward Gero as Horace Vandergelder. Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. fords.org
The Mountaintop at Arena. Through May 12. Hailed as “daring, rousing and provocative” by Entertainment Weekly, The Mountaintop is Katori Hall’s bold reimagining of the last night of the historic life of Dr. Martin Luther King. Exhausted from delivering a significant speech, Dr. King rests in his room at the Lorraine Motel when an unexpected visit from a feisty, young maid compels him to confront his own humanity and the fate of our nation. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. arena-stage.org Coriolanus at Shakespeare Theater. Through June 2. A mighty hero, Caius Martius, earns the new name of “Coriolanus” for his triumphs. However his inflexible self-belief and contempt for popular rule cause him to be condemned as a traitor and sent into exile. Desiring revenge against the Romans who banished him, he befriends his blood enemy, Aufidius, to launch an assault on his beloved city. Rome, in its terror, pleads with Coriolanus to end his crusade for vengeance. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. 202-5471122. shakespearetheatre.org Popular Film Series at MLK Library. Apr 23, 6:00 PM. Gangster Squad. Action-filled tale of undercover cops and the mob in Los Angeles, circa 1949. Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling star. Apr 30. 6:00 PM. The Impossible Heart-wrenching account of a vacationing family’s plight after the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. MLK Library, 901 G St. NW. 202727-0321. dclibrary.org/mlk Pas de Deux: Perspectives on Physicality in 2-2 Tango and Skin Tight. Apr 24-May
19. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. 202332-3300. studiotheatre.org Wham City Comedy at Sxith and I. Apr 28, 8:00 PM. The Wham City Comedy Tour is a two-hour cross-genre variety show, showcasing the very best from Baltimore’s award-winning artist collective and fabled party starters. Expect stand-up sets, videos, dramatic monologues, and ensemble sketches in a tightly-run, visionary performance. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org Twelfth Night at the Folger. Apr 30-June 9. Cast away on the shores of a distant land, lost lovers and their unruly servants converge and conspire in this romance-filled comedy. Folger shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. 202-544-4600. folger.edu Anthony Jeselnik at the Lincoln. May 2, 7:00 PM. Stand-up comedy. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. 202-328-6000. thelincolntheatre.org Professor Blastoff Live with Hosts Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan, and David Huntsberger at Sxith and I. May 5, 8:00 PM. Professor Blastoff is a weekly conversation between comedian Tig Notaro and her two co-hosts and comedian friends, Kyle Dunnigan, and David Huntsberger. Each week, the hilarious trio discusses a topic of interest, typically based in science, philosophy or theology with comedian Aaron Burrell assisting in the research. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org Ross Mathews at Sixth and I. May 9, 7:00 PM. Endearing and witty, undeniably funny and one of the hardest working people in show business, Ross Mathews has won the hearts of millions of Americans since his television debut as a correspondent for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org Tuesdays at Noon National Geographic Movies. Enjoy great selections from National Geographic TV and Channel films, All Roads Film Project, and independent filmmakers. All screenings held in Grosvenor Auditorium. Free. National Geographic Museum, 1145 17th St. NW. 202-857-7588. nationalgeographic.comwoollymammoth.net
NEIGHBORHOOD TOURS Walking Tour as Personal Essay. Saturdays, 10:00 AM. Writer and native Washingtonian Rocco Zappone leads a Ulysses-esque walking tour filled filled with reminiscences and impressions of a lifetime in DC. Come experience the city as living organism through the sharpened lens of trenchant observation and the mental and physical flaneurism
of the romantic hero. Tour meets at the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square, 16th and H sts. NW. $20 (cash only). Cash only. 202-341-5208. Ford’s Theatre History on Foot Walking Tours. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 6:45 p.m. and Saturdays, 10:15 a.m. Additional tours April 13 and 14, 6:45 p.m. Led by costumed actors playing historical characters from Civil War Washington, History on Foot walking tours guide patrons from historic Ford’s Theatre to different sites throughout downtown Washington. Join Detective James McDevitt as he revisits and re-examines the sites and clues surrounding the assassination of our nation’s 16th president. This outdoor tour lasts approximately two hours and makes at least eight stops. The distance walked is 1.6 miles from outside of Ford’s Theatre to the White House; wear comfortable shoes. $15. Purchase tickets at Ticketmaster 800-982-2787 or fords.org. Ford’s Theatre, 511 Tenth St. NW. 202-347-4833. fords.org Midcity at the Crossroads Heritage Trail. Follow the signs on this self-guided Cultural Tourism DC Neighborhood Heritage Trail to learn more about Shaw, the crossroads neighborhood at the edge of downtown Washington. Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail’s 17 poster-sized, illustrated signs combine storytelling with historic images. The Shaw neighborhood you will discover is one of the city’s oldest, where traces can be found of nearly every group that has called Washington home. The first sign is located at 7th St. and Mt. Vernon Pl. NW, at the front of the Washington Convention Center. The twohour self-guided tour proceeds north up 9th St., down 7th St., and east along M St., before returning to end a block from where it started. Walkers are encouraged to follow the trail at their own pace, sampling neighborhood character, businesses, and restaurants along the way. Get a map at culturaltourismdc.org.
SPORTS, DANCE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Nats Baseball. Apr 13, 14, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28. Nationals Park. 202-6756287. washington.nationals.mlb.com DC United Soccer Home Matches. Apr 13 vs. New York; Apr 21, vs. Philadelphia; May 8 vs. Houston. $23-$52. RFK Stadium. 202-587-5000. dcunited.com Move for Mobility 5K & 5 Miler. Apr 13, 8:00 AM. At Hains Point, 900 Ohio Dr. dcrunningclub.com
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Washington Nationals Pups in the Park. Apr 14, 1:05 PM. Nat’s vs. Atlanta Braves. Bring your well-behaved dog (on a leash) to the ball park. Tickets for you and your dog are $30 which includes a $8 donation to Humane Society. washington.nationals.mlb.com National’s Ballpark Tours. WednesdaySunday (non-game days), 10:30 AM and 1:30 PM. On day of night-time home games, tours at 10:30 AM. Take the Nationals Park Ballpark Tour for a behind-the-scenes look at Nationals Park. Over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes you will visit the PNC Diamond Club, the Lexus Presidents Club, the Stars & Stripes Club, luxury suites, the Shirley Povich Media Center, Nationals dugout and Nationals clubhouse. Throw a pitch in the Nationals bullpen. $12-$15. All proceeds from Nationals Park Tours will be donated to the Nationals Dream Foundation. washington.nationals.mlb.com Free New eBook from the National Archives Celebrates Opening of Baseball Season. Just in time for Major League Baseball’s 2013 Opening Day, the National Archives has published a free eBook called “Baseball: The National Pastime in the National Archives.” Go to archives.gov/publications/ebooks. Race to Stop the Silence 8K. Apr 14, 9:00 AM. Freedom Plaza, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 301-871-0400. stopcsa.org/race Intaba 5K. Apr 20, 7:30 PM. Starts in Rock Creek Park (Rock Creek Park by Picnic Grove #24, 16th & Kennedy sts. NW. intaba.org Kettle Classic 5K. Apr 20, 8:00 AM. $15$30. The first ever Salvation Army Kettle Classic 5K Run/Walk will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2012 in the heart of Washington, DC at West Potomac Park along the Potomac River. 202-756-3906. active.com Nike Women’s Marathon Half DC. Apr 28, 7:00 AM. Starts on Pennsylvania Ave near White House. 866-786-6453. facebook.com/ NWM26.2 The DREAM Celebration at the Lincoln. May 4, 7:00 PM and May 5 at 4:00 PM. The concert will feature electrifying performances by dance superstars from the country’s top ballet and contemporary companies including Bad Boys of Dance, Ballet X, Cartier Williams, Clifton Brown, Dorrance Dance, Joseph Phillips, Lar Lubovitch, Philadanco and more. The proceeds from the event will support CityDance’s free after-school DREAM program. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. 202-328-6000. thelincolntheatre.org Public Skating at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Closed for annual maintenance. Will reopen July 1. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. NE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org
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Tidal Basin 3K Monthly Run. Third Wednesday of each month, noon. This run is free and informal. West Potomac Park (meet on Ohio Dr. at West Basin Dr., near the Tourmobile stand). 703-505-3567. dcroadrunners.org Dance Classes at Dance Place. Classes offered on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Classes offered in modern, African, belly dance, Afro-Cuban, Hip-Hop. The mission of Dance Place is to improve the quality of life in the metropolitan area through the presentation of educational and cultural programs and to nurture and expand the field of dance nationally. $120 for 10 classes, valid for 3 months. Drop-in for $15 ($13, seniors). 3225 Eighth St. NE. 202-269-1600. danceplace.org Nearby indoor public swimming pools. Turkey Thicket, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE. 202576-9236. Rumsey Pool, 635 No.Carolina Ave. SE. 202-724-4495. All DC public pools are free for DC residents. Have ID. dpr.dc.gov Nearby public tennis courts. Banneker Community Center (eight outdoor tennis courts), 2500 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-6736861. Kennedy Recreation Center (one outdoor tennis court), 1401 Seventh St. NW. 202-671-4794. All courts are open daily, dawn to dusk. Some are lighted for extended evening play. Courts are available on a firstcome, first-served basis for one-hour intervals; extended use of tennis courts requires a permit. Proper shoes and attire is required. 202-671-0314. www.dpr.dc.gov/dpr Shaw Skate Park. A new 11,000 sq. foot skate park has opened in the Shaw neighborhood. 11th and Rhode Island Ave. NW.
MARKETS H Street FreshFarm Market Opens in April. Apr 20-Dec 21. H St. and 13th St. NE. Vendors are Atwater’s; Blueberry Hill; Cedarbrook Farm; Dolcezza Gelato; Full Cellar Farm; Garden Path Farm; Gordy’s Pickle Jar; Keswick Creamery at Carrock Farm, LLC; Quaker Valley Orchards; Red Apron Butchery; Richfield Farm. freshfarmmarkets.org Fresh Tuesdays at Eastern Market. Every Tuesday, 3:00-7:00 PM. Tuesday afternoon farmers’ line of fresh produce. Eastern Market, 200 block of Seventh St. SE. 202-6985253. easternmarket-dc.com Union Market. Wednesday-Friday, 11:00 AM8:00 PM; Saturday-Sunday, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM. The newly-opened Union Market is an artisanal, curated, year-round food market featuring over 40 local vendors. 1309 Fifth St. NE. 301-652-7400. unionmarketdc.com
Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Sundays year round (rain or shine), 9:00 AM-1:00 PM. The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times of London named the market one of the top farmers’ markets in the country. During the peak season, there are more than 30 farmers offering fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit pies, breads, fresh pasta, cut flowers, potted plants, soaps and herbal products. 20th St. and Mass. Ave NW, 1500 block of 20th St. NW (between Mass. Ave. and Q St. in the adjacent parking lot of PNC Bank). 202-3628889. freshfarmmarket.org Mi Tierra (Latino) Market at Unity Park. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (weather permitting). 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Unity Park at Champlain St. Euclid St. and Columbia Rd. NW. Mi Tierra market has 18 approved vendors that sell foods and crafts from their native countries in the heart of Adams Morgan. Maine Avenue Fish Market. Open 365 days a year. 7:00 AM-9:00 PM. 1100 Maine Ave. SW. 202-484-2722.
CIVIC LIFE Fighting the Family Homelessness Crisis Symposium. Apr 18, 7:00 PM. Friendship Place, an organization dedicated to empowering men and women experiencing homelessness to rebuild their lives, is bringing together federal and local leaders for a special symposium to address the growing problem of family homelessness. The event will include a panel discussion with experts directly involved in the fight against homelessness, along with a District family that recently experienced homelessness, and will be hosted by PBS Newshour’s Ray Suarez. National Presbyterian Church, 4101 Nebraska Ave. NW, Stone Hall. FriendshipPlaceDC.org Small Business Brief Advice Legal Clinic. Apr 20, 9:30 AM-noon. The Center for Urban Progress and the DC Bar Pro Bono Program are working together to offer this free legal clinic. This clinic is for aspiring or existing small business owners. Attendees will meet one-on-one with attorneys for brief advice on any legal issues their businesses may be facing. Howard University Center for Urban Progress at Reeves Municipal Building, 2000 14th St. NW. Ward 2 Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Town Hall. Apr 20, 2-4 PM at Sumner School and Archives, 1201 17th St. NW. Mayor Gray is holding a series of town-hall-style meetings to introduce District residents to, and receive feedback from them on, his Fiscal Year 2014 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan. The $10.1 billion budget leverages the
District’s strong financial position to make major investments in expanding affordable housing, strengthening education and workforce development, and safeguarding public safety without raising new taxes or fees. Follow Mayor Gray on Twitter at twitter.com/MayorVinceGray and on Facebook at facebook.com/MayorGray. Bryant Street NW Road Closure. The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, in coordination with the District Department of Transportation, has begun construction and replacement of large transmission mains in NW DC. Crews will replace more than 5,100 feet of large water pipelines that distribute water from the Bryant Street Pumping Station to District residents. Construction will take place on Bryant St. NW from 2nd St. to 4th St. NW through July of 2015. The work will be performed Monday through Friday, 7a.m.-7 p.m.; when needed, work hours may extend to night and/ or weekend hours dependent upon needed tie-in work or inclement weather. The street in front of the pumping station, Washington Metropolitan High School and Howard University Bethune Dormitory will be excavated for the replacement work. Grosso Near You (informal) Meeting. Fourth Thursday, 8:00-9:30 AM, Big Bear Cafe, 1700 1st St. NW. The meetings will provide the opportunity for constituents to bring ideas and issues directly to Councilmember Grosso as part of an effort to make the DC Council more accessible. Congresswoman Norton’s NW District Office. Open weekdays, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM. 529 14th St. NW, suite 900. 202-783-5065. norton.house.gov ANC 1A. Second Wednesday, 7:00 PM. Harriet Tubman Elementary School, 3101 13th St. NW. 202-588-7278. anc1a.org ANC 1B. First Thursday, 7:00 PM. Reeves Center, 2000 14th St. NW (second floor). 202-870-4202. anc1b.org ANC 1B11. Second Monday, 7:00 PM. LeDroit Senior Building (basement community room), 2125 Fourth St. NW. 202-4813462. www.anc1b.org ANC 1C. First Wednesday, 7:00 PM. Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Health, 2355 Ontario Rd. NW. 202-332-2630. anc1c.org ANC 1D. Third Tuesday, 7:00 PM. 3166 Mount Pleasant St. NW. 202-462-8692. anc1d.org ANC 2C. First Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 PM. Watha T. Daniel Library, 1630 Seventh St. NW (new location). 202-682-1633. anc2C. org u
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Up and Out (side)
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y husband Jason and I have a problem. I like, no, love eating outside. For that pleasure I’ll gladly bundle up in a sweater to brave one last late fall meal, or sweat my way through a still summer night. Al fresco, at the charming sidewalk tables of DC, is a non-starter for Jason. My urban charm is his noise and pollution. Enter the rooftop deck. Once limited to rare dis-
The climb is worth it for craft cocktails, Mediterranean small plates, and a stunning rooftop view at Tabaq.
Raab’s winning smile accompanies happy-hour mussels and frites at Marvin. coveries like Local 16, rooftop dining has been proliferating in the past few years. With spring’s (late) arrival I’ve been itching to get outside.
Mussels at Marvin Last week our good friend Marianne, who had brought over a couple of pounds of marrow bones 18 u midcitydcnews.com
for roasting (she’s a really, really good friend), suggested we check out the rooftop at Marvin (2007 14th St. NW, www.marvindc.com). Jason and I met there the next night after work. Still warm from the late afternoon sun, Marvin’s rooftop, replete with two bars, is hidden away from noisy 14th and U, between the surrounding buildings, leaving us to enjoy the jazz, funk, and soul soundtrack from Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton. Fairly priced at $12, the Delerium Tremens ain’t cheap, but Jason’s happy-hour priced $4 Stella draft balanced out our bar bill. The mussels and frites were awesome, some of the sweetest mussels I’ve had in the city. We took our beautiful bartender’s advice (thanks Raab!) and ordered the Dijonnaise preparation, with dry white wine, crème fraîche, and sharp mustard. The wasabi and old bay mayos accompanying the fries were good, but they didn’t compare to the mussel broth, which is where we ended up dumping our fries to soak up all the rich goodness.
DC-9’s rooftop is the perfect spot for weekend day drinking and flawless fried goodness.
grilled fish tacos topped with a light, crisp jicama slaw and spicy, sweet honey chipotle aioli. Jason and I often start post-colonial with Brixton’s crisp samosas filled with richly spiced potatoes and peas. Then back to the roof to enjoy DC’s perfect warm spring nights and a few shandies – lemonade or ginger ale mixed with beer. Conveniently that counts as half a drink so you can order twice as many.
Brixton’s rooftop is made for sunsets and shandies before going downstairs for British and post-colonial pub fare.
Fry Up at DC-9 The cheese croquettes, filled with goat and ricotta cheeses, were almost impossibly crisp with a creamy, moist, rich center. Happy hour is 5:00-7:30 during the week, and we’ll be back.
Ascending Tabaq We left Marvin and crossed U Street to Tabaq (1336 U St. NW, www.tabaqdc.com). Our friend Raymond had recommended both the rooftop and the menu. Of the three children in my family, two of us have completed Iron Man triathlons. I won’t tell you who, but I will say that the three flights of stairs felt uncomfortably like a workout. Fortunately the climb was worth it. (My brother-in-law has also summited Mt. Everest.) The view from the rooftop dining room is stunning, stretching out past the Capitol dome and the Washington Monument. The seasonal craft cocktail menu made drinking far too easy. My Allston balanced the bitter herbal notes of gin, St. Germain, and Campari with fresh lemon juice and vermouth. Jason, in his ongoing quest to find the perfect sorority-girl drink, ordered a bright pink Tavi, whose grapefruit vodka, bitters, and lemon juice effectively balanced the sweet blood-orange liqueur.
Turning to the Mediterranean small plates menu we ordered goat cheese and pastirma stuffed dates (delicious) and wild mushroomfilled crepes (delicious). Jason has ordered fried calamari at every restaurant in DC, and I have been there to taste each order. Tabaq’s was a surprising twist, pairing perfectly cooked, lightly breaded, crisp calamari with hot cherry peppers. A wonderful combination. We’ll certainly make the ascent again.
Cider and Samosas at the Brixton Last Saturday night kicked off with a visit to the Brixton (901 U St. NW, www.brixtondc. com) rooftop. Sipping pints of cider while watching the sunset brought back a strange memory mix of my college semester in London and summers on Nantucket. Sitting quietly above Florida Ave. we drank until the sun set and we aged out of the increasingly young, hipster crowd. Which was fine, we were hungry. Brixton offers their anything-but-classic pub fare menu only downstairs in the dining room, but the rooftop is the perfect place to kick back with a pint before grabbing a plate of
After leaving Brixton we crossed the street to DC-9 (1940 9th St. NW, www.dcnine.com) for dinner. At first glance the menu conjured images of scary bar food cooked in a small, smoky kitchen containing only a fryer and a griddle. I was dead wrong on the scary count. Now, I love local, farm-fresh food as much as the next conscientious, eco-aware diner, but I have a real weakness for perfectly crisp, lightly fried fare, and Margaritas meet Asian-Latin small plates on Masa 14’s rooftop on 14th.
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DC-9 delivered. Salty, sharp pickle slices balanced beautifully with the hot, rich, paperthin fried coating. The Havana from Savannah was everything you love about a Cuban sandwich: sharp mustard and cheese atop salty ham and rich, sweet pulled pork. The garlic fries are, well, really good garlic fries. They are moist inside, crisp outside, thinly cut, salty and bright with raw garlic. The meal tasted even better when we learned our bartending (and also beautiful) friend Jackie was filling a shift in the kitchen that night. The downstairs bar is dark and just the right amount of seedy for a late night dinner or nightcap. DC-9’s rooftop, unlike Brixton’s, looks out over bustling U Street. It’s nestled at the top of two flights of stairs, tucked behind Nellie’s and the tops of surrounding trees. Under the shade of fabric awnings it’s the perfect spot for lazy summer-day drinking.
Margaritas at Masa 14 Where to next? Our friend Ed invited us to join him for happy hour on the roof at Masa 14 (1825 14th St. NW, www.masa14. com). We’re always happy to return for more of executive chef Adam Goldman’s small plates. I was last there in February and am excited to try the spring menu. Their wood-oven flatbreads are always good, and the summery country ham with goat cheese, cantaloupe, truffle, and lime sounds amazing! So does the cornmeal crusted oysters with togarashi chili and lemon aioli with green papaya slaw. Masa 14 nails Latin drinks, and their margaritas and mojitos are always a safe bet, but the spicy cucumber margarita and lemon juice, strawberry purée, and vodka strawberry lemonade will keep us well hydrated as DC nights heat up. Happy hour with $4 Coronas and small-plate specials is available on the rooftop daily, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
I’m Available Thanks to DC’s rooftops our marriage is safe, although my love affair with DC’s outdoor, street-level dining will go on. If you’re heading over to Big Bear Cafe’s garden patio in Bloomingdale or reserving a shaded table at Eastern Market’s Montmartre, give me a call. We can leave Jason at home. Jonathan Bardzik is a storyteller, demo chef, and food writer in Washington DC. Find out what Jonathan is cooking by reading his blog, www. whatihaventcookedyet.com u 20 u midcitydcnews.com
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RETAIL THERAPY by Mariessa Terrell
Ginger Root | 1530 U St. NW FASHIONETTE QUERY: “I am starting to get a little jealous of my husband. Monday through Friday he can get dressed in eight minutes flat. Each workday it’s the same drill: suit, collared shirt, tie, oxfords, IPhone, keys, and wallet. Sometimes I wish I wore a uniform too. Any ideas on how I can increase my speed in the a.m.?” SIMONE: Even when I wore a green and yellow GV uniform in high school my mom still made me lay out my clothes the night before. I hated it but she was right. Fewer options, pressed and at the ready, means less rummaging. To that end we recommend a strategy similar to the one adopted by your Significant Other. Why not create a modern uniform of your own? We suggest a few tasteful pencil skirts, crisp fitted t-shirts, and an Ultimate Lady Tie from Ginger Root. Lady ties are lovely neck adornments made from deconstructed vintage neckties and recycled buttons. My favorites include a substantial chocolate brown and tan version (with Lanvin label still affixed) and a psychedelic blue and black silk confection with a tony glass button. Go forth, be productive, and most importantly beat your husband to the door.
Lady ties to the rescue at Ginger Root
ly until I am able to answer the age-old query, What does power look like? It has been two months and I am still no closer to solving the riddle. Help!” SIMONE: Don’t be too hard on yourself. Even Anna Wintour gets it wrong sometimes. Remember in 2011 when she wore a Chanel daytime dress and jacket instead of a floor-length gown to a White House state dinner? Thankfully these days, in CNN DC and throughout the neighborhoods, the hard-and-fast rules on dressing for political domination are being rewritten. But don’t take my word for it. Ask Betsey Garcete, local designer and owner of Zophia. Several months ago Betsey decided to base her Catholic U thesis on perfecting the fit of the PowerSkirt. Now, with a new popup design shop on U Street, Zophia is making it easier to look like Washington. With three high-waisted knee-length versions of the PowerSkirt (The CEO, The Curator, and The Connoisseur) you can relax and focus on improving your A-game. Let the political maneuvering begin! www.zophiaonline.com
Foundry | 1522 U St. NW
FASHIONETTE QUERY: “It’s been three weeks since my boyfriend went out for sugar. I thought about Desperately seeking LA at Zina Power dressing at Zophia calling the cops, but I figured he’d be back since he left Zina | 1526 U St. NW all his Hugo Boss suits behind. I’m done grieving. Now FASHIONETTE QUERY: “I’m an LA native who recently moved to DC to work as a researcher for the I’m ready to change the locks and toss the surplus into EPA. I survived the winter but the warmer it gets, the the clothing bins along Rhode Island Avenue. Do you more homesick I become. Where can a beach bunny go have a better idea?” for an LA fashion fix inside the Beltway?” SIMONE: After visiting Foundry I developed SIMONE: True to form, DC rarely disappoints. We a keen appreciation for the many uses of men’s suits. believe in fashion for all mankind. This includes skinny According to owner and interior decorator Yvette cotton Standards and Practices trousers in mint, peach, Freeman, men’s jackets, coats, and trouser fabrics are Gentlewomen prefer wingbacks. and white wax and easy summer Alpine Stars knits that perfectly suited for furniture upholstery. The reason is even Rosario Dawson would approve. Don’t worry if you simple: menswear fabric tends to feature weave struccan’t find your bikini just yet. Zina owner Valeria Med maintains that with a “sticky bra” tures characterized by diagonal fiber alignment that allows for easy draping and duyou can wear the same white silk peekaboo blouse modeled by the store mannequin. Now rability. Why not bundle up all his suits and tote them along with his your favorite all you need is a rooftop bar and a soft breeze. Patience, darling. You’ll have that and more Wingback chair to Yvette? She has a marvelous knack for transforming everyday home come June! furnishings into modern works of art. The best revenge is creatively carrying on with a twinkle and a twirl.
Zophia Design Studio | Affinity Lab 920 U St. NW
FASHIONETTE QUERY: “Living in the most powerful city in the nation can be daunting, especially if one has to dress for the occasion. So, I have decided to work remote-
Mariessa Terrell, aka Simone Butterfly, Fashion Investigator, does her sleuthing at www.yoohoodarling.com and @SimoneBtrfly. u Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 21
out and about
+ Music
Jazz Avenues By Steve Monroe
It’s Jazz Appreciation Time! A look at the scheduled offerings for this Jazz Appreciation Month shows a bountiful feast of all-star performers. From Afro Blue and the Howard University Jazztet and Afro Bop Alliance at Blues Alley early in the month, to Lyle Link on
ers, musicians, venues, businesses and organizations, as well as individual fans and listeners, to use traditional, online and social media” as well as other means to spread the word that April is Jazz Month. JJA encourages all to help “raise the profile of jazz in their communities.” So follow @jazzapril and #jazzapril, and go to smithsonianjazz.org and jazzjour-
lodic and lyrical beauty, reaching back to Mary Lou Williams days in New York to a “Tears of a Clown” interpretation to her own signature tunes like “Laila’s House,” to entertain a nearly full house with absorbing symphonies of pianism. The standing ovation at the end was well deserved. The festival had other high moments, including guitarist Sheryl Bailey with the Bohemian Caverns Orchestra and drummer Kimberly Thompson with the Washington Women in Jazz AllStars, including Bormet on piano, Karine Chapdelaine on bass, and Sarah Hughes and Leigh Pilzer on saxophones.
InPerson...The Abadey Legacy Show Performers at the Generations Legacy Bands show, after the show at the Atlas, March 2, with bands led by drummer Nasar Abadey (middle, scarf around neck) and, to his left, his son drummer Kush Abadey Tuesdays at Twins Jazz and fellow saxman Elijah Balbed on Tuesdays at Bohemian Caverns, to Jason Marsalis, Frank Wess, Kenny Barron, and Dave Holland at Kennedy Center dates and the Calvin Jones Big Band at UDC, enjoy! Meanwhile, the Smithsonian Institution has its JAM activities, and the Jazz Journalists Association has its Jazz April campaign, with the JJA pointing out that “UNESCO, in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, has declared April 30 to be International Jazz Day … when Herbie Hancock and other jazz luminaries perform in a day-long series of Jazz Day concerts livestreamed from Istanbul, Turkey.” Through Jazz April “the JJA is supporting these efforts by encouraging and helping media mak22 u midcitydcnews.com
nalists.org for more information. Above all, ATTEND the events all around you.
InPerson...Women in Jazz Fest Geri Allen, Grammy Award-winner and educator with roots at Howard University, dropped into DC at the Atlas, March 27, to close the Washington Women in Jazz Festival with a solo piano performance. Festival founder Amy K. Bormet had previously informed all that Allen was her mentor and how pleased she was to have such an illustrious performer at her festival. The high bar of anticipation was actually met if not surpassed when Allen played a set of ever-creative and me-
Speaking of fulfilling promise, the long awaited Generations Legacy Bands show featuring groups led by Nasar Abadey and his son Kush Abadey did that and more at the Atlas, March 2. Master percussionist Nasar Abadey on the drums led his group, with Allyn Johnson, piano, James King, bass, Joe Ford, saxophones, John Williams, trumpet, and Jabari Exum, also on percussion, in the first set, with some tunes from his latest CD, “Diamonds in the Rough,” such as “The Covenant” – a multilayered piece arguably becoming his signature composition. Then the band, led by drummer Kush Abadey, took over, with percussionist Exum doubling down to shout out some rhythmic rap, and saxophonist Arnold Lee, bassist Michael Bowie, and pianist Eden Ladin providing fine support on often edgy and free but always rhythmic tunes. u
April Highlights: Afro Blue & The HU Jazztet, April 8, Blues Alley … Afro Bop Alliance, April 9, Blues Alley … Lyle Link, April 9, 16, 23, 30, Twins Jazz … Elijah Balbed, April 9, 16, 23, 30, Bohemian Caverns … UDC Jazz Ensembles, April 9, University of the District of Columbia … Gerald Clayton, April 10, Blues Alley … Jason Marsalis, April 12, Kennedy Center … Howard University Jazz Orchestra, April 12, Westminster Presbyterian Church … Warren Wolf, April 12-13, Bohemian Caverns … Stan Kenton Alumni Band, April 17, Blues Alley … Pepper Adams’ Joy Road/Gary Carner, April 17, University of the District of Columbia … Tim Green, April 19, Westminster Church … Mark Whitfield, April 1920, Bohemian Caverns … The Flail, April 19-20, Twins Jazz … Ernie Watts, April 23-24, Blues Alley … Karrin Allison, April 25, Blues Alley … Frank Wess, April 26, Kennedy Center … Blues Alley Youth Orchestra, Paul Carr Jazz Academy, April 26, Westminster Church … Tim Green, April 26-27, Twins Jazz … Kenny Barron, Dave Holland, April 27, Kennedy Center … Calvin Jones Big Band Festival, April 29, University of the District of Columbia … Sine Qua Non, April 29, Blues Alley …
the nose
One of These Pols Is Not Like The Others
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nother election is nearly upon us. Almost nightly, Dear Readers, political candidates for Mendo’s old at-large seat are entertaining future constituents with traveling road shows. Six candidates vying for a single office creates confusion rather clarity in the mind of this poor scribbler. No presidential contest has six contestants. In a joust, there are only two knights. In marriage, there are only two spouses. Noah saved only two of each beast. Walking into the booth, faced with six choices, under pressure to make an instantaneous decision, The Nose fears his sagacity will desert him. So, Dear Readers, let the Nose share with you the mnemonic device he has created in aid of his paltry memory. Here are our candidates in all their gory glory: 1. Anita “The Apparatchik” Bonds has been endorsed by Councilmembers Muriel “I’m on Fire” Bowser, Marion “Mayor for Life” Barry, and Jack “King of Undersight” Evans. She is the current occupant of the council seat, drafted into the position by the unelected State Democratic Committee (aka the Mafia). She therefore is the candidate of the Democratic establishment. With former Councilmember Michael “The Real” Brown out of the race, although still on the ballot, she hopes to pull enough African-American votes from the city’s eastern wards to squeak through. During the campaign Bonds has played it safe, advocating no positions outside the mainstream of District politics. Vote for Bonds if you want more of the same. 2. Patrick “The Kinder, Gentler Republican” Mara is backed by big business with endorsements from the Greater Washington Association of Realtors, The Washington Post, and the DC Chamber of Commerce. He earned their support by his opposition to tax increases and strong advocacy of regulatory reform, central planks in Ronald Reagan’s
by Anonymous presidency. Mara is a firm backer of school reform and educational choice. Consistent support for marriage equality and the endorsement of the Sierra Club earn him his kinder, gentler label. Vote for Mara if you believe your taxes are too high, the number of charter schools too low, and in the privacy of your bedroom. 3. Elissa “Wonkette” Silverman is mistress of the budgetary thicket. Her facility with numbers is a product of recent work for the DC Policy Institute, the progressive voice on District finances. Dogging local pols for several years as Loose Lips makes her no stranger to the Wilson Building. Silverman’s support for progressive taxation and social investments in affordable housing and transportation, as well as school reform, with an emphasis on responsible spending, earned her a nod from the new urbanists at Greater Greater Washington. Her campaign for true ethics reform secured her the endorsements of Councilmember David “Blue Cross” Grosso as well as former Councilmembers Sharon “Fear Me” Ambrose and Kathy “The Smartest Girl in the Room” Patterson. Vote for Silverman if you enjoy watching agency heads squeal on DC cable access. 4. Matthew “The Spoiler” Frumin is the quintessential Clintonian Democrat. His tenure on a Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commission and involvement in the Wilson High School renovation must be balanced against his occasional forays into Midwestern politics. Frumin’s slogan of “Let’s Grow Together” positions him as a centrist. He supports educational and zoning reforms but remains fiscally conservative. With lots of money raised from old White House buddies, but no real stature outside his home ward, Frumin will undoubtedly draw votes from progressive Silverman and conservative
Mara in Upper and Lower Caucasia, possibly throwing the election to Bonds. Vote for Frumin if you are a true believer in the Third Way and don’t care who wins. 5. Perry “Just Say No” Redd is the candidate of the DC Statehood Green Party. A returning citizen, he is the only candidate with a detailed agenda to address the problems faced by this increasing population. He has been the sole voice against school closings at the debates. Vote for Redd if you think school reform is bunk and returning citizens need a New Deal. 6. Paul “Legalize It” Zuckberg is the campaign’s sole proponent of drug decriminalization. He does a good job entertaining audiences during candidate forums, coming off as a folksy lawyer intent on defending the little guy. Vote for Zuckerman if you want to light up legally. Dear Readers, when you enter the voting booth, hum this ditty cribbed from our friends at Sesame Street: One of these Pols is not like the others, One of these Pols belongs on the dais. Can you tell which Pol is not like the others Before you tick the box on your ballot? Did you guess which Pol was not like the others? Did you guess which Pol belongs on the dais? If you guessed this one is not like the others, Then you’re absolutely right! Five of these Pols belong in private life. One of these Pols is not the same. Can you guess which one of these Pols belongs on the dais? Now it’s time to play the voting game. Make sure to vote on April 23. Every vote counts in what is likely to be a low-turnout election. The Nose loves to hear from Dear Readers. Email thenose@hillrag.com with comments or complaints. u Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 23
your neighborhood
An Ode to Sweet April
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hat should a poet do in April? Walk around the city with a poem in the pocket? Wait, like Walt Whitman, to catch a glimpse of the President? Ponder the blues on the P Street Bridge like Langston Hughes? Now and then I have the urge to walk over to the garden outside the OAS building in that Foggy Bottom part of town and stare at the bust of Pablo Neruda. This sculpture by Galvarino Ponce was placed there on November 21, 1980. I fell in love with Neruda around the time I was coming of age as a poet. Yes, it was a time when my youth knew despair and her many names. Neruda opened the door to Chile and soon names like Pinochet, Letelier, and Dorfman opened windows from which I began to learn about the politics of democracy and the human rights of fractured bones and missing children. When April arrives each year it becomes a time of remembrance. If poetry does nothing else it encourages us to pay attention to every word and line written or spoken. Even when a poem appears complex in structure or meaning it might also offer clarity and insight into some aspect of the human condition. It only requires patience.
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by E. Ethelbert Miller April was designated National Poetry Month by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. It’s a way of showing an appreciation for poetry and a chance to highlight it at home or in the office. We can also enjoy poetry at the various entrances to Metro stations around the city. DC Poet Laureate Dolores Kendrick’s work can be found at the New York Avenue station. Walt Whitman’s words are at the National Archives as well as DuPont Circle. My own poetry is outside DuPont Circle (Q Street) as well as the Petworth Metro station. How many of us stop and take a moment to read this public art? What does a poem do to you that the wind or sun can’t? Does it matter? I think it does. Words we find in stone, we must now touch our flesh against. This simple act reminds us what it means to be human. It’s why I think about Neruda’s head across town. Where is the rest of him? Where are Neruda’s arms and legs? What did he make love with? These questions are like the days of April; each one pregnant with meaning and possibilities. Only a few of my poems have been written about the streets of Washington. Does this mean my imagination resides somewhere else? What do poets
see when they look at this city? Is it the picture of democracy and experimentation? How do we hold fast to images of dreams while our monuments continue to dwarf us? April is the month Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died. He was very much the preacher, prophet, and poet. Where there was for too long the ruins from the riots of 1968, there are now new streets and stores. It’s time to keep a new American Journal. Poets, open your notebooks! Parents and teachers, remind us that we are the children of Whitman – whisper “sweet April” into our ears. The Depth of My Feelings Love is about forgiveness –
so I forgive you for being you – for being beautiful and wonderful (all over) and laughing and giving birth to poems – for being a friend
that makes me howl whenever I dreamabout your nakedness – which is so often I no longer have words for love – only tears. Yes, crying is the river I walk near when I think of you. —E. Ethelbert Miller u
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The Candidates Have Issues
You Have A Choice Between Six Candidates For A New At-Large Member of the DC Council
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n three weeks, DC voters head to the polls to choose a new At-Large member of the DC Council. This is the third special election in as many years. Six candidates are vying for the seat: Interim Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large), Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Matthew Frumin, Ward 1 State Board of Education Member Patrick Mara, former Washington Post reporter Elissa Silverman, defense attorney Paul Zukerberg, and social activist Perry Redd. Last month we discussed the horse race element of the campaign. We put Mara as a primary contender based on him being the only Republican in a lowturnout race, along with his past electoral experience. We saw Frumin as a potential spoiler and Silverman as the progressive choice given her experience in the I-70 initiative. Anita Bond looked to split the city’s eastern wards with Michael Brown. Since that time, Mara has earned endorsements from the Post, the Sierra Club, the realtors and the DC Chamber of Commerce. Brown has dropped out of the race, but remains on the ballot. Silverman has been endorsed by Councilmember David Grosso and the new urbanists at Greater Greater Washington. She also has been endorsed by former councilmembers Sharon Ambrose and Kathy Patterson, who chairs her campaign. Buoyed by Brown’s dropping out, Bonds has secured endorsements from Councilmembers Jack Evans (Ward 2) and Muriel Bowser (Ward 4). Brown’s sudden retirement also frees many unions to choose other candidates. Silverman, the only former union member in the pack, may well benefit. In absence of any polling data, it is difficult to call the race. So, this month we turn our focus to the issues raised in the campaign.
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by Martin Austermuhle
Taxes and Budget On the $417 million surplus that DC banked earlier this year, for example, all the candidates stuck to a cautious line during the early debates. A number wished to spend a small amount of it on pressing social priorities, but otherwise put the rest in the bank to keep Wall Street happy. The exception is Silverman, who pushes for specific investments in job training and affordable housing. Occasionally, she is joined by Bonds. On taxes and the budget at large, Silverman and Mara stand on opposite ends of the spectrum, with the other candidates occupying the middle ground. Silverman has said that she believes that DC needs a more progressive tax code. In her job as a policy analyst for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, she lobbied for tax increases on the city’s highest earners during the city’s last fiscal crisis. The group was less supportive of a tax on out-of-state municipal bonds; Mayor Vince Gray has proposed repealing that new tax this year. Mara, on the other hand, has argued against taxes more broadly. He believes that the city effectively overtaxes residents and businesses. In the past election cycles, Mara even went as far as to sign Grover Norquist’s pledge. Bonds joins Mara on the issue of business taxes. Frumin wants to wait for the DC Tax Revision Commission to finish its work before committing to either side. Silverman has taken the same stance.
Ethics Most of the candidates broadly agreed that the councilmembers should not have outside jobs. A number also agree that candidates should not accept donations from corporations or limited liability corporations. Silverman has done the most work on this issue,
having backed the citizen initiative last year that would have prohibited corporate contributions to campaigns. Silverman, Redd, Mara, Zuckerman and Bonds have stated that they will have no outside employment. Bonds has pledged to resign from her position at Fort Myer Construction, one of the city’s largest contractors, if elected. Frumin has stated that he intends keep his second job as an attorney. Silverman and Redd do not accept any corporate donations. The others have accepted such support.
Affordable Housing The candidates agree that affordable housing is one of the city’s most pressing issues. Silverman wants to see an annual contribution to the Housing Production Trust Fund made a line item in the budget, rather than funding it through the deed recordation and transfer tax. Frumin advocates for a voucher program that would offer $500 a month towards rent or mortgage payments for police, firefighters and teachers. Zukerberg wants to increase the Homestead Deduction.
Education On schools, only Redd openly said he opposed DC Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s plan to shutter schools. He is also opposed to handing over empty and unused school buildings to private entities. Mara is the group’s most consistent advocate for charter schools. Frumin is less enamored. The remaining candidates somewhat split the difference.
Zoning and Development The rewrite of the city’s zoning code has inflamed passions during the campaign. Many of the
candidates have taken a cautious approach. Zukerberg supports allowing more Accessory Dwelling Units. He and Silverman are skeptical of plans to do away with parking minimums for new developments near transit. Both point out that the city must conserve street parking for residents near high trafficked corridors such as H Street NE. While Redd and Bonds remain skeptical of increasing urban density, Mara, Silverman and Frumin are for it particularly surrounding Metro stations. Frumin is broadly in favor of the changes to the zoning code.
Public Safety Most of the candidates say they support DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier. They generally support an increase in police hiring more officers. Zukerberg has set himself apart from the group, arguing for the decriminalization marijuana possession which he believes contributes to the widespread jailing of young African-American residents. The only returning citizen in the race, Redd has spoken repeatedly in support of ending discrimination against ex-offenders and investing in their reintegration. Silverman, who studied the issue of job training in her last position, argues that DC can do a better using its job training dollars to help assist this population. Nearby jurisdictions, she points out, have used bonding powers to effectively bridge the trust gap in hiring ex-offenders. While Mara has called for the resignation of the current fire chief, Sliverman is the only candidate that can off the cuff cite the number of firefighters necessary to staff a truck.
Candidate Thumbnails So who to vote for? If only it were as simple boiling down the choice to liberal versus conservative candidates.
Here are some simple rubrics. Silverman is the policy wonk of the bunch promising to dive into the budgetary thickets to discover effective strategies. Her experience as a reporter and DC budget analyst provide credibility for this assertion. She is an advocate of both progressive taxation and social investments. She supports educational reform with a focus on cost. Redd joins Silverman, but is more interested in opposing both school closings and the expansion of public charter schools. Redd is the only candidate with a specific plan to aid returning citizens. A plucky defense attorney, Zukerberg portrays himself as the fighter for the little guy. He is focused on the decriminalization of drugs. Frumin is the folksy mediator, seeking middle ground between competing factions. His primary interest is educational reform. He cites his ANC service, but has been on the defensive on the stump regarding prior political activities outside the city. Bonds is the party favorite. A consummate insider, she has worked in the DC government, and has earned the support of three councilmembers and the state Democratic organization. Like Mara, she takes corporate dollars, but has pledged to resign her outside employment. Mara is the sole Republican. He earned credibility as an educational reformer on the School Board, and has also lobbied Republicans on the Hill for voting rights. He is a strongly in favor of regulatory reform and lowering taxes. Early voting kicks off on April 8 at One Judiciary Square, and ends on April 20th. The special election is on April 23rd. Martin Austermuhle is Editor-in-Chief of DCist.com and a freelance writer. He lives in Columbia Heights. H
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DC’s Prosperity Dividend Better Funding for City Services
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t may be cherry blossom time in Washington, but when it comes to the District’s finances, everything is coming up roses. Thanks to an improving economy, Mayor Gray submitted his first budget in three years that didn’t have to focus on closing a budget shortfall. Instead, the mayor happily announced that his 2014 proposal includes new money for many things that will make DC residents happy — including libraries, education, public safety, transportation, housing, public works, and human services. The Mayor’s budget plan is especially notable for its effort to address the city’s increasing affordable housing problems, which are putting the squeeze on a growing number of residents. He committed $100 million for housing, most of it to help non-profits build or renovate low-cost homes. At the same time, many DC residents have not felt the benefits of the recovery, and a number of programs aimed at helping these residents remain strapped. The budget doesn’t do much to solve the homeless crisis that has resulted in 600 children living in the city’s largest family shelter. For the first time in several years, the budget doesn’t call for revenue increases, but it also doesn’t propose any major tax cuts, either. After multiple rounds of cuts in the recession -- which resulted in cuts to library acquisitions and alley cleaning, and saw education funding rise slower than needed to keep up with rising costs – I imagine most residents are ok with that. The mayor did throw one tax cut into the mix, for residents who buy bonds issued by other states. Given that no state offers tax incentives to invest in the infrastructure in other states, this was not the best tax-cut idea that
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by Ed Lazere could have been put forward.
Improved Services across the Board It is hard to imagine a DC resident who will not notice an improvement in DC government services in 2014. Every DC library will be open seven days a week. In the almost 30 years I have lived in DC that has never
Coming to you in 2014 From the DC Budget Libraries open every day More Circulator buses A DMV office in Georgetown More affordable housing Grants for non-profits Streetcars More bike lanes New Supercans And more!
been the case. A number of libraries will get renovated as well. No matter how you move around the city, the Mayor’s budget plan should make it easier. There are new resources to replace the Frederick Douglass Bridge, get
the streetcars up and running, open up a Georgetown DMV office, and expand bike lines. You’ll even see a larger Supercan for recycling come your way, though that may take a while since it is on a 5-year plan. Mayor Gray’s proposed budget makes a number of notable investments that would help less fortunate residents. The housing increase may be the largest, but there are many others that will prove very helpful. For example, it will be easier next year for families to get help for an infant or toddler struggling with a developmental delay. That means more children will start school ready to learn, which will have long-term payoffs for the city.
Lingering Cuts from the Recession While there is much to like in Mayor Gray’s budget, it leaves some notable gaps. Family homelessness has nearly doubled since the recession and once again the city’s main shelter is filled to capacity this year. Yet the mayor’s budget doesn’t appear to offer a comprehensive solution, which means we may face the same situation a year from now. In another example, the District program for residents with disabilities who are waiting for approval of federal disability benefits — a process that can take up to two years — was cut 80 percent in recent years. The number of residents getting help from Interim Disability Assistance has fallen from 2,900 to 550, but the mayor’s new budget would allow just 40 more residents to get help. Finally, welfare reform also has been a big issue in the District in recent years. The city has done a lot to improve welfare-to-work services, but there is a good chance that many families will see a big cut in as-
sistance this fall without a job to replace the lost income. In particular, DC offers little protection to families in dire situations, such as when a parents is fleeing domestic violence. Most states don’t impose time limits on these families, but DC does. Thousands of DC families will see cash assistance cut to just $257 a month for a family of three next year, and that will have negative ripple effects throughout the city, including increases in children who come to school hungry and stressed.
Misplaced Tax Cut Mayor Gray would like to bring back a tax break for residents who invest in out-of-state bonds, making DC the only place to offer a tax break to encourage residents to invest in other states’ infrastructure. The out-of-state bonds tax break was eliminated just a few years ago and DC’s leaders dealt with the elimination in a reasonable way. Residents who had already made investments got to keep their tax exemption. The new rule was that the tax break would be limited to residents who invest in DC bonds, and it had an immediate positive impact. Demand to buy DC bonds increased, which lowered the cost to the city. The District should not reinstate a costly tax break that encourages residents to invest in other states’ infrastructure. Jenny Reed contributed to this article. Reed and Lazere are staff at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (www. dcfpi.org), which conducts research on tax and budget issues that affect low- and moderate-income DC residents. u
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FREE Ride! Is Bike Theft a Profession? by Amanda Abrams
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f it’s not obvious already, it’ll be plenty clear come spring: Washington is experiencing a bicycling revolution, with increasingly large hordes of carefree riders crowding bike-laned streets and infuriating the steering-wheel-grippers behind them. But appearing along with the riders will be that predatory companion group, the bike thieves. As biking has grown in the city, so has theft, with what seems like virtually every rider able to recount a story of a loved-but-lost cycle. What’s unresolved, though, is where the ripped-off bikes wind up.
Professional Bike Thieves in DC? Talk to folks around town and you’ll hear two opinions. In the first camp are the “crime of opportunity” people, who think most theft occurs impulsively and that the stolen bikes are quickly and cheaply sold here. The second, smaller group believes the city’s twowheelers are targeted by professional bike thieves, some from out of town, on the lookout for high-cost vehicles. I fall into the latter group. There’s not a ton of evidence to back up the professional bike thievery theory. True, Los Angeles police reported busting a high-end bike theft ring just over a year ago, and the National Bike Registry writes on its website that “substantial numbers of stolen bicycles are exported on barges through the Port of Miami. Customs officials have also noted shipments of both bicycles and bicycle parts through New Jersey.” But its citations are 15 years old. Still, I’m not the only person who thinks that professional bike thieves operate here. “When I first started couriering,” I was told by a mechanic at 7th Street NW’s Bicycle Space, who declined to give her name, “people said, ‘Don’t free-lock up your bike because a couple times each summer vans come down from New York and take all the free-locked bikes they can find.” Her colleague nodded, and added, “All of the mechanics think there are professional bike thieves. They go to Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, and the bikes they
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steal there come here.” Nonetheless, my efforts to find evidence for a ring of professional thieves proved fruitless until I heard Robert Schafer’s story.
Firsthand Experience with the Pros Besides being a young DC professional and Trinidad resident, Schafer is a bicycle obsessive. He fixes neighborhood kids’ bikes and usually has a decentsized collection of vehicles in his garage. Last summer Schafer had at least ten bikes stored there: a couple of commuter bikes, a few beaters, and a racing bike worth around $5,000. But he was taking precautions; he’d recently hired a welder to install an iron security door with a strong lock. “Just in case, I also locked all of the bikes inside the garage,” explained Schafer. One August night thieves broke in. With Schafer and his wife sleeping nearby the robbers got through the iron door. “They must’ve spent a couple hours inside, cutting cable locks, cutting U locks, breaking cinder blocks that were locked to bikes,” said Schafer. “They were pretty professional about it.” The thieves took nine bikes. You’ve got to feel for Schafer: two weeks before the bike incident, his car had been stolen. But his bicycle saga has a small happy ending. In search of a replacement bike on Craigslist, Schafer came across a photo of one of his stolen cycles, a fixed gear worth around $800. The item was listed for sale by a consignment shop in Severna Park, just north of Annapolis. “I contacted the police. They said they were going to try to send someone to the shop to put a hold on the bike, but they had to talk to their lawyers,” remembered Schafer. “But that took more than a month.” So he took matters into his own hands and contacted the proprietor himself. While Schafer didn’t have the cycle’s serial number, he could describe its details intimately. The owner replied, “OK, that’s definitely your
bike,” said Schafer. It turned out that the shop’s owner had bought the bike for $100 at Brumwell’s Flea Market in Pasadena, Maryland, not far from Severna Park. Brumwell’s is a massive market covered by few regulations; vendors set up on a first come, first served basis, no paperwork required. In this case the bicycle sellers apparently showed up for two consecutive weekends with a big rented truck packed with cycles. “There were hundreds of bikes under a huge tent, ten guys [working], selling for cash,” Schafer said the store owner told him. Then they disappeared. Although Schafer is busy rebuilding his bicycle collection (and has installed an alarm system in the garage), he found the experience demoralizing. “The most frustrating thing is that it sounds like what these guys do, they’re pretty professional,” he said. “I’ve had lots of bikes stolen, but they were mostly crimes of opportunity. I never suspected it could be like this.” For anyone who imagines that a ring of professional bike thieves operates in the District, Schafer’s story is exhibit A. But it’s an uncommon one. Still, there are some steps cyclists can take to protect themselves.
What You Can Do to wPrevent Theft The easiest thing? Lock your bike. Believe it or not, it’s a problem. “People just lean them up against a fence or leave them in the backyard and think that’s secure, and it’s not,” said MPD’s First District Commander, Daniel Hickson. Alternatively, a surprising number of people use flimsy cables to secure their bikes, said Denise D’Amour, co-owner of Capitol Hill Bikes. “We strongly advise them not to if they want to hang onto their bikes.” But even a U-lock isn’t tamperproof. Loren Copsey, co-owner of H Street NE’s Daily Rider store, tried getting through one with an electric cutting tool. “I went through [a Kryptonite] in two minutes and 45
seconds,” he said. Of course, it produced sparks and noise that might draw attention, but nonetheless, he said, “there’s no foolproof lock that will protect you from absolutely everything. You’re just buying yourself time.” Still, any lock is more effective if the bike is parked in a well-trafficked area, not under a stairwell or in an alley. Avoid Metro bike racks, where thieves can safely assume commuters will be gone all day. Finally, note identifying information on your bike before it’s stolen. If it’s nabbed you can tell the police all about it. If your bike is stolen? Call the cops right away. Even if they never find your beloved vehicle, getting a police report is useful, particularly if you have renter’s insurance. Second, check regularly to see if your cycle turns up in MPD’s collection of recovered cycles. The department is holding more than 500 bikes in its warehouse, most of which are represented in photos on its Flickr site, http:// www.flickr.com/photos/mpd_evidencecontroldivision/sets/. Finally, if you really want to cut down on bike theft in the District don’t support the stolen cycle market. If you’re buying a used bicycle on Craigslist, for example, “do your homework and ask good questions, like ‘Why are you selling it, and how long have you had it?’” said Greg Billing, WABA’s advocacy coordinator. After all, he added, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” H
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your neighborhood
C
an it be true?! After all these long years can the Black Cat really be closing? Has the quickpaced transformation of 14th Street caused the popular nightclub to become a casualty of another developer’s quest to bring yet a new condo/retail project to the strip? And then I realized that the “news flash” making its way around Facebook that Monday afternoon was an April Fool’s joke. U Street Buzz, the Facebook-based chatter box about U Street activity had published it in the tradition of April 1 “gotcha” journalism! But really, any report of an older building or business biting the dust in the U/14 environ is easily within the realm of believability as new replaces old regularly. Though I think The Black Cat has many lives left! It has rocked and rolled through some of 14th Street’s leanest years. I doubt its going away anytime too soon.
Le Diplomate Opens but the Spanish are Coming! Last month we mentioned that Le Diplomate, a new French bistro was on the way to opening at the corner of 14th and Q streets, in the space that a laundry/dry cleaner had occupied for several decades. Well, after a soft opening in early April, the restaurant, which is looking quite Parisian, opens officially in mid-April just in time for a tax refund dinner. The apparent flavor for European cuisine among chefs in DC continues to heat up in U/14 as we hear of the future opening of a Barcelona tapas restaurant just about two blocks north of Estadio. Coming to 1622 14th, this New England-based business is planning to operate in the building that had been 32 u midcitydcnews.com
Logan Circles by Mark F. Johnson
occupied by Bodysmith gym before they moved up the street to R as well as the space above Miss Pixies to the right. No opening date for Barcelona has been mentioned yet. But I think we can anticipate a summer season of lots of new restaurants and bars along 14th, many
development, which fronts S at 14th in the old Whitman-Walker Administrative offices seems pretty near to completion on the outside at least, but I hear that much of the interior is yet to be completed. The project which originally came on the market to some fanfare as
The District after a few years is finally standing tall. with outdoor seating. By the way, across the street from Le Diplomate on the southeast corner of 14th and Q, a new restaurant is in the works. The space had been Well Built contemporary furniture for a short while, before they moved to Cady’s Alley in Georgetown. But many more old timers remember this space at 1541 14th as Candida’s World of Travel Bookstore that closed three years ago, after years in that location.
The Slow Moving District Many have wondered why the District residential project is not yet opened after two years of construction. The JBJ
a condominium, soon switched to rentals as the units weren’t selling so well. That could explain the delay in bringing the District to completion. What is done of the project looks quite good in my opinion. Apparently businesses like Ted’s Bulletin restaurant are waiting to take up ground level space along 14th Street between S and Swann. Other projects seem to have proceeded along at a faster pace along the strip including Northern Exchange at the northwest corner of 14th and R, and the Aston, directly across the street. Both those projects seem to have taken about half the time of the District.
14th Street Bites It is very hard to talk about development and change in U/14 without a restaurant or condo being brought up in the conversation anymore. That is an issue that the local Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANC) has been grappling with of late, mostly from the standpoint of putting a cap on liquor licenses and quelling late night noise from bars and restaurants located on residential streets. However, in non-restaurant or residential complex news, if you weren’t noticing, you might have missed that Rue 14, the clothing store that had been above Pulp for a few years, has disappeared. In its place is a store called Blue’s Hard Goods, a clothing store trading in clothing from earlier periods. The store is under the same ownership. We’ve all heard that Trader Joe’s is about to locate at Louis 1V, the new rental residential project rising up at 14th and U. But, as I hear it, a pop up coffee shop is on the way too. To be called Wydown after their St. Louis neighborhood, two brothers want to bring a bit of St Louis-Louis, to Louis! Tex-Mex is going across the U Street border we hear. Up until now, all the new Mexican restaurants like El Centro and Tortilla Coast took up residence between U Street and P Street to the south. But, with the opening of Diego at the corner of 14th and V that would change. This project which looks like it may finally see the light of day is coming to the building on the corner that for decades was a little deli catering to an increasingly by-gone crowd in U/14. The building was bought a few years back by the owner of Dupont Italian Kitchen on 17th Street. u
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your neighborhood
Bloomingdale Bites by Jazzy Wright
Residents Gear Up for Heritage Trail A new 2.5 mile-long cultural heritage trail is scheduled to come to Bloomingdale in fall 2014, according to nonprofit organization Cultural Tourism DC. The self-guided “Worthy Ambition: LeDroit Park/Bloomingdale Heritage Trail” will allow residents and visitors to learn about the area’s history as they walk. The phrase “worthy ambition” comes from a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, a former LeDroit Park resident.
Tourism DC staff asked the group, What do you want to tell a visitor to your neighborhood about your neighborhood? and Where on the street would you tell that story?’” said Levey, adding that sessions for the trail have been attended by a wide mix of residents, local historians with a deep interest in the area. “Many start out as strangers, but by the time the Heritage Trail is finished, they are acquaintances and friends.” The project is dependent on a heavy amount input from community leaders,
John Salatti and a resident review pictures for the Heritage Trail. Each of the 16 Heritage Trail signs will include stories, photos, and maps about the neighborhoods. Bloomingdale and LeDroit community residents John Salatti and Robert Sullivan serve as cochairs for the project. Jane Freundel Levey, director of Heritage and Community Programs, said that residents were vital in the creation of the self-guided trail tours. “The Heritage Trail began with a series of community story-sharing sessions at which Cultural 34 u midcitydcnews.com
businesses, and residents. “By doing these sessions in LeDroit Park and Bloomingdale we were able to collect recent history that is not necessarily written down yet,” Levey said. “Taking this information, my staff of historian-researchers then added the history from the written records and fact-checked the newer information. We spent many months searching for historic photographs in the city’s many great repositories and scanning images from family collections.”
Cultural Tourism DC founder Kathryn S. Smith started the heritage trails more than a decade ago to guide tourists into historic local neighborhoods. They were intended to encourage tourists to stay longer in the city and appreciate local history. “The Heritage Trails are important to the city,” noted Levey, “because they speak to tourists and residents alike, strengthen existing communities through the process of collecting history, and draw people to commercial areas they might not otherwise now about or patronize.” Cultural Tourism DC has created heritage trails in Adams Morgan, Barracks Row, Brightwood, Deanwood, and Georgia Avenue.
turn the large, concrete-heavy vacant property at 1700 2nd St. into a new condominium. He purchased the twostory building in December of last year for $1.56 million. The building was constructed in 1920. Economides said that the new condominium will be made up of eight one-bedrooms and one studio on the first floor. The new building will also contain retail space. Economides said that he has heard from Bloomingdale residents who would like the retail space to be reserved for a tavern, bistro, or cafe. The finished condominium will include bike storage space and much more shrubbery and grass than the current structure.
High-Profile Red Hen Restaurant Set to Open
Police Commander Sends Crime Alert to Residents
Red Hen, the highly anticipated restaurant on 1st St. NW, will open in the middle of April. The restaurant’s menu, which may change weekly and bi-weekly, will consist of rabbit, freshly grown vegetables, and handmade pasta. The Italianfocused restaurant will open in a building space that has been vacant for 30 years. Red Hen will be run by Sebastian Zutant, who was the opening sommelier of the Proof restaurant, and restaurateurs Mike O’Malley and Michael Friedman. According to the Red Hen alcohol license permit the restaurant will seat 78 diners and include a sidewalk café with 46 seats. Zutant said that the design of The Red Hen will take advantage of the building’s prominent windows.
Second Street Housing and Retail Development A new condominium with retail space may be coming to 2nd Street NW. Developer Frank Economides plans to
In late March Commander Andy Solberg (5th District) sent a crime alert warning residents of a group of young people who are assaulting people in the area. According to Commander Solberg the group of boys and girls has attacked and threatened bystanders. “We alerted all our 5D, and specifically the PSA 501 officers and supervisors, and we moved to put an end to all such activity,” he continued. “As we learn more about recent incidents in Bloomingdale,” Solberg noted, “we are receiving reports from other individuals who say that they have run into this same (apparently) group of young boys and girls in the neighborhood, and that they have been assaulted or threatened.” He asked that anyone “who has been a victim of any activity or knows about anything assaults or other activity committed in the area by groups of kids get in touch with us.” u
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Shaw Streets by Ralph Brabham
Barber of Hell’s Bottom Opens On April 2, 2013, the Barber of Hell’s Bottom opened at 818 Rhode Island Ave. NW, at the corner of Rhode Island Ave. and 9th St. Dubbed a “salon for gentlemen,” the shop is an outgrowth of the popular hair destination Immortal Beloved in Logan Circle. The nine-chair shop seeks to celebrate and practice the craft of men’s grooming, offering haircuts, straight razor shaves, and fine products for sale. Among the barbers working at the Barber of Hell’s Bottom are Mike Thomas, Soel Hassani, Nicole Wingo, and Lauren Yoho. The Barber of Hell’s Bottom is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
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Commercial revitalization nonprofit organization Shaw Main Streets held its annual meeting on March 27 on the seventh floor of the new Progression Place office tower, a yet-to-be-built-out venue with stunning views of the city. At the meeting Shaw Main Streets announced the winner of its annual “Best New Shaw Business of 2012” poll. Only businesses that opened in 2012 were eligible. Off Road Indoor Cycling (905 U St. NW) won the poll, which was conducted via paper and e-mail ballot. Off Road incorporates cutting-edge techniques in indoor cycling such as virtual rides, power meters, and winter training, and also offers dynamic group classes such as boot camp, TRX, and boxing. Bistro Bohem (600 Florida Ave. NW) won first runner up, and BicycleSPACE (1019 7th St. NW) won second runner up.
Oysters Coming to 7th Street The tenant roster for the Shops at Progression Place, now under construction, continues to fill out, promising an exciting new retail strip in the 1800 block of 7th St. NW. The most recent revelation is that an oyster bar, Eat the Rich, will occupy 1839 7th St. next to Derek Brown’s upcoming Sherry venue Mockingbird Hill (discussed in last month’s Shaw Streets column). Eat the Rich will feature Travis Croxton’s award-winning Rappahannock oysters alongside cocktails by Brown. It will be a 67-seat restaurant and bar.
Brewery Coming to T St., NW Derek Thomas / Principal Certified Professional Horticulturist, Master Gardener; Member of the MD Nursery and Landscape Association & the Association of Professional Landscape Designers
301.642.5182
www.thomaslandscapes.com
THOMAS LANDSCAPES
Full -Service Landscape Design & Maintenance Firm
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If all goes according to plan the Right Proper Brewing Company will be pouring house-made “yeast-forward” beers and serving delicious, inexpensive cuisine at 624 T St. NW by the end of 2013. The venture is the product of Thor Cheston – hailing from Brasserie Beck and Pizzeria Paradiso – and John Snedden from Rocklands Barbeque and Grilling Company. Head brewer Nathan Zeender will oversee the brewing operation, which will produce six beers.
The modern interior of the Barber of Hell’s Bottom features Moroccan tile floors and beautiful custom woodwork Photo: Ralph Brabham
Old City Green Undergoes Metamorphosis News broke last year that Old City Green – the garden center located at 9th and N streets since 2008 – would be relocating to 925 Rhode Island Ave. NW, in front of the shuttered Shaw Middle School. With the change in location come even greater changes for the neighborhood garden center. Old City Green will now be a nonprofit organization called Old City Farm and Guild. In addition to selling plants and soil and garden supplies to cover its costs, the new entity will be a green space that provides educational programming and facilitates community activities surrounding gardening, nutrition, and environmental education. Its mission is “Bringing people and plants together by co-creating a space for gardeners, artists, students, and neighbors in order to cultivate a green community for all.” Old City Farm and Guild opens on April 11 and will have a grand opening celebration on Saturday April 13. u
Green Space vs Green Dollar Recommendations for the NW Project at 5th and I Streets were a widely debated topic at the April ANC 6E meeting for representatives from D.C.’s Deputy Mayor’s Office, the Donohoe Spectrum Team (project development group), former ANC 6E Commissioner Keith Silver and 6E residents. The parcel of land being discussed is located next to Massachusetts Avenue and is referred to as the Mt. Vernon Triangle property. Several options were laid on the table by residents and city officials in hopes of garnering enough momentum for the long-awaited project to get underway. Many residents are interested in “green space,” suggesting that a dog friendly park and children’s playground occupy the majority of the vacant lot. One area resident suggested that having a place for children to exercise would be vital for their mental and physical health. “Playgrounds make it possible for families to enjoy the area and currently kids have nothing to enjoy. Our community amenities should be put into use”, one area resident said. “As things go up, green space and community amenities are reduced so this project is a good chance to stop the trend. The Mt. Vernon Triangle area is a true neighborhood and we love retail but we also believe that condominium [dwellers] should stay healthy,”,added another area resident. On the business and retail side of the discussion, some of the 6E residents expressed their desire to attract local businesses, many of which cannot afford premium rents, in lieu of national chains. Among the suggested retail businesses were bakeries, clothing stores, docking stations for bikes, art galleries, an organic market, and a daycare center. “The block is such a missed opportunity and sore spot. Tourists are afraid to walk in the area. Move it forward and fast – we need vitality!” expressed an area resident at the meeting. Keith Silver suggested supporting economic development to bring more jobs to the area. Mr. Silver also urged the city to
ANC 6E Report by Steve Holton stick with the Donahoe Spectrum Group which submitted a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the city in 2007 for the project. The city has since ended talks with Donohoe and could possibly start over by rebidding the project. “The Donohoe Team has held numerous town hall meetings to gather local input for the development plan so it is paramount that they remain in place as the project developers. The roadblocks put in place by the city and the rationale to end talks with them is puzzling,” Silver said. Jad Donohoe of the Donohoe Spectrum Group stated that the current project plan of local retail and restaurants could start as early as 2014 while a new and rebidded project may not get under way until 2016. The Donohoe Spectrum Group plan would provide economic support for the area. “Encourage the Deputy Mayor to move forward because we could start right away with this project. You want business to grow your city internally,” Donohoe said. Representatives from the Deputy Mayor’s Office were available at the meeting to provide input and answer questions as well. Jeff Miller, the Mayor’s Real Estate Director, responded to Mr. Silver’s claims that the city was holding up the project by saying that Silver in fact called the Mayor’s office and asked that the Donohoe Spectrum Team be pulled from the project in 2008. Mr. Silver later retorted, “At that time the project was flawed.” A letter from the Deputy Mayor’s Office sent to ANC6E in February also stated that the Donohoe Spectrum Group didn’t comply with the city. When asked why the city has decided to re-bid, City Project Manager Ivan Matthews responded, “The project has been going on since 2007 and it has taken too long.” Matthews also requested that current residents submit recommendations that will address architectural design, density, height and residential and commercial use for the property. A letter will be sub-
mitted on behalf of ANC 6E members with recommendations addressing a new RFP going to the Deputy Mayor’s office by the middle of April. “The Deputy Mayor wants community input to help scope development proposals.”, Matthews said. 6E area residents closed the topic by expressing the need for closure, “The community is confused about what it has been following. Move the ball faster and have transparent communication,” one Shaw resident said.
Shaw Area Crime On The Decline
A Public Safety Announcement (PSA) provided by the Metropolitan Police Department at the 6E meeting revealed that burglaries have dramatically dropped over the last 30 days, but property theft remains the same. Vehicles and cell phones remain a top target and city law enforcement urges individuals to be aware of their surroundings. “Use common sense when you are walking. Those carrying out the acts are primarily youth and they will grab your property (smartphone, purse, etc.) and run so it is hard to I.D. them later,” said the MPD spokesman. On a more positive note, local construction companies are employing more adolescents, which give them more of an interest in being part of the solution rather than a part of the problem, according to DC authorities. One interesting statistic, noted by the MPD spokesman was that drug dealers have gone from possessing $3,000 to $200, at the time of the arrest. “People are thinking now that it is better to get a job and earn money in a more legal manner.”, the DCPD Spokesman said.
New Jersey Avenue Safety Improvements New Jersey Avenue NW is scheduled for safety improvements estimated to take
up to 14 months to be completed as reported by a DC Department of Transportation (DOT) representative at the ANC 6E meeting. NJ Avenue located south of NY Avenue NW will be converting from a one way street to two lanes creating a balance for transportation. Safety improvements will include traffic signal and lighting upgrades, sidewalk repair and widening, new roadway markings and the addition of bike lanes. Landscaping improvements are also part of the project to enhance aesthetics. Residents were assured that 80 percent of project laborers will not be using residential neighborhoods for parking. The city plans to work with schools to make sure kids are safe crossing the street as well as other pedestrians, vehicles, and bicycles.
Other Topics of Note •
Alvin Judd won the special election held at the meeting and now holds the ANC 6E 06 Commission Seat. The seat was left vacant by Mark Dixon who passed away in late January. • A pilot program has been developed to improve an ongoing parking program on 11th Street NW between S and Rhode Island Avenue in the near future, as reported by DC Traffic Safety Specialist Derrick Henry. The program is designed to open up seven new parking spaces to relieve church parking and will only be in effect on Sundays between the hours of 7am and 2pm. “With additional parking, there will be vigorous enforcement for parking violations and cars will be ticketed after 2pm.”, Henry said. • The ANC 6E Commission Board passed a motion to work with a design firm to design the façade of a three story building located at 1620 7th Street NW. The design will be considered a historic preservation project. The next ANC 6E Meeting will be held on Wed. May 1, 6:30pm at the Shaw Library located at 1630 7th Street NW. u Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 37
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National Zoo’s Elephant Community Center “Elephant Trails” Opens Elephant Trails, which opened on Mar 23, spans 8,943 square meters, which is large enough to accommodate up to three separate groups of elephants, including a natural, matriarchal herd of elephants and individual bulls. Altogether, the facility can house between eight and ten adult Asian elephants and their young. The Zoo’s goal is to provide all elephants with indoor-outdoor access year round. The Elephant Community Center and Elephant Barn contain nine indoor living areas, or “suites.” The outdoor component of Elephant Trails contains seven enclosures, including four exhibit yards, two paddocks, and an
Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo Elephant Trek. Sliding doors separate each area and can be opened for full access or closed for isolation of individuals or groups. By enabling or restricting access, keepers vary the level of visual and tactile access among the Zoo’s elephants. nationalzoo.si.edu
Kids Run the Bases at Nat’s Park Kids ages 4-12 can run the bases after select Sunday home games. Kids Run the Bases begins immediately following the game, weather permitting. This year’s dates are 38 u midcitydcnews.com
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Apr 14 and 28; May 12 and 26; June 9 and 23; July7, 21 and 28; Sept 1, 15 and 22. An adult must accompany runners to the field. One adult per child on the field. Starting at first base, kids will be directed to run around the bases as the adults continue along the warning track and meet the runners near home plate. Once the game has ended, it takes the grounds crew approximately 20 minutes to prepare the field. Kids and parents/guardians can begin lining up at the end of the 7th inning, however fans that would like to stay and watch the entire game will still be able to line up once the game has ended. Participants must exit the ballpark through the Right Field Gate. The line forms outside of the park on the sidewalk along First St. washington.nationals.mlb.com
Earth Day Fun with Jumpstart at MLK Library UDC Jumpstart volunteers have partnered with the DC Public Library to organize special children’s programs. On Apr 20, 1-4 p.m., visit MLK library and say “hooray” for Earth Day! Want to make your own ladybug? Sit down with your Jumpstart friends for some springtime crafts! Wondering what you can do to help the environment? Come to a special storytime at 3 p.m. and learn about recycling and composting (and an earth-friendly recipe for compost stew)! For ages 3-10. For more information, please call the Children’s Department: 202-727-1248. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202727-0321. dclibrary.org/mlk
Camp Sitar, June 24-Aug 4 If you like to paint, dance, sculpt, play an instrument, write or all of the above, Camp Sitar’s Visual & Performing Arts Program is just the place for you. Work with professional artists and learn skills in classes from dance and web design, to collage art and percussion. Students have the opportunity each session to choose classes that match
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their interests in the visual and performing arts. Come see what kind of artist you are at Camp Sitar! Sitar Arts Center is pleased to partner with Washington Performing Arts Society’s Playful Rhythms Camp and Corcoran ArtReach. Classes are available on a first come, first served basis, so register early! Sitar Arts Center, 1700 Kalorama Rd. NW. 202-797-2145. sitarartscenter.org Sitar Arts Center brings its diverse community together to give underserved children and youth the opportunity to explore and study the visual and performing arts in an afterschool safe haven. The Center partners with local volunteer artists and arts organizations to provide comprehensive arts education, nurturing relationships and high expectations that enable young people to better know and express themselves as they discover and develop their artistic gifts.
“ColorStruck: With the Skin I’m In!” Black Awareness Dance Musical “ColorStruck: With the Skin I’m In!” is a thoughtprovoking dance musical wrapped in the effervescence and energy of the electrifying Northeast Performing Arts Group. How are today’s youth challenged by decades of lack of knowledge? Come experience an educational expression of history, human behavior, images of color and change. See how today’s youth overcome the destructive forces of color bias and create hope for embracing humanity. This musical is told through the eyes of children through dance. Come to be entertained, educated, and uplifted by performers ranging from ages 3 thru 25 years of age. $15 in advance/$20 at the door. Performances are on Friday, Apr 19, 11:30 a.m and 7 p.m. at the Woodrow Wilson Senior High School Auditorium, 3950 Chesapeake St. N.W. nepag.org
Saturday Morning at the National Free Performances for Children On Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. there are free live performances for children in the Helen Hayes
OPEN
ENROLLMENT ABOUT US: •
Founded in the fall of 1999
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Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
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Pre-school – 5th Grade
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Independently run with a strong Board of Trustees
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Challenging Curriculum
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Exciting Creative Arts and Technology Program
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Positive school culture
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Open to all DC Residents
for School Year 2013-2014 in Grades Pre-school through 5th grade (All DC Residents welcome to apply).
5300 Blaine Street, NE Washington, DC 20019 202-398-6811
Please visit us at www.artstechacademy.org
Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 39
Gallery. Tickets are required and distributed first come-first seated. Tickets are distributed 1/2 hour prior to performance. One ticket per person in line. The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. 202-783-3372. Apr 6-Matthew Pauli: The Sword in the Stone. Fresh from his last appearance as Captain Nobeard, Matthew Pauli returns as the hapless serf who, with a little help from the kids, attempts to draw the legendary Sword from the Stone to find the one true King. Slapstick, silliness and a little bit of magic brings order to the realm and a guaranteed smile to everyone’s face! Apr 20-Jackie Urbanovic: It’s a duck! No, a hamster. Join children’s illustrator and author Jackie Urbanovic as she sings, See Paikbot at Children’s Day at the Smithsonian American growls and quacks up a storm while Art Museum. Photo: Courtesy of the Smithsonian American reading from her best-selling children’s Art Museum books. Afterwards, Jackie will speak on how a picture book is created and draw tee’s celebration of Asian Pacific heritage. a special character imagined by the kids in American Art Museum, 8th and F sts. the audience! Apr 27-Uno, Dos, Tres, con NW. 202-633-7970. americanart.si.edu Andrés. Andrés Salguero, and his iguana named “Juana”, leads the kids on an interactive Latin American adventure exploring Uno, Dos, Tres con Spanish culture. Kids are invited to sing, Andrés at Northwest shake, and sound out rhythms with Andrés, One Library all to music filled with a contagious Latin For El Día de los Niños/El Día de los beat! May 4-Brian Curry: Magic and MisLibros (Children’s Day/Book Day), agite chief. Water vanishes in midair moments bien, cantar y bailar (shake, sing and dance) before drenching a hapless volunteer, botin this interactive musical children’s show. tles appear out of nowhere, and the world’s Monday. Apr 29, 10:30 a.m. at most difficult card trick happens in a flash! Northwest One Library, 155 L St. NW. Magician Brian Curry keeps even the most 202-939-5946. dclibrary.org/northwest skeptical of audiences laughing with befuddlement in a morning filled with mystery.
Paikbot Family Day at the American Art Museum On May 5, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., celebrate Children’s Day, a Korean holiday for kids and family. Explore the Paik exhibition and enjoy family activities inspired by his art. Children of all ages can play with interactive TV and robot games from Spontaneous Art and Friends. Take tours offered with Korean translation. Color a flat PaikBot and take him on a scavenger hunt. This program is part of the Smithsonian Heritage Month Steering Commit40 u midcitydcnews.com
more historic objects in storage and lots of people who study and care for these objects. Back there, workers organize and study these objects. Read more on the American History Museum Blog...”oh say can you see?” Find it at blog.americanhistory.si.edu.
DC United Summer Camps Open for Registration DC United Summer Camps registration is now open. The camps include the popular summer camp series at DC United’s Training Complex at RFK, two Striker/Goalkeeper camps also at DC United’s Training Complex and several week-long camps at satellite locations around the area. Series 1, 2 and 3, at RFK Stadium, will feature First Team player appearances from Brandon McDonald, Chris Pontius, Nick DeLeon, Lewis Neal, Perry Kitchen and Dejan Jakovic. The Striker/Goalkeeper camps will also feature First Team player appearances from Carlos Ruiz, Bill Hamid and Chris Pontius. Additionally, DC United’s annual residential camp will be held at St. Timothy’s School in Stevenson, Md., from July 6-10. An elite training environment, the five-day residential camp will provide on-field and classroom instruction of the highest level. For more information, visit dcunited.com/ camps/summer-camp-information.
Get Kids Outdoors, Active, and Hooked The Tooth Fairy File (a museum mystery for on Fishing! Family & Youth Casting Call is on young detectives) May 4, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Fletcher’s Cove Have you ever wondered what the Tooth Fairy does with your teeth after collecting them while you sleep? At the Smithsonian American Hisorty Museum, they think they may have figured it out thanks to some mysterious things that have been happening at the museum. When you visit a museum, you see exhibitions that include really old historic objects (such as a big locomotive train) and their stories. You might also see a gift shop, bathrooms, café, and hands-on area. But there’s much more you don’t see. Behind the scenes, there are
on the C&O Canal. Spend a day fishing in the C&O Canal-they provide the instructors and all the gear you will need to catch fish. When not fishing, children will participate in fun, educaitonal activities like water quality testing, fly casting or fly tying, fish art, scavenger hunts, touch tanks and so much more. Partner agencies and organizations will have displays set up to learn about how they are helping fish and fishing across the country. Don’t miss this fantastic day
of family fun! Read more at familyandyouthcastingcall.com.
PG-13 “Jack The Giant Slayer” IMAX 3D at Natural History Museum Jack the Giant Slayer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack (Nicholas Hoult) into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend—and gets the chance to become a legend himself. Johnson IMAX Theater, National Museum of Natural History. si.edu/Imax/Movie81
Library of Congress Establishes Special Prize for National History Day The Library of Congress has established a new prize as part of National History Day to encourage students to study discovery and exploration through the ages. The Library of Congress “Discovery or Exploration in History Prize” will be awarded at a special ceremony on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park at 8:30 a.m. on June 13, 2013. Sponsored by the Elizabeth Ridgway Fund from the Library of Congress, this $1,000 prize is awarded in the junior division (grades 6-8) of the National History Day competition for an outstanding project in any category on American or international discovery or exploration. The Elizabeth Ridgway Fund was established in memory of the late director of Educational Outreach at the Library to honor her passion for history, students, education and the Library of Congress. National History Day is a national year-long academic program focused on historical research for students in grades 6-12. Each year, more than half a million students chose historical topics related
to a theme and conduct extensive primary and secondary research to prepare original papers, websites, exhibits, performances and documentaries for entry into local, state and national History Day competitions. The program culminates in the national contest, held each June at the University of Maryland. For information on National History Day, the annual contest and all available prizes, visit nhd.org.
iCivics Website for Kids and Teachers iCivics prepares young Americans to become knowledgeable, engaged 21st century citizens by creating free and innovative educational materials. In 2009, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics to reverse Americans’ declining civic knowledge and participation. Securing our democracy, she realized, requires teaching the next generation to understand and respect our system of governance. Today iCivics comprises not just a board and staff, but also a national leadership team of state supreme court justices, secretaries of state, and educational leaders and a network of committed volunteers. They are committed to passing along our legacy of democracy to the next generation. So far, iCivics has produced 16 educational video games as well as vibrant teaching materials that have been used in classrooms in all 50 states. Today they offer the nation’s most comprehensive, standards-aligned civics curriculum that is available freely on the Web. Visit at icivics.org.
Chess Challenge in DC Rescheduled The 2nd Annual Chess Challenge in DC Citywide Elementary and Middle School Chess Tournament has been rescheduled to Apr 20, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson High School. This is an unrated four round tournament with a blitz playoff. Registration is free and all participants receive a t-shirt, wristband, lunch, prizes and raffle tickets. To register go to chesschallengeindc.org. For more information call 202-579-5551. u
THE DANCE INSTITUTE OF WASHINGTON
2013 SUMMER DANCE INTENSIVE Registration Is Now Open! Community Youth Intensive Dates June 29th - August 3rd Pre-Professional Intensive Dates June 24th - August 2nd For More Information On How You Can Register, Give Us A Call At:
202.371.9656
Or Visit Us In The Heart Of Columbia Heights:
3400 14th Street, NW We’re Also Online At,
www.danceinstitutewa.org
Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 41
at home
+ Changing Hands
Changing Hands Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list, based on the MRIS, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker office on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms. Neighborhood
Close Price
FEE SIMPLE
BR
BLOOMINGDALE 18 W ST NW 2219 2ND ST NW
$655,000 $590,000
CLEVELAND PARK 3732 CHESAPEAKE ST NW 3430 34TH PL NW 3113 QUEBEC PL NW
$2,025,000 $1,750,000 $877,000
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 2814 13TH ST NW 824 OTIS PL NW 3103 11TH ST NW 626 PRINCETON PL NW 747 PRINCETON PL NW 752 PARK RD NW 1429 PARKWOOD PL NW 3923 14TH ST NW 3116 PARK PL NW 448 LAMONT ST NW 121 ROCK CREEK CHURCH RD NW 453 IRVING ST NW 724 GRESHAM PL NW
$1,150,000 $750,000 $737,000 $660,000 $581,000 $579,900 $550,000 $500,000 $485,000 $475,000 $399,990 $360,000 $330,000
3 2 5 4 3 6 5 4 4 3 4 4 3 3 2 4 6 3
DUPONT 2130 O ST NW 1820 16TH ST NW
$1,387,000 $1,050,000
KALORAMA 2107 WYOMING AVE NW 2118 S ST NW
$3,825,000 $1,705,000
LEDROIT PARK 45 BRYANT ST NW 401 U ST NW 416 U ST NW 432 OAKDALE PL NW
$912,000 $763,000 $700,000 $372,000
5 3 8 4 6 3 6 2
LOGAN 1431 SWANN ST NW $875,000 MARSHALL HEIGHTS 5058 B ST SE $290,000 5209 D ST SE $135,000 232 54TH ST SE $115,000 5348 C ST SE $113,900 $112,000 5437 B ST SE 5454 C ST SE $106,000 4702 B ST SE $94,000 MASS AVE HTS 3222 WOODLAND DR NW $2,720,000
MOUNT PLEASANT 1875 INGLESIDE TER NW 3307 18TH ST NW
$861,500 $810,000
MOUNT VERNON SQ 1225 5TH ST NW
$715,000
2 4 2 3 2 2 2 3 5 3 6 4
PETWORTH 424 ALLISON ST NW 4516 8TH ST NW 4106 5TH ST NW 4103 3RD ST NW 335 ROCK CREEK CHURCH RD NW
$700,500 $691,500 $629,900 $625,000 $604,000
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4 4 3 3 4
5409 ILLINOIS AVE NW 5030 8TH ST NW 4840 7TH ST NW 206 EMERSON ST NW 423 INGRAHAM ST NW 403 UPSHUR ST NW 414 DELAFIELD PL NW 832 JEFFERSON ST NW 4012 7TH ST NW 4911 4TH ST NW 5018 4TH ST NW 814 EMERSON ST NW 729 KENNEDY ST NW 322 GALLATIN ST NW 5311 1ST ST NW
$600,000 $590,000 $574,000 $530,900 $509,720 $499,000 $489,000 $480,000 $456,000 $450,000 $445,000 $375,000 $365,000 $350,000 $250,000
4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 5 3 6 4 3 3
SHAW 1536 1ST ST NW 1535 5TH ST NW
$565,000 $547,500
3 2
CONDO 14TH STREET CORRIDOR
1634 14TH ST NW #503 $650,000 1634 14TH ST NW #201 $614,900 16TH STREET HEIGHTS 1301 LONGFELLOW ST NW #308 $159,000
ADAMS MORGAN 1700 KALORAMA RD NW #405 2363 CHAMPLAIN ST NW #22 2505 17TH ST NW #PENTHOUSE 2038 18TH ST NW #202 1725 EUCLID ST NW #3 2505 17TH ST NW #1 1855 CALVERT ST NW #403 2633 ADAMS MILL RD NW #404 2426 ONTARIO RD NW #305 2627 ADAMS MILL RD NW #402 1801 WYOMING AVE NW #2
$699,900 $650,000 $529,900 $525,000 $485,000 $469,900 $441,000 $428,000 $413,000 $350,500 $569,900
BLOOMINGDALE 2201 2ND ST NW #14
$289,900
CLEVELAND PARK 3883 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #318 3883 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #108 3540 39TH ST NW #648 3824 PORTER ST NW #395 3701 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #605
$670,000 $497,000 $417,000 $329,000 $228,000
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 1425 EUCLID ST NW #12 3532 13TH ST NW ##2 1348 EUCLID ST NW #405 1442 HARVARD ST NW #5 1417 CHAPIN ST NW #505 732 LAMONT ST NW #403 1447 CHAPIN ST NW #203 1430 NEWTON ST NW #401 1326 GIRARD ST NW #G1 3500 13TH ST NW #401 754 PARK RD NW #02 1300 TAYLOR ST NW #4 1237 KENYON ST NW #A 3727 9TH ST NW #3
$740,000 $681,000 $650,000 $629,900 $489,900 $482,500 $479,000 $459,000 $409,000 $359,900 $349,000 $340,000 $320,000 $311,200
2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2
1401 COLUMBIA RD NW #104 3515 HERTFORD PL NW #32 1438 COLUMBIA RD NW #203 1447 CHAPIN ST NW #101 754 PARK RD NW #01 1495 NEWTON ST NW #102 3534 6TH ST NW #3534 2576 SHERMAN AVE NW #301 2639 15TH ST NW #B-4 1321 FAIRMONT ST NW #305 14 DANBURY ST SW #14C 748 BRANDYWINE ST SE #204 4715 1ST ST SW #203
$306,500 $301,000 $299,000 $295,000 $289,000 $278,300 $275,000 $266,000 $245,000 $232,000 $85,000 $67,000 $40,000
DUPONT CIRCLE 1830 JEFFERSON PL NW #21 1545 18TH ST NW #713 1700 15TH ST NW #301 1615 Q ST NW #812 1601 18TH ST NW #508 1717 T ST NW #31 1702 Q ST NW #1 1753 Q ST NW #B 1821 RIGGS PL NW 2130 N ST NW #509
$1,140,000 $395,100 $379,500 $310,000 $242,500 $625,000 $525,000 $501,188 $395,000 $320,000
KALORAMA 2141 WYOMING AVE NW #22-41 2006 COLUMBIA RD NW #43 1807 CALIFORNIA ST NW #203 1910 KALORAMA RD NW #302 1880 COLUMBIA RD NW #100 1954 COLUMBIA RD NW #407
$1,395,000 $517,000 $480,000 $319,900 $275,000 $225,000
LEDROIT PARK 74 ADAMS ST NW #3 74 ADAMS ST NW #2 523 FLORIDA AVE NW #1 523 FLORIDA AVE NW #2 2035 2ND ST NW #GL02
$720,000 $650,000 $480,000 $470,000 $455,000
LOGAN CIRCLE 1300 13TH ST NW #506 1212 M ST NW #402 1133 14TH ST NW #406 1314 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #701 1111 11TH ST NW #902 1314 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #306 1111 11TH ST NW #609 1450 CHURCH ST NW #603 1401 Q ST NW #504 1210 R ST NW #110 1313 VERMONT AVE NW #2 1401 CHURCH ST NW #323 1308 12TH ST NW #B 1239 VERMONT AVE NW #805 1634 14TH ST NW #102 1300 N ST NW #208 1239 VERMONT AVE NW #206 1634 14TH ST NW #1 1300 N ST NW #13 1324 14TH ST NW #1 1324 14TH ST NW #4 1001 L ST NW #611 1117 10TH ST NW #805 2125 14TH ST NW #621 751 P ST NW #2 751 P ST NW #10
$672,400 $530,000 $442,000 $399,999 $382,500 $368,000 $342,000 $1,190,000 $826,000 $535,000 $465,000 $442,500 $417,028 $375,000 $319,900 $309,900 $294,000 $279,900 $239,900 $679,900 $603,900 $395,500 $292,000 $519,000 $724,900 $649,900
1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 3 2 2 3 1 1 1 0 3 2 1 2 1 3 2 2 0 1 0 2 2 2 2 2
751 P ST NW #12 751 P ST NW #8 751 P ST NW #4 751 P ST NW #9
$649,900 $609,900 $609,900 $574,900
MOUNT PLEASANT 2200 17TH ST NW #213 1706 SUMMIT PL NW #1/2 2328 CHAMPLAIN ST NW #320 1663 NEWTON ST NW #2 2505 17TH ST NW 1750 HARVARD ST NW #2D
$773,000 $590,000 $535,000 $532,500 $519,900 $268,000
MT VERNON SQUARE 475 K ST NW #424 430 M ST NW #2 430 M ST NW #1 430 M ST NW #4 430 M ST NW #5 430 M ST NW #3 430 M ST NW #6
$635,000 $492,501 $474,900 $450,000 $449,900 $399,900 $370,000
PENN QUARTER 715 6TH ST NW #704 715 6TH ST NW #1001 915 E ST NW #309
$550,000 $440,000 $399,999
U STREET 1418 W ST NW #202 929 FLORIDA AVE NW #3003
$329,000 $406,000
2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
COOP ADAMS MORGAN 1661 CRESCENT PL NW #205
$1,225,000
BLOOMINGDALE 150 V ST NW #V309
$395,000
CLEVELAND PARK 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 2 1 0 1 2 2
2 2 2 2
3024 PORTER ST NW #101 3026 PORTER ST NW #101 3620 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #33
$287,000 $274,000 $269,000
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 1415 GIRARD ST NW #302 429 KENYON ST NW #T-2 1415 GIRARD ST NW #403
$260,000 $162,550 $160,000
3 1 1 1 1 2 2 1
DUPONT 1526 17TH ST NW #101 1701 16TH ST NW #101 1701 16TH ST NW #146 1701 16TH ST NW #508 1701 16TH ST NW #518 1514 17TH ST NW #500
$347,500 $335,000 $303,000 $199,000 $146,500 $375,000
KALORAMA 1901 WYOMING AVE NW #2 1875 MINTWOOD PL NW #36
$364,000 $268,000
MOUNT PLEASANT 1705 LANIER PL NW #108 1801 CLYDESDALE PL NW #104 u
$349,000 $90,000
1 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 2 0
Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 43
at home
+ Garden Fairy
Spring Waits for No One
W
ith all of Nature’s erratic behavior I still walk in awe when looking at the trees beginning to bud. Or when the daffodils, the crocuses, the little wild onions begin to greet us. Earlier this year I would see daffodils risking their lives only because the sun was out and the temperatures were warm. I would worry that we’d get a freeze, or a strong winter blizzard would come in and cut them to size. Perhaps teaching them to wait. The plant world always amazes me. You can see a tree that was struck by lightning, with half of its trunk gone, big roots exposed, bark destroyed by car doors constantly hitting it or with a hole at the base surrounded by mushrooms for fairies to hide near the earth. Yet one branch has managed to spring forward, and blossoms are about to burst into a frenzy of color. Spring still shows itself, and us, that it will arrive in its own time. Regardless of our human-made calendars, spring appears. Regardless how we pollute the planet or impact our climate, spring has arrived (so far).
44 u midcitydcnews.com
by Frank Asher We go with the flow. We extend our Cherry Blossom Festival because the trees will peak later this year. As I write this, spring is here. Thanks, spring! I am ready for you.
Cycles That Can Connect and Don’t Connect. As the world turns, as the seasons move, life has its beautiful idiosynchronicities. For example, the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect, according to chaos theory, refers to the close dependence of final results on initial conditions. Even a small change at one place can produce large differences in a deterministic nonlinear system. Edward Lorenz gave the effect its name, based on the theoretical example of a butterfly flapping its wings and setting in motion effects that eventually produce a hurricane.
How the Butterflies Affected Me I recently visited a monarch butterfly reserve in Mexico near Angangueo, an old mining town in
the mountains. The experience was breathtaking. Thousands, maybe millions of monarchs were coming out of dormancy. Every fall they fly down from as far as Canada to rest for the winter. Every spring they begin to stir. The first thing they do is exercise their wings, then mate. After mating the male butterflies die and the pregnant females begin their journey back home. They make it to Texas and lay their eggs, then die. The next generation hatches and goes through their 30-day cycle from egg to caterpillar to butterfly. A butterfly’s life lasts approximately 3-4 weeks. The mating begins again
and they travel further north. The fourth generation, which hatches in August, in the upper parts of the United States and Canada, is called the Methuselah. Their lifespan is almost three times longer than previous generations and they don’t mature sexually for a few months. This allows them time to fly all the way back to Mexico for the winter. It takes four generations to fly up and one generation to fly south. Unfortunately herbicides and climate changes have a harsh effect on the main food source for monarchs, milkweed. The milkweed is dying off, and monarch populations are in
serious danger. I seriously recommend this experience. Put it on your bucket list before the butterflies are gone. The people of Mexico, for the most part, are working at preserving these beautiful creatures. There are breeding reserves in the valleys below the reserves. Logging has been seriously reduced. Even cars are only allowed up so far, and you have to go in on horseback and then by foot to see millions of butterflies in a few acres of trees. I can only imagine what it was like 75-100 years ago when there were billions of butterflies spread out over hundreds of acres.
The Local Butterfly Effect When Old City green was operating at 9th and N, we were registered as a certified butterfly reserve. At our new location at 925 Rhode Island Ave. in front of Shaw Middle School, Old City Farm & Guild plans on creating another reserve with even more butterflies and bees to help us out. Without our pollinators we would be in serious trouble. Their absence would create an effect I don’t want to be around for. If you want to find out how you can help with saving these insects and other endangered urban wildlife contact us at oldcitygreen@ gmail.com. See you this spring with the blooming trees, the smiling flowers, the chirping birds, and the buzzing bees. Their spring is in a flurry. Hope yours is as well. Frank Asher is founder of Old City Farm & Guild (est. 2013), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching children the value of nature and creating a green community in an urban landscape. u
Midcity DC | APRIL 2013 u 45
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Tell Them, “Shaw Main Streets Sent
Me!�
Shaw Main Streets is a designated DC Main Streets program and is funded in part by the Department of Small and Local Business Development, Vincent C. Gray, Mayor.