Believe in Your City

Broad Thoughts Amid Narrow Debates

Those who know me know that I am proud to come from Detroit. But these days, like so many others, I am now just part of the Detroit Diaspora.

In countless ways my hometown comes back to me: images of the industrial landscapes we grew up with (mixed with summertime greens and those long, flat stretches of houses,) reminders of its fall in the hundreds of “Detroit ruin porn” videos that fill the web (we’ve seen it, thank you,) or those sausages and ginger ale that you can only find deep in the city.

Wide avenues that radiate from the center like spokes on a bike; late nights in the hot summer listening to the Electrifying Mojo and watching the stars. People who are unfailingly friendly, but know how to keep a polite distance.

I think about my hometown dozens of different ways on any day, but it always ends the same. Detroit may be my hometown, but DC is my home.

These two places aren’t nearly as different as one may imagine. Hard to believe (not to me) now, but Detroit was, for decades, the most prosperous major city in the U.S. More people bought their first homes – nice ones, separate with lawns and fences and backyard bar-be-ques and Jarts – in Detroit than in any other American city. It was a company town that worked exactly because of its immigrants: Slavs, Quebecois, Irish, Mexican, American South.

DC today – with all the condos and “gritty” bars and three-bill restaurants and hustle was exactly Detroit, fifty years ago. Motown wasn’t just a marketing label: it was the live-wire energy that that place was.

Washington today can feel the same – lots of people moving here who didn’t grow up here, company town, nightlife buffet, broad avenues amid the rigid grid of urban life.

But there’s one other thing that troubles me deeply: the hubris that it will never end.

Thoughtful opinions to the contrary are welcomed – keep the insults down and I’ll repost your thoughts and visions. But there was a time – don’t laugh – when people thought the gravy train would never end in Detroit.How could it? Detroit was the American dream.

Which makes me shudder when I now hear all these “gotta-wear-shades” exuberant predictions of how DC, and the larger metropolitan community web, will never, ever suffer the sort of humiliation visited upon iron-and-steel barbarians like Detroit. Of course it will continue to grow, and grow! Washington: City on the Move!

Except that was exactly the title of this film, promoting Detroit for – stop laughing or I shall punch you – the Olympics. hahahahaha Detroit? OLYMPICS?!

The Point of This Blog

There was a time when people called Detroit, without ironic smirks, the Paris of the Midwest. DC is these days labeled among Paris, London and Tokyo as capitals of the world.

What happened with Detroit was a catastrophic mismanagement by all parties – everybody. You can’t grow up there without feeling a little blood on your hands.

I feel that acutely now; notably as I’m not living there, doing my best. I have chosen a path that connects me with my life partner – and his home is DC. So it is mine, too.

This blog is something of a warning flare. Not of impending doom – Detroit didn’t fall in a year but over 50. Rather, I have lived city mismanagement once, and I don’t want to live it again.

Enthusiasts wave the banner for every new bar, lounge, condo or whathaveyou as proof of the invincibility of DC and its continued ascendency.

Parking? Bah. Over-crowding of nightlife districts? Old man! Developments built exclusively for the profit of the developer, community be damned? NIMBY!

I am numb to the Nimby name. It is not unlike other words people hurl to try and keep one down, hunkered, defensive. It is bullshit, and I am calling it for what it is.

We are participating in this community precisely because we care: we want to nurture it, help it grow smart but not over-fast so it falls down on its face. What charlatans call NIMBY, we know as stewardship.

So let’s not let DC become Detroit – which grew far too large far too fast for anyone to say much because money was being turned hand-over-hand.

We welcome contrary views – not as snarky three line “responses” which say little.  Have a different view? Fine. Send it to us, we’ll print (again, keep the name-calling limited) and we can have a discussion.

I am a Detroiter. I am a DCite. I love my two towns, and want the best for them. I do not want the fate of the first to become the fate of the other.

Join us.

We Can Do Better

A Resolution Or Two Worth Keeping

“Oh, I don’t do resolutions.” I’ve heard that innumerable times these last two weeks. Maybe they’ve fallen out of style. Maybe people really never made resolutions for the new year; they just said they did because everyone else said they did. Mark me down as dim, but I do make them. Sometimes I even keep them.

Here are two I’m sharing, primarily because they relate to all of us.

1: I RESOLVE to be work harder to hear the opinions of those I may not agree with.

Generally, this is something that seems like a good idea for everyone, but I’m not responsible for everyone, only myself. There are different opinions about what neighborhood means in general, and what this one means in particular. There are different goals for where residents would like it to be 5, 10 years from now. Opinions are just that, but out best selves ask that we at least hear those of all our neighbors…respectfully submitted of course.

There’s a mile wide difference between engaging in building our civic life, and just tossing about accusations, names, or just sitting with your fingers in your ears while others are talking. I wish we could all share in this, but I can only control myself. So, I’ll listen to you even if you don’t listen to me, but only as long as you don’t take advantage of open ears.

2: I RESOLVE to help figure out a way we can work better as a community.

Particularly, we all seem to be scattered. Working early or late, can’t make this meeting or that, and generally overwhelmed by the sheer number of issues facing our community. This meeting, that meeting; this protest, that letter…email chains that clog our mailboxes and make less and less sense the further they get from the original message.

It’s the job of developers and lawyers to manage the path to opening a store; they get paid to go to these meetings to build bars and houses for others to use. The rest of us? We have to work at other things to keep our houses; this maze of meetings is as another job…another job many of us don’t have time for.

So I’m proposing a neighborhood meeting: all of us, in as big a room as we need, with as much advance notice as is appropriate, to come together and figure out how we can focus. Who can take responsibility for Issue 1, Issue 2, Issue 3, etc. AND figure out a good way of sharing that information with everyone in a clear, accessible manner.

My resolutions for my neighborhood, and my place in it.  Yours?

To All, A Warm Night

Wallach Place Through The Seasons

Our neighborhood circa 1995 was very different than it is now. So are we all.

Back then Craig and I were having a flirtation; a fun, slightly spicy continuing exchange across desks at work. It was fun, but as with all flirtations, there comes a moment of fish or cut bait. Christmas Eve, 1995, we had our first real date, and he set out to impress. It worked.

I’ll spare the details, save to say he impressed and then some. It was a memorable, long evening that ended up with my first visit to Wallach Place. (Craig was a perfect gentleman, for the record.)

I had lived in a variety of places, here and overseas. Among my neighborhoods were Briggs Park in Detroit, what was called Alphabet City in Manhattan, and Brixton in London. None of them garden spots, but all exciting urban landscapes. So, too, was Wallach in 1995 – dark, small, haunted by the past but full of possibility. A quarter of the houses, at least, were either abandoned or occupied by crack dealers; I can’t remember a house with a porch light burning.

In 1996 we never walked on the sidewalks; too dark and dangerous. The middle of the street was much safer, and strangely brighter. Always carried a knife just in case, although that didn’t always help in muggings. The only outposts were Pollys (now sadly gone) and Bens; even with places like “Andalusian Dog”, “State of the Union” and “The Big Cheese”, nobody prowled Wallach once the sun went down.  It was a challenge to visit  after dark, but one I was up for, and the reward has been rich.

Wallach Place and the larger neighborhood have changed dramatically since. Children now play with chalk drawings on the sidewalks, gardens are tended, neighbors and visitors stroll the streets in the dark (although, of course, urban challenges always remain) and nearly everything you could want is at a hand’s reach. Wallach Place has seen its challenges since and no doubt will in the future,, but has aged well since.  Much like Craig and I’s partnership.

Our holiday wish to all is that you may, in coming years, be able to say the same. We wish for you increased happiness, loving relationships, adventures while surmounting challenges, and neighbors and neighborhoods that get better with time.

Piecemeal

It isn’t Matchbox, or Blue & Orange, or any other single establishment.
It’s all of them – and more – together.

Once you meet him, it’s hard not to like Raynold Mendizabal. The chef-owner of the Black and Orange burger joint talks warmly of growing up in Havana, his abiding love for American food like hot dogs and hamburgers, and his desire to bring the kind of casual eatery he loved in Cuba (“not the fancy kind where you go for a birthday,”) to DC. A place of burgers – hand ground in Kansas – and fries and a couple beers and that’s about it. His son sitting next to him at the ANC meeting, it’s like seeing a young Raynold, dreaming of opening his first place.

Mendizabal & his attorney, Ely Hurwitz, where there to meet with some concerned local residents about their planned establishment – what it would be, how late it would serve, who they’re all about. They talked with pride about their indoor garbage room, keeping all the greasetraps and bins off the streets. They detailed the nine types of burgers – one special and only available at U Street – and four or so types of beers they’d have; no table service, and no glass – everything plastic or paper for both noise and environmental reasons. Locally sourced veggies & wine. The pitchers of mojitos? Well, everything has to come from somewhere.

B&O wants to be your late-night / early-morning burger joint. Their proposal has their 79-occupancy establishment open at 11am and closing at 5am.  Yes, am…hours after everyone else (except McDonalds) has closed. Do they want alcohol service available all those hours? “We can negotiate that,” said Mendizabal. Asked whether they could also limit their operating hours so they don’t turn into the post-bar, stumble-burger-n-beer joint (we didn’t say it that way, we’ve got manners!) Medizabal again said he was open to negotiating liquor hours – agitating Hurwitz, who twice tried to interrupt Mendizabal. It was clear what was upsetting wasn’t talk of alcohol service, but any effort to limit food service hours.  “That’s enough of that; next question please,” Hurwitz said, hand slapping the table.

Residents did learn a few things. B&O also has a proposal for a patio area serving upward of 40 – a number both Hurwitz and the committee chair Charles Meisch said was a top-heavy estimate, but one it seemed everyone was more willing to work out than slow down. Parking, for employees or patrons? Not a mention. Toward the end, Hurwitz invited all concerned residents on a pre-open tour — I’ll be contacting Mr. Hurwitz’ office today to set up a day and time.

Orange & Brown hopes to open “…before January 1,” said a wishful Mendizabal. Probably without beer, but most likely they will be opening soon. The larger ANC will discuss their alcohol agreements.

So, nice guy owner, wants to create a “genuine neighborhood place where we know your name,” open to limiting alcohol sales, moving his trash off the street and using paper to prevent crashing glass recycling.  What’s not to like?

Very little in this case. Just like other cases: Matchbox, Level-2, Utopia, on and on. Taken individually, it’s hard to fight too strongly against any one of these new projects exactly because inidividually they’re not that big. A New Black & Orange? The community isn’t going to collapse. A new Matchbox? We”ll, it’s just one restaurant, and my friends like it.

We’re always looking at the tree, which by itself seems largely OK. It’s when you realize you’re in a forest, however, that you quickly become lost.

Our neighbornood is experienting a major problem; one that has deviled other neighborhoods here and there, before generally ruining them and moving on. Developers, particularly of entertainment establishments, find a hot hood a swoop down, cramming in a new bar, restaurant, night club or other establishment in every available crack. Concerned residents are overwhelmed – it’s enough trying to fight one proposal, let alone 10, 15 or more. Developers get paid to sift through the byzantine approval process that allows them to open: residents barely have time to walk the dog, cook dinner, hit the gym, and try and chat up a neighbor about any particular development proposal before collapsing. It comes in a flood – all perfectly ‘legal’ but totally unethical in the way it railroads well-intentioned residents.

Not visible: the hundreds of bottles and food bags on the street every weekend.

Ideas for smarter, slower, sustainable growth are chewed up while the building explosion train rolls merrily on.

And then come the self-righteous critics.

‘Why do you hate Matchbox?’ asks one, willfully ignorant of that’s happening. You try to explain “Nobody hates Matchbox, it’s just that…” ‘NIMBY!” they scream. Civic dialogue dies. Concerns about Level 2′s proposed development at 14 and Wallach? ‘Why don’t you move out of the city if you hate it so much?’ asks another Einstein. ‘Stop picking on Black and Orange, bully!’ tries another, attempting to distract from the real discussion.

The real discussion is this: local residents have concerns that transcend individual proposals. The 14th & U Street area is unique in Washington right now, but a tidal wave of developers – piece by piece – are trying to turn it into something else. “This isn’t Adams Morgan” said two people after Tuesday’s meeting.

No, it isn’t, yet. And on behalf of the residents who actually live there and do not want to move, we don’t want it to become one, either. There is no shortage of establishments in DC. The Metro area will not suffer if one small neighborhood tries to build something of a levee before it’s swallowed by the rising tide.

Black and Orange and Blue All Over

Another New Restaurant/Night Club, Same Old Issues

14th Street & U is apparently just about the only place restaurants want to open anymore. What was once Washington’s auto dealer showplace is increasingly home to restaurants aiming for somewhere between hip, trendy and boozed-up. The latest example is Black & Orange Burger.

Now before the lurkers from DC BID or other pro-development organizations try to again mischaracterize comments here, this is emphatically not a slam on Black & Orange and their line of $6.00 burgers with names like “Now and Zen,” “Curried Away,” and “Pardon My French.” Like every other establishment, the proprietors are trying to carve out an image, a brand, and a market. Good for them. Does it mean anything that I prefer my burgers without names other than their ingredients, or places with less self-awareness like the Saloon on U, or my fish tacos served with less flash and cost but major flavor, like at Pica Taco on Florida? Nope; nothing more than my tastes, so either dispose of that red herring or don’t bother writing.

People have every right to spend their money how they like on the food and entertainment they desire. But establishments do not have unlimited rights to open anywhere they choose without regard to infrastructure or community, or operate a nightclub masquerading as a restaurant. That’s why we have development boards, ANC committees, the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration, historic review boards, and any of the other regulatory offices meant to keep some semblance of orderly development.

This Tuesday, December 20 at 7pm, a committee of ANC-1B will meet to discuss Black & Orange’s alcohol-service request. Although the meeting is limited in scope, the continued welter of new establishments serving alcohol in a very compressed space at late hours is starting to weigh on the minds of local residents. This, on the heels of the approval of extra-late night alcohol service at Matchbox, two doors down, joining other establishments such as St. Ex, Lost Society and many others too numerous to list, have raised concern. Are these restaurants, or nightclubs? Are some of them trying to open their doors posing as one, only to turn into another? And how many bars is too many in one block?

“Security Measures Reexamined After Man Killed Outside Heritage India Restaurant “And Club” In Dupont Circle, DC” read the headline at WUSA9.com. “The violence is prompting owners, the city and police to re-examine what goes on when eating establishments turn into nightclubs on weekends. Restaurants can rake in thousands more in revenue if if they become clubs at night, but many people say you need the proper security,” reads one graph.

This was hardly an isolated incident. Extra late nights + lots of liquor + more and more of the same in a tightly compressed area tends to equal trouble. Will anyone’s experience of the U/14th Street area be significantly lessened by one less place to get a beer, a mojito, or a vodka ass-smasher at 3am? No serious person can argue there aren’t plenty of places already open happy to pour you a cold one. However, is the neighborhood adversely affected by ingredients that may – or are – lead to more crime, more congestion, and, frankly, more rats?

Cross-my-heart, pinky-swear, hand to God: talk to local restaurant workers. They know what local residents see every day with their eyes: the area is a rat jamboree, and every new food-eatery-funtimery is making it worse. Rats aren’t just in the alleys, people; they are without question in the kitchens and storerooms of all your U Street watering holes. That’s not something you’ll see on snazzy websites (yet) or hear from boosters who won’t be happy until every inch is occupied by a bar, kitchen, or late-night destination (usually some of the both,) but it is as true as the Sun rising in the East and setting in the West.

There are other issues as well. For example, walk the alley behind Black & Orange (still in construction.) There’s not a single inch available for one more dumpster, let alone grease-catchers or recycling. The corner turn, with the Slice-O-Pizza on one corner and houses on the other, don’t even have room for a truck to turn. Result: the already over-burdoned alleys around U, Wallach and T will get only more so.

Additionally, if you want to start a massive, groaning gripe-fest, just say “parking” to anyone who lives in the area. Lives – not commutes, not visits, not enjoys the zesty ambiance: lives. There is none, and in spite of tone-deaf assurances from developers that “these are really Metro-type places,” the plain fact is that many are driving here, turning the streets on any night other than Monday into little better than a demolition derby. To all who say I exaggerate: come spend just one hour with me and some neighbors some Friday or Saturday. Bring a camera, and let’s just watch what happens.

Here’s the deal: Black and Orange is applying for a Restaurant Class C license. Not a tavern – like St. Ex – but a restaurant. Could it be less “St. Ex” (personally I love that place) and more “Estadio,” just down the street, home to great food, packed tables and sane hours, closing at midnight, 1am on weekends? Or “Pearl,” which just got a great write-up in the Post Sunday, which somehow closes sat 11pm every night yet is still able to manage a great bar and impressive menu? There are many other examples, just as there are many possibilities for any one business.

The point should be clear: development isn’t all or nothing; empty store fronts or the French Quarter, no in-between. People have the right to eat what they want, and communities have the right to have some say in determining what they want to be. Both rights co-exist, not one or none, and it is the difficult job of being a good citizen to try and find a balance.

Tuesday’s meeting, 7pm, is at 1816 12th Street NW. Hopefully all views will be welcome.

“We Will Find Another Space”

14th Street & The USPS

Carolee Inskeep | Washington DC

 

This evening, the Post Office held its second meeting to discuss discontinuance of the Kalorama and T Street Post Offices. As I was unable to go, I sent my correspondent, Steve Inskeep, who has some experience with reporting. {Ed note: and then some] His dispatch follows:

Councilman Jim Graham co-hosted the meeting with Gerald Roane, the DC Postmaster General, and Graham began by suggesting they had some news that would likely keep the meeting short.

Since a previous meeting two weeks ago, he said, the parties had been “working hard” to resolve concerns about the Kalorama and T Street post offices. Roane and Graham elaborated on the results of this work to the crowd of about fifty people sitting on folding chairs in the Rita B. Bright Family and Youth Center. After receiving 2,500 to 3,000 comments, the postal service has decided to remove the Kalorama station from the “study list,” meaning it will no longer be studied for possible closure. This announcement brought much applause.

As for the T Street station, Roane said the Post Office has lost its lease, and it will move out at the end of February 2012, not December 31 as previously stated. However, Roane said, the postal service is “aggressively” seeking an alternative space in the neighborhood.

Roane said without qualification, “We will find another space.” He did not express a hope or an aspiration, but said flatly that it will be done, although he said the postal service is not at liberty to name the possible sites under discussion.

Graham did feel at liberty to discuss these sites. He said discussions had begun with the DC government regarding vacant space at The Reeves Center. He also alluded to other potential sites in the immediate neighborhood. Graham expressed optimism that a new site would be settled upon in the “eight to ten weeks” remaining before the old station closes.

In the question period, people asked for guarantees that Post Office box service will not be interrupted, and they received such a guarantee. The postmaster said that if a permanent location is not found in time, the postal service will engage a temporary space nearby. “Your address will not change,” Roane said.

Graham brought the meeting to a close in a little more than half an hour. There was no other news, although Postmaster Roane urged people to use the mail and joked that “We like to see lines at the post office.”

Do Something Good

Help Your Neighbors In Need This Wednesday, Dec. 14th

One of the genuine rewards of DC city life over the past decade or so has been the resurgence of the farmer’s market. Why they faded in the first place is a bit confusing, but they appear to be flourishing again, to everyone’s benefit. Local farmers expand their sales, patrons get honestly fresh food and urban dwellers can reconnect (somewhat) with seasonable harvests. Spoiled as we are to anything we want any season of the year, there’s something to be said for re-learning the particular treasures of each growing season.

There’s another brilliant bit, too: in places where healthy food options have been limited, the markets make healthy options available to everyone; notably those on food stamp assistance. And that’s where this Wednesday comes in.

For one day – this Wednesday, Dec. 14th – the Whole Foods store on P Street, and its companion in Georgetown, will donate 5% of all sales to four local farmer’s markets with the goal of doubling the purchase power of people on food stamps or WIC coupons. That’s 5% of everything – produce, household goods, cosmetics, whatever. The aim is to raise $20,000 dollars that will then be used at the four markets to double the purchasing of those on assistance, making twice the fruits and vegetables available to those most in need.

The markets – 14th & U. Bloomingdale, NoMa and Mt. Pleasant – hope with this bonus that seniors, children and families of all sorts will get more healthy food, and less of the pre-packaged processed glop so commonly available at small local stores.

Says Robin Shuster of Markets & More, it’s the perfect chance to stock up on all your holiday and winter needs, and do some good at the same time. Need olive oil? Baking supplies? Cleaners? Restock your wine or lay in beer? Everything’s fair game, and five cents of every dollar you spend on stuff you need anyway will go a long way to helping make our community a little healthier all around.

Much more information can be found here, including in-store specials and scheduled cooking demonstrations at the two stores.

“I Have A Voice!” Sez Who?!

Just who should have say about developement here…and from how far away?

Today feels like a mixed bag. There’s a lot that’s been happening. ANC decision on Matchbox’s exetended hours. The 14th Street post office out in part, because the developer didn’t ask them back. Growing steady pushback on parking…as if the streets around U & T aren’t jammed now, let’s invite a whole new bunch!  And crime on the rise. Local residents are feeling a little squeezed and ignored.

I’m reminded of an question that touches on many of these matters (which we hope our neighbors will also generously be writing on!)

It was Thanksgiving; the main meal was finished, desserts were yet to come, so we mingled and had wine. Everyone was happy, until someone brought up Matchbox. “Ooo, I love Matchbox!” said one friend, and noticing my face added “what, you don’t? What don’t you like about it?”

(image: Rich Remoneron)

I don’t care about Matchbox in the abstract. For those making the ‘foodie’ argument, most of the food in DC still holds a pale candle to New York or Chicago. Give me a fish taco at Pica Taco anyday over $20 tacos at ElCentro.  As a yuppie place to spend too much money on mediocre pizza, I’ll never go to Matchbox.  But lots of people will.  Fine, let people choose.

But buildings and tenants aren’t abstract. They’re real: involving deliveries, garbage, patrons and workers, noise, and the ubiquitous DC rats. And it’s in the the specific – as in operating 10 houses down my block, drawing customers from everywhere by car or Metro – that I can state  I don’t like it. “We have enough restaurants – and the chains are pushing out the cheap places who have been here forever,” I retort.

“What are you, a NIMBY?” he laughs, souring my happy humor, adding “Well I like it and I vote it stays!” “

Well I don’t and I Live Here so I vote no.” “So do I, only three blocks away! Does that mean you have more of a vote than me?”  Meaning: I’m close enough to walk to it, far enough away to not have to deal with any of the mess and the traffic tangles, but I like it so I have just as much say as you. Pie comes before the argument escalates.

Is this really the way local governance works?  As long as someone likes something they should be able to vote for it, wherever they are; while those who don’t and live next door get sidelined as NIMBYs?  Hmmm.

Which got me thinking: just who should have a say in a DC development? Let’s say, a 8-level development on 14th street, between T and U, east-side.  For sake of argument, this  one block development will involve taking down some existing structures & evicting long-term tenants, all to build small condos with possibly some retail on the first floor. Lastly, let’s say the project is getting next to no tax breaks; just the standard sort of utility and street work that comes with the build.

Now. Should someone living in Pennsylvania have a say in whether the building can go up, and what it’s ultimate shape is? Even if that person likes coming to DC and enjoys the U Street area? No. No, that person should not have any say whatsoever about what we do in the District, just as we would have no business poking our nose into their development. (Yes, all this with the caveat that none of the development threatens federal statute or regulations, in which every American has an equal stake.)

This is axiomatic. Why should Gladys Kravitz have no say? Because she doesn’t live here.  She doesn’t pay taxes here.  She doesn’t contribute in any meaningful way to the community.  And because – this is the big one – it doesn’t affect her. So, having established some principles, let’s pull that right a bit tighter now.

Same development, same location, but this time, we ask someone in Takoma Park what they think. Considerably closer, yes, although she’s still in another jurisdiction. Doesn’t pay DC taxes but does contribute to a healthy DC financially and otherwise.  Someone who’s interested in low-cost housing for all people. Should she have a voice in what happens? Well, she can exercise her voice all she likes, raising awareness, arguing for or against the development, building buzz. Campaign away! But as far as the district is concerned – with it’s overlapping ANC, CDB, PSAs and City regulatory boards that determine arts, significance, infrastructure…and on and on…she’s not a player. Her voice may be interesting, but it really doesn’t count – it’s not her neighborhood.

Tighter still. Same project, but now we ask someone living on 17 & Swann NW; only a stone-throw from the development, but offiicially outside the ANC and some other regulatory bodies. Do they have a voice? What about someone living in Foxhall? It’s the same thing, after all: they live in the city, they’re outside the ANC but hey, it’s their city, too, and they’re close and likely to be experiencing this new development.

Should we all have a right to vote in all our developments through the city? Think carefully. Answering yes unleashes a thousand thousand people who are fed up with development in their area, and will take it out on yours.

So it’s pretty well established then: unless federal laws or city tax breaks are at stake, development at present is a region by region thing. Which means those that live there get more say than those who only hope to some day, or those others who would love to come visit X or Y if it were only put up on someone else’s turf.

It is the presumption, from this point on, that anyone hurling the NIMBY label is in fact someone who just doesn’t live here.  Someone who is butting his huge Alice Kravitz nose into places it doesn’t belong.

Let those most affected by development to decide on their own what they want and what they don’t want. Anyone else – you can watch, you can talk about it, but you don’t get a vote.

Tend to your knitting. We’ll tend to ours.

Everything Changes

But What Do We Have To Say In That Change?

So it’s Thanksgiving. Per our custom, we throw open the doors for orphans who don’t have a place to go, or just can’t get there. We, as the archetypal orphans understand, never turn anyone away…and never question who is at our table. It’s always a good combination.

Our friend M comes; he’s a l0ng time resident nearby; one who, like some of us, have seen this neighborhood through its ups and downs. He’s a smart guy.

We’re in the kitchen, scrambling over the bird and the stuff that will become, ultimately, gravy. Which gives us time to talk.

“So, did you hear that ‘Matchbox’ is coming?” he asks.

Yes, in fact, we have. Months ago. In face we’ve been debating their hours, alcohol permits and other restrictions in a development that still is not in any way set.

Argument breaks out. Our friend, “M”, says “I like Matchbox! Don’t you like it?”  I respond, turkey tongs in hand, “What I don’t like is that I dont’ have any say about what goes on my block.”

“Oh, you’re a NIMBY,” he says, smug in his label. I withhold, knowing that there are soooo many labels I could apply to him, or to anyone else, but choose not to. Rather, we have a festive Thanksgiving meal.

ANC Stepping Forward

“M” brings up a question. “Hey, I only live a few blocks from here, don’t I have a say?” he asks.

M lives 3 blocks from the new Matchbox development. We’re less than 1 block.

Parking, development; these are not abstruse discussions. People spend a lot of time thinking about this. Especially those who get paid for it.

But let’s just take M’s idea for a moment. “Don’t I have a say in what happens here?” he asks. This is beyond all the ‘You hate Matchbox’ and assorted phony make-believe digestives that passes for argument. So, who should have a say, I ask.

And who?

Should someone in Harrisburg Pennsylvania have a say about what buildings we put up? Really? Of course not. (Anyone who says yes, just leave now and go back to your Cheetos.)  Should someone in Bethesda, or Arlington – much closer – have a say? Still, most everyone would say no.

And what are they invoking? Self-control? State Boundary? Blah blah blah…we all recognize that, unless there is something national at stake, each jurisdiction should have the right to determine it’s future. So…let’s take the next step:

DC Moving Forward

So the District government is involved in all kinds of development options: some at its behest, some a partnership, some very much private.

So. I’m living in Ward 8, at U and 14th SE. Should I have a say about a development at U and 14th NW? Mnnn, perhaps. How much DC government money is involved? How many tax breaks? I should be able to raise concern, but still…nobody would raise objections one for the other about development.

So how far does the circle go? We’ve already established those from out of state have no voice. Those within our state have limited voice. Thus the measure is clear: the closer you are to the development, the greater voice you have in its completion.

“Oh Noes!” the condo crowd cries.  And yet, yes, it’s true. Anyone with a brain will recognize: the closer you live to a development, the more say you have in its completion.

Unless, of course, developers want everyone in DC to have an equal voice in all development.

And that…I promise…is not something any developer wants. Really? You want comfy established Foxhall making decisions on H Street?  Really?

Here’s the point. The closer you live to a development, the louder your voice in determining if it happens. Otherwise, we all get to jump into everyone else’s business…and that’s not going to end pretty.

14th Street Post Office: Will It Stay Or Will It Go?

It’s Slated To Close…But Maybe It Won’t
Carolee Inskeep

As discussed earlier, Level 2 Development plans to build a new apartment building on the current site of the T Street Station Post Office, and the future of the post office has been uncertain for some time. Now, on surprisingly short notice, closure of the post office may just be weeks away, something that customers are only now learning as they drop in to mail their Christmas cards.

Sign posted in the window of the 14th Street Post Office

A bright yellow sign on the front door reads: “A community meeting to discuss the discontinuance of the T Street Post Office will be held on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008.”

A postal employee noticed me reading the sign and lamented, “I have to find another job.”

When pressed for further information, he stated that services will cease on December 31st, though he thought there might limited service, like package pickup, for another 30 days after that. He then inquired, “Didn’t you get the letter?”

No, we had not received “the letter.”  He produced a copy, along with a Postal Service Customer Questionnaire (for a post office discontinuance feasibility study.)

Dated November 15th, 2011, it states:

“We have been notified by our landlord at the T Street Station Post Office, 1915 14th St NW, that they will not renew our lease when it expires February 29, 2012. Whenever there is a possibility that services at a post office may be suspended, a discontinuance study must be conducted. Our Field Real Estate department is seeking alternate quarters for the T Street Station Post Office and possibly, consolidation of the Kalorama and T Street postal facilities.”

According to a recent Washington Informer article, Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton will insist that the USPS find a new location in the neighborhood before the lease expires.

In its letter, however, the USPS indicates that if the T Street Station is closed, post office box delivery will be transferred to the Columbia Heights Station Post Office, located at 3321 Georgia Avenue NW.  Retail services would continue to be available through “a variety of channels … such as the … website, stamp consignment locations, and Stamps by Mail, Fax and Phone.”

My mailman says that he expects package pickup will also be transferred to the Columbia Heights Station – if the T Street Station closes.

So … will it stay, or will it go?

If you want to have a say, you’ll have to schlep up to Cleveland Park Library for the Community Meeting starting at 5:30 Tuesday night.

Or, you can submit a written comment, along with the questionnaire, to the staff at the T Street Station, by November 29th. Address comments and questionnaires to Donalda Moss, District Discontinuance Coordinator, Capital PFC, 900 Brentwood Road NE, Washington, DC 20066-9997. (The T Street Station has pre-addressed, postage-paid envelopes.)

Ms. Moss’ phone number is 202.636.1441.