DCMud has reported that The Arts at 5th and Eye is officially (at least temporarily) dead:

• "The District and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) are, at least for now, giving up on the Arts at 5th and Eye, the Donohoe Companies and Holland Development project, and installing a parking lot on the undeveloped District-owned site. Though the project team won the right to develop the promised high-end hotel, retail outlets and jazz club in September of 2008, no final agreement has been reached on the land exchange with the District Government since that time."

So I guess the community is left with a pretty website and, soon, another surface parking lot.

There was a great deal of competition for this site with some fine proposals.  Even in the wake of the credit and real estate collapse, the bidders pledged that they had the financing to move forward.  Many neighborhood residents attended the public meeting on the site and provide their input.  I attended the outdoor press conference at which Mayor Fenty and Councilmember Kwame Brown announced the winning bid.

The community did a lot of work to clean up the 900 Block of 5th Street NW -- shutting down Fun Fair Video, working with detectives to substantially reduce drug dealing and prostitution -- it enabled the 5th and Eye Project. 

Hell no.  That would have been the answer had the DC government asked the community whether it would support using the now grassy, secured lot as a surface parking lot - even on a temporary basis.

Either move the project forward, revisit the previous proposals, or reopen the RFP.

Dear Residents of Mount Vernon!

My friend and I are relatively new to the area and we are looking for a place to rent near or around Mount Vernon (we really like this part of town!). This task might prove itself easier if I (in particular) was not such a budget. Thus comes our request! If you or someone you know happens to have an empty house/room/attic or basement apt available we would very likely be interested in living there! **Also, if it's a space in dire straights both of us have a lot of experience on fixing up places as well!  If you'd like to strike a deal on making a particular space more livable and thus easier to rent in the future (if desired) then please email or call me! Along with really low rent ($700 or less for both of us...) We are looking for approx. a 6 month time span.

A little bit about us: Both of us are from Asheville, North Carolina. I (Roxanne) graduated from UNC Chapel Hill this past May with degrees in Photojournalism and Studio Art and am trying to create a start with freelance photography. I could also do an art trade for partial rent if someone happened to be interested in custom paintings (on or off the wall). My friend Hana went to school at Vanderbilt and is currently an international intern for the Alliance to Save Energy; she also speaks Russian, has worked in the green building industry and can cook yummy thai food.

My email is roxanneturpen@gmail.com and you can reach me anytime at 919.923.9849 -we are looking to move in by Feb 1st (if not sooner) so please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or quotes if you know of anything!

Thanks so much Mt Vernon!

Awaken the sleeping activist for just a brief moment to eulogize the latest inanimate, yet long aged victim in our historic semi blighted hood.  1211 4th street NW was known to many of us as one of the crappy 3rd Street Church of God properties for decades.  There she stood in her decrepitude, deemed too dangerous to approach:

Even the crackheads stayed away from her precarious innards as they defiled her entrances but the taggers deigned to show her some love, as did the press:

Then, one glorious day, a developer swooped in and bought 1211! And her neighbors!  In a show of good faith he gussied her funky fractured facade up while beginning the arduous journey of gaining permissions to make her and her neighbors whole again.  Oh she looked so ever so pretty!:

And so time went on...and on.  Mr. developer sought the approvals of the community and the ANC and they were given swiftly.  The neighbors were eager to see the project come to fruition after living with neglected dumps for so very long.  He then went to the city for his Historic Preservation approval and permits.  And so time went on...and on...and on.  And then the snows came.

And on one frigid winter day, 1211 was no more:

And so we lament at this tragedy.  So she goes the way of the O Street Market, and 6 other historic area houses in recent times.  They didnt have to perish.

Y.E.onDOMReady(show_notes_initially);

Y.E.onDOMReady(show_notes_initially);

Then  Y.E.onDOMReady(show_notes_initially);

Y.E.onDOMReady(show_notes_initially);

Curious what people's thoughts are on this condo complex. See that it has been on the market for a little while, and that there were some issues with zoning/etc. when it was being built. Any perspectives/news?

While we are waiting for the notes from last night, I'll just throw this out for discussion... While reviewing potential changes to K Street with Councilmember Jack Evans, there were some spirited disagreements.  Evans stated he hadnt taken a position on which option he would support but he was adamant that the current configuration didnt work.  He stated that the goal to him was to move all modes of transportation successfully but imho he seemed to favor cars.  for example when the concept of adding bike lanes to K street was brought up, Evans countered with the argument that it takes space away from cars.  He brought up his own driving habits.  Another neighbor inquired about the broader direction of the city towards concepts like making the city more walkable & bikeable...And there got into kind of a disagreement which others jumped into.  My take on it is that Evans seems to have a bit of a suburban mentality.  He lives way over in the suburbanish part of DC and drives downtown to work every day- that is his personal experience.  He doesnt seem to have much interest in the live/work downtown set but a good chunk of his ward + the city fall into this category (myself included).  We tend to bike/walk/PT.  Anyway in answer to the question of where the city is headed...this excellent profile of DDOT Director Gabe Klein provides some insight - I like this direction very much.  One more comment - I think traffic in downtown DC should flow certainly, but there is no reason it has to move at suburban speeds.  Dont forget to send DDOT your comments, (or email KStreet.Comments@dc.gov) you have til Oct 30th.  Full study available here...

The other night ANC 6C P&Z Committee had a visit from office of planning who presented proposed zoning changes for the downtown area.  WBJ has a little article, most of which i cant access - not a subscriber...But there were some interesting items.  The proposed changes -and this is not the written legislation, that comes in about a year or so - are basicly seeking to simplify the complicated system of zones & overlays & development credits which IMHO is a good thing.  But...there are a couple glaring items that set off warning bells for me: 

1.  This document was produced by the city in collaboration with developers...someone correct me if i am wrong but I think Miles from DNA was the only communty member involved, at least thats what the OP man said. 

2.  Parking lots.  Under the new rules it'll be a lot harder to landbank & run a lucrative parking lot for 20 years. BUT, it only applies to future parking lots, not existing ones.  We still have quite a few in the Triangle ala Steuarts.

3. The Steuarts.  Apparently back n the day when the Downtown Development Overlay was created (basicly forcing the creation of housing units downtown to avoid total office canyon) the Steuarts somehow got themselves omitted.  indeed square 0483 (bet. NY, 5th, 6th & K) is like a glaring little island on the map as its vast funky chain link fence lined parking lot is in our neighborhood.  Under the new rules, they are included...but they get a little higher density and permission for 100% office.  How nice for them.  They also have a giant parcel on the 400 block of NY/L st NW but that one doenst get special treatment other than the usual skating on vacant property taxes and...no taxes before 2nd half 2009? What is going on?  Steuart reps were at the meeting presenting a very nice project in NE.  C. Mark Dixon asked what the deal was with their Triangle properties and was basicly told that they are on hold for a long time.  The zoning changes do not address this extreme landbanking at all and the current laws are not enforced.  And as we know all this vacant property and funky parking lots breeds crime.  prostitution, drug dealing, and murder - I am not exaggerating.

4. Historic preservatiion.  HP was dismissed...the OP guy clamed that there was nothing left to protect downtown.  i disagree.

So the public meeting for all this is:

Monday, November 2, 2009, @ 6:30 p.m.
Office of Zoning Hearing Room
441 4th Street, N.W., Suite 220
Washington, D.C. 20001

To submit written testimony, mail to: Secretary of the Zoning Commission, Office of Zoning,
Suite 210, 441 4th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Please include the number of the
particular case and your daytime telephone number. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, YOU
MAY CONTACT THE OFFICE OF ZONING AT (202) 727-6311.

Call me crazy but this stinks...1225 5th st NW is on the market, again, for almost a million dollars.  They are including 1223 5th, the lot that was illegally paved & fenced...That situation was just recently resolved - DC made the owner lower the fence and put in some plants.  Now this place has been vacant for many years now, not a dime of vacant property tax has ever been charged of course.  The owner, Sunrise Academy, has done work to the house, sometimes even with permits...looking at the listing photos of the interior, its evident that the renovation was never intended for school use.  Indeed the listing claims the house is 2 condos.  I have been yammering about this school speculating on real estate mostly in our neighborhood but in MD too, on the taxpayers dime.  They have gotten millions of dollars in DC government money and they have bought & sold multiple properties wiith it.  Now they are trying to sell this one, again, for a profit.  Given the school's history (the founder went to jail for a bit, they were using 5 or six buildings on 6th for school use and not zoned/licensed for it, idling school buses every day...) this is extremely sketchy!  When the city dumps our taxpayer money into something there has GOT to be some accountability!

groups.yahoo.com/group/MoultonvThorpe/

This site exists to collect court documents. evidence and background for Superior Court Hearing for Case 09 CA 007215 on October 6, assigned to Judge Ruth Retchin

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite" target="blank"><img alt="subterranean-termites.jpg" src="http://www.jimbo.info/weblog/2009/09/23/subterranean-termites.jpg" border="0" align="left"  width="187" height="122" vspace="2" hspace="3"></a>My neighbor in the adjoining duplex basement unit has suffered two floods since she moved in a month ago and now has a mold problem.  This hosue apparently rests above an underground stream in Shaw, and can be flooded from below during heavy rains.  It's part of the reason the unit is so moldy - and moldy wood foundations inevitably attracts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termite" target="blank">termites</a>.

She says the contractors found signs of termite infestation when they tore down her moldy bathroom wall.  It's not a surprise...I've seen little holes in the brick wall that separates me from her living space, and a telltale sign is finding tiny piles of <i><a href="http://www.yourdictionary.com/frass" target="blank">frass</a></i> outside of these holes.  Although I had some doubt because I didn't think they could burrow through brick, but apparently they can.

This will be the second rental I've lived in that has termites.  Apparently both were inspected, yet both had long-term termite infestation, as in over a decade of residence of these pests.  What's up with that, DC inspectors?  My last rental was literally about to collapse with major sections of the foundation that had to be replaced.  It's a lesson that makes me feel very happy to be a renter, and now I know how to spot the signs and I have some insight on how much of a hassle home ownership can be.

From what I've seen the social fantasy of buying a dump in a gentrifying neighborhood and flipping it can become a total nightmare for the home owner. During the recent real estate boom many of the home owners were only interested in flipping their houses and completely ignored or were unaware of major foundation problems.  Judging by the cosmetic fixes to the current place I will soon move out of, the homeowners were only interested in painting a pretty picture and getting rid of a product that was rotten to the core.

But my landlord couldn't flip the house and now he's stuck with a rotten house that needs major foundation repairs, on a sketchy block with a resident noisy drug-dealing gang. It's a case study that the whole home ownership thing is neither a cakewalk nor a fantasy and is rife with peril and cost.  Sure, I may own a home some day, but I keep seeing over and over again that when you rush into something like that or only intend to flip such a property it doesn't always work out the way you'd like it to.  So think these things through carefully and the next time you hear somebody bragging about how much they made when they flipped this or that in 2007, keep in mind that the ones who didn't do so well tend to be very quiet about such things.