Tuesday, July 27 CCCA meeting highlights
See our agenda for details on our July 27 meeting which will include updates on CityMarket at O, Toque Cafe, Beau Thai Restaurant, Bread for the City's expansion and Gibson Plaza's renovation/groundbreaking.
7pm, Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Toqué Café, 1701 Sixth Street NW
http://www.CCCA-online.org/nextmeeting
Mandalay Restaurant is coming to Shaw! This was one of the most exciting events we've had in Shaw in a long time, clearly the highlight of the week for many local residents, business owners, activists and leaders. The event was also an opportunity for attendees to sample some of the amazing cuisine the restaurant currently serves, but we were informed that they are always reinventing the menu, so there will always be something interesting and new for the restaurants future regular customers. The greatest part about events like this is that they have the potential to spark even more development in Shaw. More detail noted previously on the CCCA blog and here. "This will kick off a series of major groundbreakings this year. The Howard Theatre and Renaissance Project (formerly Broadcast Center One) will break ground in late August, CityMarket at O will break ground in September, and the Marriott Marquis Convention Center should follow in the fall. The list of special guests: 
Groundbreaking took place Monday, June 14, 2010
1901 9th Street NW, Corner of 9th & P Streets NW
(next to Queen of Sheba Restaurant across from Shiloh Baptist Church)
— Alexander M. Padro, Executive Director of Shaw Main Streets and Shaw Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
At Large Councilmember, Chair of the Committee on Economic Development (and DC Council Chair candidate) Kwame Brown spoke with Seth Hajbi, of Red Toque Café at 6th & R Street NW, and assured Seth that he would help the restaurant overcome delays and roadblocks.
Mr Brown, here with the owners of Queen of Sheba Restaurant next to the Manalay site, also spoke with other local business owners and developers who all seemed to be excited about their new neighbor.
11:30am-5:30pm, Sunday, June 20
Casa Italiana Cultural Center
595 Third Street NW (3rd and F Streets NW
FestaItalianaDC.com
(Ride Metro to Judiciary Square Metro, stroll on down or bike)
As reported here, and a few places on Facebook, a fantastic festival and block party is taking place this weekend that just gets better and better every year. It's easy to get to and you wont regret taking time out on a Sunday afternoon to enjoy it.
Greetings Everyone!
The May MVSNA Newsletter is up and going to print! so you know what that means...We shall need several volunteers to help deliver door to door. Please email me at niello8(at)yahoo.com if you can help out for a few blocks!...you can also view the newsletter here: http://www.box.net/shared/uugx1uvh5g
Keep in mind there are all kinds of handy links on it you can click!
The next MVSNA meeting shall be held on Tuesday May 18th, 7:30pm, at the Yale Loft Condo common room at 437 NY Ave NW. On the Agenda is Steuart Development Company (400/500 block NY Ave NW), Public Safety & the Goals/Bylaws vote.
Finally please come on out on the 20th for the PSA 308 Public Safety Walk!
Si Kailian
C. Sec., MVSNA
202.256.9193
It's not it Mt Vernon Sq, but if you use the nifty bike lane up 5th St, or any other means of transportation, Toque Café sits on the corner of 6th & Q (in the former Chain Reaction Bike Shop) on the very popular R Street bike lane which is the best way to cross town going west on a bike. (Both streets also support cars and avoid the traffic circles and buses on other busy throughfares.) You foiks have tons of development in MVS, send some love to your friends and neighbors to the North, why don't you.
Please support Toque Café's application for outdoor seating
SIGN THE PETITION | www.CCCA-online.org/SupportToqueCafe
The Convention Center Community Association (CCCA-online.org) supports the application for outdoor seating submitted by the Toque Café located at 1701 6th Street NW, Washington DC 20001. We believe that outdoor seating will not only enhance the restaurant’s business operations but will likely become a popular neighborhood amenity. We also urge DCRA Director Argo to facilitate the proper and timely approval of permits and licenses for the restaurant to open and begin operations.
Kushi Shochu tasting
went to the first one, its loads of fun! They have great happy hour specials...400 block of K St NW
"KUSHI Complimentary Shochu Tasting tomorrow from 6-8pm (4/22 Thu)!!! We will be featuring variety of Japanese shochu, plum wine/liqueur for tasting at the bar. We will also feature our signature shochu cocktails at a happy hour pricing."
Join us at the Passenger for brunch, Sunday April 11th, starting at 2 P.M. as we welcome the Nuclear Summit. Our usual delicious brunch will be complimented by nuclear drink specials and appropriately attired bartenders partying to the sounds of 80s music. Bring your mutations and fallout gear and take shelter at the Passenger. Nuclear drills every hour on the hour! Remember, as Sun-Ra said, "...if they push the button, your ass is gone!"
The Passenger is located at 1021 7th Street NW.
Any questions - 202 323 0990
This month's meeting was very well attended and had many interesting presentations and discussions, as well as our annual officer election. Check out the notes for the full story. Highlights include the welcome news that the O Street Market got HUD financing, DCRA is working with Liberty Market to get them into compliance with required licenses, and the city never notified anyone that 5th and I was going to be a temporary parking lot.
Empowerment Zones
Sometimes I go off on tangents while doing taxes and start reading all kinds of IRS publications...but this caught my eye. take it with a grain of salt as I am no expert and not a CPA - consult a professional: Did you know that the Mount Vernon Triangle is an enterprise zone? For tax purposes (check out form 8844) certain 2000 census tract sections of DC with 20%+ poverty (page 11) are classified as Empowerment Zones. Why is this important? well if you have a business in the Triangle (or one of the other sections) and you employ DC residents (who live anywhere in DC), you may qualify for a big tax credit - up to 15k per employee if i am reading that right. There are also other benefits, like some sort of tax exempt financing and increased section 179 deduction. this is part of form 3800 General business credit. I hope all of the new & exisiting Triangle businesses know about this, its pretty neato. but it wont last for long...this year is census year and its pretty evident that the demographics downtown have been severely altered. One more thing, if you look at the map, PQ & parts of Shaw are included.
ANC 6C p&z Update
First the FANTASTIC news that Mandu is coming to the space next to Kushi in City Vista!!! This means KOREAN BBQ in the hood!! (Mandu has a current restaurant at 18th & S) Ok now that I've finished my happy dance, the meat n potatoes...
The Stuearts are coming soon so they promise. The committee voted to support their zoning appeal which was hugely confusing but in a nutshell they want to build: a 400 unit residential building on the 400 block of NY Ave/L and a commercial/retail building on the 500 block of NY/K. the appeal has to do with transferring residential sq footage and the confusing nature of the zoning code, bonus densities and all sorts of crazy things that made even me (who normally geeks out to this stuff) utterly cross eyed. check out Rob's explanation from the meeting announcement post below, he does a much better job. Anyhoo if they dont get their way, they will "re-examine the project" which could very well mean parking lot for all eternity. They arent seeking to do 100% office so thats really good that they are embracing mixing it up. No concepts as of yet.
One of the committee members gave em some hell for their crappy nonexistant snow removal for all of their properties during the blizzards. I also tried to convey that it was also the issues with weeds, trash, hookers etc plus the semi recent murder on their property that the neighborhood has a problem with. And of course the long history of silence from them which we would like to change. So I asked them to come visit us in April or May which they were amenable to, and we look forward to dialog with this major Triangle landowner.
also got a look at NPR's new building on North Capitol, It looks pretty neat but imho teeters on brutalism. Its hard to tell but it could be really neat. They are also toying with the idea of putting a giant light saber or flagpole or somebig red stick thing on the corner of L. Will be interesting to see what that turns out to be.
The committee also discussed some things pertaining to the new comprehensive plan but I had to bug out 20 min into that. I do have to say that Rob Amos is doing an absolutely fantastic job chairing this committee! They are a very knowlegable bunch and he leads them in a well and even tempered manner. y'all should check out this meeting on occasion, very interesting content.
