"On Saturday, May 15th, The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. at Mt Vernon Square, will host its first Annual Preservation Clinic for religious books, archives, papers and photographs, in cooperation with the Washington Conservation Guild and the Library of Congress.
This event is scheduled concurrently with plans for the nation’s first collections-focused Preservation Week.
Scheduled for May 9–15, 2010, Preservation Week is a joint initiative of the Library of Congress, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) of the American Library Association, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). 
The Preservation Clinic for books, papers, and photographs will be held at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. (HSW) at its Mount Vernon Square flagship headquarters.
Members of the public are invited to make an appointment to consult with professional art conservators from the Washington Conservation Guild. Appointments will be 10 minutes long and the public is encouraged to bring church and family photos, books and papers, for the conservators to view.

Guidelines and advice will be given for the care, handling, and proper storage of these materials. Walk-ins are also most welcome.
Free hand-outs will include conservation material samples and catalogues. In addition, short preservation-related presentations will be on-going, in the HSW theater.
Marlan Green, Audiovisual Preservation Librarian at the Library of Congress will give a talk and demonstration covering the preservation of audiovisual materials (films, videos, cassettes, etc).
Bryan Draper, on staff at the University of Maryland, will share a display on book binding and repair.
Yvonne Carignan of the Historical Society of Washington will give a presentation specifically on the care, handling and storage of parish archives.
 

Thanks, and come one, come all!

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);

Members of the United House of Prayer use a fire hose to spray a crowd during a mass baptism. (Dominic Bracco II - The Washington Post)

Its that time of year again, this Sunday Aug 30th at 11am UHOP will be baptizing a whole lot of people in front of god's white house on the 600 block of M Street with the fire hose.  Come on out and witness this event! (and post pics on this blog if you can! - I wont make it this year...

Also please mind the no parking signs that have gone up on 6th & M streets, these streets will be shut down.  driving in the area will be problematictoo...if you forget to move your car, MPD will move it for you, usually a few block away.  you can call 311 to locate it.

I've taken a decidedly optimistic tone in the title of this post.  After years of drama, the Department of Parks and Recreation has developed a design for the park on the 600 Block of N Street NW. 

Over the past three years or so, through a half dozen meetings and community surveys, the District has asked the community what it would like to see in the concrete jungle, the unnamed park, on the 600 Block of N Street NW.  The approach was simply to have an open forum for discussion. Some residents believe the areas youth are most likely to take advantage of basketball courts, others would prefer to have more than a single tennis court in the east side of the Ward.  Some residents would like the park to include benches.  Others express legitimate concern that benches would lead to loitering and continued gang problems.  Some suggest a playground.  Others might prefer to maximize green space.  Finally, some would prefer the land not remain a park at all and urge the city to sell it off for more housing or yet another surface parking lot. 

Up until recently, the DC government had thrown up its hands and walked away, claiming that our community lacks consensus. The city did not provide any guidance as to what is possible for the size of the site and what is in the city's budget.   It didn't present any tangible options to consider, to discuss, to tweak.  That was unacceptable and times have fortunately changed.

Let's hope that DPR presents a design that we can all be excited about and provides a starting point for reaching consensus!

DC Department of Parks and Recreation's Office of Planning and Capital Projects invites you to a community meeting on plans for the redevelopment of the 7th and N Streets Park.

For further information, visit dpr.dc.gov or call 202-671-0421.

A History of the Park

July 6, 2006                 Activist and Mayoral Candidate Chris Crowder Killed in Park.

October 10, 2006          ANC 2C votes 3-1 to support the transfer of park to United House of Prayer.  UHOP states that they do not have any final plans for the space.

January 9, 2007            First DPR meeting on park renovation held at Kennedy Recreation Center.  It was a large turnout with an open mic format.  DPR makes no commitments other than to fix broken park lighting.

Apprx. July 2007            Lights work in park for the first time in many years after DPR repairs.

October 30, 2007          Meeting scheduled by DPR to discuss park renovation is cancelled to be rescheduled for a future date.

November 19, 2007        Councilmember Jack Evans hosts neighborhood meeting on future of park at Kennedy Recreation Center.  Decision is reached to distribute a survey in order to gain community consensus.  Evans states that he will we will budget for the renovation in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2008/2009 and that the funds would available on October 1, 2008.

December 2007            Online survey distributed via ANC Commissioner Chapple’s website; paper surveys distributed by various neighborhood groups.

January 14, 2008           Councilmember Evans and DPR Director Clark Ray hold follow up meeting at United House of Prayer.  UHOP led a “vote” as to whether those in attendance supported Bishop Madison’s request for the city to sell the park to UHOP.  About 85 or 90 of the 100 in attendance stood up to show their support.  Council Member Evans closing words: "We are going to move forward without moving forward."

July 28, 2008                 Another person is shot and killed in the park.

April 28, 2009                Photos of the condition of the park.

May 5, 2009                  Bridget Stezney of DPR reports at ANC 2C that DPR fixed broken lighting and that they will be fixing the fence and adding gates that lock.  She also notes DPR is on a redesign plan to be shared in the spring or summer.

Early June 2009             DPR cleans up trash and weeds in park, fences perimeter.

I've recently moved to this lovely little neighborhood and came across the MVSNA newsletter. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you my blog. www.DomicidalManiac.blogspot.com I would love it if you would check it out, and tell me what you think.

Thanks! s.

MVS Residents,

Please be advised that this weekend is the annual May 30th Celebration for the United House of Prayer For All People. We expect a lot of out-of-town guests so please plan accordingly!

The Hahnemann statue has been on my mind as of late due to my latest bum poo crusade - a tale for another day...and so when I saw this item in Loose Lips Daily which led to this fascinating bit in the WaPo, it caught my eye.  Hahnemann Homeopathic hospital in our hood at 2nd & N? Neato!  So I perused the internets a bit and found and old photo:

Ah the things they tore down...My educated guess is that this is what used to occupy part of Dunbar field (which used to have an alleyish street called Hamilton Place.)  Anyone else have an inkling?

The next HP Agenda includes the recently discussed 4th street projects as well as landmark nominations for the historic buildings on the 600 block of K street NW.  This stretch is part of Douglas Development's plans to redevelop squares 450/451 and the intention is to move the waffle shop to that block.  RR wasn't this block also the site for DC Cab?

HISTORIC PRESERVATION REVIEW BOARD MEETING
April 23, 2009
441 4th Street NW, Room 220 South, 10:00 a.m. 
 
The Historic Preservation Review Board will meet on April 23, 2009, to consider permit and concept applications for work affecting historic properties.  This meeting may also include a public hearing on nominations to designate historic landmarks or historic districts.
The final agenda for the HPRB meeting will be released on April 17, 2009.  The agenda will be emailed to all recipients of this monthly public notice. Staff Reports will be posted on the Historic Preservation Office website at www.planning.dc.gov/hpo on April 17, 2009. To receive a print copy of the staff report for a case on the final agenda, please contact Bruce Yarnall at (202) 442-8835 or bruce.yarnall(at)dc.gov on or after April 17th.

Historic Landmark and District Nominations

Hartig Motor Company, 627 K Street, NW , Case #05-10 (to be heard in May) (Tim Dennee)
601, 607-609, 611, 613 and 617 K Street, NW , Case #05-11 (to be heard in May) (Tim Dennee)

Mount Vernon Square Historic District
1213 4th Street, NW, HPA #09-107, concept/new 3-story, 2-flat residential building. (Brendan Meyer)
1209-1211 4th Street, NW, HPA #09-151, concept/third floor addition to rear of 2-story rowhouses
     (Brendan Meyer)

Unrelated: 5th St Hardware has some great garden flowers, garden and kichen herbs for sale. pansies, lavendar, rosemary and more.

Suggestions Needed for Operation Fix-It!

Operation Fix-It is Mayor Fenty’s multi-agency initiative aimed at abating areas where crime, blight, and compliance issues require participation from more than one DC Government agency. “Fix-Its” are coordinated weekly and cover a 2-3 block radius with services including graffiti removal, street cleaning, alley repair, weed trimming, trash removal, abandoned auto removal, and building inspection. 

Fix-Its in Ward 2 are coordinated by Andrew Huff and Francisco Fimbres of the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations & Services (MOCRS). 

Have a suggestion for a Fix-It location?  A street or alley with multiple issues?  

Please contact Andrew (andrew.huff@dc.gov) and Francisco (francisco.fimbres@dc.gov) with your ideas!