Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my Petworth neighbors!

Get your own funny Mom Day ecard. 

Part 3 of WAMU coverage on DCRA & permitting issues in Petworth

Part 3 of WAMU's series on property flipping and issues with regulations written by Martin Austermuhle is now available.

As Development Spreads Across D.C.’s Neighborhoods, Can Regulators Keep Up?

This third and final part focuses on the recent Petworth walk-through that Councilmember Vincent Orange conducted, along with residents and ANC 4C Commissioners Joe Martin and Kathleen Crowley. 

View fullsize

Pam Lloyd walks with Councilmember Vincent Orange. (Martin Austermuhle is in the back.) Photo: Joe Martin.

From the piece:

"Most of my time is spent addressing complaints from residents about developers who do not follow the proper rules and regulations and the lack of oversight on the part of DCRA,” wrote Kathleen Crowley, the head of an Advisory Neighborhood Commission in the area, in a letter to legislators in March. “Let me be clear, I am not talking about simple matters of permit creep but rather egregious examples of developers going well beyond what the permits allow."

The lack of oversight and enforcement by DCRA has been a recurring theme during the city’s real estate booms. As more construction happens — whether homes being flipped, expanded or converted into condo units — the agency is strained with issuing permits in a timely way and then policing the builders to ensure they are doing only the permitted work."

You can read my earlier post and pictures from the walk-through.

Source: WAMU

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

No, it's not World War 2 again... it's a massive flyover of vintage WW2 bombers and fighter.

If you're downtown near the National Mall or along the flightpath, go out around noon to see the "Arsenal of Democracy Flyover" dominate the DC skyline. (They should be over the Lincoln Memorial by 12:10pm, headed over the Mall and then left after the Capitol.)

You can check out the list of formations that you will see coming in over the city. And here is the official Arsenal of Democracy Flyover Fact Sheet (pdf).

And here's a cool Plane-Spotting Guide to help you identify the planes (over 70 are scheduled to participate). Considering these are all prop-planes, it should be LOUD and glorious.

Update -- now with far away pix!

Source: ww2flyover.org

Buzzfeed article: "Why cops like me are quiet"

Nicholas Kamm / Getty Images

I wanted to pass along this interesting article about police violence, written by a former NYPD police officer. While it doesn't break a lot of new ground in the message, it does talk to the marginalization of the "80-90% of good officers by the smaller percentage of bad apples" and the media / public response to those bad apples. 

Of particular interest to me was the idea of not putting young / inexperienced officers in higher crime / higher poverty areas, but putting more experienced officers and leadership in those areas. Thing is, those aren't areas people aspire to work in. But it's those areas that need the most patient, informed and experienced officers. 

He also talks about the divide in media frenzy. A civilian is killed in police custody and there are protests and riots. An officer is gunned down in the street without provocation by a criminal, and it doesn't get much media play. There's no demonstration to protect officer's lives. Why? 

Lastly, the police don't interact daily with 95% of residents unless the resident is a victim of crime. Most of their interactions can be negative, dangerous and ultimately, help to create a jaded view. Police are regular people and are impacted by what they experience.

It's a complicated affair.

Source: Buzzfeed.

Whole Foods coming to Florida Avenue

Wow... a 40,000 sq ft Whole Foods is coming south of Petworth and Parkview at 965 Florida Avenue NW. This spot has been sitting empty for years. There used to be a car wash there that I brought my car to, then they tore it down for new construction and it floundered. 

From the developer press release:

"The 370,000-square-foot mixed-use building will feature approximately 400 residential units, 30 percent of which will be made available as affordable dwelling units. MRP and Ellis will begin processing the Planned Unit Development for the building this summer."

It was sad to see that area just sitting. Nice to see new development coming.

Read the full article on Popville.

Source: Popville.com

DC loses firefighter Lt. Kevin McRae

1300 block of Seventh Street NW (Courtesy D.C. Fire)

Very saddened to hear about the DC firefighter who died in the line of duty this morning. DCFD was fighting a fire on 7th St NW in Shaw, and Lt. Kevin McRae collapsed while exiting the building.

DC's bravest.

From the Washington Post article:

"The fire was first reported about 8 a.m. in a building in the 1300 block of Seventh Street NW, two blocks north of Mount Vernon Square and the convention center. Tim Wilson, a fire department spokesman, said it was extinguished in less than one hour.

McRae’s unit was one of the first to arrive on the scene to help put out the fire, according to [Mayor] Bowser. He safely exited the building and then collapsed. Paramedics transported him to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced dead."

Read the full story on the Washington Post website: D.C. firefighter dies after fighting 2-alarm apartment fire in Shaw

Latney's Funeral Home to become 20-unit apartment, 2 parking spots

View fullsize

Current Latney's Funeral Home at 3831 Georgia Avenue NW

If you think we don't have enough apartments on Georgia Avenue with too little allocated parking, well, good news!

What is now Latney's Funeral Home (3831 Georgia Ave NW) will be demolished to put up a 20-unit residential building with 2 parking spots (zoning requirements specify 10 parking spots for a building of this size). The building will also feature a 1,488 sq foot retail space at the ground floor.

I would imagine future residents of this building won't receive zoned street parking permits, so hopefully hipsters who love bikes and Car2Go are the target customers for this new building. 

This is proposed -- the developer will need a variance for the parking decrease and will need to go before ANC 4C for the commissions approval. This is in Timothy Jones' SMD (4C08). You can email Commissioner Jones at taj_reinv@juno.com. 

Rendering of project planned for 3831 Georgia Avenue

Here's my previous Facebook post on it from March 19th, with an update from March 23rd... originally Murillo Malnati said 5 parking spaces would be requested:

"[Commissioner Jones] said that the development will include two inclusionary zoning units (affordable housing), one at 50% of AMI and the other at 80%. The new building will have five parking spaces ("including one for the handicapped"). The developer expects the project to be completed in two years. (To date no BZA application has been submitted or plans approved by DCRA.) 

On March 23rd, I updated the post:
Commissioner Jones consulted with the office of the Zoning Administrator today regarding this project. The redeveloped building will require ten parking spaces -- the developer is proposing five. They will need to see a parking exception from the ANC.

>See the PRIOR PETWORTH NEWS POST from March 19th & 23rd. 

More info on DC Urban Turf.

Petworth Dance Project is ready to swing

The Petworth Dance Project starts this Saturday in the lawn at the Petworth Park (801 Taylor St NW, along 8th St).

If you like dance and you like Petworth, then this was made just for you. It's free, so come out and support the arts and hang with yer neighbors.

Below is their announcement:

"We are 5 days away from the first round of dance performances from our PDP artists! Bring your family and friends and come to meet new ones, as you relax and watch the lawn at the Petworth Recreation Center be transformed and taken over by some of the best DC dance has to offer, Maru Montero Dance Company (ballet folklorico), Motion X Dance DC (contemporary), and Rick Westerkamp with DancEthos (modern)...and that's just the first show!! Plus, don't forget the Petworth Jazz Project's music series will begin on Saturday, May 30th. Lots of FREE concerts in your own backyard! See you there!"

Check out the Petworth Dance Project Facebook page.

So good, so sour

These are my new fav sour things from @Number1Sons. I go Mmm Mm outloud. Super sour green beans.