March 14, 2008
Morning Roundup: Coming Together Edition
Welcome to Friday, D.C. The fire department is still investigating what caused Thursday's five-alarm fire in Mt. Pleasant, but in the meantime, we've had a lot of requests from readers asking how they can help those who lost their homes. To make a food or clothing donation, you can contact Neighbors’ Consejo at 202-234-6855. Clothes and goods can also be dropped off at the Columbia Heights Community Center at 1480 Girard St. NW. If you'd prefer to make a cash donation, we've heard that nearby Pfeiffer's Hardware on Mt. Pleasant Street is serving as a collection point for the Columbia Heights Shaw Family Support Collaborative, which is putting together a fund to pay for emergency shelter and other crucial items like medications lost in the blaze. Also, the Mount Pleasant Main Street Association is having a wine tasting event next Tuesday at Marx Cafe on Mt. Pleasant Street, from 7-9 p.m., and will be donating a portion of the proceeds to victims of the fire.
Low Graduation Rates Hurt Local Economy: A new study by the Alliance for Excellent Education, an independent policy and research organization, says that the District would save $70 million a year in crime-related costs if the male high school graduation rate increased by 5 percent, reports the Post. Roughly 58 percent of seniors graduated from D.C. high schools last year, compared with 70 percent nationwide. The study also says D.C.'s dropouts will lose $615 million in lifetime earnings, as well as the $70 million the District spends to police, prosecute and incarcerate them.
Nationals Ballpark Neighborhood Still a Mess: WTOP reports that Nationals fans shouldn't be surprised on opening day when they find the neighborhood around the new ballpark to be fairly rough around the edges. Things they say you'll see for sure include missing sidewalks, half finished buildings, and dirt and mud. WMATA has said that the expansion of the Navy Yard Metro Station will be ready on time for opening day, though Adam Tuss reports that pipes and other building materials are currently stacked up at what will be the main entrance of the station.
Briefly Noted: Amtrak train traveling from D.C. to Boston strikes and kills track inspector ... Foreclosures drop in D.C. and Northern Virginia ... Teen accused of string of robberies in Gaithersburg.
This Day in DCist: In 2007 we shared a special St. Patrick's Day recipe for Irish Lamb Stew and in 2006 the design for the Nationals stadium was revealed.
Photo by Bas 88
|
of course it's going to take a while for the neighborhood around the stadium to flesh itself out. chinatown didn't become what it is today the day after the verizon center opened.
of course, the way the city has been talking things up, i won't be surprised when some people are disappointed.
give it time, folks. the neighborhood, like the team, won't be winners for a few years.
Sure, the "Ballpark District" is no Wrigleyville or Kenmore Square yet, but how long was the area outside the MCI Center a total ghost town? Five years? There was, like, the Rock, and then what else?
I think the stuff in and around the Verizon Center is a little bit of a different scenario. A lot of what's there now didn't start getting built until after the Verizon Center opened. I think it will be quicker this go around because buildings are going up around that neighborhood simultaneously as the ballpark.
It won't be this year though. Probably 2010?
WTOP is mainly pointing out that the area around the stadium is still a construction zone and not quite polished up; not that the neighborhood has the right Starbucks to tapas ratio.
I'm sure most have seen it already, but for those who haven't, JDLand is the absolute best resource for information on the development of/around the stadium.
it's a shame the area around the stadium wont be ready for opening day (but really, what stadium is ever like that?) ESPN will have to show shots of the Capitol and WashMon at night instead of the bustling area that this part of town will become.
For the "Ballpark District" to become Kenmore Square, GWU would have to start buying up swaths of real estate all around the park and turning them into hideous upscale hotels and generic commercial development, with dorms interspersed. No thanks to that model.
Not just dorms, horrible dorms of doom. No wonder BU is a miserable place.
Knowing ESPN, they will show the bustling part of town inside of the ESPNZone.
The group Hear Mount Pleasant has been doing great work helping the victims of the fire find housing and organizing donations. Their website lists all the resources and updates on the situation:
http://www.hearmountpleasant.org/
An email that was posted here yesterday outlining all of the above sources that you mention was from them. They are a great group, which was formed to bring live music back to Mount Pleasant.
"ESPN will have to show shots of the Capitol and WashMon at night instead of the bustling area that this part of town will become."
They'll still show shots of the landmarks even when the area is built up.. networks still insist on showing NYC during Giants games.
And another suggestion for those wanting to help with Mt. Pleasant folks -- I sent the info to the admin head of my firm, who set up donation sites in my office for it, so you might want to try doing the same in your office.
Speaking of the Nationals new digs, does anyone know whether any part of the deal (stadium lease or otherwise) placed a limit on moving the team until a date certain? In other words, I'm curious as to how long it must legally before Lerner Enterprises, Inc. pulls a "Washington Senators" and moves the team?
Surely the Mayor and DC Council took precautions to ensure there will be adequate time to thoroughly gentrify the neighborhood formerly famous for the DC Inspection Station, the open-air narcotics bazaar also known as "Nation", and the Most Dangerous McDonald's in America. I mean, after the Nationals leave, I expect interest in the area to plateau--after all, the DOT and new DMV offices can only be invigorating attractions in their own right up to a point.
It's a real shame that the Irish Times no longer holds their annual greased leprechaun hunt. Sure, it's just a midget spraypainted green and covered in Crisco, but the proceeds always went to a good cause. Usually to send a needy child to IRA demolitions camp.
Updates and Immediate Needs of the Fire Victims
(including an address where checks can be mailed)
http://www.hearmountpleasant.org
Not quite schadenfreude, but saying a train struck the track inspector sortof implies that it was errant in some way, rather than cruising along its track. What really happened was the track inspector getting struck, not the other way around. The train was where it should've been, not the inspector.
Oh well, so much for the live-long day...