Results tagged “vernonsquare”

The National Transportation Safety Board released its findings this afternoon from an investigation into the January derailment of a Green line train near the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop. The accident, in which the fifth car of a six-car train jumped the rails and hit a wall in the tunnel, injured 20 people and left around 60 passengers stranded in the tunnel for nearly 45 minutes. The Associated Press has the first word on the...

Written by DCist Contributor Rebecca Cooper After much ado—and by that we mean delay -- the Old Dominion Brew House at the convention center opened in January, and from the looks of things, the bar and restaurant is still trying to combat the relatively light foot traffic in the area during off hours. With its seemingly countless flat screen TVs and copious "tailgate" specials for weekend football games (the bathrooms even have televisions so you...

Good morning, Washington. For the first time in almost 30 years, the Senate will take up a measure considering D.C. voting rights this afternoon, though as we explained yesterday, today's action is really just a vote to consider giving us the vote in the House, not the actual vote to give us the vote. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who will take public transportation all day today in honor of Car Free D.C. Day, announced he will...

Via the DCist tipline, we heard there may have been a fire at year-old Mt. Vernon Square-area coffee shop Breakwell's, on the corner of 9th and M Streets NW. Sure enough, the windows at the front and along the side of the shop have been boarded up, and there is visible fire damage to the exterior of the building. While checking out the extent of the damage, DCist chatted with the proprietors of WIDE...

Anyone wishing to pay their respects to former D.C. First Lady Effi Barry, who died from complications related to leukemia last week, can stop by the Wilson Building today, where her body is lying in repose. Viewing began at 10 a.m. and goes until midnight tonight, and will also occur on Friday morning from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. If you plan to go late tonight, remember that Metro will be running until 2 a.m....

Today tens of thousands of District children return to school, leaving behind the late-morning starts, extended curfews and breaks at the public swimming pool that summer afforded them. And though the year will proceed as it usually does, they will be part of a school system that has seen drastic changes over the last few months. Now under mayoral control and led by new chancellor Michelle Rhee, the District's public schools have entered a new...

Samuel Gompers is one of those names you vaguely remember from AP U.S. History, along with The Grange and the Know-Nothings. They fit in somehow, but you don't exactly remember why. While he may not be on the tips of people's tongues, he does have a rather large monument on Massachusetts Avenue NW near Mount Vernon Square. Gompers, born in London in 1850, was a major figure in the American labor movement, organizing and...

Written by DCist contributor Eric Denman As summer lingers on, the average D.C. resident may be tempted to stay indoors, limit excursions, and camp out in front of the A/C unit with a tongue-numbingly cold, mass-produced lager. There is a better option! A nice Belgian beer can quench your thirst while also satisfying your palate. Although some Belgian styles may be a bit heavy for summer, many of them fit the bill perfectly (Witbier and...

UPDATE: Thanks to Kiki Schneider for the new photo of the fire in action! Andrew Wiseman is the author of this post An orange Old Town Trolley bus burst into flames today just before 6 p.m. on Rhode Island Avenue, NW between 11th and 12th Streets. Before arriving on the scene, this DCist saw and smelled black smoke from outside the Mt. Vernon Square Metro at about 5:50 p.m. and 9th Street was hazy...

The Examiner reports that renovations are underway at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, the central branch of the D.C. Public Public system. The improvements come after former Mayor Anthony Williams' proposal to replace the building with a new flagship library two blocks away on the site of the old convention center was first tabled by the D.C. Council and then shelved by the Fenty administration. Improvements to the outdated and long-neglected MLK Library...

Here at Transit on Thursday, we love giving good news, and we've got some for you today. New rail cars! Also this week, Governor Kaine works to rile up support for changes to Republican transportation legislation. Finally, maintenance and rail car testing will cause some delays on the Red, Yellow and Green Lines this weekend. Also, MetroAccess is now offering eAlerts with information on major service disruptions due to inclement weather and other emergencies....

Finally. After years of delays, the Old Dominion Brewhouse in the new convention center will be opening this Saturday. The convention center folks announced the opening in a press release, and mentioned food but not beer, which worried us a little -- however, a quick call confirmed that they do indeed have a liquor license, avoiding similar trouble at nearby BeBar and Vegetate. We walked by the place the other day and it looked completely...

Okay, okay — we know, this is a Nats town now. But it'd be churlish not to congratulate Cal Ripken Jr. on his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Many Washingtonians regularly made the trek to Camden Yards during his streak, and to them Cal felt as much like a hometown hero as any athlete. So it's good (if unsurprising) to see Ripken receive the nod. And he did it in style: Ripken's name...

Good morning D.C. We hope you enjoy today's slightly more seasonal high of 46 before we return to 70 by the weekend. Channel 9 is also warning that a few (gasp) flurries may make an appearance this evening. Metro Safety Under Scrutiny: Investigators are looking into several aspects of Sunday's Metro train derailment near the Mount Vernon Square station. D.C. Fire officials say they didn't receive information about the accident fast enough, leading to a...

UPDATE: Sam in the comments points out that the WMATA web site has no current service alerts posted, so it appears the Mt. Vernon Square station is now open. Anyone been over there this morning? A few more details are available from the Post this morning about yesterday's Green Line derailment, though it's still not known when the Mt. Vernon Square stop will re-open. In all 20 people were injured, all of them minor except...

The Washington Post reports what some of you who've been out using Metro today may have already heard: six-car train on the Green Line derailed just before 4 p.m. this afternoon near the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop, injuring 20 people, one of those seriously. The Associated Press has more, describing the 45-minute wait approximately 60 people had before being reached by fire crews and helped out of the tunnel. This from AP:The accident happened...

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the city, not a lot of authors are stirring. Give them a break! They have family and friends to see at this time of year, too!

>>A CNN/Gallup Poll released today reports that "100% of D.C.-Metro area residents" agree that they "like things that are great." Okay. There's no such poll. We're just giddy that after two-plus years of trying, we finally uncovered a local issue that we all agree on: following Vincent Orange into a redevelopment abyss over the Capital City Market is a bad idea. Further developments on the story shall be noted. >> Imminent show cancellation alert!...

It is an unfortunate reality for metro area residents that the transportation projects that can make or break their commute often live and die by the politicians who are elected to office. With Election 2006 dominating the news, here's a selection of transportation-related items from your friendly neighborhood candidates. Also, changes to Metro's weekend service. Photo by xtol7...

Ouch. For anyone who recently moved into one of the many apartment buildings rising along Massachusetts Avenue between Mt. Vernon Square and Chinatown and read the Post yesterday, it may have been a bit of a shock to find the city's newspaper of record heaping criticism on the developments. In an article gracing the front page of the Style section and titled "The Mediocre Mile," Post writer Philip Kennicott left little debate over what he...

And a happy Friday morning to you, Washington. Heads up: Metro's Yellow Line from King Street to Mt. Vernon Square will not be running this weekend due to track maintenance starting tonight at 10 p.m. Folks will be forced off at King Street, and those going between Mt. Vernon Square and L'Enfant Plaza will be forced to ride the Green Line. Things are expected to be running back on schedule by Monday morning. Large Part...

Word is leaking out -- Metro's Yellow Line will extend its runs to the Ft. Totten station during off-peak hours starting in January 2007. In a letter to his constituents, Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who had long pushed for the idea, wrote: The WMATA board has given the green light to extending the Yellow Line to Fort Totten during off-peak periods. As a voting member, I proposed this extension. It would double the number...

The National Harbor, a perplexing development scheme rising from the Prince George's County river flats just outside the Capital Beltway, has attracted additional hotel investments, giving the complex a planned total of 3,000 available rooms.

Hi there, Washington. Check out this lovely photo from Flickr user LaTur. It looks like we're in for more of that kind of sunny weather — today's going to be clear, windy and cold. Kaine Aide's Remarks Draw Republican Ire: William Leighty, Governor Tim Kaine's Chief of Staff has gotten his boss in trouble with Virginia Republicans after implying that the governor would discriminate against legislation drafted by lawmakers hostile to his transportation agenda. Leighty...

Since late last month, when the idea of the extending the Yellow Line beyond its terminus at Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center was formally introduced to the public, moves have been made that might finally make the extension a reality. Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), assured residents attending the Cardozo-Shaw Neighborhood Association meeting last night that he believes he will be able to secure funding to extend the Yellow Line to Ft. Totten beginning as early...

Back in November when we first reported on the idea of extending the Yellow Line beyond its terminus at the Mt. Vernon Square/Convention Center stop, we thought it a bit of a shot in the dark. After all, then WMATA Chief Richard White didn't seem to keen on the idea, stating, "Such an extension of service would be exceedingly expensive, both from an operating cost perspective, as well as from a capital cost perspective." But...

A mid-week transit update, bringing us news on Virginia's new governor and the possible extension of the Yellow Line. Kaine Announces Support for Wider I-66 Wow. You'd think the guy would take a day off to recover from what we would hope was a late night celebrating, but Virginia Governor-elect Tim Kaine is already up and addressing one of the issues that most preoccupied the state's voters over the course of the campaign -- transportation....

New development in the historic Shaw neighborhood has put two restaurateurs' liquor licenses on uncertain footing and sparked a conflict about the future of the neighborhood. The restaurants are located on Ninth Street between the new Convention Center and Rhode Island Avenue, just blocks from both the Mt. Vernon Square and Shaw Metro stations and steps from where this DCist lives. They also both happen to be located a stone's throw from Shiloh Baptist Church,...

When DCist theorized that Mt. Vernon Square was ripe for hotel development last month, we realized we were stating the obvious. And an article that appeared yesterday on real estate website GlobeSt.com confirmed what many knew was coming: the effort to secure space for a hotel serving the new Convention Center has begun. The Washington Convention Center Authority has purchased a half-acre at 901 Massachusetts Ave. NW, including the offices of the United Association of...

Despite our lack of a W, D.C. sure has its share of fancy-shmancy boutique hotels. And that's predominantly because of the Kimpton Group, who operate six hotels in D.C. -- their second largest metropolitan hub after their headquarters in San Francisco. As Metrocurean says, the Kimpton Group has done a great job taking ugly D.C. buildings and transforming them not only into swank hotels, but also spaces with fun bars/lounges and fine dining. And now the Washington Business Journal reports that the Kimpton Group are renovating another spot in D.C. at 2121 P St. NW, not far from the Hotel Monaco.