BaancBlog

The editor has noted, at least to himself, that he has a fixation with the street sweeping implementation in DC. While first implemented obviously to clean up the streets, it seems more intrusive, and frequently more useless year by year.

So, it's gone for a few more months, as of November 6. None of the usual fanfare, and seemingly a bit early, since last year it was a few weeks later. What with the onset of Global Warming, one would think the non-street sweeping parts of the year would shrink like the Arctic ice.

Anyway, here is Mike Benardo's annual email, which the editor views as darned nice Christmas Greeting:

Neighbors--

The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) announced on Monday that weekly (signed), residential mechanical street cleaning ended for the season on Friday, November 6, 2009. “No parking/street cleaning” restrictions will be lifted and motorists may park along posted, alternate-side, daytime street sweeping routes without being required to move their cars on street-cleaning days.

Residential street sweeping is suspended for public safety concerns during the winter. Trucks used to clean the streets release a fine spray of water to control the dust as they sweep. When the temperature drops to freezing or below, sweeping is discontinued to prevent freezing and accidents to vehicles and pedestrians.

Overnight sweeping scheduled for the District’s major roadways, which include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Constitution, and Independence Avenues, will take place as usual all winter, weather conditions permitting. Motorists are urged not to park in these areas during the posted overnight sweeping hours.

By suspending the street sweeping program, DPW personnel can focus on leaf collection, which began November 2, and the upcoming snow removal season. Street sweeping will resume in the spring of 2010.

--
Michael Benardo
Commissioner, ANC 2F06
anc2f06@gmail.com
http://www.anc2f.org/blogs/2f06/

Normally, we buy a large pack of those mini-candy bars for Halloween. And normally, there is enough left over for the editor to finish over the next week or two or whatever. We bought a bigger bag than usual this year. It didn't work.

We had probably triple the number of trick-or-treaters from the previous few years. There have been years with none. All had trailing adults. It was a delight.

So next year, it's double the candy or more. And yes, it's candy, not "good for you" stuff. It should be a fun night.

Way back when the editor was in college he spent a summer interning in Midtown Manhattan and living in the East Village. At that point, Greenwich Village was to the west. The "East Village" was a way of making an area just north of the Bowery and east of somewhere into "Something". Pretty soon Greenwich Village was also known as the "West Village", to distinguish itself from the upstart.

Anyway, First Avenue was one-way south. The editor learned that you really only had to look right for cars. Mistake. One morning on the way to the subway he looked right and got clobbered on the left by a bicycle going the other way. Not too serious, but more than embarrassing. The bike rider wasn't happy.

A section of the 900 block of M Street is one-way. So last Friday the editor walks out to cross over to One Cup to get the paper, looks right, and damn near got clobbered hard. Some gal was going to work, and was surprised that someone would treat one-way streets like one-way streets. No contact, but she was moving fast. Strong rider. She never looked back.

Lesson relearned. Look both ways even if it is a one-way street.

Jim Loucks received an email:

Subject: A Victorian house is going down....and I have many questions....

The vacant Victorian (it also [has] an eclectic mix with some elements of the Federal Style) located on the Eastern sidewalk of 10th Street NW, between M & N, is going down. [Ed: That’s 1225]

I feel a lot of sadness whenever I see a historic building go down this way.....

Do we know if this was the only alternative? I tend to be doubtful....
there are ways to save an old building, and as they say, if there's a will, there's a way.

Does anyone know what is going to go up in its place? A new condo? A modern -and out of context- building? Some nicely designed structure that will harmoniously blend with the rest of the neighboring buildings?

Or will it be something totally out of context and a permanent eyesore for the next 100 years? Has anyone being shown the plans for what will be erected in its place?

Will it remain as a vacant lot? Cynically speaking, it will be contextual in that block where there are some other vacant lots which seem to remain permanently vacant. In an architectural and urban context
that is the equivalent of a smile that is missing a few too many
teeth,
and almost as attractive.

Were the neighbors consulted?
Was the Blagden Alley Association consulted?
Was the Historic Preservation Review Board notified?
Will this lead to the demolition of the buildings at the back of the block?

I hope someone has answers to my questions, and some positive feelings about it. I don't, for now.


Jim responded:

When I moved to the block in 1987, the house was in a similar state of repair as till recently. The property was purchased by its current owner sometime in the early 1990s.

At some point a year or so ago my understanding is that the city condemned the house and requested it be demolished or fixed. I don't believe that the owner wished to have it demolished but it seemed the only option open to her at the time. The demolition request went through all the appropriate channels, the Historic Preservation Office, the Logan Circle Historic Committee and Blagden Alley Association was notified of the pending demolition.

While the structure of the building was seriously compromised you and I know that most anything can be fixed if you put your mind to it. Unfortunately in this instance time ran out on fixing the building and it was demolished. The facing bricks are to be salvaged and
reused if a structure replaces it.

As to what will eventually go there, there are no plans at the current time to my knowledge.

Jim Loucks

Sometimes there is no nice solution. The editor recalls several such instances in the 80's and later. Many of the gaps you see on the 900 block of M Street were not there a while back, for example. Not all "gentrification" is building or renovation. Sometimes it's watching things disappear.

It is worth noting that the loss of this building is proceeding differently than the old days. Back then, the drug dealers, users, and homeless would have been in there and within a few years there would have been a fire. And then another. Pretty soon, the building would be so weakened that it would essentially collapse. With luck, only that house would come down. Attempts to seal up such buildings were much less successful than now. And the causes of those fires, from the drug dealers to the homeless to the transvestite prostitutes have long gone, at least as a large group. This building, as much as its loss hurts, is a reminder of how fragile the preservation of the character of the neighborhood was.

The editor will note that one of the vacant lots on Tenth Street had a building proposed sometime in the 1990's. To put it nicely, the proposed structure made Bauhaus seem Victorian. The community killed it, along with a good deal of help from others.

Some current pictures from Jim:





Looking a bit closer to the first, we see

You'll see a lot of that ornamentation in the neighborhood. Whenever the editor sees one of those bricks in a pile somewhere, he thinks that it was once a bit of pride on a nice house.

For a bit of context, see here. 1225 is the one on the left.

The official start of the building of the Tenth Street Park took place yesterday at 10:30 am. There was a good crowd, 70-80+. Just about everyone was there.

Groundbreakings are sort of like funerals, only happy. You get to see a number of people you haven't seen in a bit and talk a bit about common interests and catch up on other matters.

There is always a tripod of some sort at these things.
Standing quietly in the background was Jim Loucks, who helped get the concept of fixing that lot up many years ago. Without his initial work, and persistence, it wouldn't have happened.Jack was there, as was the Mayor. Jack and some of his people have been tracking and helping with Jim for a long time. Also note the Convention Center in the background. Jack was major in making that happen, too. The Mayor and his people were, of course, pivotal. Here he is with Stacy Hannah, President of the Tenth Street Park Project, with its $1M budget, and Bob Maffin on the left. And finally, the "groundbreaking". Calling this "ground" is a bit of an overstatement, and if it is "ground", its been broken a long time. But it will be nice soon.