Uncategorized

Well who would’ve guessed a little contest like this could create such controversy. There is some debate as to whether the Cat finalists poll is being manipulated or not. Please, please, please don’t use a computer program to flood the poll. Of course you can tell friends, family and colleagues to vote but let’s keep it legit. Anyway the cat poll is pretty close with Oreo, Ike, and Oliver all pretty close. Cat voting is open until Wed. 11:59pm. The “Other” poll is also pretty tight. Calliope, Cladius and Flash are pretty close as well. Voting for “other” ends tonight at 11:59 pm. Also, I just want to let folks know that shirts are only being made for the overall winner (not each category). The king of kings if you will.

Whew, ok, so here we have the 10 Dog finalists. My God was this a difficult task. It literally took me two hours to trim the list. I was stuck on 20 finalists and had to grit my teeth and half it to a more manageable 10 finalists. Voting will open for dog finalists until 11:59pm next Friday. Please be honest! The name corresponds with the photo above.

Blondie

Winston

Cooper

Charlie

Oz

Flash

Tsuki

Wrigley

Dr. Dre

Lucy

The “other” category is having some fierce competition. At the moment Calliope (the bird) has a 300 vote lead over Flash (the rabbit) while Claudius (the guinea pig) is hanging in there in third place. “Other” voting is open until Friday 11:59pm. There were a lot of great cat entries but I had to pick five so here goes. Cat voting will be open until next Wed. night 11:59pm. Dog finalists will go up Friday.

Here are the cat finalists (I couldn’t narrow down to five so Eight it is. I suspect the dogs may have 10 finalists… The name corresponds with the photo ABOVE):

Lumpy

Oliver

Ike

Oreo

Twizz

Miiister

Toby

Amos

Continuing with our good news trend for Monday morning – I’ve received confirmation from Chris Donatelli of Donatelli Development that the deal has been signed for the folks behind Marvin and Gibson (on 14th St. just north of U) to come to Petworth on Georgia Ave. They will be coming to the space that formerly housed the historic Billy Simpson’s House of Seafood. We first learned about this possibility back in February but given the way the economy has been going I’m super psyched that this deal has been finalized. I think it says a lot about the future of Georgia Ave.

So more about the spot – Construction should begin immediately and the spot to be named later hopes to open in 6 months. The eventual name and theme of the space will pay homage to Billy Simpson’s and its historic significance. There will be outdoor seating by way of a patio in the rear according to Donatelli. This is a joint venture between Donatelli and Mosiac Urban Partners.

From the CH Listserv:

“This morning around 9:40 a.m. a coworker was walking north on 14th Street near the east side entrance to the CH Metro. As she passed the crowded bus stop at that location a man “sidekicked” her hard in the shin and then turned around as if nothing had happened. She confronted him and he ignored her. Others saw the incident and called the police. One man followed the “kicker” as he left the area heading north on 14th and turning east on Kenyon. The Metro Express newspaper man said that the same man had been there the day before and had kicked another woman.

If this happens to you, please report it to the police, and know that it’s part of a series of aberrant behavior by this man.”

Anyone else hear of this happening? I don’t know why, but it bothers me even more when incidents like this occur at 9:40 in the morning. Sounds like we need more heroes like this one.

This is of course the location of the recent building fire that closed down so many streets the other day. Councilmember Graham responded to concerns about the building security in an email:

I share your concern about safety and security in and around the Perseus YMCA/housing development project. This is an especially important project for the revitalized 14th street corridor in Ward 1. The project will redevelop the historic Anthony Bowen YMCA, creating a new 45,000 square foot facility, including a 25-meter pool, gym, day care facilities, and community meeting space. The project will include 231 units of rental housing, of which 18 will be affordable units at 60% or less of the area median income, 12,200 square feet of ground level retail, and 170 below grade parking spaces.

On December 16 I sponsored an emergency bill to provide much-needed tax relief for the Perseus YMCA development. The emergency the Council adopted provides a real property tax freeze for the next ten years, with a ramp-up to full taxation over the following ten years. This law also provides immediate sales tax relief on construction materials for the project.

Perseus purchased the 14th street townhouses almost one year ago. Since then, Perseus Reality, through Clark Construction, has invested thousands of dollars to keep the property secure. I am told that the recent fire at the project was allegedly started by a homeless person with an outstanding arrest warrant for starting fires at vacant properties. Since the fire, the property has been secured.

Over the next few months, my colleagues and I are committed to securing funds to pay for this tax relief. In the meantime, I am assured by Perseus that they “will continue to be vigilant about propert[y] security, appearance and cleanliness prior to construction.” My office will also remain vigilant.

After the jump check out a timeline of security measures taken provided by John Wood Bolton, Jr., Executive Vice President & Principal, Perseus Realty, LLC. (more…)