AnUrbanLifestyleMagazine

MIDCITY

APRIL 2015

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 0 3

CONTENTSAPRIL2015

32

44

24

MIDCITY

08 what’s on washington10 calendar50 classifieds

ONTHECOVER:

out and about18 Insatiable•JonathanBardzik

22 Let’sGetPhysical•JazelleHunt

24 DepecheArt•PhilHutinet

26 Gearin’Up•JonathanNeeley

your neighborhood28 DistrictBeat•JonettaRoseBarras

30 TheNumbers•WesRivers

32 BulletinBoard•KathleenDonner

36 EyesonMcMilan•JeffreyAnderson

38 ShawStreets•PleasantMann

40 BloomingdaleBuzz•EllenBoomer

42 Mt.VernonTriangle•EllenBoomer

43 ANC6E•SteveHolton

kids and family44 Notebook•KathleenDonner

at home48 ChangingHands•DonDenton

PennQuarterFarmersMarket.Thurs.,3-7p.m.,throughDec.17.Marketatnorthend ofEighthSt.NW,betweenDand EStreetsSNAP(EBT/FoodStamps)accepted.freshfarm-markets.org

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 0 5

ONTHECOVER:

DCRA FREE WORKSHOPSFOR EXISTING AND ASPIRING DISTRICT BUSINESSES

For further information, please contact:Jacqueline Noisette (202) 442-8170 jacqueline.noisette@dc.gov

Claudia Herrera (202) 442-8055 claudia.herrera@dc.gov Joy Douglas (202) 442-8690 joy.douglas@dc.gov

Money Smart for Small Business: Financial Manage-ment & Credit ReportingDate: Thursday, April 2, 2015

Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW 4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/DhyGDM

Affordable Care Act and Third Party PayersDate: Friday, April 10, 2015

Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW 4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, DC 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/GB3SUf

Understanding Business StructuresDate: Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Time: 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW 4th Floor (E-4302)Washington, DC 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/Qg6gTz

Regulatory Process of How to Open a Small Business in DCDate: Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Time: 9:00 am – 10:30 am

Location: 1100 4th Street SW2nd Floor (E-200)Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/8wqgYj

Senior Entrepreneurship ProgramDate: Thursday, April 9, 2015

Time: 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW 4th Floor (E-4302)Washington, DC 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/JocPsN

The District of Columbia Procurement Technical Assis-tance Center (DC PTAC) SeriesDate: Thursday, April 23, 2015

Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/9pxvNr

Meet One-on-One with a Lawyer for Free!Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Time: 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW2nd Floor (E-200)Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/Ifb5k4

A Comprehensive Guide for Small Business PlanningDate: Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Time: 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW 4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/YMBL8s

Money Smart for Small Busi-ness: Organizational Types & Tax Planning and ReportingDate: Thursday, April 30, 2015

Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/rKO7ir

The Regulatory Process of Starting a Business Date: Monday, April 20, 2015

Time: 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Library901 G Street NW, Room A-3 Washington, DC 20001

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/IIghwl

Money Smart for Small Business: Banking Services and InsuranceDate: Thursday, April 23, 2015

Time: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Location: 1100 4th Street SW4th Floor (E-4302) Washington, D.C. 20024

To Register:To Register: http://goo.gl/zYuDQe

0 6 M I d C I T y d C N E w S . C O M

Capital Community News, Inc. • 224 7th Street, SE, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20003 202.543.8300 • www.capitalcommunitynews.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Melissa Ashabranner • melissaashabranner@hillrag.comPublisher: Jean-Keith Fagon • fagon@hillrag.com

Copyright © 2015 by Capital Community News. All Rights Reserved.

MIDCITY

YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

F A G O NGUIDE TO CAPITOL HILL

Editorial Staff M������� E�����:Andrew Lightman • andrew@hillrag.comCFO � A�������� E�����:Maria Carolina Lopez • carolina@hillrag.comS����� N���� E�����:Susan Braun Johnson • schools@hillrag.comK��� � F����� E�����:Kathleen Donner • kathleendonner@gmail.comF��� E�����: Annett e Nielsen • annett e@hillrag.com

Arts, Dining & Entertainment A��: Jim Magner • jjmagner@aol.comD�����: Emily Clark • clapol47@gmail.com Celeste McCall • celeste@us.net Jonathan Bardzik • jonathan.bardzik@gmail.comL���������: Karen Lyon • klyon@folger.eduM�����: Mike Canning • mjcanning@verizon.netM����: Jean-Keith Fagon • fagon@hillrag.com Stephen Monroe • samonroe2004@yahoo.comT������: Barbara Wells • barchardwells@aol.comW��� G���: Jon Genderson • jon@cellar.com

Calendar & Bulleti n BoardC������� E�����: Kathleen Donner • calendar@hillrag.com, bulleti nboard@hillrag.com

Government & Politi csJonett a Rose Barras • jonett a@jonett arosebarras.com

General Assignment Jeff Anderson • byjeff reyanderson@gmail.comElise Bernard • elise.bernard@gmail.comEllen Boomer • emboomer@gmail.comElena Burger • elena96b@gmail.comStephanie Deutsch • scd@his.comMichelle Phipps-Evans • invisiblecolours@yahoo.comMaggie Hall • whitby@aol.comMark Johnson • mark@hillrag.comStephen Lilienthal - stephen_lilienthal@yahoo.comPleasant Mann • pmann1995@gmail.comMeghan Markey • meghanmarkey@gmail.comCharnice Milton • charnicem@hotmail.comJohn H. Muller • jmuller.washingtonsyndicate@gmail.comJonathan Neeley • neeley87@gmail.comWill Rich • will.janks@gmail.comHeather Schoell • schoell@verizon.netVirginia Avniel Spatz • virginia@hillrag.comMichael G. Stevens • michael@capitolriverfront.orgPeter J. Waldron • peter@hillrag.comRoberta Weiner • rweiner_us@yahoo.comJazzy Wright • wright.jazzy@gmail.com

BEAUTY, Health & FitnessPatricia Cinelli • fi tmiss44@aol.comJazelle Hunt • jazelle.hunt@gmail.comCandace Y.A. Montague • writeoncm@gmail.com

KIDS & FAMILYKathleen Donner • kathleendonner@gmail.comSusan Johnson • schools@hillrag.com

Homes & GardensDerek Thomas • derek@thomaslandscapes.comCatherine Plume • caplume@yahoo.comCheryl Corson • cheryl@cherylcorson.com

COMMENTARYEthelbert Miller • emiller698@aol.comT�� N��� • thenose@hillrag.comT�� L��� W��� • editorial@hilllrag.com

Producti on/Graphic/Web DesignA�� D�������: Jason Yen • jay@hillrag.comGraphic Design: Lee Kyungmin • lee@hillrag.comW�� M�����: Andrew Lightman • andrew@hillrag.com

Adverti sing & SalesA������ E���������:Kira Means, 202.543.8300 X16 • kira@hillrag.comMaria Carolina Lopez , 202.543.8300 X12 • Carolina@hillrag.comC��������� A����������:Maria Carolina Lopez , 202.543.8300 X12 • Carolina@hillrag.comBILLING:Sara Walder, 202.400.3511 • sara@hillrag.com

Distributi onM������: Andrew LightmanD�����������: MediaPoint, LLCI����������: distributi on@hillrag.com

Deadlines & ContactsA����������: sales@hillrag.comD������ A��: 15th of each monthC��������� A��: 10th of each monthE��������: 15th of each month; editorial@hilllrag.comB������� B���� � C�������: 15th of each month;calendar@hillrag.com, bulleti nboard@hillrag.com

We welcome suggesti ons for stories. Send queries to andrew@hillrag.com. We are also interested in your views on community issues which are published in the Last Word. Please limit your comments to 250 words. Lett ers may be edited for space. Please include your name, address and phone number. Send Last Word submissions to lastword@hillrag.com. For employment opportuniti es email jobs@hillrag.com.

Free Gift With Ad

WIDE SHOE OUTLETMen’s and Women’s sizes

up to 15 EE

Brands:Naturalizer • Soft Spots

Ros Hommerson • PropetWalking Cradles • Easy Street

Slingshots are Back

Marlow Heights Shopping Center4123 Branch Ave. Marlow Heights, MD

301-702 1401www.simplywide.com

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 0 7

US NatioNalarboretUm

GardeN Fair & PlaNt Sale

The US National Arboretum Garden Fair & Plant Sale is on Friday, April 24, 1-4 p.m. and Saturday, April 25, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. The annual sale features new, rare, and hard-to-find plants, garden supply vendors, books, children’s activities, refreshments, enter-tainment, and more. Plant experts will be on hand to give advice, 21 vendors with great products and plants will be here as well. Bring the children and look for the Washington Youth Garden’s booth. They will help children pot strawberry plants to take home. The National Arboretum is in the northeast section of Washington, DC, approximately ten minutes from the Capi-tol. There are two entrances: one at 3501 New York Ave. NE, and the other at 24th & R Sts. NE, off of Bladensburg Rd. The sale and related activities are in the New York Avenue parking lot. usna.usda.gov

0 8 M I d C I T y d C N E w S . C O M

Photo: Courtesy of the US National Arboretum

KiNGmaN iSlaNd blUeGraSS aNd

FolK FeStival The Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival is on Saturday, April 25, noon-8 p.m. The entrance is at the back of RFK Stadium Parking Lot 6, south of Benning Rd. NE. Attending guests may bring kids, dogs on leashes, soft-sided coolers, food, beverage, chairs and blankets. $10 suggested donation; free parking. kingmanislandbluegrass.comThe Kingman Island Bluegrass and Folk Festival highlights DC’s local bluegrass tradition and engages community with the revitalization of Kingman Island and the Anacostia. In the last five years, the event has grown to become the largest all-local music festival in the region, attracting over 13,000 at-tendees in 2014.

Crowds at last year’s festival.

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 0 9

HiStoric World War ii commemorativeFlyover oF tHe NatioNal mall

“The Arsenal of Democracy: World War II Victory Capitol Flyover” is scheduled to take place on Friday, May 8, 12:10 p.m., when as many as 70 World War II aircrafts will fly along the National Mall in historically sequenced warbird formations representing the war’s major battles, from Pearl Harbor to D-Day, and concluding with a missing man formation to “Taps.” On the 70th anniver-sary of VE Day, this event honors the heroes who fought in the war and those on the home front who produced the tanks, ships and aircrafts that enabled the US and its Allies to achieve victory. Preceding the flyover will be a ceremony at the National World War II Memorial from 10:30-11:45 a.m. ww2flyover.org

The vintage aircraft will fly over the Mall at about 1,000 ft. Photo: Courtesy of the Commemorative Air Force

arliNGtoN FeStivaloF tHe artS

On Saturday, April 18-19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., enjoy a weekend of true visual inspira-tion, as over 100 artists will showcase their works including glass, mixed media, paint-ings, jewelry, and pottery; providing all sorts of opportunities to appreciate--and purchase--art. The show and sale is located on North Highland Street, which runs over Clarendon Blvd & Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, VA. Admission is free. artfestival.com

Crowds at the 2014 festival held in September. Photo: Courtesy of Howard Alan Events

tHe liNcolN tribUte at Ford’S tHeatreThis around-the-clock event will mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. During the day on April 14 and 15, Ford’s Theatre will present ranger talks, the one-act play One Des-tiny and panel discussions about the life, assassination and legacy of the 16th president. On the street outside, throughout the day and night, living historians will provide first-person ac-counts about the end of the Civil War, the experience of being inside the theatre at the moment of the assassination, medical reports from the Petersen House, and the impact of Lincoln’s life and death. Starting the evening of April 14, Ford’s will host Civil War living historians on Tenth Street to recreate the vigil for Abraham Lincoln. The public will be able to visit the Ford’s Theatre campus throughout the night. Free tickets are available at fordstheatre.org. The morning of April 15, Ford’s will mark Abraham Lincoln’s death at 7:22 a.m. with a wreath-laying ceremony; church bells will toll across the city, just as they did in 1865. fordstheatre.org

The Presidential Box at Ford’s just as it appeared the night Lincoln was assasinated. Photo: Alice Rose

1 0 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

SPECIAL EVENTSBenjamin Drummond Emancipation Day Celebration Explores African American Life & Culture During the Civil War. April 16-19. Hill Center, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, will present four days of celebratory and scholarly programs. These public events will bring together a group of prominent scholars, artists, and public figures for programming that will engage at-tendees in a deeper understanding of the African American experience dur-ing the Civil War. Free tickets are required for each event and are available at benjamindrummonddc.org.

Cherry Blossom Peak Bloom. Predicted to be April 11-14. The Peak Bloom date is defined as the day on which 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino cherry trees that surround the Tidal Basin are open. The Blooming

c a l e n d a r A P R I L

Photo: Josh Cogan

Penn Quarter Farmers Market. Thursdays, 3-7 PM, through Dec. 17. Market at north end of 8th St. NW, between D and E Streets SNAP (EBT/Food Stamps) accepted. freshfarmmarkets.org

Period is defined as that period when 20 percent of the blossoms are open until the petals fall and leaves appear.

Anacostia River Festival. April 12, noon-4 PM. The first-ever Anacostia River Festival will celebrate the history, ecology and com-munities along the banks of the Anacostia River at Anacostia Park. bridgepark.org/anacostia-river-festival

Shakespeare’s Birthday Open House at the Folger. April 19, noon-4 PM. Celebrate Will’s birthday with jugglers and jesters, music, song, dance, and more. Take the opportu-nity to perform famous lines of Shakespeare on the Folger stage, and enjoy tours and treasure hunts of the Folger’s reading rooms. Try out some crafty Elizabethan activities to take home. Plus, birthday cake for all, cut by Queen Elizabeth. Free. Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. folger.edu

Anacostia Watershed Society 2015 Earth Day Cleanup and Celebration. April 25, 9 AM-noon (cleanup); noon-2 PM (celebra-tion at Bladensburg Waterfront Park). Join 2,000 volunteers as they remove thousands of pounds of trash from neighborhoods, streams, and the Anacostia River. Cleanup is at approximately 20 sites around the Anacostia Watershed in Washington DC, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland. Registration is required at anacos-tiaws.org/earthday2015. anacostiaws.org

Day of the Dog at Congressional Cem-etery. May 2, 10 AM-3 PM. Day of the Dog is an annual festival in celebration of man’s best friend. On this day, the cemetery is open to all dogs and is a special opportunity for dog lovers to experience this historic site along with local pet vendors and services. Congressional Cemetery is at 1801 E St. SE. congressionalcemetery.org

Day of the Dog 5K and Kids Fun Run. May 2, 11:30 AM (11:35 AM for the kids run). Walk it, jog it, or race it. 2015 brings the first annual Day of the Dog 5K and Kids Run. Anyone is welcome to run alone or with a beloved pup. Registration is $40 ($10 for kids run). congressionalcemetery.org

Riverdale ArtsFest 2015. May 3, 11 AM-5 PM. Enjoy a day of live music, see and meet local artists, meet local authors and enjoy food produced by local restaurants. 4650 Queensbury Rd. @Marc Station, Riverdale, MD. rpartscouncil.org

MUSICMusic at Ebenezers. April 11, Glenn Roth; April 16, Annie Stokes (Full Band), Von Stratz, Hannah Aldridge; April 17, Amos Saint Jean & Friends CD Release & Listening Party; April 23, The Bachelor & The Bad Ac-tress, Scott Barkan, Woodson Kelley, Arsena Schroeder; April 24, Rachel Levitin, Derek Evry, Jacqueline Francis, Emily Henry; April 30, Owen Danoff and Mike Squillante with Port Harbour; May 1, The 9 Singer-Songwrit-er Series; May 2, The Bumperyachts; May 7, Will Duvall, Anchor & Armor, CopperLily; May 9, Michelle Lockey. Ebenezers Coffeehouse, 201 F St. NE. 202-558-6900. ebenezer-scoffeehouse.com

Music at Black Cat. April 12, Jeremy Enigk; April 14, Sick of Sarah; April 15, Ana Tijoux; April 16, Howlin’ Rain; April 17, Bodywork; April 18, Blitzen Trapper; April 19, Seryn; April 23, Marrow; April 24, Hank Green; April 25, Eighties Mayhem; April 29, The Soft White Sixties; April 3-, Mittenfields (album release); May 2, Pokey LaFarge; May 3, Andy Suzuki & The Method; May 6, Speedy Ortiz; May 7, Mac McCaughan. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. blackcatdc.com

Music at The Howard. April 12, Faycez U Know Music Group; April 17, Alice Smith; April 19, Michelle Balckwell; April 20, Mono-phonics & Peoples Blues of Richmond; April 24, Jarabo De Palo; April 25, Keith Sweat; April 27, O-Town; April 30, Sheila E.; May 2, Lee Fields & The Expressions + Trouble Funk; May 3, Erica Campbell of Mary Mary; May 4, Rata Blanca; May 6, Sensory; May 8, Teedra Moses. Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com

Music at Sixth and I. April 12, Rodrigo Amarante; April 16, Andrea Gibson; April 18, The Hot Sardines; April 19, An Evening with Vijay Iyer Trio; April 21, Elvis Perkins; April 25, Ute Lemper; April 26, Lowland Hum; April 29, Dustin Kensrue (of Thrice) and Andy Hull (of Manchester Orchestra); May 2, The Ballroom Thieves; May 3, Stephin Mer-ritt (of the Magnetic Fields); May 6, Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge; May 9, The Brothers Landreth. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. 202-408-3100. sixthandi.org

Music at 9:30. April 18, Martin Sexton and Randy Rogers Band; April 20, Manic Street Preachers; April 21, Hurray For The Riff Raff; April 22, Trampled By Turtles; April 23, Kodaline; April 24, They Might Be Giants; April 25, Iration and Duke Dumont; April

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 1 1

A P R I L

1 2 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

26, Houndmouth; April 28, Spandau Ballet; April 29,Toro Y Moi; April 30, The Wombats; May 2, Joe Pug; May 7, Butch Walker. 815 V St. NW. 877-435-9849. 930.com

Music at the Lincoln. April 19, Rick Springfield; April 22, The Idan Raichel Project; May 2, Daughtry; May 7, Ben Folds with YMusic: The DC Tour. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. 202-328-6000. thelincolndc.com

Church of the Epiphany Weekly Concerts. Every Tuesday, 12:10 PM. Free but a free will offering taken. 1317 G ST. NW. 202-347-2635. epiphanydc.org

Sunday Gospel Brunch Featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir. Every Sunday, 12:30-2 PM. $30-$45. The Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. 202-803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com

Jazz Night and Blues Night in Southwest. Jazz is every Friday, 6-9 PM. Blues is every Monday, 6-9 PM. Expect a large, fun and friendly crowd. The cover is $5. Children are welcome and free under 16 years old. Reasonably priced meals offered. 202-484-7700. Westminster Presby-terian Church, 400 I St. SW (Fourth and I, south side of intersection). westminsterdc.org

THEATERLaugh at Studio. Through April 19. The West. The 1920s. Mabel’s had a hard few weeks. A dynamite accident at a gold mine has left her wealthy but orphaned, and she’s shipped off to a calculating aunt whose nephew is charged with seducing her to con-trol Mabel’s fortune. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. 202-332-3300. studiotheatre.org

G-D’S Honest Truth at Theatre J. Through April 19. It’s tough being the gorgeous woman de-sired by all but understood by none. Or the homely girl with a heart of gold. Or the middle-aged man insightful enough to see the depth of his own failings. In fact, Life Sucks for everyone in Aaron Posner’s poignant, hilarious new play about love and longing. Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW. 800-494-8497. washing-tondcjcc.org

The Norwegians at Anacostia Playhouse. Through April 19. In this contemporary comedy, two women meet in a Minnesota bar

and lament the struggle “to find a lover before the first freeze” as well as the not-so-nice men who have recently dumped them. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE. scenatheater.org

The Originalist at Arena. Through April 26. Four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gero (Red) stars as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in a daring world premiere about the brilliant, but polarizing justice, his bright, new, liberal clerk, and their clash over one of the most incendiary cases ever to reach the nation’s highest court. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. arenastage.org

Man of La Mancha at Shakespeare. Through April 26. A story of hope and idealism rises from the darkness and de-spair of a prison cell in Man of La Mancha, carried aloft by some of the most familiar and moving songs of the American theatre. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. 202-547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Arena. Through May 3. Siblings Vanya and Sonia live out their days in an end-less, bleak tableau in Bucks County, PA. All seems numbingly mundane until in sweeps hurricane Masha, their fading movie

Jen Bevan (left) as Phyllida and Kate Jeffries as Helen. Photo: Kristin Jackman

The Margins at DC Arts Center.Through April 26. Loosely based on the true story of The Philip Experiment in To-ronto in the 1970s, five paranormal investigators and a skeptical reporter visit a

haunted manor to create and raise a spirit as a psychic experiment--until that ex-periment goes horribly better than they imagined. $25. DC Arts Center, 2438 18th

St. NW. molotovtheatre.org

star sister, with her shiny new boy toy and a big announcement. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. are-nastage.org

Rorschach Theatre’s “Very Still & Hard to See” at the Atlas. Through May 10. Described as “a darkly funny mash up of Japanese ghost stories, Twilight Zone mystery and Stephen King horror.” The Atlas, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org/events

Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War at Ford’s. Through May 20. This epic musical features the words of Abraham Lincoln and music inspired by the letters of those who lived through the Civil War. Ford’s The-atre, 511 10th St. NW. 202-347-4833. fords.org

Lights Rise on Grace at Woolly. Through April 26. In an inner-city high school, the daughter of Chinese immigrants falls for the son of a com-bative African-American family. But when he’s suddenly swallowed up by the system, their desires go in des-perate new directions. Re-united six years later, can the lovers build a life together now that their innocence is gone? Woolly Mammoth Theatre Com-pany, 641 D St. NW. 202-393-3939. woollymammoth.net

Soon at Signature. Through April 26. It is the hottest summer in human history and, in a few short months, all water on earth will evaporate. In response, twenty-something Charlie has taken to her couch with only her beloved possessions: peanut butter, Wolf Blitzer and Herschel, the fish. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave. off I395 at the Shirlington exit (#6). signature-theatre.org

Swing Time--The Musical at the Na-val Heritage Center. Through June 27. Swing Time brings back the sights and sounds of the World War II era with an authentic, “big band” recre-ation of a war bond radio broadcast. Burke Theater, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. swingtimethemusical.com

The Blood Quilt at Arena. April 24-June 7. Gathering at their childhood island home off the coast of Georgia, four disconnected sisters meet to cre-

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 1 3

1 4 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

ate a family quilt to honor their recently deceased mother. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. arenastage.org

IMPORTANT EXHIBITIONSPiero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence. Through May 3. Forty of the artist’s most compel-ling paintings will be on view, including beguiling mythologies and religious works, as well as one of his greatest works, the Madonna and Child with Saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Catherine of Alexandria, Peter, and John the Evangelist with Angels from the Museo degli Innocenti, Florence. National Gallery of Art, West Building, Mail Floor Galleries. nga.gov

HOT TO COLD at the National Building Museum. Through Aug. 30. HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation, takes visitors from the hottest to the coldest parts of our plan-et and explores how BIG´s design solutions are shaped by their cultural and climatic contexts. More than 60 three-dimensional models will be suspended at the second-floor balconies of the Museum’s Great Hall in an unprecedented use of this public

space. National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. 202-272-2448. nbm.org

How the Civil War Changed Washington Exhibition. Through Nov. 15. This exhibition examines the social and spatial impact of the Civil War on Washington, DC and the resulting dramatic changes in social mores, and in the size and ethnic composi-tion of the city’s population. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu

“Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History” Exhibition at National Archives. Through Jan. 10, 2016. “Spirited Re-public” invites visitors to look at the government’s tolerance, oversight, and control of alcohol throughout our history. Na-tional Archives, Constitution Ave. at Ninth St. NW. archives.gov

“Pointing Their Pens: Herblock and Fellow Cartoonists Confront the Issues” at the Library of Congress. Through March 19, 2016. This new exhibition will look at how editorial cartoonists, often with divergent viewpoints, interpreted the divisive issues of the 20th century—the U.S. intervention into World War II, McCarthyism, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the

Watergate scandal and events in the Middle East. Thomas Jef-ferson Building, 10 First St. SE. loc.gov

SPORTS, DANCE AND FITNESSWashington Nationals Baseball. April 6 (home opener), 8, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22 and 23. washington.nationals.mlb.com

Closest indoor public pools. Turkey Thicket, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE. Open Monday through Friday, 6:30 AM-8 PM; Satur-day, noon-5 PM; closed, Sunday. 202-576-9236. Rumsey Pool, 635 No. Carolina Ave. SE. Open Monday through Friday, 6:30 AM-9 AM and noon-9 PM; Saturday, 1-5 PM; Sunday, 10 AM-5 PM. 202-724-4495. The pools are heated and free for DC resi-dents. ID needed. dpr.dc.gov

Nearby public tennis courts. Banneker Community Center (8 outdoor tennis courts), 2500 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-673-6861. Kennedy Recreation Center (1 outdoor tennis court), 1401 7th St. NW. 202-671-4794. All courts are open daily, dawn to dusk. Some are lighted for extended evening play. Courts are available on a first come, first served basis for one hour intervals; extended use of tennis courts requires a permit. Proper shoes and attire is required. 202-671-0314. dpr.dc.gov

Tidal Basin 3K Monthly Run. Third Wednesday of each month at noon. This run is free and informal. West Potomac Park (meet on Ohio Dr. at West Basin Dr., near the Tourmobile stand). 703-505-3567. dcroadrunners.org

Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Closed for season. It reopens July 4th weekend. fdia.org

MARKETSFoggy Bottom Farmers Market. Wednesdays, 3-7 PM, through Nov. 25. Market at 23rd and I St. NW. SNAP (EBT/Food Stamps) & G World card accepted. freshfarmmarkets.org

Farmers Market by the White House. Thursdays, 11 AM- 2 PM, through Nov. 19. Market at 810 Vermont Ave. NW. SNAP (EBT/Food Stamps) accepted. freshfarmmarkets.org

CityCenterDC Farmers Market. Tuesdays, 11 AM-2 PM, May 5-Oct. 27. Market at I St. NW, between 10th and 11th. SNAP (EBT/Food Stamps) accepted. freshfarmmarkets.org

Eastern Market. Daily except Mondays and important holidays. Weekdays, 7 AM-7 PM; Saturdays, 7 AM-5 PM; Sundays, 9 AM-5 PM. Flea market and arts and crafts market open Saturdays and Sundays, 9 AM-6 PM. Eastern Market is Washington’s last con-tinually operated “old world” market. 200 block of 7th St. SE. 202-698-5253. easternmarketdc.com

Dupont Circle Farmers Market. Sundays (rain or shine), year round, 10 AM-1 PM. 20th St. and Mass. Ave. NW, 1500 block of 20th St. NW (between Mass. Ave. and Q St. in the adjacent parking lot of PNC Bank). 202-362-8889. freshfarmmarket.org

Fashion Trucks on U. Sundays, noon-5 PM. Fashion Trucks offer a mix of crafts, clothes, accessories and jewelry at the former

DC United.April 11, 7 PM vs. New York Red Bulls; April 18, 7 PM vs. Houston Dy-namo; May 2, 7 PM vs. Columbus Crew SC; May 9, 7 PM, Sporting Kan-

sas City. RFK Stadium. dcunited.com

home of the Sunday U St Flea in the parking lot, next to Nellie’s Sports Bar at 912 U St. NW. ustreetfl ea.com

Branch Avenue Pawn Parking Lot Flea Market. Saturdays, year-round (weather permitting). Set up after 10 AM. 3128 Branch Ave., Temple Hills, MD

Union Market. Tuesday-Friday, 11 AM-8 PM; Saturday-Sunday, 8 AM-8 PM. Union Market is an artisanal, curated, year round food market featuring over 40 lo-cal vendors. 1309 5th St. NE. 301-652-7400. unionmarketdc.com

Georgetown Flea Market. Sundays year around (except in the case of very in-clement weather), 8 AM-4 PM. 1819 35th St. NW. georgetownfl eamarket.com

Maine Avenue Fish Market. Open 365 days a year. 7 AM-9 PM. 1100 Maine Ave. SW. 202-484-2722.

CIVIC LIFECouncilmember Allen’s Shaw Com-munity Offi ce Hours. May 1, 8-9:30 AM. Compass Coffee, 1535 7th St. NW. charlesallenward6.com

Congresswoman Norton’s NW District Offi ce. Open weekdays, 9 AM-6 PM. 529 14th St. NW, suite 900. 202-783-5065. norton.house.gov

All Ways Mount Pleasant. First Satur-day, noon-2 PM. LaCasa. All Ways is a citizen’s association primarily for the tenants of the larger apartment build-ings of Mount Pleasant. 3166 Mt. Pleas-ant St. NW. aass.org

Chinatown Revitalization Council. Fourth Monday, 7-8 PM. 510 I St. NW. Chinatown Revitalization Council (CRC) promoting the Chinatown renewal and the preservation of its cultural heritage. The public is welcome.

Convention Center Community Associ-ation. Last Tuesday, 7-8:30 PM. Kennedy Rec Center, 1401 7th St. NW.

Downtown Neighborhood Association. Second Tuesday, 7-9 PM. US Naval Me-morial Center, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. miles@dcdna.org. dcdna.org

East Central Civic Association of Shaw.

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 1 5

Unique Handcrafted Papier-Mâché Mirrors

Made by Artist Tuesday Winslow since 1995

PHOTO- “WHEEL” WORLD MAP

Artistic and Functional Accents for Kids Rooms • Office • Foyers • Hallways • Bathrooms

Mayan Inspired | Respectful of the EnvironmentMade Locally | Artist Signed

202.286.5371

1 6 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

First Monday, 7 PM. Third Baptist Church, 1546 Fifth St. NW. Contact: Al Hajj Mahdi Leroy J Thorpe Jr, 202-387-1596.

Eckington Civic Association. First Monday, 7-8:30 PM. Harry Thomas Rec-reation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. eckingtondc.org

Edgewood Civic Association. Last Monday, 7-9 PM. Edgewood senior building, 635 Edgewood St. NE, 9th fl oor. theedgewoodcivicassociation-dc.org

Logan Circle Citizens Association. Please contact Jennifer Trock at jenni-fer.trock@logancircle.org for meeting dates and times. logancircle.org

Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association. Third Tuesday, 7:30-9:30 PM. Yale Steam Laundry, 437 New York Ave. NW. lifein.mvsna.org

U Street Neighborhood Association. Second Thursday, 7-8:30 PM. Source (second fl oor classroom), 1835 14th St. NW.

ANC 1A. Second Wednesday, 7 PM. Harriet Tubman Elementary School, 3101 13th St. NW. 202-588-7278. anc1a.org

ANC 1B. First Thursday, 7 PM. Reeves Center, 2000 14th St. NW (second fl oor). 202-870-4202. anc1b.org

ANC 1B11. Second Monday, 7 PM. LeDroit Senior Building (basement community room), 2125 Fourth St. NW. 202-481-3462. anc1b.org

ANC 1C. First Wednesday, 7 PM. Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Health, 2355 Ontario Rd. NW. 202-332-2630. anc1c.org

ANC 1D. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. 3166 Mount Pleasant St. NW. 202-4628692. anc1d.org

ANC 2C. First Wednesday, 6:30-8:30 PM. Watha T. Daniel Library, 1630 Sev-enth St. NW. 202-682-1633. anc2C.org

ANC 6E. First Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Meet-ing at Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library, 1630 7th St. NW. anc6e.org ◆

Call Kira Means 202-400-3508 or kira@hillrag.com for more information on advertising.

INTERESTED INADVERTISING WITH US?

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 1 7

Please join BASIS families and friends in celebrating BASIS teachers and a world-class education.

All proceeds support the BASIS DC Annual Teacher Fund.

Ticket Price: $80

BASIS DC Annual Stars GalaSaturday April 25, 2015 at 6:30 pm

@ the Historic Wonder Bread Factory • 641 S St, NW

Open Bar • Hors d’oeuvres • Silent Auctioncontact: Basisdcgala@gmail.com

Buy tickets or become a sponsor at:squareup.com/market/basisDCboosters

1 8 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

I spent the last month holed up in Massachusetts, writing. Star-ing out at a field covered in snow (which is still there!) I began yearning for warmer climes and

the food that comes with them. I was desperate for a good Cuban sandwich. But where, upon my return to DC, would I find the best one? I asked my friends to do a little research. The recommenda-tions came flowing in, but several friends went out and did the hard work of eating the sandwich in question and reporting back with tasting notes.

of course It’s cuban! Mi cuba caféMy friend Mark ordered his favorite Cubano at Mi Cuba Café (1424 Park Rd. NW, micubacafe.net) in Columbia Heights. He reports that it felt like home, reminding him of visits with his by-mar-riage cousin’s family years ago. The res-taurant is welcoming, with the sound of Spanish being spoken and quaint tropical decor. “The trick to a great Cuban,” says Mark, “is the correct melding of texture and taste; this treat did not disappoint.”

What makes a great Cuban for Mark? It’s the balance of rich, salty pork and ham balanced by sharp mustard and the fresh garlicky flavor of the pickles. The texture of the bread from the sandwich press is its own element, the crisp grilled flavor from the press giving way to the softer sides, add-ing depth to the bite. “Pressed thin, you get all of the elements in your mouth at the same time,” he says.

“You need enough mustard to play with

the pickle, to enhance the pork and cured ham and melted cheese,” Mark says. “The crunch from the pressed bread, with that clear toasted flavor, lets the pickle and mus-tard paint a piquant flavor over the combi-nation of salty sweet ham and subtle, clean roast pork. Yum!”

“And of course it’s Cuban!” he added. “These flavors take me right back to my Cuban family’s kitchen years ago. Glasses of sweet, smooth homemade Sangria only makes it all that more comforting.”

creative cuban at G street Food“The best part of most sandwiches at G Street Food (1706 G St. NW and 1030 15th St. NW, gstreetfood.com) is the bread,” says my friend Matthew, “which is no surprise since Mark Furstenberg [of Marvelous Market and Breadline fame] opened it.”

However, G Street Food’s Cubano, Matthew says, toasts up perfectly crusty

I N S A T I A B L Eby Jonathan Bardzik

OU

T &

AB

OU

T / D

ININ

G

In search of the Perfect cubano

G Street Food gets creative serving a Cuban sandwich

topped with Dijon-lime mari-nated pork, pickled jalapeños,

and fresh greens.

Banana Café serves up the perfect Cubano, rich and tender, whether you’re in dire need of comfort food or just a really good margarita.

and crackly without being too hard or pillowy, “which is a major issue with many sandwiches that try to use ‘fancy’ bread that overwhelms every-thing else.” He also praises the quick grilling of the bread, which imparts a charred fl avor and makes the bread more pliable and fl avorful. 

On the inside the sandwich is loaded with a ton of thin-sliced roasted pork, the ham is nicely salty, the cheese is nutty as you would ex-pect. G Street Food adds chopped, pickled jalapenos which Matthew promises contribute plenty of tang and just the right amount of heat without being overpowering. “It’s very well balanced,” he says, “and I like that each bite is a little diff er-ent, which helps keep my interest when eating a big sandwich like this. It’s complex but not over-whelming or overdone.”

Th e pickled jalapeños aren’t the only place G Street gets cre-ative. Th eir bread is toasted but not pressed, the pork is fl avored with a Dijon-lime marinade, the cheese is melted but not “ooey-gooey” and comes topped with mesclun greens on top. “Th is is probably controversial among purists,” Mat-thew warns, “but I think it works. If you’re looking for a textbook Cuban then this isn’t it, but if you want the traditional Cuban ele-ments rearranged into something a little diff erent but still familiar then this is really, really good.” 

comfort cuban at Banana caféBack in town I was ready to try a cou-ple of Cubans for myself. My friend Patrick urged me to hit Banana Café (500 8th St. SE, bananacafedc.com) on the Hill. “I’m in Korea for work right now,” Patrick wrote, “but I could write about that sandwich from many, many fond memories.” Convinced, I swung by for lunch.

I’ve had many great meals and a few too many mango margaritas at Banana Café, but had never ordered

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 1 9

Banana Café serves up the perfect Cubano, rich and tender, whether you’re in dire need of comfort food or just a really good margarita.

4080A Howard Ave. Kensington, Maryland (Off Connecticut Ave.)

www.amicusgreen.com | info@amicusgreen.com | 301.571.8590

Because Your Family Deserves a Stunning and Healthy Home

Home Improvement Store • Energy & Water • Interior Design • Landscape Design

2 0 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

the Cuban. After three weeks in snow-bound Massachusetts it was perfect. Banana Cafe serves up the comfort-food Cuban. The texture starts with crisp pressed bread. Then you bite through tender, slow-roasted pork and soft, salty ham before your teeth sink into gooey, melted Swiss cheese.

The flavor also offers comfort. The pork is mild, with a sweet rich-ness earned from hours in the oven. The ham is not too salty, nor are the pickles particularly sharp with vin-egar or garlic. The mustard is mel-lowed by a smear of mayonnaise. This is the Cuban you want to cud-dle with on the couch while watch-ing a good rom-com, and well worth returning to DC for whether down I-95 from New England or across the ocean from Korea.

Bright and Balanced from Fast Gourmet

At the recommendation of my friend Mike, my husband Jason and I hit Fast Gourmet (1400 W St. NW, fast-gourmetdc.com) for a quick dinner. Located in a gas station right off U Street, Fast Gourmet has built a name on great sandwiches and fresh ingre-dients, including the hand-chopped salsa that appeared on Jason’s fish tacos (without any dried-out cabbage, thank you very much!).

As for the Cubano? First I should let you know what my perfect Cuban sandwich is. I love the play of texture from the crisp pressed bread, the ten-der chew of the meat, and the feel of thick, gooey melted cheese rising up around my teeth. I love the contrasts of flavor, the slight char on the bread,

rich, caramelized roast pork, the salty-sweet hit of ham, and the sharp con-trast of grainy mustard and bright gar-licky pickles.

Fast Gourmet delivered. The cross hatch from the grill delivered toasty goodness. The rich pork was fatty and tender, above a thick slice fresh from a whole ham. The pickle slabs offered full coverage and the grainy mustard rolled nicely over my tongue. The bread pulled away from the cheese like the first slice of pizza in every TV ad. I was in heaven. Plus I ate most of the fried yucca off of Jason’s plate while he went to the restroom, which made the meal even better.

what’s your cuban?Whether you want it classic, creative, comfortable, or bold, DC is a good town to be in for a great Cuban sand-wich. Have I missed a great local Cu-bano? I’d love to know. Please drop me a note on my Facebook page @JonathanBardzik. Look for the photo of the guy in the red shirt, and feel free to invite me out for lunch.

Jonathan Bardzik is a cook, storyteller, and author living in Washington, DC. Known for his live cooking demos at East-ern Market, Jonathan loves cooking fresh ingredients as much as seeking them out in DC’s exciting restaurant scene. His first cookbook, “Simple Summer: A Recipe for Cooking and Entertaining with Ease,” is available now on Amazon (and he’s busy working on number two!). Grab a copy and find out what Jonathan is cook-ing at www.jonathanbardzik.com or his Facebook page, “Jonathan Bardzik.” Need some food porn? Follow @Jonathan-Bardzik on Twitter and Instagram. u

From crisp bread to the thin-sliced house-roasted pork, Mi Cuba Café serves up a classic Cubano sandwich in its homey dining room.

NATIONAL SAFE DIGGING MONTH

APRIL IS

The Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia encourages District residents to

“Know What’s Below, Call 811 Before You Dig”Simple digging jobs can damage utility lines, which can

disrupt service to an entire neighborhood, harm diggers, and potentially result in fines and repair costs. When you

dial 811, your call will be directed to the local One Call Center and the affected utilities. In a few days, they’ll send a locator to mark the approximate location of your underground lines, pipes and cables for free.

Now you’ll know what’s below - and be able to dig safely.

The Public Service Commission of the

District of Columbia

202-626-5100 www.dcpsc.org

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 2 1

rich, caramelized roast pork, the salty-sweet hit of ham, and the sharp con-trast of grainy mustard and bright gar-licky pickles.

Fast Gourmet delivered. Th e cross hatch from the grill delivered toasty goodness. Th e rich pork was fatty and tender, above a thick slice fresh from a whole ham. Th e pickle slabs off ered full coverage and the grainy mustard rolled nicely over my tongue. Th e bread pulled away from the cheese like the fi rst slice of pizza in every TV ad. I was in heaven. Plus I ate most of the fried yucca off of Jason’s plate while he went to the restroom, which made the meal even better.

what’s your cuban?Whether you want it classic, creative, comfortable, or bold, DC is a good town to be in for a great Cuban sand-wich. Have I missed a great local Cu-bano? I’d love to know. Please drop me a note on my Facebook page @JonathanBardzik. Look for the photo of the guy in the red shirt, and feel free to invite me out for lunch.

Jonathan Bardzik is a cook, storyteller, and author living in Washington, DC. Known for his live cooking demos at East-ern Market, Jonathan loves cooking fresh ingredients as much as seeking them out in DC’s exciting restaurant scene. His fi rst cookbook, “Simple Summer: A Recipe for Cooking and Entertaining with Ease,” is available now on Amazon (and he’s busy working on number two!). Grab a copy and fi nd out what Jonathan is cook-ing at www.jonathanbardzik.com or his Facebook page, “Jonathan Bardzik.” Need some food porn? Follow @Jonathan-Bardzik on Twitter and Instagram. u

H y p e r L o c a l

| h ī p ə r . l ō k ( ə ) l |

connotes information oriented around a well defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of its residents.

synonym: MIDCITYDCNEWS.COM

Daily online. Monthly in print.

2 2 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

I have a confession to make: I’m just not that into yoga. There, I said it.

While I think yoga is a valuable activ-ity, I’ve just never experienced that addictive, metaphysical balance. I envy you who rely

more on a satisfying sun salutation than a shot of espresso for inner serenity. But I think I can finally relate thanks to this month’s feature, tai chi at Work It! Studio on U Street.

I headed to this big-hearted, small, walk-up studio as the sun set on a Thursday. A handful of women, diverse in age, race, and body type, arranged themselves in a window formation in the dimly lit space. Dressed in a loose-fitting Mandarin suit, in-structor Andre Tiacoh Sadia greeted the class with a bright smile and sage-like demeanor.

A tai chi warm-up is not like other warm-ups. It begins with the hands, either rubbing them to-gether as if cold or making loose fists and clapping them together. We patted up and down our arms, as if they had fallen asleep. We opened our stance and swung our arms around our bodies like human spinning drums. We swung our legs, too, and did some light stretches. Afterward I felt like a hum-ming tuning fork or a rumbling engine. Which is appropriate because tai chi, like yoga, is all about harnessing and manipulating your own energy.

Tai chi is a martial art with several forms and

styles, both defensive and offensive. However, it is best known around the world as a form of physical therapy and health maintenance. Sadia, an interna-tionally known musician and upper-level taekwon-do black belt, began by simply slowing down in his taekwondo practice to rehab after an injury during his youth. He found out later how similar this was to tai chi, and has been hooked since.

“When you think about yoga, people talk about their chakras. You can’t see them, but people feel that energy,” Sadia says. “Tai chi helps with that. It improves my energy, my potential. I feel different whenever I stop practicing.”

The bulk of class could be described as a flow; there were different blocks of movement compa-rable to yoga sequences. Sadia led through each sequence a few times, with each side of the body leading. In a soothing voice enriched with an Ivory Coast-Francophone accent he continually remind-ed the class that balance, pace, and attention to each movement are essential parts of the practice.

The arm movements are cyclical, operating on the principle of yin and yang. For every pushing motion there is a corresponding pulling; whenever hands reach overhead there’s an inevitable bend to the floor. They’re all actually open-handed combat maneuvers, in slow motion. Although the art form is Chinese and not Japanese, there was a literal Ka-rate Kid “wax on-wax off ” moment; Sadia came around to each person and pretended to strike, demonstrating that the gentle windmill arm mo-

tions we were doing were actually a blocking technique.

The lower-body movements mostly involve slowly shifting body weight from one leg to the other, as in surfing, or pivoting back and forth. But because the movements are so deliberate and slow, each joint gets targeted exercise. Slowing down also creates imbalance, so lower-body strength is needed to remain ground-ed and stable throughout each move-ment. For example – invoking Karate Kid again, don’t judge me – there’s a motion reminiscent of the Crane

stance. Holding it for a few moments and then re-turning that raised foot to the floor in slow mo-tion is a challenge, especially the closer it gets to the floor. And since the quads are so essential, each class ends with a squat that feels like forever.

It takes a surprising amount of intention and muscular control to move so sedately and repetitive-ly. In this way a mind-body connection is both im-portant and inevitable in this class. You’ll also break a sweat with very little exertion. “Normally, the first time people come they have their own judgments or apprehension. They think, ‘Oh, it’s slow, I don’t think it will help me improve anything,’” Sadia says. “But it helps your joints, your legs. When a house is built and the pillars are installed well, the house stands stronger, longer.”

Adams Morgan resident Jobi Magana has been

OU

T &

AB

OU

T / F

ITN

es

s

Let’s Get PHysIcAL Keep calm and try tai chi article and photos by Jazelle Hunt

During class we form an energy (qi) ball, gently lunging forward and backward with it.

With its slow, deliberate moves, tai chi offers a low-impact path to a stronger mind-body connection.

Instructor Andre Tiacoh Sadia (in blue) demonstrates that tai chi is in fact a martial art for both self-defense and counterattacks.

taking the class for several months and can attest to this. “Don’t have any expectations … and don’t be worried about getting it perfect in the beginning. You might think it’s easy, but it’s a challenge,” she says. “It’s a meditative practice. And it has helped me with a major injury with my right foot, which I can move a lot more now.”

Janice Ferebee, who has been taking the class for a year, has had a similar experience. “For me, she shares, “I’ve had injuries … and I’ve had to adjust. But I’ve been able to do that. I’ll be 60 in September, and it’s helped me with balance, energy, and my overall health as I’m aging.”

The benefits of tai chi are far-reaching, from improved mobil-ity and joint health to increased strength and flexibility, to better car-diovascular health. Yvette Thomp-son, from Landover, says that the class has made her stronger, more in-tune with her body, and more aware of what spots need care or training.

By the end of class I am literally abuzz, as if I had become a human power plant recycling my own qi. Simultaneously tired and energized, I felt very little soreness, a familiar release of tension, and the sensation that I had completed a low-impact physical activity. But instead of feel-ing the energy had been spent, I felt it had been given back to me.

To all the yogis out there: I get it now.

Tai chi at Work It! Studio (1020 U St. NW, above Lee’s Flower Shop) is on Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The drop-in rate is $17; you can do ten-class pass for $140. The studio also offers personal sessions, class passes, and free three-day trial if you call ahead. Visit www.workitstudio.com or call 202-588-7363 for more information. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 2 3

2 4 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

“network” at Long View Gallery

Science and art have of-ten influenced one anoth-er since the Renaissance. “Network” at Long View Gallery exemplifies one of the most contempora-neous scientific influences on art – the technological communication networks which so permeate our daily lives, affecting the way we interact socially and the way we make de-cisions, find information, and do business. In “Net-work” two local artists, Sondra Arkin and Eve Stockton, expressively map these connections through discon-tinuous patterning, visual nodes, and seemingly familiar shapes.

Stockton describes our newfound interconnectivity through large-scale prints, a medium she is well known for, and explores the connection between

the microscopic and the infinitely large. Her process uses white ink on white paper which she then plunges into a color bath, creating “rinsed prints.”

Influenced by science, technology, and other forms of networking, Arkin employs wax, shellac, and walnut oil to create layers of visual stimulus which she repeatedly removes by burning the

shellac on the surface of her works. She serially reignites her torch and repeats the process again and again until the desired forms emerge.

exhibitions at touchstone Gallery examine Anomie

Two concurrent exhibitions at Touchstone Gallery ex-plore what sociologist Emile Durkheim would call “ano-mie,” which among other def-initions most commonly in-volves a breakdown of social bonds between an individual

and his/her community. What bet-ter place to explore the breakdown than New York City, the wellspring of inspiration for photographer Mi-chael Lang. In his current exhibi-tion, “Slow Walking in NY,” Lang displays a series of anomic portraits

of New Yorkers who find themselves simultaneously connected by proxim-ity yet completely disjointed from one another.

Conversely, Marcia Coppel uses bright, vivid colors to paint her se-ries “CONNECT/DISCONNECT.” The paintings’ colors and the figures’ whimsy create an aura of vivacity and humor despite the underlying and disconcerting premise of the works, which describe a series of subjects who either “live in their own world” or ap-pear conversing when they are actually dissociating themselves from those in their immediate vicinity.

cushner’s Visual Language decoded at Hemphill Fine Arts

Steven Cushner returns to Hemphill Fine Arts for his eleventh exhibi-tion with the gallery. Cushner paints for the sake of painting and creates non-representational works that come from the simple act of painting itself.

This act, which one should interpret as “performance,” results in forms si-multaneously complicated and simple. The contradiction systematically holds Cushner’s work in the balance. To ex-perience Cushner’s work one should channel the ebb and flow of the tides or the progression of the seasons. Cushner’s “acts” result from finding unity with natural rhythms, revealing a visual language in which one finds both the artist present through created forms and nature present through the artist’s acts.

March Mid-city Gallery openings: LONG VIEW GALLERY 1234 9th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001202-232-4788www.longviewgallerydc.com“Network” Featuring Eve Stockton and Sondra Arkin April 2-March 3OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, April 2, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

HEMPHILL FINE ARTS 1515 14th St. NW 202-234-5601www.hemphillfinearts.com

OU

T &

AB

OU

T / A

rT

depeche Art Apri l Mid-ci ty Gal lery exhibi t ions by Phil Hutinet

“Slow Walking in NY” by Michael Lang. Photo: Touchstone Gallery

“It’s 30 Degrees Below in Canada by Marcia Coppel.” Photo: Touchstone Gallery

Work by Sondra Arkin. Photo: Long View Gallery

“Cushner”April 11 through May 30OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, April 11, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

TOUCHSTONE GALLERY901 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001202-347-2787www.touchstonegallery.comMichael Lang, “Slow Walking in NY”Marcia Coppel, “CONNECT/DISCONNECT”April 1-26OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, April 10, 6:00-8:30 p.m.ENCORE RECEPTION: Saturday, April 25, 2:00 -4:00 p.m.

current exhibitions on View: GALLERY PLAN B 1530 14th St. NWWashington, DC 20005 202-234-2711www.galleryplanb.comFreya Grand, “Africa”Th rough May 23

Phil Hutinet is the publisher of East City Art, a publication dedicated to DC’s visual arts. For more informa-tion visit www.eastcityart.com u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 2 5

“Slow Walking in NY” by Michael Lang. Photo: Touchstone Gallery

Work by Eve Stockton. Photo: Touchstone Gallery

100% ALL NATURAL!NO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orNO added sugar, additives, coloring orpreservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO preservatives. Non-GMO

Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak Grown on small family farms, picked at peak harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned harvest and processed the old fashioned way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.way, by hand.

Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock Frozen immediately after it is picked to lock in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.in all the nutrition and flavor.

Check our Recipes at larrysweetcorn.com

Better Tasting than Corn on the Cob!

P Street, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Tenleytown, Silver Spring, Alexandria, Arlington, Vienna, Friendship Heights, RockvilleAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies SectionAvailable at Whole Foods – In the Frozen Veggies Section

Extra sweet, tender & juicy.You can taste its

quality in every bite!

2 6 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

You wouldn’t be wrong to call DC a good town for bike riding. It’s rela-tively flat. Even if you’re riding from one end of

the city to the other, there’s not all that much ground to cover. There’s even proof in our policy: this year, DDOT is adding seven miles’ worth of new bike lanes to an already extensive network, and if you go by number of stations, Capital Bikeshare is the country’s big-gest bike-sharing system.

And so it makes sense that when she came to DC for the summer, Ka-tie Lupo found it strange that the District didn’t have a single used bike shop. Lupo, then a grad student at the University of Wisconsin, went back to Madison scratching her head. But after coming across a community-focused shop there, she knew she’d be returning to DC.

In 2012 Lupo started teaching kids at DC Boys & Girls Clubs to work on bikes. She drafted a business plan, and a year later, in the summer of 2013, she founded Gearin’ Up, a shop that sells used bikes and does repairs, with a focus on using its work as a de-velopment tool for youth.

“I’m a public economist by train-ing, and I did a lot of work on educa-tion programs,” says Lupo. “Vocational training programs were what really seemed to work to get youth engaged in something and succeed in the fu-ture. [I saw] craft, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and empowering youth. At that point it really fit together, and that’s when I knew that’s what I need-ed to do to make it happen.”

A used bike from Gearin’ Up typi-cally costs between $100 and $400, and

there’s a suggested donation of $15 for an hour of drop-in repair work. All the proceeds go toward the shop’s youth and workforce development programs.

Gearin’ Up’s youth Programming In Gearin’ Up’s “Earn a Bike Program” kids spend 14 weeks learning how to work on different parts of a bike – from wheels to brakes to chains to derail-leurs – and at the end what they’ve put together is theirs. Kids from Capital City Charter School, Friendship Char-ter School, the Latin American Youth Center, Riverside Center, and the Boys & Girls Club have participated, and when the current cycle is over a group will ride trains all the way to Pittsburgh to meet up with a group there that’s been working on a similar project. Gea-rin’ Up also runs a mechanic training program for the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

“When we run programs [kids]

don’t feel like ‘Oh I’m in a class, I have to learn,’” says Sterling Stone, a former DC teacher and principal who, as the program director, is Gearin’ Up’s only paid employee. “They’re learning, but they’re fiddling with stuff. We try to keep everything hands on. It makes us more unique than a lot of other educational programs.” Stone also says youth can draw an immediate connec-tion between work in the shop and jobs. When young people look around, he declares, “they see more and more bike shops, bike lanes, bikers. They’re starting to see the economic impact, how they can make money. That’s empowering.” Lupo says Gearin’ Up hopes to hire some of the shop’s more experienced youth in the near future.

Beyond Just youth In November Gearin’ Up moved to a new home at 3rd Street and Randolph NE, just off the Metropolitan Branch

Trail. Lupo says it’s a move up from the lot the shop shared with Bardo, a beer garden, on Bladensburg Road. Having its own space will let Gearin’ Up offer a more adult program, which she says people call weekly to ask about.

Every Tuesday anyone over 21 can join BYOB (Build Your Own Bike), where a $45 first-time fee and $25 for every visit until you’re finished building will get you a bike. There’s Ladies Night on the first Thursday of the month, and monthly maintenance programs on the first Wednesday. There’s also open shop anytime Gea-rin’ Up is open (which is noon to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Sunday during the winter), along with volunteer nights. Lupo says she’s looking to create ways to do expand on Gearin’ Up’s outreach to the homeless.

On Sunday, May 17, Gearin’ Up is hosting a bike swap, where attendees can buy, sell, and trade bike parts and fitness products without the overhead costs of a retail store. There’s a sug-gested donation of $5, and you can get your own booth at https://dcbikeswap.eventbrite.com/.

How to Get InvolvedRunning a nonprofit is not exactly lu-crative, and beyond the volunteers who help run the shop Gearin’ Up depends largely on donations to cover its $4,000 operating costs. You can donate to Gea-rin’ Up through its website, gearinupbi-cycles.org. Beyond giving, Lupo says, the best ways for the community to help are to donate old bikes (even if they don’t work, Gearin’ Up can salvage parts) or to patronize the shop. u

OU

T &

AB

OU

T

Gearin’ Up, dc’s only Used Bike shop,Is Focused on youth development

by Jonathan Neeley

Gearin’ Up founder Katie Lupo (right) and program director Sterling Stone in the shop’s maintenance room.

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 2 7

FIND US AT THESE LOCATIONS!

FEBRUARY 2013

MIDCITY

MIDCITY

YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

14U Cafe 1939 U ST NW

Andrene’s Carribean 308 Kennedy ST NW

Azi’s Cafe 1336 9th ST NW

Ben’s Chilli Bowl 1213 U ST NW

Bicycle Space 1019 7th Street, NW

Big Bad Woof 117 Carroll ST NW

Big Bear 1700 1st ST NW

Bioscript Pharmacy 1325 14th ST NW

Brookland Metro 801 Michigan Avenue NE

Bus Boys & Poets 1025 5th ST NW

2021 14th ST NW

Caribou Coffee 1400 14th ST NW

Carls barber shop 1406 P St MW

Chatman’s Bakery 1239 9th ST NW

Chester Arthur House 23 Logan Circle NW

Chinatown Coffee 475 H ST NW

City First Bank 1432 U ST NW

CNN Office 224 7th ST SE

Coldwell Banker 1606 17th ST NW

Columbia Hts. Coffee 3416 11 ST NW

CVS 1000 U ST NW

110 Carroll ST NW

1117 10th ST NW

128 Kennedy ST NW

1418 P ST NW

1637 P Street, NW

1700 Columbia RD NW

1900 7th ST NW

2129 14th ST NW

3031 14th ST NW

3601 12th ST NE

400 Mass. AVE NW

6514 Georgia Ave, NW

DC Child & Family Services Agency 200 I Street SE

Drafting Table 1529 14th ST NW

Dunkin Donuts 1739 New Jersey Ave NW

Emery Recreation Ctr. 5701 Georgia Avenue, NW

Emmaus Services for the Aging 1426 9th Street, NW

Enviro. Working Group 1436 U ST NW

First Cup Coffee 900 M ST NW

Foster House Apts. 801 Rhode Is. Ave, NW

Giant 1050 Brentwood RD NE

1345 Park RD NW

Habesha market 1919 9th st

Harris Teeter 1201 First St, NE

1631 Kalorama RD NW

Heller’s Bakery 3221 Mt. Pleasant ST NW

Howard University 2225 6th ST NW

Java House 1645 Q ST NW

Kennedy Rec Center 1401 7th ST NW

LAYC 1419 Columbia RD NW

Lincoln Westmoreland Apts. 1730 7th Street, NW

Long & Foster 1401 14th ST NW

Love Cafe 1501 14th ST NW

Marie Reed Rec Center 2200 Champlain ST NW

MLK Library 901 G ST NW

Modern Liquors 1200 9th ST NW

Mt. Vernon Sq. Metro 700 M ST NW

Mt. Pleasant Library 3162 Mt. Pleasant St. NW

Northwest One Library 155 L ST NW

Off Road Cycling 905 U Street, NW

Paul Laurence Dunbar Sr. Apartments 2001 15th Street NW

Petworth Library 4200 Kansas AVE NW

Petworth MetroPetworth Metro 3700 Georgia AVE NW3700 Georgia AVE NW

Phyllis Wheatly YWCA 901 Rhode Island Ave NW

Providence Hospital 1150 Varnum St NE

Reeves Center 2000 14th ST NW

Safeway 1045 5th ST NW

1701 Corcoran ST NW

1747 Columbia RD NW

6501 Piney Branch RD NW

Senior Wellness Center 3531 Georgia Avenue, NW

Shaw Library 945 Rhode Island AVE NW

Shaw Mainstreet 875 N Street, NW

Shaw metro 1800 7th st NW

Shephard Park Library 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW

Starbucks 1600 U ST NW

2225 Georgia AVE NW

State Farm 3327 12th ST NE

Street Boxes 925 Monroe ST NE

2022 14th ST NW

8th & R Streets., NW

1400 Block P Street, NW

7th ST & Rhode Is. Ave, NW

1501 14th ST NW

1501 U ST NW

Takoma Metro 327 Cedar ST NW

Takoma Park Library 312 Cedar Street, NW

Third District MPD 1620 V ST NW

Trilogy NoMa 151 Q Street, NE

Tryst 2459 18th ST NW

Turkey Thickett Rec Ctr. 1100 Michigan Avenue, NE

U Street metro 900 U st

Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania AVE NW

Windows Cafe 101 Rhode Island AVE NW

Yoga District 1830 1st ST NW

2 8 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

District residents remain concerned about government waste, fraud and abuse. They say that in recent years, agencies charged with preventing such behaviors have been asleep at

the gate. A bank clerk first alerted law enforcement to

Harriett Walters’ $48 million embezzlement scheme. A political candidate raised questions about D.C. Council member’s Harry Thomas illegal nonprofit, which he used to steal thousands of dollars in grant funds that had been earmarked for disadvantaged youth. Reporters uncovered the unscrupulous deal-ings between two developers who misrepresented their relationship to win a multimillion-dollar school construction contract.

“Residents have been left to find out what’s re-ally going on versus what agencies are supposed to be doing,” says Terry Lynch, a civic activist.

An $11 billion operation, the District govern-ment is a city that is also responsible for county and state functions. Tracking activities can be labyrinthine. However, as Lynch notes, a cast of residents and non-profit advocates have traditionally functioned as a sec-ond tier of overseers, when traditional agents of the government seemed to have fallen short.

Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Cen-tury School Fund, jokes that she’s developed “cataracts and macular degeneration, trying to follow things.”

Now, some people feel things are changing. The days of lazy or ineffective government investigative agents may be over.

“I feel so much better,” says Marie Drissel, a Kal-orama resident who has monitored government agen-cies for decades. “There is much greater protection.”

That rise in confidence is because there is a new team of watchdogs: Karl Racine is the city’s first elected attorney general; Daniel W. Lucas is the District’s independent inspector general. Kathy Pat-terson, a former Ward 3 D.C. Council member with a reputation for strong oversight, is the current D.C. Auditor. Some residents predict this new crew will be far more aggressive than their predecessors, and will better coordinate their efforts to rid the city of dodgy workers and incompetent contractors.

If, as some residents believe, the government is rife with incompetence and corruption, then that trio may represent a new municipal Cerberus--the three-headed figure in Greek mythology employed as Hade’s watchdog. And much as with this famed guardian, they may also prefer live prey.

“There are plenty problems out there, waiting to be unveiled,” says Lynch. “We have a team that is going to really work together—and work hard to get things done,” says Drissel.

Putting the Bite in oversightThe triumvirate may not be salivating at the gate, but by law, they can do more than bark. Together, they are the city’s sharp-toothed system of defense against waste, fraud and abuse of government pro-grams and taxpayers’ money.

Racine leads a $55 million operation that could be compared to a well-financed law firm. His of-fice handles mostly civil litigation--a brief that in-cludes preventing the skimming of District resources through theft or unsubstantiated lawsuits against the government. He also protects the public, often tak-ing legal action against unscrupulous businesses. He is pushing for more money for Fiscal Year 2016 to help strengthen his ability to protect consumers and more swiftly respond to problems in the bureaucracy

Under his predecessor, the AG’s office helped to create the foundation for the criminal case against disgraced councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., (D-Ward 5) and against the boards of two charter schools. It may have been the only office of the trio where the incumbent actually provided a satisfac-tory performance. Still, the AG mostly served as the chief legal officer for the city or more expressly the executive branch.

Now, however, as an elected officer answerable only to voters, Racine has much more room to ma-neuver, scoping out a larger terrain while increasing opportunities to contain or confront wrongdoers. Except for being unable to prosecute criminal cases, his powers are like those of other state attorneys gen-eral. Racine says he will be guided by what voters told him they wanted during his campaign: “an in-

dependent third party they could rely on to just focus on the law and ethics.”

With his sphere of influence, the IG, by law, serves a five-year term, and can only be removed for cause. His budget is much smaller than the AG’s—only about $15 million, one-third of which is earmarked for specific activities. Lucas supervises preparation of the city’s comprehensive annual audit, which details how government agencies spent the previous year’s budget, and the quality of the Dis-trict’s internal financial management structure.

Most residents eyes glaze over such reports—not Drissel. At a recent council public hearing where the audit was the subject, she says “I took notes when he was speaking. It was so good. I was riveted by his presentation.”

Lucas’s office also can conduct management reviews, inspections, evaluations and investigations of any District agency he chooses. In 2014, the IG opened 74 criminal investigations; 63 were repre-sented to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for possible prosecution, but it accepted only 29 of those cases, according to documents presented to the council.

“Historically, the majority of previous [DC] IGs have had some type of legal background. I do not,” Lucas says. “What I do have is a strong and long-standing background in IG work.

“What I am bringing to the District is a para-digm shift,” Lucas continues. “Instead of being fixed to a rigid plan or reacting only to deficiencies,” he wants his office to be proactive and flexible enough “to ward off immitigable risk or harm.”

An effective IG certainly can alter the trajectory of an entire agency. Consider what happened when a report was issued about the shenanigans of presi-dential secret service agents during a trip to South America. The scrutiny led to agents being fired and the appointment of a new director.

“The previous [DC] IG turned out to a dud,” says Drissel, adding Lucas “clearly knows his role.”

That’s the same view many have about Patterson. The Office of the City Auditor is to the council what the Government Accountability Office is to Con-gress. In other words, the auditor acts as the investi-gative arm of the legislative branch, providing reports

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / d

istr

ict b

eat

the distr ict Beat: who Let the dogs out?An oversight tr iumverate takes over to Guard the Publ ic Interest

by Jonetta Rose Barras

about issues that may assist members in better conducting oversight.

Ward 8 activist Phillip Pannell remembers the office’s heyday in the 1980s when it operated at its op-timum. Otis Troupe was in charge then. He was tough and often released scathing reports about the misadven-tures of then-Mayor Marion Barry’s administration.

“[Troupe] went through things with a fine-tooth comb,” continues Pannell. “Patterson seems to be very impartial and fair.

She says she intends to “coordi-nate as closely as possible” with the legislature “to see that the work we produce is relevant and impactful.

“I would like us to be more nimble than we have been and to be more mind-ful of new developments,” she adds.

sniff, sniff, chomp, chompThe watchdogs already have begun sniffing around. “I intend to pro-mote honest government, ensuring its integrity and transparency,” says Racine, noting he has met with the ethics commission headed by Darrin Sobin and with the IG.

Lucas plans to create a “stand alone-division” that will among other things examine contracting and pro-curement procedures, always an area where fraud and favoritism can oc-cur. He also intends to conduct what he calls “proactive data mining and predictive analytics” within the city’s financial management systems that could easily identify areas ripe for theft because of weak oversight.

“My overarching goals are to more aggressively find and affect changes that improve the District’s effective-ness and efficiency of operations,” adds Lucas.

Ditto says Patterson, who with only about $5 million has the small-est budget. But as a former coun-cil member, she knows the inner-workings of the government and has proved her ability to gather critical information. Working with council

Chairman Phil Mendelson, she says she expects to reduce “statutory re-quirements” that intrude on her abili-ty to swiftly chase down larger issues. “We’re trying to make sure we’re not just doing good work, but doing work that has more focus.”

Patterson says she is establishing a program evaluation unit, revisiting the agency’s fiscal year 2015 work plan, to focus more on council priorities, including assessment of the efforts of the Department of Fire and Emer-gency Medical Services to meet the 2007 recommendations of the Task Force on Emergency Medical Ser-vices, better known as the Rosenbaum Task Force.

Patterson is overseeing the final report by the National Academy of Sciences on the Public Education Re-form Amendment Act of 2007. Later this spring, she expects to release a report on how the city has spent its capital dollars.

That excites Filardo, whose or-ganization estimates as much as $4 billion has been spent on school mod-ernizations, and the city is only 50 percent into its renovation program. “It’s been like a money train,” she says, adding the funds haven’t been well spent.

“There is room for a lot of heavy lifting that will help the council in its oversight,” says Patterson, adding that she expects to collaborate with her counterparts. The day after we spoke, she was meeting with the IG about an audit of the city’s housing programs. “‘We may want to make sure nothing is slipping between the cracks.” u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 2 9

3 0 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

It’s getting harder and harder to afford an apartment in DC. Virtually no low-cost housing is available in the private rental mar-ket and rents continue to rise at a break-neck pace. This is squeezing the budgets for many

residents, and it is putting an increasing number of families in desperate situations without a stable place to live.

The lack of affordable housing not only affects the ability of residents to thrive, but it also affects the ability of the District to remain economically strong. When families put all they have toward rent, they cut back on food and spend less to support local busi-nesses. When parents cannot afford bus fare, they lose their jobs. When children live in homes with mold or rodents, they can get asthma, the leading cause of school absences. When families who cannot afford to live in DC are forced to move, it is increas-ingly difficult to operate a strong service industry.

This year the Mayor and DC Council can take steps to ensure that residents with a wide range of incomes can afford to live in this city and contrib-ute to its vitality. They must develop a comprehen-sive housing strategy and find new resources to pay for programs that provide struggling residents a stable home.

Rents continueto surge

The District has seen an influx of residents, in-cluding many college-educated young people, which has increased demand for housing and pushed up rents. While the population growth has expanded the city’s tax base and helped the economy recover from the re-cession, it is seriously crimping the ability of many residents to find a place to live.

Rents have grown rapidly for nearly all residents – whether they live in low-cost, basement apart-ments or in luxury, high-rise lofts. But the impact has been greatest on low- and moderate-income households that heavily rely on low-cost units.

The number of low-cost apartments was cut in half over the last decade. Apartments with

monthly rent and utili-ties below $800 fell from 58,000 in 2002 to only 33,000 in 2013, according to DCFPI’s latest study of US Cen-sus Bureau data.

The number of units remaining below $800 roughly matches the number of federally and locally subsidized hous-ing units. This suggests that there are very few, if any, low-cost units in the private market. Without any private options, it’s no wonder that there are 70,000 households on the wait-

ing list for the DC Housing Authority’s programs.

Household Budgets strainedOn top of surging rents, the District’s economy is not producing the jobs or wages thousands of resi-dents need to afford rent. About 40 percent of the District’s renters have had flat incomes since the beginning of the rental boom. Residents without a college degree faced declining wages and higher rates of underemployment, meaning they had to take part-time jobs when they would prefer to work full-time. Shrinking paychecks and higher costs mean that residents are putting larger shares of their incomes toward rent and cutting other necessities – like food and transportation – to make ends meet.

Very low-income households are feeling the greatest pinch on their budgets. Two-thirds of low-income households spend more than half their income for housing. But they’re not alone. More and more, moderate-income residents are being squeezed. Even households with incomes up to $54,000 have seen their rent increase dramati-cally, with one-third now facing a severe housing cost burden.

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / t

he

Nu

mb

er

s

Going, Going, Gone!How dc’s Vanishing Af fordable Housing Is Af fect ing Us Al l

by Wes Rivers

Housing Instability IsBad for everyone

Families that spend the majority of their limited budgets on housing costs face instability that can lead to barriers to employment, education, and good health. More resources go-ing toward housing means less for food, health care and transportation.

High housing costs may force families to rent substandard housing with health hazards like mold and rodents. It may also force families to move a lot or double up with another struggling family. These situations can introduce toxic stress that may make it difficult for parents to hold down a job or kids to concentrate in school.

What’s worse is that housing in-stability can add to the city’s growing number of families that are home-less. The limited affordable options have made it hard for the District to manage a skyrocketing number of homeless families, because tran-sitioning out of shelter and finding homes is so hard.

So what is a family to do? Many residents are forced to move in search of better wages and more affordable places to live. An exodus of workers out of the District can threaten the city’s economic vitality. Without a variety of workers with a wide range of incomes living here, the District will be unable to sustain certain parts of the economy, including our strong service industry.

the Mayor and dc councilneed to do More

To help residents maintain a stable home, policymakers need to develop a comprehensive strategy that pro-duces more affordable rental units. This includes supporting programs that build more low-cost apartments, preserving what few affordable units we have left, and providing resources to programs that help District resi-

dents pay the rent. An important component of this strategy will be Mayor Bowser’s commitment to put $100 million to the Housing Produc-tion Trust Fund.

However, it will take more re-sources to make these promises a re-ality. The Mayor and Council should look for new revenue to meet hous-ing needs while also maintaining investments in other critical services across the city. One way to do this is to spend some of last year’s $200 mil-lion surplus, rather than stick with current rules that require the city to save every penny. Not all of that money is available, but some of it could be used to provide temporary relief for what has become a crisis.

Mayor Bowser and the Council also could raise revenue in a fair way. DC has the lowest taxes for residents in the region, including property tax-es that often are thousands of dollars less than our neighbors in Virginia or Maryland. Additional tax rates at the high end of our income tax or raising property taxes on DC’s highest-value homes can raise significant revenue in an equitable way.

The fiscal year 2016 budget will be released this month, and it is important that the Mayor and the Council take it as an opportunity to make significant investments in af-fordable housing. This would provide stability and opportunity for District residents and help DC maintain its growing economic vitality.

Rivers is a policy analyst at the DC Fis-cal Policy Institute (www.dcfpi.org). DCFPI promotes budget and policy so-lutions to reduce poverty and inequal-ity in the District of Columbia, and to increase the opportunity for residents to build a better future. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 3 1

3 2 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

shaw Main streets wins national AwardThe National Main Street Center presented Shaw Main Streets with the first ever Innovation on Main Street Award recognizing Art All Night: Nuit Blanche DC as an innovative event that has made significant economic and promotional impact in the Shaw Community and in the District overall. This new award pays tribute to three Main Street organizations for successful, sustainable initiatives that represent new approaches to existing down-town revitalization challenges or opportunities. “It’s so exciting to be recognized for bringing this arts festival to DC, entertaining tens of thousands of visitors and generating record sales for our small neighbourhood businesses,” said Alexander M. Pa-dro, Executive Director of Shaw Main Streets.

The Departments of Small and Local Business Development supports eight Main Street programs throughout the District. For more information on the DC Main Streets Program, go to dslbd.dc.gov/service/dc-main-streets-program. To find out more about Shaw Main Streets, please visit shawmain-streets.org/.

wards 1 and 5 Homeowners eligible for Rebates to Reduce Flooding and Roof GreeningThe District Department of the Environment is of-fering rebates to help homeowners in the Blooming-dale Sewershed defray the costs of retrofitting drive-ways, rooftops, patios, etc. with features that help absorb rainwater, such as (1) Green roofs: $15 per square foot rebate for new green or vegetated roof installed; (2) Pervious pavers: $10 per square foot rebate, PLUS free pavers (valued at $5/sq ft) while supplies last, for impervious surface replaced with pervious pavers; and (3) Impervious surface removal: $5 per square foot rebate for impervious surface re-placed with vegetation (garden, sod, soil/seed). Fund-ing and materials are limited so rebates are awarded on a first come, first served basis. Find out whether a project qualifies at ddoe.dc.gov/bloomingdalerebates or contact Lauren Linville at lauren.linville@dc.gov.

Grand Poetry salon at MLK LibraryOn Monday, Apr. 13, 6 p.m., celebrate National Po-

etry Month with this “One Night Only” event. Come take the mic and the room, and join a community of poets sharing their work. At-tendance is open to all, but participants must register online at ow.ly/Kt1Np. Presentations will be limited to three minutes. Martin Lu-ther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-0321. dclibrary.org/mlk

UsdA Farmers Market in washington, dc seeks VendorsThe US Department of Agriculture is accept-ing applications from farmers, growers, and other producers for its Farmers Market, which will open on May 1. This year the market will be open on Fridays (except for July 3), 9 a.m.-2 p.m., from May 1-Oct. 30. The market is or-ganized by the USDA Agricultural Market-ing Service and serves as an example of how farmers markets across the nation bring com-munities together around fresh, local foods and products. To find out more, and to apply for a spot, go to content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAOC/bulletins/f9595e.

APtA Peer Review on dc streetcarsThe District Department of Transportation has announced the reception of a letter from the American Public Transportation Associa-tion (APTA), which conducted a peer review of the H Street/Benning Road Streetcar sys-tem. The peer review panel concluded that there are no fatal flaws that would prevent the DC Streetcar from starting revenue service on the H Street/Benning Road corridor. A draft report is due to be delivered in mid-April.

DDOT is also undertaking maintenance and repairs to the system, including rail breaks and water drainage mitigation. This work re-quires that simulated service temporarily cease along the corridor.

Muralsdc 2015 Launched, seeks wall donations and ArtistsMuralsDC 2015 is seeking wall donations and art-ists for the city’s MuralsDC project by May, 2015. A collaborative between DPW and DCCAH, the initiative was created to replace graffiti-ridden walls

with original works of art. MuralsDC has produced more than 50 murals citywide, since 2007. Many of the program’s walls had been a constant target for graffiti. The program has been highly effective in ending the cycle of tagging on those sites, which has resulted in a significant cost savings for both the city and the business owners.

Donated space must be for commercial or public

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / b

ulle

tiN

bo

ar

d Bullet in Board

A Capital Rowing Club Men’s Master 8 races into the last 200 meters of their home regatta, Cap Sprints, in 2014. Photo: Courtesy of Capital Rowing Club

capital Rowing Launches 27th year with Rowing for All AgesThe Capital Rowing Club began its 27th year of rowing in March. The community program, located on the Ana-costia River, offers a variety recreational and competitive sweep and sculling opportunities for experienced rowers, as well as beginners.

As a community program, Capital welcomes metro area residents with multiple opportunities to get out on the water. The club offers both sweep and sculling pro-grams. Sweep rowing is four or eight person shells where each person has one large oar; sculling is double and sin-gle boats where each person has two small oars.

The Capital Rowing Club is the home of community rowing for more than 400 area residents. As a non-prof-it 501(c)(3) founded in 1988, Capital offers sweep and sculling programs for all ability levels, ranging from learn to row programs for people of all ages to competitive pro-grams for veteran rowers. Capital is managed solely by volunteers and is devoted to bringing rowing opportuni-ties to youth, adults and families. For more information, visit capitalrowing.org.

use (cannot be a private residence) and located in DC. The program will consider concrete and brick surfaces only. Owners must consent to donate wall space for at least one year and leave the mural intact for that year. Donated space must be highly vis-ible by vehicles and/or pedestrian traffic. Ideally, the donated wall has been defaced with graffiti, has been tagged in the past, or is located in close vicinity to property that has been tagged. dpw.dc.gov

MuralsDC also seeks graffiti art-ists and artist teams to design, create and install aerosol murals that inspire the various communities in which they will be placed. Review the of-ficial Call for Artists at dcarts.dc.gov for specific instructions.

2015 Larry neal writing competition The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities has opened the 32nd Annual Larry Neal Writing Compe-tition. The competition commemo-rates the artistic legacy and vision of cultural understanding of Larry Neal, a renowned author, academic and for-mer Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Hu-manities. The competition is open to emerging and professional writers of all ages who reside in the District of Columbia. Cash prizes are awarded to adults (aged 19 and above), teens (ages 13-18), and youth (8-12) for artistic excellence in unpublished po-etry, short stories, or dramatic writing.

Applications will be accepted through Friday, Apr. 17, 4 p.m. Ap-plication forms, submission guide-lines and criteria can be found at dcarts.dc.gov.

earth day Volunteer event at Kenilworth ParkJoin the neighbors on Saturday, Apr. 25, 9 a.m.-noon, for the Kenilworth Park annual Earth Day event, held in partnership with the Anacostia Wa-tershed Society. They will spend the morning removing invasive plants, picking up trash, planting native

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 3 3

3 4 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

plants, and performing other park projects. When the work is done they hope their volunteers will join the watershed wide Earth Day celebra-tion at Bladensburg Waterfront Park. The celebration will include free food and drink, live music, local exhibitors, and speakers. RSVP recommended to tina@friendsofkenilworthgardens.org. SSL credits can be earned.

Great Arboretum cookoutEach year in June, when the Arbo-retum grounds are in full bloom, the Friends of the National Arboretum welcome guests to an evening over-looking the Capitol Columns. With a cocktail reception in the fragrant National Herb Garden and a feast in the meadow, the Great Arboretum Cookout is always a pleasure. Not an-

other DC black tie event, the Cook-out brings together people from busi-ness, government and the community to support the gardens and programs at the Arboretum. Each year a dif-ferent state is honored--in 2015 they salute South Carolina.

This year’s cookout is on Tuesday, June 9, 6 p.m., reception; and 7 p.m., dinner. Single ticket is $225 ($125 for under 35’s). Casual dress. The US National Arboretum is at 3501 New York Ave. NE. fona.org

spring cleaning Begins in the Region’sdrinking water PipesThrough May 4, the disinfectant in DC drinking water will temporarily switch from chloramine to chlorine. The annual switch in water disinfec-

tion is part of a routine program to clean and maintain drinking water systems in the District of Columbia, Arlington County and a portion of Fairfax County. During the tempo-rary switch to chlorine, local water authorities will also conduct system-wide flushing to enhance water qual-ity. This program is a common prac-tice for many US water systems that use chloramine during the majority of the year.

Individuals and business own-ers who take special precautions to remove chloramine from tap water, such as dialysis centers, medical facil-ities and aquatic pet owners, should continue to take the same precau-tions during the temporary switch to chlorine. Most methods for removing chloramine from tap water are effec-tive in removing chlorine. Individuals with special health concerns should consult a health care provider on the use of tap water. During this time, in-dividuals may notice a slight change in the taste and smell of their drink-ing water. Local water authorities recommend running the cold water tap for approximately two minutes and refrigerating tap water to reduce the chlorine taste and odor. Water filters are also effective for reducing chlorine taste and odor. For more in-formation, contact DC Water at 202-612-3440.

dash Revolutionizes the dining and Goingout experienceDash Software, LLC, a mobile pay-ment platform for restaurants, bars, and clubs, has announced their ex-pansion to Washington, DC, the company’s third city of operation following its October 2014 launch in Chicago and November 2013 launch in New York City.

Dash has risen in popularity with app-savvy Millennials for trans-forming the check paying process by allowing diners to pay bar and restaurant tabs directly from their smartphones. Now, the app comes to

17 venues around Washington, D.C. including The Exchange, The Faint-ing Goat, Jake’s American Grille, Nick’s Riverside, Smith Commons, and more.

To Use Dash: At any venue that accepts Dash, a customer must in-form the waiter or bartender that they would like to “pay with Dash,” at which point the tab is connected to the venue’s POS system, allow-ing the items ordered to appear in real-time on the customer’s phone. Friends can invite each other to participate in one Dash bill to fa-cilitate seamless bill splitting. Dash allows guests to easily set a tip using a pre-set percentage or by inputting a specific amount. The user is able to pay the bill using a credit card stored within the application. For more in-formation and a full list of partici-pating venues, download the app at PayWithDash.com.

new Photo enforcement speedcameras deployedThe Metropolitan Police Depart-ment has announced the deployment of new speed camera locations. The locations for the new Photo En-forcement Units will be sites where speeding has been identified to be a problem. The 30 day educational phase, or “warning period” started on Mar. 23. During this period, vio-lators will receive warning citations. After the warning period, MPD will begin issuing live moving citations to violators. The new photo enforce-ment locations are 6100 block of Eastern Ave. NE, southeast-bound; 3200 block of Fort Lincoln Dr. NE, southbound; 1900 block of Branch Ave. SE, southbound; 1400 block of So. Capitol St. SE, northbound; 1400 block of So. Capitol St. SW, south-bound; 600 block of Kenilworth Ave. NE, southbound. All new camera locations have a 25 mph speed limit. For more information, visit mpdc.dc.gov/page/dc-streetsafe-automat-ed-traffic-enforcement.

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / b

ulle

tiN

bo

ar

d

The exhibition, HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation, takes visitors from the hottest to the coldest parts of our planet and explores how BIG’s design solutions are shaped by their cultural and climatic contexts. More than 60 three-dimensional models are suspended at the second-floor balconies of the National Building Museum’s Great Hall in an unprecedented use of this public space. Pictured is the Amager Bakke Waste to Energy Plant in Copenhagen. Photo: Courtesy of the National Building Museum

win A trip to copenhagenIn conjunction with HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation, an exhibition which surveys the work and design process of Copenhagen- and New York-based firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, the National Building Museum and VisitDenmark are offering a lucky prize winner the opportunity to see Danish design in person, with a five day trip to Copenhagen. This sweepstakes, open only to U.S. residents, offers a unique opportunity to visit places that inspired Bjarke Ingels as well as the projects for which his firm is known, namely VM Mountain Dwelling, the Danish Maritime Museum, Island Brygge Harbour Baths, Super-kilen, 8 Tallet, and VM Houses.

A grand prize winning package includes round trip airfare for two and five nights stay in Copenhagen before May 2016. Three first prize winners will receive a copy of HOT TO COLD: an odyssey of architectural adaptation, the compan-ion catalog to the exhibition. To enter, visit go.nbm.org/Denmark and answer a short question about a video about Danish architecture and Bjarke Ingels. No purchase necessary. A winner will be announced around Sept. 10, 2015. The exhi-bition is open through Aug. 30, 2015, at the National Building Museum.

washington nationals “Pups in thePark” Games Pups in the Park Games games this year are Saturday, Apr. 18, 1:05 p.m. vs Philadelphia Phillies; Saturday, May 23, 4:05 p.m. vs Philadelphia Phillies; Wednesday, June 3, 7:05 p.m. vs Toronto Blue Jays; Sunday, June 21, 1:35 p.m. vs Pittsburgh Pi-rates; Thursday, Sept. 3, 7:05 p.m. vs Atlanta Braves; and Saturday, Sept 26, 4:05 p.m. vs Philadelphia Phillies.

Purchase a discounted ticket for the entire family and favourite family pet to support the Washington Hu-mane Society. $10 of every dog ticket purchased will benefit the Washing-ton Humane Society. All those with tickets purchased for Pups in the Park must enter through the Right Field Gate. Before entering the gate all pet-owners must drop off a signed waiver for the dog’s up-to-date shots. All Pups in the Park attendees must print, sign and bring the Waiver Form with them to Nationals Park. Tickets are $26 for owners and $10 per dog. For more information, visit washington.nationals.mlb.com.

dc Bar Pro Bono Program Presents Best Practices in employment LawThe DC Bar Pro Bono Program, in partnership with the DC De-partment of Small and Local Busi-ness Development, the Washing-ton Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF) and the law firm of Crowell & Moring, is sponsoring a four-part employment law course for small business owners. The four sessions will be held on Tuesday evenings from 5-7 p.m. beginning Apr. 28. Participants will receive an overview of DC’s employment laws as they apply to small businesses, including: Hiring, Firing, and Per-formance Management; Employee Compensation and Classification; Wage and Hour laws; Distinction between Employees and Indepen-dent Contractors; and Employment Discrimination. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 3 5

3 6 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

“A PR disaster” is how DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D-Chair) characterized the District’s arrangements with Vision Mc-Millan Partners (VMP) at a recent

oversight hearing. VMP is the group tasked by the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Devel-opment (DMPED) with developing the former Mc-Millan Sand Filtration Facility, a historic landmark. At issue was an invoice VMP submitted to the city for payments made to Fontaine & Company, a Baltimore firm. VMP contracted Fontaine to conduct a public relations campaign to discredit the project’s commu-nity opponents, spin the media in the deal’s favor and court the support of public officials.

Council Members Elissa Silverman (D-At Large) and Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) echoed Mendelson’s concerns. Now, the chair wants answers.

the deal encounters oppositionIn the summer of 2013, as the city was preparing to declare the 25-acre McMillan site as surplus land and sell it to VMP, the developer found itself in the midst of contentious dispute with local residents. Increasingly, community members, some aligned with a group called “Friends of McMillan Park” (FMP), objected to the sale.

According to sources who attended a fractious public hearing that June, all but two of 45 residents who testified urged the city to retain the property for beneficial community use. Dozens more wrote in to city officials.

“I am asking that you not declare McMillan Park surplus,” wrote Carla Merritt, president of the LeDroit Park Development Company, on June 17, 2013, to the Mayor, Council and Historic Preserva-tion Review Board (HPRB), to cite one example.

“I’ve gotten like 30 of these in the last day,” DMPED Project Manager Shiv Newaldess wrote to FOIA Officer Ayesha Abassi, just two minutes later. “My concern is these folks are being misled by the Friends of McMillan Park.”

Abassi recommended arming McDuffie, a strong supporter of the sale and a neighbor of the site, with facts to counter FMP’s “misinformation” related to its historic use, the email exchange shows. The councilmember, she then argued, would be in a better position to persuade his colleagues and zon-ing officials to support the sale. “Can we create a message to the Council and the HPRB that clari-fies this?” Newaldess replied.

DMPED’s struggle to market the McMillan deal did not go unnoticed. Later that year, the agen-cy got a public relations assist from VMP through Fontaine, a subcontractor.

Unleashing the Professionals“Save McMillan Park” yard signs dotted the Bloomingdale neighborhood in the Fall of 2013. Ubiquitous, they were purchased by residents such as Betsy McDaniel. In December of that year, Mc-Daniel noticed a “Create McMillan Park” sign in the front yard of a neighbor, an employee of a VMP subcontractor. “I just knew it was part of a VMP campaign,” she says.

In the meantime, Mathew Bader, a representa-tive on the McMillan Advisory Group (MAG), a 16-member, city-authorized partner for commu-nity input on the project, noticed Fontaine listed as a subcontractor on VMP’s promotional website, “Envision McMillan.” Curious, he emailed a query to VMP Project Manager Anne Corbett. VMP had hired Fontaine “to provide an extra pair of hands” to coordinate community input, Corbett stated in her reply. The firm reported directly to her, Corbett wrote. She also confirmed that the developer had paid for the “Create McMillan Park” yard signs. (The District has reimbursed VMP more than $338,000 alone for Corbett’s services through 2014.)

Fontaine also organized “open house” meetings for residents interested in the McMillan project, Bader recalls. Attendees were offered email project updates provided they signed a form supporting the development. A VMP Twitter account and a VMP Facebook page soon appeared. On the Envision McMillan website, Bader found a folder for an or-ganization called “Neighbors for McMillan,” which contained instructions on how to recruit and lobby support for the project. He checked the properties of those documents and found they were created by Jamie Fontaine, the firm’s president.

Yet at the open house gatherings, and in the

community at large, there was little actual orga-nized support for the project according to Bader. “It all sounded grimy,” he says.

“I’ve never seen so much as an email from Neighbors for McMillan,” states Scott Roberts, cu-rator of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood Listserv. “And if anyone would, it’d be me.”

This reporter made several efforts to identify and contact members of Neighbors for McMillan for comment, without success. According to DeBo-rah Steiner, a lifelong Ward 5 resident and advisory neighborhood commissioner, there is no such group. “They’re not an organization, just something [VMP] created to counter what MAG was saying,” stated Steiner, noting that MAG has not in her opinion adequately gauged the community’s pulse, either.

In early Jan. 2014, a 13-page VMP “Grassroots Plan,” printed on Fontaine & Company letterhead, leaked out to the organized opposition to the deal. The document outlined a plan to “neutralize” and “discredit” project opponents, in an effort to “shift community dialogue and general perception to that of majority local support for VMP plans.” Fontaine pledged to recruit local evangelists to spread the mes-sage that FMP had been hijacked by outsiders with their own agenda: “We will name the local coalition and brand local support with themes that highlight these key messages,” the plan’s authors wrote.

Residents were appalled, said Bader. He filed FOIA requests with DMPED to discover who was footing the bill. In late January, he obtained a VMP invoice approved by DMPED Director of Real Es-tate Jeff Miller that included a $28,000 reimburse-ment for Fontaine’s services.

In a phone conversation with Corbett, Bader ob-jected to city payments to Fontaine. Use of city funds for a public relations campaign directed at discredit-ing the project opponents was both unethical and a conflict of interest. On Feb. 4, 2014, VMP reversed the $28,000 it had billed DMPED for Fontaine’s services. Coincidentally, access to the Neighbors for McMillan folder on the Envision McMillan website was suddenly restricted, Bader recalls.

While the plan against neighborhood oppo-nents was being executed, efforts were underway to sway the media in favor of the project.

spinning the Press“We will ask organizations/thought leaders to at-tend City Council or community events for elected intercepts… Directly lobby [the] Council…Author Op-Eds…Be surrogates in the media and respond to local press,” advises the Fontaine plan. An addi-tional memo called for targeting media outlets such as Greater Greater Washington (GGW), The Wash-

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / e

ye

s o

N m

cm

illa

N

the spin doctors

by Jeffrey Anderson

ington Post, The Washington Business Journal, The Washington City Paper and neighborhood blogs.

District officials and VMP representatives ex-ecuted Fontaine’s instructions. When The Post and City Paper reporters asked questions demon-strating a “very biased angle” against the project, Newaldess and Corbett challenged them, accord-ing to a Dec. 2013 email from Newaldess to Jamie Fontaine. “The [media outlets] I’ve communicated with have all backed off of the biased angles and one even wrote a somewhat favorable editorial this past summer,” Newaldess wrote.

Washington Post reporter Mike DeBonis, ref-erenced by name in the Fontaine plan, recalls ini-tiating contact with Newaldess and Corbett in the course of his reporting. His stories consisted mostly of covering various aspects of the pre-sale “entitle-ment” process, he stated in an email. He does not remember any mention of bias, nor had he heard of Fontaine.

The editorial side of The Post has weighed in, however. On June 21, 2013, the Editorial Board came out strongly in favor of VMP’s development plans. And in Aug. 2014, Roger K. Lewis, an ar-chitect and professor emeritus at University of Maryland, heralded the project in an Op-Ed that included a cartoon mocking its opponents.

Aaron Wiener, The Washington City Paper’s real estate reporter, doubts that his conversations with Newaldess dramatically influenced his stories. Yet, in his April 2013 story, “Changes to McMil-lan Design Fail to Win Over Loudest Skeptics,” Wiener wrote: “The latest scheme from Vision McMillan Partners addresses some neighborhood concerns, replaces a 3.4-acre park at the center of the site with a 6.2-acre park at the southern edge, and looks, well, rather gorgeous.”

GGW has also covered the McMillan develop-ment. According to Founder David Alpert, the site was not “targeted” by those evangelizing the project. However, in June 2013, GGW ran a piece that stat-ed, “redeveloping McMillan is the only way to save it.” Last April, the site touted a positive transit study backed by VMP in a story written by Alex Posorske, the managing director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. This pro-development adviser to GGW garnered donations from two of the three partners in VMP and the architects of the McMillan project. Posorske stated he received no compensation for the story, and declined to comment further.

When approached by this reporter for com-ment, Fontaine referred questions to VMP. VMP, in turn, referred questions to Mayor Bowser’s office, which has yet to return calls. Newaldess did not re-turn calls. He now works for Menkiti Group, a firm

whose president, Bo Menkiti, housed McDuffie’s campaign headquarters, according to a City Pa-per report. (McDuffie’s former legislative director, Stephanie Liotta-Atkinson, also works for Men-kiti.) McDuffie was “Unavailable” to comment or answer questions, stated an email from his chief of staff, Jon Mandel.

McMillan’s opponents firmly believe that Fon-taine’s plan met its goals.

we’ve Been slimed“DMPED and VMP decided that they didn’t have a community base, at least not one that would spread the word about what a great plan this was for the community, so they outsourced a fake one,” states Kirby Vining, a founding member of FMP and chair of MAG. “There is no one I’ve ever met who sup-ports the VMP project who is willing to spread the word. They spend their time attacking us.”

VMP’s opponents suffer from negative percep-tions in the civic debate regarding the McMillan project, Vining believes. He attributes this an-tipathy in part to VMP’s “AstroTurf campaign” of city-funded lobbying and Fontaine’s orchestrated attacks on MAG and FMP.

Despite gathering 7,000 signatures on a peti-tion to re-evaluate the plans for the McMillan site, Vining and his fellow McMillan opponents feel that the political establishment and the media have cast them as outsiders. For example, in Feb. 2014, FMP members objected to VMP and DMPED subsidizing Fontaine’s activities in their testimony before the council’s economic development com-mittee, chaired by then Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4). Bowser shrugged the matter off as “distasteful,” they recall. (In her recent State of the District, Bowser emphasized the importance of transparency and community involvement in the city development process.)

FMP “became a problem” when it clashed with Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners who sup-ported the project, recalls Jeff Miller, the former di-rector of DMPED’s real estate portfolio, summing up DMPED and VMP’s critique of the neighbor-hood opponents. “They have no bylaws or official membership,” he said, dismissively. “It’s a bunch of folks who meet in church basements…People who actually have jobs can’t attend community meetings that go until 10 p.m.”

Voicing opposition to a major city development is a double-edged sword, points out Roberts. Vo-cal opponents receive more attention, but that can backfire if they are cut out of the process. It’s pretty clear that DMPED and VMP “blew off ” Vining and his colleagues, states Roberts, who is often lob-

bied by both sides.Sliming projects’ opponents, lobbying the coun-

cil and spinning the media is not cheap.

A Forensic AccountingThe District is underwriting VMP’s pre-develop-ment costs at the rate of $1.34 million per year. Those expenses include, for example, $646,000 for powerhouse law firm Holland & Knight. VMP is on target to exceed $7 million by year’s end. Such numbers have caught the eye of DC Auditor Kathy Patterson. “It’s worth looking at those costs in terms of what DC is getting for that money,” she said in an interview with this reporter.

Patterson’s view is shared by Mendelson. Citing a 2009 term sheet that said VMP would bear its own costs, the chair asked Deputy Mayor Brian Kenner, a holdover from the Vince Gray administration, to report on the District’s payments to VMP.

While Fontaine’s fees are a small portion of VMP’s pre-development costs, Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) called the invoice and its reversal “ques-tionable” and “of great concern.” Even McDuffie agreed that it is “troubling,” while cautioning against undermining the project’s “momentum.”

VMP’s Aakash Thakkar defended the firm’s ac-tions. The partners, he told Mendelson, have held more than 200 community meetings and cleared myriad government hurdles. The project now only awaits approval for demolition and subdivision permits -- and a sale, which the Council must ap-prove. Thakkar then assured Mendelson that VMP received no city funds to pay for Fontaine’s services.

Yet Mendelson expressed doubts. “Well who paid for them?” he asked.

“The Fontaine exercise in my view is a bit of a PR disaster,” Mendelson said at the hearing. “Some of the emails are from government folks who talk about embarrassing the community. That is just not a good thing to see. Was it possible the invoice was being paid until someone discovered, oops, we’re being FOIA’d?” he asked rhetorically.

“Given the fact that this really doesn’t look good to have a PR firm to discredit the community, it would be best to have all the information out. If DMPED is innocent, it’s innocent, but if it is im-plicated, say so now, so we don’t have to deal with why it was covered up,” said Mendelson. “I think we need an explanation.”

As chair of the Committee of the Whole, which includes economic development in its over-sight portfolio, and as the boss of the DC Auditor, neither DMPED nor VMP can afford to ignore the chair. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 3 7

community at large, there was little actual orga-nized support for the project according to Bader. “It all sounded grimy,” he says.

“I’ve never seen so much as an email from Neighbors for McMillan,” states Scott Roberts, cu-rator of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood Listserv. “And if anyone would, it’d be me.”

This reporter made several efforts to identify and contact members of Neighbors for McMillan for comment, without success. According to DeBo-rah Steiner, a lifelong Ward 5 resident and advisory neighborhood commissioner, there is no such group. “They’re not an organization, just something [VMP] created to counter what MAG was saying,” stated Steiner, noting that MAG has not in her opinion adequately gauged the community’s pulse, either.

In early Jan. 2014, a 13-page VMP “Grassroots Plan,” printed on Fontaine & Company letterhead, leaked out to the organized opposition to the deal. The document outlined a plan to “neutralize” and “discredit” project opponents, in an effort to “shift community dialogue and general perception to that of majority local support for VMP plans.” Fontaine pledged to recruit local evangelists to spread the mes-sage that FMP had been hijacked by outsiders with their own agenda: “We will name the local coalition and brand local support with themes that highlight these key messages,” the plan’s authors wrote.

Residents were appalled, said Bader. He filed FOIA requests with DMPED to discover who was footing the bill. In late January, he obtained a VMP invoice approved by DMPED Director of Real Es-tate Jeff Miller that included a $28,000 reimburse-ment for Fontaine’s services.

In a phone conversation with Corbett, Bader ob-jected to city payments to Fontaine. Use of city funds for a public relations campaign directed at discredit-ing the project opponents was both unethical and a conflict of interest. On Feb. 4, 2014, VMP reversed the $28,000 it had billed DMPED for Fontaine’s services. Coincidentally, access to the Neighbors for McMillan folder on the Envision McMillan website was suddenly restricted, Bader recalls.

While the plan against neighborhood oppo-nents was being executed, efforts were underway to sway the media in favor of the project.

spinning the Press“We will ask organizations/thought leaders to at-tend City Council or community events for elected intercepts… Directly lobby [the] Council…Author Op-Eds…Be surrogates in the media and respond to local press,” advises the Fontaine plan. An addi-tional memo called for targeting media outlets such as Greater Greater Washington (GGW), The Wash-

3 8 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

shaw Main streets Holds Annual Meeting

On March 24 Shaw Main Streets held its 2015 annual meeting at Long View Gallery. Themed “Shaw Is Blowing Up!” the event provided a forum for the organization to review its accom-plishments from the previous year, as well as elect new members to the or-ganization’s board of directors.

In her remarks, Ana Harvey, the new director of the Department of Small and Local Business Develop-ment, stressed the important role that Shaw Main Streets and local busi-ness play in the health of the com-munity, adding that she would make herself available to any small business that needed her help. Then Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen con-gratulated Shaw Main Streets on its successes and noted how important small business issues were to his leg-islative priorities.

Next, Alexander Padro, Shaw Main Streets executive director, cov-ered the organization’s accomplish-ments over the past year. Besides 27 new business openings, storefront

improvements, Great Streets match-ing grants, and events like Art All Night, Padro noted that the orga-nization achieved a national Main Streets record for private funds raised by a single event and that the group had retired all of its previous financial obligations in January 2015. Among the plans for 2015, Padro mentioned the recently completed Shaw Dining Guide phone app, an upcoming Shaw business directory app, as well as a new banner program and in April the Shaw Main Streets Gala, the group’s major fundraiser.

Councilmember Vincent Or-ange, who chairs the DC Council committee overseeing small business issues for the city, outlined some of the initiatives he had championed, such a higher minimum wage. Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau expressed her support for small busi-ness and her effort to familiarize her-self with the Ward 1 businesses in the Shaw Main Streets service area.

Then the winners of the contest for Best New Shaw Business of 2014, determined by votes from neighbor-hood customers, were announced.

Out of 26 eligible Shaw businesses, the winner for best new business was Beau Thai restaurant, with La Co-lombe Coffee as first runner-up and Chaplin’s Restaurant and Bar as the contest’s second runner-up.

In the last item of business before the reception two new board mem-bers were elected. Lionel Lynch is director of New Development and Strategic Planning at Roadside De-velopment, while Daniel Nadeau is general manager of the Marri-ott Marquis Washington DC hotel. Scott Claffee, Paul Hughes, Nooni Reatig, and Gretchen Wharton were reelected to the Shaw Main Streets board of directors.

new shaw Businesses AnnouncedThere is plenty of evidence that Shaw continues to “blow up.” Roadside Development announced that 98.28 percent of its apartments at City Market at O have been leased. The property management company for the development, Bozzuto Manage-ment, recently won a “Lease Up of the Year” award due to the fact that

leases at City Market at O have out-paced other multifamily properties in DC and the mid-Atlantic region.

The Colonel, the recently com-pleted apartment building at 9th and N streets NW, announced three major retail tenants coming in. Shaw resident Josh Phillips is launching Espita Mezcaleria, which will pair ex-otic varieties of the spirit mezcal with the foods and flavors of the Mexi-can state of Oaxaca. The co-owners of Red Hen and Boundary Stone in Bloomingdale will bring a new es-tablishment, All Purpose, featuring Roman and Italian American cuisine. Next door, award-wining pastry chef Tiffany MacIssac of Buttercream Bakeshop will open her first store-front, offering custom wedding cakes, specialty pastries, and other breakfast, lunch, and take-away baked goods.

An even bigger announcement on future retail in Shaw came from the JBG Companies, when they released a list of establishments committed to taking retail space in their Shay and Atlantic Plumbing projects at the north end of the neighborhood. The Shay, the two new apartment build-

Shaw Streetsby Pleasant Mann

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / N

eW

s

Councilmember Vincent Orange speaks at Shaw Main Streets annual meeting. Photo: Pleasant Mann

Councilmember Charles Allen congratulates Shaw Main Streets at its annual meeting. Photo: Pleasant Mann

Aschara Vigsittaboot and Ralph Brabham of Beau Thai Restaurant, Best New Shaw Business of 2014. Photo: Alexander Padro

ings on the 700 and 800 blocks of Florida Avenue, will get the fi rst Warby Parker eyeglass frame store in DC, as well as the fi rst DC restau-rant from Tim Ma, known for Wall & Water in Arlington, while Shaw’s Compass Coff ee will open a second location at the site. At one of the Atlantic Plumbing buildings to the north the Neighborhood Restaurant Group is planning a space, while the team at downtown’s Daikaya expects to put a ramen room there. Th e num-ber of dining, clothing, and other businesses announced for the three JBG buildings totaled 18.

community Meeting on carter G. woodson House Planned

Th e National Park Service is inviting members of the Shaw community to attend public stakeholder meetings to help plan the future of the Carter G. Woodson Home National His-toric Site. Th e site on 9th Street NW, home of the founder of Black His-tory Month, needs the public’s help in developing a long-range interpre-tive plan to that will provide a vision for an interpretive program. Two sessions will be held at the Cambria Hotel and Suites (899 O St. NW) starting at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, with an addi-tional meeting on Monday, April 20, at 6:00 p.m.

shaw Main streets Galaat the end of April

Shaw Main Streets will hold its an-nual gala on Wednesday, April 29, at the Howard Th eater. With the theme “Spotlight on Shaw,” the Gala will have a host committee of renowned Shaw and coming-soon-to-Shaw chefs and mixologists showing off their talents. Th e gala is the primary fundraising event for the organization. Tickets go for $75 each and can be purchased online at http://smsgala.eventbrite.com. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 3 9

Thomas Jenkins & CompanyCertified Public Accountants

202-547-9004316 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 402

Washington, DC 20003www.tjcocpa.com

Corporation, Partnership, Trust, Individual Income Tax & Financial Planning

Capitol Hill • 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003

JOHNSON LAW GROUP

Services to individuals and businesses since 1985...

Wills, Estates and Trusts • Commercial and Business Law Commercial and Business Law Commercial and Business LawProperty Transactions and Disputes • Government Contracting • General Civil LitigationGeneral Civil LitigationGeneral Civil Litiga

202-544-1515www.jlgi.com

4 0 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

Bloomingdale’s Best cafeStu Davenport opened Big Bear Café (BBC) in 2006, and he’s built a neighborhood institution in the process. The café-turned-restaurant has become a community hub where residents can chat about the latest neighborhood issue over a cup of cof-fee. “Stu took a big risk in purchasing a corner store in Bloomingdale at a time when no one wanted to invest in a retail space that wasn’t a mod-est bodega,” longtime resident Scott Roberts said. “He had the vision to see what the neighborhood could be-come by morphing the building, ini-tially, into a coffee place.”

Just as the neighborhood is changing, so too are certain aspects of BBC. The café has had a liquor license since 2010 and is adding an expanded dinner service, thanks to James Beard-nominated chef Quen-tin Frye. The transformed dinner menu, which changes almost daily, includes items such as rabbit pou-tine and sunchoke gnocchi. As the weather improves, diners can take advantage of the expanded patio, which now seats 65 to 70 people, or swing by the Sunday farmers’ mar-ket. “We’re taking farm-to-table to the next level and now doing nose-to-tail,” Frye said. “We’re creating new relationships with ranchers and farmers.”

A DC native, Davenport has lived in Bloomingdale for 12 years and even served as an ANC com-missioner for four years. “Everyone on this block knew each other. The Boundary Stone guys lived two doors down,” Davenport remembered.

When Davenport describes his work at BBC, he talks about the peo-ple he works with; he spends little time reflecting on his own success. “I’m

more of a builder,” said Davenport, who used to be a general contractor. “I find people who I think are incredible and I just try to keep up with them by learning their systems and their ideol-ogy.” He remarked that in Blooming-dale “we’re surrounded by so many in-credible people … it’s something I’ve wanted to stay a part of.”

Contact Big Bear Café, 1700 1st St. NW, Washington, DC 20001, at www.bigbearcafe-dc.com or by call-ing 202-643-9222.

Baked Goods and Good causesGrassroots Gourmet, co-owned by second cousins Sara Fatell and Jami-lyah Smith-Kanze, is one part bak-ery mixed with a dash of community involvement. The result is a go-to neighborhood spot that makes any occasion a little sweeter. “I want to be a part of the celebrations in your fam-ily,” Fatell said.

What started as a made-to-order side business eventually grew into a full-time occupation in 2012. Fatell brought her years of experience as a political organizer into this new ven-ture. “All of the good things in life come with food, usually sweets,” said Fatell, who added that her favorite

baked good is rugelach. “The end result of your work is usually a smile, and that’s not always the case in politics.”

In addition to scones, muf-fins, cookies, and pies baked fresh every day

using family recipes, the bakery also creates various made-to-order items such as cakes and cupcakes. Fatell makes the cookies small enough so customers can have more than one. In fact, she expects it. “I’m pro-choice: You should have 12 cookies instead of one big cookie because then you

get 12 different kinds of cookies,” she said.

The walls at Grassroots Gourmet are lined with pictures of family and friends, many of whom helped with everything from painting ceiling tile to setting up the bakery’s webpage. “Sara is such a warm person that I al-ways walk away feeling happier than when I walked in, and not just be-cause she’s sold me on the chocolate babka,” said Bloomingdale resident and devoted customer Jaci Bengfort.

Fatell’s giving spirit extends to supporting various causes, including St. Baldrick’s Founda-tion, a children’s cancer research organization. She raised $2,500 for the charity by having her head shaved at this year’s event at Boundary Stone.

Contact Grassroots Gourmet (grassroots-gourmet.org), 104 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Wash-ington, DC 20001, by emailing grassrootsgour-metdc@gmail.com or calling 202-629-2040.

Braving the shave to Help children

At Boundary Stone’s third annual St. Baldrick’s Foundation fundraiser, attendees brave enough to shave their heads

ranged from professional soccer players to a ponytailed beer brewer to a determined five-year-old boy. Even Gareth and Matt Croke, who co-own Boundary Stone with broth-ers Colin and Peter McDonough, shaved their heads, and their parents joined in the fun. Barber of Hell’s

Bloomingdale Buzzby Ellen Boomer

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / N

eW

s

The expanded patio at Big Bear Café is ready for spring.

Sara Fatell takes a quick break from baking. Photo: Emily Goodstein Photography

Bottom did most of the head shav-ing during the event.

The event raised $35,000 for the children’s cancer research charity and gave the packed crowd a chance to drink beer, win raffle items, and shave their heads, all for a good cause.

Worldwide, a child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes. St. Baldrick’s Foundation gives 77 percent of funds raised to children’s cancer research grants and advocacy. Five-year-old Padraig McEwan raised $1,600 for the charity and dyed his hair green for the March 15 event. He said he felt “like a man in space” when he had his head shaved, and insisted he wasn’t scared.

“We consider ourselves to be a neighborhood family bar,” said As-sistant General Manager Emma Ceddia. “This is a family-friendly, kid event.” Ceddia helped plan and manage the popular event. Brandon Skall, co-owner of DC Brau, emceed and got into the fundraising spirit of the day by selling his Grateful Dead-

inspired DC Brau shirt right off of his back.

Many local businesses donated auction and raffle items such as pri-vate tours of local breweries and Nats tickets, as well as gift certificates from Eyespeak Tattoo Shop and more than 15 different bars and restaurants including The Red Hen, El Camino, and Rustik Tavern, as well as Fado, which has held its own St. Baldrick’s fundraiser for many years. The event “is a good way to gauge what kind of community you have that you can rely on,” Ceddia said. “With the Bloomingdale connection we have so many people we can rely on. We are very involved in each other’s lives be-cause we actually care.”

Contact Boundary Stone DC (www.boundarystonedc.com), 116 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001, by emailing info@bound-arystonedc.com or calling 202-621-6635. Contact St. Baldrick’s Founda-tion at www.stbaldricks.org. u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 4 1

Bloomingdale Buzzby Ellen Boomer

DC United’s head coach, Ben Olsen, shaving player Perry Kitchen’s head. Photo: Jamie Gustafson

4 2 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

MVt’s chief community officerIf you’ve felt that life in MVT is get-ting better by the day, you can thank Claire Schaefer Oleksiak and her staff. As president of the MVT Community Improvement District (CID) Olek-siak is committed to helping this urban neighborhood become an even more vibrant, dynamic community. Origi-nally from Wisconsin, Oleksiak spent six years as deputy executive director of the Capitol Riverfront BID, and Yards Park is a testament of her commitment to community building. She, her hus-band, and their son live near Yards Park and enjoy rooting on the Nationals during baseball season.

As part of her work with the MVT CID Oleksiak considers everything from how to implement long-range plans to where to place trash cans and tree boxes along K Street. The Clean Team Ambassadors, some of whom were once homeless, are responsible for keeping the neighborhood pub-lic spaces clean and safe. “The Clean Team is the foundation of everything we do,” Oleksiak said. “We’re very in-vested in providing job opportunities in the neighborhood.”

She’s currently focused on sev-eral community goals including find-ing public park space, completing the streetscape along K Street, promoting the history of the neighborhood, using a recently received Playable Art Grant to add temporary and permanent art pieces, and bringing in more mixed-use buildings and retail. “About 85 percent of our retailers are local,” Oleksiak said. The farmers’ market, which started last year, will reopen in mid-May. “Claire is a consummate professional and … also deeply cares about the Mount Ver-non Triangle and especially its people,” said Joseph Evans, chairman of MVT CID’s board of directors.

“If you think how quickly in 10 years

we’ve seen this neighborhood come to-gether, it’s pretty incredible,” remarked Oleksiak. “A lot of those goals [of the action agenda] have been achieved.”

Contact the MVT CID (www.mountvernontriangle.org), 901 4th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001, by emailing info@mvtcid.org or calling 202-216-0511.

the neighborhood Liquor store, Reinvented

This month Eye Street Cellars is mark-ing their one-year anniversary with a community barbecue. As a well-stocked resource for everything from scotch to sauvignon blanc to sake to saison, they’ve redefined what a neighborhood liquor store can be. Owner Pankaj Mal-hotra hosts wine tastings every Friday and Saturday evening and occasional special events such as a St. Patrick’s Day Irish whiskey tasting. “I’ve been in there a number of times when they were do-ing tastings,” MVT resident Matt Reid said. “It’s a great way to learn about something new.”

With the largest cooler among indi-vidually owned stores in DC, Eye Street Cellars has plenty of room for their ex-panding selection of craft beers, which are sold as individual bottles so custom-

ers can create their own six-packs. The store will add growlers as well. “We want to give what the community wants,” said Savita Malhotra, Pankaj’s mother-in-law and owner of Capitol Hill Wine and Spirits. His father-in-law owns Harry’s Reserve liquor store in the Navy Yard neighborhood.

In addition to the selection of beer, wine, alcohol, and even ice cream the store also sells artisanal cheeses and charcuterie to pair with the wines. “Eye Street Cellars has a great selec-tion of liquor,” Reid said. “There really hasn’t been a time where I’ve gone in there and couldn’t find what I was look-ing for.” On the off-chance the store doesn’t stock your favorite single-malt, Malhotra will order it for you. “We’re not just a liquor store. We want to make a difference in the community,” Savita Malhotra said. Eye Street Cellars has donated wine and spirits to several charity events such as Lolly’s Locks, which donates wigs to cancer patients. They continue to look for ways to be in-volved in neighborhood events.

The store’s one-year anniversary cel-ebration is on Saturday, April 25, and they’ll host several cookouts throughout the summer as well. Join their email list to stay updated on store events, tastings, and the special cocktail of the week.

Contact Eye Street Cellars, 425 I St. NW, Washington, DC 20001, by calling 202-408-1177.

For the Love of FoodWith Philos opening this spring, MVT’s culinary landscape will get a dose of pan-Mediterranean flavor. Co-owners Richard Jarrouj and Talal Orfaly are hoping to create a neigh-borhood haunt where residents can enjoy a quick happy hour or a linger-ing weekend brunch. “The whole small plate dining format is really trendy and popular right now,” Jarrouj said. “It works in cities like DC because people are nimble. They’re going from one place to the next.”

The menu will be small plates and include traditional spreads such as hummus, several vegetarian items, seasonal sides, grilled meats, and tra-ditional desserts. The wine menu will feature about 60 different bottles and 25 by the glass, from more traditional domestic and international regions as well as some from Macedonia and Bulgaria. Jarrouj’s father, Ghassan, will serve as executive chef at Philos. “I grew up observing food and eating food but not cooking,” Richard Jar-rouj said. “My strength has always been people.”

“Visibility has always been a prob-lem on that corner [of 4th and Mas-sachusetts],” Jarrouj explained, but he and Orfaly saw potential for the spot which was last occupied by Tel’Veh. “I’ve seen a major improvement in

terms of more retail options and more restaurants open-ing,” he remarked. “There’s al-ways new people moving into the neighborhood. It’s very dynamic.” “The more retail that comes to MVT, the bet-ter for everybody,” he added.

Contact Philos (www.philosdc.com), 401 Mas-sachusetts Ave. NW, Wash-ington, DC 20001, by calling 202-780-6678. u

Mt. Vernon Triangleby Ellen Boomer

Ne

igh

bo

rh

oo

d / N

eW

s

Claire Schaefer Oleksiak at the 5th and K Plaza. Photo: Karen Saverino

Eye Street Cellars’ popular community barbecue.

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 4 3

ANC 6Eby Steve Holton

Interpreting dc Marijuana LawDuring the ANC 6E meeting’s monthly area crime report, DCPD officials fielded several questions from attendees on the legalization of mari-juana and how to interpret it. There has been confusion about the guidelines and stipulations that accompany the legalized substance. Although it is not allowed to be sold or purchased, indi-viduals can possess up to two ounces on their person for consumption in non-public areas. Any individual can also possess up to six plants in their own home but only three of the plants can be mature. Even though plant life stages are a component of the law, one DCPD official pointed out that they are not in the business of agronomy and it would be a difficult measure to enforce. With each individual allowed to possess up to six plants, it would be perfectly legal in the District for a group home of five people to grow a farm of 30 plants.

Individuals are allowed to smoke in their home but are prohibited from smoking in public spaces and similar to alcohol laws, you must be 21 or over to consume it. You are allowed to transfer marijuana from your home to some-one else as long as no money, goods or services are exchanged in the process. Due to a heavy THC compound, it is illegal to sell or purchase seeds, which begged the question of how someone could legally grow plants. DCPD of-ficials were quick to note that due to the law being recently enacted. In comparison, it works similar to alcohol laws in which citizens are encouraged to report public consumption of it. House smoking parties are legal and there is nothing that law enforcement can do if someone reports a marijuana odor in their complex or individual unit. Each property has their own bylaws for tenants, so some buildings prohibit smoking of any kind.

The new law is expected to free up DCPD resources and enable law enforcement to be more effective in areas concentrated on violent crime. “We will be dealing with this new law going forward and expect it to be fluid. Quality of life is very important to us so we don’t want to see people smoking it everywhere. Officials will be ready to answer any call related to public marijuana activity, but we don’t foresee as many arrests,” said a DCPD Official.

outdoor cafe Permit For Beau thaiRepresentatives of the restaurant Beau Thai, located at 1550 Seventh St. NW submitted an application to the com-mission for an open sidewalk cafe. The cafe will be located on the P Street side of the property and will encompass 750 square-feet leaving nine feet clear between the edge of the cafe and the nearest obstruction, which is a tree box. The minimum space requirement is 10 feet but the establishment was granted a small reduction due to it already pro-viding plenty of pedestrian passageway in a non-downtown area. There will be an occupancy of 50 people and the outdoor cafe will have chairs, tables and umbrellas. Outdoor hours are from 11:00 a.m. to midnight and fur-niture will be moved inside afterwards to deter vagrants from occupying the area. The commission voted to com-municate their support for the outdoor public space to the District Depart-ment of Transportation’s Public Space Committee with a provision that the restaurant owners install exterior secu-rity cameras that will allow monitoring of the outdoor seating area.

Home Addition RequestA tenant at 440 Ridge St. NW made a zoning relief request before the commission to make an addition to a

town home in order to accommodate a growing family and provide a more sufficient living space. The rendering submitted to the commission shows a slight enlargement of the property which brought the lot occupancy up from 60 percent to 68 percent and will only be visible from the back. It was also noted by the homeowner that renovation plans were previously ap-proved by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). The addition will be adding a story to the rear por-tion of the property and the owner said that it will remain a single family residence. If approved, construction on the property would not start until 8:00 a.m. in order to not distract neighbors. Although area residents expressed their support of someone expand-ing their home for a growing family, several were not in favor due to the large number of projects already un-derway and concerns were raised that this type of request would not stop. “If you approve one, you have to approve them all and residents do not want to change the character of the street,” said ANC 6E04 Commissioner Rachelle Nigro. The property owner said that the HPRB approval process was very tough and that she has done every-thing to address community concerns by keeping the scope of the project to a minimum and allowing the least amount of obstruction. She also noted that HPRB approved the project be-cause the property is unusually small and it was a modest request. The com-mission motioned to support it.

6e crime watchDCPD officials reported a 17 percent decrease in violent crime compared to this time last year. Vehicle thefts are down 21 percent but personal theft is up by almost 50 percent with the majority of the activity happen-ing at a Wal-Mart located at 99 H St.

NW. There was a robbery and assault at 425 I St. NW where an individual was beaten by a group of juveniles who dispersed once authorities ar-rived on location. A couple of suspects were apprehended but witnesses were not able to positively identify them as culprits. In late February, there was an aggravated assault at 1600 Ninth St. NW where a motorist fled after firing shots into another vehicle. No one was apprehended.

other topicsThe commission move to support a liquor license application for Ottamen Taverna located at Fourth and I St. NW. The restaurant will have a side-walk café with a seating capacity of up to 74 people and will cease outdoor operations between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. There will be no live enter-tainment or recorded music so there are no concerns of the establishment turning into a nightclub.

The commission motioned to communicate support to ABRA for Grand Cata located at 1550 Seventh St. NW to obtain an alcohol license. The establishment will have over 300 selections of wine from Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Portugal and will operate between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.

The commission moved to sup-port design renovations at 801-811 N St. NW contingent upon plans being submitted to HPRB. It was also noted that any construction on the property will not occur before 8:00 a.m.

ANC 6E will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on April 7 at the Watha T. Dan-iel/Shaw Library located at 1630 Sev-enth St. NW. Visit www.anc6e.org to view the ANC 6E newsletter. Follow on Twitter, @ANC6E and on Face-book by searching ANC6E u

4 4 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

saturday Morning at the national FreePerformances for childrenOn Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. there are free live performances for children in the National Theatre Helen Hayes Gallery. Tickets are required and distributed first come, first seated. Tickets are distributed 1/2 hour prior to performance. One ticket per person in line. The National Theatre is at 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. 202-783-3372. Here’s the re-mainder of the spring line-up: Apr. 18, Baltimore Improv Group--Life is Improvised; Apr. 25, Virginia Vir-tuosi--Rhythms Around the World. Read more at thenationaldc.org.

early Literacy workshop: sing, talk,and Read at northwest one LibraryOn Sundays, April 19 and May 3, 2:30 p.m., come learn the skills chil-dren need to be ready to learn to read. This is an interactive presentation.

All children are welcome and every child will receive a free book. The program is for parents and caregivers of children ages birth-5. Northwest One Neighborhood Library, 155 L St. NW. 202-939-5946. dclibrary.org/northwest

Kids Run the Bases at nat’s ParkKids ages 4-12 can run the bases af-ter select Nationals games. Kids Run the Bases begins immediately follow-ing the game, weather permitting. Dates this year are: Apr. 19; May 10 and 24; June 7 and 21; July 5 and 19; Aug. 9, 23, and 30; Sept. 6, 20 and 27. An adult must accompany run-ners to the field. One adult per child on the field. Starting at first base, kids will be directed to run around the bases as the adults continue along the warning track and meet the run-ners near home plate. Once the game has ended, it takes the grounds crew approximately 20 minutes to prepare the field. Kids and parents/guardians

can begin lining up at the end of the 7th inning, however fans that would like to stay and watch the entire game will still be able to line up once the game has ended. Par-ticipants must exit the ballpark through the Right Field Gate. The line forms outside of the park on the side-walk along First St. washington.nationals.mlb.co

the Phillips collection Unveils K12 teaching tool The Phillips Collec-

tion announces a new education ini-tiative, Prism.K12, which connects the 21st-century museum to K-12 education by focusing on the integra-tion of the visual arts with core sub-ject areas. Prism.K12 grew out of the museum’s work in the field of K-12 teaching and learning, and includes multimedia teaching kits, national educator initiatives, and comprehen-sive local school partnerships.

The Phillips developed Prism.K12 in response to what it saw as a national need for easily-accessible, low-risk arts integration strategies in the classroom. The six Prism.K12 strategies or “rays”--identify, com-pare, connect, express, emphathize, and sympathize--were developed over 10 years of investigation, discus-sion, and collaboration with research-ers and K-12 educators around the

kid

s a

nd

fa

mily

/ no

te

bo

ok

by Kathleen Donner

space day at Air and spaceSpace Day is on Saturday, May 2, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Space Day is an annual favorite at the National Air and Space Museum where visitors enjoy STEM-inspired hands-on activities, meet an astronaut, and learn about space from experts from the Museum and NASA. All of the activities take place amid the awe-inspiring collection of historic aviation and space artifacts in the Museum in Washington, DC. ai-randspace.si.edu LEFT: The Apollo 11 command module Columbia is displayed in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall at the National Air and Space Museum in Washing-ton, DC. Photo: Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

Photo: Courtesy of the Marine Corps Marathon

Marine corps Marathon “Run Amuck” Registration opensRegistration opens on Apr. 8 for the June 13 Marine Corps Marathon Mini “Run Amuck” race for ages 8 and up. The two mile race is appropriately wild fun for rowdy runners, outrageous athletes and fun-loving families. Register at marinemarathon.com.

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 4 5

by Kathleen Donner

EncouragingEmpowerment andImagination in aSafe and CaringEnvironmentFor ChildrenAges 3-9

From June 22 - August 14, 2015

Younger children (ages 3-5) will enjoy performances, trips, picnics in thepark, water play. Older ones (ages 6-9) will enjoy science classes, field trips,Labyrinth games, fitness classes, arts, weekly visits to the pool, gardening,

cooking classes and more.

Weekly Whole Day Half Day Drop Inages 3-5: $315 $60 $41 $66ages 6-9: $345 $69 $46 $71

Flexible Scheduling:

More Info: 240-396-8957 ask for VanNessawww.politepiggys.com

politepiggysdaycamp@yahoo.com

Early Bird Discount 5% OFFSibling Discount - 25% OFF

(any week of camp paid in full by 5/8/15)

Registration is OPEN!Download applications at

www.politepiggys.comMail to PO Box 31215, WDC 20030

4 6 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

country. Using the Prism.K12 rays to brainstorm arts-integrated les-sons, teachers can readily craft and implement arts-integrated lessons that seamlessly innovate and enhance their curricula, regardless of the sub-ject matter. Visit the Prism.K12 web-site at teachers.phillipscollection.org.

children’s Guild dc Public charter schoolsigns Lease in ne washingtonThe Children’s Guild signed a 60,000-square-foot lease for its first charter school in Washington. The school will open at 2146 24th Pl. NE in Ward 5 in fall 2015 for 450 stu-dents in K-8 grades who live in the District of Columbia. Transportation for students will be available.

Offering an enriched physical en-vironment with supportive academic programming, hands-on project-based learning, character develop-ment and arts integration as well as information and communication technology, The Children’s Guild uses the philosophy of Transforma-tion Education, a student-centered approach to teaching and learning based on the belief that school culture is one of the most powerful teaching tools available in education today. Open houses will be held on Thurs-days from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 23 and 30 and May 7. childrensguild.org

Fly-In to Victory Family day atUdvar-Hazy centerOn Saturday, May 9, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., there will be a number of WWII air-craft from the “Arsenal of Democra-cy: World War Two History Flyover” at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. family day. Free but parking is $15. airandspace.s.edu

Brian selznick ArbuthnotHonor Lecture atMLK LibraryOn Friday, May 8, 7 p.m., children’s author and illustrator Brian Selznick will give the 2015 May Hill Arbuth-not Honor Lecture. The title of his

talk is “Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on Queerness and Family in Children’s Books.” Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St. NW. 202-727-0321. dclibrary.org/mlk

Kids’ Farm Month at the ZooCelebrate Kids’ Farm, sponsored by State Farm, throughout the month of April with special activities and events. Every day, they’ll have spe-cial animal encounters, keeper talks, and demonstrations. Every weekend, the first 500 children can take home a special farm sticker. Visit the lion/tiger information booth to pick up the sticker.

State Farm Day at the zoo is Sat-urday, April 18, 10 a.m-1 p.m. There will be a variety of activities with arts and crafts throughout the day and giveaways for visitors to the Kids’ Farm exhibit. A special “Tend your Garden” program will feature ways to recycle used shipping pallets to easily create beautiful urban gardens. Spe-cial performances featuring children’s entertainment will take place on the lion/tiger stage. Girl and Boy Scouts will receive a free Kids’ Farm patch. nationalzoo.si.edu

Birth & Babies Fair at Hill centerOn Sunday, April 26, noon-5 p.m., more than 40 exhibitors will pres-ent their services and products for new families in the Hill Center Ex-hibit Hall. The 2015 Birth & Babies Fair will feature three program-ming tracks: pregnancy and prena-tal health; the first year and beyond; and caregiver self-care and emotional well-being. Attendees will enjoy and learn from classes, hands-on training and cooking demonstrations. A raffle with birth-and-baby-related prizes will benefit local nonprofits. This event is sponsored by Midwives of MedStar Washington Hospital Cen-ter. The individual ticket is $25 ($40 for a family registration). Slightly higher at door. More information

can be found at dcbirthandbabiesfair.com. Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-549-4172. HillCenterDC.org

Best Kids superhero 5K & Fun RunThe 2015 Superhero 5K & Fun run is a celebration of the everyday he-roes that make a positive impact in the lives of youth in DC’s foster care system. They invite everyone to join them for their annual run on a scenic course through East Potomac Park. There are many ways to participate including running/walking the race, becoming a sponsor, or volunteering.

This family-friendly and stroller-friendly race is on Saturday, April 18, 8 a.m. and begins at 972 Ohio Dr. (East Potomac Park). Due to Park Permits, there is no race day registra-tion. $30. bestkids.org

online and Interactive “engineering thewright way” “Engineering the Wright Way” is an online interactive activity designed to engage middle school students in the fundamentals of aeronautical engineering using methods and tech-niques similar to those used by the Wright brothers. Participants design wings for Wright-inspired gliders and gather data on their prototypes in a wind tunnel before flight testing their aircraft as a kite and a glider on the windy hills of Kitty Hawk. If they are to fly as far as the Wright broth-ers, students must do more than hone their skills as test pilots. As engineers, they must design a wing of optimal aspect ratio in order to achieve suf-ficient lift for their vehicle to take to the skies. Take part in “Engineering the Wright Way.” Go to airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/workshop.

dresses 4dreams BoutiqueDresses 4Dreams Boutique events will be held on Apr. 15, 4-7 p,m, at Family Matters of Greater Wash-ington, 1509 16th St. NW. Teenage

girls can come and select free dresses, shoes and accessories. Each girl will have the opportunity to win profes-sional hairstyles, manicures, and/or make-up applications. familymat-tersdc.org

Kids’ Music: Rainbow Rock Bandat ebenezersOn Saturday, May 2, 10:30 a.m., get ready to rock the rainbow! The Rain-bow Lady (Kate Moran), joined by some of her friends, Guitarmony Gus (Derek Evry), Sgt. Bam Sam (Sam Carolla), Captain Toe Tappin (Kev-in de Souza), Princess Fiddlesticks (Lynn Rovelli), Bassious Berry (Matt Berry) or Prince Pop & Walk (Ryan Walker), will entertain the little ones with a combination of classic and original children’s songs. This music is for ages, infant-8. $6 in advance; $8 at door for everyone 1 year and older. Ebenezers Coffeehouse, 201 F St. NE. 202-558-6900. ebenezerscoffee-house.com

“day of the dog” Kids’ Fun Run acongressional cemeteryThe kids’ Day of the Dog Fun Run at Congressional Cemetery is on Satur-day, May 2 at 11:35 a.m. It’s $10 for the un-timed kids’ run (around a 2k distance). congressionalcemetery.org

capital Rowing club’s capital Juniors Capital Juniors is a competitive row-ing and academic program that builds in Washington, DC’s young people discipline, fitness, camaraderie, and stewardship for the Anacostia River. Through this program, DC kids have access to rowing and academic sup-port and can apply the lessons they learn in excellence toward successful futures.

Capital Juniors began in 2010 with a handful of athletes from one school in the District because a DC public school teacher wanted to give her high-school students the op-portunity to row. As a rower herself,

kid

s a

nd

fa

mily

/ no

te

bo

ok

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 4 7

she knew the profound outcomes of the sport (discipline, fitness, ca-maraderie, appreciation for the environment) and that it would take significant resources to start a team. Identifying the lack of pub-lic schools with rowing teams, she approached Capital Rowing Club to develop a program that would allow any student from any school--regardless of age, level of physical ability, or income--to row.

Over the past four years, the program has grown to include five coaches, its first full-time Execu-tive Director in 2014, and a roster of roughly 50 students from over 12 schools representing all of DC’s wards. capitalrowing.org

United for dc becomes the dc United Foun-dationDC United has announced that the club’s charitable arm has changed its name to the DC United Foun-dation, effective immediately. The name change is timed with the start of the club’s 20th season and coincides with a shift in commu-nity outreach efforts that will now focus on championing health and recreational programs and events that serve disadvantaged youth in the area. With an emphasis on empowering kids, improving lives and uniting communities, the DC United Foundation will continue to engage thousands of local area youth through initiatives and pro-grams that help introduce them to the game of soccer and its many so-cial, nutritional and health benefits. To learn more about DC United’s community efforts and find de-tailed, up-to-date information on all initiatives, programs and events, visit dcunited.com/community. u

Friends Community School

Progressive Quaker EducationKindergarten - Grade 8

Experience the Joy of ExtraordinarySUMMER CAMPS!

Only 15-20 minutes up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway!

5901 Westchester Park Drive, College Park, MD 20740Tel: 301.441.2100

June 8 through August 14, 2015SCIENCE, NATURE, ARTS, MUSIC,DANCES, APP DEVELOPMENT,CODING, FILMMAKING, LANGUAGEIMMERSION, POETRY, THEATER, SPORTS, ROBOTICS, HARRY POTTER,and more! • Dynamicteachersandage-appropriategroups• ExtendedDayenrichmentactivities.• SilverLEED“green”school,17acres,nexttoGreenbeltPark.

Fordetails:www.friendscommunityschool.org

EarlyRegistration Discounts!

4 8 M I d c I t y d c n e w s . c o M

Neighborhood Close Price BR

FEE SIMPLE

ADAMS MORGAN 2604 MOZART PL NW $865,000 3

BLOOMINGDALE 112 SEATON PL NW $850,000 364 W ST NW $803,150 36 GIRARD ST NE $695,000 433 S ST NW $628,000 3

BRIGHTWOOD 530 QUINTANA PL NW $554,000 3617 POWHATAN PL NW $525,000 3810 SOMERSET PL NW $522,500 46215 7TH ST NW $499,900 3715 SOMERSET PL NW $480,000 3509 MADISON ST NW $449,000 45911 4TH ST NW $435,000 36208 5TH ST NW $430,000 31247 UNDERWOOD ST NW $398,000 36306 5TH ST NW $380,000 3

BROOKLAND 1252 EVARTS ST NE $869,000 5649 FRANKLIN ST NE $745,000 6572 REGENT PL NE $716,000 32013 KEARNY ST NE $660,000 31612 NEWTON ST NE $650,000 41830 NEWTON NE $608,000 43115 13TH ST NE $580,000 32416 3RD ST NE $569,000 35022 SOUTH DAKOTA AVE NE $299,950 3832 DELAFIELD ST NE $279,000 3

CAPITOL HILL 228 7TH ST NE $1,607,000 5902 MARYLAND AVE NE $1,385,000 4509 7TH ST SE $1,350,000 5921 EAST CAPITOL ST SE $1,300,000 4301 C ST SE $1,175,000 3419 7TH ST SE $1,175,000 4114 4TH ST NE $1,150,000 415 9TH ST NE $1,025,000 4707 12TH ST NE $870,000 3717 6TH ST SE $839,000 3247 11TH ST SE $830,000 4516 14TH ST NE $730,000 311 15TH ST SE $711,500 3417 E ST NE $711,000 2219 5TH ST SE $700,000 4231 16TH ST SE $692,500 31442 E ST SE $679,000 31401 K ST SE $609,000 41126 F ST NE $559,000 3537 9TH ST SE $534,000 3

CLEVELAND PARK 3515 PORTER ST NW $1,825,000 53522 QUEBEC ST NW $1,081,000 4

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 1219 GIRARD ST NW $1,300,000 6

1341 PARKWOOD PL NW $860,000 4626 OTIS PL NW $695,000 3722 QUEBEC PL NW $693,225 44013 13TH ST NW $634,050 4773 COLUMBIA RD NW $625,000 33228 PARK PL NW $450,000 3740 IRVING ST NW $413,500 2751 PRINCETON PL NW $400,000 3

DUPONT 1750 T ST NW $1,550,000 41641 19TH ST NW $1,081,000 2

ECKINGTON 104 QUINCY PL NE $835,000 4226 SEATON PL NE $744,000 31705 2ND ST NE $625,000 3159 V ST NE $595,000 3319 W ST NE $540,000 219 RHODE ISLAND AVE NE $515,000 413 Q ST NE $501,000 3

GEORGETOWN 3310 N ST NW $2,925,000 43414 N ST NW $2,385,000 43530 WHITEHAVEN PKWY NW $2,000,000 53247 P ST NW $1,656,350 43136 Q ST NW $1,650,000 31517 34TH ST NW $870,000 2

GLOVER PARK 3741 W ST NW $975,000 32219 OBSERVATORY PL NW $750,000 32408 37TH ST NW $671,000 3

KALORAMA 1823 KALORAMA RD NW $1,725,000 82030 ALLEN PL NW $1,150,000 4

LEDROIT PARK 2301 1ST ST NW $935,000 59 U ST NW $897,500 41846 2ND ST NW $860,000 3513 FLORIDA AVE NW $781,000 4426 OAKDALE PL NW $440,000 2

LOGAN 1420 12TH ST NW $1,181,000 31427 SWANN ST NW $1,057,000 2

MOUNT PLEASANT 1654 HOBART ST NW $1,100,000 51748 IRVING ST NW $770,000 31616 NEWTON ST NW $725,000 3

NORTH CLEVELAND PARK 3814 ALTON PL NW $1,275,000 33620 UPTON ST NW $1,036,000 43913 WINDOM PL NW $900,000 4

OBSERVATORY CIRCLE 3820 GARFIELD ST NW $1,140,000 5

OLD CITY #2 1734 R ST NW $1,755,000 5

616 R ST NW $975,000 6402 M ST NW $942,000 4432 Q ST NW $865,000 3506 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW $830,000 31625 MARION ST NW $732,000 3508 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW $650,000 11423 3RD ST NW $649,997 21803 WILTBERGER ST NW $409,000 1

PALISADES 2319 NEBRASKA AVE NW $1,250,000 44441 MACARTHUR BLVD NW $915,000 4

PETWORTH 4306 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVE NW $839,900 33910 5TH ST NW $800,000 4440 RANDOLPH ST NW $779,900 34618 KANSAS AVE NW $725,000 45208 ILLINOIS AVE NW $706,000 44514 GEORGIA AVE NW $695,000 44722 9TH ST NW $691,250 3712 DECATUR ST NW $685,000 4320 WEBSTER ST NW $600,000 35411 2ND ST NW $585,000 34621 4TH ST NW $485,000 45211 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVE NW $469,000 35031 5TH ST NW $460,000 3326 GALLATIN ST NW $460,000 45402 9TH ST NW $450,000 2434 LONGFELLOW ST NW $435,000 25307 4TH ST NW $420,000 3414 SHEPHERD ST NW $400,000 3622 MADISON ST NW $275,335 4

SHEPHERD PARK 7615 14TH ST NW $700,000 4

WOODLEY PARK 2919 CATHEDRAL AVE NW $1,300,000 52813 28TH ST NW $1,260,000 4

CONDO

ADAMS MORGAN 1726 LANIER PL NW #PH8 $710,000 22328 CHAMPLAIN ST NW #311 $679,000 22357 CHAMPLAIN ST NW #201 $450,000 12440 16TH ST NW #306 $395,000 1

BLOOMINGDALE 22 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW #2 $701,992 322 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW #1 $607,000 3

BROOKLAND 728 LAWRENCE ST NE #B $589,900 4

CAPITOL HILL 649 C ST SE #407 $685,750 2401 15TH ST SE #404 $639,000 21621 D ST SE #1 $630,000 21606 A ST SE #1 $589,000 3611 2ND ST NE #5 $559,000 2401 15TH ST SE #302 $549,000 21815 MASSACHUSETTS AVE SE #1 $520,000 2

1816 D ST NE #3 $477,000 21816 D ST NE #1 $430,000 21816 D ST NE #2 $415,000 2315 18TH PL NE #2 $290,000 1315 18TH PL NE #1 $279,900 1333 2ND ST NE #405 $235,000 0

CENTRAL 1010 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #1008 $705,000 2400 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #206 $446,000 1

CHEVY CHASE 4301 MILITARY RD NW #703 $965,000 24301 MILITARY RD NW #603 $945,000 25201 WISCONSIN AVE NW #110 $316,500 15410 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #216 $239,000 1

CLEVELAND PARK 3450 39TH ST NW #F690 $445,000 23100 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #122 $340,000 13110 WISCONSIN AVE NW #302 $306,500 13701 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #240 $300,000 13701 CONNECTICUT AVE NW #623 $290,000 13010 WISCONSIN AVE NW #307 $245,000 13100 WISCONSIN AVE NW #B8 $187,500 02710 MACOMB ST NW #301 $183,000 0

COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 1354 MERIDIAN PL NW #2 $845,000 31107 KENYON ST NW #1 $725,000 33542 13TH ST NW #1 $690,000 31249 KENYON ST NW #4 $690,000 21249 KENYON ST NW #3 $637,000 23821 14TH ST NW #6 $629,000 33821 14TH ST NW #5 $605,000 32920 GEORGIA AVE NW #203 $559,900 2

Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list, based on the MRIS, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker office on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms.

re

al e

sta

te

/ ch

an

gin

g h

an

ds

3821 14TH ST NW #2 $550,000 33821 14TH ST NW #1 $507,000 31414 BELMONT ST NW #402 $425,000 11438 COLUMBIA RD NW #303 $332,570 13540 ROCK CREEK CHURCH RD NW #104 $326,000 11304 FAIRMONT ST NW #2 $325,000 11458 COLUMBIA RD NW #402 $320,000 31451 PARK RD NW #210 $319,900 13902 14TH ST NW #414 $315,000 11038 LAMONT ST NW #1A $312,000 13916 13TH ST NW $299,000 13515 HERTFORD PL NW #22 $299,000 13900 14TH ST NW #104 $169,900 01451 PARK RD NW #419 $168,000 0

DUPONT 2119 O ST NW #2119 $1,356,000 31615 Q ST NW #204 $570,000 21605 16TH ST NW #1 $463,500 114151/2 21ST ST NW #B $410,000 11931 17TH ST NW #305 $385,000 11731 WILLARD ST NW #106 $379,000 11711 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #425 $315,000 11301 20TH ST NW #902 $315,000 1

ECKINGTON 26 Q ST NE #1 $584,000 3224 R ST NE #1 $524,900 21921 2ND ST NE #101 $399,900 2

GEORGETOWN 2900 K ST NW #603 $3,570,000 43251 PROSPECT ST NW #301 $1,150,000 23251 PROSPECT ST NW #414 $1,145,000 23299 K ST NW #404 $823,000 21015 33RD ST NW #802 $800,000 23222 CHERRY HILL LN NW #D3 $676,000 22500 Q ST NW #549 $430,000 12500 Q ST NW #406 $353,000 1

GLOVER PARK 4100 W ST NW #415 $275,000 1

KALORAMA 2418 19TH ST NW #28 $680,000 22038 18TH ST NW #404 $600,000 21854 MINTWOOD PL NW #12 $450,000 11845 KALORAMA RD NW #1 $440,000 11843 MINTWOOD PL NW #103 $365,000 12456 20TH ST NW #207 $357,000 1

LEDROIT PARK 151 V ST NW #4 $780,000 2155 V ST NW #6 $765,000 2

LOGAN CIRCLE 1300 13TH ST NW #905 $825,000 21326 RIGGS ST NW #1 $818,000 21431 CORCORAN ST NW #4 $799,000 21325 13TH ST NW #29 $755,000 31441 RHODE ISLAND AVE NW #M01 $675,000 21201 N ST NW #E $485,000 11420 N ST NW #708 $475,000 11634 14TH ST NW #3 $444,000 11225 13TH ST NW #310 $410,000 11420 N ST NW #308 $399,900 21312 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #608 $390,000 11312 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #108 $385,000 12004 11TH ST NW #121 $377,000 11 SCOTT CIR NW #716 $239,000 1

MOUNT PLEASANT 1636 IRVING ST NW #2 $390,500 11615 KENYON ST NW #2 $320,000 1

MT VERNON SQUARE 450 M ST NW #1 $499,000 2440 L ST NW #813 $460,000 1115 NEW YORK AVE NW #4 $460,000 2

475 K ST NW #1122 $449,900 1

OBSERVATORY CIRCLE 4100 CATHEDRAL AVE NW #620 $840,000 22111 WISCONSIN AVE NW #602 $345,000 1

OLD CITY #2 1301 1ST ST NW #2 $799,000 31119 O ST NW #3 $781,000 2507 O ST NW #5 $780,000 21117 10TH ST NW #904 $720,000 21224 4TH ST NW #1 $670,000 21624 5TH ST NW #B $660,000 5301 MASSACHUSETTS AVE NW #701 $590,000 21205 N ST NW #F $486,000 1437 NEW YORK AVE NW #1108 $475,000 11109 M ST NW #8 $434,000 12001 12TH ST NW #102 $427,500 11920 S ST NW #706 $399,999 1437 NEW YORK AVE NW #216 $385,500 11900 S ST NW #101 $385,000 12004 11TH ST NW #125 $382,500 155 M ST NW #101 $270,000 21245 13TH ST NW #716 $250,000 0

PENN QUARTER 777 7TH ST NW #916 $375,000 1

PETWORTH 837 SHEPHERD ST NW #3 $580,000 33819 GEORGIA AVE NW #3 $549,000 23819 GEORGIA AVE NW #1 $525,000 23819 GEORGIA AVE NW #4 $519,000 23819 GEORGIA AVE NW #2 $510,000 2837 SHEPHERD ST NW #2 $495,000 2516 SHEPHERD ST NW #A $455,000 2

SHAW 636 Q ST NW #2 $655,000 21839 6TH NW #4 $409,000 1

TRUXTON CIRCLE 222 BATES ST NW #2 $745,000 3

U STREET 2020 12TH ST NW #218 $540,000 21318 W ST NW #3 $511,000 2919 FLORIDA AVE NW #404 $589,000 2

WOODLEY PARK 2737 DEVONSHIRE PL NW #21 $325,000 0

CoOp

ADAMS MORGAN 2707 ADAMS MILL RD NW #304 $344,500 12707 ADAMS MILL RD NW #508 $269,000 12707 ADAMS MILL RD NW ##208 $256,500 11801 CLYDESDALE PL NW #611 $148,000 0

CLEVELAND PARK 3018 PORTER ST NW #203 $285,000 1

DUPONT 1701 16TH ST NW #121 $285,000 11514 17TH NW #203 $220,000 0

FOGGY BOTTOM 950 25TH ST NW #517-S $263,000 1

MOUNT PLEASANT 2853 ONTARIO RD NW #108 $367,500 11820 CLYDESDALE PL NW #410 $275,000 1

WATERGATE 700 NEW HAMPSHIRE AVE NW #1116 $500,000 2u

A P R I L 2 0 1 5 4 9

AWARDED BEST WASHINGTON, DC CONTRACTOR OF 2012 BY ANGIE’S LIST

FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED • “50 YEARS EXPERIENCE”

• Flat Roof Specialists• Modified Bitumen• Skylights• Shingles• Slate

• Chimney Repairs• Roof Coatings• Gutters & Downspouts• Preventive Maintenance• Metal Roofs

10% OFF WITH THIS AD

202.425.1614WWW.GANDGHOMEIMPROVEMENTS.NET

Licensed & Insured | All Work Managed & Inspected by Owners

G G ROOFING

redo • renew • refresh

Kitchen and Bath Specialists

Call us before you start your project

THOMAS DESIGNCONSULTANTS

301 . 642 . 5182derek@ThomasDesignConsultants.com

Boutique Renovations ofCapitol Hill Spaces

We Guarantee Attention to Detail & Personalized Service

650 Pennsylvania Avenue, SESuite 170Washington, DC 20003-4318202-544-0800

Specializing in all aspects of Real Estate Settlements

5 0 M I D C I T Y D C N E W S . C O M

LANDSCAPES

Over 20 Years of ExperienceREDEFINING BEAUTY ONE CLIENT AT A TIME!

Full-Service Landscape Design & Maintenance•Installation,arbors,retainingwalls,walkways,lighting,waterfeatures

•Patios,rooftopgardens,townhomes,singlefamilyhomes

•Trees&shrubs,formal&informalgardens•CustomMasonry,FencingandIronwork•RestorationandEnhancement

Thomas Landscapes

301.642.5182 WWW.THOMASLANDSCAPES.COM

DEREK THOMAS / PRINCIPAL

MASONRY

Historic Masonry Repointing & RepairsRestoration cleaning on historical brick and stone

Basements & Waterproofing

Experts in both in new and traditional masonry

CHIMNEY REPOINTING, LINING & REPAIRS!

CONCRETE & BRICKPOINTINGHALLIDAY

Licensed, Bonded & Insured, DC202.637.8808

NO Job Too Small! We Do it All!!

Serving D.C. since 1918

SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORS AND LOCAL BUSINESSES!Capital Community News, Inc. Capital Community News, Inc. Capital Community News, Inc. Capital Community News, Inc. Capital Community News, Inc. Capital Community News, Inc.

Hill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community GuidesHill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community GuidesHill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community GuidesHill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community GuidesHill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community GuidesHill Rag | Midcity DC | East of the River | Fagon Community Guides*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.*Prepayment by check or credit card is required.

BOX CLASSIBOX CLASSIBOX CLASSIFIEDS FIEDS FIEDS (((quarterlyquarterlyquarterly)))

2”x 2”2”x 2”2”x 2” $150$150$1502.5”2.5”2.5” $180$180$1803”3”3” $225$225$2254”4”4” $300$300$3005”5”5” $360$360$3607”7”7” $400$400$400

LINE CLASSILINE CLASSILINE CLASSIFIEDS FIEDS FIEDS (((monthlymonthlymonthly)))

MAKE YOUR MAKE YOUR MAKE YOUR BUSINESS BUSINESS BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL!SUCCESSFUL!SUCCESSFUL!

AIR CONDITIONING

CLEANING SERVICES

STANDARD CLEANING SERVICE INC.

703.719.9850 • 703.447.9254 Days

C o m m e r c i a l & R e s i d e n t i a l

Free Estimates • Bonded & InsuredReferences Upon Request

15% Discoun t New Cus tomers

Ana Julia Viera

CAREGIVEREXPERIENCED CAREGIVER

I have 17 years of experience caring for adults and elders. As a caregiver I have assisted with their special needs and daily living such as: bathing, changing, clean-ing, preparing nutritious meals, grooming, and taking them to and from the hospital for appointments and other activities. I am certifi ed in Basic First Aid and CPR. I can also perform light housekeeping tasks. In addition to these skills, I also speak fl uent Spanish. References available. I can be reached at (703) 868-8587 or Do-risefalcon@aol.com.

ELECTRICIAN

HEALTH & FITNESS

PROFESSIONAL & AMATEURBOXING LESSONS

202-889-5711

TONY’SBOXING GYM

& FITNESS CENTER

1216 Mount Olivet Rd, NE

• AllTypesofExerciseMachines

• DietCounseling&Nutrition• OlympicFreeWeights• FreePersonalTraining• SeniorsWelcome· HandicapAccessible

CLASSIFIEDS

• Licensed Gas Fitter• Water Heater

• Boiler Work• Serving DC• References

• Drain Service• Furness Repair & Replacement

202-251-1479D C P L U M M E R ’ S L I C E N S E # 7 0 7

Just Say I Need A Plumber®

Dial A Plumber, LLC®

LicensedBondedInsured

John

Kenny

PLUMBING

Keith RoofingEXPERT WORKMANSHIP AT REASONABLE PRICES!

Residential/Commercial • Over 40 years in Business

All Work Inspected by Owner...Deals Directly with Customers! All Work Fully Guaranteed

202-486-7359

Fully Insured • Licensed • Bonded“No Job Too Large or Small”

Senior & Military Discounts Available!

Chimney Repairs • Storm & Wind Damage Repair

• New or Re-Roofing• Tear-Off & Replacement

• Flat Roof Specialist• Copper, Tin, Sheet Metal & Rolled

• Seamless & Flat Roofs• Re-Sealing

• Tar, Asphalt, Gravel, Hot Coats• Modified Bitumen

• Ask about our gutter specials

Insurance Claims • Free Estimates • 24Hr. Service

ROOFING

Over 20 Years of ExperienceREDEFINING BEAUTY ONE CLIENT AT A TIME!

Full-Service Landscape Design & Maintenance•Installation,arbors,retainingwalls,walkways,lighting,waterfeatures

•Patios,rooftopgardens,townhomes,singlefamilyhomes

•Trees&shrubs,formal&informalgardens•CustomMasonry,FencingandIronwork•RestorationandEnhancement

Thomas Landscapes

301.642.5182 WWW.THOMASLANDSCAPES.COM

DEREK THOMAS / PRINCIPAL

Historic Masonry Repointing & RepairsRestoration cleaning on historical brick and stone

Basements & Waterproofing

Experts in both in new and traditional masonry

CHIMNEY REPOINTING, LINING & REPAIRS!

CONCRETE & BRICKPOINTINGHALLIDAY

Licensed, Bonded & Insured, DC202.637.8808

NO Job Too Small! We Do it All!!

Serving D.C. since 1918

Our Prices Won’t be Beat!

NO JOB TOO SMALL!!!

SPECIALIZING INSEAMLESSGUTTERS

“Stopping Leaks is Our Specialty”

Licensed, Bonded& Insured

Free EstimatesSenior and

GovernmentDiscount 10%

202-489-1728

DANIEL PARKSRoofing & Gutters

WE DO IT ALLRUBBER & FLAT ROOFS

WATER PROOFINGSLATE ROOFSLEAK REPAIRSMETAL ROOFS

GUTTER REPAIRSSHINGLE ROOFINGCHIMNEY REPAIRSFACIAL/SOFFITS

ALUMINUM ROOF COATING

EMERGENCYREPAIRS

WELDING

LIC. BONDED. INS

FLAT ROOFSPECIALIST

BOYD CONSTRUCTIONINC.

We Do Everything!75

years in service

202-223-ROOF (7663)

B B BMember

WE STOP LEAKS!

• Roof Repairs• Roof Coatings• Rubber• Metal• Slate

• Tiles• Chimneys• Gutters• Waterproofing• Roof Certifications

FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED • “50 YEARS EXPERIENCE”

• Flat Roof Specialists• Modified Bitumen• Skylights• Shingles• Slate

• Chimney Repairs• Roof Coatings• Gutters & Downspouts• Preventive Maintenance• Metal Roofs

10% OFF WITH THIS AD

202.425.1614WWW.GANDGHOMEIMPROVEMENTS.NET

Licensed & Insured | All Work Managed & Inspected by Owners

AWARDED BEST WASHINGTON, DC CONTRACTOR OF 2012 BY ANGIE’S LIST

G G ROOFING

202.637.8808

WE WILL BEAT YOUR BEST PRICE

New Roofs, Maintenance & Repairs

Seamless Gutters Experts

Stopping Leaks is our Specialty!

WE DO IT ALL!

Licensed, bonded & Insured, DC

PAINTING

NANNY FOR HIRE

Our website just got awhole lot better!

capitalcommunitynews.com

QUALIFIED AND PASSIONATE NANNYI have 17 years of experience caring for newborns, children and teenagers. As a babysitter I have pre-pared bottles, changed diapers, washed and ironed children’s clothes and planned and prepared meals and snacks for the children. I have also bathed babies and supervised baths and bedtime routine for older children. I can also transport children to and from school and to their extracurricular activities. I can also perform light housekeeping tasks. I am certifi ed in Basic First Aid, CPR and child CPR. In addition to these skills, I also speak fl uent Spanish. References available. I can be reached at (703) 868-8587 or Do-risefalcon@aol.com.

Shaw Main Streets is a designated DC Main Streets program and is funded in part by the Department of Small and Local Business Development, Muriel Bowser, Mayor.

Tell Them, “Shaw Main Streets Sent Me!”