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Vol. 37, No. 7

JANUARY2006

Next IssueFebruary 10

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WHAT’S INSIDELetters 3Community Forum 3Community News 5Neighborhood Art 10The End of BORF 10Scenes from the Past 12-13Museums 14-16Dining, Food 17-18ABC Board Actions 18Classifieds 19Service Directory 20Real Estate 21-24

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BZA Approves Citadel Site for Harris Teeter SupermarketAs we were going to press, The InTowner learned that, by unanimous vote at its

January 10, 2006 public meeting, the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) denied a request from the Reed-Cooke Neighborhood Association to reopen the hearing record for the purpose of conducting further hearings on developer Douglas Jemal’s application for variances for his Citadel-Harris Teeter project.

Instead, the BZA unanimously voted to grant the applicant its requested variances concerning rear yard and non-conforming structural requirements, along with a variance from the requirement “to provide a loading berth that is 55 feet deep . . . to allow the establishment of a mixed-use project including a grocery store and general offices in the [Reed-Cooke] C2B zoning overlay district.”

Adams Morgan EssayRafael Valero’s six-part series will

resume next month. Parts 1-4 (Sep.-Dec.) can be read in their entirety by visiting the Back Issues Archive at www.intowner.com and opening those issues.

After four years of rough seas and several near shipwrecks, the Adams Morgan

Business Improvement District — like oth-ers in the city, known as a “BID — was final-ly launched its first ship of state with a con-tentious caucus-style balloting for the direc-tors of this newly commissioned vessel at a meeting held in the First Church of Christ, Scientist’s fellowship Hall on the afternoon of December 14, 2005. With no chairs and no hot coffee (and the hall was unheated), busi-ness and property owners milled about, raucously challenging with pro-vocative questions the principal organizers of the event -- namely, the BID’s interim board, which included Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, Constantine Stavropolous of Tryst and the Diner, and interim BID executive director Josh Gibson.

While details of the BID’s formation and its anticipated organization-al nature are relatively unknown in the Adams Morgan community at large, the BID’s support-ers insist that all aspects of the BID are well-known among those in the business community who will be taxed to pay for its staff, administra-tive costs, and operation-al activities. Some of the property and business owners voting in person at the meeting, how-ever, strongly demurred, insisting by the nature of their detailed questions that they were unaware of most everything about the BID other than they would be assessed an additional 21-cents per

$100 valuation on their property tax bills. Neither were they aware that the BID had been up and running for three or four months (at least since the September, 2005 semi-annual property tax bills went out) and had been paying its interim executive direc-tor his monthly salary. Nevertheless. putting together a consensus slate of 15 candidates

Adams Morgan Launches Its Own Business Improvement District

By Anthony L. Harvey

Cont., HARRIS TEETER, p. 21

Shown here is the map denoting (in bold) the streets along which fac-ing properties are included within the BID; where the streets are shown to encompass blocks extending over to streets beyond rear alleys, that indicates that those entire areas are included in the BID. The principal arteries forming the BID’s “backbone” include Columbia Road from Connecticut Avenue (far left on map), across the 18th Street intersec-tion to 16th Street (upper-right corner on map); 18th Street south to Florida Avenue; Florida, from Vernon Street to 19th Street (bottom left on map); Champlain Street from California Street to Columbia Road.

Cont., ADAMS MORGAN, p. 9

“Heritage Trail” Markers Come to Adams Morgan; Images Reveal History

By P.L. Wolff

The Adams Morgan community will be celebrating the official unveiling of

its new, informative and artfully-designed “Heritage Trail” poster-size, illustrated street signs mounted on sidewalk stan-chions on Saturday, January 28, between 1 and 5 pm.

The self-guided tour will starting at the Potter’s House, 1658 Columbia Road, where everyone will be able to pick up a tour guide (English and Spanish language versions) and map and a list of the neigh-borhood businesses that will be offering free hot drinks, snacks and shopping deals, participants will be ready

Designed to reveal much about the personalities and events associated with the neighborhood’s history, the 18 signs combine storytelling with historic images. Although it is not necessary that the signs be followed in the order of their designated sequence, for those that choose to do so, they will start at Florida Avenue and 16th Street and proceed along Kalorama and Columbia Roads to 18th Street

And, along the way, the establishments that will be welcoming tour participants,

HPRB Designates New Historic District Area

Near Convention CenterBy Anthony L. Harvey

In a move to establish regulatory control over the design of façades and to be in a

position to ensure an historical context for building heights and neighborhood density in part of Washington’s old commercial, residential, and the light industrial East End, the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) voted at its November 17, 2005 monthly meeting to designate a new historic district in the core part of the Mayor’s brand new economic business and community improvement district, known as the Mount Vernon Triangle.

Continuing its incremental approach to the expansion of historic districts from Dupont Circle through downtown, the new district, named for its location within what the Mayor’s Office of Planning calls Mt. Vernon Triangle -- a contemporary designa-tion for that triangular area located just east of Mt. Vernon Square that is bounded on the north by New York Avenue and on the south by Massachusetts Avenue, .Historic Preservation Office (HPO) staff reviewer Kimberly Prothro Williams wrote in her report that “the proposed historic district is centered within this larger area along 5th Street between I and K Streets, NW and includes 25 buildings, of which 24 are considered contributing” structures to the Historic District. Williams continued by delineated the precise historic district boundaries:

photo—Keith Kreger—The InTowner.

Prather Alley between 4th and 5th Streets, as seen from K Street looking toward I Street.

Cont., HPRB, p. 8

Cont., HERITAGE TRAIL, p. 9

photo—Nancy Shia.

Feeding pigeons at Unity Park on Columbia Road, late 1970s.

• The InTowner • January 2006

From the Publisher’s Desk...By P.L. Wolff

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LET’S GET BACK TO BASICS

Like all journalists and others who try to keep tabs on the pulse in this city, we here at The InTowner continually scan the various neighborhood listservs for nuggets of info

and insights. We regularly find both nuggets and insights which often reaffirm for us that positions we have taken on various issues are on target with more than just ourselves stuck in front of our computers. (We will admit, of course, that occasionally the opposite can be the case.)

One of the best electronic forums out there is something called TheMail, the brain-child of Ward 1 activists Dorothy Brazil and Gary Imhoff, the husband and wife team that for many years now has been performing yeoman service to all our residents as they have consistently forced, by virtue of their always thorough and informed research and advo-cacy, both the politicians and the bureaucrats to be aware that there are citizens out here watching every move and not only prepared to right wrongs but actually succeed in doing so. (Their work that brought about the downfall of last year’s attempted gambling ballot initiative fraud is an perfect example.)

This, then explains why it is that thoughtful, civic-minded citizens flock to the elec-tronic pages of their twice-weekly moderated electronic town meeting (and why it is that the politicos and bureaucrats read it -- and frequently participate in the discussions). And it was here, on the very day we were preparing to go to press that we stumbled on a mini-essay from Ward 3 resident Jonathan Rees (who happens also to be a candidate for city council) that contained sentiments that we have tried to impress upon the politicians for some time, but apparently to no avail. So good was what we read -- and we kick ourselves that it was not we who actually wrote it -- that we share some of it with our readers, as fol-lows:

“. . . [W]e have reached a point of taxing our businesses and people to death, we are engaging too much in social engineering, we are passing legislation to do this or that but never knowing where the money is coming from. While we are a progressive ward, we also realize that we can’t keep on driving up the price tag of living in DC. . . .

“Building a new baseball stadium, building another hospital, and many other mat-ters before us is not going back to the basics but may lead us into new problems that will increase the burden of all tax payers, drain us from more needed things and this is because we just don’t know when to say enough is enough. Let baseball build its own stadium. Let Howard University Hospital get out of the red and stop laying people off before it embarks on a new project. Let the DC Public Schools explain where out tax dol-lars over the years went to upkeep our school but never did before we throw more money at the problem. Let DC government realize that its workforce of 34,000, when we have a population of 540,000, is the same as in 1976, when we were over 800,000, and that that is a major part of the problem of why the cost of living in DC is out of control, and let’s finally have the guts to cut it down to a reasonable level. Let’s start getting real about addressing all problems and each of us show a gusty individuality.”

Now, let us be quite clear about one thing: The fact that we have quoted Mr. Rees favorably does not suggest that we are taking any position on his candidacy; at this point in time we have absolutely no idea who ought to get our nod, if anyone -- and we won’t decide until we know lots more about everyone and what they think about important issues of public policy and municipal government management.

But, we do say without hesitation that Mr. Rees has hit the nail on the head. Too much time and energy (not to say anything about taxpayer money) is being wasted on large schemes to the detriment of making life easier, safer, and more pleasant for our citizens. Just consider the vast amount of city council members time, the time of so many of the city’s middle and senior managers, and the money spent on the effort to get baseball to set up shop here. Meanwhile, people are not safe on our streets, the health care services are a shambles, children are at risk hourly, the schools and libraries are a disgrace, and yet nothing seems to occupy anybody’s attention other than baseball and how to figure out more ways to squeeze cash out of the residents through fees and fines (so they don’t have to call ‘em taxes).

It is imperative that our leaders actually lead by leading us back to basics. In an elec-tion year, especially this one, it would seem prudent for the politicians to take heed. ■

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News, Events & Letters Deadline: Friday, February 3NOTE: Publication date always second Friday of month.

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January 2006 • The InTowner •

Dupont’s Business Climate at Risk

The December InTowner Publisher’s Desk editorial [“Is Dupont Circle ‘Washed Up’ Business-Wise?,” page 2] is correct in pointing out that no one is doing anything to help Dupont retain its retail charm. Ten years from now it may be our biggest regret. We are losing the culture that makes Dupont the wonderful place it is. But even if we don’t want go to the suburbs, corporate America is bringing the mall-lifestyle to us. His point about taxes is super. But not only are the small businesses getting hit by the effect of triple-net leases, our residential property taxes have tripled. Who cares if your house is worth more if you aren’t plan-ning on selling out.

Not only did the Washington Business Journal harangue, the Current wasn’t very favorable towards the “mollification” of Dupont in an issue last month; and Margaret Webb Pressler did a similar piece in the Post a year ago. Not proactively planning for the future is like running up a huge budget deficit or ignoring medical symptoms. It’s going to catch up with you. Right next door we can see 14th Street doing it right. They decided they wanted a furniture row and are well on their way to getting that.

The Dupont Circle ANC is too busy trying to get the DC agency staffers to do what they get paid to do. If the bureaucracy functioned we might be able to be more than the nannies we are often perceived to be. Even though we have a pro-business mayoral administration, they can barely find Dupont, never mind properly support a business development effort. Main Streets hasn’t achieved critical mass. How the DC government thinks a five-year Main Streets grant that averages $50,000 a year could organize a community that includes 1,500 businesses is absurd.

There’s some talk of forming a BID [Business Improvement District]. In this climate, however, it won’t likely get off the ground — especially if the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals (DC MAP) group is the sponsor. DC MAP has staked out radical and mercurial positions and is in no position to rally 1,500 busi-nesses to voluntarily tax themselves. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans staff has said, “The train has left the station”. But I’ve talked Councilmember Evans about these issues and there is hope that he would be a help. He’d be in the best position to take the lead. The issue is not in DCCA’s [Dupont Circle Citizens Association] purview. Mr. Wolff’s pointing out the lack of leadership on this is correct. But who can do it? We all have volunteer and donor fatigue.

Here’s what I’ve been saying for years: We should get all the property owners and commercial brokers together (starting on Connecticut) to discuss whether they have a vision. Discuss whether each of them mak-ing solo decisions on to whom to rent could lead to a really bad business mix. At one point there were five ice cream shops. Some Dupont property owners are large enough to take a tenant that may not maximize the rent in their space but would enhance the neighborhood in a way that benefits the whole. We can’t subsidize anchor tenants like a mall can, but we should try to come

close. Do an analysis of how much of the retail

should focus on the residents, people who work here, people who stay in the 18 hotels, and people from around the region that drive and subway in. Market accordingly, encourage property owners to choose busi-nesses appropriate for the neighborhood, and assist businesses that we want to retain. There are regulatory tweaks that could encourage small business. Just having a model, such as encouraging chain retail below the Circle on Connecticut and bou-tiques above the Circle would be a start.

If anyone has a way to make that hap-pen, please let me know (my email is [email protected].) It’s a big but crucial task. We had a non-profit used book-store open up recently; there is hope.

Rob HalliganDupont Circle

Editor’s Note: The writer is a member of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission and represents Single Member District 2B01.

Our Take on HPRP’s Approach Challenged

Anthony L Harvey’s front-page article last month concerning the city’s Historic Preservation Review Board [“HPRB’s Strict Aversion to Deviation from Original Design Recently Obvious” was misleading.

For 25 years I have seen projects present-ed to this group and have presented many projects myself; the types of alterations to 1525 Corcoran that were suggested by your article have never been approved in historic districts except where the rare exception can justify it. I suspect that the alterations made to neighboring houses were made before the block was added to the historic district (which was a relatively recent occurrence).

The cast-iron steps and stoops of the late 19th century have survived admirably and are an important part of the historic streetscape. Your photo of the neighboring “Permastone cladding” is a perfect argu-ment for not cladding a stone material on this brick building and it is likely that such an application would exacerbate the dam-age that rising damp causes to the wall.

As for the assertion that the applicant’s work would not alter “the building’s basic structure, façade, doors, or windows” I ask, how is that possible with these kinds of changes?

Where I do find common ground with the article, however, has to do with the cruelty our government can inflict on its citizens. Despite the fact that the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) has perhaps the best public servants in the city and that members of the Board are volunteers, the murky waters of preservation combined with an uncaring city government culture can be very hurtful to people who believe they are doing the right thing.

Dudley CannadaGeorgetown

Editor’s Note: The writer is an architect

LETTERSLetters must be mailed, faxed, or delivered to our office or sent via e-mail to: [email protected]. All correspondents MUST supply a home address AND both day and evening telephone numbers for verification purposes. Persons employed by or volunteering with entities that are the subject of their letters MUST reveal their positions with same so as to avoid misleading the readers as to their special interest. In appropriate instances, if so requested, letters may be printed on a “name withheld by request” basis. We reserve the right to edit for propriety, clarity, and to fit the available space. Identifiers below writers’ names are inserted at the editor’s discretion. Special Note: Only envelopes from government agencies, recognized civic groups and other organizations, or mail from individuals in envelopes bearing verifiable return addresses that include sender’s full name will be opened; any other postal or hand-delivered mail will be either returned to sender or destroyed.

For more information, contact the WelchCenter for Graduate and ProfessionalStudies at 800.697.4646 or visit ourwebsite at www.goucher.edu/hpcert

Preserving Our Past for the Future

GOUCHER COLLEGEEducation without boundaries

Sharpen your current skills or explore a completely new field with Goucher’sHistoric Preservation CertificateProgram. Choose individual courses ora comprehensive program, and learnfrom seasoned professionals in ahands-on environment.

Classes meet weeknights in theNational Trust Building near DupontCircle in Washington, D.C., and inAnnapolis and nearby historic sites.

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Cont., LETTERS, p. 4

COMMUNITY FORUMDISAPPEARING SMALL BUSINESSES

HERE & ELSEWHEREBy Richard Layman

The writer, who is opening a restaurant in DC’s Brookland neighborhood, is an historic preservation and commercial district revitalization advocate who assisted with the founding of the H Street Main Street and Historic Brookland Main Street programs. He has also co-authored approximately $1.5 million in successful grant proposals for community revitalization activities.

Last month, The InTowner editorialized about whether or not Dupont Circle is “’washed up’ business-wise,” a response to piece in the Washington Business Journal. [See, “From the Publisher’s Desk,” December 2005, page 2.] The WBJ piece focused on the dwindling number of inde-pendently-owned retail and restaurant busi-nesses and their inexorable replacement by the marques of national and international chains, implying this was the fault of the neighborhood’s residents for not respond-ing somehow, by seeking additional zoning protections.

A quick survey of the national press would see that this is an issue across the world, ranging from Los Angeles (see, John Pomfret, “Downtown Los Angeles Gets a $10 Billion Remake,” the Washington Post, January 2, 2006, page A-3) to Madrid (see also, Leslie Crawford, “Urban village changing for good and ill: A former ghetto in Madrid is a victim of its own success as higher rents close the old shops. Resident Leslie Crawford is saddened,” Financial Times [London, UK], January 7, 2006, page 15).

This is the result of three trends that are difficult for a group of ad-hoc citizens in Dupont Circle, or any city neighborhood, to address on their own. More intricate responses, at higher levels than a neighbor-

hood, are required.Ever since the end of World War II, the

dominant trend in the retail industry has been the development of first regional, and then national and now international chains, of a size and specialization far beyond that of independently-owned local stores in the downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts of center cities.

Simultaneously, the real estate industry has adopted a similar scale, moving from a very local industry to one that is organized on a national and international scale. A key space in Dupont Circle, the Commerce Bank branch at the corner of Connecticut Avenue and S Street, NW, provides a per-fect example that illustrates both trends.

Commerce Bank, based in New Jersey, uses chain principles to guide its services and its growth. (The bank’s founder still owns a chain of Burger King restaurants in the mid-Atlantic.) Commerce’s entry to DC has been facilitated by a real estate investment trust, Starwood, which bought the property on Connecticut Avenue, rid the space of the locally owned retail busi-nesses within, leaving it empty for years, waiting for the right national tenant willing to pay the much higher rents, in compari-son to the previous owner, that they were seeking.

Cont., FORUM, p. 6


specializing in projects located within his-toric districts, and is a long-time member of the Dupont Circle Conservancy.

jjjjjjjjYour December front page article excori-

ating the HPRB for not approving four pro-posed changes to the historic front at 1525 Corcoran Street was hardly a news story. It was a reportorial rant against sincere efforts to preserve what remains of historic build-ings within historic districts.

Most importantly, it told us more about the reporter’s views of the HPRB than about the facts before the HPRB. All we learned was that the HPRB disapproved:

(1) adding a glass and iron canopy over the front doorway; (2) replacing cast-iron steps with masonry; (3) widening the space between the steps and the bay side of the building, moving the steps off-center of the doorway, and narrowing them by up to two feet; and (4) re-facing the ground floor brick façade with stone. The article teased us with statements that the owners had considered other options and that the HPRB staff report had suggested alternative options as well but the reader was never told what they were. We don’t even know if the owners had approached the Dupont Circle Conservancy for comment prior to going to the HPRB and if the Conservancy had also offered alternative options.

Here are some thoughts that should have been obvious to a reporter with such exten-sive experience covering historic preserva-tion issues. Regarding the proposed glass and iron canopy for the front landing, the article

says the owners claimed a design failure that resulted in water coming straight down from the front of the house (through ornamental brick) onto the stair landing instead of being channeled to either side. Perhaps a two-inch wide thin copper strip could correct the problem. However, the reporter’s coverage of this request was limited to complain-ing that the HPRB never discussed “the water table problems endemic to this area”, leaving this reader perplexed as to the con-nection between the canopy request and the water table. There is no claim that the owners were suffering water table problems in their ground floor nor was there any acknowledgement of the existing floor drain beneath the front landing. The reporter also did not reveal that no canopies were placed originally on any of the modest row houses on Corcoran Street and that there are none on the row houses of Corcoran Street today. Clearly, there is no basis for this exception to the historic façade of 1525 Corcoran.

Regarding the cast-iron steps and landing, the article says the HPRB did not discuss “the suitability of cast-iron as an all-weather material for climbing stairs.” Since the building code allows such material for out-side stairs and there have been no public notices to replace the thousands of such staircases in the city on the basis of safety, why would the HPRB focus on this issue? The existing stairs, landing and railings at this address are in disrepair and unsafe. Prior to the enactment of the Dupont Circle Historic District in the 1970’s, many hom-eowners and developers did replace their dilapidated cast-iron stairs with masonry. However, replacing original cast iron with masonry would be the wrong solution today, given the existence of the historic district, because it would dramatically alter the appearance of the front of the building. Yet the article made no mention of the alterna-tives reviewed by the owners in seeking an affordable replacement solution compatible with the historic district. Clearly, casting new cast-iron steps would be prohibitively expensive and the historic preservation rules make accommodations in such situations.

In addition to replacing cast iron with masonry, the owners wanted to narrow the steps by about two feet and shift the center to the left side of the building in order to create more space for the ground floor entrance. Yet the existing spacing between the steps and the bay of the building is 30 inches, which is also the width of the ground floor door. The reporter could have inspected the area below the stairs and have seen that the real space problem was between the ground floor door and the retaining wall and gas meter. They are only 33 inches in front of the door. The reporter might have asked (1) if the owners had considered widening the space in front of the door by moving the gas meter and retaining wall under the steps back four or five feet or (2) if there were a rear entrance for bringing in large items more conveniently. There is a rear ground-floor entrance in fact. Disapproving the original request might have been obvious to the HPRB based on the above, but the reader has insufficient clues to what are the facts on the ground and what alternatives might have been acceptable to the HPRB.

Regarding re-facing the ground-floor façade with stone, the reporter essentially says that the HPRB should have granted “the applicant’s plea for relief from the unfinished and unsightly look of the rough, uneven foundation brick and mortar finish of their basement-level façade.” Stone may be an historic material in some parts of the Dupont Circle area, especially on some of grand mansions, but the reporter did not mention that it would have been unique to Corcoran Street since it had not been incor-porated in these rows of houses.

The reporter also inserted his prefer-ence to replace the common brick with the pressed brick of the upper levels. The

reporter offers, as justification, all sorts of changes that have been made to the ground floor façcades of other buildings on the block, but these are irrelevant. Again, they preceded the creation of the historic district. What the reporter does not consider is that the ugliness of the ground floor façade may have more to do with the sloppy mortaring and scaling marine paint applied sometime in the last 50 years than with the common brick itself. It would have been educational to the reader if the reporter had asked an expert if there might be a simpler as well as attractive solution more in keeping with the original façade. For example, would remov-ing the excessive mortar and marine paint and re-mortaring the joints with a half-inch recess create a distinctive, attractive look for the common brick? I think it would, but I’m not an expert.

Alas, the reporter was more interested in bashing the HPRB than in presenting the reader a balanced picture of the issues from both sides. The editor should have insisted on a more researched and balanced article.

Bob MeehanDupont Circle

Editor’s Note: The writer is a member of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission and represents Single Member District 2B03.

Restaurant Review Appreciated

Please accept my sincerest thanks for your review of Acadiana in the October InTowner. [See, “Acadiana: Big Easy, DC,” Reservations Recommended, page 15.] We are all so pleased by the coverage, and grate-ful to you for bringing the Louisiana-style restaurant and its innovative cuisine to your readers’ attention. We’re so happy that you enjoyed your visit to the restaurant, and you’ll have to come back again when you have room for the desserts!

Simone RathléSimone Ink Public Relations, DC

DC Deserves “Golden Fleece Award”!

Last month I read with fond remem-brance about the passing of Democratic Senator William Proxmire. He founded the Golden Fleece Awards as part of his larger crusade against “the biggest or most ridicu-lous or most ironic example of government waste.”

In his honor, I hereby nominate the DC Stadium deal for its ever-expanding bloat and unlimited financial risk to the populace of DC as a most worthy candi-date. DC’s negotiators failed to include: (1) a customary up-front down-payment of any sort paid by Major League Baseball; (2) an adequate annual rental fee paid by the team to cover both interest and some added portion of principal repayment; and (3) any real protective provisions for risk sharing of construction cost overruns and specification changes on the single-use project publicly funded nearly 100 percent to bankroll one private party.

In accepting the award for DC, Mayor Anthony Williams should recognize the unique role of the Sports and Entertainment Commission. While the 108-page boiler-plate draft deal covers in detail the grant of elite luxury stadium seating to members of the Commission itself, unfortunately none of the fundamental, massive financial risk elements mentioned above are mitigated or shared in a congruent manner contractually with Baseball.

David J. MallofDupont Circle

LETTERSFrom p. 3


• Mon., Jan 16 (1pm): In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, there will be a WREATH-LAYING next to the monumen-tal and inspiring bas-relief sculpture on the plaza of the African-American Civil War Memorial at 10th and U Streets in the heart

of the Greater U Street Historic District. Following the ceremony, between 2 and 4 pm just two blocks west at 12th Street, the museum which is associated with the Memorial will host a reception commemo-ration of the life and dreams of the Reverend King. For more info, call 667-2667.

• Mon., Jan 16 (1-3pm): Also in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Interracial Family Circle (IFC) will be sponsoring its annual CELEBRATION at All Souls Church, Unitarian (16th & Harvard Sts.), to which the public is invited. Beginning with various activities for the whole family, workshops and a parent forum, at 2 pm the entertainment

The event begins with fun activities for the whole family, workshops and a parent forum, at 2 pm entertainment gets going with dancing, drumming, freedom songs, and dramatic readings of Dr. King’s work. In addition, there will be cake and punch for all and games and crafts for children. New this year will be the parent forum and an on-site multicultural/multiracial bookstore

run by the Teaching for Change bookstore housed at Andy Shallal’e Busboys and Poets, the café/restaurant on 14th Street just above U. For more info about the event, call (703) 507-3560

This FREE event is made possible by generous grants and contributions from the Beckner Fund, the A. Powell Davis Committee (of All Souls Church), the Tides Foundation and IFC member Reena Bernards. For more info about the work of the IFC, which offers a year-round schedule of programs to educate its members and the greater community about issues of particular interest to interracial families, visit its web-site at www.interracialfamilycircle.org.

• Thu., Jan 19 (9am-12noon) & Wed., Jan 25 (1-3pm): An “Open House” will be held by Experience Corps/Washington DC at its offices in the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816-12th St.) for DC SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS over the age of 55. Needed are tutors willing to spend four hours a week helping youngsters in grades 1-3) learn to read. Also needed are mentors (men only) to spend two hours per week mentoring fifth and sixth grade boys. Days and times vary according to school. Over 100 people are now volunteering at six schools in all four quadrants of the city. In Northwest, a seventh school will be added next month. Teaching experience is not required, and all necessary training and materials are pro-vided. For more info, volunteer coordinator Lois Berkowitz at 797-1150.

• Fri., Jan. 20 (8 pm): The City Museum (801 K St.) -- yes, there is still technically such an institution that occupies the historic former Carnegie Library in Mt. Vernon Square and which has a commodious audi-torium -- will be hosting a one-night only PERFORMANCE being presented by the Washington Storytellers Theatre. Now in

its 16th season, WST is dedicated to pro-moting the art of storytelling for adults, both through nurturing local performers and by presenting the top artists from around the country.

Featured will be With a Dog’s Eyes: Capturing the Life of Morris Frank, per-formed by actor and writer Bill Mooney. To prepare for this performance, Mooney interviewed Lois Frank, Morris’ widow, and studied audiotapes of Morris Frank with the result that he has succeeded in bringing audiences the true experience of opening up new worlds of independence for blind people. Mooney has won two Emmy Awards for acting, and was nominated twice for Grammy Awards for recordings of his stories. He is best known for portraying Paul Martin

AROUND OUR COMMUNITYThe editor welcomes the receipt of information about community happenings, such as church-sponsored events, neighborhood and block association activi-ties, public meetings dealing with neighborhood issues, and other events of a non-commercial nature. These may be emailed to us at newsroom@ intowner.com, or sent by regular mail but not by fax.

Because we are a neighborhood newspaper and not a city-wide or regional publication, we restrict our reporting to that about news and activities occur-ring within the specific neighborhoods we serve—Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights; Dupont, Scott, Thomas & Logan Circles; Mt. Vernon Square/Pennsylvania Quarter, Shaw, U Street.

Special Note: Emails received bearing no substantive entry in the Subject field will NOT be downloaded for reasons of virus protection security. Neither will we open anonymous Postal Service-received mail. Only envelopes from gov-ernment agencies, recognized civic groups and other organizations, or mail from individuals in envelopes bearing verifiable return addresses that include sender’s full name will be opened; any other postal or hand-delivered mail will be either returned to sender or destroyed.

Cont., COMMUNITY, p. 7photo—courtesy, African-American Civil War Memorial and Museum.

photo—courtesy, www.washingtonstorytellers.org

Bill Mooney, storyteller.


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Finally, as The InTowner editorial point-ed out succinctly and eloquently, the prop-erty tax assessment model employed by the District of Columbia for commercial retail properties, often historic buildings with small footprints, appears to set values independent of the building’s profitability as a property tenanted by (ideally) locally-owned businesses.

If taxes keep going up, so do rents. But if retail sales revenues don’t increase at the same pace, small businesses will be driven out, first by restaurants that tend to generate more revenue per square foot than the average retail business, and then by chain businesses that have national mar-keting campaigns and economies of scale unmatchable by independents.

That this is happening should be of great concern to DC residents and govern-ment officials. One of the primary differ-entiating factors of center cities is a retail sector defined by independently-owned shops with unique products and identities.

Tourists and business travelers -- not to mention residents -- appreciate this “specialness” and spend (more) money in such stores. As the DC retail environ-ment becomes more similar to the offer-ings of malls and lifestyle centers, our city becomes less competitive compared to other national and international destina-tions; and visitors will end up spending less time and money in DC stores.

In addition, we should be concerned about building a local economy that retains in the city more of the money spent within the city. This is called the multiplier effect. Chain businesses spend and send most of their revenues elsewhere. However, studies by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and others find that as much as “three times as much money stays in the local economy when you buy goods and services from locally owned businesses instead of large chain stores.”

To right these sorry trends, there are two policies that the District of Columbia gov-ernment should pursue in order to make our city more hospitable to independent retail businesses.

First, the City Council needs to direct the Office of Tax and Revenue to create and implement a more appropriate prop-erty tax assessment methodology for small commercial retail properties. There is a bill before the Council providing for a 50 percent tax credit for such properties if they have been owned by the same owner for at least 20 years. But that focuses on individual properties and length of owner-ship rather than the needs of the entire commercial district and the small and historic properties within it. (Plus, would a slumlord who owned a commercial build-ing, often empty, for at least 20 years still be able to benefit from this law? I think so, the way it’s written currently.)

A “highest and best use” model that doesn’t differentiate between types of build-ings will always price out anything other than commercial office, because such high revenue-producing, low-service require-ment properties are the absolute best finan-cial deal for any city.

The rule of thumb from the “Main Street” approach to commercial district revitalization is that a retail business pays from four to 10 percent of its annual rev-enues in rent -- or if the property is owned, mortgage plus property taxes and mainte-nance. Restaurants have higher revenues and may pay as rent up to 15 percent of annual revenue.

Tax assessment models for commercial properties must be based on the revenue models for operating businesses located in such commercial districts. A tax assessment

methodology focused on some “mythi-cal” building worth independent of the businesses located within and the revenue streams they generate is disconnected from business reality.

This will lead to business displacement, particularly of independent businesses, in favor of chains, or in significant changes in the use, changes which may be incompat-ible with the needs and desires of residents and/or the retail mix of a thriving commer-cial district.

The current method of assessment isn’t much different than taxing farmland that is being farmed as if it could be redevel-oped into residential tracts. Eventually the farmer will have to sell.

Second, the District government needs to look more carefully at its retail busi-ness attraction policies and incentives. Currently, most benefits are skewed to favor chain businesses at the expense of developing local businesses.

Since most independent retail has died on the vine, the infrastructure that supports independent retail has withered as both the various retail sectors (office supplies, cloth-ing, restaurants, etc.) and the commercial real estate industry that develops and leases retail space have become organized as national and international enterprises.

Places like Richmond, Virginia and the State of Illinois have strong retail mer-chants associations providing a wide variety of services and training opportunities to support the development and maintenance of independent retailers. These organiza-tions provide a great deal of assistance to local and regional businesses, without excluding the membership of national chains. To the best of my knowledge there is no equivalent association in the Washington region.

Cities like Los Angeles and Austin, Texas have created specific initiatives designed to attract, develop, and support independent-ly-owned retail businesses. For example, LA’s Historic Downtown LA Retail Project provides extensive training, incentive, and development resources centered upon the development and strengthening of inde-pendently-owned shops and services; art galleries; cafés, restaurants and nightlife.

Clearly, much more than zoning overlays are required to right the trends that forcefully homogenize the retail districts in our neighborhoods and down-town Washington. And, I hope that The InTowner continues to publish articles about why this is so. ■

FORUMFrom p. 3

Business Property Tax Relief Hearing Set

City Council Chair Linda Cropp and Ward 1 Councilmember

Jim Graham have introduced Bill 16-255, the “Historic Neighborhood Retail Business Property Tax Relief Act of 2005,” which proposes a 50 per-cent property tax credit to owners of qualifying small retail or arts related businesses located in neighborhood historic districts who have received cumulative annual increases of 100 percent or more in the assessed value of their property in the past two real property tax years. To be eligible, properties must have been owned by the same owner for 20 or more years.

A public hearing before the DC City Council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue, chaired by Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, has been scheduled for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25, in Room 412 at the John A Wilson District Building (1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). ■


on the TV serial “All My Children.” For tickets and more info, call (202)545-6840 or visit www.washingtonstorytellers.org.

• Mon., Jan 23, (7pm): The Design Committee of AdamsMorgan MainStreet will hold a MEETING at the Christian Science Reading Room (1782 Col. Rd.) to which neighbors are invited to attend , share their ideas and volunteer for work on historic call boxes renovation, plant-ing new trees, murals and bike racks. Free training seminars will be offered to volun-teers. Chairperson Lisa Duperier informs us that the agenda will include the follow-ing matters: Gateway areas, tree surrounds & signage; building façades; cleanliness, and safety. For more info, send email to [email protected] or visit www.AMMainStreet.org.

• Thu., Jan. 26 (7pm): The Cultural Institute of Mexico (2829-16th St.; tel., 728 1675) will be presenting “Rhythms & Harmonies,” a no-charge, no reserva-tions WINTER CONCERT featuring the ensemble Gil, Cartas & Tuey performing a blend of flamenco, Cuban son, bossa-nova, bluegrass, Mexican folk, gypsy-jazz, Middle-Eastern, American Songbook, blues and classical music, within a predominantly original repertoire.The ensemble’s mem-bers come from Mexico (Gil Gutierrez, who plays the nylon string guitar and tres); Cuba (Pedro Cartas, who plays the vio-lin); U.S. (Tuey Connell, who plays the banjo, guitar and does the vocals and Stefen Schatz who plays the Peruvian box and percussion.For more info, call 728 1675 or email [email protected].

• Sat., Jan. 28 (10am-6pm): The Marian Koshland Science Museum (6th & E Sts.), a branch of the National Academy of Sciences located in the Pennsylvania Quarter which features state-of-the-art exhibits presenting the complexities of science in an engaging

and accessible way, will be offering its free admission “Winter Wonderland: Penguins and Polar Bears” day. Explore life above and below the ice caps and learn about Antarctica and the Arctic. Between 1 and 2 pm there will be a special presentation featuring amazing visuals and polar artifacts presented by Dr. Thomas Wagner of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.

And, on Thu., Feb. 9, between 6:30 and 8 pm, in conjunction with the National Building Museum, Drs. Tim Beatley and Bruce Hayden of the University of Virginia will present their program, “Greening the Built Environment as a Response to Climate Change,” in which they will discuss the relationship between architecture and cli-mate change, and how specific design fea-tures can mitigate potential climate effects on the urban environment. Admission, $12, with advance ticket purchase required. For

tickets or more info, call (202) 334-1201, or send an email to [email protected], or visit www.koshland-science.org/events.

• Tue., Jan. 31: This will be the last day that WETA-Channel 26 will be airing “WETA Neighborhoods,” its two-minute, mini-DOCUMENTARY SERIES spotlight-ing the Shaw and LeDroit Park neighbor-hoods that is airing throughout the month in between primetime programs. For those who are not perpetually glued to TV sets, this series can be viewed in its entirety on-line at www.weta.org/neighborhoods, where one can also share their own memories.

Among the segments included are the following:

“The Barbershop” -- Frank Love has been cutting hair at Gregg’s Barbershop since 1959. Now the owner, Love talks about Shaw’s history from the heart of the neigh-borhood, his own barbershop.

“Duke Ellington’s DC” -- In the early 20th century, Shaw was known as “Black Broadway” and the home of jazz legend Duke Ellington. WETA examines the “Duke’s” Shaw and the area’s recent renew-al.

“Ben’s Chili Bowl” -- Opened in 1958 by Ben and Virginia Ali, Ben’s is famous for its chili-topped halfsmokes. The Ali family discusses life in Shaw, decade by decade, at the restaurant.

“The Anna J. Cooper House” -- A for-mer slave, Anna J. Cooper was the fourth African-American woman to earn a doctor-ate degree. She lived and taught in LeDroit Park until her death at 106. New owners are now restoring Cooper’s house to its original appearance.

“LeDroit Park” -- Developed in 1873 as a gated “Whites only” suburb, LeDroit Park later became home to influential African-American families. Notable residents included writer Paul Laurence Dunbar and civil rights leader Mary Church Terrell.

• Wed.-Sun., Feb. 1-26 (12noon-6pm): Foundry Gallery (1314-18th St.; tel., 463-0203) will be holding its annual New Members Show for the entire month, and will be hosting its OPENING RECEPTION on Fri., Feb. 3rd, from 6-8pm, during the

time of the monthly Dupont Circle First Fridays Gallery Walk. This year’s show will be featuring the nine artists who joined the gallery since February 2004: Debbie Coburn, Moira Ferrier, Anna Glodek, Mina Oka Hanig, Elizabeth Harris, Dean Manis, Zenobia Rickford, Roger Strassman, and Kathryn Wiley. Their works embrace vari-ous visual trends, from representational to abstract and across multiple topics. For more info, visit www.foundrygallery.org.

■

COMMUNITYFrom p. 5

www.augustanadc.info

SELECTED STREET CRIMESDue to an unforeseen production problem beyond our control, this regular fea-

ture will not be appearing this month. Knowing of its importance to our readers, we do apologize for its absence from these pages.

Shown here on December 16, 2005 receiving a much-appreciated new mountain bicycle is MPD Sgt. Brett Parsons of the department’s highly acclaimed Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, thanks to the generosity of the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals Association (DC-MAP) and the Hilton Washington Hotel.

Posing on Connecticut Avenue in front of the hotel with the grateful Sgt. Parsons are the presenters, all leaders in Dupont Circle’s business community (as seen from left to right): James Harrison, Assistant Vice President, Commerce Bank, Dupont Circle Branch; James A. McGlade, owner, The Leather Rack; Paul London, owner, Washington Sports Club; Steven Cowan, Resident Manager, Hilton Washington.

A Good Day for One of the Very Good Guys

photo—Ed Grandis, Executive Director, DC-MAP.

photo—courtesy, www.koshland-science-museum.org.

photo—courtesy, www.foundrygallery.org.

Mina Oka Hanig, “In the Garden.”


Well, it [was] the end of the year, and the big event of

the moment [was] that someone or other — and it wasn’t me — [had] removed the manhole cover from the sidewalk along Columbia Road at Kalorama Park where the main WASA water service line connects to Kalorama Park water lines.

This may or may not be related to DPR actions last week. A DPR main-tenance crew was finally dispatched to the park to examine the leaking faucet in the Kalorama Park com-munity garden I had been complain-ing about since November. They found the leak but were unable to stop the leak. Later, somebody or other turned off the water line at the WASA box.

At least three days [prior to writing this, somebody removed the man-hole cover over the box. I’ve append-ed a photograph of what the manhole cover looked like — you’ll notice that the entire assemblage is already fail-ing, and the concrete work done by [the city’s plumbing contractor] is cracking as the whole assemblage sinks. This is on a par with the illegally shallow copper pipe and the leaking faucet installed without bleeder valves, etc.

$23,999 of your tax dollars wasted . . . on a water line.

I have no idea who removed the man-hole cover -- for awhile, until the rain

washed it away, there was a sign in English and Spanish taped to a nearby tree [reading,] “Danger! Broken sewer line!”; “Peligro! . . .” But, in any case until another manhole cover is put on the hole, it’s an obvious safety problem -- which I [have] hereby report[ed] to Ward [1] and District officials . . . .”

—Submitted by John Cloud

photo—courtesy, John Cloud.

When DC Contractors Are UnsupervisedThe writer, an Adams Morgan resident, recently posted this item on a neighborhood listserv, a copy of which was brought to our attention. Because we believe it is useful for our readers to be apprised of even the small government contracting management deficiencies, we have reproduced this below, subject to some minor editing.

“The district is bounded on the south by Massachusetts Avenue and on the north by K Street, NW as well as the buildings at 457-459 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. The proposed boundaries also include known and potential archaeological sites at the vacant corner of 5th and I Streets, and on the vacant lots along Prather’s Alley, at the rear of the 400 block of K Street, NW. In addition to the buildings and potential archaeological sites, the historic district also includes Prather’s Alley itself, a cobble-stone-lined alleyway that is a physical rem-nant of the area’s street network and histori-cally an integral part of the area’s residential and commercial livelihood. The proposed boundaries were drawn to include the larg-est and most cohesive cluster of historic resources within the larger Mount Vernon triangle area.”

And within this larger Mt. Vernon Triangle’s historic significance covering the years between 1869 and 1946, the HPO’s staff recommendation, adopted by the Board, emphasized the “physical remnant of a unique 19th and early 20th century working-class neighborhood that was largely dependent upon the commercial activity of the 7th Street corridor and the Northern Liberties Market.”

Continuing, the staff report describes the fact that “construction in Mount Vernon Triangle was not limited to residential build-ings, but included buildings hosting an array of commercial and light industrial

uses. Particularly noteworthy of this mixed-use trend is found in the complex of build-ings constructed by John J. Bowles. In 1904…Bowles…moved his enterprise to Prather’s Alley in Mount Vernon Triangle, where he built a bottling plant.”

How well this historic district designation serves the community’s needs and desires, to say nothing of the question of building design and construction, will be revealed as the profound redevelopment transformation of the entire Mt. Vernon Triangle -- down-town Washington’s East End -- continues to play out in high-powered presentations by developers appearing before the HPRB and the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA).

Omitted from the staff’s analysis of their proposal’s impact on the area, however, were several small property owners who had simply received notification of the HPRP’s proposed action and appeared in person to protest. These small property owners expressed public mystification that their empty, ugly, and, in some cases, fire-gutted properties, several of which were reported to have been constructed in 1946, were being declared to be “contributing structures” to the new historic district, with all the power-ful restrictions that designation entails on what these property owners could do with their structures.

Notwithstanding the concerns of the objecting property owners, however, the newly coined “Mount Vernon Triangle” became the city’s newest historic district. Primary sponsors for this new designation were the DC Preservation League and the Mayor’s Office of Planning. ■

HPRBFrom p. 1


The inclusion of the 1946-built low structure at 925-5th Street, NW, shown here, as a “contributing structure,” has its nearby business owner perplexed and apprehensive about its practical economic consequence.


Rear view of 925-5th Street, NW, as seen from Prather Alley to the right across fenced empty lot.


for board membership was agreed by all to be one of Councilmember Graham’s several signal accomplishments as mediator and conciliator among the several factions active in the neighborhood’s business com-munity.

The BID’s interim management plan lays out a broad range of business improve-ment activities. These include: (1) safety and security; (2) cleanliness and graffiti; (3)

transportation management; (4) streetscape improvements; and (5) marketing and pro-motion. The $246,000 budget projected in this plan anticipates expenditures of $88,000 for public safety, which envisions using uni-formed “Ambassadors” in blazers who will organize and inform visitors to an Adams Morgan that has become a major tourist destination; $55,000 for maintenance and transportation management, which would primarily involve cleaning sidewalks and picking up litter; $9,000 for marketing and

ADAMS MORGANFrom p. 1

Cont., ADAMS MORGAN, p. 23

How the Voting “Caucus” UnfoldedBill Duggan of Madam’s Organ provided the afternoon’s emblematic riffs on the

singular style BID ballots, which appeared to some to be somewhat inexplicable on their face. Business owners were given a ballot with six, pre-selected consensus candidates for six vacant positions. Neither nominations from the floor nor write-in candidate names were allowed. Property owners were provided with almost identical ballots, the only difference being the names and number of candidates -- nine rather than six. Prospective voters were instructed to vote for either all candidates on one of the two respective slates, or none of the candidates on the two slates, or any number of candidates in between one and five or one and eight, depending on which of the two ballots one was voting.

With the BID ballot makers seemingly, to at least some of the participants, antici-pating that voters would not all vote for all candidates, or all not vote for none of the candidates, but rather would vote in large enough numbers to constitute a quorum of voters -- either in person or by proxy -- and vote for an irregular number of candi-dates in each of the two categories of prospective BID director, Bill Duggan finally boomed out his take on what he considered to be the real message of the balloting: namely that the BID members were simply being asked to vote for terms of office for these first 15 members of the permanent board of directors. In the order of votes received, five members would get three-year terms; a second five, two-year terms; and the final group of five would receive one-year terms. This would provide the BID with continuity, since only one-third of its directors would be elected each year. Votes were then cast and, where present, proxies were submitted, and at the close of the two-hour balloting, votes were counted and results announced.

Among the property owners, Steve Greenleigh, Pat Patrick, and Jeffrey Schonberger were elected to three-year terms after capturing the most votes (256 for Greenleigh and 250 each for Patrick and Schonberger). Two-year terms were won by Pete Hiotis (156½ votes), Ed Demers (149½ votes), and Bill Thomas with 146½ votes. Rachel Askarinam with 121 votes and Steve Halle and Val Morgan, each with 140 votes, received one-year terms. Among business owners, Scott Sledge and Lynn Skynear, with 48 and 46 votes, respectively, were three-year term winners; and Phil Fenty (Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty’s father who, with his wife Jan, owns Columbia Road’s Fleet Feet store) with 35 votes, and Haji Hajaligholi, with 45, won two-year terms; and one-year terms were received by Javier Reyes and Constantine Stavropolous, both with 34 votes apiece, thus completing the BID’s 15-member board of directors, which was scheduled to hold its first meeting on January 12 to elect officers, name a permanent executive director, and chart the course of the BID’s first full year of formal operation. ■

in addition to Potter’s House, include Fleet Feet, Idle Time Books, Kobos African Clothiers, L’Enfant Café, Manoukian Brothers Oriental Rugs, Rumba Cafe,

Skynear, El Tamarindo, Toro Mata, Tryst Coffeehouse Bar & Lounge, and Meridian International Center.

The Adams Morgan “Roads to Diversity Heritage Trail” is another in the series

sponsored by Cultural Tourism DC, which has previously been responsible for five similar “trails,” including along U Street, downtown, the Hill, and Southwest. The next trails on the drawing boards will cover Shaw south of U Street and Mt. Pleasant. Funding is provided the city’s Department of Transportation, the Mayor’s Office for

Planning and Economic Development, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

For more information, visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org or call (202) 661-7581. ■

HERITAGE TRAILFrom p. 1

Photo—Library of Congress.

In 1922 the 10th Peoples Drug Store occupied the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road, where McDonalds is today.

photo—Nancy Shia.

The Adams School welcomed a diversity of students in the 1970s.

photo—Washingtoniana Division, Martin Luther King, Jr. Library.

Citizen action prevented the building of a gas station at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road in 1974.


Neighborhood Art Exhibits Not to MissBy Anthony L. Harvey

Provisions Library is one of Dupont Circle’s lesser-known treasures, and

among its many arts and progressive move-ment activities is a fine arts exhibition program that currently features an engaging and provocative body of work by West Coast collage artist Deborah Faye Lawrence. Provisions Library Director of Education Sita Reddy deftly defines Lawrence — who is known in her arts activist persona as “Dee Dee” — as “a feisty propagandist of the first order whose humor and irony makes her lovable and inspire us to share the role of creative change maker.” And indeed it is Lawrence’s artistic talent and deep humanism that draws us into her show, titled“Dee Dee Does Utopia,” which con-tinues through January 31.

Lawrence’s skillfully-constructed collage creations are densely composed, combin-ing entertaining surface satire with deeply thought visual narratives on the deadly and tragic gulf between the high, egalitarian ideals of American democracy and the sad realities of both the past and the present. Using cut-outs of ordinary objects, terrific crowd scenes, and contemporary persons from today’s glossy, slick magazines, as well as iconic art of political images ranging from the Virgin Mary to Jefferson’s Monticello

slave plantation, Lawrence visually probes and pricks into and beneath the surface of “received” American political and cultural history.

And in powerfully created “order out of chaos,” as collagists often describe their aes-thetic process, Lawrence draws the viewer into the underbelly of how domestic and internal economics actually work. Using serving trays and platter-like grounds to hold her imagery, “Dee Dee” both demys-tifies her art and adds a feminist riff to its presentation. In the four, small gallery and reading rooms in which her 31 works are on display, “Dee Dee” presents a whirlwind of ideas and assertions in compositions begin-ning with Texas Freedom Trail on view in the lobby through Shock and Awe Souvenir Tray, both works from 2003, and ending in the Library’s Blue Room with the show’s emblematic Exceptional Hoyden of 1995.

Deborah Faye Lawrence’s so-called pro-paganda collages are well-informed and warmly grounded in the brutal expressions of our time; they join a time-honored mod-ernistic tradition of using the visual arts to express both aesthetic and political ideas, often in the same compositions, hoping to halt the viewers in their emotional tracks.

■

“Dee Dee Does Utopia” at Provisions Library1611 Connecticut Ave., tel., 299-0460

Deborah F. Lawrence, “His Human Slave Tray,” 2004.

photo—missingkittentv, courtesy Phil Carney (Dupont Circle).

BORF No More!


FILMSMar 6-11 BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL WORLD TOUR – 7 PM

SERIES – MEMBERS: $72 / NONMEMBERS: $90 SINGLE TICKETS – MEMBERS: $16 / NONMEMBERS: $20

Mar 22 A LIFE AMONG WHALES (2006 EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE FILM AWARD)

with Roger Payne, Edward Wilson, Bill Haney, Daniela Maldini – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $10 / NONMEMBERS: $12

Mar 23 THE JUNGLE BEAT (ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL) with Adrian Cowell – 7 PMMEMBERS: $10 / NONMEMBERS: $12

Mar 24 THE TEA FILM (ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL)with Les Blank & Gina Leibrecht – 7 PMMEMBERS: $10 / NONMEMBERS: $12

Mar 25 ANIMATED ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL – 1 PMCHILDREN 12 AND UNDER: $6 / ADULTS: $8

ENJOY FREE FILMS EVERY TUESDAY AT NOON. Feb 7- May 16 (No film May 2)

SINGLE EVENTSJan 23 THE RHYTHM ROAD: AMERICAN MUSIC ABROAD PROGRAM with

Toni Blackman Hip-Hop Ensemble & Agora Latin Jazz Quartet – 6 PMFREE. NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.

Jan 30 THE RHYTHM ROAD: AMERICAN MUSIC ABROAD PROGRAM withGrupo Yanqui & Rhythmic Prophecies Latin Jazz Ensemble – 6 PMFREE. NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.

Feb 3 ROVERS OF THE RED PLANET with Kobie Boykins – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $8 / NONMEMBERS: $10 / CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER: $5

Feb 4 JASON EXPEDITION: MYSTERIES OF EARTH & MARS –10 AM, 11:30 AM, 1 PM, 2:30 PM / ALL TICKETS: $5

Feb 10 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GENGHIS KHAN with Gordon Wiltsie – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Feb 15 CHASING THE TORNADO with Tim Samaras – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Feb 21 SHADES OF GLORY: THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUESwith Lawrence Hogan & Stanley Glenn – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Feb 27 THE RHYTHM ROAD: AMERICAN MUSIC ABROAD PROGRAM withAlejandro Aviles Latin Jazz Quartet – 6 PMFREE. NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.

Mar 15 THE BELGIAN BEER DIASPORA with Michael Jackson – 7 PMMEMBERS: $55 / NONMEMBERS: $60 Must be 21 or older.Sponsored by Brickskeller and Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP)

Mar 17 ST. PATRICK’S DAY CONCERT with Danú – 7 AND 9 PMMEMBERS: $23 / NONMEMBERS: $27

Apr 11 THE MAYA MURAL OF SAN BARTOLO with William Saturno – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Apr 27 THE CHEESES OF ITALY with Steven Jenkins – 7 PMMEMBERS: $65 / NONMEMBERS: $70 Presented wtih Breadline & Best Cellars wine stores

May 6 RALPH’S WORLD with Ralph Covert – 12 AND 3 PMADULTS: $15 / CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER: $10

May 12 HAND DANCE PARTY with Smooth & EZ Hand Dance Institute – 7 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

FREE PARKING AVAILABLE for all evening (6 PM or later) and weekend programs.Advance reservation or ticket purchase required to enter the National Geographic garage.

SAVE ON TICKETS BY BECOMING A MEMBER! To receive the member price, tickets must be orderedby 4 PM on the day of the program you wish to attend. For morning programs, tickets must be ordered by 5 PM the previous day. For Saturday and Sunday programs, tickets must be ordered by 5 PM on the Friday before the event.

QUEST FOR ADVENTUREFeb 2 BEING CARIBOU with Karsten Heuer – 7:30 PM

Mar 14 ON THE RIDGE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATHwith David Roberts – 7:30 PM

Apr 6 HELISKIING IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIESwith Hans Gmoser – 7:30 PM

May 11 SECRETS OF THE SAVANNA with Mark & Delia Owens – 7:30 PM


MASTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHYFeb 1 TWO DECADES IN AFGHANISTAN with Reza – 7:30 PM

Feb 8 AMONG THE LUBAVITCHERS with Carolyn Drake – 7:30 PM

Mar 2 THE CELTIC REALM with Jim Richardson – 7:30 PM

Apr 25 KAMCHATKA TO THE IRRAWADDY with Steve Winter – 7:30 PM

May 9 EXTREME NATURE with Bill Curtsinger – 7:30 PM


EXPLORING JAPAN: GEISHA & BEYONDFeb 23 GEISHA: BEYOND THE PAINTED SMILE

with Andrew Maske – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Mar 3 GEISHA: AN ARTIST’S JOURNEY with Shizumi Manale – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $22 / NONMEMBERS: $26

Mar 31 GION BAYASHI – 7 PMMEMBERS: $7 / NONMEMBERS: $9

Apr 4 JAPANLAND with Karin Muller – 7:30 PMMEMBERS: $14 / NONMEMBERS: $17

Apr 5 THE GRAND SUSHI & SAKE TASTING – 7 PMALL TICKETS: $85 / Call 202-661-7585 for tickets / Must be 21 or older

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From the film The Tangerine Dream, Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

Photo: Adam Clark / TGR, Courtesy of The Banff Centre

From the film The Tangerine Dream, Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour

Photo: Adam Clark / TGR, Courtesy of The Banff Centre

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• The InTowner • January 2006The InTowner • January 2006The InTowner January 2006 • The InTowner • Page 13The InTowner • Page 13The InTowner

The stately Mayflower Hotel at 1127 Connecticut Avenue has played host to a large variety of prominent inter-

national figures, European royalty, U.S. presidents, and Hollywood stars. In 1942, it also housed a German spy named George John Dasch, who checked into room 351 on June 18 with the intention of a meeting with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to reveal his top-secret spy mission, coined Operation Pastorius -- so named after Franz Daniel Pastorius who had been a leader of the first group of Germans to arrive in America in 1683.

Dasch never met with Hoover, who unbeknown to him, lunched every day in the hotel’s dining room. Instead, Dash went to the FBI headquarters and was directed to meet with an FBI agent named Duane L. Traynor.

Dasch’s true story, revealed in detail over the next several days while under constant surveillance at the hotel, would eventually shock citizens all across the country. Dasch, a German-American citizen, had returned to Germany at the beginning of World War II, as did many people with allegiance to their “Fatherland.” He and seven others were then chosen by the Führer to participate in a sabotage train-ing school led by Walter Kapp, former propaganda chief of the German-American Bund, an American division of the German Nazi party. The training took place beginning in the fall of 1941 at a former farmhouse at Quenz Lake, west of Potsdam, Germany.

The intensive training consisted of laboratory studies in explosives, and creating a variety of simple delay detonat-ing switches using household goods such as Chile saltpeter and sawdust, or dried peas and cork. Dasch was eventually selected as a leader of a group of three other men, while a similar group was headed by a German-American named Edward Kerling. After additional physical training and tak-ing on aliases and tutoring in American slang, the eight men learned that they were to be sent to America to carry out their sabotage mission on factories, railroads, and bridges.

The two groups of four men would each be carried across the Atlantic Ocean beginning on May 28, 1942 in German U-boats, the notorious submarines that had hampered trans-atlantic travel for steamships for many years.

The trip would take 17 days in cramped quarters and rough seas. Dasch’s group, on U-202, would land ashore near the Hamptons on Long Island, while the other, aboard U-584, landed successfully at Ponte Vedra Beach, near Jacksonville, Florida. Dasch’s group used a rubber boat to get ashore from the U-boat, and quickly buried an array of explosives and sabotage materials, but were, by sheer accident, spotted by a Coast Guard patrolman who ques-tioned them before allowing them to walk away, having not caught on to their real purpose for being on that beach. Meanwhile, the U-boat had become stuck on a sandbar, and droned its die-sel engines until dawn in an attempt to drive itself off the sand, and did so before the Coast Guard could muster up any resistance along the unpopulated shore.

The saboteurs also carried with them huge amounts of U.S. currency, nearly $100,000 worth, to aid them in their mission. Dasch’s group headed to New York City, where they split up into two groups, and proceeded to buy clothes, stay in up-scale hotels, and visited many bordellos and bars. Kerling’s group went undetected at their landing, and proceeded to Chicago and then to New York, where they were to meet with Dasch to begin their assaults on American industry and transportation. Several members also visited their families and former mistresses, much to their surprise.

News of the botched Long Island landing was kept secret from the public, and Dasch was worried that the authorities would eventually track them down. So, he hatched a plan to betray his fellow conspirators and called the FBI from New York to request a meeting, thinking he would be hailed a hero for exposing the mission. They treated his call as a hoax, which brought Dasch to the Mayflower Hotel on June 18, 1942 with the intention of meeting in person with Hoover himself.

The FBI agent who did meet with Dasch first responded with trepidation, but as details were revealed, and accounts from the Coast Guard confirmed his actions, Dasch was followed in Washington constantly as he dined, visited bars, and enjoyed his last days of freedom. He eventually led the

FBI to the other seven sabo-teurs by revealing their pre-determined meeting places.

Dasch had been tricked into thinking that his guilty plea would save him from a trial and eventual execution. Hoover called a press con-ference in haste, and, with much fanfare, took credit for discovering the secret mis-sion. President Roosevelt called for a military tribunal to be held at the Justice Department building. Kenneth C. Royall of the War Department was cho-sen to serve as their defense attorney, and the tribunal began its proceedings on on July 6, 1942.

Royall briefly succeeded in interrupting the proceed-ing in an attempt to have it moved to the Supreme Court, which was denied by the Court after a brief hear-ing in which Hoover attend-ed. The prisoners were held in the empty women’s sec-tion of the DC Jail, then located in Southwest DC. The tribunal saw to it that only limited and controlled press releases were available

to the public on the details of the trial.All eight saboteurs, including Dasch, were found guilty

on August 2, 1942; the following day Roosevelt accepted the outcome, and sentenced six of them to death by electric chair. Dasch and a conspirator named Ernst Burger were

sentenced to long prison terms. However, both the result and execution were kept secret from the public. He assigned General Albert Cox to oversee the most dramatic mass execu-tion in American history since the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators.

On August 8, 1942, six of the convicted saboteurs were electrocuted to death at the DC Jail, in the chair nicknamed “old sparky,” in just over an hour’s time. The chair was kept in a niche above the prison dining room as a constant reminder to the prisoners. Reporters, still not told of the outcome or the planned execution, held vigil outside the prison and watched for a browning of lights, indicating that electricity was being directed to the chair.

It was only later that day, at 1:27 p.m., as the White House Press Secretary Steve Early read from a typewritten sheet the outcome of the tribunal, as well as the executions already carried out, that the public learned of the prisoner’s deaths. Their bodies were buried in secret on the evening of August 11th on the southernmost tip of the District, in a pauper’s gravesite near Blue Plains waste water treatment center. They were marked with wooden markers, noted with num-

bers 276 to 281.Dasch and Burger were eventually sent to a federal peni-

tentiary in Atlanta. In January 1945, prisoners threatened to throw Dasch off the roof during an uprising, unless their demands were met. President Truman pardoned Dasch and Burger in April of 1948, and both were deported to a then devastated Germany. Dasch escaped into the Russian zone in October of that year, and Burger wrote a letter to Hoover requesting a return to a U.S. prison, where food and housing were plentiful. Dasch published his account of Operation Pastorius in a 1959 book, Eight Spies Against America; he died in Germany in 1992. Burger had died earlier, in 1962.

--Paul Kelsey WilliamsHistoric Preservation Specialist

Kelsey & Associates, Washington, DC

Copyright (c) 2005 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Paul Kelsey Williams. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Scenes from the Past...

photos—National Archives Annex, College Park, Maryland.

This FBI mugshot of George Dasch, above, was taken on June 25, 1942.

Edward Kerling, seen below in his FBI mugshot, was the leader of the second group that landed in Florida.

The Mayflower Hotel where its most infamous guest, German-American sabateur George John Dasch, stayed in 1942.

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ing—

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hing

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ana

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ision

, Mar

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ing,

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ary.

photo—National Archives Annex, College Park, Maryland.

Seen here are then FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover (right) and his aide and companion entering the Supreme Court for the appeal by Dasch’s legal counsel seeking to have the proceeding transferred from the military tribunal.

photo—National Archives Annex, College Park, Maryland.

Shown here are some of the boxes recovered from the beaches that contained sabotage materials and explosives.

photos—National Archives Annex, College Park, Maryland.

After Dasch’s confession in an attempt to seek asylum, all eight of the sabateurs were subject to a military tribunal in Washington, seen above, where six of them were sentenced to death.

Seen below are the guards at the DC Jail guarding the removal of the bodies of the six men who were electrocuted almost immediately follow-ing their trial.


CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART

17th Street & New York Avenue, NWtel., 639-1700; www.corcoran.org

$8, adults; $6 seniors; $4 students*Wed.-Sun., 10am-5pm; Thu. to 9pm

“Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective,” the exhibition now (but soon to close) at the Corcoran, is a

genuinely heartwarming Washington art narrative and home town celebration. Featuring 45 paintings, wall hangings, and mixed-media sculp-tural works from all of the artist’s major periods of work and handsomely installed in the Gallery’s main exhibition halls, this retrospective allows both the first-time viewer -- and those long-acquainted with Sam Gilliam’s art -— ample opportunity to experience the excitement of his “make it new” a c c o m p l i s h -ments and the reassurance displayed of the steady, p r o d u c t i v e and constantly maturing styles and the many traditions drawn from by the artist during a remarkable career already span-ning five decades.

Sam Gilliam had the great good fortune of landing in Washington during its “salad days” of enthusiasm and sup-port for contemporary art. He attracted such stalwart champions in the early and mid-1960s as museum curator and irrepressibly enthusiastic art promoter Walter Hopps. The Phillips Collection gave him an acclaimed 1968 solo exhibition,

all on the basis of terrific early work. This work, consisting of his beveled-edge abstract expressionists work, hard-edge geometric compositions, and Washington color school art, was all done well before Gilliam created his renowned draped and hung paintings, which were first shown by the Corcoran in his ground-breaking 1969 solo exhibition.

These draped and hung works achieved Gilliam’s objectives of taking his paintings out of their frames and off of their stretch-ers, treating them instead like gaily painted abstract sculptures functioning as architec-tural elements in wonderful, total instal-lations. And however one responds to his later masterworks, and they are many and

very different, his thoughtfulness, artis-tic skills, and desire to relate

directly on at least some basic level to that of their view-

ers always shines through.

A beautifully illus-trated exhibition catalog accompa-nies this impor-tant show, which is the artist’s first r e t r o s p e c t i v e and the largest to date single display of his work. Jonathan P. Binstock, the Corcoran’s Curator of

Contemporary Art, organized this

fine show and is the author of the invaluable accom-

panying catalog, one which documents with

extraordinary information and insight this artist and the Washington that has

provided him with his nur-turing opportunities.“Sam Gilliam: A Retrospec-

tive” represents the Corcoran Gallery of Art at its best. The exhibition continues only through Sunday, January 22, 2006. ■

Sam Gilliam, “Light Depth,” 1969.

At the MuseumsBy Anthony L. Harvey

genuinely heartwarming Washington art narrative and home town celebration. Featuring 45 paintings, wall hangings, and mixed-media sculp-tural works from all of the artist’s major periods of work and handsomely installed in the Gallery’s main exhibition halls, this retrospective allows both the first-time viewer -- and those long-acquainted with Sam Gilliam’s art -— ample opportunity to experience the excitement of his “make it new” a c c o m p l i s h -ments and the reassurance displayed of the steady, p r o d u c t i v e and constantly maturing styles and the many traditions drawn from by the artist during a remarkable career already span-ning five decades.

Sam Gilliam had the great good fortune of landing in Washington during its “salad days” of enthusiasm and sup-port for contemporary art. He attracted such stalwart champions in

abstract sculptures functioning as architec-tural elements in wonderful, total instal-lations. And however one responds to his later masterworks, and they are many and

very different, his thoughtfulness, artis-tic skills, and desire to relate

directly on at least some basic level to that of their view-

ers always shines through.

A beautifully illus-trated exhibition catalog accompa-nies this impor-tant show, which is the artist’s first r e t r o s p e c t i v e and the largest to date single display of his work. Jonathan P. Binstock, the Corcoran’s Curator of

Contemporary Art, organized this

fine show and is the author of the invaluable accom-

panying catalog, one which documents with

extraordinary information and insight this artist and the Washington that has

provided him with his nur-turing opportunities.“Sam Gilliam: A Retrospec-

Sam Gilliam, “All Cats Are Grey at Night,” 1996

Sam Gilliam, “Red,” 1999

Sam Gilliam, “A and the Kitty,” 1998.

January 2006 • The InTowner • Page 15

At the MuseumsBy Anthony L. Harvey

WALTERS ART MUSEUM600 N. Charles St., Baltimore

tel., 410-547-9000; www.thewalters.org

Wednesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm$10, adults; $8, seniors;

$6, students (18-25); $2, under 17

“Sacred Arts and City Life: The Glory of Medieval Novgorod,” continues

the remarkable series of exhibitions at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum that fea-ture icons, religious regalia, illuminated manuscripts, and related secular art and artifacts from the glorious realms of Russian, Greek, and Middle Eastern religious and imperial traditions. And with this exhibition the Walters draws once again from the rich store of what became the quintessentially distinctive Russian art and architecture -- that which was forged in the monasteries, workshops, studios, and architectural prac-tices of 10th to 15th century Novgorad.

Novgorad lies in the heart of European Russia, midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow at the head of the Volkhov river, a strategic site connecting the river traffic of the Dneiper and the Volga rivers with that of the Black Sea and the Baltic. Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes founded Novgorad

in the 8th and 9th centuries, inviting the Varangian Prince Rurik to be their warrior prince in 862. Novgorad’s native inhabit-ants, however, maintained political and eco-nomic control, eventually creating an early republican form of political rule dominated by the increasingly successful merchants and traders of the town.

With the adoption of Christianity -- the Byzantine tradition -- in the 10th and 11th centuries, Novgoradians began construc-tion of their great cathedrals and monas-tery churches. “Voklhov” limestone and the wood of Novgorad’s surrounding forests pro-vided the town’s ample supply of building materials and the talents and traditions of folk and pagan art provided the artisans and craftsman for this next phase of Novgorad’s cultural greatness.

The exhibition and catalog beautifully capture -- in both current and historical photographs -- Novgorad’s brilliant adapta-tion of Byzantine and Kievan building forms to the snows, marshes, and dense forests of central Russia. The onion domes, the tall cylindrical bell towers and cupolas, and the elegantly simplified and white-washed building façades are a marvel, as are the light, colors, and powerful imagery of the icons, icon screens, and wall hangings that

SACKLER GALLERY OF ASIAN ART

Independence Ave. at 10th St., SW;info, 357-2700 / Daily, 10am-5:30pm

The stars in the Islamic firmament of the Sackler’s stunning exhibition,

remaining on view only through Sunday, January 22,“Style and Status: Imperial Costumes from Ottoman Turkey,” are the royal robes -- called kaftans -- which were worn only by the Sultan and members of his immediate family, and the garments made for courtiers, successful warriors, important visitors, and the chasubles and copes made in Turkey for high-rank-ing clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church. The lush beauty of these bril-liantly colored archaic garments, their ingenious patterns and designs, and the consummate craftsmanship evident in their creation all come together to create an astonishing gem of a small show.

“Style and status” contains 68 objects primarily drawn from the rich collec-tions of the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, which is the largest reposi-tory of Islamic textiles in the world, and those of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the Mevlana Museum in Konya, Turkey. These robes and regalias are made from cloth ranging from lush velvets, silk satins, brocades and appliqués, and gold and silver threads. Imperial designs overlay floral and geo-metric arabesques in both blinding color and quiet restraint. Sumptuous kaftans range in colors from juxtaposed reds and creams to elegantly muted blacks and tans. The amplitude of artistic imagina-tion and craftsmanship in these creations is truly regal.

A somewhat quirky but beautifully printed soft-cover pamphlet-style illus-trated publication accompanies the show, which will close on January 22.

■

Satin robe with inlaid appliqué design, Turkey (ca. 17th cent.). On loan from Topkapi Museum, Istanbul.

Archangel Gabriel, second half of the 15th century, tempera on woodCont., MUSEUMS, p. 16


Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits

(Recently closed at Smithsonian’s International Gallery

Last month’s review of this exhibition which appeared in this space last month unfortunately fell victim to a production gremlin causing the greater part of

the final two paragraphs to be omitted. Readers who were reading on page 17 were left with the impression that the review concluded at the bottom of column four. In the interests of completeness, and also to offer the missing portion, the final two paragraphs as should have been seen are reproduced here. (The entire December issue is available in our back issues archive, at www.intowner.com.)

h h h h h h h h h hThe melding of indigenous and catholic traditions during the Independence

period are poignantly expressed in such images as that of an alter piece painting by Hermanegildo Bustos in the form of a Spanish ex-voto, one which was com-missioned by Pedro de la Rosa in thanksgiving to “The lord of the Column.” Its emotional and painterly beauty is breathtaking. And while the three great Mexican muralists are all included in the Modern Period -- Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco -- they do not in any way overwhelm this part of the exhibition, Indeed, Diego Rivera’s cover girl portrait of Elisa Saldivar de Gutierrez Roldas, the beautiful wife of a Mexican mining magnate is followed to great effect by a later and brilliantly severe portrait by Rufino Tamyo, the great painter born a Zapotec Indian born in the Mexican state of Oxaca.

This wonderful show’s portraits from the modern and contemporary periods contain dazzling paintings, sculptures, and photographs, concluding with three especially enchanting works: Temptations (1992) by Arnaldo Roche-Rabell; The Mask (1993) by Angel Rodriguez-Diaz; and Nahum Zenil’s 1991 Frida of My Heart. “Retratos” is a traveling museum of masterpieces. Its co-curators, Carolyn Kinder Carr and Miguel A. Bretos of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, are also among the distinguished essayists who have created an exhibition catalog of the same high caliber as that of the show. ■

decorated the interiors of these masterful buildings.

As distinct from the Byzantine icon tra-dition, Novgoradian icons are larger and project a less complex central image, with figurative forms more identified by angular lines and with faces fully modeled and pow-erfully individuated. Novgorad pioneered the creation of the icon screen, developing a pictorial composition of from three to five rows of separate icon panels, tiered one above the other and depicting individual saints, biblical scenes, and majestic pres-ences of the Devine.

These icon screens astonish with their equal success as individual panel paint-ings and as composite parts of much larger compositions. It this later capability that became critical to the effectiveness of the icon screen’s role as a separating wall in the Russian Orthodox Church between the clergy and the congregation during the cel-ebration of the Mass. Other artistic forms, notably Novgoradian, include their bio-graphical icons, where scenes from the life

of a saint or that of a local hero are depicted in small icon paintings that surround the central image; others of extraordinary power are composed in stacked narrative levels depicting historical events and miraculous interventions; The Miracle of the Icon of the Sign at the Battle of the Novgoradians and the Suzdalians is a marvelous example.

The exhibition contains 288 objects from the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg and the Novgorad State Museum. These objects celebrate the arts and crafts of a vibrant medieval urban culture, one that supported over 150 artisan workshops and launched an artistic and architectural tradi-tion that spread throughout Russia. This fine exhibition, which echoes the choice and catholic collections of the Walters Art Museum itself, many of which have just been beautifully reinstalled, is accompa-nied by an ideal scholarly catalog, informa-tive and beautifully printed, whose volume editor, Griff Mann, also served as the exhi-bition’s curator.

Continuing through February 12. To be able to view in person the famous 15th cen-tury icon of Saint George and the Dragon would, itself, be reason enough to make the short trip up to Baltimore. ■

MUSEUMSFrom p. 15

St. George and the Dragon, second half of the 15th century, tempera on wood

See pdf archive at www.intowner.com for over 3 years of past issues

Fernando Botero, (Columbian, b. 1932), “Joachim Jean Aberbach y su Familia,” (1970).


Alexandra Greeley’s reviews archived at www.intowner.com

Food in the ‘HoodBy Joel Denker

WILL RETURN NEXT ISSUE Editor’s Note: The writer, a former Peace Corp volunteer in Africa many years ago, is the author of Capital Flavors: Exploring Washington’s Ethnic Restaurants (1988, Seven Locks Press), which evolved from his series in this newspaper over a decade ago, known then as “The Ethnic Bazaar.” In addition, in June 2003, his The World on a Plate: A Tour Through the History of America’s Ethnic Cuisines was published by Westview Press (www. westviewpress.com), in which part of one chapter was drawn from articles that originally had appeared in this space.

Queries, comments, suggestions can be sent to [email protected].

RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDEDBy Alexandra Greeley*

DUKEM AND ETETESome Like it Hot

Christopher Columbus may well have been the very first European to dis-

cover the pleasures and pain of chilies. It is even suggested that he may have been the first one to cook up a venomously hot pepper sauce, myth though that be. But all chili fanatics owe Columbus a debt of gratitude: From him and others, of course — the world outside of the Americas gradu-ally became addicted to that explosively hot chili taste now used almost universally to perk up bland foods.

Among the world of clever chili cooks, Ethiopians can proudly take their place, because they have devised a repertoire of chili-laden dishes that can take on all chal-lengers. And if you are really, really hooked on the delicious slow burn, you might head directly to U Street’s Dukem Restaurant, an area favorite that commands a corner site at 12th Street and with an entrance on U Street, a separate Ethiopian market that sells injera bread (the traditionally spongy flat bread that serves as plate, food, and utensil), CDs, charcoal, newspapers, tea, spices, and take-out orders.

But once you are inside the restaurant, take time to read through the very extensive menu, with a show of dishes that should give you a fair understanding of much of how Ethiopians eat -- everything from a beef tibs to a kwanta fitfit to a melassena senber, and lots in between. For the uninitiated, and that probably includes the majority of non-Ethiopians, be sure to ask for guidance. The chili quotient of some dishes can be a minefield of fire.

That settled, and feeling comfortable ordering a 6,000-volt meal, be sure to ask for the spicy version of the lamb wot, a stew of lamb cubes served in a sauce that is almost as dark as chocolate. And don’t be fooled for one minute if your first several bites seem oddly bland. Without warning, the burn sets in; you may think, “Oh, Lord, I’m having a heart attack,” when it’s merely the way certain chilies affect your palate and esophagus. And you’ll need plenty of cold liquids — beer, soda, water — to tamp down the sting.

And then, it all smoothes out. Your extra piece of injera is gone, and you are working on the large injera circle that serves as plate. The waitress may offer you more injera, and you decide that your best bet is to get a take-out order so you can prolong the pleasure/pain at home. Let me suggest the beef tibs, just as fiery, but in a different way and in a sauce that seems slightly more acidic.

From an uninitiated viewpoint, I’d say this food seems really authentic — at least, it has enough flavor to carry through until

the next day. But instead of a scoop of salad, the kitchen should serve their dishes with the more typical ladleful of cooked veggies. And…why not use the very colorful woven-basket tables many Ethiopian restaurants use?

For a totally different experience, you can saunter on down to 9th and U, turn right, and go to Etete, a very sleek, up-scale ver-sion of an Ethiopian restaurant completely without any native trappings. Indeed, with its slick bar and up-scale décor, you may think you’ve wandered into a downtown DC hot spot.

The menu is considerably shorter, too, but offers at least one dish not always avail-able at Dukem: azifa. This is a marvelous lentil salad composed of cooked and par-tially mashed lentils stirred with chopped chilies, lime juice, and a daub of Ethiopian mustard. It’s delicious, and an example of how lentils can become totally addictive legumes.

We also ordered a vegetarian entrée — the waitress brought us a combination of various cooked vegetables served on the injera — and a serving of doro wot, the fabled chicken stew usually made with drumsticks; this is satisfyingly hot, though not at the same BTUs as Dukem’s lamb wot. The menu also features several pasta dishes; we didn’t ask, but are these Ethiopian?

Anyway, Ethiopian cooking thrives along the U Street corridor, and the interested could probably take on an eating explora-tion of the various outlets there. Maybe Ethiopian cooking will be the next Thai food; at least, for chileheads, it is already a significant hit. ■

Dukem Restaurant, 1114-1118 U St., NW; tel., 667-8735. Hours: daily, 11am-3am. Major credit cards. (Frequent nighttime entertainment; call for schedule.)

Etete Ethiopian Cuisine, 1942-9th St., NW; 232-7600. Hours: daily, 11am-1am. Major credit cards.

Copyright (c) 2006 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Alexandra Greeley. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without per-mission is prohibited.

Alexandra Greeley is a food writer, editor, and restaurant reviewer. She has authored books on Asian and Mexican cuisines published by Simon & Schuster, Doubleday, and Macmillan. Other credits include restaurant reviews and food articles for national and regional publications, as well as former editor of the Vegetarian Times and former food editor/writer for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong.

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Adams Morgan• 11/30: Approved “Voluntary Agreement”

between Class CT (tavern) licensee Anzu (2436-18th St.), ANC 1C and the Kalorama Citizens Association (KCA) in connection with licensee’s application to change from a CR to CT establishment, deemed a “substantial change” applica-tion. Multiple provisions address license’s continuing efforts to sell and serve food, a matter of concern to the ANC and com-munity. Also included are provisions related to concerns over noise, garbage removal, and that the establishment would not par-ticipate in bar or pub crawl events or tours.

• 12/14: Dismissed substantial change application request of Class CR licensee Bukom Café 2442-18th St.) due to the licensee’s failure to appear at the scheduled 12/14/ status hearing.

• 11/30: Approved request of Class CR licenee Fasika’s (2447-18th St.) to place its license in safekeeping through 6/30/06.

June 30, 2006.

• 12/14: Continued its Show Cause hear-ing on the matter of Class CT licensee Timheri International (2439-18th St.) involving charges related to alleged inci-

dences of violence at the establishment, violations of noise control provisions, and violations of various provisions of their coop-erative agreement with ANC 1C the KCA. The Show Cause hearing will continue on 1/25/06.

Cardozo/Shaw• 11/9: Accepted a joint Offer in

Compromise and Settlement in the mat-ter of Class CT licensee Etete Ethiopian Cuisine (1942-9th St.) and the Office of the DC Attorney General by which licensee is to pay a $500 fine within 10 days, as a result of licensee’s failure to obtain Board approv-al for a substantial change in its operations which has occurred on Oct. 31, 2004.

• 12/7: Reinstated the protest filed by ANC 1B regarding the application by Class CR license Duffy’s Irish Restaurant (2106 Vt. Ave.), and ordered the parties to media-tion, with a tentatively scheduled protest hearing on 1/25/06.

• 11/16: Voted to summarily suspend the license of Class CN (nightclub) Kili’s Café(2009-8th St.) due to alleged incidences of violence which have occurred in the vicin-ity of the establishment, and for the license to remain in suspension until further action by the Board.

• 11/9: Denied application of Class CR (restaurant) licensee Queen of Sheba 1503-9th St.) pursuant to Sec. 25-314 of the DC Code which stipulates that “no license shall be issued for any establishment within 400 feet of a public, private, or parochial pri-mary, elementary, or high school; college or university; or recreation area operated by the D.C. Department of Recreation.” An ABRA investigation determined the establishment was within 400 feet of an elementary school. Although Sec. 25-315 does provide an excep-tion if “there exists within 400 feet a cur-rently-functioning establishment holding a license of the same class at the time that the new application is submitted,” in this case, since there was not a pre-existing license of this class meeting that standard, the appli-cant could not qualify for the exception.

• 11/30: Conducted a roll call hearing on the new application by Class CT licensee Vegetate to be located at 1414-9th St. In light of the various issues raised by protes-tants to the license, a fact-finding hearing on the matter was set for 1/1106.

• 12/14: Scheduled a status hearing for 2/1/06 to consider application by Class B (retail) licensee Yegnd (1920-9th St.) which has been protested by ANC 1B, a group of six neighboring residents, and the Westminster Neighborhood Association.

Dupont North• 11/30: Accepted a joint Offer in

Compromise and Settlement in the matter of Class CR licensee Caravan Grill (1825-18th St.) and the Office of the DC Attorney General by which licensee is to pay a $1,250 fine within 60 days as a result of its licensee’s failure to obtain Board approval for a substantial change in its operation, namely operating a summer patio in the rear of the first floor which was documented by a May 11, 2005 ABRA investigation.

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David Pursglove Team writes to your needs

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Alcoholic Beverage Control BoardRecent Actions/Decisions Entered

(ABC Board did not meet on Nov. 23 nor on Dec. 21 & 28)

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See the last

issue on our

website:

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IF NO AREA CODE PHONE NUMBER IS

D.C.—i.e., (202)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DC WRITERS WAY winter Capitol Hill & Adams Morgan creative writing workshops begin Jan. 22! Enroll now! www.dcwritersway.org. (202) 232-8622.

DC WRITERS WAY creative writ-ing workshops Enroll now! www.dcwritersway.org. [38-6:12]

BUSINESS SERVICES

WEB SITE CONTENT—Exciting, Effective: David Pursglove, Food, Drink, Hospitality writer, editor, publisher—Major dailies (Post, Star, Times, others); magazines (Washingtonian, Readers Digest, many others); Internet, WGMS-FM, UPI Radio Network; Military Affairs, Intelligence. Food and Drink-related Espionage thrillers: One episode per week on your web site keeps your audience return-ing for latest episode, keeps your audience talking about your site. Examples at www.ClassActBooks.com. Tel., (202) 244-3686; email, [email protected]. [0-0-0]

CHILD CARE

NANNY—Looking for Nanny, M-F, Unit block of “U” St. 299.9549. [37-7:1]

COMPUTER SERVICES

COMPUTER SERVICES. Problem with your PC or Network? Computer Systems Engineer will come to you with help. Home Business. Call: D. Guisset, (301) 270-4848. [38-1:12]

INSTRUCTION / MUSIC

THE MUSICAL SOURCE, Inc. now offers Piano Lessons for all ages and all levels. Fun - Flexible - Professional - Affordable. Only few blocks from Dupont/Logan Circles. [email protected]; (202) 387-7401, ext.18. [37-9:4]

MISC. SERVICES

YOUR HOUSE RESEARCHED. Do you know your house or building history? You should! We research the architects, build-ers, and owners associated with your house; when it was built, how it changed, who lived there, and where they worked. Detailed chronological text and vintage photos presented now in color! Free estimate! Contact Kelsey & Associates, “The House History People” at (202) 462-3389 or at [email protected], or visit us at www.washingtonhis-tory.com. [0-0-0]

MOVING SERVICES

[38-3:12](301) 699-2066

PETS

PUPPIES FOR SALE. www. ePetsAndSupplies.com. Shih Tzus, Chihuahuas, Boston Terriers. All registered, healthy. (703) 989-7513. [37-10:6]

FOR SALE

COMPUTER — Free $1,000 upgrades! No strip-downs; com-plete! $200. (703) 751-2162. [37-7:1

FOR SALE

4, 8X5’ VALLEY COUGAR pool tables for sale. Single slate, com-mercial coin-operated. Very good condition. $1,500 each; deal on purchase of all four. NW DC. (202) 483-9390. [37-7:1]

REAL ESTATE SERVICES

PHILADELPHIA REAL ESTATELuxury homes & condomini-ums. Moving to Philadelphia or Investing? Please call James Labonski, Realtor & former Washingtonian. (215) 521-1552 or (215) 783-2832. Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors. [37-9:6]

HOUSE RESEARCHED. Do you know the house or building’s his-tory? We research the architects, builders, and owners associated with the property; when it was built, how it changed, who lived there, and where they worked. Detailed chronological text and vintage photos presented now in color! Great marketing tool for sellers! Prepared at reasonable prices by historic preservation professionals. For more info and free esti-mate, contact Kelsey & Associates, “The House History People,” at (202) 462-3389 or at [email protected], or visit us at www.washingtonhistory.com. [0-0-0]

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INSTRUCTIONS & RATES All straight line ads appear on our web site in addition to being published in the print edition. The cost for these is as follows:$5.00 minimum charge for up to 10 words and 50¢ per word thereafter, whether business or non-business ads. The same rate applies to nonprofit organizations. Phone numbers, e-mail addresses (and URLs) as well as abbreviations count as single words. All-capitalized and/or bold-faced words are charged at the rate of 75¢ each—except that the first 2 or 3 words of each ad are automatically set as all-caps bold at no extra charge. Thus, when composing your ad, it should be written so that those first words clearly state the main selling point being emphasized.

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The InTowner reserves the right to edit for clarity and to use appropri-ate abbreviations if necessary to fit available space. The InTowner also reserves the right to reject or cancel any ad for any reason at its discre-tion. Neither the Intowner Publishing Corporation nor its publisher, editor, employees, or representatives can be responsible for content of any ad.

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Further, pursuant to policy adopted 8/6/03, The InTowner Publish-ing Corp. will no longer accept any “Work at Home” or similarly styled employment ads.

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“At Your Service” DirectoryHOME IMPROVEMENTS

PAINTING

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Strongly supported by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham and the Adams Morgan ANC, the supermarket project as presented was just as strongly opposed by the Reed-Cooke Neighborhood Association and residents living directly around the Kalorama Road Citadel site.

ANC Chair Alan Roth nonetheless pressed forward with a set of conditions, which the BZA adopted, as re-phrased by the applicant, to mitigate some of the expected adverse impacts of the project on the surrounding streets and affected residents.

Still startling to the ANC and the neighbors, however was the last-minute announcement by Harris Teeter at the Board’s November 29, 2005 public hearing which doubled their anticipated delivery truck traffic from 110 to 255 per week, plus daily newspaper deliveries. Inexplicably, the BZA incorporated the higher truck traf-fic estimates as one of the conditions of its approval.

Another condition imposed by the BZA was one recommended by the Mayor’s Office of Planning, namely that no cer-tificate of occupancy be granted to Harris Teeter until a traffic management plan has been agreed to by the city’s Department of Transportation (DDOT). This plan would include the consideration of converting several blocks of Kalorama Road and 17th Street to one-way traffic.

—Anthony L. Harvey

See Our Website For Links To Real Estate and Our

Other Advertisers

202.234.1784 x112

JOThis Realtor® IsNot Your Average Jo.

JO RICKSAssociate Broker, CBR, GRI

Specializing inWashington’s DowntownNeighborhoods Since 1980.Logan Circle Resident.

HARRIS TEETERFrom p. 1


SINGLE FAMILY HOUSES

135 Adams St. 546,0001931 Biltmore St. 1,570,000625 Columbia Rd. 354,0001129 Columbia Rd. 750,0002132 Flagler Pl. 340,000538 Harvard St. 240,000613 Harvard St. 395,0001469 Harvard St. (Rear) 299,0002018 Hillyer Pl. 1,900,0001102 Irving St. 589,0001652 Kalorama Rd. 593,0001848 Kalorama Rd. 1,800,0001205 Kenyon St. 600,0001003 Lamont St. 295,0001022 Lamont St. 369,000442 Luray Pl. 535,000449 M St. 510,000427 Manor Pl. 399,0001511 Marion St. 565,0001338 Meridian Pl. 525,0002126 N St. 1,050,0001229 O St. 830,0001513 Oak St. 590,0001827 Phelps Pl. 1,800,000429 Q St. 385,000701 Rock Creek Ch. Rd. 460,0001406 S St. 601,00066 Seaton Pl. 529,0001434 Spring Rd. 470,000502 T St. 685,0001112 T St. 610,0001116 T St. 699,0001211 T St. 775,0001341 Taylor St. 470,000143 U St. 522,100525 U St. 475,5001322 Upshur St. 560,0001333 V St. 600,0001517 Vermont Ave. 1,400,00041 W St. 672,00052 W St. 530,0001429 3d St. 563,5001839 6th St. 490,0002232 12th Pl. 550,0002239 12th Pl. 535,0003562 13th St. 789,0001601 15th St. 1,002,5003311 16th St. 965,0002017 19th St. 860,0001630B 19th St. 1,295,000

CONDOMINIUMS

2611 Adams Mill Rd. #106 Lynshire 307,0002630 Adams Mill Rd. #300 Adams Mill Hse. 489,5002630 Adams Mill Rd. #310 Adams Mill Hse. 395,0002032 Belmont Rd. #336 Valley Vista 275,0002032 Belmont Rd. #630 Valley Vista 260,0002123 California St. #C1 Brighton 875,0002127 California St. #807 649,9002138 California St. #406 Lonsdale 329,0001937 Calvert St. #C 389,0001855 Calvert St. #505 529,0001415 Chapin St. #101 358,0001417 Chapin St. #203 Denver 348,0001417 Chapin St. #403 Denver 370,0001439 Chapin St. #202 Mercury 459,0001401 Church St. #121 Lofts 14 465,0001401 Church St. #406 Lofts 14 499,9001445 Church St. #14 Rainbow Lofts 583,0001747 Church St. #6B Pebbleton 565,0001308 Clifton St. #114 Wardman Court 407,0001308 Clifton St. #116 Wardman Court 345,0001801 Clydesdale #718 Saxony 222,5001401 Columbia Rd. #112 Adams Court 217,0001880 Columbia Rd. #404 450,0001882 Columbia Rd. #102 929,9001882 Columbia Rd. #403 965,0002022 Columbia Rd. #114 Wyoming 1,075,0002022 Columbia Rd. #301 Wyoming 1,200,0001624 Corcoran St. #J 595,0001756 Corcoran St. #1B Corcoran Mews 310,5001319 Euclid St. #2 617,0001321 Fairmont St. #102 El Dorado 215,0001001 L St. #603 Quincy Park 530,0001651 Lamont St. #2 Chateauville 393,0001312 Massachusetts Ave. #710 Midtown 339,5001711 Massachusetts Ave. #415 BoSt.on House 307,5001711 Massachusetts Ave. #530 BoSt.on House 279,0001711 Massachusetts Ave. #629 BoSt.on House 265,0001727 Massachusetts Ave. #708 200,0001118 Monroe St. #2 Monroe 565,000

2101 N St. #303 Alexandra 339,0002301 N St. #604 Emerson House 799,0001420 N St. #801 Towne Terrace 369,0001330 New Hampshire Ave. #615 Apolline 599,0001725 New Hampshire Ave. #701 Hampshire Plaza 354,4001316 New Hampshire Ave. #705 Hampshire House 369,0002118 O #B 875,0001443 Oak St. #T1 Crescent II 349,9002432 Ontario Rd. #3 611,0001718 P St. #906 Webster House 429,0001718 P St. #915 Webster House 568,0002141 P St. #506 Dupont West 387,5001721 Q St. #G5 Harmony House 212,0001753 Q St. #F Dupont Row 449,9001423 R St. #400 Gladstone 343,0001429 R St. #A 639,0001433 R St. #4 Clift 1,007,50051 Randolph Pl. #401 Nebraska 285,5001424 Rhode Island Ave. #F Logan Loft 786,0001437 Rhode Island Ave. #711 Zenith 565,0001441 Rhode Island Ave. #506 449,0001441 Rhode Island Ave. #512 499,9001441 Rhode Island Ave. #911 458,0001900 S St. #3 305,0001433 S St. #1 Winfield 377,2721618 S St. #2 Lindsay 390,0001920 S St. #206 Chateau Thierry 311,2541920 S #801 Chateau Thierry 326,0001 Scott Cir. #703 General Scott 275,0001 Scott Cir. #804 General Scott 270,0001 Scott Cir. #809 General Scott 228,0002608 Sherman #101 Columbia Square 239,5001390 V St. #419 Langston Lofts 481,5002012 Wyoming Ave. #302 Wyoming Plaza 435,0002141 Wyoming Ave. #11 Chancellery 1,125,0001811 8th St. #2 Berkley 500,0002004 11th St. #135 Lincoln 359,0002004 11th St. #136 Lincoln 349,0002004 11th St. #137 Lincoln 482,0001306 12th St. #C 390,0001308 12th St. #D Downtown I & II 405,0002001 12th St. #218 Lincoln 535,0002001 12th St. #301 Lincoln 369,0001245 13th St. #213 Park Princess 335,5001245 13th St. #214 Park Princess 335,0001245 13th St. #710 Park Princess 355,0001720 13th St. #2 841,0002535 13th St. #302 Benjamin 384,0001715 15th St. #30 Bishop’s Gate 395,0001520 16th St. #201 Church Place 638,0001629 16th St. #1 Southerland 725,0001629 16th St. #2 Southerland 1,100,0001629 16th St. #3 Southerland 950,0001925 16th St. #401 Tiffany 345,0002440 16th St.. #512 Park Tower 375,0003039 16th St. #402 Zydeco Lofts 614,5001700 17th St. #507 Admiral Dupont 439,0001830 17th St. #504 Albemarle 364,0001545 18th St. #301 Dupont East 255,0001545 18th St. #505 Dupont East 335,0001601 18th St. #901 Imperial House 333,0001624 18th St. #C 925,0002305 18th St. #302 Gibraltar 399,0001301 20th St. #506 Lauren 327,0001301 20th St. #801 Lauren 260,0002410 20th St. #102 280,9001260 21St St. #200 Newport 245,0001280 21St St. #105 St. George 295,0001280 21St St. #309 St. George 480,0001407 21St St. #1407 Dupont Square 340,0001414 22nd St. #7 Dumbarton Place 549,9001414 22nd St. #8 Dumbarton Place 768,0001414 22nd St. #31 Dumbarton Place 1,232,0001414 22nd St. #34 Dumbarton Place 990,0001111 23rd St. #4A-South Ritz-Carlton 1,750,0001111 23rd St. #PentHse1A- Ritz-Carlton 1,900,000

COOPERATIVES

2801 Adams Mill Rd. #105 Clydesdale 279,9001860 California St. #102 231,0002122 California St. #153 Westmoreland 479,0001801 Clydesdale Pl. #718 Saxony 222,5001789 Lanier Pl. #22 Stafford 499,0002540 Massachusetts Ave. #209 625,0001869 Mintwood Pl. #22 494,0001835 Phelps Pl. #41 Woodward 321,5001526 17th St. #209 Cavanaugh Court 319,0002220 20th .. #63 Mendota 689,000

*Jo Ricks is Associate Broker at City Houses in Washington, DC. The sales shown here were handled by various agents from the many real estate brokerage firms actively working in the neighborhoods reported on by this newspaper.

Selected Recent Real Estate SalesPrepared for the InTowner by Jo Ricks*

Reporting Period: November 2005

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EQUAL HOUSINGO P P O R T U N I T Y

®REALTOR

streetscape improvements; and $95,000 for a full-time, permanent executive director and an office.

At the December meeting, blunt ques-tions were raised by Al Jarakovic over the matter of a full-time executive director already being on the payroll and by Pat Patrick about the 21-cents per $100 prop-erty tax add-on already being collected by the city. In subsequent conversations with The InTowner, new board member Patrick, a long-time Adams Morgan commercial real estate broker, vowed to work toward reducing the BID’s property tax assessment, which he noted will be passed on by the property owners to the business proprietors themselves, from 21-cents to somewhere in the range of 10- to 14-cents as charged in the city’s other BIDS. He also advocates reducing from full- to part-time the position of executive director.

Also of concern is that the $246,000 estimated tax revenue may be a low fig-ure given that property values in Adams Morgan continue to rise dramatically; fur-ther, that not all commercial properties may be properly designated in the current DC Department of Tax and Revenue prop-erty rolls, especially residential apartment buildings with street level retail establish-ments. In reviewing maps and lists pre-pared by the department and the Mayor’s Office of Planning, and in discussions with the BID interim executive director Josh Gibson, several properties were identified for further investigation. These include 1841 Columbia Road and 1801 Wyoming Avenue. These discrepancies could call into question certain the BID memberships of certain business owners.

The BID’s interim management plan has raised questions about overlap with projects and initiatives already underway by other entities. Among those very ambitious com-munity improvement projects that the BID would be squarely placed in the middle of are, notably, the Adams Morgan Main Street and the Latino Economic Development Corporation’s sidewalk, streetscape, and façade improvement programs; the city’s Department of Transportation’s even more ambitions 18th Street and Columbia Road traffic, pedestrian and safety improvement, sidewalk, streetscape, and intersection beau-tification proposal, which directly parallels the commercial corridors of the BID; and the increased staffing and vigilance of the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Third District presence in Adams Morgan.

Councilmember Graham sees a very positive outcome possible with the BID coming into existence at the same time as these other directly related efforts. Graham observes that all of this planned and on-going activity presents a golden opportunity to the Adams Morgan BID to finish off the picture of vitally needed public service enhancements. The council member, who assured The InTowner that he will continue to be active with the BID, is urging it to use its resources on two activities: first, to fur-ther clean the streets and sidewalks within its coverage area and, secondly, to provide additional early morning, week-end police presence in the neighborhood when the bars and restaurants are letting out. This, Graham asserted, should be done using off-duty uniformed MPD police officers on a reimbursable basis. As a business entity cre-ated by public law, and receiving monthly tax proceeds collected by the Office of Tax and Revenue, Graham finds this to be an ideally appropriate plan of attack for the BID’s public safety efforts. ■

ADAMS MORGANFrom p. 9

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theintowner · resume next month. parts 1-4 (sep.-dec.) can be read in their entirety by visiting...

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