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99 M ('18)
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909 New Jersey Ave. ('09)
55 M ('09)
100 M ('08)
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70/100 I ('08)
Nationals Park ('08)
Seniors Bldg Demo ('07)
400 M ('07)
Douglass Bridge Fix ('07)
US DOT HQ ('07)
20 M ('07)
Capper Seniors 1 ('06)
Capitol Hill Tower ('06)
Courtyard/Marriott ('06)
Marine Barracks ('04)
 
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During my poking around on the DC Office of Cable Television web site recently, I discovered that many of the groundbreakings and other events in Near Southeast this year that have been broadcast on the city's cable channel 16 are also available On Demand; the same goes for council hearings, available on Channel 13's On Demand page. (I kinda sorta knew that the On Demand stuff was there, but when I checked it many moons ago, it didn't seem quite so complete, so I hadn't looked back in on it for a while.)
So if you've missed any of the following four-star telecasts from 2007, you can watch them at your leisure:
* The July bill-signing ceremony at the Earth Conservations Corps pumphouse where the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and the National Capital Revitalization Corporation were officially abolished;
* JPI's June "groundbreaking" for its four projects along I Street ("Capitol Yards");
* The January groundbreaking marking the start of the Navy Yard Metro renovation and Monument's Half Street project;
* And pretty much any ceremony anywhere in the city the mayor was at since the beginning of the year, plus a lot of other presentations and events. (Be sure not to miss the Reporters' Roundtable "Snitching Debate.") Check the dropdown boxes on the On Demand page for the offerings. I've added the above links to all of the various project pages in case you're desperate to find them again someday.
Two of the most recent shindigs haven't gotten added to the lineup yet--the Oct. 22 kickoff ceremony for the Capitol Riverfront BID (in which you can find out where the "Traveling Roadshow" moniker originated), and the mayor's remarks at the Nov. 13 turf unveiling at the ballpark. Ditto with the Waterside Mall Demolition program, which is currently playing on Channel 16 but hasn't yet made it to On Demand. But perhaps they'll show up eventually.
 

A reminder for those who might be interested that tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 16) at 10 am is the City Council Committee on Public Works and the Environment hearing on "Major Bridge Construction Projects in the District," which will no doubt include discussions of the 11th Street Bridges, the 14th Street Bridge, and probably the Douglass Bridge. It can be watched live on DC Cable 13 or via streaming video, and will be archived on the Office of Cable Television web site for later on-demand showings. I'll be watching it and will report back on any Near Southeast-specific news that comes out of it. I'm guessing that among the public witnesses will be representatives of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens of Eastern Washington, who have been raising questions about the various road and bridge projects planned along the Anacostia, including advocating that a new "traffic mobility study" be undertaken. (Here's their flyer and a copy of a letter to Mayor Fenty they sent back in August.)
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During the five minutes it was sunny this afternoon, I managed to get some updated photos of the demolition at old Capper Seniors, where the work is still concentrated on the western side of the building. Within the past day or two the wrecking ball has sliced a hole in the main portion of the building, leaving the old southwest wing standing alone and temporarily making the tower into two buildings. Soon they'll be starting on the still-bricked elevator shaft in the center of the building on the north side. (I wouldn't park my car too close to there for the next few days.) Check the Expanded Project Archive if you want more angles of the progress, though they didn't all get updated today. And remember to click on the Click to see all available photos of this location. icon to see all the photos in the archive from a vantage point--the progression of shots looking south at the building from across L Street are pretty intriguing. They've gotten a lot done in eight days....
 

Word has just come out from DDOT that there will be lane closures on the Douglass Bridge this weekend, weather permitting: "Two inbound lanes on the bridge will be closed to traffic from 7 a.m. on Saturday, November 17 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 18. [and] Two inbound lanes on the bridge will be closed to traffic from 7 a.m. on Saturday, November 17 until 5 p.m. on Sunday, November 18." The advisory also says that the outbound sidewalk will now be closed for repair, and the the inbound sidewalk will now be opened to pedestrians and bicycles, which makes me really happy because now I'll finally get back some of my photo perches that have been inaccessible since late June.
 

Nov 14, 2007 10:21 PM
The draft agenda for tomorrow's (Nov. 15) monthly meeting of the Commission on Fine Arts indicates that there will be a presentation of a revised design for Diamond Teague Park. The city initially brought the park in front of the CFA back in September, where according to the meeting's minutes the design was met with a number of concerns about its "fussy and timid" small-scale design when compared to the grand scope of the ballpark across the street; it was described as "overly focused on small elements that are conceptually inappropriate within the large-scale context." (And I'm not sure that the landscape architect's response that the grand staircase of the ballpark should be reduced in size in order for it to better relate to this new smaller park was the best reply.) A post-meeting letter from the CFA after the meeting outlined the revisions the commission was seeking.
I suggest reading the CFA minutes, which give a very detailed description of the initial plans for the park as well as the back-and-forth between the commissioners, Judi Greenberg of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and landscape architect Jonathan Fitch; you can look at these original park designs on the web site of Fitch's Landscape Architecture Bureau, by navigating through all the Flash ridiculousness to Projects, then Green, then Diamond Teague.
According to the minutes, the plans are to build the park in three phases, starting with the commercial and recreational piers and the central portion of the park (on the one section of land the city currently owns); later phases would be dependent on Florida Rock's development of its planned public plaza abutting Teague Park and the development of the southern portion of the WASA site as well as the construction of a floating boardwalk to connect the park to the waterfront park at The Yards (scheduled for completion in 2010). If you're interested in the water taxis that the city envisions docking at Teague Park, the minutes have a lot of detail about how their operations would work; apparently a lot of coordination is going on with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, though there's yet to be any design released by the Corps for public comment.
There was a fair amount of discussion about whether the park's scale can accommodate the large number of visitors that will be drawn over by the ballpark and by the proposed water taxi piers, as well as questions about whether the park should even be built if WASA (right next door) is not addressing sewer overflow issues. (Lovely.)
Six weeks later, on Nov. 1, the park went through another of its many required reviews, this time by the National Capital Planning Commission, which "commented favorably" on the park's design without discussion; the staff recommendation document has a black-and-white site plan for the park that does seem to have been reworked in response to the CFA comments, but I don't know for sure if that's the same design being presented to the CFA on Thursday.
I won't be able to go to the CFA meeting, so hopefully I can get some information on what transpires without having to wait too long, although so far the city has held information about the park very close to its vest. In the meantime, you can look at my pictures of the site and see what little background links and info I've been able to scrounge up.
UPDATE, 11/19: The CFA did approve this revised design at the 11/15 meeting.
 

Nov 14, 2007 2:30 PM
A few weeks ago, I wrote both here and in the Post about how three historic call boxes along First Street (at L, N, and O) went missing in early October. Voice of the Hill has followed up with DDOT, and apparently two of the three were removed and put into storage for protection until the streetscape improvements along First Street are completed early next year. The whereabouts of the third box are unknown. The piece also gives more background on Cultural Tourism DC's efforts to restore the call boxes throughout the city, and how the Earth Conservations Corps is planning to repaint about 40 boxes in Southwest and Southeast.
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Nov 14, 2007 9:02 AM
While still recovering from yesterday's media-event-propelled onslaught, I have enough energy to point you to today's Examiner story that provides more detail on how it came to pass that the Pope will be appearing at Nationals Park. (The archbishop called the Lerners.) This is actually a Nationals event, not one of the city's eight yearly allowed uses of the stadium.
 

Nov 13, 2007 12:39 PM
BEST STUFF FIRST: The link to my photos from today's media event, which was getting lost in the avalanche below. Plus, for the most rabid of stadium-watchers, I've added two stitched-together panoramas showing the view from behind home base looking out, and the view from the outfield restaurant looking in, sized very large so you can more easily see the details of the ballpark. If you don't have a broadband connection, grab some coffee while waiting for them to load. (And beneath them are three similar panoramas from Sept. 1--a little different!)
And remember that many of those photos are taken with somewhat wide-angle lens, in order to display as much of the visual field as possible, but at the expense of distorted sizes and distances. The stadium and the scoreboard are massive in person.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: I'm just now back from this morning's media event at the ballpark, and so should have some photos soon. But every outlet in the city was there, so I'll be depending on them for most of the actual *information* that came out of the event. Short takes: stadium is on time, and on budget. First baseball game will be an exhibition game on Saturday, March 29, versus the Orioles; it will be a special free event for season ticket holders, stadium workers, and hopefully local kids. And there's no word yet on whether they're going to get to open on the March 30 ESPN season opener. And season ticket invoices will be in the mail on Friday.
Photos to come, as well as links to all the news from Stan Kasten about season tickets, parking, seat relocations, etc. Keep checking back.
UPDATE I: Still working on photos, but here's the Post on the big headlines, along with Barry Svrluga's blog.
UPDATE II: Here's the main update: my photos from today's event are now posted. Very quick and dirty, and the weather was not the best so the images aren't as dramatic as some of my previous shots. Oh well. Soon I'll fold them in to my Stadium Interior Construction Gallery, where the photos are (gasp!) a week old. But time was of the essence today.
UPDATE III: For those interested in the nitty gritty of season ticket sales and relocations, Nats320 took far better notes than I would ever be capable of. And MLB.com now has its piece up on the day's events. And a new entry from Barry Svrluga with much more detail on today's event, which I'd link to even if he hadn't said such nice things about this site.
UPDATE IV: Worn out yet? Well, here's WUSA9 coverage (with a link to the HD video). Other local networks haven't yet put their video up. And while it doesn't have to do with today's event, I also want to link to this opinion piece in the WashTimes by a diehard Nats fan talking about the team, the stadium, and the impact on the city (including Near Southeast). Anyone who gives the proper shout-out to Mayor Baseball deserves a link!
UPDATE V: Boswell in the Post gushes, calling the ballpark "a thing of beauty": "To my surprise, despite such a ludicrous life-long wait and many clenched-jawed apprehensions, I loved the place." To see the views of the city he's so blown away by, check my Ballpark Overhead photos.
UPDATE, 11/14: Wrapping this up, here's the WashTimes and Examiner pieces. And, for a bit of balance, some harrumphing from City Paper's blog.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Nov 12, 2007 3:38 PM
Word has just arrived from someone with a front-row seat that demolition has now begun at 1345 South Capitol, across the street from the ballpark. Glad I got those final pictures yesterday! I'll get shots of the rubble in the next day or so. A blurb in Friday's Washington Business Journal print edition said that the excavation marking the beginning of construction on the new residential building planned on this site should start in December.
 

Nov 12, 2007 11:33 AM
I reported on this rumor a few weeks ago, and apparently it's true, according to the Post: "Pope Benedict XVI will visit Washington and New York in April, the first papal visit to the United States since 1999 and the current pope's eighth foreign journey since becoming head of the Catholic Church in April, 2005. [...] The pope will arrive on April 15, and visit the White House the next day, according to the schedule released by the Vatican. On April 17 he will celebrate Mass at the new Nationals baseball stadium and meet later that day at Catholic University with leaders of Catholic colleges and universities from throughout the country." On April 20 he'll be at Yankee Stadium, I guess to make sure that both the American League and National League are covered. Here's the press release from the Catholic News Service on the announcement.
 

Nov 12, 2007 10:11 AM
It started innocently enough. On Sunday morning, when I woke up to find such a brilliant sunny day, I decided to go take a new batch of photos of the demolition at old Capper Seniors to replace the dreary ones from Saturday. Then I started moving away a few blocks, to catch more distant views of the building. Then I decided that there were a bunch of locations where 70/100 I and Onyx on First were changing the skyline that I hadn't captured. Then I realized that it had been a long time since I had taken a complete set of photos of the western side of South Capitol Street at O and P streets, to show the changes since the demolition of the viaduct and all the streetscape improvements. And then of course, while I was there, I had to take a set of shots of the ballpark's western facade. Then there were more shots needed of the changes along M Street thanks to 55 M and 100 M. By the time I was done, I had a ridiculous number of new images up on the site, which you can see all on one page; you can also see most of them paired with past shots by clicking on the "Photo Archive Before-and-Afters" links at the top of that page, like the "South Capitol Street Makeover", which shows the new photos from both sides of the street (along with some older angles I didn't update). After a while they all run together, I know. But they make for some spiffy before-and-afters!
 

Nov 12, 2007 8:54 AM
This has been rumored for a long while, but today's Examiner is reporting that it appears to be moving forward: "The D.C. Circulator bus system is expected to expand with at least two new routes in 2008, one between the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and Adams Morgan, and the other from Union Station to the new Washington Nationals ballpark. [...] But it is not expected to be implemented until late 2008, after the Nationals' season." The article doesn't give an exact route, but previous statements by DDOT and others mentioned that it could run past the new US Capitol Visitors Center (yeech--don't get me started) and the Capitol South Metro station as well. And no reason is given for why it wouldn't start until late next year. The Circulator is run by DDOT.
UPDATE: Here's the Washington Business Journal blurb on the plans, with not much additional detail but saying that the areas "should be covered by the end of 2008." And there's also a somewhat confusing statement late in the story, after it says that two new routes will be added, that says "The department will try to modify the existing three routes by extending them to the needed areas, but if that becomes too cumbersome, it will create the two new routes[.]" So now the question is, are there really two new routes, or just expanded routes being covered by the existing routes?
 

Nov 10, 2007 11:08 AM
After a few days of knocking out the exterior brick walls and windows from the inside by driving Bobcats into them over and over, the showy demolition began at old Capper Seniors this morning, as the wrecking ball started bringing down the western wing of the building. Not the prettiest morning for pictures, but maybe the glum light is apropos. You can look at my main old Capper Seniors page for the basics, or the Expanded Project Archive for photos of the demolition from considerably more angles. (And don't forget to click on the Click to see all available photos of this location. on any of these pages if you want to see the images in between the first and last ones.) It's going to be a slow process, and the demolition is not expected to be finished until the end of December.
The 238-unit building originally opened in 1958 as one of the multiple new high-rises at the Arthur Capper public housing project; but by the early 1970s, crime and drug use and government neglect had already turned the building into such a wasteland that even the then-director of public housing for the city later described it as a "fearsome place" where "there was danger to life and limb to any ordinary citizen who wanted to live there." In 1973, it was finally boarded up, and plans were announced to renovate it into a 292-unit building for elderly tenants, with reopening planned for 1976.
But the renovation plans went awry as well, thanks to battles between the city and the Department of Housing and Urban Development over plans for a health clinic within the new building, along with escalating cost estimates, and fights over the bids on the project. Construction finally began in November 1978, scheduled to take 14 months but eventually stretching to three years as incomplete construction documents and a lack of project oversight by the housing authority brought delays, firings, and lawsuits. In late 1981, it finally reopened, but crime was never eradicated, especially as non-seniors began living in the building. The last of the tenants were moved out early this year, with some choosing to move to the new Capper Seniors #1 a few blocks away at Fifth and Virginia.
While this seniors building at 601 L Street was a home to many people for many years, I'm not sure it's a building to be mourned. It's also now the last remnant of what were once the sprawling Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg projects that stretched from 2nd Street to 7th and from Virginia to L. It's taken seven years, but with this demolition, all Capper/Carrollsburg buildings will be gone.
(As for the other impending demolition, I took a quick spin past 1345 South Capitol this morning and didn't see any action, though some construction equipment has been put in place.)
 

Nov 10, 2007 1:51 AM
Saturday's Post has a piece on the new turf at the ballpark, giving specifics about the grass itself, the installation, the drainage system, and more. Of course, you can look at my Stadium Interior Photo Gallery for pictures taken last Monday if you want to see lots of images of the field midway through the turf's arrival, or check the Stadium Web Cam for the gazillionth time to see it now that it's completed. There'll be a ton more media coverage of the ballpark's progress on Tuesday, when the mayor and other bigwigs come to the stadium to celebrate the new field.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Nov 9, 2007 11:15 AM
The second camera angle at the Stadium Web Cam site is back in business, providing a full view of the press box that's now been painted red as well as complete coverage of far left field, where it looks like the turf installation will be completed today. To see it, choose "Centerfield" in the dropdown box at the top of the page.
UPDATE: And the turf is now finished. Kinda looks like a baseball stadium now!
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Nov 9, 2007 9:57 AM
A notice in this week's District Register says that JPI has applied to remediate the land it recently purchased at 23 I Street, as part of the District Department of the Environment's Voluntary CleanUp Program. Quoting: "The application identifies low to elevated levels of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) and Benzene in soil and TPH, Benzene, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in groundwater." JPI is planning a 420-unit residential building with ground-floor retail on the site, with construction expected to begin sometime in 2008. The VCP application for 23 I is not yet online, but you can see JPI's 2005 application for 100 I Street and the city's 2006 application to clean up the stadium site to get the idea.
 

Nov 8, 2007 6:06 PM
On Nov. 6, the city council passed the final version of Bill 17-0159, which creates a new Southeast Water and Sewer Improvement Benefit District, where landowners will be subject to a special assessment to fund $12.45 million in upgrades already underway to the water and sewer infrastructure under streets near Nationals Park.
To be lazy, I'll quote my own description of the bill, from a post back in July: "It was decided to take care of these upgrades now because the streets that the pipes lie under--South Capitol, Potomac, First, N, and I--are scheduled to be reconstructed in the coming months as part of the streetscape improvement project before the Nationals ballpark opens, and it was thought best to take care of the sewer work now rather than having to dig up newly renovated streets. Landowners (including the city and the U.S. government) would be assessed based on total land area and the gross building area as allowed by zoning for each parcel of land that abuts or benefits from the improvements, and would be able to pay their assessment either in an up-front lump sum or over time."
The specifics are all laid out in the bill (which was passed with an amendment-in-the-nature-of-a-substitute that rewrote the bill's original language), but if you're one of the landowners in this assessment area, I'm guessing you have high-priced attorneys who you're paying to sort out exactly this kind of stuff for you, so I'll gleefully refrain from going into any greater detail.
The infrastructure work on these streets is expected to continue until February, in concert with the streetscape improvements being done at the same time (new curbs, sidewalks, streetlamps, etc.).
More posts: DC Water (WASA)
 

Nov 8, 2007 11:14 AM
On Wednesday morning at 11 am, demolition began at the old Capper Seniors building at 601 L Street, SE. And, 24 hours later, a lot of progress has already been made on getting rid of the exterior windows and walls. I was amazed to see that, instead of swinging the wrecking ball, workers are actually working inside the building, driving Bobcats into the brick exterior walls over and over to punch them out, turning the building into a skeleton before the actual bringing down of the skeleton begins. (Don't hit the gas instead of the brake, boys!) I've created an Extended Project Archive for this building, to see the before-and-afters from lots of different angles beyond the basics on the main old Capper Seniors page (which also has some photos taken from the interior of the building last week) so take a look at today's photos to see how the work is progressing.
(And speaking of demolition, fences have now gone up at 1345 South Capitol, and workers there are telling neighbors that demolition could begin tomorrow [Nov. 9]. We'll see!)
 

Nov 8, 2007 11:03 AM
Word has officially gone out that next week (Nov. 13) the mayor and other city bigwigs will be at Nationals Park to "celebrate the new, freshly-laid playing field" -- for those who want specifics, the turf is 13-month-old Kentucky Bluegrass sod, arriving in strips 5/8" thick and 65" long. At the same event, team president Stan Kasten will "share information about the seat relocation process for season ticket holders." The turf installation is moving along today, with right field now finished and work progressing out from the infield to the center- and left-field walls. And the last panel of the HD scoreboard has been installed.
More posts: Nationals Park
 

Nov 7, 2007 2:09 PM
The daily feeds of crime report data that the city makes available have now been expanded to include a "narrative" explaining what happened. (These narratives have been available for a long time in other places, but not in the city's own daily data feeds.) So you'll now see these explanations here on my home page, in the DC Data Feeds/Recent Crime Incidents section. And, if you never scrolled down far enough to know that I have this data, then you'll be surprised to find that I display Near Southeast public space permits, building permits, property sales, and requests to the city-wide call center (which is now pretty much all-parking-enforcement-all-the-time).
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