North Cap Main Streets Organization Meeting

ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE MEETING
When: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2009, 6:30PM-7:30PM
Location: 1703 North Capitol Street N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002

Calling all Volunteers! All hands on deck!

Volunteers needed for the following: WINTER BLUES BASH AND SILENT AUCTION PLANNING

* Winter Blues Chair/Co-Chair
* Securing Corporate Support
* Silent Auction Planning/Implementation
o Site Logistics — Planning/Implementation
o Party Theme
o Set Decoration
o Public Relations Campaign
o Advertising Campaign
o Graphics Design
o Invitation Design
o Advertising/Copy writing
* Volunteer Recruitment

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE…COME OUT AND JOIN US!

North Capitol Main Street, Inc.
Garry Clark
Executive Director
P: 202-905-6039
E:gclark@ncmsinc.org

Public Meeting: New York Ave Transportation Projects

To help educate the public about the upcoming New York Avenue, NE transportation projects, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is holding a public meeting on November 18th. I hope you’ll share this meeting information with the members of the Bates Area Civic Association as well as your colleagues and neighbors as these transportation projects will impact travel throughout the area.

Thank you for your time and we hope to see you at the meeting.
Best,
Mary Ellen

WHAT:
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) invites you to a public meeting on upcoming New York Avenue, NE Corridor projects from North Capitol Street to Bladensburg Road, NE.

WHY:
Learn more about the five projects and provide input on how to keep traffic moving during construction.

WHEN:
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:30-8:30 P.M.

WHERE:
McKinley Technology High School Auditorium
151 T Street, NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

RSVP to Mary Ellen Akins or 202-589-2750

Learn More: www.fixingnewyorkave.com

S.O.M.E. receives grant

See this news item from the Washington Business Journal:

TD Bank gives $50K to D.C. housing nonprofits

Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 10:52am EST

Three local nonprofits won grants from TD Bank, which will be used to support affordable housing initiatives.

Under its fifth annual “Housing For Everyone” program, the bank’s charitable arm is giving $2 million to grant competition winners — a $500,000 increase in program awards from 2008.   There were almost 500 proposals, and 56 nonprofits from Maine to Florida won the grants. Grant awards ranged from $10,000 to $100,000.

Three local groups will get $50,000:

• Falls Church-based Shelter House Inc.,
• D.C.-based SOME Inc. and
• Alexandria-based Wesley Housing Development Corp. of Northern Virginia.

Winners will find out how the funding is divvied up on Thursday at the TD Bank at 1611 Wisconsin Ave. NW at noon. Recipients will use the money for projects that stabilize the housing environment in communities where TD Bank is present.

The Next Event …

Fall is here and winter is just around the corner. What project would you like to see the Environmental Services Committee organize next? Leaf clean-ups? Should we wait until Spring? Street clean-ups while the sweepers on on winter break? Send me and Anita your comments and suggestions.

Also, Anita and I will be resubmitting a request with DDOT for a meeting to discuss the painting of lamp posts and possible hanging flower baskets.

Tree Box Maintenance

On October 31, we planted over 450 plants/shrubs, 6 trees, and 540 pansies! It was a great effort in making our tree boxes reflect the charm of our neighborhood. Now, let’s not forget to maintain them!

I spoke with Frank, owner of Old City green, and he suggested:

- a really good watering at least 2-3 times a week for the annuals/shrubs and 3 times a week for the new trees.

- OLD CITY green has tree “alligators” the keep trees watered..I will sell them to any BATES Folks for 50% off.

- (Of course if it rains, you water less.) ..(If need be, stick your finger in the dirt near the plant. If it is dry 2” down, water well.)
This is just to establish the roots before it freezes.

Remember to continue taking care of our blocks and tree boxes!

MPD Responds to Community Safety Concerns

Commander Green provided BACA with an update on the initiatives taken by the Metropolitan Police Department to address the resent incidents along N. Capitol Street, P ST, O ST and Hanover.

These are the following actions outlined by Commander Greene:
1.MPD met with business owners on Saturday, October 31st and created a new police beats along N. Capitol Street.
2.Businesses agreed to increase lighting on their businesses’ corridors
3.The light tower is being deployed in the area
4.MDP is doing compliance checkpoints on Hanover, Bates and O Streets
5.10 extra police officers have been deployed to this area
6.Plain clothes officers are doing beats to catch criminals on the act
7.More operations are to come to P ST
8.More focus will be given to the area as nightfall begins earlier this time of year

MPD has been making major arrests in the area. Most recently, the juvenile that robbed the pizza delivery man on 2nd and Rhode Island Ave. NW was captured.

We encourage all of you to represent our community and voice your safety concerns to the MPD at the next PSA 501 Community Meeting. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, November 18th at 7 PM, Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE.

Veterans Day Celebration

Message fro Robert Brannum, PSA 501 Citizens Advisory Council

Greetings, please share with Veterans, Robert.

On, Sunday, 8 November 2009, McCormick & Schmicks Seafood Restaurants will honor America’s Veterans with its

11th Annual Appreciation Event

McCORMICK & SCHMICKS PAYS TRIBUTE TO AMERICA’S VETERANS

WITH A COMPLIMENTARY ENTREE FROM A SPECIAL MENU

Click here to view a list of participating locations.

Veterans will be able to choose a complimentary lunch or dinner entrée on November 8. Some of the mouth-watering selections include Cashew-Crusted Tilapia, Grilled Atlantic Salmon, Seafood Fettuccini Alfredo and Cedar-Planked Salmon.

For more information: http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/featured-promotion/Veterans-Appreciation-Day.aspx

BACA Meeting Recap Nov 2

It was a good meeting tonight.  Quick recap before I go off to bed.

Linda Argo, from DCRA headlined the meeting. She spoke of efforts to remove our NJ Ave billboards.  She didn’t really say anything we haven’t known here, except her talk did give insight into the amount of thought and effort that DCRA and the city in general has put into the effort.  She said it is consuming at least a couple of people on her staff full time.  She was pretty well-versed on the effort.

It has been stated here before, but as a reminder: This Friday there is a  hearing to schedule a preliminary injunction hearing. November 6, at 10:30 a.m., before Judge Motley in Courtroom 112 at the D.C. Superior Court. Community members are welcome to attend any of the hearings in the case.

Linda Argo seems really awesome -  that’s my personal initial impression.

Next,  spoke Ms. Mary Tracy, President of Scenic America, who spoke about her work in Philadelphia ridding that city of over 500,000 square feet of billboards. She worked there with a group called SCRUB and she entered into this effort doing exactly what our community is doing – trying to rid her own neighborhood of two billboards owned by Clear Channel. Let’s hope our effort is easier – she didn’t have the city advocating for her as we do, and the effort took years.

She showed an interesting map which I hope to post here that showed how the prevalence of billboards in an urban area is greater as the income level of the community declines. These companies target marginalized neighborhoods. The richer the neighborhood the fewer the billboards.

Ajia Meux from North Capitol Collaborative came to tell us about the work her organization is doing.  However, time ran short and she didn’t get to speak. I’ll be posting material from her as I get it.  Ajia said she’s a rep now for our association, so we’ll be seeing more of her.

Richard Norwood, our liaison from the Mayor’s Office, spoke very briefly to tell us that the mayor will be doing a walk through in the community on November 9 at 3.30 PM and will begin at First and Florida Ave.

Finally, the meeting ended with a talk about how the BACA should address disagreements among members. It was stated that before an issue is subject to debate on the blog – when it is a contentious issue that has potential for miscommunication or when the BACA has taken a position on an issue but there is still internal dissension – that the issue should be addressed at the BACA meeting in a personal forum before it is transmitted via this blog.  Guidelines about the blog should be more clearly understood before people are allowed to post.

This blog is going through growing pains, as is our neighborhood and our civic association.

Meeting Notice – Monday, November 2, 2009

Neighbors,

This is written to provide you with a friendly reminder of the November 2, 2009 meeting of the Bates Area Civic Association, Inc. as well as to give you a sense of the issues that will be addressed in this forum. Please help us to spread the word to others about this monthly meeting and do make your best effort to attend. If you are willing to help with the circulation of flyers about this meeting, please let me know and I will get them to you.

Speakers:

Ms. Linda Argo, Director of the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, will be a featured speaker for the evening. Specifically, she has been asked to provide us with an overview of the primary services that are offered by her agency as well as, of primary importance, an update on the status of DCRA’s efforts to remove the illegal billboards that are located on near the corner of 4th and P Streets, N.W. I hope you will come out to hear from Ms. Argo. Your presence will signal to her how important the community believes this initiative to be.

In addition, Ms. Mary Tracy, President of Scenic America, is scheduled to make a presentation about her organization’s efforts to address visual blight, like billboards, in urban communities.

Committee Reports:

We also expect to receive updates from the Committees on Environmental Services, Public Safety, Public Relations, Youth Services, as well as Land Use, Planning, and Economic Development, respectively.

Other Remarks:

Finally, we will receive any community updates that our local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, Com. Anita Bonds and Com. Sylvia Pinkney, have to offer and from the Ward Five representative with the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services, Mr. Richard Norwood.

Best,

Jim Berry

JDB

Beautification such a huge success! Thank you…

… to everyone who made this possible.

Peter on Bates – who was absolutely a rock star in organizing this huge event.

ANC5c Chariman Anita Bonds – also instrumental in the organization and in guiding us on the grant process.

Bates Area Civic Association – the vehicle that allowed for the neighborhood unity we saw Saturday.

ANC5C for their generous grant that allowed us to purchase the flowers.

The Flower Power Committee which purchased and donated a half a dozen trees for the event.

Home Depot and Old City Green, who supplied discounts on the plants.

The Youth Build Program who provided something like a dozen youths who came out to try to show the neighborhood that they could be an asset.

CSOSA who provided another half a dozen workers and some real muscle.

Metropolitain Baptist Church – who had a rep the whole morning and who donated food and cooked for us at a post-planting BBQ.

CAPCS/Armstrong school – for lending us their parking lot.

And last, but definitely not least, the enormous turnout of our neighbors was amazing. I’d say like a hundred people were out and about.  We had a strong presence on 4th St, 3rd St, P Street (on all blocks from NJ Ave to North Cap), 1st St., and on all of Bates St.  4th Street even added to the event by purchasing thier own wood and building tree box borders thanks to a resident carpenter (Brian?)!  I have many photos to post.  I can’t wait till the next event – in the Spring!  Let’s hope to identify the gaps and tackle those areas next time.

Many thanks to all.

Caryn