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Police are investigating a fatal shooting in Northeast D.C.
Authorities said that at about 3 a.m. on Monday, officers were called to the intersection of First Street and New York Avenue for the report of a shooting.
When they arrived at the scene, police found a male victim suffering from gunshot wounds.
Police said they do not yet have a suspect or motive in the shooting.
Real Estate
Peterson quits Washington Gateway project in D.C.
Washington Business Journal - September 21, 2007
by Prabha Natarajan, Staff Reporter
The Peterson Cos. has pulled out of the project to develop Washington Gateway, a massive retail center on New York Avenue NE that was slated to include D.C.'s first Costco.
"There's a time and place for everything, and it was not the right time for us at Washington Gateway," said Paul Weinschenk, vice president of retail at Peterson.
The $67 million Washington Gateway, which was scheduled to start construction next April, would have housed 412,000 square feet of retail including big-box stores, such as Staples and Target, at the corner of New York and South Dakota avenues NE.
The plan was approved by the National Capital Revitalization Corp., whose responsibilities are now under the deputy mayor for planning and economic development, and received a preliminary nod from the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC).
However, this spring, the deputy mayor's office suggested changes to address any impact on the property's wetlands and alter the design from that of a big-box complex to a more contemporary look.
According to Weinschenk, the changes would mean more delays and more work on a project thought to be in its home stretch.
"From our perspective, we felt that until some of these issues could be worked out it didn't make sense for us to continue with this process and we needed to suspend our efforts," Weinschenk said.
Fort Lincoln Realty Inc., a D.C. developer, had brought in Peterson in 2003 as the developer of the retail/restaurant portion.
Peterson came back with a proposal to put in a 151,700-square-foot Costco, a 67,500-square-foot Shoppers Food Warehouse and a 123,735-square-foot space for both Staples and Target stores.
People in the neighborhood loved the plan. The Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5A endorsed it, and it was seen as a destination for the 128,000 cars that drive in and out of the city daily on New York Avenue.
After last fall's preliminary NCPC approval, Peterson and Fort Lincoln Realty were going to present an updated plan and either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement concerning the wetlands to the commission this October.
The deputy mayor's office and the Office of Planning, however, had ideas that would have changed the existing plan and accommodated the wetlands in the development.
"We had a different development scheme to protect the wetlands," said Harriet Tregoning, D.C.'s planning director.
"If the city was interested in a Costco on the site and a Target, ... then you can't assume you will keep all the natural features on the site as they exist," Weinschenk said. "The city has to decide whether it wants those [retail] uses and allow land to be developed to support these uses, or you allow the land and its natural features to drive the uses."
Tregoning said the city still wants retail on that site, which ties in with its objective to get more stores in the District.
"We think the original design, which is 20 years old, can be improved upon," she said.
At this point, it is unclear what will happen to the retailers that signed on or expressed interest in being a part of the project.
Peterson said the leases were in various stages of negotiation, and it is up to the retailers to pursue the space. Industry insiders say Fort Lincoln Realty is looking for a retail developer to pick up where Peterson left off.
A change in developers is not something new to this site.
Before Peterson, there was Federal Realty Investment Trust of Rockville and Trammell Crow Development. A $10 million tax-increment financing deal was approved in 2004. The 42-acre project was expected to create 124 construction jobs and $6.2 million in new taxes for the city.
All is not lost yet, said Robert King, ANC 5A commissioner.
Fort Lincoln Realty is expected to give a project update at the ANC board meeting Oct. 10, including information on will happen to the retail site, and King said the news will be good.
"As far as we know, the project is moving straight ahead with a new developer. The train is still on track," he said. "I have been working for 20 years on this project and would jump off a bridge if it doesn't happen."
The D.C. Council on Tuesday agreed to spend millions of dollars to lessen the impact of a proposed cluster of relocated strip clubs in Northeast Washington.
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But Ward 5 Council Member Harry Thomas, who vehemently opposes the measure, said Ivy City residents deserve some level of comfort if they are to be impacted by an influx of club patrons. The businesses, Thomas said, will have a major impact on infrastructure and could "create an unsafe environment."
Thomas asked for and received, as part of Tuesday’s fiscal 2008 budget debate, $3.6 million to improve the major corridors that surround Ivy City: Bladensburg Road, New York Avenue, West Virginia Avenue and Mount Olivet Road.
The new director of the District’s Emergency Management Agency, Darrel Darnell says that he will no longer be sending displaced families to the President Inn.
Darnell’s decision Monday came after he viewed on the WUSA9.com our exclusive 9NEWS NOW report with a hidden camera that disclosed deplorable conditions inside the rooms where DC families and tourists to Washington had been placed.
The unsuspecting tourists began posting their comments on web pages that rated the hotels and motels in the Washington area.
After staying at the New York Avenue motel [1600 New York Avenue, NE], they complained of rats, bed bugs, soiled linen and carpets.
Our camera also showed cigarette burns and evidence that fires had been set and a bathroom door kicked in. There was human hair in the bed and bathroom.
One woman from Oregon claims she became ill with scabies after staying at the President Inn.
Monday, Darnell’s office confirmed the Inn has a contract to provide up to 25 beds on a temporary emergency basis to homeless families at a cost of up to $75,000 per year. The contract ends at the end of September.
In another move the city’s Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Office sent a team of inspectors to the President Inn Monday. They were looking for construction, fire, plumbing and electrical code violations.
DC Councilman Kwame Brown, after seeing our original report on 9NEWS NOW Sunday night at 11 p.m., said Monday "No family should be placed in conditions like that."
For Immediate Release May 8, 2007
Contact: Victoria Leonard-Chambers
Phone: 202.727.8204 Email: vleonardchambers@dccouncil.us
Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. Questions Legality of Bill to Relocate Businesses Displaced by Ballpark
Washington DC - Earlier today, the DC City Council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment voted in support of a bill to permit the one-time relocation of businesses displaced by the new baseball stadium, a move that sends the bill to the entire Council for approval. As currently written, the new bill will eliminates the 600-foot minimum distance between adult clubs, which would enable the clubs to cluster in one location.
Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., who represents an area in which the clubs are seeking to relocate, questions the authority of the legislation. "The bill may usurp the authority of the Zoning Commission," said Thomas. "The legislation sets a precedent for grouping similar types of business enterprises in a single location, which is not the best public policy."
The legislation overlooks the D.C. Office of Planning, which is conducting small area plans in locations adjacent to the site where the clubs are seeking to relocate. Housing and retail projects that are planned or underway along the New York Avenue corridor are also not accounted for. "We have a system in place for managing the locations of businesses and economic development that includes the public as a decision making partner. We should use that system, not bypass it," noted Thomas.
Art Enables is an arts-and-enterprise program for adults with developmental and/or mental disabilities from throughout the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
Participants in Art Enables are selected for their interest in drawing, painting and color. They come to the studio on scheduled days to work under the guidance of professional artist-instructors creating and marketing their own outsider and folk art. Their artwork is exhibited and sold in shows at the studio, via retailers around the city and at galleries, markets and special events throughout the region.
The program is open to adults with developmental and/or mental disabilities who are enthusiastic about working toward becoming professional artists and who are willing and able to focus on their work for a full studio day.
Art Enables demonstrates that the visual arts are an effective training and employment tool for people who may have barriers to cognitive-based training systems but who are interested in drawing and painting. Their ability to express themselves through visual images can operate as the basis on which they build skills and capabilities, become integrated in the community and earn money. More importantly, they experience a growth in confidence and self-esteem as the natural and inevitable result of becoming achievers at something they do well.
If you or someone you know is interested in applying to the program, e-mail info@art-enables.org or call 202.554.9455
