NE DC Historical Society Meeting: Beyond NE, Hillcrest and the Highlands of SE - Sunday, January 13

What: Join the NE DC Historical Society as they continue to explore the history of our Northeast Washington communities - past, present, and in years to come. This month they will again reach out beyond NE DC to discover the beautiful and historic neighborhood of Hillcrest in Southeast Washington. Presentations will include "A Broader View: Hillcrest and the 'Highlands' of Southeast DC" by James Byers, neighborhood historian, author, and tour leader and "From Hilltop to Hillsdale: The Anacostia of Solomon Brown" by C.R. Gibbs, lecturer, author, and historian.

When: Sunday, January 13, 2008, 2-4 p.m.

Where: Lutheran Church Of the Holy Comforter, 3319 Alabama Avenue SE (Holy Comforter is the low 1950's-modern building on the corner diagonally opposite the large more traditional East Washington Heights Baptist Church. The church parking lot and alley have available spaces

Etc.: For those unable to attend this meeting, don't miss next month's meeting - back in NE - to be held from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, February 10, 2008. The meeting will take place at the Cardinal's Nest Restaurant at 3748 10th Street NE. Presentations will include "Saving Brookland's 1937 Art Moderne Park and Shop: A Historic Failure" by Daniel Wolkoff, Historic Restoration Artist with Adams Morgan Stained Glass, Richard Layman of the Brookland Community Development Corporation, and Dan Vera, a resident of the Brookland neighborhood.

NE DC Historical Society meetings take place the second Sunday of every month. Contact queenstowndc@yahoo.com for further information.

Chairman Gray Attending Brookland Civic Association Meeting - Thursday, October 11th

What: Council Chairman Vincent Gray will be the special guest at the next Brookland Civic Association meeting. Chairman Gray will answer questions on public safety, education, infrastructure, and economic development.

***This would also be a good time to voice your concerns over the demolition of previously hidden and original Deco detailing on the shopping center at 10th and Perry. View pictures taken last week after the most recent façade was removed for renovation. Since those photos were taken, the panels have been removed and the Historic Preservation Office deemed the structure to be of no historical merit. This is what the final renovation is slated to look like - bleh in comparison to the original - and seemingly well preserved - enamel panels.***

When: Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Avenue, NE

For more information: Contact Mary Baird Currie, President, at 202.635.1970

Brookland Preservation Meeting - TONIGHT

Concerned Brookland resident Dan Vera has called an emergency preservation meeting this evening:

We're having a meeting this evening at 6 p.m. to see what can be done about the beautiful art-moderne façade imperiled in Brookland at the 10th Street market. We'll be meeting there to look at the beautiful tiling underneath and then having coffee or whatever at Cardinal's Nest in the complex.

If you only know this place from the last 30 years of its being covered up, you really owe it to yourself to see what lies underneath. It is reminiscent of the Stop-and-Shop on Connecticut Avenue, and we're trying to get people to do what they can to stop further demolition.

It's a glimpse into Brookland's unique beauty.

I know it is short notice but you can do something about this. We all can.

Hope you can join us. We *especially* need old hands in historic preservation.

6 p.m. Tonight!
Cardinal's Nest, 3748 10th Street NE (across from Turkey Thicket)

» You can view Dan's photos, taken today, here.

12th Street NE Commercial Corridor Vandalized

Both the Brookland CDC (the site is still under reconstruction) and Richard Layman have brought to my attention the tagging of 12 buildings along Brookland's main street this past Wednesday, including our new Yes! Organic Market and the Historic Newton Theater/CVS. I also noticed a few weeks ago the back of the Long & Foster at the corner of Monroe and 12th had been tagged pretty heavily.


Many thanks in advance to Richard, the Brookland CDC, Alice Thompson - Ward 5 Neighborhood Service Coordinator, and DPW for cleaning this up in a timely fashion.

Ralph Bunche House for Sale?

** Yup - looks like the realtors caught wind of their address mistake - updates below....

I follow an RSS feed of a ZipRealty real estate search within 1 mile of my house, and MLS# DC6260757 DC6264005 at 1510 Jackson Street, NE caught my eye at $1,750,000 (you can view it by creating a login at ZipRealty and putting in the MLS, or without a login on HomesDatabase). The address isn't correct - the Bunche House is at 1510 Jackson Street, NE - but the details, like year built and style, not to mention the astronomical price, match. I drove past yesterday, but neither 1510 nor 1514 had a sign in the front yard, and 1514 looked far more occupied and maintained than the Bunche House.

History of the Ralph Bunche house, designed by architect Hilyard R. Robinson in the International Style, and more about Dr. Bunche:
» DC Preservation League (2001 Most Endangered Places List): "...this DC and National Register listed landmark designed by architect Hilyard Robinson in the International Style has been inappropriately altered and turned into a residential facility." Does that mean it has served as a group home? The listing does mention a ramp on the main level.
» National Park Service: "Among Robinson's notable works in Washington are Langston Terrace, and several campus buildings at Howard University."
» Cultural Tourism DC: "Bunche was one of the first African Americans to move into the formerly segregated Brookland neighborhood."
» Nobel Foundation's bio of Ralph Johnson Bunche: "From June of 1947 to August of 1949, Bunche worked on the most important assignment of his career - the confrontation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine....Bunche returned home to a hero's welcome. New York gave him a ticker-tape parade up Broadway; Los Angeles declared a "Ralph Bunche Day."
» Ralph Bunche on Wikipedia: "[Bunche] received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in Palestine in the late 1940s that led to an armistice agreement between the Jews and Arabs in the region. He was the first African-American to be so honored in the history of the Prize."

NE DC Historical Society Meeting - Sunday, December 10th

What: Join the NE DC Historical Society as they continue to explore the history of our Northeast Washington communities - past, present, and in years to come. This month's community history focus will be the John T. Rhines Funeral Home, a thriving DC enterprise celebrating its centennial year.

When: Sunday, December 10th, 2006, 2-4pm

Where: John T. Rhines Funeral Home, 3015 12th Street, NE - at the corner of 12th and Hamlin Streets

Presentations will include: "The John T. Rhines Funeral Home—Our 100th Year" by Gretchen Shorter Roberts, Historian, and more.

Etc.: For those unable to attend this meeting, don't miss next month's meeting to be held from 2-4pm on Sunday, January 14th, 2007. We will again reach out beyond NE DC to discover more of Washington's historic neighborhoods — this time, Georgetown! Our community host for this event will be the Mount Zion United Methodist Church at 1334 29th Street, NW. Our presenters will include Carter Bowman (historian) on "The Mount Zion United Methodist Church And Community: One Hundred Ninety Years of Institutional Building"; Ida Jones (Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center) on "We Have Come This Far By Faith—Methodism in Georgetown"; and C.R. Gibbs (author, lecturer, and historian) on "Facing The Rising Sun: Washington, DC's First Black Vote." Contact queenstowndc@yahoo.com for furhter information.

Help Make the Alexander Crummel School Community Center a Reality - Thursday, August 24th

What: The Department of Parks and Recreation Ward 5 Town Hall Meeting. Stand in solidarity with your Ivy City neighbors in getting the historic Crummel School transferred to the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation as a multi-purpose recreation center.

When: Thursday, August 24th, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Where: North Michigan Park Recreation Center, 1333 Emerson Street, NE

Background: (from Empower DC)
Ivy City Has a Youth Detention Center - We Need a Youth Opportunity Center!

The continued trend and current rise in crime among youth in the District underscores the dire need for more services, employment opportunities and youth development programs.

The Historic Ivy City/Crummell School Revitalization Coalition is a community based organization dedicated to the rebirth of the historic Alexander Crummell school into a multi-use facility that would provide services to youth and largely underserved senior residents of Ivy City, Langston-Carver Terrace, Trinidad, and surrounding neighborhoods.

The renovated school and its two acre grounds must be transformed from a place of blight and decay to one of community uplift and opportunity including job training, tutoring, mentorship, recreation and other needed programs.

Why Crummell School? The Alexander Crummell School is named for abolitionist, educator and clergyman Rev. Doctor Alexander Crummell whose life's mission was the uplift of Black people. The school was built in 1911 to serve African American children from the historic working-class community of Ivy City and neighboring Trinidad. The school served as the civic heart of the community and as a site for recreational programs until around 1980. Since that time the DC government has allowed the building to sit and rot, and depress its surrounding neighborhood. Residents of Ivy City have long been on record asking that their broken heart be repaired, and turned into a multi-use center to serve youth and elders. Now is a critical time to make this vision a reality.

We are asking the City Council to immediately transfer the Crummell School building and its grounds from the office of Property Management and add it to the inventory of the Department of Parks and Recreation for renovation and community use. Help us hold elected officials accountable to caring for the lives of our youth.

Support the Campaign for Crummell School By:

* You or Your Organization/Institution Signing-On as an Endorser

* Participating in on-going Campaign Activities

Partial List of Endorsing Organizations:

Empower DC
Historic Ivy City/Crummell School Revitalization Coalition
Movement for Love and Unity
Bread for the City
Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project
DC Statehood Green Party
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Inc
Youth Leadership Support Network
Save Our Schools
Power Palette
Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington
Stand Up! for Democracy in DC
Committee to Save Franklin Shelter
DC Library Renaissance Project
Fix Our Schools
GCH Endowment to Promote Quality Early Childhood Education
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC

Parisa B. Norouzi
Co-Director/Organizer
District of Columbia Grassroots Empowerment Project
(Empower DC)
1419 V St, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-9119


More background information at Frozen Tropics, Cultural Tourism DC, and the Ivy City-Trinidad Citizens Association.

Posts I Hope to Make Sooner Rather than Later

Though gathering and posting the information on community meetings takes some time, it's not nearly as involved as crafting opinionated posts on issues I feel strongly about, or transcribing the detailed notes I take at the meetings I'm able to attend. With that in mind, I figured in the meantime I could offer up a short list that I hope to address soon, with relevant links:

• The future of the MLK, Jr. Memorial Library and the state of DCPL in general - Federation of Friends of the DC Public Library, DCist post that includes comments from yours truly
• The Newton Theater (CVS at 12th and Newton) has been added to the DC Inventory of Historic Sites - Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space
• Alarming number of recent muggings on Newton and in the vicinity - Brookland listerv and MPD-5D listerv (log in and search the messages for "Newton" or "mug")
• Increasing issues with drugs, loitering, etc. at Taft Recreation Center and Langdon Recreation Center - Brookland listerv, Woodridge listserv, and MPD-5D listerv (log in and search for "Langdon," "Taft," and "Otis")
• Gay bashing at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church - City Paper's City Desk, Washington Blade, Washington Post
• Arlington police chase ends with suspect shot and arrested in Brookland - NBC4.com (I can't find details in WaPo)

Anything else you'd like to see here?

Brookland Neighborhood Civic Association Monthly Meeting Tuesday, May 9th

What: Brookland Neighborhood Civic Association Monthly Meeting

When: Tuesday, May 9th, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Where: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Avenue, NE

Agenda: Announcements; Newton Theater Landmark Update; MPD-5D Update; Ward 5 Transportation Planner; Community Concerns; Ronald McDonald House New Building Plans

Next meeting scheduled for June 13th, 2006
For additional information contact Mary Baird Curry, 202.635.1970

NE DC Historical Society Monthly Meeting Sunday, May 7th

What: NE DC Historical Society monthly meeting focusing on Fort Lincoln

When: Sunday, May 7th, 2006, 2:00-4:00pm

Where: Fifth District Metropolitan Police Station, 1805 Bladensburg Road, NE

Agenda: Presentations will include "Fort Lincoln's Post-Civil War History" by Roy J. Pearson, Jr., Esq. and "Silent Sentinals: The Forts of NE Washington, DC" by C.R. Gibbs. author, lecturer, historian

Etc.: Don't miss next month's meeting on Sunday, June 4th, 2006, same time and location. Presentations will include the historic preservation of Ward 5 by Kathy Henderson, DC Council Candidate for Ward 5 and ANC-5B Commissioner and "A History of the Northeast Gateway" by Patsy M. Fletcher, Community Liaison for the Historic Preservation Office of the DC Office of Planning. Our meetings take place the first Sunday of every month. Starting in July we will change our meetings to the second Sunday of every month. For further information contact: queenstowndc@yahoo.com.

Brookland Civic Association and ANC-5A SMD-06 Community Meeting Tuesday, April 11th

What: Brookland Civic Association and ANC-5A SMD-06 Community Meeting

When: Tuesday, April 11th, 2006, 6:30 - 8:30pm

Where: Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michighan Avenue, NE

Agenda: Includes CSX-Toxic Train Update; MPD-5D Update with invited guests Commander Green, Captain Taylor, and Lieutenant Stroud; Newton Theatre (CVS) Landmark Nomination Presentation by John Freely; Ward 5 Neighborhood Planning Coordinator Debra Crain

Next meeting is Tuesday, May 9th, 2006

For additional information contact Mary Baird Currie at 202.635.1970