Author Archives: ljjanezich

Last Tuesday night at Watkins’ Field:  Bike Polo, Pickup Basketball, Little League Football

The Week Ahead…..Liquor License for Curbside Café?

by Larry Janezich

Monday, September 22

Community meeting to discuss Curbside Café’s plans to apply for a liquor license.  7:00pm 6:00pm at

Curbside Cafe, 257 15th Street, SE.

Tuesday, September 23

The National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission will meet to hear the case for siting the Swamp Fox memorial by Palmetto Conservation Foundation (a sponsor of the memorial, and based in Columbia, South Carolina) in a public meeting on September 23 at 2:00 pm, in Room 311, the Boardroom of the Commission of Fine Arts, at the National Building Museum, 401 S Street, N.W., Washington, DC

Wednesday, September 24

ANC6a’s Economic Development and Zoning Committee meets at 7 pm at Sherwood Recreation Center, Corner of 10th and G Streets, NE    Next Meeting will be in October.

Thursday, September 25

CHRS hosts a community meeting to hear Mark Buscaino, Executive Director of Casey Trees, explain how the District’s tree cover is maintained and what residents can do to help their trees and the local ecosystem – 7:00pm, at Hill Center.

Carport and Clouds, Northeast DC. Acrylic on masonite. 24″X18″ – $3,000 (Read the “narrative for this piece below.)

Apartment Block, Anacostia. Arrylic on Canvas. 38″X42″ – $6,000 (Read excepts from the “narrative” for this piece below.)

Lincoln Park. Acrylic on Masonite. 24″X30″ – $4,000

Corner of 5th. Acrylic on masontie. 30″X24″ – $4,000

Shade Tree on H.  Acrylic on canvas. 30″X40″ – $5,000

Piece of the Story – Featuring the Work of NE Urban Artist Brett Busang

by Larry Janezich

Brett Busang is a DC based American realist painter who currently lives near H Street, Northeast.  He paints the realities of the urban environment and has a fondness for the grittiness of alleys and garages but his work also features, empty lots, facades of storefronts and row houses, bridges, and industrial and construction sites – and no people.  Most are exteriors – studies in sunlight and shadow – with an interior scene being the rare exception.  The themes of the pieces concern change, a sense of anticipation, and the loneliness and anonymity of urban life.  His work recalls that of Edward Hopper, and Busang acknowledges his debt to that painter.

Many of Busang’s pieces featured on his website (Here:  http://bit.ly/XH7QB2) are accompanied by a “narrative” – an anecdotal-rich essay which often chronicles change and places the work in context.

He has exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York City; the Everson Museum, in Syracuse, NY; the Greenville Museum of Art, in Greenville, NC.  Busang is also a writer and commentator; his writing has appeared in American Artist, The Artist’s Magazine, American Art Review, the New York Press and New York Newsday.  He was born in 1954.

Busang’s narrative for “Carports and Clouds, Northeast DC” is reproduced below:

“Northeast Washington reminds me a little of Queens, which sprawls somewhat more evenly between the East River and, I think, Duchess County.  Queens is considered subpar compared to Brooklyn; safer than the Bronx; and as unremarkable as a hamburger patty.  It is the home of immigrants too numerous and incomprehensible to name.  Its history is an amalgam of lousy breaks and easy living.  And its people are such chips off the old block that, when they have a chance to leave, they keep a little place handy so they can always come back.

I am not aware of such affection emanating from Northeast DC.  It sprawls, but it can also contract.  Its population is not nearly so diversified, being mostly black, but it is sprinkled with recent immigrants as well as hopeful newbies, who take a chance on the place because it is very likely the only place – in Washington, DC – they can afford to live.  I don’t know how big it is and don’t care.  Yet I have spent so much time in it that I am always wondering about its parameters.  How was it, or all places, given such license to grow?  Or is its growth organic – a sort of happy virus that leaps over boundaries and keeps going because nobody cares to stop it?  Because of its sprawling character, Northeast is not easily quantified.  Northeast is Capitol Hill, but it is also Trinidad.  Northeast is a single lane that runs parallel to H, but peters out when it reaches a cross-street and is never found again.  Northeast eats at home more than other places – though it drinks out of paper bags and likes to break its bottles against a curbstone because they might, in this second life they’ve been given, puncture a brand-new tire. Northeast is as restless as a cat, but climbs fences it already knows and sticks to them.  Northeast sits on a hill at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, where hardship has been mastered and there are no rent disputes anymore.  It gazes in wonder from the Arboretum, from which the human world seems as chaotic as a three-alarm fire.

Northeast is dirty-ochre and salmon-pink.  Its middle-greys will get darker while its concrete repairs turn yellow overnight.  Northeast is a cache of plastic bottles and discarded billfolds.  It reeks of the stuff for which “nicer” neighborhoods have no name.  Yet it lives prosperously “on the hill” where prams are pushed and neighborly disagreements are arbitrated by law.  Across H, things aren’t so nice, though people are sandblasting old brick, re-painting woodwork, and making stacks of cobblestones so that they might, at some point, be returned to where they came from.

Italians used to be here, and Jewish people too.  And a great many nuns, who die more mysteriously than other people.

Wardman blocks mean something in Northeast, as do storm drains and Harlequin novels.  If asked, some people will say they miss the Senators, which were of a Northeastern mentality because they never won anything and didn’t expect to.  The Senators were about keeping the faith and holding steady.

In Brookland, its lawns are tidy, its streets are in good repair, and its inner life is crowned with rosaries, and tabernacles.  And over in Eckington – which may not be in Northeast at all – it roller-coasters up and down so much, nobody wants to go outside.

Its townhouses are needy-looking, its trees are ragged, and its lavender-mint is flavored with acid rain.  Its stray cats run rampant and are never trapped and neutered.  And its old men remember their childhoods as being more quiet, but not as complicated as the ones they see.

History has happened here and looks it – which is why it doesn’t “scan”.  (Most people prefer history on a plaque or seminar.)  Here people work for a living   Or can’t.

A Postscript

People rarely guess exactly where I have painted my pictures – which is precisely the way I want it.  In this painting, as with so many others, I want a single thing to represent the many; the ordinary moment to resonate with all time; a back-porch, a stranded automobile, and some roaming clouds to define and obfuscate what it means to be alive.”

Below is an excerpt from the narrative for  “Apartment Block, Anacostia”

“Anacostia affords views of Washington for which Washingtonians pay more money than they can afford.  Its hills and valleys retain the pastoral quality for which places like Mt. Vernon are more conveniently famous.  And its history is as complicated as the Mother Ship, which seems, to an outsider, so far away.

It’s always been affordable, though Washington-style property values have been creeping past the river’s edge.  Yet once the crossing is made, square footage lacks the gamma ray quality it has in the District.  If you drive around, you’ll find a patch of land that suits your budget.  You’ll see a house that has roaring potential.  And you’ll look past the remediable decay toward a future that is – as it may not be in Mt. Vernon Square – as tangible as a rusted-out garage.  Like that garage, it’s more than all right if you care to put a roof on it and make it your own.

Washington’s working-class is that negative quantity whose history is put on hold as Big Events march pre-emptively past it.  In DC, its two-story cottages are being snapped up like nobody’s business.  Its public spaces are being widened to accommodate bigger dreams.  And its brick schoolhouses are becoming multi-family communities complete with a village green, “safer” swing-sets, and a barbecue grill.  One could argue that, in DC, the working-class might appear during the daytime, but it joins the daily exodus after its tool-kits are stowed away.

Anacostia doesn’t mind working-people and has, over the years, provided American Dream conditions for those dreamers who need to scrape the barrel now and then.  Its economy-minded architecture is not only its saving grace, it is its lifeblood.

In the picture I made, the “kick” doesn’t come so much from the architecture as its placement among those rolling hills and easement-sharing parkland.  In DC, developers sacrifice breathing-space for market-share; human amenities for monetary values.  In Anacostia, one may breathe easily enough – though it is advisable to look both ways.  And keep an eye out for trouble.

It is regrettable that racial tensions can so often define a city’s potential.

Anacostia’s potential resides in the very tensions that could tear it asunder.  Now that it is up for grabs, it’ll be interesting to see whether those tensions will gather, be diffused, or dissipate under the influence of a new order that has not materialized there or anyplace else.  In theory, the same hand that strikes someone can be offered in friendship.  Friendship, however, depends on whether the new people are willing to respect the old; what is shabby, not only about places, but human relations can be systemically eliminated and not taken away one body-part at a time.  Anacostia needs a shot in the arm, but its crowd-attracting virtues must, in the face of those very crowds, be somehow protected.”

Ed. Note:  Capitol Hill Corner features the works of local artists in an occasional feature entitled “Piece of the Story.”  Artists interested in participating should email ljjanezich@hotmail.org.

The Proposed Francis Marion Memorial Would Go in Marion Park

View of Marion Park Looking Southwest. Improvements to the Park Have Been Underway for Several Years, with Seemingly Little Progress

Neighbors Up in Arms Over Proposed “Swamp Fox” Statue in Marion (Turtle) Park

by Larry Janezich

The neighbors of Marion Park are organizing to stop or slow down an effort to locate a larger than life-sized statue of Francis Marion, the park’s namesake and an American Revolutionary War military officer who used irregular methods to fight the British in South Carolina.  Known as the Swamp Fox, Marion’s legacy is controversial, (See Wikipedia, here:  http://bit.ly/1o6BerY)

Neighbors of the park rose at last Tuesday’s ANC meeting to question whether a Capitol Hill neighborhood is an appropriate place for a statue of a former slave holder who they said mistreated his slaves and participated in brutal tactics in a war against Native Americans.  Objections were also raised regarding the failure of the National Park Service to involve neighbors in the process, on the proposed statue’s negative impact on recreational use of the park and on the lack of provision for maintaining the site.

The National Park Service was on hand at Tuesday’s meeting, to justify use of the site for the statue – Marion Park is the last piece of federally owned land on South Carolina Avenue.  The agency received a tongue lashing from ANC commissioners who faulted them for failure to inform the ANC of the plan, failure to follow up on concerns raised about the project raised at the Planning and Zoning Committee earlier this month, and failure to coordinate the project with the neighborhood – as well as for the stalled work on improving the park.  Despite these reservations, the ANC approved a letter supporting approval for siting the memorial in Marion Park on a narrow vote of 4 – 3 with 2 abstentions.

Neighbors of the park have begun collecting signatures for a petition to the National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission and other agencies to oppose the statue.  You can find the petition and the neighbors’ concerns in the Library at the top of the home page.  (See here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EVtv9FSomx3YhJxHKpqVBBw8sIsXMph-a0EMrLGiz3I/viewform?fbzx=-3859498444572146527 )

One of the neighbors, Helen Luryi, when asked about the feelings of the nearby residents, said, “Marion is a controversial figure.  We’re unhappy there’s been little input from the community and many of us are just now finding out about this proposal. The ANC let it go forward despite comments from the community that were 100% negative. The park has been under construction on and off for years – in fact, it’s under construction right now – and we just want to be able to use the park fully.  We have enough statues in DC and this park is a small, open space that a statue would ruin.”

Marion Park is between 4th & 6th Streets and E Street and South Carolina Avenue, SE.  It is also known as Turtle Park for the large turtle in the children’s play area.  MPD Substation 1-D-1 faces the park, as does Pleasant Lane Baptist Missionary Church.  The latter was designed for Mt. Jezreel Baptist Church in 1883 by Calvin T.S. Brent, DC’s first African American architect.  The proposed statue is the brainchild of John F. McCabe, a Columbia, South Carolina financial advisor.  (His website with additional information on the project is here:  http://www.swampfoxmemorial.org/)

The National Capital Memorial Advisory Commission will meet to hear the case for siting the memorial by Palmetto Conservation Foundation (a sponsor of the memorial, and based in Columbia, South Carolina) – in a public meeting on September 23, 2014 at 2:00 pm, in Room 311, the Boardroom of the Commission of Fine Arts, at the National Building Museum, 401 S Street, N.W., Washington, D.C

Congress authorized the NPS to conduct commemorative work to honor Marion in 2008.  That authorization is likely to expire before the work is finished, requiring a re-authorization.

Hine Litigant Files Complaint Against Mayor and DMPED on Transparency Issue

by Larry Janezich

On Friday, September 12, Eastern Market Community Association (EMMCA) filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint with the DC Superior Court against Mayor Gray and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (DMPED).  The complaint was filed on EMMCA’s behalf by attorney Oliver Hall.  Hall also represented litigants (EMMCA was one)   opposed to the Zoning Commission’s approval of the Hine development as well as litigants opposed to aspects of the West End Library development.

The complaint alleges that DMPED violated the FOIA’s mandatory disclosure requirement because it has failed since November 1, 2001, to disclose records (specifically Land Development Agreements) which it is required to make public as a matter of law.  In addition, the complaint alleges that DMPED unlawfully denied, delayed and obstructed specific requests for the LDAs on the West End Library and the Hine Development.

EMMCA was injured, the complaint says, because DMPED’s failure to follow the law made EMMCA unable to introduce evidence before the Zoning Commission concerning the benefits and amenities portion of the Hine development PUD process.

A ruling in favor of EMMCA would not appear to have any effect on the on-going Hine litigation.  It could, however, require DMPED to follow the letter of the law regarding contract transparency.  Though EMMCA is claiming injury, the complaint asks the court to order DMPED to post all public LDAs (contracts) after November 1, 2001, on its website; and to declare that DMPED’s failure to disclose LDAs and a general index of public records on its website are contrary to law.

EMMCA has been at odds with ANC6b for many months over the issue of the Hine development, but they do agree on the issue of DMPED’s lack of transparency.  Last February, in testimony before the DC Committee on Economic Development, ANC6B Chair Brian Flahaven joined appellants of the Hine project in agreeing that DMPED failed to respond properly to a FOIA request filed by Capitol Hill residents seeking details about the deal that DMPED struck with Hine developers Stanton/Eastbanc.  Flahaven said that DMPED “mishandled the Freedom of Information Act request submitted by community members and needlessly delayed and limited access to information…”  (See post on Brian Flahavan as well as then-Deputy Mayor Hoskins here:  http://bit.ly/1aVCuwD.)

A new perspective of the 49 unit condo building planned by Madison Investments for 11th and I Streets, SE, showing changes made to the exterior design to incorporate additional features to make the structure more compatible with the Capitol Hill Historic District. Courtesy of Jeff Goins, of PGN Architects.

The Week Ahead…And New Questions About the Hine Re-Appeal

Also New Perspective of 49 Condo Unit at 11^th and I Streets, SE

by Larry Janezich

Thursday’s EMMCA meeting with ANC6B Commissioners Pate and Frishberg on the future of Eastern Market Metro Park comes at an interesting time, since both commissioners have raised questions regarding EMMCA’s decision to remain as a party to the re-appeal of the recent appeals court decision in favor of the developer on the Hine Development.  The court found that there was not sufficient reason to overturn the zoning commission approval of the development.  The Hine Coalition is re-appealing to the full nine member court (en banc).

CHC looked into the matter and find that neither EMMCA members nor the current EMMCA leadership was consulted on the decision to re-appeal.  Carl Reeverts, one of the EMMCA co-chairs and a candidate for a seat on ANC6B, writes: “the Hine Coalition did not consult with the current EMMCA co-chairs because the petition for rehearing was a customary part of the ongoing appeal process.”

In apparent recognition of this failure to consult membership or current leadership, EMMCA recently sent the following to its membership : “As we told you in the Sept. 3 EMMCA MATTERS, when the Hine Coalition asked for a rehearing en banc of the DC Court of Appeals Aug. 14, 2014, ruling, EMMCA continued participating in the 2013 appeal as an intervenor.  The petition for rehearing is customarily part of the appeal process.  Because we value the opinions of EMMCA members and want EMMCA to continue to be inclusive, we’d like to know if any EMMCA members have any input, comments or concerns about EMMCA’s continued participation in the appeal.”

Ed. Note:  According to the attorney for the litigants in the appeal of the zoning commission decision on Hine, the litigants filed a petition for rehearing after the initial decision of the appeals court.  The attorney states that this is not a new proceeding, but a normal part of the same appeal process that EMMCA joined in the spring of 2013.  Further, petitions for rehearing are expressly authorized by D.C. Court of Appeals Rules 35 and 40, and parties regularly file them when a court decision contains errors.  Finally, according to the attorney, this is not a new proceeding which was initiated without EMMCA’s consent – the litigants filed a petition for rehearing in the same appeal that EMMCA had already authorized.

Monday, September 15

Coalition for Better Planning press conference at 11:15am on the steps of the Wilson Building regarding a letter  to DC Elected officials and candidates for city-wide offices calling for reform of DC’s planning and development agencies.

Monday, September 15

ANC 6A Transportation & Public Space Committee meets at 7:00pm at Maury Elementary School (note location change – 1250 Constitution Avenue, NE)

Among items on the agenda:

Update from DDOT concerning H Street streetcar project.

Review of proposed DDOT regulations concerning operation of streetcars

Application for sidewalk café for Ben’s Chili Bowl café at 1001 H Street NE

Monday, September 15

ANC 6A Community Outreach Committee meets at 7:00pm at Maury Elementary (1250 Constitution Aveune, NE)  Room assignment will be posted in lobby.

Tuesday, September 16

Department of General Services Surplus Hearing on Eastern Branch Eastern Branch Boys and Girls Club, located at 261 17th Street, SE.   6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, Payne Elementary School (1445 C Street SE). Though titled a “hearing,” this meeting will be a much more informal discussion of the state of the building and the Request For Proposals process.

Tuesday, September 16

ANC6A Alcohol Beverage Licensing Committee meets at 7:00pm at Sherwood Recreation Center (10th and G Streets, NE).

Among items on the agenda:

Update on status of Settlement Agreement termination requests by H Street Country Club, Rock n’ Roll Hotel, and Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar.

Class B Retail license renewal for China House at 1601 Benning Road, NE.

Class B Retail license renewal for J & K Market at 234 15th Street, NE.

Class B Retail license renewal for M & T Grocer’s Beer and Wine at 201 15th Street, NE.

Wednesday, September 17

ANC6B Outreach & Constituent Services Task Force meets at 7:00pm in Hill Center.

Among items on the agenda:

Update on vacant and blighted property list

Update on WiFi at Potomac Gardens

Wednesday, September 17

Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC) meets at 7:00pm in the North Hall, Eastern Market.

Thursday, September 18

Eastern Market Metro Community Association (EMMCA) meets at 7:00pm in Southeast Library.  The meeting will feature a discussion about the priorities, schedule and implementation of the proposed Eastern Market Metro Park. ANC Commissioners Ivan Frishberg and Brian Pate will share up-to-date information about the status of the plan and next steps. Barbara Riehle and Senda Benaissa, EMMCA’s members on the planning committee, plan to discuss their comments on the plan priorities and budget use developed after the last task force meeting.

Thursday, September 18

The Historic Preservation Review Board will meet at 9:00 a.m. at 441 4th Street NW in Room 220 South.

Among items on the agenda:

12:45 – 1:30 – demolition permit for the “shotgun house” at 1229 E Street, SE.

City Workers Clean Up Overflowing Dumpster behind Marine Barracks on 9th Street, SE

Ninth Street Dumpster Nightmare – City Fines Bystander

by Larry Janezich

Ninth street residents who became the victim of both a negligent contractor and the contracting homeowner as well as the lack of response by the city when they sought help in resolving a trash issue have been issued a citation for not addressing the problem themselves.

Last March, a contractor engaged in a renovation project on the 700 block of 9^th Street, SE, placed a dumpster (by order of an Emergency No Parking permit, valid through the first week of August) mostly in front of a property at 736 9^th Street adjacent to the job site.  The address has been the residence for the past 43 years of David and Adrienne Umansky.

As the renovation progressed, the dumpster was emptied once and replaced.  Before being hauled off again, however, the contractor went bankrupt, and despite being covered by a tarp, the dumpster gradually attracted a mountain of trash and garbage from nearby residents and passersby.

According to the Umanskys, the owner of the property being renovated tried but was unable to find the company who owned the dumpster “since the contractor was bankrupt. “  The Umanskys and their neighbors, they say, called 311 to report the problem numerous times in June and July with no response to their concerns.

Finally, last week the city moved to address the problem.  ANC Commissioner Kirsten Oldenburg was instrumental in finally getting the city to take notice.  Oldenburg told CHC, “When neighbors reported the overflowing dumpster to me, I called the [DDOT] Deputy Associate Director who directed inspectors to check out the matter.  Over the course of a week, citations were issued to both the dumpster firm and the contractor who had hired the dumpster.  The firm tried to remove the dumpster several times but could not because of a car parked in front of it.  On Tuesday, September 9, [DDOT] Inspector McCreary got DPW to tow away the parked car and the dumpster was removed.  At [Tuesday night’s ANC6B] meeting I thanked DDOT’s Public Space Regulations Administration and, especially their Inspector McCreary who doggedly managed to resolve a very messy and complicated situation.”

Grateful for finally having the problem resolved, the Umanskys were less happy when they received a citation last Thursday levying a $75 fine for “Failure to maintain abutting public space.”  The ticket was accompanied by a photo of trash which had been placed next to the dumpster.  The Umanskys have reached out to DDOT to appeal the ticket and left messages, but as yet have received no response.

Last Thursday night, the neighboring ANC6A north of East Capitol, sent a letter to DDOT asking them for information regarding the process for issuing emergency no-parking permits and opportunities for the ANC to weigh in on longer-term permits.  No such action has yet been considered by ANC6b.

Kraze Burgers Will Not Be Returning to Barracks Row – ANC Asks Landlord What Will Replace It?

Kraze Burgers Out of Barracks Row

Landlord Under Pressure from ANC/Neighbors

by Larry Janezich

Kraze Burgers’ landlord, Streetsense (no connection to the newspaper of similar name), told Capitol Hill Corner that the enterprise has regained control of the space at 431 8^th Street, SE, formerly occupied by Kraze Burgers.

The move came after protracted litigation resulting from Kraze Burgers’ inability to pay their rent.  The restaurant – wracked by internal disputes (see here:  http://bit.ly/1h8zbTV ) – has been closed since March of this year.  Streetsense owns the building where Kraze Burgers operated and Chipotle still does.

On Wednesday, September 3, three ANC Commissioners – Brian Pate, Ivan Frishberg, and Phil Peisch – carried their concerns about the Kraze Burgers site and the 400 block of Barracks Row to a meeting with Streetsense President, Guy Silverman.  The 400 block is frequently characterized as “in trouble” owing to a multiplicity of problems, many of which concern corporate owned fast food outlets.  The commissioners, convinced that “casual fast food dining” on the block has not worked out, were worried about what was in store for the space.

According to Pate, the commissioners discussed the possibility of Streetsense putting something other than a restaurant in the location.  The space commands a premium rent of $80 a square foot – one of the highest in the city (for comparison purposes, the average rent at Union Station is $75 a square foot).

Frishberg subsequently told CHC, “It would be great to get retail but anybody who thinks we will get retail at current rent levels is smoking crack.  Small retail can’t afford the $80 a square foot – they can’t pay half that rent.  For a lot of the retail people who can pay that much, the space is too small.  My impression was that Silverman received the ANC’s concerns honestly.  I said things that were exceedingly direct…There are problems with that location and they are not all Streetsense’s fault.  Not every Chipotle has a security officer to keep order.”

Last Saturday, a delegation of three nearby neighbors met with Silverman and Streetsense co-founder Marc Ratner  to emphasize the concerns of the 7^th Street neighbors who back up to the restaurants on the 400 block of 8^th.  Those concerns involve fried meat cooking odors, noise, trash, and vermin.  After the meeting, participants said it appeared that Streetsense recognized their concerns, and while not dismissing those concerns outright in the meeting, they nevertheless preferred to not deal with them.  Neighbors reported that Streetsense is not willing to take less rent for the space, saying they were told that $80 a square foot is what Streetsense investors expect.

The neighbors represented by the delegation are the very same neighbors that pressured &Pizza into a Best Standards operating agreement last week – an agreement which is likely to become standard for Barracks Row and other commercial areas in ANC6B.  (See the preceding CHC post.)

Last May, these neighbors circulated a flyer and petition that was signed by some 95 residents opposing any additional fast food outlet on 8th Street and urging the ANC to require all existing and new restaurants to meet Best Operating standards.  Many petitioners urged a moratorium on liquor licenses as well.

Neighbors said it was largely their experience with Streetsense, Kraze Burgers and Chipotle that led them to collect signatures against & Pizza and Chipotle after & Pizza and Chipotle were unwilling to consider indoor trash storage and odor mitigation.

Frishberg says that it’s not clear that Kraze Burgers should have been allowed to open on Barracks Row without a fast food exception.  Now it appears, in light of conditions on the block, any restaurant coming into the space will be under increased scrutiny as to whether it meets the Office of Planning’s broadening definition of who needs a fast food exception.  Any restaurant requiring the exception – and thus, ANC approval – undoubtedly will become subject to the new operating standards as a condition of that exception.  Should a non-fast food restaurant come into thee space as a matter of right, the ANC’s leverage will come from any application for a liquor license, which Kraze Burger did not have but which any non-fast food restaurant would most likely need.  Kraze Burgers did not have an operating agreement with the ANC, but did have operating conditions written into its lease with Streetsense.  These conditions, however, did not prove to be adequate to protect the neighbors from odors, trash, noise, and vermin.

405 8th Street, SE, formerly XOXO Cleaners, Slated to become &Pizza

City Clears “&Pizza” on Barracks Row – Grants Fast Food Exception

New Operating Rules Likely to Become a Local Standard

by Larry Janezich

On Tuesday, DC’s Board of Zoning Adjustment voted 4 – 1 to approve a special exception to allow &Pizza to sell fast food on Barracks Row under “Best Practices” operating procedures which are likely to set a new standard for restaurants and bars in ANC6b’s commercial corridors.

The Board accepted all of the restrictions listed by ANC6b as conditions of its support for the exception, including incorporation of the operating agreement negotiated by neighbors with &Pizza owner Steve Salis in the Board order.

ANC6b had recommended approval of the fast food exception and a one-story rear addition to the building (formerly XOXO Cleaners at 405 8^th Street, SE) on a narrow 6-4 vote, after approving a requirement that the applicant seek renewal of the exception after seven (instead of the requested ten) years and conditional upon BZA formalizing the list of “Best Practice” operating procedures.  Those procedures include a detailed trash control protocol providing for (among other things) trash and recycling storage inside the building itself, elimination and/or cleansing of kitchen exhaust odors and particulates, and a state of the art sound mitigation of rooftop mechanicals.

&Pizza owner, Steve Salis, pushed hard for a ten year fast food exception, claiming that it was “challenging” to convince financial institutions to lend money without a ten year exception and that he needed the time to minimize his risk. Salis also made a case that the “Best Practices” operating procedures will require expensive equipment and increase the cost of his investment.  The BZA was not convinced by those arguments, noting that his agreement with the neighbors should give him confidence that the exception would be renewed after seven years.  The board also cited some of its recent decisions that limited the exception for five and even three years.

ANC6B Commissioner Ivan Frishberg, who represented the ANC at the hearing, described the 400 block of 8^th Street as one of the most “expensive blocks on Barracks Row, and one of the trashiest.”  He told the Board that almost 100 nearby neighbors had petitioned the ANC, opposing any additional fast food outlet on 8th Street and to require all existing and new restaurants be required to meet best operating standards.  Many petitioners, he said, urged a moratorium on liquor licenses as well.  Frishberg cited the “extraordinary level of engagement between neighbors and the applicant” and commended them and fellow Commissioner Phil Peisch for reaching the agreement.

On the other hand, Frishberg criticized the city for falling down on enforcement of health and sanitation regulations, effectively delegating this work to nearby residents.  With respect to the seven vs. ten year limit on the exception, Frishberg noted that the building’s landlord (Maurice Kreindler, who had sought a 20 year exception) is a “major owner” of Barracks Row real estate, and “another party” who has a long term interest in seeing the business succeed.  As such, he said that the landlord is “a part of the equation whose participation has not been adequately explored.”  (Kreindler can put a restaurant (not fast-food) in the location by right, but that tenant would undoubtedly be subject to the same operating conditions and might not be able to command as much rent as a fast food outlet.)

One of the nearby neighbors involved in negotiating the agreement, Linda Elliott, was on hand to tell the Board that the neighbors now support the fast food exception with the conditions Salis had agreed to, saying, “The conditions satisfy our public health and quality of life concerns.”

Asked for comment after the meeting, Frishberg said:  “The ANC took a very pragmatic but demanding approach in an effort to address some of the problems on this block.   The BZA respected that and clearly saw the need for accountability over the operations here through its approval of the shorter term on the special exception.  This block is in trouble and the bar is now set very high as we all figure out what can be done to clean things up there.”

Salis did not respond to a request for comment.

Joe Englert, H Street Restaurateur and Developer

Economic Gentrification of the Atlas District – Perspective:  Joe Englert, H Street Restaurateur​/Developer

by Larry Janezich

From Wikipedia:

“Joe Englert is a Washington DC area restaurateur.[1] He became known in the early 1990s for creating quirky themed bars, restaurants and entertainment venues on U Street[2]

In 2006, he began a venture to revitalize the Atlas District along H Street NE and turn it into a nightlife destination.[3] Englert purchased eight properties along on H Street to coincide with the city’s plan to renovate and reopen the long defunct Atlas Theater.”

CHC interviewed Englert after he suggested that CHC consider an article on how anti-business some ANCs had become.  CHC thought the best venue for this view would be an interview with ​Englert himself.

During that interview, Englert revealed that he is a writer as well as a restaurateur.  He’s currently writing an article for publication about a realist painter who lives near H Street, NE, who Englert characterizes as a “chronicler of the struggle between urban decay and renewal.”

It’s clear after talking to Englert that he sees himself in that same vein.​

He says, “I was much more idealistic when I started H Street.  I saw restaurants and bars as a way to get people back on the streets.  I thought the end result would be more amenities – a swimming pool, art studios, public meeting places.”

Englert ​told Washingtonian magazine in May of 2012 that his vision for H Street was a lot of businesses –“the bike store, the rollerblade store, the mom and pop clothes emporium, the small deli…not just restaurants, but bakers, chocolate shops, museums, flower shops.”  Asked last week what happened, he replied, “Somewhere, you run out of steam and money and are surrounded by fewer like-minded people.  You can’t beat the market.”

In the magazine article, defending his aggressive move to bring renewal to the H Street strip, (some said at the expense of long time H Street retailers) Englert said, “What have others been doing except for joining alphabet groups and simply talking, not doing?”

The “alphabet groups” appear to be a reference to the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) – the lowest level of political organization in the city, and the first hurdle for developers to surmount in pursuit of liquor licenses, and historic preservation and zoning ​applications​.

He says he’s been reading a lot about who designs cities.  What interests him is the question, “What is the city and what can we expect from it?”   He says he thinks they are being designed by “urban hipsters who ride bikes and want dog parks.”  Englet says it’s harder and harder to have a relationship with ANCs.  [Current] “ANC Commissioners are less willing to give-and-take and negotiate.  They have a rock-hard concept of what the city should be like…the make-up used to be more varied.…now you don’t see the breadth and experience and open mindedness.”

Englert understands that his activities on H Street as an agent of change are responsible for the negative reaction to increased nightlife activity of nearby neighbors.  His response: “People move in steps away from long established commercial corridors and expect the commercial outlets to bend to their will.  I would do everything to make neighbors feel welcome – sound proof glass – 24 hour access on cell phone.  People want peace – not to fight with the neighbors. The ANC paints with a broad brush.”

​CHC has reported on how some establishments have violated the trust of the neighborhood and the ANC (like Lounge XII – see CHC posting here:  http://bit.ly/1p04lfs).  Englert says he thinks that “everything should be case by case.”

He also understands that his success in making H Street a food and drink destination (a playground for adults, some have said) has made it difficult for non-food business to survive.  Owners of H Street buildings – as has happened with landlords on Barracks Row – ask rents beyond the reach of small retail.  Englert asks, “Can retail really exist in 2014 when banks and lenders know that the highest and best use of a place is alcohol?”  He cites figures that suggest that in order to support retail on H Street it would require a population of 30,000 within a one mile radius, and asks, “Without density, how can Capitol Hill change?”  Asked how Old Town Alexandria sustains retail without Metro and density, he has “three theories – tourism, long established rents, and difficulty of entry for alcohol licenses in Virginia.”

He told CHC, “I think the only way retail can work now is if it is collaborative and coop in nature – a big foot print, low cost per square foot.  Team up with a bar or coffee shop and have lots of spaces, modeled on an antique market coop.”

The changes Englert helped bring to H Street have advanced gentrification in the Atlas District, and in some ways, he is not happy about that.  Englert says, there are no group houses anymore – they’ve migrated.  That indicates to him that a tipping point has been reached.  He asks, “How rich are the people moving to Capitol Hill?  At some point, will (lack of) schools kill gentrification?  How many families can own a $2 million house and still shell out $60,000 a year to send a kid to a private school – or have the will or the nanny to do a 20 mile round trip to insure their kid gets a ‘rightful education’?  Does that mean gentrification will stall out without finding a way for people other than the rich to survive here?  The question is, will Capitol Hill become a mini London or mini San Francisco where a plumber or electrician can’t survive within 50 miles?”

Still, he reasons, DC is very big – people are being pushed out from the center but out there, affordable housing is still available.  “It’s a big place man – but it doesn’t make it any more palatable that there’s not a place for everybody.”

For Englert, H Street has become less interesting as the result of the prospect of Whole Foods opening an outlet here, but, he says, the nearby “industrial nature of the community going toward Florida Avenue, the railroad tracks near the old Uline Arena, Union Market and the warehouse district lend an interesting panorama.”  Has he looked at Bladensburg Road or Anacostia?  He says, “That’s a lot of years away.”

For Englert, “Capitol Hill is the most interesting place in the city.”  Cleveland Park (where he lives) he calls “monolithic,” referencing the “tyranny of the two lawyer family and hyper achievers.  People don’t mix – there’s less diversity.”  When it’s pointed out that Capitol Hill is becoming less racially diverse because of gentrification, Englert says he sees “more socio- economic diversity here than anywhere else.”

“I see it as bar owner – it’s intergenerational.  Sure, you have 28 year olds at happy hour, but during the day and on weekends, you are more likely to meet someone unlike you in a bar on Capitol Hill.  He has opened several places on Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, and says, “Pennsylvania Avenue is America’s Avenue – people walk past the Capitol and stop into one of my places for a coke and a side of fries.  That’s the way you meet people.”

Following is an updated list of some of the bars currently owned by Englert: Argonaut, Vendetta (formerly the Palace of Wonders and The Red and Black), Rock and Roll Hotel, Granville Moore’s, H Street Country Club, The Big Hunt, DC 9, Trusty’s and Capitol Lounge.  Englert also owns the building housing Lucky Bar.  Some of the venues he formerly was involved in include: The Pour House, Pug, Sticky Rice, Enology Wine Bar, and State of the Union.

(Ed. Note:  During the interview for this piece, several themes emerged which struck this reporter as reminiscent of ideas expressed in a recent CHC article on the residential gentrification of Hill East.  (See here: http://bit.ly/1vfnhyZ)  The previous article and this one both contain references to similar ideas.  These include, the unintended consequences of bringing change to a community, the surprise that changing a place makes it less interesting to those responsible for the change, and the inevitability of “the market.”  Finally, though this article makes no reference as did the first article to Andre Duany’s three waves of gentrifiers – the risk oblivious, the risk aware, and the risk adverse, the current piece is replete with those unstated references.)

Eastern Market Farmer’s Line, 1:00pm, Sunday.

Capitol Hill Corner: The Week Ahead…..And ANC6B Moves Office to Eastern Market

by Larry Janezich

ANC6b Office Departs Hill Center for Eastern Market

Facing a budget crunch and looking to reduce expenses, ANC6b has informally notified Hill Center that it will vacate their Hill Center third floor office space on October 15 and set up shop in Eastern Market.  City regulations provide that ANC’s may occupy office and meeting space in any public building in the ANC district if space is available.  It had not occurred to anyone until recently that space might be available in Eastern Market.  The ANC will continue to rent space for its full Commission monthly meetings at Hill Center, and Hill Center has thrown in use of the conference room on the third floor for ANC committee meetings as part of the deal.  The full ANC6b is expected to ratify the move at its monthly meeting on September 9.  The Hill Center charges the ANC $800 a month rent for office space – space in Eastern Market will be free.

The week Ahead….

Tuesday, September 9

ANC6b meets on at 7:00pm in Hill Center. 

Among items on the agenda:

Exception to single sales alcohol restrictions for DCanter 545 8^th Street, SE.

Letter to Alcohol Beverage Control Board regarding The Ugly Mug’s plan to install a retractable roof over their rooftop patio. 

Unenclosed sidewalk café for District Doughnut Café.

Two story rear addition for proposed restaurant at 317 7th Street, SE.

New construction for Madison Investment’s 49 condo building at 900 11^th Street, SE.

Informational presentation regarding renovation of apartment building at 816 Potomac Avenue SE.       

Letter to of opposition to District Department of Transportation (DDOT) regarding re-opening of Southeast Freeway.

Thursday, September 11

ANC6a meets at 7:00pm in Miner School, 601 15^th Street, NE.

Among items on the agenda:

Alcohol license (restaurant) renewal for Kitty’s Saloon at 1208 H Street, NE.

Alcohol license (restaurant) renewal for Ocopa (formerly Chicken Tortilla) at 1324 H Street, NE.

Enforcement of drainage, cleanliness and traffic standards in alleys including 1200 block of Wiley Street, 1200 block of Linden Place, and alley at 800 block of H Street, NE..

Letter to DCRA relating the status of 1000 C Street, NE, as a possible vacant or blighted property.

Thursday, September 11

ANC6c meets at 7:00pm in Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE.

Among items on the agenda:

DC Streetcar – safety, outreach, testing, updates, role in H Street festival.

M Street cycle track – from M Street to Metropolitan Branch Trail.

Sidewalk proposal – JBG plan for new sidewalk unit block of N Street NE.