Demystifying the Opera (for you & the kiddies)

DCOpera Event

The Washington National Opera is committed to engaging families East of the River and is asking for the help of change makers in the community to share this event with their neighbors.

Washington National Opera Family Look-In

The Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW (Orange Line "Foggy Bottom/GWU")

Saturday, October 16, 2:00PM

Registration:  $10 use "Source Code DCCAH"

Do you have questions? Feel free to email Michelle Pendoley @
mpendoley@dc-opera.org

Deanwood's Urban Turf Profile

Deanwood: A Little Bit of Country Just Inside the District’s Borders

"It’s easy to get disoriented in Deanwood. Exit the Metro station and walk past the gleaming new recreation center, and the neighborhood quickly takes on a foreign tone. With its hills and one-story frame houses, it’s not a stretch to imagine you’re wandering around a rural community somewhere—one that isn’t particularly open to outsiders.

Located east of the Anacostia River and just inside the District’s northeast border, Deanwood has long been viewed as a community with a small-town atmosphere." Read the rest of the article. 

Weigh in on this blog on whether Urban Turf got it right along with your vision of Deanwood's future.

Deanwood Duplexes in 5000 Block of Jay St

The transition begins...Gray Ward 7 Town Hall

A common saying in politics is, "Winning a campaign is easy.  The tough part is governing."  Noone doubts D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray, the presumptive mayor, has the ability to govern.  The doubt, or perhaps more appropriately the uncertainty, arises in how he will govern.  This uncertainty is made more stark when coupled with our city's horrendous budget constraints.

For neighborhoods like Deanwood, which went heavy for Gray, the asks are long and deep.  Dealing with basic quality-of-life needs like improved schools, public works services, and police presence are important.  Just as important, though, is implementing a meaningful community economic development plan.  For greater Deanwood neighborhoods our community economic development is wrapped in the multi-year Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings New Communities Initiative (LHRDNCI).  The LHRDNCI hinges on a cross-section of government and private invesments, including human capital and infrastructure, to create mixed-income, sustainable development sites.  Private developers have already downgraded some of their plans on account of the economic downturn.  These developers must have a comfort level from government but also in my opinion they need a gut-check and must be strongly prodded by government to plan for the best and build the best in spite of the current economics.

Gray campaigned on a birth-24 education system that includes real-life employment skills.  It is my contention that that campaign promise can be implemented and accomplished in greater Deanwood.  Breaking up the silo mentality of the private sector is a step.  However, a bigger and more treacherous step is corralling residents, both long-time and new arrivals, to forget perceived slights and defuse flashpoint rhetoric and come together to push for innovative community revitalization--dusting off the so, so, so many development plans for far northeast Ward 7 and get it done.

While the presumptive mayor's heart may be in Ward 7 he has to govern from 30,000'.  The opportunity to make a campaign promise and slogan a model and reality is in greater Deanwood--if the presumptive mayor sets the tone and empowers (demands?) Ward 7 residents (in some cases guide to stage left) to organize effectively to communicate our message, our needs, and our wants ourselves. 

"How will the presumptive mayor govern?"  Significant returns on investment for the public and private sectors hang in the balance.

vgray ward7 townhall

The Ward 7 town hall is moved to Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, 3000 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.  Please allow for significant travel time (WMATA or car) due to the Pennsylvania Avenue Great Streets project construction.

A Walk With: Sylvia Brown, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Deanwood - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

A Walk With: Sylvia Brown, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Deanwood - Housing Complex - Washington City Paper

For someone who follows Twitter fairly closely, Sylvia Brown—@ANC7c04—is an outsized presence. She nudges councilmembers and narrates press conferences, corrects journalists and vents about the latest political outrage.

Turns out Brown is a large presence in real life, too. She’s tall, basketball player tall, though the resemblance might also have been due to the track pants and sneakers. Brown ... immediately pointed out something I’d never noticed before: The Lederer Youth Garden, which has dozens of small plots for children, complete with a beehive.

“It’s a hidden gem,” she says.

Guest blog posting: Taking back our neighborhood

Editor's Note: "Officially tired of the madness," Ajia Meux, Deanwood neighbor and former Deanwood Citizens Association president, has distributed this "Open Letter to Community Members."  To reach as many neighbors and stakeholders she asked Deanwoodenizen to post the message to her blog readers. 

Dear Community Members,

I am writing you this as not only the former president of the Deanwood Citizen's Association, but also as a resident of the community and a concerned citizen.  I am deeply concerned about the state of the Deanwood Citizen's Association.  Since I know there is power in numbers, I am reaching out to the larger community.  You need to be seen and heard!

In eight months time, the current executive board of the Deanwood Citizen's Association has managed to run the organization into the ground.  They have managed to alienate new members—members who showed vigor in wanting to work on behalf of the organization and their community and members who made it their mission to bring other community members to meetings now do not even come.  Committees to
address community issues are hand-selected and the information that comes from the committees is guarded.  Member opinion is not respected, issues are often tabled and never addressed and only the President and the Vice President seem to have any say so into decisions made.

Community visibility is nil and when DCA leadership is represented reports are that their behavior is unprofessional and aggressive.  For the last three meetings, there have been no minutes and no treasurer's report for the September meeting.  This is of particular importance because the current executive board is notorious for making up information and distorting truth.  We did not receive minutes for June's meeting or July's meeting.  I did not see anyone recording the meeting tonight [editor's note: Monday, September 27, 2010].

The former president, Sylvia Brown, ANC7C04 was an amazing DCA president.  She spent much time building Deanwood's reputation in the community and informing ALL residents of the process by which change can come when we work together as ONE COMMUNITY.  I made it my mission to represent DCA to ALL residents, spending countless hours going door to door to invite not just home owners, but ALL COMMUNITY MEMBERS to be engaged in the civic process.  It is important that DCA be used as a vehicle for the entire community to progress, not monopolized by a few who use it as a means of control.

I own my home in Deanwood and have been a resident of the community for four years.  I pay taxes on my property AND in the community through sales tax.  I shop at Deanwood businesses.  I am (and you are) just as much a stakeholder in this community as our next door neighbors who have been in the community for 30+ years.  This polarizing attitude of the current leadership has to stop!  Have you ever been called about an "emergency meeting" or any meeting for that matter?  Have you received a flyer?  Has anyone from DCA ever stopped and knocked on your door?  Anyone ever ask your opinion about ANYTHING happening?  I am begging you to come to a DCA meeting [fourth Monday, 6:30 p.m., 1350 49th St. NE] and challenge this current board.  I do not plan on running for office again, but PLEASE consider running.  It's time that we represent this community like others represent theirs—in a way that is clear, professional, respectful, diplomatic and that serve the interest of EVERYONE.
This is a drastic measure, yes I know.  But I am tired of meetings full of shenanigans and petty arguments when our community is in crisis and on the brink of transition. Someone has to grab the reins.  These folks are out of control.
Ajia Meux
5000 Block of Sheriff
Deanwood Resident

MuralsDC completes second Deanwood site

After fits and starts the second MuralsDC project in Deanwood is complete!  MuralsDC is an initiative from Jim Graham, Ward 1 Councilman and chairman of the Council's Committee on Public Works and Transportation.  MuralsDC is a multi-agency effort to combat illegal graffiti, called tagging, on locations prone to the activity.  Utilizing organizations and youth from the impacted neighborhoods the thought is that taggers are less likely to tag a spot where they have crafted an artistic vision.  The program also helps channel and legitimize graffiti artistry. 

The first Deanwood site done under the direction of arts organization Ward 7 Arts Collaborative is at A-1 Grocery located at Division Avenue and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue.  Words Beats Life led the development of the newest site, A&S Grocery, at Sheriff Road and 48th St.  Juan Pineda was lead artist and proposed several Deanwood icons for the rendering, including the Carver School (now IDEA Public Charter School), Nannie Helen Burroughs, and the trolley car that ran along Deane Avenue (now Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue).

A&S Grocery (4748 Sheriff Rd. NE), site of second Deanwood MuralsDC

Words Beats & Life draft of MuralsDC Deanwood site. 



Student apprentices; student in forefront Jean Martinez is lead student artist.  





Passive Solar House Site Warming

Thanks to the immediate neighbors, stakeholders, and neighbors in greater Deanwood who came to the site warming at Gault Pl NE for the 2011 Solar Decathlon.  Here's an article from local real estate blog, DCmud.  Big shoutouts to the students and faculty of Parson, Milano, and Stevens!  Kudos to Habitat for Humanity for Washington, DC and the District's Department of Housing and Community Development for recognizing the innovation and replicability of solar housing when developing affordable housing.  Here are a few photos.

Kent Adcock, Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Washington, DC

Laura Briggs, lead faculty member, Parsons Design School

Immediate neighbors attend the site warming & get information about the Deanwood Solar House