You know me, right?

Glamour Shot (you like???)

Chillaxin' (I can be a bohemian.)

It was a little too sunny, but I still like it (shouldn't I say that).

I just want to be sure.

For awhile I've written Deanwoodenizen "anonymously." It was supposed to transition to a multi-user blog, i.e. a bunch of neighbors writing about our beloved community. In the end, though, Deanwoodenizen has become another effective tool for me to maximize civic activism through social media. (Neighbors, you are more than welcome to join in the blogging fun, see item 3.)

I've learned a few things in the last fifteen months (thanks to my top-notch education at Georgetown University and the New Organizing Institute). Soooo, what are those few things???

DRUMROLL

1. I'm a community organizer!
2. I'm a communicator, not a spinmeister!
3. "We" sounds much better (and accomplishes a whole lot more) than "I"!
4. Talking strategy and planning are fun. Implementation is funner!
5. Uncomplicated and getting it done are friends!

THAT. IS. ALL. NOW, BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG TOPIC.

PUBLIC SAFETY TRAINING #pubsafety #civicactivism

Cross post from New Columbia Heights

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Contact Commissioner Sylvia C. Brown at 202-398-5100 to caravan to the training!

Let's start 2012 the right way, TOGETHER, building a stronger community! In the spirit of service, on the Tuesday after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, let's commit to serving our neighborhoods. All DC neighborhoods are welcome to join in!

Neighborhood Watch Training

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

6:30 PM to 9:00 PM

St Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St NW, Upstairs Auditorium, PARKING & ENTRANCE ON 16th Street NW

Agenda

6:30 PM to 7:00 PM - Sign-in, Meet Your Neighbors, Light Dinner

7:00 PM to 8:00 PM - Crime Prevention Training with Samantha Nolan

8:00 PM to 9:00 PM - Small-group Discussions - Issue Identification and Goal Setting

Sponsored by the Northwest Columbia Heights Community Association with support from Target, the Columbia Heights Shaw Family Support Collaborative and the UPS Store.

Training is free-of-charge, all are welcome, free refreshments provided!

Want to volunteer to help with the Neighborhood Watch Training event? We need small-group discussion leaders and help with meeting logistics. Please sign up on the registration form, or contact Cecilia: 202-299-7868

Contact Commissioner Sylvia C. Brown at 202-398-5100 to caravan to the training!

Board of Zoning Adjustment to hear #UncleLee's Case #civicactivism

Tomorrow, January 10, 9:30 a.m. the BZA will hear the Application of Eun Sun Kim case #18147 to extend business hours from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. There are seven items on the agenda and the meeting is a public meeting with no testimony. The members can choose to approve, deny, or postpone the case.

Watch the proceedings live if you cannot attend in person.

Application of Eun Sun Kim

Case # :	18147
Case Name :	Application of Eun Sun Kim (dba Uncle Lee's Seafood)
Case Summary :	(Special Exceptions) Pursuant to 11 DCMR § 3104.1, for a special exception to allow a fast food establishment under section 733, in the C-2-A District at premises 1100 Eastern Avenue, N.E. (Square 5200, Lot 805). 441 4th St. NW Room 220 South (Red Line Judiciary Square Metro)
ANC :	7C

Here is a history of the community's interaction with the business owners.

http://deanwooddenizen.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-tha-what-when-will-unclelees-work.html

http://deanwooddenizen.blogspot.com/2011/12/unclelees-part-ivthe-saga-continues.html

http://deanwooddenizen.blogspot.com/2011/04/whatever-happened-with.html

http://deanwooddenizen.blogspot.com/2010/12/liquor-store-alley-is-your-neighborhood.html

Vision and placemaking...

Friend and fellow East of the River blogger Nikki Peele made an astute obeservation a few days ago--women in the community are leading (and blogging) the transformation of DC's neighborhoods.  Think about it, there are JD Land, Life in the Village, Congress Heights on the Rise, and The Brightwoodian to name a few.  Yet as I discovered thanks to a Real Estate Bisnow post "The Key to Cities" men are at the table "making" the plans.  According to the featured post, economic development planning should be about women and, incidentally, that woman-centered vision is about placemaking and smart growth. 

A leading voice on placemaking Project for Public Spaces describes the concept as breaking "through [institutionalization] by showing [developers] planners, designers, and engineers how to move beyond their habit of looking at communities through the narrow lens of single-minded goals or rigid professional disciplines."

This finding is shockingly clear in the development landscape in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7C (and north Ward 7).  In testimony about extending the disposition agreements on three critical north Ward 7 parcels 7C04 Commissioner Sylvia C. Brown asked about the development teams' visions and efforts "to create a sense of place—enlivening streetscapes, engaging current community members, and getting future residents excited about the developments' and surrounding communities' potential."  The question was discounted.  (With only one woman among the development team members is there a correlation???) 

New buildings don't magically make blight disappear.  New buildings don't magically reduce crime.  New buildings don't magically produce an improved quality of life. Vision does. 

PROACTIVE vision does.

Proactive, progressive vision with a real commitment to the broader community's bottom line does.

DC Council Ward 7 Land Disposition Hearing... Commissioner Brown's testimony starts at 4:25.  The exchange with Chairman Brown is at 11:37.

Liquor Store Alley: Is Your Neighborhood on the Edge?

For much of the year the process of granting liquor licenses has been debated from working class Ward 5 to hipster Ward 2 to tony Ward 2.  The overwhelming opinion is that the District's liquor license process which is administered by the Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) is broken.  The common thread in these license debates, however, has been on-premises liquor consumption at bars, restaurants, and taverns.  Alcohol licensing for liquor stores is not, however, considered a part of the ABRA reform. 

In too many neighborhoods in Wards 7 and 8 there is a concentration of liquor stores--both beer and wine (Class B) and beer, wine, spirits (Class A).  Generally, there is an automatic expectation that a voluntary agreement and/or monetary donation can be made and the ANC will acquiese to the inevitable, ABRA granting the license.  This underlying tone favors the business instead of favoring the community and lets the business off the hook for actually having a business plan that doesn't leech off predominantly low-income neighborhoods.  In many cases in Wards 7 and 8 a VA will not be sufficient because the concentration of liquor stores is too high; we're saturated. 



Google Maps. Uncle Lee's left, Jock's Liquor right

 I am contending with this very issue right now with Uncle Lee's Seafood.  There is a new owner who is "just trying to survive."  The owner has a background in operating a deli with a speciality in breakfast.  She has changed the menu to include breakfast and lunch.  Unfortunately, survival is based on the lottery and liquor sales and not using her talent and skill on meeting an unmet market--an eatery with quality food and not typical carryout. 

No liquor license issuance is the only option for Uncle Lee's Seafood. Vibrancy and sanity of the neighborhood will not be enhanced with six liquor stores within a half mile radius! 



Google Maps. Liquor Store Landscape

 While I appreciate my neighbors west of the River writing about making the liquor license process less contentious, it is important to note the impact of concentrating licensees, specifically liquor stores.  Maybe there's room in ABRA reform to separate liquor stores from the licensing for restaurants, taverns, and nightclubs to take these matters into consideration.  Maybe even 7C should pursue a moratorium like Georgetown.  Otherwise, we'll continue to pick at the contention of "who is in the catbird seat--the licensee business owner or the Advisory Neighborhood Commission/community?" 

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.