4/4/02:
Dupont will get its first bike lanes in late April, on
NH Ave between Dupont Circle and U St.
Dupont will get a new statue in September, a 12-foot
likeness of Tomas G. Masaryk in the small park at Mass
Ave and 22nd St. See "A Hero of Democracy Finds a
Home: D.C. Park Location Approved for Stored Statue of
Czechoslovakia's Founder,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A350-2002Mar21.html
Reincarnations will move in early '03 from 17th St to
a larger space at the NE corner of 14th St and RI Ave.
Planning has begun on improvements to P St between
Dupont Circle and 23rd St. See [1] below.
WP Nightwatch column looks at cafe in P St's Residence
Inn. See "At Mimi's Bistro, Service With a Song,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62012-2002Mar21.html
Eve Zibart reviewed P St's Cafe Japone. See "Sushi,
Please, and Hold the Quirky,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31076-2002Mar28.html
Conn Ave will be getting a series of wayfinding signs,
those blue signs directing tourists to major sites.
WP reports renovation has finally begun at long-vacant
rowhouses at 1717 RI Ave (between St Matthew's and
YMCA). See "In D.C., Building Booms Again,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44643-2002Mar31.html
Garden District will open around end of April, at 14th
& S. See http://gardendistrict.biz/
WP looks at Latinos moving to upper 14th St. See "At
Home With New Opportunities: On 14th Street, Latinos
Find Housing, Business Costs They Can Live With,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25715-2002Mar27.html
WP looks at developer completing 14 apartments at 11th
& W, which will rent for $2,500 a month, opening in
July. See "Barrett Linde, Still Ahead of a Trend: With
City Lofts, Another D.C. Corner Goes Upscale,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36769-2002Mar29.html
Letter bemoans foot-dragging by NPS in building G-town
Waterfront Park. See "18 Years and Still No Park,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38403-2002Mar29.html
See "Avalon Project Seeks To Revive Landmark Theater,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44642-2002Mar31.html
WP revealed plan for office building with stores and
restaurants in parking lot bounded by 9th, 10th, K St
and NY Ave. See "Law Firm To Rent at New Site: Office
Building Planned Near Convention Center,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64923-2002Mar21.html
Madstone Theaters, which shows independent and foreign
films, is looking for sites in DC. See "Arty movie
theater chain could be coming soon in D.C.,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/04/01/newscolumn6.html
Roger Lewis looks at replacement of vegetation and
trees with concrete and buildings. See "Gray Is
Pushing Out Green When It Comes to Infrastructure,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3781-2002Mar22.html
WP profiles Zipcar/Flexcar. See "Wheels, Whenever: Two
Car-Sharing Services Offer Area Rentals by the Hour,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16864-2002Mar25.html
WP warns that reports of trend to return to the city
are overstated. See "A Bit of a Chill For Hot Times
In the Big City,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5684-2002Mar22.html
Clearly, Washington must do more to be competitive
with the suburbs, which have more open space, lower
crime, better schools, and lower taxes.
WBJ reports WMATA has leased 15 acres by the Grosvenor
Station for a 422-unit apartment building. See "Around
the Region,"
http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2002/04/01/newscolumn1.html
WP looks at new urban format of mini Home Depot in
Staten Island. See "For Urban Home Depots, Less Store
May Be More,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28279-2002Mar27.html
See also "Chains court urban buyers,"
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020330-8740889.htm
DC One looks at avowed heteros who visit
Ziegfield's. See "The Queen's English,"
http://www.dconemag.com/archives/article.php?id=23
Tonight, April 4: Grandeur of Embassy Row walking
tour, $10, 5pm at Dupont Circle south Metro exit. See
http://www.dcheritage.org/calendar2532/calendar_show.htm?doc_id=105372
Complete schedule of walking tours available at
http://www.dcheritage.org/dch_tourism2608/dch_tourism_show.htm?doc_id=103668
Through April 8: Cherry Blossom Festival. See
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org
Friday, April 5: First Friday - open house for
Dupont's art galleries. See
http://www.washingtonprintmakers.com/friday.html
Monday, April 8: Outwords, a new-play reading series
by the Actors Theatre of Washington, debuts at 1409
Playbill Café with "In The Time of Aten."
Tuesday, April 9: Speak Easy at HR57 on 14th St. See
http://www.washingtonstorytellers.org/speakeezy.htm
See also "Hear and Now: Local Storytellers Are
Getting the Word Out,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62031-2002Mar21.html
Wednesday, April 10: Opening for "Re-Imaging Body and
Space in Contemporary Dutch Art" at Fusebox, 6:30 to
8:30. See [2] below.
Saturday, April 13: Youth (gay) Pride from 11:00 to
5:30 in P St Beach (P & 23rd). See
http://www.youthpridedc.org/ypd.htm
Sunday, April 14: "Art Snacks" at Kuna. See [3] below.
April 19: "Sporty Girls," Reel Affirmations Xtra Film
at DCJCC at 7:00 and 9:15. See
http://www.reelaffirmations.org/xtra/schedule.cfm
Friday, May 3: Bike-to-Work Day. See
http://www.waba.org/new/bwd/index.php
Best regards,
Michael
------------------------------------------------------
[1] - [abridged] [from chris.shaheen@dc.gov]
P Street - Streetscape Meeting
Monday, March 25, 2002
Dupont Circle Resource Center
Background
Ken Laden gave a brief overview of the city's
streetscape program, explaining that there were
approximately 75 priority capitol improvement projects
that have been identified across the city. The P
Street streetscape is one of 15 streetscape projects
being proposed across the city. The P Street
streetscape area is small compared to the scope and
scale of the others being proposed. There is
currently one streetscape project underway in the
Barracks Row area of Capital Hill.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has
the responsibility for implementing streetscapes in
the District. Although DDOT is currently under the
purview of the Department of Public Works, there are
plans for it to become its own agency by the end
Summer 2002.
There are three phases for developing a streetscape
plan:
1. Planning - defining what streetscape elements the
community would like to have and what the city will be
able to include.
2. Design - creating detailed design and specification
drawing that will be completed by the District and
shared with the community for review.
3. Implementation - installing the new streetscape,
which generally takes about six to ten months to
complete.
There are multiple funding sources for streetscape
projects. P Street is considered a Federal road,
which means that Federal Aid money that can be used to
cover 80% of the cost for improvements. The District
has set aside $45 million to be used for capital
improvements for streets and sidewalks between 2002
and 2006. DDOT is also hoping on using additional
funds for streetscapes, such as the $100 million
annual Federal payment to the city, local funds
generated through tax on gasoline, and through a
utility users fee that is expected to generate between
$30 to $37 million annually. Recent improvements made
to the infrastructure on P Street and paid for with
municipal funds would not be able to be replaced as
part of a new streetscape.
The Mayor's 2003 budget proposal includes $500,000 set
aside for P Street improvements specifically. This
budget still needs to be approved by City Council.
Project Boundary
The project boundaries were defined as P Street,
between Dupont Circle on the west and 23rd Street on
the east. It was also stated that this project needed
to be coordinated with the P Street Bridge renovation,
and that the eastern boundary of this project needed
to begin where the P Street Bridge project ended.
Key Elements
Residents and businesses identified multiple elements
they would like to see included in the design of this
project:
ˇ Brick Sidewalks - brick patterns will be reviewed
with the community at a later meeting.
ˇ Trees and tree boxes - currently there are no large
trees - size of trees boxes needs to be increased as
well as planting larger street trees. Also, increase
the number of trees and tree boxes in this project
area currently.
ˇ Washington Globe Light Fixtures - cobra head lights
are required at intersections, but more historic
fixtures could be installed along the street.
ˇ Hanging baskets with flowers - a feature not fully
supported by the city and something that would require
a local partner. (Banners already provided by
DC-MAP).
ˇ Decorative Crosswalks - stamped asphalt.
ˇ ADA required handicap ramps.
ˇ Decreased turning radius at corners - to slow
traffic.
ˇ "Bump-outs" at intersections where side streets
cross P Street.
ˇ "L" making on street to indicate legal boundaries of
parking areas.
ˇ Special attention to "gateways" to P Street: Dupont
Circle and 23rd Street - this could include a "Welcome
to Dupont Circle" sign or element, or a public clock.
ˇ Replace damaged or missing regulatory signs.
ˇ Maximize parking capacity on street, including
"courtesy spaces" that allow parking for 5 to 10
minutes.
ˇ Bike Racks - especially near the 23rd Street,
outside of SoHo.
ˇ Accommodate bike lanes where they cross P Street at
22nd and 23rd Streets - include bike-friendly signage.
ˇ New trashcans.
ˇ Wayfinding Signs.
ˇ Fireboxes - coordinate with citywide firebox
project.
Next Steps
Ken Laden stated that the city would look into recent
improvements on P Street and determine what elements
the city would be able to include in this project. He
will also identify elements that the city could
include in the streetscape plan, but that the city
would not be able to fund the implementation of. This
would allow the community time to find alternate funds
for these elements if they still wanted to include
them in the implementation phase or at a future date.
Vince Micone stated that he would organize the next
meeting, and would contact all attendees at this
meeting to let them know when and where that would be.
------------------------------------------------------
[2]
Fusebox is pleased to announce its upcoming special
exhibition, Re-Imaging Body and Space in Contemporary
Dutch Art: Margi Geerlinks and Jean-Marc Spaans,
opening April 10 and running through April 21, 2002.
A reception for the artists will be held Wednesday,
April 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
This exhibition is held in conjunction with
"Celebrating Dutch Design," in collaboration with the
Royal Netherlands Embassy and Apartment Zero. The
program is offered as a cultural exchange-an
opportunity for Washingtonians to become more aware of
the Dutch designers and artists who are establishing
the vanguard in both visual arts and functional
design.
As science and technology sprint forward, we are
more aware of our increasing ability, through genetic
and environmental engineering, to manipulate both our
bodies and the spaces around them. The implications
are both exciting and anxiety-provoking. This
exhibition centers on two Dutch artists, Margi
Geerlinks and Jean-Marc Spaans, who use photography
and digital technology to manipulate images of body
and space. By fabricating overtly artificial images,
they ironically imply a re-assertion of control over a
world threatened by rampant technological advancement.
At the same time, they allude to familiar traditions
of Dutch Master painting, with its emphasis on light
and space and references to domestic environments.
Margi Geerlinks uses photography and state-of-the-
art digital technology to create unsettling tableaus
within the context of familiar domestic surroundings
and activities. She manipulates her subjects' bodies
to address themes of biotechnology and genetic
engineering with deliberate moral ambivalence. Her
manifestations are both amusing and disturbing: a
young girl crochets her own silky blond hair; an image
of two children playing with their dolls in an idyllic
garden disquietingly reveals, upon closer inspection,
that the dolls have human eyes.
While Geerlinks employs digital software to address
scientific advances, Jean-Marc Spaans favors a
low-tech, analog approach. He uses slow exposure
photography to create objects and architecture that
exist not in real space, but as photographic record of
the light trails of colored neon tubes. The body,
though necessarily present to manipulate the light
tubes, is reduced to an almost spectral entity. Like
Geerlinks, Spaans's images are rife with irony and
ambiguity: an ethereal staircase leads to nowhere; a
cocoon neither constrains nor protects the body
within; a baroquely lit, futuristic space contains
geometric forms that surround, but can't confine, the
figures within.
Margi Geerlinks, who is the subject of a feature
article in the winter issue of Smock, has also been
featured in The New York Times, Art Papers, and
Zingmagazine. She has had solo exhibitions at TORCH
Gallery in Amsterdam and Stefan Stux in New York. Her
many group exhibitions include shows at the Stedelijk
Museum in The Netherlands and a current show at The
Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington.
Jean-Marc Spaans has exhibited widely throughout
Europe, including solo exhibitions in Amsterdam,
Berlin, London, and Paris. He has also participated
in several group exhibitions at the Stedelijk and
Noordbrabants Museums in the Netherlands. This will
be his first exhibition in the United States.
For more information about the exhibition, please
contact Sarah Finlay at (202) 299-9220. Gallery
hours: Wednesday-Saturday 12:00-8:00 pm and Sunday
12:00-6:00 pm.
------------------------------------------------------
[3]
Art Snacks: "tasty little affordable pieces of art for
your cultural consumption pleasure". The Triangle
Artists Group and KUNA present a sale by emerging area
artists on Sunday, April 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m. at 1324 U Street NW. Unique pieces, multiples,
and commissioned work will be offered by the best
emerging talents on the Washington scene.
Participating artists include:
JS (Jim) Adams, sound and print works
Daniel Emberley, custom textile arts
Charles Newcomb, oils
Frederick Nunley, prints and drawings
Ruth Trevarrow, oils and murals
Chef Mark Giuricich will supplement the art snacks
with selections from his menu of farmhouse Italian
specialties.
Contact coordinator Daniel Emberley, 202-462-7876,
riceandpasta@juno.com with questions.
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