Tonight I'll reflect on the changes to our neighborhood over the past year. For the most part, I am recording passages of commercial projects. The fabric of Dupont - the history, the greenery, the architecture, the social milieu are thankfully stable. We are blessed with a rich combination of elements which set the stage for the delight of the flâneur. This 19th-century French term describes someone who wanders the streets without the intent of getting somewhere, but rather as an observer and philosopher. Though we are far from the City of Light, our streets have many rewards for DC's flâneurs.
With every new project, I wonder if it adds to these rewards. Does it add to the neighborhood's beauty? Does it add to our bustle? Will it somehow make life more interesting?

The real estate market certainly didn't lack activity. It seems the only property without a bidder was the Heurich House, which still waits for a worthy suitor.
The big news for residential projects took place mostly along 14th St, where several projects were announced, spurred no doubt by the proximity to Fresh Fields, itself just two years old.
But just to our north, the Roosevelt returned to life as luxury apartments, ending years of neglect. Our hotels play special roles in the neighborhood. While serving as ideal buffers between offices and homes, they bring new faces everyday onto our streets. A few hotels underwent major transformations. The Kimpton Group left its hip imprint on Hotel Helix, which replaced the dingy Howard Johnson's, and Hotel Madera, which replaced the Clarion Hampshire House Hotel. On Rhode Island Ave, the Washington Terrace Hotel took the place of the Doubletree. One block west, the Governor's House hotel is planning their upcoming expansion.
The University of California opened their 11-story Washington Center at 1608 Rhode Island Avenue, with classrooms, an auditorium and 290 residences. One block west, construction has finally begun on the long-vacant rowhouses next to St Matthew's. Connecticut Avenue, south of the circle, is our gateway to downtown. It became home to sleek Internet cafe Ben'N Mo, and large club Acropolis. I've never gone inside, but the part by the entrance has those hideous ceiling tiles. I've heard the interior is fairly glam. Nearby, the Hathaway Shirt Co replaced Nickleby's card shop. And The Grooming Lounge opened to much acclaim as a spa for men.
The southern stretch of New Hampshire Avenue saw Firefly open up in the new Madera and become an instant hit. Further south, the chic Circle Bistro opened in One Washington Circle Hotel. Savino's opened a new lounge just off the circle, and offers an extravagantly bizarre drink dusted with actual 24- karat gold dust. I'll never order it, but I like knowing it's available, and that anyone thirsting for gold will have to come to Dupont.
The busy stretch of 19th St between L and O saw a Melting Pot fondue restaurant and Potbelly Sandwiches open. Toka Cafe and Penang Malaysian Cuisine also opened.
The city began plans to beautify the 2-block stretch of P St that connects us to Georgetown. Like the upcoming renovation of the P St Bridge, the city has said they will replace our sidewalks with tinted concrete stamped in brick patterns. I wish to repeat that stamped-concrete is the wood-grain paneling of the new millennium. It is incompatible with our historic streetscape. Many of our original sidewalks have already been replaced with smooth concrete, leaving few examples of what we once were blessed with, but there are still patches that have the concrete with exposed pebbles. This texture is preferred. If we can recognize that this concrete aggregate is a vital part of Meridian Hill Park, can't we do the same for the sidewalks of Dupont? Till recently, 16th St's sidewalks also displayed this beautiful material. I am grateful that for the side streets around P St the city put in actual bricks. Bricks would also be a welcome alternative for P St. P St's retail scene saw DJ Hut take over the old 12" Dance store, and Rhythm + Culture Music store opened at 2130-B. The old Backstage space at 21st Street was remodeled into a surprisingly bland Starbucks which adds little to this important corner. 18th St welcomed our first vegan bakery, Sticky Fingers. It was a relief to find that the new shop "Doggie Style" is a pet grooming business. Grille 88 brought us a piano bar in the old Nineteen-Ten space, and Wazuri brought African cuisine to the space still best known as Straits of Malaya.
Bookstores are like magnets for flâneurs, so it was sad to lose Mystery Books along the northern stretch of Connecticut Avenue. Movie theatres are also special places, and as much as we hated the awkward space of the Loews Cineplex Janus 3, it too will be missed. Flâneurs also like to find cozy places for a cheap bite to eat; our home-grown The Burro was unfortunately replaced with a Comfort One shoe store, which is fairly ugly and has a stupid name. But with The Well-Dressed Burrito, Wrap Works, Baja Fresh, two Burrito Brothers, and two Chipoltes, Dupont is still the burrito capitol of Washington, DC. A second Subway sandwich shop will open in the former Georgetown Opticians space. Peter's Passion flamed out after less than a year. But the big news is that the forever- vacant old Newsroom space at S St will soon open its doors as a 24-hour American bistro, with, we're told, a Brazilian twist.
On 17th St, accessory & gift shop Infuzion replaced Treasures.
On U St, after much speculation, the remainder of the old Julio's space made way for Local 16, going from hapless to happening. One block east, Cakelove opened its attractive shop of tempting treats, and Wild Woman Wear Red gave us a fashionable shoe store. Some of Dupont's best shopping continues to be outdoors, every Sunday at the Freshfarm Market behind Riggs. This is the first winter that the market has stayed open year-round.
With its clusters of bike couriers in the Dupont park, and the many bicyclists who share our streets, a most welcome addition to Dupont were the bike lanes added to New Hampshire. This is a big signal that biking is an available option for everybody. A short stretch of R St was given a bike lane between Florida and New Jersey Avenues, and it is expected to continue westwards into Dupont as the street gets repaved. But R St is only half of an east-west route. For travelers headed east, we wait for Q St to get a companion lane. The Q and R Street paths are ideal linkages for two great natural resources in the city: Rock Creek Park to the west, and the National Arboretum to the east. Let's make it easy for people to bike to both places. The city should make this connecting route a priority.
Dupont also needs a route for traveling north and south. The streets on either side of 16th Street are good candidates. 17th St could easily accommodate a bike lane with no change to existing patterns. 15th St is currently a dangerous road, with four narrow lanes all traveling northbound. Sharing a lane with cars here is a harrowing experience. In order to let cyclists safely share this road, we need to restripe it with 3 car lanes and 1 bike lane. Once 15th Street passes Florida Avenue, it provides only one car lane; thus, surely we do not need to feed it with four south of Florida.
It was heartening to see Metro adding bike racks to its busses. Soon new fareboxes will accept SmarTrip cards.
And thanks to the Golden Triangle BID, which added dozens of handsome bollards south of the circle for locking bikes to.
Dupont's streetscape was given a rich addition when a statue memorializing T.G. Masaryk was erected on Massachusetts Avenue. T.G. was Czechoslovakia's first president.
Nearby, The Phillips collection reached an agreement for its expansion, which will begin later this year.
The West End awaits news of the Columbia Hospital for Women. The hospital closed this year, and the new owner wants to create a town center of shops on the block. In Foggy Bottom, the new GW hospital opened, with no solid plans for the old hospital across the street, other than a wish for mixed-use development.

Dupont benefits from the good news happening in our neighboring neighborhoods. As much as we love Le Marais, we love knowing that when in Paris we can also stroll to The Left Bank, Montmarte, or the Latin Quarter. Wards and ANCs are, God knows, no substitute for arrondissements and quartiers, but DC still offers sponge-worthy neighborhoods with identifiable characteristics.
Dupont's little sister, Logan Circle, is growing up fast. Of course we worry about the whores and hoodlums she hangs out with, but hope that with age will come better judgment.
14th Street continued its revitalization. Neighbors welcomed compact nursery The Garden District, which opened by S St. New dining options include Thai Tanic, as well as a Subway franchise, and the long- anticipated Caribou Coffee finally opened in August. Two gyms opened up: One World Fitness south of S St, and BodySmith north of Corcoran St. Petite art gallery Transformer opened in the old Ozone space on P St. Maison 14 opened up with a stunning glass frontage, showing off their glitzy wares. More furniture stores are coming, and will turn 14th St into a hub for the region: Muléh will bring cross-cultural pieces from Indonesia and beyond into their home in the old Black Cat space, and Reincarnations will transform the NE corner of Rhode Island Ave. Pulp Preview opened in a temporary space, and will soon open their custom-built shop north of S St. And more is on its way. Logan Hardware will soon open up on P St. Cafe Saint-Ex will open up at the corner of T St. Dawn Price Home is expected in the site of Logan Cleaners. Next door, Timothy Paul Carpets and Textiles will replace Aurora Wholesale. After running "Bat Boy: The Musical" in the unadorned space left by Ace Electric, Studio Theatre is preparing for its major expansion. The Living Stage venue was renamed Arena Stage at 14th & T, and is now home to the Washington Stage Guild. With 14th & U participating in the Main Street program, even more good changes are expected.
Plans were announced to rebuild Thomas Circle, removing the center lanes of traffic going through the circle, making the center park larger. U Street saw three nightclubs close: Kaffa House, Republic Gardens, and State of the Union. A welcome addition was the Temperance Row Farmer's & Artist's Market, on Wednesdays at 13th & U. At the northwest corner, ground was finally broken for Ellington Plaza, a classy residential project which will literally raise the neighborhood's profile.
Adams Morgan made headlines when the Tik Tok Box debuted, giving the U.S. a first look at this automated convenience store. The first phase of a long-debated project opened as The Lofts at Adams Morgan brought 62 loft-style condos and 350 parking slots. There was a flurry of comings and goings for the restaurant scene: The Reef replaced the Star of Siam, Soussi replaced Pearl, and Bossa replaced the Red Sea. Tom Tom finally reopened. And though the garish Cluck U franchise closed, we still have a fried-chicken shop with a double-entendre name since L'il Peckers opened up on Columbia Road. Idle Time Books moved a bit north on 18th Street. Adams Morgan has much to amuse flâneurs, even if they aren't looking for little peckers. One wishes that its notoriously narrow sidewalks could be extended to make walking more pleasant.
Georgetown proved again that it is the mother ship of high-end retail. Stores that one might expect to find in Tyson's Wretched Corner discovered the charms of Washington's oldest neighborhood. The abandoned incinerator site found new life as a Ritz-Carlton, with condos and a new Loews megaplex, which you have got to see to believe. Like Dupont, Georgetown lost both a bookstore and a cramped cinema, with The Foundry closing in March, and Olsson's shutting down in June. The public got its first look at Cady's Alley, an alley south of M Street remade into a pedestrian zone lined with glamourous shops. Dupont's own Pizza Paradiso opened a second restaurant in Georgetown.
The undeveloped riverfront site at 30th & K will be developed, housing the Swedish Embassy, plus offices & residential space.
Downtown continued to add new office space, and even more residential projects. The largest of them is The Meridian at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, with 462 apartments, and The Jefferson at 7th & E, with 425 apartments. Massachusetts Court at 3rd & Mass will have 372 apartments, Sovereign Square at 555 Mass Ave 246 apartments, and The Avalon at 770 5th St is now finding tenants for its 203 apartments.
These new apartments will help transform downtown from a ghost town into a true neighborhood. Another sign of life is that the historic Tariff Building finally reopened as the home for the Hotel Monaco. The Turner Memorial AME Church in Chinatown will be returned to its original use as a synagogue. And the old Woodies building will soon become home to a flagship store for hip retailer H&M, which will also open a store in Georgetown.
The opening of Home Depot in Northeast proved that DC is big enough to make room for suburban-style big- box retailers, though we wish an urban design could have been found for it rather than the sea of asphalt. After over thirty years of being strangled by highways, The Kennedy Center announced plans for a major expansion, with an eye on welcoming pedestrians and cyclists.

After having its streets laid out by a Frenchman, Washington grew in an ad-hoc manner, but luckily filling most of its neighborhoods before mass production replaced skilled craftsmen. Some of the best neighborhood components are accidents of birth it seems. But popular sentiment has caught up to the 19th century, with developers mimicking ye olde town squares in new projects.
This past year, Ballston announced plans for a "downtown look," with a $200 million mixed-use development.
Even Tysons is slated for a massive residential project.
McLean's leaders created plans for a new Main Street.
Next to P.G. Plaza Metro, a town center development was announced.
And sometimes the best projects start small. Run-down downtown Hyattsville opened up what might be the region's best brew pub, Franklin's. This fun spot is sure to encourage more development. Mount Rainier decided to actively turn around their town, starting with traffic and pedestrian safety improvements.

This year saw the release of a book called "The Rise of the Creative Class: Why cities without gays and rock bands are losing the economic development race." It generated much discussion of what makes for a healthy local economy. Though Dupont isn't known for its rock bands, it does seem to have a concentration of gays, which the author refers to as "the canaries of the creative economy."
We take for granted that same-sex couples are comfortable walking hand-in-hand, and problems are rare, though not completely unheard of. Rainbow flags on cars and homes signal our neighborhood's welcome. And on our stages, this was a year for men in drag to shine. Lypsinka ruled at Studio theatre for too short a time, and Kiki & Herb shocked and amused at Source. And currently Dame Edna is gracing National Theatre. And last but not least, our own Lucrezia Blozia is making her triumphant return to the stage in Cherry Red's Coyote Woman.
Badlands transformed into Apex, while Lizard Lounge moved from 14th St to 1223 Connecticut Avenue. DC must be the only city where the most glamourous gay bar is actually in a straight bar. In a welcome move, the Green Lantern introduced smoke-free nights upstairs on Saturdays. And Adams Morgan got a monthly event when Feint came into Staccato. Over at 11th & U, Between Friends recently opened.

The Dupont Circle Update started just over three years ago. What began as a means of sharing gossip with a few friends has now grown to a more formal obligation, with 500 people on the mailing list. I have no idea who most of you even are, but know that we all hope to see our neighborhood continue to be a place of comfort, and to continue to improve.
I am grateful for everyone who's helped, especially someone whom I can identify only as "R.O." One of the best news sources, the Northwest Current, spun off a weekly edition called the Dupont Current.

Every flâneur needs a rest. We all need a place to call home. And when you're busy being a flâneur in Dupont Circle, all roads lead to the park at the heart of our neighborhood. In the center of this park is a fountain, which is where, if it weren't so cold, I would be giving this speech tonight, instead of the cozy confines of my penthouse apartment on the 90th floor of the Cairo.
Please picture this fountain, tonight at 8pm. Now picture the Place de la Concorde at night. Or Rome's Trevi fountain at night. Or any famous fountain at night, including many others right here in the capitol. What is the difference? The Dupont fountain is not lit. There are no underwater lights. The National Park Service, which is the custodian of this park, will not even allow others to help light it, citing the lack of evidence that the sculptor "intended" for it be be lit from underwater. This park - this fountain - is the heart of our neighborhood. It is an important anchor of Embassy Row and part of the face we show to the international community. It is a valued piece of art. There are people here at night. The fountain merits being lit. Mr Gorbachev, light this fountain!
I hope everyone will join me in urging the Park Service and any benefactors to add underwater lights.

Best wishes for the coming year.
Our neighborhood is special. Party on, and be excellent to each other.