A summary of the race is up at Washington Running Report. The two high school kids who ran in shorts and no shirts passed me about a mile in – I was pretty sure they were insane then, and I remain convinced of it now. The results have been updated – 41:07 was my clock time, but 40:38 was my actual chip time. That is, from the time they said, “Go” until the time I crossed the finish was 41:07. But the from the time I crossed the starting line until the time I crossed the finish was 40:38. Crap. Now I have to run another one and get under 40 minutes.
Tag: dc
Saint Patrick’s Day 8K
I ran my third race this morning, the Saint Patrick’s Day 8K, right down Pennsylvania Avenue. Mayor Fenty gave us a brief pep talk before the race, and then ran with us. I didn’t actually see him, but he finished well ahead of me, I believe. I’ll let you know when they post the results later this afternoon. I’m pretty happy with my race. I don’t know my exact time, but the race clock was about 41 minutes. Since I didn’t start at the front, my actual time is probably 20 seconds or so less than that. Regardless, my average mile time was under nine minutes for the whole five mile race, which was my goal. Edit: 41:07 was my time. That’s 136/386 in my age group, 25-29. Average mile time of 8:17. And I was 738/4045 total, 565/1834 males. Mayor Fenty ran it in 32:20. The wife took some great pictures, one of which you can see here. The rest of the good ones are all up at Flickr. She is, as they say, a real trooper. Race time temperature was barely above freezing, and the wind chill made it feel like it was about 20 F. I have another race coming up in April, the Race to Stop the Silence. This will be my second time running it. It was my first race ever, last year, although they’ve changed the location. It was downtown on Ohio Drive by the water. Now it’s still on the water, but over in Anacostia. Big downgrade, as far as I can tell. But I think the Cherry Blossoms are the same weekend, so that’s probably why they moved it.
Target is cool, but . . .
I walked past Columbia Heights’ new Target last night on my way to Wonderland. I’ve never seen so many white kids in the neighborhood. It’s like a big magnet. It’s good to see people coming to the new stores, but I’m afraid that people are glossing over the problems that still remain. There has apparently been a big spike in crime this past week – muggings at gunpoint in broad daylight and on the Metro, and Target has serious theft problems. I imagine things will calm down a bit, but spring is coming, and with it the yearly crime spike when it gets nice outside. I hope Target and the rest of DCUSA are prepared.
Changes in Columbia Heights
The Washington Post | A Rapid Renaissance in Columbia Heights
Even within the rush of construction that has swept across the District, Columbia Heights’ renaissance is singular, not only because of its scope but because of its locale, a residential neighborhood that is among the region’s most economically and racially diverse.
Sweet. We’re singular. I think they chose that because the connotations of “unique” are too universally positive. “Singular” implies that you could be the only one, but still not that exciting.
Community leaders, said D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), envisioned a neighborhood that would serve all residents’ dining and retail needs, and include a kaleidoscope-like civic plaza for the working-class families and professionals who make up the neighborhood’s population, as well as the shoppers streaming in from across the area.
Columbia Heights’ rebirth is not only about the arrival of bricks and mortar at a crossroads that long struggled to recover from the looting and arson that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. It’s about the blending of cultures and classes.
Nicely done, way to get the MLK Jr. reference in there. It shows the author cares about poor black people.
The new luxury apartments along 14th Street join the neighborhood’s existing stock of subsidized housing, much of it preserved and rehabilitated by officials who feared that the poor would be forced out.
Never mind that other cities have had great success with spreading subsidized housing out all over the place so you don’t create these little clusters surrounded by new condos. If everything is spread out, you have this glaring reminder every day that people in those buildings are poor and people in these buildings are rich. That’s not how you build a diverse, integrated community.
Black residents made up just over half the neighborhood’s population in the 2000 Census, although their share had declined since the previous count while the numbers of Hispanic and white people grew. From 2000 to 2005, home buyers’ median income rose from $76,000 to $103,000, according to the Urban Institute .
I’m not sure why you cherry pick home buyers’ median income, unless you’re afraid to mention that the overall median income is less than half that.
“Columbia Heights potentially is the manifestation of Dr. King’s vision,” said William Jordan, a resident of more than 20 years. “You have the potential not just for token integration but for a critical mass of old and young, low-income and affluent.” But Jordan questioned whether that spectrum can withstand economic pressures. “Can this last longer than half a generation?” he asked.
No. Not unless you do something about the schools so that the young middle class doesn’t move to the suburbs as soon as they have school-age children.
A few blocks south, in a concrete-paved park at 14th and Girard streets, talk of the neighborhood’s changes can be heard at tables where men play whist and checkers. The park is across from a new condominium building and down the street from where two homicides occurred last year. Graham has secured city funds to renovate the park, a plan that includes installing a fence that would block access at night. Although Graham said a broad spectrum of residents support the design, including park regulars, some say they feel insulted by the District’s attempt to impose control over a spot they consider a second living room, and they see a connection between the fence and all the new development.
This park has a really bad reputation that I don’t think is deserved at all. It happens to be at an intersection where a lot of crime happens, but most of the people who use the park are older, longtime residents. They’re not committing the crimes. But almost every building visible from the park is subsidized housing. Fencing in the park and closing it at night is just going to move the problem down a block or two, and insult the people who’ve been hanging out in that park for years. I love to see positive changes in the neighborhood, but flowery articles that focus on the new money coming in and gloss over the problems under the surface aren’t really helping anyone.
GAAAH! Unwanted mental image!
Swimming Naked When The Tide Goes Out « Jon Taplin’s Blog
What Buffet didn’t say, but I will, is that the Bush-McCain Republican economic policies can qualify as “financial folly” and they are are going to be naked, clinging to each other as the tide rolls out this summer.
Since I’m going to spend the rest of the day with the image of George Bush and John McCain, nude and hugging each other at the beach, seared into my brain, I wanted to make sure that you all are, too. I don’t really know enough about the economy to really speak intelligently about the state of the nation (I know, ignorance has never stopped me before). But I do know that Columbia Heights is feeling the housing market difficulties. There are two large buildings of new condos that have been converted to apartments. One of them, Allegro, converted after taking deposits from many buyers, and is now refunding them. And there have been complaints on the Columbia Heights community forum about home tax assessments going down. A few years ago, it would have been unheard of for a home in the DC metro area to actually lose value. Usually, they say, the DC area is insulated against recession because so much of the money around here comes from the federal government, which isn’t going anywhere. There will always be people here, and there will always be jobs here, even if the economy is terrible. Columbia Heights is probably less insulated because it’s currently “transitional”, and so there is a lot of upheaval and a lot of young people moving in. These young people often have huge mortgages, and probably aren’t tied to their home as much as someone older might be. Without kids and whatnot, it’s much easier for them to pack up and move somewhere cheaper if it gets tough here. And that’s not even looking at the low income residents of Columbia Heights. The median household income here is below $40,000, I believe. Well more than half of the neighborhood isn’t even mentioned when you talk about home sale prices because they don’t make nearly enough money to even consider buying. The wife and I are lucky in that we have some room to cut back if things get much worse. We have some savings, and we’re living within our means (Even though she complains about my credit card bill). Plus we have families to fall back on if we ever got into trouble. But many people aren’t in that situation, and are getting into real trouble. All this to say that, while I would love to see the Bush administration get what it deserves (A 0% approval rating and universal recognition that the last seven-plus years have been an unmitigated disaster), I would rather see the economy improve and people stop losing their homes.
Eat Well DC hires new chef – Washington Business Journal –
Eat Well DC hires new chef | Washington Business Journal
Eat Well DC Restaurant Group has hired a new chef to oversee the company’s four D.C. restaurants. Branden Levine, who was formerly chef and owner of The Tavern Restaurant in Heathsville, Va., replaces Sal Del Rosario, who was with the company for 18 months.
This is interesting news. I’ve been to Merkado once, and to The Heights numerous times (How smug are we about being there opening night?). I have no idea what’s going to change with a new chef. The food there is good, although I liked what I had at Merkado better than most of what I’ve had at The Heights. There’s something about the food at The Heights that knocks it down a notch. It’s not that the food is bad, because it isn’t. It just feels like they could tweak some recipes just a little bit and be much better. So, we’ll see what happens.
Icepocalypse!
Sometime last night, the DC area was hit by the lesser-known Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse, freezing rain. I imagine the city has shut down. I didn’t bother to go outside, although we’re supposed to celebrate my dad’s birthday tonight in Annapolis, so I might later. Last time there was “inclement weather”, on Wednesday, I went to pick up the wife and visit my grandmother in Arlington. It was some of the worst traffic I’ve ever seen in the city. Things went okay down 14th Street until a block before the circle. Then we stopped. And waited. I forget which circle that is, but it’s just south of 14th and N NW. Traffic in the circle wasn’t moving. About half the cars waiting with me on that final block turned around before we started moving. I got most of the way through the circle before I decided to bail out onto Vermont, which I’ve never done before, but it goes in more or less the same direction. That was a mistake. I ended up turning right on K instead of I St. If you live in the city, you’ve probably driven on K. It’s prety much a disaster all the time. I was almost killed there on the way to my rehearsal dinner, following the then-fiancee and making a right off K without using the stupid access road (Who knew you couldn’t go right from the main road?). The problem I ran into was that you can’t make a left from K during rush hour at all. And I needed to be on I St. I ended up going right on 18th, going around the block and coming back down Connecticut. I probably should have gone right on 20th and came down 19th, but I wasn’t sure I could do that, and I like to do my experimenting with new streets when it’s not 6pm and I’m already late. Looking at Google Maps now, it looks like it would have been fine. Anyway, going left on 19th from I St was a mess, too. Luckily I told my grandmother we’d be later than I originally thought, so we were still on time. All of this is basically to explain that I didn’t go into work today and am planning to do some work from here. I don’t expect anyone will even notice (Except one of our team leads, who reads the blog. Hi, Andy!). Edit: Just noticed that DCist used the same “icepocalypse” in their title as I did. I’m gonna sue. Jerks. I mean, it’s not possible that they came up with the same thing I did. I’m just too clever for that. They must have stolen it.
Columbia Heights lost a theater
DCist: Rorschach Gets A New Home (For Now)
The scrappy theater troupe has been hunting for months for a temporary home to finish out its 2008 season, after being bumped from its former spot at the Sanctuary Theater in Columbia Heights, a converted church space.
That sucks. I hadn’t been paying a ton of attention to what’s going on at our local theater because the last few times I looked at their website, they had no announced dates for new shows. And now I find out they’re no longer our local theater. We went to one show a while back and really enjoyed it, and just hadn’t gotten around to going again.
I hope this works out for them, but it sucks for Columbia Heights.
Voted!
Took five minutes this time. They had run out of Democrat paper ballots and the little blue cards that count how many people have voted for each party or whatever they do. But I voted.
It always seems a little anti-climactic after I vote – such a large event that actually takes just a few presses of a touch-screen. Whatever. I look forward to the results coming in at 8 or so.
The guy who took my little card told me that they had broken the record for most votes in this area already, and the polls are still open for more than three hours.
ITS A REPUBLICAN CONSPIRACY!!!
They didn’t open my polling place on time! They know that DC is mostly Democrats, and they’re trying to steal the election again!
I’m just kidding. The polling place at 14th and Columbia NW was just slow to open the doors this morning, and the wife and I decided to come back later. It’s not like they knew this date was coming. I can understand how they might forget that there was an election this year and not get the polling place set up in time. As they say, never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. Or, in this case, ill-preparedness.
Someone actually came out at 7:10 to put a sign on the door identifying the building as a polling place, and as of the time we left, the doors were still locked – you had to get someone inside to let you in. Not a problem when the polls are late to open and the line is bunching up around the door to escape the cold, but it could be a pain later.
There was one lonely guy outside with a “Demand the Vote” sign. As I’ve said, while I would like a congressional representative or two, I feel that I can’t complain too much about DC’s lack of representation – I knew full well what I was getting into when I moved here.
Update – a neighbor reports on the Columbia Heights neighborhood forum that my polling place was running smoothly at 8:15. So I should have no trouble voting when I get home.