Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Summer fun!

Wow, what a busy two weeks this has been! We live on a very cute little one block long street in DC and it seems like we've become "accidental advocates" as of late. We learned this spring that a huge company called Douglas Development intends to build a 90 foot tall apartment building adjacent to our houses. (Our houses which sit well below the site in question would be DWARFED) . That and the fact that the whole community is up in arms about how stealthily this is being done. It's not a part of the city's plan for developing the area (which is near a metro stop) and anyway, we've spent lots of time in ANC and community meetings regarding this. They can't build unless they get a zoning variance and that's where we are now.

Another interesting thing going on locally is that a very nearby space that housed a video store is being leased to turn it into a coffee house. Hmmm...the liquor license application says "tavern", and the new owners could theoretically be open until the wee hours 7 days a week (and serving not just coffee!). The space is on the end of our block and there is a great deal of concern about noise, parking and general rowdy behavior. We as a block have moved to contest the application and met last week with the new owners to go over our concerns. We are drafting a voluntary agreement that we hope can be signed before the hearing on August 16th. We'll be advocating for "last call" coming at a reasonable time--not 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning! It also has the name "Cardinal's Nest". Hmmmm... the mascot for Catholic University which is about 4 blocks away is Cardinal's. Students, drinking, nah....Hmmmm...

This weekend we went camping with the friends we met in our Maybe Baby class and it was wonderful. Then tonight we are going to a Washington Mystics game, so we sure do keep busy. Our happiest news of the week however was when we got the call from our mechanic that our air-conditioning in the car was finally FIXED. Don't ask. Let's just say it was a long, hot drive down to Point Lookout for the camping trip. It was supposed to be fixed prior of course, but you know, one part that wasn't quite right made that impossible.

Alrighty then. We'll post more soon. Maybe a picture of our outstanding sunflowers! Yeah! Have a great day. -Monica

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