Crunkcakes Adds Booz to Cupcake Buzz
• January 16, 2015

Gourmet cupcakes tend to cater to those who can afford to pay anywhere from $3.50 to $5 for a small cake that might go for 50 cents at a bake sale. They are a trend like frozen yogurt, food trucks and perhaps even yoga, that has caught on quickly and, because of the demand, are not only successful but are pricey. Crunkcakes has something no other cupcake in the District has: Alcohol.

Crunkcakes does not have a store front or a gaggle of trained employees to sell you their product. There are only two women, Faith Alice Sleeper and Raychel Sabath, who bake the cupcakes that are sold throughout bars and festivals. Sleeper has three jobs – running Crunkcakes, working at Rock n Roll Hotel and Dangerously Delicious Pies on H St. NE. Sabath works in booking at Rock n Roll Hotel. Sleeper says her mother baked a lot when she was a child, and she put her own twist on what she learned at a holiday party in 2009.

Some cupcakes, like the Buttery Nipple, Grasshopper and Irish Carbomb, are based off of actual alcoholic drinks, but others are made from experimenting with different pairings. For example, the Fat Elvis is banana cake infused with banana rum and peanut butter Frangelico butter-cream.
Both in their 20s, Sleeper and Sabath say they know there is ample competition for cupcakes in the District, but because both are so busy at other jobs, they don’t really take notice.

“I’m so busy balancing work and trying to start a business that it makes waiting in line for cake seem silly to me,” Sleeper says. “We have a unique product in that we only sell booze infused cupcakes so I don’t really consider us a part of all that. We just want to help you get drunk with cake.”
The cupcakes cost $4 a pop and carry about one ounce of alcohol, so eating one is like taking a shot, though with the balance of carbohydrates, they may not be as big of a punch to the liver. All the cakes are made from scratch and with high-quality liquor. Sleeper admits that her clientele are fairly straight-forward, “People who like booze and cake.”

Sleeper graduated from American University in 2005 and was born in D.C. Her father was a diplomat, so she lived the majority of her childhood in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since college, however, H St. has been her home and because of her relationships with business owners, it’s been easy to forge a distribution through bars in the up and coming neighborhood. She says she can’t imagine not baking, “If I wasn’t working on H Street and doing Crunkcakes I would probably still be at some god-awful desk job.”
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DDOT: Bids for Advertising on Capital Bikeshare Map Panels are Open
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Feel like getting creative in advertising? Think Capital Bikeshare. The city issued an invitation for bids on advertising at 128 Capital Bikeshare station map panels in the District. The successful bidder will have the ability to advertise a message on a space 38 inches wide and 56 -3/4 inches tall, in prime activity centers with significant levels of pedestrian, car, bike and transit traffic, 365 days a year, 7 days a week.

In addition to the expected financial return to the city, the District will also evaluate the successful bidder’s ability to maintain the brand identity and equity of Capital Bikeshare and consideration of neighborhood characteristics in the selection of advertisements for display. The Invitation for Bids is posted online at ddot.dc.gov.

Fish Market Ready to Diversify
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The Maine Avenue Fish Market in Southwest D.C. is one of the oldest continuing fish markets in the U.S. But a bill approved by Congress might change the fish market by allowing vendors to sell something other than fish. As part of a broader bill that passed this week allowing a massive redevelopment of the Southwest Waterfront, Congress amended a 1906 law that allowed only fish and shellfish to be sold at the market. The law designated the fish market — which had been established at a nearby location in 1805 — as “the sole wharf for the landing of fish and oysters for sale in the District of Columbia.”

But under the new bill, ushered through Congress by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the fish-only exemption was dropped, allowing D.C. to run and regulate the fish market as merely a “market.” As a parallel to the congressional move, the District Council amended the 1906 law as part of the 2013 budget and clarified what goods can be sold at the fish market: “All types of food and beverage, produce, consumables, organic or ‘green’ themed items, plants and flowers, artisan ware, arts, handmade or handicrafts — and such other similar or related retail and consumer goods as well as any and all appurtenant, ancillary, complementary or co-existing cultural, theatrical, residential, exhibition, office, or arts uses.” When the law was written in the early 1900s, boats would pull up to the market and unload their wares. It’s been a long time since that happened — the boats have been replaced by refrigerated trucks — so a change seemed only logical. Additionally, the waterfront will soon look very different — its redevelopment will see 2.5 million square feet of new hotels, office space, retail space, and residences.

Domestic and international tourists put $6 billion into the D.C. economy last year. That’s a 6.2-percent increase from the $5.68 billion spent in 2010 — and a whopping $600 million in essential tax revenue for the city.

DC Bicycling Study
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The District Department of Transportation is wrapping up a year-long study of three bicycle facilities, two of which, the 15th Street cycle track and Pennsylvania Avenue center median bike lane, are located downtown. Researchers found that bicycle counts increased dramatically along the corridors, while motor vehicle travel times did not change significantly. Bicycle crashes also increased along the corridors, and the researchers recommended continued monitoring of bicycle crashes over time. In addition, the project included a survey of adjacent property owners, residents, motorists and bicyclists, who were all generally supportive of the facilities. The report also recommends several design and operational improvements to benefit both bicyclists and motorists. The hospitality industry, the city’s second-largest employer behind the federal government, had 76,000 jobs last year, up 7 percent from 2010, according to Destination DC.

‘Jason’ Seen as Person of Interest in M Street Sexual Assault
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Police are seeking a man possibly named Jason about a June 30 sexual assault in the West End, according to NBC 4 News. The Metropolitan Police Department considers him “a person of interest” and released a photo.

According to the MPD, a woman was sexually assaulted on the 2400 block of M Street, NW, June 30 at around 10:30 p.m. The potential suspect is described as a 41-year-old black male, bald, with medium complexion, 5’9” and about 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a brown T-shirt with the words “Fight Club,” tan shorts and sandals. He may go by the name of Jason.

Police have not said if this person of interest witnessed or was involved in the attack. If you have any information, call 202-727-9099 or text 50411. Your information will be kept anonymous.

ANC Report: Post Office Space; Heating Plant Sale Condition
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At its monthly meeting on July 2, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E considered issues on how to contend with the GSA’s sale of the West Heating Plant on 29th Street, outdoor seating at Paul Bakery and John Simon’s two- story addition to his 35th Street home.

Re-developer of the Old Georgetown Post Office at 1215 31st St., NW, EastBanc, Inc., plans to build most of the new added office and retail space below ground as well as an addition in the back of the original building. The post office’s second floor has not been used for years. The U.S. Postal System will continue its operation in the front of the first floor as usual. Commissioners approved EastBanc’s request for a variance; the Board of Zoning Adjustment will review the re-designs July 23.

“The Office of Planning, historic folks and the neighbor next door have all had different ideas about this project,” said EastBanc Executive Mary Mottershead at the meeting.

The commission heard discussion on how to convince GSA to put conditions on the sale of the closed heating plant land on 29th Street. It agreed with the Citizens Association of Georgetown and the Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park that part of the property be set aside for parkland.

Paul Bakery got its approval for limited outdoor seating on Wisconsin Avenue, although it has already been serving diners on outdoor tables.

Mount Zion Methodist Church got ANC support for a special exception to continue its 35-children program for those 5 and younger.

John Simon got approval to improve the back of his 35th Street house with a two-story addition but no roof deck was to be added.

— ANC 2E will next meet Sept. 4 at Visitation Prep on 35th Street.

Car Service Uber Avoids D.C. Council Restrictions
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After protests about a District Council measure to control prices for rides by the new car service, Uber, council member Mary Cheh dropped an amendment to a taxi bill that would have raised the minimum fare for an Uber trip at roughly five times the drop rate of a D.C. cab — or about $15. Cheh will bring up the issue again with a separate bill in the fall.

Uber operates an online system with registered members who can use a smartphone app to contact a Uber sedan and get their ride. D.C. cab advocates say the start-up firm, which is going global, has an unfair advantage in D.C. with fewer traditional taxi cab restrictions.

The proposed measure would have set Uber’s minimum price for a ride at about $15 — which is the base fare for the car service, as it stands today.

Georgetown BID’s Bracco Resigns
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The Georgetown Business Improvement District seeks a new executive director. Less than three weeks after its annual meeting, the Georgetown BID announced the resignation of James Bracco, its executive director since 2009.

“Jim Bracco has decided to leave the BID after an exemplary three-and-a-half years of service,” reported Georgetown BID’s board president Crystal Sullivan in a July 3rd e-mail to its members. “On behalf of the BID’s board of directors, we would like to thank Jim for his great efforts in making Georgetown a clean, safe and enticing community for our businesses to thrive and visitors to enjoy. He has been a steady presence in not only the Georgetown community but in representing our neighborhood amongst city agencies and initiatives. We greatly appreciate his time and level of service to Georgetown, and he will be missed.”

Bracco indicated to The Georgetowner that he was reconnecting with “former Trammell Crow Company colleagues on a future venture” but could not elaborate at this time.

At the June 13th meeting at the House of Sweden, Bracco gave an update on projects and said he was especially proud of the clean-up crews, whose work he admired each morning when driving to work. Among other projects, he also showed images of the holiday plantings to come as well as a sketch of the holiday ornament to be dramatically suspended over the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, much like the lighted decoration that hangs each Christmastime at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan.

At its big meeting in 2011, the BID launched its new website and with its re-branding effort revealed the neighborhood’s new retail motto: “Come out and play.”

The next big BID event is Georgetown’s Fashion Night Out, Sept. 6. Its tagline: “Liberty and fashion for all.”

Questions and Concerns to Be Addressed Following Storm Aftermath
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D.C.’s recent storm has caused many massive power outages around the area. An event called the “Ask the Utility Execs” will be hosted by WTOP Radio 103.5 FM this Wednesday, July 11, and will consist of a live discussion with representatives from a variety of Washington area power companies. Some of these companies include Pepco, BG&E, SMECO, NOVEC, Potomac Edison and Rappahannock.

This discussion will address concerns and issues from the recent power outages caused by the storm. The moderator of this discussion will be Marc Segraves, a WTOP investigative reporter. Questions may be submitted online at wtop.com and on the WTOP Facebook and Twitter pages. The event will begin at 10 a.m. at WTOP Studios, where the Georgetown Media Group will be covering it and provide details with a web update.

Outside the Supreme Court for the Marriage Debate
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About 10 to 14 days ago, maybe even last weekend, and for sure Tuesday and Wednesday, America discovered gay marriage.

That’s not exactly true, of course, since the issue of whether gay couples should be allowed to marry has been around a few years, although not as many as you might think. It’s just that the last week or two seems to have turned the issue—the very existence and fact of it—into a portrait of a rising tide. The media was talking about it—it turns out according to respected polls that for the first time a majority of Americans approve of gay marriage, up considerably from a low 30 percentage or so several years ago. President Barack Obama, who went through what appeared to many a torturous process clearly indicated in his second inaugural address that he saw gay marriage as a civil rights issue and approved of it.

Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton announced that she was for gay marriage. Former President Bill Clinton has said as much earlier, even though the Defense of Marriage Act–also known as DOMA–was passed during his administration. At the recent Conservative Political Action Committee gathering, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, once a high profile opponent of gay marriage, announced that he had changed his mind after his son had come out as a gay man.

This week, a whole bunch of people were talking about gay marriage, DOMA, gay rights, California’s Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, about the rights to federal benefits by gay married couples. They also talked about the enduring power of love and snakes in the garden. Some of the talking was being done in front of the Supreme Court by attorneys, justices and plaintiffs. A lot of it was being done on the steps of the Supreme Court where a host of people had gathered for two days while the court heard arguments, pro and con, about overturning Proposition 8 and about restrictive aspects of DOMA.

On March 26 and 27, a certain kind of street theater was being performed outside the Supreme Court as it always does in this politically divided country when divisive issues are being argued legally here. The pros and cons, the antis and the for-it, the religious right, the liberal left, the principled conservatives, and principled liberals, the flag wavers and the sign-carriers, the young and the old, the rabid and the argumentative, always gather like colorful, visceral and verbal moths to the flame of history—along with tourists startled and pleased at being in the midst of history-making.

During these two days, there was a prevalence of couples—traditional man-woman couples and their children, not-traditional woman-woman couples and man-man couples, some of them also accompanied by their children. On the first day’s arguments, the divide seemed about as equal as it exists across the country, while the judges heard arguments for overturning and/or keeping Proposition 8 in place. The hard-line folks from a Topeka, Kan., Baptist congregation were there, taking a rest from demonstrating near military funeral sites but so were numerous couples, some of them long-married, having had to do so in Canada. The atmosphere, by written and video accounts, were often argumentative and loud.

On Wednesday, after judges had already seemed reluctant to initiate wholesale rulings on either subjects and often sounded reluctant to be in the position of making rulings on them, the atmosphere in front of the Supreme Court had changed. There were fewer people for one thing, and the arguments were fewer. The hard-liners, the shrill voices on either side seemed to have left. There was one man across the street waving a bible, acknowledging his sins, raging against reprobates, talking about Adam and Eve, quoting scriptures, even as he was argued with—and been heckled by—a group of young persons, some of whom surrounded him and yelled, “Take a picture of the freaks.”

Celebration seemed to be in the air more often than not. A woman weaved and bobbed through the crowd while her spouse held up a sign that read, “Equality Is Patriotic.” “Seven years and not a single person harmed,” she said.

Signed proliferated amid the gathering, most of them celebratory, urgent and insistent: “A Veteran for Everyone’s Rights,” “It’s Time For Marriage Equality,” “Equality Now,” “Blame My Straight Mother: she gave birth to a bi-sexual daughter,” “Equal Rights for all the Sexes,” “Devoted, Monogamous and Living in Faith,” “Love is Love” (by Stephen and John, married for 25 years) and “We’re Not Done Yet,” this sign by a student with an intensely celebratory, rambunctious group from American University.

A couple carried a bright sign that read, “The Young Are at the Gates.” They explained that it was a replica of a banner carried at a Susan B. Anthony demonstration for women’s right to vote.

“It’s a blessing,” one woman, said. “It’s inspiring to be here.” Valerie Brookhart, who is married to Army Major Savannah Brookhart, was here with her children, wide-eyed, one-year-old Aleks and three-year-old Charlie. “As DOMA stands, right now I’m not eligible for benefits should anything happen, and that’s just not fair.” The couple have been together for four years. Her spouse has served two tours in Iraq.

Another woman, who had managed to get into the hearing for “about five minutes,” said, “It was difficult to hear what was going on, but it sounded like some of the judges were unhappy to have the cases in front of them. “

We also saw activists Kesh Ladduwahetty, founder of Arts for Activists and First Amendment activist Mary Beth Tinker, who said she was here “to support equality.” “It’s amazing in some ways the rapid change that has occurred,” Tinker said. Tinker was part of a Supreme Court case with her brother and other students who wore black armbands to school in Des Moines, Iowa, protesting the Viet Nam war. They were banned from their school for refusing to take the armbands off. It became a Supreme Court case on free speech with the court ruling in the students favor.

It was a bright, cold morning, full of energy and speeches. Even opponents of circumcision showed up, dressed in white. A line of attorneys emerged from the court, walking down the steps, after the close of testimony, and the crowds cheered. “You don’t hear lawyers being cheered every day,” said one impressed spectator.

There was no decision, that day, only the reading of the runes by the media. It awaits a later day, probably in June. But it was also clear that something had changed in the country and that the mainstream, once easily recognizable, was becoming an even bigger coat of more and many colors.

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