Find Out More About Your Neighborhood
• June 18, 2013

The Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership’s 2011 Neighborhood Profiles book is now available, which overviews 37 District communities and major commercial corridors, including Downtown DC. Though designed for businesses to make decisions on the best places to place themselves, it also gives individuals tools for their neighborhood demographics, maps, local highlights and contact information for investment opportunities. The profiles enable national, regional and local retailers to learn how DC and its neighborhoods are changing and what opportunities exist now and in the future. This year’s highlights include new maps highlighting retail anchors and traffic generators, as well as updated Metrorail rider counts and walk scores, which measure the walkability of neighborhoods. Copies of the Profiles are available online at WDCEP.com.

More Development Coming to China Town, Metro Center
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Douglas Development Corporation nabbed real estate on the northeast corner of 7th and H Streets near one of the city’s busiest pedestrian intersections and where Douglas redeveloped the historic block of 7th Street between G and H Streets in Chinatown. The company partnered with McCaffery Interests, Inc., a fully integrated Chicago-based real estate firm, to purchase 675 H Street, formerly occupied by CVS near the Chinatown Arch. According to Downtown BID, there will be national and international retail stores coming in at the 45,000 square feet site. The property, boarded up for years, will be redeveloped into mixed-use development. It abuts three neighboring lots, 627-631 H Street, purchased recently by Monument Realty. Those properties were once home to the popular China Doll Gourmet restaurant and will be developed into an 80,000 square feet office building.

Whitman-Walker Named Clinic of the Year
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Whitman-Walker Clinic was named Clinic of the Year by the Capital City Area Health Education Center based on multiple roles in training future health care providers. Whitman-Walker was also recognized for its support of AHEC’s programs. AHEC’s mission is to educate a diverse health care workforce.
“We are very honored to receive this recognition from AHEC,” said Whitman-Walker Executive Director Don Blanchon. “Our work with them helps to better educate health care workers about community health, and especially issues of HIV/AIDS and LGBT care. That helps to ensure that the communities we serve will have even greater access to high quality health care.”

Established in 1978, Whitman-Walker Clinic is a non-profit, community-based provider of health care in the Washington metropolitan area. Through two sites in the District of Columbia, the Clinic offers primary medical and dental care, mental health and addictions counseling and treatment, HIV education, prevention, and testing, legal services and medical adherence case management.

Fight Graffiti with…Graffiti
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Have graffiti on the side of your building? You can now request for your own mural that might deter graffiti. The DC Department of Public Works partnered with the DC Commission of Arts & Humanities to paint murals on privately owned commercial buildings that are chronic targets of graffiti and are located in highly visible areas. MuralsDC, the free program, will put a mural on a building if property owners consent to donate their DC-based space for at least one year and keep the mural intact for the entire year. The project, in its fourth year, funds all supplies and works with DC youth to paint, teaching them Hip Hop graffiti art techniques. DPW will appropriate $100,000 to the project, one fifth of its historical budget to abate graffiti. All projects are projected to be completed by August 5.

State of the Downtown Forum Cancelled, Citing Protest Conflicts
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Downtown DC BID cancelled their State of the Downtown Forum scheduled last week after the Metropolitan AFL-CIO announced a protest during that same time outside the Newseum, where the forum was to be held.
“We have an ongoing dispute with the union involving a pending court case with the DC court of appeals that spurred the protest,” said Karyn LeBlan, director of communications for DC BID. Though she acknowledged their right to protest, she said the decision was based off of a potentially uncomfortable environment for attendees. “We’ve had a number of people have a discussion about it, and based on information we had seen on their website we thought it would be best.” She also mentioned that in the past, protestors have entered buildings where they’ve held meetings, causing disruptions, which they wanted to avoid for the Newseum, “ We didn’t want to do that to the Newseum.”

Though the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO could not be reached for comment, in a press release April 28 they stated, “the workers, frustrated with pay and sick leave issues, voted for a union nearly two years ago, but the BID has continued to drag its feet, recently appealing the April 4 decision by the National Labor Relations Board dismissing the BID’s claims of union intimidation.”

The 2010 State of Downtown Report can be obtained through e-mailing Karyn@downtowndc.org.

4th Annual Passport DC
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Passport DC, the fourth annual celebration of international culture presented by Cultural Tourism DC, will showcase Washington D.C.’s embassies and cultural organizations with a wide range of performances, talks and exhibits, starting May 7 and running through 24. In addition to embassy open houses and events, several Washington, DC museums participate in Passport DC with special programming. On Saturday, May 7, the Embassies of the European Union and the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States will open their doors to the public, offering a rare look at the diverse EU cultures.

Other participating embassies through the nearly month-long celebration are Australia, Bahrain, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Japan, Haiti and Egypt. Shuttles will run from Dupont Cirlce and go to embassies located in Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, Embassy Row and International Drive. For more information, go to CulturalTourismDC.org.

GI Film Festival
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The GI Film Festival, coming up from May 9 to 15, presents both classic and premier films that showcase stories of the American Armed Forces and experiences of service members. Held just before Memorial Day weekend, the festival includes 31 film screenings and presentations by award-winning Hollywood actors and directors, as well as panel discussions with soldiers, journalists, authors and filmmakers.

Emmy award winning actor William Devane, known for “Knot’s Landing,” “West Wing” and “Missiles of October,” stars in “Flag of My Father” and will attend the screening on Friday, May 13 at Arleigh & Roberta Burke Theater inside the U.S. Navy Memorial.

Another well-known actor, Emmy and Golden Globe winner Gary Sinise, perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Dan Taylor in “Forrest Gump,” will serve as the keynote speaker at a Congressional reception on Wednesday, May 11 at the Capitol Visitor’s Center.

This year, film topics include the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War, the War in Afghanistan, World War II, Vietnam and issues facing military families and returning GIs. The festival will also host an international block of films from Denmark, Holland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada at the Canadian Embassy. Go to GIFilmfestival.com for more information.

DC Area Receives ‘F’ Grade for Smog Levels
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The American Lung Association issued a report giving DC and Arlington ‘F’ grades for smog, DCist reports. According to the American Lung Association, the Washington area has the 14th highest ozone/smog levels in the country. The District averages 10.7 high ozone days a year, while Arlington has an average of 9.8.

Though this may seem bleak and make one want to move to cleaner air in the country, air quality in the DC area is getting better: the average number of high ozone days in DC fell from an average of 40 in the years 1997 to 1999. Arlington is fairing better as well, after achieving a high of 32 from 1997 to 1999. As for particle pollution, DC got a D, while Arlington was given a C.

6th Annual DC Yoga Week
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During the sixth annual DC Yoga Week, Washington, DC area yoga studios offer free and $5 classes. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Yoga Association, DC Yoga Week gives people a chance to try a yoga class at a reduced cost without making a longterm commitment. Held between Sunday, May 15 and Saturday, May 22, the main highlight is “Yoga on the Mall,” which will take place on Sunday, May 15 between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. This year, a yoga flash mob will be held May 21 from 10 to 11 a.m. at John Marshall Park in conjunction with the Asian Heritage Foundation, Saturday, May 21, 10-11 am at John Marshall Park near the Mall.

Participating studios include Captiol Hill Yoga, Flow Yoga Center, Tranquil Space and Somafit. For more information, go to dccy.org.

WaPo Publisher Weymouth Polarizes her Newsroom
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Washington Post newsies are demanding raises after Post publisher Katharine Weymouth collected a 16.4 percent pay increase despite the company’s recent 66 percent plunge in profits. “It’s amazing how [Weymouth] can accept a 16.4 percent salary increase plus over a million dollars in bonuses in April while most Guild-covered Post workers haven’t received an increase since 2008,” says Rick Ehrmann of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild/CWA 32035, noting that the workers’ contract is set to expire on June 7. “When the Guild asked for the same 16.4 percent, she sent the Post’s attorney to the bargaining table to cry poverty.”

Fred Kunkle, an 11-year staff writer and co-chair of the Post Guild local, told Media Matters that the union understands the paper’s financial problems. But he said it does not accept such an imbalance in salary increases.

“It is obviously unfair,” he said of Weymouth’s raise. “We appreciate very much that the Post is facing a difficult economic climate. But why should everybody in the rank-and-file, everyone in the newsroom, suffer for it and bear all of the hardship for it? We are willing to work with management and find a way to move the newspaper into the 21st Century. It can’t be by us alone giving all of the sacrifices.”