St. Patrick’s Day Parade in DC (photos)
• May 3, 2012

Constitution Ave. was a sea of green as Washington DC kicked off its annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations with a parade on Sunday March 11. Traditionally, the District hosts the parade on the Sunday preceding the actual St. Patrick’s Day which won’t arrive til March 17. The parade featured floats, Irish dancers, bands and military units. The grand marshall of this year’s parade was popular restaurateur Cathal Armstrong (Restaurant Eve, Virtue Feed and Grain). View our photos of the event by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="119788,119690,119682,119675,119665,119657,119649,119641,119632,119698,119706,119778,119769,119760,119752,119744,119733,119724,119714,119621,119611,119601,119494,119485,119797,119477,119803,119468,119809,119817,119504,119513,119591,119581,119572,119562,119553,119543,119533,119524,100530" nav="thumbs"]

Letter to the Editor: True Debate of the Issues Requires an Independence Party
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This letter is in response to the articles covering Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Sandra Fluke.

Well, Mr. Limbaugh, you have certainly done it again. Although this is not the first time your mouth has spewed such hateful language perhaps it should be the last time you say anything more on your corporate sponsored program.?

Yes, that’s right. It is time for you to resign or be put out to pasture. You didn’t “apologize” for your remarks about Ms. Fluke until after it became apparent that your political torpedo missed its target completely and headed back to where it came from. Once you realized that your paycheck may be affected you conveniently switched on the damage control to avoid further embarrassment and save your own miserable ass. I write this because it is evident you do not represent the views of Republicans, Conservatives and Evangelicals nor do you really believe in the venom you spit out at Democrats, Liberals and Reformers. Your show is all about you and to hell with everybody else.??

This country was founded on the principle of free speech. Like it or not, we need to be open to the countervailing opinions of both sides. I am as much interested in the opinion of one side as I am the other. That is why I am longer a member of the Democratic Party but rather voted Non-Partisan in the Ohio primary on Super Tuesday. The “debates” have disintegrated into which side promotes the better rhetoric rather than which side can offer a better plan to help improve upon the quality of life for all?citizens across this once great country. There appears to be no end in sight for the gridlock plaguing all governments at the federal, state and local levels.

Perhaps the emergence of the Independence Party would cause more than a stir down the corridors of power. Maybe if such a party existed with members that could truly call themselves Independents the gridlock could slowly be chipped away. Candidates could run for office on the issues affecting their potential constituents rather than holding fast to their party platform. A Independence Party would not be hamstrung like the two major political parties are today. The will of the people tempered by the conscience of their representative would be a start to the long road to recovery of what the Founding Fathers intended. ?

Thanks to Those Who Helped in Redistricting, a Thankless Job
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I co-chaired a meeting on the District Council’s Subcommittee on Redistricting on proposed changes to the advisory neighborhood commission (ANC) and single-member district (SMD) boundaries on March16. According to federal law, the District must perform a redistricting of its eight wards within 90 days of the council’s receipt of the U.S. Census report, which happens every ten years. After completion of the ward redistricting process, which took place last summer, the council reviews and makes adjustments to the boundaries of the ANCs and SMDs.
 
As I have said before, in my 20 years on the council, there is no issue I have encountered that evokes a stronger emotional reaction than redistricting. To co-chair the committee overseeing redistricting is a thankless job. No one ever compliments us on preparing a “great” redistricting map, but many folks find aspects of any plan that they don’t like. There is no way to make everyone happy in the redistricting process, but my goal in the ward and ANC/SMD redistricting processes was to maintain and reunite neighborhoods wherever possible, while making use of census tract lines, natural boundaries and major traffic arteries to create logical borders within the framework imposed on us by federal law.

Under § 1-1041.01 of the D.C. Code, the Council of the District of Columbia is required to appoint ward task forces to recommend adjustment of the boundaries of the ANC area and Single Member Districts. In practice, deference is given to each ward member to appoint a task force chair and membership. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Tom Birch for agreeing to serve as chair of the Ward 2 Task Force on Redistricting. Another thankless job, the task force chair is responsible for being an arbiter in the process if any major disagreements arise. My subcommittee sent instructions to all councilmembers recommending appointment of a broadly-based task force for each ward. The method that seems to work best in Ward 2 is to create a task force subcommittee for each neighborhood, and I want to thank all of the ANC chairs and citizen association heads or designees that co-chaired the neighborhood groups.

I think we can be proud of the outcome of these meetings in Ward 2 and across the city. Where the boundaries are working and population remained relatively constant, such as in Kalorama, it makes sense to leave boundaries as they are, which is what our task force recommended.  Where significant Ward 2 boundary changes have been made, such as the welcome reuniting of Penn Quarter, significant changes are required to create ANC and SMD boundaries that make sense.  Thanks for your patience and participation in the process.

Vote April 3. After All, It’s Still Your Call
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Roughly two weeks remain before Washington voters go to the polls for the District’s April 3 Primary Election.

It’s an unusual date — usually the District’s primary election is held in September, closer to the November general election.

Even if this election were deemed to be a special election, it sure doesn’t feel that way.  Many of the races —the Democratic Primary nominations for seats on the city council look to be shoo-ins, especially for Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, who is running unopposed.  But in Ward 4, 7 and 8, incumbents Muriel Bowser, Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry, respectively,  face lots of opposition, none of which has received much coverage or appeared to generate much excitement.

The only truly high profile race is a kind of re-run — Vincent Orange is running again to hold his at-large seat on the council which he won narrowly over Republican Patrick Mara.  Sekou Biddle, a familiar face in roles as educator, local activist and for his brief, appointed term to the seat, lost that earlier race but is running again.

Orange, whom the Georgetowner endorsed in the previous election, has been dealing forthrightly with a few difficulties from the growing campaign contribution scandal involving developer Jeffrey E. Thompson, which has resulted in a shower of subpoenas for records of city council members by federal investigators.

Yet this atmosphere of scandal, ongoing investigations and trouble that hangs over the council (and the mayor as well) has never quite dissipated, which ought to make incumbents nervous.  Or, at least, get the electorate interested. It nevertheless effects the entire city and its image.

In any case, April 3 is the day to express yourself.  We’re not passing judgment here, although elections can take on aspects of judgment on the part of voters.  We don’t even need to say that we find the situation disheartening or exasperating. We’re just saying: Go out and vote.  Please.

U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council Lunch With Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush
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Honorees, distinguished guests, journalists and friends crowded inside the Benjamin Franklin room at the State Department on March 21 to congratulate the members of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council on the 10th anniversary of supporting the women of Afghanistan.

Founded in 2002 by President George W. Bush and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, the council connects both U.S. and Afghan governments with the private sector, academia and non-governmental organizations to identify needs and to develop and implement initiatives to support Afghan women and girls. The council is based at Georgetown University.

“There is an Afghan proverb: A good year is determined by its spring. I think that is a worthy proverb to keep in mind, and indeed it is a call to action for us to be sure that the spring sets the pace for the kind of good year we hope to see in Afghanistan,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. “Let there be no doubt that even as the U.S. role in Afghanistan changes during the next few years of transition, we will continue to stand with and work closely with Afghan women.”

“Some may wonder if these efforts and partnerships truly make a difference,” said Zala Ahmad, a student from rural Afghanistan who now studies at Brandeis University in Massachusetts thanks to the council. “I can tell you firsthand that they do.”

While toasting the council with red glasses of hibiscus tea, dining on endive salads and Atlantic cod, and treating tastebuds to the sweet dessert served, a passion fruit clafouti, guests listened to Clinton, former First Lady Laura Bush, John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and several other speakers from Afghanistan involved with the council share stories and the astronomical differences in percentages of Afghan females now attending schools and even holding prominent positions.

“Girls make up about 40 percent of the nearly 8 million children going to school in Afghanistan today,” Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Zalmai Rassoul said. “In 2000, there were no girls at that time.” He also noted that 30 percent of school teachers and 15 percent of university teachers are women. Today, 24 percent of doctors and medical workers across Afghanistan are women.

Even with these positive numbers, he said Afghan women continue to be innocent victims, but the council has helped give them their opportunity back.

“God created a couple,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. “He did not create men first, women second. He created a couple at the same time. So, there is no way half of the couple can be inferior to the other half of the couple.”

After several rounds of applause credited to the amount of effort and success that has gone in to the council, both Clinton and Bush were presented awards for their dedication by Georgetown University. Clinton was given the Caring for Children Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Child and Human Development by DeGioia, who teased that Clinton has been fighting for the rights of women and children since she wrote her scholarly article in 1973 for the Harvard Educational Review. Bush received the Champion for Afghan Women Award from Verveer, who said Bush “led by example, mobilizing resources to ensure that Afghan women and girls gain skills, opportunities, and particularly the education that they were denied under the years of Taliban repression.”

When the luncheon was finished, Verveer said the program was over but the journey to continue fighting for the rights of Afghan women is not. “We hope that we will all continue to work together,” she said.

Ins & Outs 4.4.12
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M&T Bank, which has a branch on Thomas Jefferson Street, will be adding another Georgetown location at 1420 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., where the clothing store, Commander Salamander, once sold its funky wares.

Never mind: Crave, a sandwich and salad eatery on Potomac Street that opened a couple of weeks ago, was abruptly closed. A dispute between business partners led to the decision. Manager and co-owner Garrett Bauman, also of Annie Creamcheese vintage clothing, told the Georgetowner he hoped to find another location nearby.

The men’s clothier, Gant, is coming to Georgetown in August and moving into 3239 M Street. It could not be more different than its previous tenant, the free-wheeling, live-music bar, the Saloun. The 2,000-square-foot space will sell Gant, Gant Rugger and Gant by Michael Bastian, according to Women’s Wear Daily. Georgetown just got more preppy, as if it needed more help, Gentlemen’s Quarterly opined: “The whole collection is still grounded in the archival, American sportswear Bastin and co. have perfected in the past few seasons but amped up in the flair department, complete with special details like the floral lining on an insanely perfect M-65 jacket or the bold flecks of bright yellow and orange on a Donegal tweed blazer.” As if . . .

Ligne Roset and Natuzzi are setting up shop in Glover Park. The furniture retailers have jointly leased the storefront at 2209 Wisconsin Avenue, said property manager Cynthia Cumbo, who added, “The space should be ready in March.” The space was vacant after Mobili furniture departed more than three years ago.

The clothing store, Riccardi & Sports, have left the Shops at Georgetown Park along with so many others. It can now be found at the main Riccardi at 3213 M Street — 202-625-6687.

Mega and green, too: Swedish fashion giant Hennes and Mauritz — which has its H&M store on M Street at Georgetown Park — plans a separate luxury line for 2013. “We have many different projects in progress and already next year we will be launching a completely new store chain. Like COS, which today is very successful with good profitability, the new chain of stores will be independent and complement the other offerings from the group,” CEO Karl-Johan Persson confirmed.

On April 12, H&M will launch its Exclusive Glamour Conscious Collection, promoted by Amanda Seyfried and Michelle Williams and is made using sustainable materials including organic cotton, hemp and recycled polyester.

Hair stylist Luigi Parasmo is set to open his first namesake salon with fellow stylist Javier Calvo in Georgetown. Luigi Parasmo Salon will be equipped with a staff of 14 hair, make-up and nail stylists and opens its doors to the public on Tuesday, April 10. It will be located on 1510 Wisconsin Avenue.

The Chipotle-spinoff restaurant Shophouse Southeast Asian Kitchen plans to open in the old location of Furin’s Bakery at 2805 M Street. The first Shophouse restaurant in Washington opened in Dupont Circle in September last year. Shophouse aims to serve fast Asian food with high quality. The Georgetown Shophouse will open “later this year,” according to the company.

Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place at Washington Harbour and the Potomac will finally reopen its inside restaurant for business in early May with some changes in both interior and on the menu. Since the April 2011 flood only the outside patio and bar have been open, and a limited menu has served from an outdoor kitchen.

Live Green and Repax Mounting the Largest Clothing Drive in D.C. History
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Live Green and Repax are teaming up this March to organize, Fwd: Your Fashion, the largest community clothing drive in D.C. history. The drive, which benefits Goodwill, began March 19 at various locations around the city and ends April 21 at Green Rush, Live Green’s Earth Day, eco-themed scavenger hunt, with clues that lead participants to local green businesses and offers a $1,000 prize.

“This drive is for the many people in D.C. who are going through a tough time,” explained Steve Ma, president of Live Green. Since its launch in 2008, Live Green has worked as a tool for residents to help them find affordable, quality services that are also eco-friendly, partnering with more than 100 green businesses throughout D.C. The organization was awarded the Environmental Excellence Award in 2009 by Mayor Adrien Fenty. “We are thrilled to be working with partners who, like us, are focused on job creation, a thriving green economy, and a more sustainable future.”

The drive organizer’s plan to collect more than 5,000 pounds of clothes is far more than Goodwill of Greater Washington has ever received from a single community clothing drive. Goodwill uses the money from the sales of the clothes to fund job training and employment services for people with disadvantages and disabilities. According to Goodwill’s impact calculator, this drive will fund approximately 400 hours of employment programs for Washington-area residents.

“Many businesses recognize how important it is to be actively engaged in their community,” said Marcus Stephens, vice president of Repax, a local green business that is providing its reusable moving crates to collect clothes. “We have reached out to apartment buildings, office spaces, and yoga studios to serve as drop-off locations and the response has been tremendous.”

In addition to helping Goodwill fund its employment training programs, the clothing drive will also divert thousands of pounds of waste from ending up in landfills.

“People don’t always think of Goodwill as a green enterprise but it absolutely is,” said Ma, a long time Goodwill customer. “They give clothes a new life at an incredibly good price, and their selection is fantastic.”

“We are thrilled to see the community come together in support of our work,” said Brendan Hurley, vice president and chief marketing officer of Goodwill of Greater Washington. “For so many people, our specialized job training is invaluable, but we can’t do any of it without the support of the community.”

Residents interested in donating clothes for the drive can find a map of drop-off locations HERE

Drop off locations for the drive are also listed here:

• Art of Living Center: 2401 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20009

• Capitol Hill Bikes: 719 8th St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

• Live Green Office: 2452 18th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20009

• Amicus Green Building Center: 4080 Howard Ave, Kensington, MD. 20895

• That Yellow Gym: 3220 17th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20010 (in the Argyle Building)

• Chancellor’s Row Townhomes by EYA: Regent Place NE, Washington, D.C. 20017

• Capitol Quarter Townhomes by EYA: 1020 4th St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

• Trohv: 232 Carroll St NW, Washington, DC 20012

An Alternative Way To Stay Cool This Season
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D.C. is fraught with pools on top of apartment buildings, D.C.-run community pools and the occasional roof deck restaurant, but no where is there a members-only pool social club.

Until now.

The Penthouse Pool Club on U St. opened last weekend with a large turnout despite less-than-stellar weather, drawing their 1,000 members to a 60-foot pool, private sun deck, resort cabanas, communal fire pits and a membership lounge offering full food and beverage service.    
 
The planning for the pool club started almost three years ago with an idea by David von Storch, president of Urban Adventures Companies, the parent company of VIDA Fitness, which has five locations throughout the city. A resident of D.C. for 25 years, he said there was a niche that hadn’t previously been filled, largely in part because ten years ago, there wasn’t the same demand there is now.

“It’s now a true urban center; it’s grown up a lot,” he said in a phone interview. He pointed to the neighborhood of Logan Circle, where he resides. “I can walk to the grocery store, to the gym, the hardware store and to 15 restaurants; that wasn’t possible ten years ago in virtually any neighborhood. People are looking to live in the city, it’s not just convenient for work, it actually fits with how they see themselves living.”

The 12,000 square foot rooftop was previously just that, a rooftop with an unattractive air conditioning system. But in the three years of planning, they modified the space for the pool, and moved the A.C. system underneath it. With plans to stay open until late October, the pool is heated by the rejection energy put out by the FIDA fitness gym. The A.C. system already takes this heat out to put in cool air, so they’re simply re-routing where it goes, which in the end, von Storch says, will be a huge cost saver and an environmentally friendly decision.

With a lounge and pool capacity of 299 and 25 staffers, members and guests will be able to see panoramic capital views. The membership roster to the Penthouse Pool Club is now filled, however Urban Adventures Companies has established a waiting list for those wishing to become future members. Membership to the pool club also includes full access to all five D.C.-area VIDA Fitness locations.

Designed by Stoneking von Storch Architects of other clubs like the Soho House in New York City and Miami, he noted that the Poolhouse Club is unique in that it’ll not only have the fitness component downstairs, but Aura Spa on the first floor, due to open later this summer.

With an exclusive and an above-18 membership, the club is sure to draw crowds as the weather gets warmer.

“The fact that you have to be 18, be a member of VIDA, creates an environment where it will be more relaxing, whereas other pools there are lots of kids jumping around. This is an alternative to that on the weekends, and not have to go out of town.” [gallery ids="100715,120504,120497" nav="thumbs"]

Afghanistan: Hanging in the Balance
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For more than a decade, the Afghan War has been a costly and difficult campaign for the United States and its NATO allies.  As the United States begins to downsize its force in Afghanistan and turn combat operations over to the Afghan police and army, a persistent question is whether the U.S. strategy will be effective in preventing Afghanistan from slipping back to Taliban control over the long term.  U.S. strategy in Afghanistan has evolved over the past 11 years, and conditions have changed. As the U.S. drawdown picks up pace, success of the entire operation will be dependent on a series of complex variables over which the U.S. and NATO will have little control.  Without continued heavy, long-term support from the United States, it is likely that the current government of Afghanistan will not be sustainable in its current form.

In his remarks at West Point outlining his administration’s strategy, President Barack Obama said, “Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan and to prevent its capacity to threaten America and our allies in the future.”  Effectively establishing Afghanistan and Pakistan as the theater of war in which to defeat Al Qaida and the Taliban, Obama set a timetable of 18 months to accomplish a series of ambitious and broadly defined objectives:  “We must deny al Qaida a safe haven.  We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government.  And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s security forces and government so that they can take lead responsibility . . .”

Assessing the Obama Strategy.  Now, more than two years later, it is clear that even as the drawdown of forces in Afghanistan is set to begin, and while some headway has been made in some areas, those overarching objectives articulated by Obama have not been met.  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper reported the intelligence community’s assessment that “[the Taliban] remains resilient and capable of challenging U.S. and international goals; and Taliban senior leaders continue to enjoy safe haven in Pakistan, which enables them to provide strategic direction to the insurgency and not fear for their safety.”

A leaked U.S. military report on the “State of the Taliban 2012,” confirms that Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence agency) is encouraging the Taliban to continue fighting.  It goes on to confirm that, “Though the Taliban suffered severely in 2011, its strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remain intact.” 

Negotiating the Retrograde.  Ostensibly in recognition of these shortfalls, the president has announced a “new” way forward in Afghanistan that looks remarkably similar to the counter-terror strategy originally proposed by Vice President Joe Biden. It advocated an escalation of the drone war in Pakistan and direct negotiations with the Taliban.  Broadly stated, the ultimate goal of the strategy — which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described as “fight, talk and build” — is to prevent civil war and the reestablishment of terrorist bases in the region.  A key element that has emerged for that strategy is to give the Pakistanis a prominent seat at the table in exchange for their leverage on the Taliban to negotiate in kind.  

The Obama Administration has announced the start of direct trilateral talks between the U.S., the Karzai government and the Taliban’s political front organization, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar and the Haqqani network.  Under U.S. encouragement, the Taliban has set up an office in Doha, Qatar, explicitly for the purpose of dealing with Washington. 

Yet, with the NATO drawdown in Afghanistan imminent, the Taliban has little incentive to negotiate, believing that it can just wait NATO out.   Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently announced that combat operations would be turned over to the Afghan Army in 2013.  By the end of 2014, all American combat forces are scheduled to be out of the country, with the exception of a small number of Special Operations Forces and trainers.  

The Lessons of History and the Way Ahead.  As the U.S. and NATO retrograde gains momentum, Washington will unquestionably apply billions in military foreign sales, aid, inter-agency coordination, as well as air and military contract support to Afghan security forces to support the current Afghan government.  While the peace negotiations with the Taliban are intended to inject some measure of stability as western troops leave Afghanistan, they are also an implicit recognition that that the Taliban will regain some measure of political power in the country. 

Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, Moscow also did its best to prop up the Communist government. However, when the aid vanished in 1992 following the Soviet Union’s downfall, Kabul became engulfed in a violent war that placed the reins of power for Afghanistan firmly in the hands of the Taliban.  More than two decades later, Washington is hoping to avoid the same fate for Afghanistan.

Steve Delonga is the president of Prometheus Security International, LLC.

Shakespeare’s Birthday Open House at the Folger (photos)
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Shakespeare’s Birthday Open House at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. took place on Sunday April 22, 2012. Young and old alike were on hand to enjoy jugglers & jesters, music, song & dance, and stage combat workshops. It was also the one day of the year when the Folger reading rooms would be open to all. The highlight of the day was a cake-cutting ceremony in honor of Shakespeare’s birthday presided over by Queen Elizabeth I.

View our photos of the event by clicking on the icons below. [gallery ids="100752,122355,122346,122338,122331,122323,122314,122305,122297,122289,122373,122280,122380,122270,122387,122261,122393,122364" nav="thumbs"]