Progress on Park View Murals

I took these shots last Sunday when the main artist, with some help, was working overtime to get the new murals at the Park View Rec Center further along. I’ll post some updates next week. I’m sure there will be a noticeable difference.

Report from Park View UNC Meeting

While several issues were discussed at last night’s Park View UNC meeting, the highlight was definitely the presentation by Ted Trabue of the Green Builders Council of DC and architect Greg Kearley of inscapestudio as they presented their ideas for the properties at 3628-3632 Georgia Avenue, DC.

It seems that their concept has evolved since PoP first reported that a bar was coming to Georgia Avenue. The Green Room looks to be anything but a typical neighborhood bar. From the drawings displayed at the meeting the goal is currently a high end, media heavy space. Emphasis will be on seating rather than packing folks in. Entertainment may be anything from sports to politics to music. As you might expect, the newly crafted space will meet the minimum LEED Basic level for green buildings.

The Current proposal is only for the building at 3632 (next to Looking Glass). If the economy picks up, they hope to have the planned five-story building they ultimately envision started in 3+ years. Time will tell on that.

Other meeting topics

Other items that were raised were concerns on traffic speed along Park Place, street cleaning along Park Place, a proposed curb cut on Warder Street, and illegal dumping behind the Fisherman of Men Church. I’ll report more on these topics as they are more fully developed in months to come.

Fenty’s Summer Youth Gone Astray

Mayor Fenty’s Summer Youth Jobs Program strikes again. Yesterday, at the corner of Park Place and Princeton Place, NW, for no apparent reason, youth in the program cut down a crepe myrtle that was healthy and thriving in the area next to the road. That youth in the mayor’s job program are responsible is based on eye witness accounts.

This was one of two crepe myrtles that had been in this location. The other one had been snapped off at the base sometime last week, perhaps also by the same individuals.

Had the youth mistaken them for wild brush needing to be cleared, it would have been reasonable to presume that the severed branches would have been removed. As it is, its nothing short of vandalism.

Park View Postal History

The announcement yesterday that the USPS is considering closing the post office located on Georgia Avenue and Morton Street brought to mind an image of when Park View was starting out fresh and establishing services, like the post office. With village postal delivery beginning in 1912, Park View was somewhat progressive in getting an established station by 1918.

The images below are of that early station which was located in the Park View elementary school. That post office was officially dedicated on July4, 1918.

Park View UNC Meeting Tomorrow

Sorry for any confusion earlier today. The August Park View UNC newsletter was distributed, and I have a less that perfect version after the jump. Because I got an electronic version later than I should have (my error for not requesting sooner), I didn’t have time to clean it up.
That said, if you have the time and are interested in any of the topics listed, feel free to stop by the Park View Rec Center at 7 pm tomorrow.

Georgia Ave. Post Office on List of Proposed Closures

Council member Jim Graham posted the following message to the Georgia Avenue listserv today. While I don’t necessarily like the current post office, it is critical to the neighborhood that we have a place to conduct our business. Perhaps the low usage at the Georgia Avenue station is in part due to the fact that it opens late and closes early on week days, giving many residents Saturday as the only real time they can use the station.

Graham’s message is below:

This morning I received a media call indicating that USPS was considering closing Georgia Ave P.O. at Georgia and Morton. It has been named “Columbia Heights” since USPS closed the former location–on the 1400 block of Irving– in the 1990s and relocated it.

We need a new post office back at 14th and Irving, and we also need to keep the post office on Georgia at Morton. The large number of elderly, alone, along the 14th St and Ga Ave corridors justify these actions! In addition, with its new residential and retail, 14th and Irving is vastly changed since a decade ago.

Please express your views on this to our Congresswoman, Eleanor Holmes Norton, by going to her website and sending an email. Click this link or copy and paste it into your internet browser’s address bar: http://www.norton.house.gov/

People Before Profit

I found this near 3224 Georgia Avenue.

What, Exactly, are Park View’s Borders

Like a lot of newer residents in the District, I want to know about my neighborhood. I want to know the current ins and outs as well as the past. I want to know my neighbors. I want to build on their past contributions to the neighborhood and work with them to accomplish new goals.

The only real snag I’ve encountered is determining just where my neighborhood is. After doing some digging, I’m still not 100% certain that I have Park View’s exact boundaries correct. To that end I would like to know a few things:

• What is the southern border of Park View?
• Where is Pleasant Plains located?
• What was the area bounded by Sherman, Park Road, Georgia and Harvard originally known as?

From the 1921 Directory and History of Park View, as well as a 1917 Washington Post article describing an election in Park View, the following borders are outlined:

The area bordered by the south side of Gresham street to north side of Rock Creek Church road, on the east side of the Soldiers’ Home grounds, both sides of Georgia avenue from Gresham street to Park road, then north on the west side of New Hampshire avenue to Rock Creek Church road.
(Map taken from C.S. Hammond & Company Atlas, 1910)

Compare those borders with the ones you’ll find on Wikipedia, where the boundaries are Harvard on the south, Sherman on the west, New Hampshire and Rock Creek Church Road on the north, and Park Place on the east.
While I’ have no problem accepting these borders, I have no idea if they are accurate.

I’d like to know what other people consider the borders to be, particularly the southern border. I’d also be interested in knowing if there are any official descriptions of neighborhood borders.

This Date in History

August 2, 1909: Park View easily beat Petworth in the Suburban League before a large crowd. The winners hit the ball hard and at opportune times. Six two-base hits were made. Several of these would have gone for triples, but a ground rule limited all hits to two bases.

Murals at Park View Rec Center Progressing

While still in the very early stages, I wanted to show that the murals at the Park View Rec Center are under way. The murals are being created by Park View youth in partnership with the Latin American Youth Center. You can read more about the murals from my earlier post.