City Paper Forum for At Large Candidates

City Paper had one threshold each candidate had to pass.  They all had to raise over ten thousand dollars in campaign contributions.

Candidates were treated to questions from Chuck Thies, Alan Suderman and Tom Sherwood.

Acting-Councilman Sekou Biddle. 

 Former Commissioner Bryan Weaver is the darling of the philosophically liberal

 ANC Commissioner Josh Lopez has the eyes and ears of the Latino community, which is the fastest growing minority community in DC.

Patrick Mara  is the only Republican in the race.  Riding high from his latest victory as the Ward I School Board representative, he wants to leave that job after 3 months to move into a more high profile position on the Council.  I'd like to see Mara on the front lines getting arrested for the sake of democracy at home. 

 Biddle, Lopez and Mara.

 Thies, Suderman and Sherwood.

Vincent Orange would be the At Large corporate Councilmember.  As former VP of PEPCO, the corporate utilities are sure to have their voice on the Council.  

The 5 candidates who met the contributions threshold.

Permanent Supportive Housing for the Homeless in Columbia Heights

 The footprint of the old Calvary United Methodist Church at 1459 Columbia Road Northwest covers a large space.  The first of two sanctuaries and the tower are pictured here, gated off and vacant.

The second sanctuary is pictured below with the famous stained glass windows still in tact.  

  Over the years, Calvary served many purposes in the Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant and Adams Morgan communities.  The basement held a youth boxing club run by a sparring partner to Sugar Ray Leonard.  CCNV used the original sanctuary to distribute free produce and bread to the needy.  BB Otero began a daycare service in the basement, which evolved into Centro Nia up the street.  The Central American community found in Calvary a place to have meetings and events supporting  countrymen in struggle in their homelands.  

The building has been vacant for a couple of years.

On Sunday Architect Gregory Powe met with a handful of people of the Washington Inner Faith Network (WIN) at the All Soul's Church to discuss the plans of the Methodist Conference for future use of the church and property.

The Methodist Conference is planning to turn the building into permanent supportive housing for the homeless.  

There will be 80 studio apartment units.  Not all will be for the homeless.  Some will be affordable units for people who can afford them.  There will be one unit for the manager.  The architect said that they plan to keep the original stanctuary space to be turned into a community room for the residents first and also for the community to hold meetings in.  The church tower will also remain as it is.  The housing units will be build over the space where the second sanctuary was built.  The plans he presented included the two images herein.

The building will be built as a matter of right, so there will be no need for a zoning variance.  The height accomodates four floors above ground and one English basement floor.  

SWOT holds another meeting

Before the meeting it's time to socialize.  Patrick Mara talks with Bill O'Field.

 Patrick Mara addressed the assembly of Ward One nonprofits about what he's doing in his office of the Ward One School Representative.  He's not doing much but working on testing.

 The big group broke down into five breakout groups to talk about education, what we can do to improve the dropout rate.  This group thought truancy and its lack of accountability are the two most serious problems facing DC Public School.

Open House at Joseph's House, Saturday, January 22nd

Joseph's House is where homeless people with terminal illness go to rest & be treated well.

Community residents listened to the director Patricia Wudel of Joseph's House, located on Lanier Place NW at the corner of Ontario Road.   Residents sit around the table in the dining room where the 6 residents and 2 or more staff eat together.  

This mural wall-hanging adorns one dining room wall, where the story of Joseph's house is told in a visual expression/explosion.

The kitchen has a gallery of spices and photos  looking over the meal preparation.

 More photos adorn the dining room.

Joseph's House has a Needs/Wish List for in-kind donations:

-     board games

-     boomboxes with radio/CD player

-     Children's books & toys for visitors

-     lotions; toiletries

-     pillowcases

-     toothpaste/toothbrush

-     washcloths

They can be delivered to Joseph's House, 1730 Lanier Place, NW, telephone 202-265-7174.

Update on 18th Street Club Zone on New Years

Taking a look at what's happening on 18th Street right after the bewitching hour of midnight on New Year, it's the usual.  Women in spaghetti strapped dresses in freezing temperatures line the 18th Street club strip.  Must be the alcohol warms them up enough not to notice how cold it is.  

Club zone police, otherwise known as RDOs -- reimbursible detailed officers -- do the usual when assigned to the club zone detail.  Checking email and standing around keep these MPD officers busy.

 Officer Kurtz appears to enjoy his job patting down young African Americans.  This time he had 'em because they were violating curfew.

 While African-American non-patrons of the clubs appear to be the focus of MPD enforcement, a young blond woman is allowed to loiter and flash her wares with no intervention or interference from the police.