The Big Dish Dig

LESS THAN 100 YARDS from where this writer works and lives, Mayor Fenty, Jim Graham and other dignitaries assembled this morning to kick-start the demolition of the Comcast satellite farm that has long anchored the corner of 14th St and Florida Ave NW. The Very Large Array, they were not: neighborhood residents considered them an eyesore. True, the big dishes had a clunky, '70s aesthetic to them.

D.C. is dozing the site to make room for the development of a different sort of neighborhood eyesore: luxury condos. Cardozo Shaw Neighborhood Association president Pete Nevenglosky notes, however, that the incoming developer, level2 Development, has a good reputation with neighborhoods. He says that the developer meets with neighborhood groups before beginning a project, does not begin construction at hours when most residents are still sleeping, and preserves clear walking lanes around sites for pedestrian use.

To commemorate the occasion, Mayor Fenty and Councilmember Graham took turns speaking about the site, noting the transformation (in Graham's words) "at the heart of the Cardozo/Shaw neighborhood." (There was no mention of Mid-City, the developer's favored nomenclature for the swath of NW from Logan Circle to Columbia Heights.) ANC commissioner Phil Spaulding mentioned that Comcast would retain one of its satellites, which would have a new perch on top of the View14 condo/retail building. In any event, Comcast subscribers shouldn't be alarmed; the satellite farm has been out of commission for some time.

Click on the image at right to see video of Mayor Fenty assuming command of an excavator and moving it, oh, a couple feet — before an experienced technician takes the helm and peels the dish off one of the satellites. If you've ever had a negative experience with a satellite-dish cable provider, here's your sweet (vicarious) revenge.

Video by Kriston Capps for Express

Posted By Kriston Capps at 4:37 PM on March 21, 2007 Tagged in Free Ride , Top Stories

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