NOT ALL THE ECONOMIC news is bad news. Radius Pizza just dropped prices on its pizzas, toppings and many other items, with large pizzas jumping down as much as $3.
But don't expect the taste to plummet. General manager Kenneth Bush noticed the quality difference between pizzas served in-house and those delivered. At home, moisture-soaked vegetables made for a soggy pie. To spare patrons' wallets and improve the delivered pizzas, Radius will trim the amount of toppings and also lower prices.
» Radius Pizza, 3155 Mt. Pleasant St. NW; 202-234-0808.
Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans
YESTERDAY, blogger Prince of Petworth posted a picture of the remains of 3145 Mt. Pleasant St. NW, the apartment building gutted by a five-alarm blaze on March 13, and asked how long it would be before tenants could move back in.
We brought the question to the office of D.C. Council member Jim Graham.
Ted Loza, Graham's chief of staff, said that according to Mike Rupert of the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, the permits necessary to go forward with reconstruction have not been issued due to a hold up between the building owner and insurance companies.
Once those permits are issued it'll likely be a year to 18 months before residents can return.
Rupert said that when rebuilding does finally occur, officials anticipate that the less damaged south side of the building will be habitable sooner than the north side.
According to Loza, the reconstruction timeline, were it to start soon, would line up with Mayor Adrian Fenty's pledge to provide subsidies for the building's 200 displaced residents for up to two years.
"THEY CAN'T GO IN, but we take them around to the back to show them how it was destroyed. The good thing is that they get closure and that they've got their lives."
— Randy Moses, an emergency management coordinator for the D.C. Department of Human Resources, speaking to The Post's Sylvia Moreno about the scene that's greeted many former residents of a Mount Pleasant apartment building that was gutted in a five-alarm fire on March 13. About 200 tenants were displaced because of the blaze.Officials say some residents, like Cristobal Hernandez, pictured at right, were able to retrieve some of their belongings on Monday. Others, however, are in the group Moses describes above: residents of the north side of the building, which was so heavily damaged that contractors were ordered to demolish all but the exterior wall and a few apartments behind it.
Last week, D.C. Council member Jim Graham said that material donations had poured in at an astounding clip, but that money was still needed to help fire victims find new places to live. Serve DC, a city agency that coordinates with volunteer and nonprofit groups, is accepting donations of materials like new clothing, furniture and gift cards from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, tomorrow and Thursday at the D.C. General Warehouse, located at 1900 Massachusetts Avenue SE, Building 6. Get more information from Serve DC here.
» "Victims of Fire Pick Up Pieces Of Their Lives" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "Money Still Needed to Help Mt. Pleasant Fire Victims" [Free Ride/Express]
Photo by Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post
DONATIONS OF clothing and household items for the victims of a five-alarm fire that destroyed a Mount Pleasant apartment building last week poured in at such a rapid clip that they've already exceeded the amount of space available to hold them, D.C. Council member Jim Graham, D-Ward 1, said Tuesday. But he said money is still needed to help displaced residents get back on their feet.
After the blaze, which erupted overnight Thursday at 3145 Mt Pleasant St. NW (pictured at right on Saturday), Graham partnered with the community non-profit group Neighbors Consejo to take in donations for the nearly 200 residents left without homes. Graham said he was blown away by community response.
"It's been overwhelming. I expected a very good response but it has far exceeded all expectations," he said. "Everyone has come forward, and it has eased a lot of this pain. I'm very grateful for that."
Judy Diaz of Neighbors Consejo said the group is still taking small donations of food, toiletries and underwear, but Graham said officials' main task now is helping families find and pay for new places to live.
Continue Reading "Money Still Needed to Help Mt. Pleasant Fire Victims" »
D.C. COUNCIL MEMBER JIM GRAHAM is asking that people consider making donations to the hundreds of people displaced by a five-alarm blaze that devoured an apartment building in Mt. Pleasant overnight.
The Post's Debbi Wilgoren and Howard Schneider reported these details about the blaze earlier today:
Flames shot from the top half of the four-story structure at 3145 Mount Pleasant St. NW, starting shortly before midnight, city officials said. The building -- a rental apartment whose tenants had fought for years to force the owner to address numerous code violations -- was "probably going to be a total loss," fire department spokesman Alan Etter said.According to a message Graham posted on the MountPleasantDC message board, no one was injured in the fire, and "the fire department's response was great and the water pressure was superb." Graham says the fire "affected six buildings, including the Meridian Hill Baptist Church."
According to Graham, Neighbors Consejo, a group that assists low-income immigrants, is taking food and clothing donations at 3118 16th St. NW. Those wishing more information can call Evar Sandoval at (202) 234-6855.
» GET MORE information about the fire, including video from the scene, from washingtonpost.com.
WE'VE HEARD OF garden tours. And we've heard of bike tours. But a post today by local blogger Prince of Petworth is the first time we've seen a garden tour on bikes.
The excursion, part of last week's D.C. School Garden Week event series, was organized by the Women's Garden Cycles Project and featured stops at several school vegetable and herb gardens, including the school at 13th Street NW that snagged the Prince's attention. His response: "Pretty, pretty cool! Who knew cool things like this existed in D.C.?"
We didn't. We also didn't know a thing about the Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour, which took three local women from Washington to Montreal on a quest to "document food-producing garden projects" along the way, according to their Web site. They're making a documentary about the experience.
The local school garden tour has passed, but the gals have another event in the offing: a haunted scavenger race. On bikes, natch. Notes their Web site in spooky tones:
Ever played 'manhunt'? or fugitive? Its like a big game of tag all over the city — with good guys and bad guys in a game of chase. The Haunted Scavenger race will feature tasks to be accomplished at various scary spots throughout the city — with some worth more points than others. Teams will be given maps and clues and will have two hours to ride around to these points without getting caught by ghouls on bikes — then back to base to tally the winners.The party starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday at 1822 Lamont St. NW in Mount Pleasant. They call it a fundraiser, so they may be asking for a $10 donation for their documentary project, as they did for the school garden tour. Check their site for more info.
» "Sometimes You Stumble Upon The Coolest Things" [Prince of Petworth]
» Women's Garden Cycles Bike Tour
THE LAST TIME this writer applied for a spot in a Mount Pleasant group house, being a Leo was pretty much grounds for a denial. If there is one thing that is the most detestable about D.C., it is that awkward courtship ritual known as applying for a group house, full of competitors who put on their game face and outright lie to potential housemates about how much they love to cook and clean.
The Post's Monica Hesse dives into what it means to share a Mount Pleasant group house. However, for the fivesome in the 1700 block of Park Road that was featured, pictured here, there was no beanbag circle of judgment — a tactic some cunning group house masters and their housemates use to quiz eager finalists for what's often the worst room in the house.
Last year, The Post profiled the specifics of selection rituals and the dos and don'ts on scoring a prime group house slot. And for what? It's all about finding someplace that feels like "home" in our standoffish, soulless capital.
And all is not well up on Park Road. Writes Hesse:
Living in a group house is like living in a TV dinner. You try to keep your life contained to your room, to your compartment of the microwaveable tray. But spillover is unavoidable.Yes indeed. There are conflicts about sharing laundry detergent. There's a chore chart. And roommate Elizabeth has to remind houseguests to pay housemate Susie for the "fancy beer" they drank from the fridge. (What, the houseguests couldn't swing by The Argyle convenience store at the corner of Park Road and 17th Street NW? Last time we checked, they had a decent selection.)
Also, throw some minor partisan tension into the mix. In one evening, roommate Joe is teased five times for being a Republican. In the end, we learn that the house's lone GOP supporter — and perhaps Mount Pleasant's only Republican — ends up moving to Alexandria. Oh, how a homey neighborhood can be so cruel ...
» "In a Mt. Pleasant Group House, Companionship And Chores Are All Part of the Bargain" [WaPo]
EARLIER:
» "In Search of Not-So-Cheap Group Housing" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Pick Me! Pick Me!" [WaPo]
Photo by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post
YOU MIGHT REMEMBER that last month, we wrote a brief feature on the stiff replacement for D.C.'s legendary "Compliment Man," aka Ron Miller, the guy who would dish out praise and plaudits for passing pedestrians in Adams Morgan and elsewhere. Then we pondered the whereabouts of another sidewalk fixture, Blelvis, aka Black Elvis. As it turns out, Blelvis never left the building; he's still around.
Despite our regular outings on Columbia Road, Mount Pleasant Street and 14th Street NW, the last time we spotted him was five years ago at a house party in Mount Pleasant, where he sang some song from "Blue Hawaii" that escapes us. Apparently, we aren't the only ones who thought Blelvis had faded from the D.C. streetscape and headed off to some magical Graceland retreat far, far away where he could live on peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
The Post's Monica Hesse has the lowdown on Blelvis, who "can still draw cheers from the fans who remember him, and can still coax crowds into song."
» "An Elvis Obsession Has His Life All Shook Up" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "Compliment Man's Replacement Is a Bit Stiff" [Free Ride/Express]
Photos by Kevin Clark/The Washington Post
Crime in D.C.: What Might the Summer Bring?
Map It:
Columbia Heights Dupont Circle Eastern Market Potomac Ave Shaw-Howard U Stadium-Armory
IF ONLY CRIME, like the weather, could be predicted ...
Last July, the District sprang into action after a young British political activist was brutally murdered on Q Street NW outside the Georgetown mansion at right, which was then owned by developer Herb Miller. While the number of muggings and other street attacks had been increasing across the District — and in concentrations in areas of the city — it was the Georgetown attack, the attention it elicited and the spike in crime that July that brought about a declared crime emergency. (The two charged in that Georgetown death, Christopher Piper, 26, and Jeffrey Rice, 23, pleaded guilty on Monday and face up to 100 years in prison each for that death and three other robberies in Georgetown and Adams Morgan.)
But will the summer of 2007 be much like the summer of 2006? Will warmer temperatures bring criminal elements out in full force? According to an analysis of crime data from last year by The Post, the city's "robbery core" is centered in Ward 1, which includes neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Dupont Circle and Logan Circle, which are under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police Department's 3rd Police District.
As The Post's Allison Klein and Dan Keating wrote at the time:
... [R]obbers are traveling farther from home to strike, according to police officials. During the first six months of [2006], about 40 percent of juveniles arrested in robberies and other crimes in neighborhoods just north of downtown did not live there, police said.In particular, Friday and Saturday nights see an uptick in crime.
So far, at least on Capitol Hill, the spring has sparked its own crime spike, with 19 robberies logged from Friday night through Monday. As Klein reports this morning:
No one was seriously hurt, police said, although some victims were knocked to the ground. In some cases, assailants brandished knives. Other robberies were purse-snatchings, including one at 3 p.m. Sunday about two blocks from Eastern Market.And police don't know why criminals are targeting the Hill, making the art of predicting what could happen as summer approaches anyone's guess.
» "Guilty Pleas in British Activist's Death" [WaPo]
» "Liveliest D.C. Neighborhoods Also Jumping With Robberies" [WaPo]
» "Robberies Shake Up Residents, D.C. Police" [WaPo]
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
IN THE ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN saga over whether to re-open Klingle Road across Rock Creek Park between Mount Pleasant and Woodley Park, advocates of rebuilding the long-deteriorating roadway have said that traffic on Porter Street NW heading across the park has grown to become a congested quagmire over the years.
Through mid-summer, expect the number of cars on Porter Street to increase, as the nearest cross-park alternative, Park Road, is closed between Mount Pleasant and Beach Drive in Rock Creek Park. Earlier this week, District construction crews began work to mill and resurface the roadway. The project is scheduled to wrap up by mid-July.
» "Repair Klingle Road" [Official Site]
» "Resurfacing and Road Construction Work Begin on Park Road, NW" [DDOT]
Addison Road