Click on the collage to see pictures from the party. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Click on the photo collage above to see photos from yesterday’s Cafe Saint-Ex Labor Day block party.

It’s not every day in the hood that you see a pig roasting in an open cooker while bluegrass music plays in the background. Yesterday at 14th and T NW, long lines of locals were gobbling up roasted pork at the Cafe Saint-Ex 2nd Annual Labor Day Pig Roast/BBQ Sauce Cook Off. The afternoon block party on the 1300 block of T Street also featured a lemonade stand, local artists and plenty of arts activities for kids.

Sponsored by Cafe Saint-Ex, the fundraiser benefited the Fillmore Art Center. According to Saint-Ex, the event raised $7,594 for the center. Fillmore provides award-winning arts programs for students at Ross Elementary (1730 R Street NW) and nine other public elementary schools across DC. Virtually all the supplies and equipment used for the program are paid for by donations and special events.

The BBQ Sauce contest was between Saint-Ex employees. The winners were:

1. 1^st Place: Elsie Dwyer (Saint-Ex employee)
2. 2^nd Place: Jesse Miller (Saint-Ex chef)
3. 3^rd Place: Billy Klein (Saint-Ex chef)

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Teakwood restaurant will be on 14th Street NW south of Rhode Island Avenue. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Work is moving along at the site of Teak Wood restaurant at 1323 14th Street NW. In addition, the restaurant’s ABRA status and voluntary agreement was on Tuesday night’s ANC 2F-Logan agenda. Teak Wood will serve Thai cuisine and seat 146 people; the owners operate Galae Thai in Alexandria. The building also houses the Crew Club.

Teak Wood will become the third Thai restaurant between N and R streets.  Just across 14th Street at 1326 is Thai Tanic and further north at 1608 14th is Rice (which serves a variety of east Asian cuisine).

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Photos on Flickr: Click on the image for photos of Thursday's Howard Theater groundbreaking ceremony. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Check out the photos on Flickr from the groundbreaking ceremony on September 2 at The Howard Theatre.

Thursday was another groundbreaking day for another project in Shaw. It was celebration time in Shaw at the doors of the the historic Howard Theatre. After years of delays, the celebratory crowd at 620 T Street NW included Mayor Adrian Fenty, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward) and At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown.

It will take an estimated $28 million to fully renovate and endow The Howard Theatre. The DC Government has already contributed $8 million. The developer of the project is Ellis Development Group.

A mixed-use entertainment venue is planned with the centerpiece being a 600-person hall used primarily for live music events. In its development plan, Ellis says that the restored theater will be “Symbiotic but not competitive with the other stars in the constellation of Washington theatres, venues such as its sister stage, The Lincoln Theatre” (1215 U Street NW). Ellis will also be developing the adjacent United Negro College Fund project at 7th and S, above the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.

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From left: Clark Ray, Phil Mendelson and Michael D. Brown are facing off in the September 14 Democratic Primary for an At-Large Council seat. (Brown photo from KCinDC WikimediaCommons)

In a city like Washington, DC, where everything seems to be about politics—at least of the national variety—it is surprising to learn how uninformed and immature we can be when it comes to voting at the local level.

The fact that many DC voters are confused by man’s middle initial and last name tells you that the body politic has not done its homework. The confusion around the candidates in the Democratic Primary for an At-Large Council seat has befuddled voters ready to hand Michael D. Brown a victory on September 14 (see The Washington Post poll numbers). Why? They think D. is actually Michael A. Brown, who is not even running for anything in this election cycle.

Michael A. Brown is, obviously, a very popular At-Large member of the DC Council; he will be up for re-election in 2012. And, of course, you should not confuse either of them with At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown who is favored to win the Democratic Primary for DC Council Chairman. This begs the question: Do some voters think they’re somehow supporting Kwame Brown when they say they are for D.?

D. is running against incumbent Phil Mendelson and Clark Ray. Until recently it was assumed that Ray was the main challenger to Mendelson, a three-term incumbent. Then, D. won a straw poll vote among Democrats in Ward 5 and coming very close in Ward 4. Remember that these are the party faithful, the committed and knowledgeable ones, who turn out to vote in straw polls.

Suddenly, the city—the ones paying attention, anyway—realized the level of confusion among voters between D. and A.

However, D. does hold an elected office, that of District “shadow senator,” an official position with no responsibilities beyond advocating for DC’s rights. According to Wikipedia, “Brown lobbies the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives on behalf of the citizens of the District in their attempt to gain full representation in Congress,^[9][10] self-determination,^[10] and eventually admittance to the union as a state.^[10][11] As shadow senator, Brown also works with the District’s delegate, mayor, and council to advance the interest of local residents on Federal issues. Brown is a member of the Democratic Party.^[11]”

How bad is our collective stupidity? The Washington Post ran the results of a poll that showed candidates Mendelson and Ray—who have worked hard to win votes—will likely lose to D. unless voters figure it out between now and September 14. The Post poll has D. at 38%, Mendelson at 21% and Ray at 7%. The numbers for D. are good citywide—he leads in all areas of DC except Wards 2 and 3 where he is still pulling 27% and trails Mendelson by only 5 points.

In the interest of full disclosure, the two editors here at Borderstan are supporting Ray (as we have noted before). We have known him for a number of years and believe he would be a better councilmember than Mendelson. Having said that, wouldn’t it be embarrassing for DC if D. were to defeat Mendelson due to nothing more than voter laziness? Of course, this would not be the first time DC has been the butt of jokes due to its local politics; the mention of Marion Barry still draws raucous laughter beyond the Beltway.

No disrespect to D.—he is probably a fine man—but winning on the basis of confusion is not a stellar way to make your way upward in politics. Of course, you have also have to hand it to D.; If he wins, he will have spent little money and effort to win a DC Council seat.

Shame on us—not on D.

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7th and O Streets NW: Site of the City Market at O Street. (Luis Gomez Photos)

From Luis Gomez

Under a white tent—the thermometer said 95 degrees—with electric fans, water and food courtesy of Giant, residents, developers and politicians gathered Wednesday afternoon to break ground on the O Street Market project. After years of delay, the O Street Market project is finally underway.

The renovation of the historic market in Shaw at 7th and O Streets NW attracted a gaggle of politicians and political candidates—Mayor Adrian Fenty and his challenger, Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown (running for Council chairman) and  Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton included.

Shoveling: At far left in front row is Council Chairman Vincent Gray; Mayor Adrian Fenty is fourth from left; Councilmember Jack Evans is fifth from left. (Luis Gomez Photos)

The new City Market will be a one million square foot mixed-use development. A Giant Food supermarket will be the anchor store along with smaller retail stores. A 189-room hotel, affordable senior housing, and apartments and condominiums are on the drawing board for the market complex.

The project was design by architectural firm Shalom Baranes Associates. The scheduled completion date for the entire project is 2014.

Evans said the O Street Market project is a major win for the Shaw neighborhood and will provide construction jobs for residents. Shaw has undergone huge changes in the past decade with new residents and businesses, but still contains large pockets of poverty.

By the Numbers

The O Street Market will have:

• 80+ affordable senior rental units
• 395 market rate apartments
• 145 condos
• 189 hotel rooms
• 10,000 square feet of retail
• 6,000 square foot restaurant
• 500 parking spaces

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Smart Bike Station at 14th and U Streets NW (Luis Gomez Photos)

The Smart Bike station at 14th & U Streets NW at the Reeves Municipal Center is off line. Bikes can not be returned or rented there.

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Friday evening at go mama go! Three artists with their works, which are for sale at the store. (Luis Gomez Photos)

On a gorgeous Friday evening, go mama go! owner Jonathan Chudnoff hosted an opening reception for artists Martha Blalock, Robert Wiener and Ted Puntanen. All are local artists.

Puntanen and Blalock are painters while Wiener works with glass. Click on the image above for more photos of their works, which are on sale at the store.

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THIS mural is still there: Gaia's "Chicken" is on the wall on the east side of the Logan Hardware building on the 1400 block of P Street NW, behind Irvine Contemporary on 14th Street NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)

A couple of months ago semi-local artist Gaia had an exhibit at Irvine Contemporary. I started to see his work around the city and photographed some of his pieces, posting one from 14th and Q NW on One Photograph a Day.

Gaia also painted a mural on a wall behind the P Street Whole Foods—and now it is gone, removed by the store. I read the story yesterday about how the mural disappeared at TBD.com. Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of it.

I don’t like tagging and destructive graffiti; they are never good for a community or neighborhood. But to me there are a couple of  things to consider here. First, Gaia’s work is truly Street Art. Second, it wasn’t even on a street facade—it was in an alley. Due to the nature of Gaia’s work, it would eventually disappear. He uses large sheets of paper, which he paints on and then attaches to walls.

Why can’t Washington enthusiastically embrace art in public spaces such as alleys? What, exactly, was so objectionable about Gaia’s mural that a neighbor—facing an alley of trash cans and delivery trucks—demanded its removal? Wasn’t it obvious that this piece of art was not the work of a vandal?

Philadelphia, for example, has tons of beautiful murals all over the city and has even created city tours of murals and street art. It was sad that in the rush to remove the mural that there wasn’t time to talk about the mural… that no one contacted Irvine Contemporary before destroying Gaia’s mural.

What I find somehow funny, and most ironic, is that now the wall has three huge patches of  lightly colored paint on a red wall. No art, just splotches of paint. But, apparently, it doesn’t offend anyone.

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15th and Corcoran NW: Work on a water main on Monday meant no water for area residents. (Luis Gomez Photos)

DC Water is still working on the “small diameter priority water mains” project on Corcoran Street NW. An area around 15th and Corcoran Streets NW was without water Monday from around 9 am to 4 pm. A crew opened a large trench at the intersection early this morning, but had temporarily paved it over by evening.

Parts of the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Corcoran have been dug up for the project. It’s a familiar exercise for residents as these blocks were among the ones that got a major refurbishing in the fall of 2009—streets, tree boxes and brick sidewalks.

For more information, see the July 21 post, “Deja Vu: Corcoran Street Torn Up – Again – for Water Project.”

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Click on collage to go to slide show: Photos from Saturday and Sunday at the 11th Annual Dog Days Sidewalk Sale on 14th and U Streets NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Click on the collage above for a slide show of Luis’s pics from Dog Days 2010 on Flickr.

The annual Dog Days of Summer Sidewalk Sale on Saturday and Sunday attracted more than 100 businesses and organizations this year on the 14th and U corridors—and thousands of shoppers and gawkers. What began in 2000 with six businesses has grown along with the influx of new residents and entrepreneurs into the Mid City area, aka the Logan Circle and U Street neighborhoods.

One of the main draws of Dog Days are the reduced prices on goods at local stores—on the sidewalk. But the people and dog watching is just as important during Dog Days. One notable change in recent years is the increasing number of restaurants that participate in Dog Days (there are more of them now, obviously). Late morning and mid-afternoon on Saturday seemed to be the busiest periods for foot traffic, followed by the post-brunch crowd on Sunday after 2 pm.

In addition to regular folks—we met quite a few from outside the neighborhood, including suburbanites—Dog Days attracted a smattering of politicians. Councilmember Jim Graham (running for re-election in Ward 1), Council Chairman Vincent Gray (running for mayor) and Clark Ray (running for At-Large Council seat) were all spotted during the weekend. Saturday afternoon brought a quick, brief siting of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel with children in tow on 14th Street (we’re 95% sure it was him).

Dog Days is sponsored by the MidCity Business Association.

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