From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com.

Site of proposed apartments on 1400 block of Church street NW. (Luis GOmez Photos)

At its regular monthly meeting Wednesday night, Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle voted on an unusual residential development on Church Street

The full ANC concurred with last month’s Community Development Committee recommendation to support the application by Brook Rose Development for zoning relief on its proposed development at 1456, 1458 and 1460 Church Street NW. The new apartment buildings, as planned, will contain 37 rental units. The size of each unit will be 250 to 400 square feet, and will rent for $1800 to $2000 per month.

An unusual aspect of the development is that tenants will be required by the terms of their lease to refrain from applying for a Residential Parking Permit (RPP). Applying for an RPP will be grounds for termination of the lease.

It is possible to get information about RPP applications from the DC government through a Freedom of Information act request. Otherwise, DC authorities were “reluctant” to give out this information.

Commissioner John Fanning, 2F-04, had concerns about the monitoring, reporting, oversight and enforcement of this part of the lease agreement.

“I think that we need to have some clearer oversight,” Fanning said.

Commissioner Cain said the developers had promised to report to the ANC on a quarterly basis, and might be open to more frequent reporting if asked. Cain also said there was no enforcement mechanism.

“We’re just going to take their word for it,” Fanning concluded.

There was a discussion of the limits of ANC authority to make and enforce agreements, and also the future of parking regulation in the light of planned changes in DC zoning regulations that will essentially eliminate the requirement for parking in new construction.

The final vote was 7-0 in favor of support the application for zoning relief, with Fanning abstaining.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

2013 Capital Pride Parade Photos. Click above for more images. (Luis Gomez Photos)

From Luis Gomez. Catch his photos at One Photograph A Day. Follow him on Twitter @LuisGomezPhotos.

Check out the photos of the 2013 Capital Pride Parade on Borderstan’s Flickr page.

The 2013 Capital Pride Parade took place this past Saturday, June 8. It started at 4:30 pm and lasted until 7 pm when the Capital Pride organizers float reached the corner of 14th and R Streets NW. This was the first time that the parade traveled north on 14th Street, a testament to how popular this corridor has become.

Religious groups, politicians, bars, banks, cleaning services, neighborhood associations, school associations and more were all part of the colorful party.

Dykes on Bikes kicked off the parade. There were plenty of elected officials and political candidates in the parade as well, and lots of local businesses (large and small) as well as a plethora of organizations, local and national, not to mention sports teams — and live music to boot.

Lynda Carter, best known for her role as “Wonder Woman,” was Super Grand Marshal of the parade this year.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter. 

From Mathew Harkins. Email him at mharkins[AT]borderstan.com.

Show your Pride. (Luis Gomez Photos)

Looking for the Pride Parade map?

Capital Pride Week may be coming to a close but that means there are still two big events coming up this weekend: the Pride Parade and Festival.

Regularly voted DC’s Best Parade by Washington City Paper, the Pride Parade is a spectacle you shouldn’t miss. As for the Pride Festival, this is the 17th year that the festival is being held on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 7th Streets NW, complete with entertainers, beverage gardens, food vendors, a dance tent and much more.

Pride Parade

The Pride Parade is tomorrow, Saturday, June 8. It kicks off at 4:30 pm at 22nd and P Streets NW, just west of Dupont Circle. The route will stretch for about a mile and a half, weaving it’s way through the Dupont Circle area before ending at 14th and R Streets NW in the Logan Circle area. This is the first time that the parade will travel north on 14th Street, a testament to how popular this corridor has become.

Organizers expect more than 100,000 spectators to be on hand for the parade this year, so if you’re planning to stake out a good spot to watch, you should do so early. And you’ll want to have a good viewing location as there are more than 170 contingents in the parade from local businesses, Capital Pride Heroes, politicians, drag queens and more. The contingents are made up of floats, vehicles, entertainers and whatever else people can think of.

Lynda Carter, best known for her role as “Wonder Woman,” will be serving as Super Grand Marshal of the parade this year. For a list of all the award categories this year, check out Capital Pride Parade Awards page, and for a list of the winners from last year, check out Borderstan’s write-up on the parade.

Pride Festival 

After all the excitement of the Pride Parade on Saturday, keep the weekend fun going by heading over to the Pride Festival on Sunday, June 9, on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 7th Streets NW. Exhibit hours are from 12 to 7 pm and the main stage activities will continue until sunset. With the Capitol Building as the backdrop, expect to join more than 150,000 spectators taking in the entertainers and politicians; enjoying the food and drink at the two beverage gardens, at Taste @ Pride, or at any of the many food vendors on hand.

There will be three stages at the festival with a range of local and national entertainers. At the Capitol Stage, located at the east end of the festival, the featured headliners include: Emeli Sandé, Icona Pop and Cher Lloyd. The Dupont Stage, located more toward the center of the festival, will have various styles of entertainers (featured headliner: Eric Himan and the Soultre Singers) and promises to be a bit more relaxing. The Monument Dance Tent is a new addition to the festival this year and will primarily feature DJs and will be equipped with a shaded dance floor.

This entire weekend is going to make for quite the Pride party – we hope to see you out there!

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter. 

Last week we asked Borderstan readers, “Where’s the Gay Neighborhood in DC,” and for the fourth consecutive year Logan Circle was the winner. Once again, it was not even close, with 42% saying Logan Circle, followed by Dupont Circle with 9% and 7% for Shaw. U Street fell from 9% last year to 4% this year.

Logan Circle wins again.

While Dupont Circle was once considered DC’s official gay neighborhood, the percentage of readers declined from 13% last year.

The choice of “Everywhere and Nowhere” actually finished second again this year with 22% of survey respondents. ”This is such a 1970s question” got 8% of the votes — you have to figure there is a tie-in to the “Everywhere and Nowhere” attitude of an increasing number of both DC’s gay and non-gay community.

The number of readers selecting Other jumped to 6% this year. A variety of neighborhoods were listed, with Capitol Hill being the most popular write-in choice.

The number of readers who chose those two options this year, 30%, was up from 26% in 2012.
Dupont Circle, once the center of DC’s LGBT community, has gotten almost exactly the same results in the last three years — 13% in 2012, 12% in 2011 and 14% in 2010.

Here’s how Borderstan voters responded, with results for earlier years shown for comparison.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

DC Meet Market. (Luis Gomez Photos)

DC MEETMarket is on this weekend, Saturday, June 1 . They will have more than 40 local vendors at the corner of P and 15th Streets NW in the Saint Luke Episcopal Church parking lot.

DC MEETMarket is a monthly outdoor market located in the heart of Logan Circle. Held on the first Saturday of every month from April to December.

Come out this Saturday from 11 to 5 pm. Enjoy the market and buy local.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter. 

Central Union Mission moving out. (Luis Gomez Photos)

In a letter to Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), Central Union Mission Executive Director David Treadwell said that the shelter is on the move. The shelter is at the southeast corner of 14th and R Streets NW. Graham released the letter on the U Street News listserv.

“Beginning in May, our homeless shelter and Spiritual Transformation Program (STP) will be housed at 810 5th Street, NW, in the former home of Gospel Rescue Ministries. We anticipate providing services to approximately 120 men while we wait for our renovation project [at 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW] to be completed early this fall.”

The Central Union Mission and its red sign “Come Unto Me” had been a staple of 14th Street since 1983. Last November, Borderstan reported that a new retail and condo development will replace Central Union Mission’s 14th and R location.

Central Union Mission has been rooted in the Logan Circle community and serving the homeless population for nearly 30 years. However, the organization is building a new home at 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW, and construction on the new Eric Colbert & Associates development project is expected to begin this spring.

The closure and relocation of Central Union Mission makes way for 50 condo units and retail spaces at 1350 R Street NW would seem to present a potent symbol of the changes and demographics of the area brought about by urban renewal.

The Washington Post reports the new development will include roughly 50 units of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom condos, ranging in space from 800 square feet to 1,000 square feet each. The Post also reports that the condos will cost around $419,900 to $849,900, and the project is expected to take 14 months to complete.

The retail businesses have not been decided for the building, but The Post article says the developers will be picky about the retailers that go into the new building to ensure the businesses are good neighbors to the residents.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

For the past three years, in anticipation of Capital Pride, we’ve asked readers, “Where’s DC’s Gay Neighborhood?” The Dupont-Logan area is the center of LGBT pride events each year, including the parade, which runs from Dupont Circle, down 17th Street and then over to 14th Street NW in the Logan Circle neighborhood. (See this year’s slightly different parade route.)

Click here to take survey: Where is DC’s Gay Neighborhood in 2013? We will share the results with you next week.

We ask the question each year because DC’s gay population has been shifting eastward and northward from the one-time center around Dupont Circle.In the 1980s it began shifting to 17th Street, on the eastern end of Dupont — after being centered along Connecticut Avenue and P Street NW west of Dupont Circle.

In the 1980s DC’s gay neighborhood began shifting eastward to 17th Street NW. (Luis Gomez Photos)

As we have asked in previous years, “Does DC still have a single gay neighborhood?” Is the LGBT population spreading out across the city at a slow but steady pace?

In the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Borderstan reader polls, the top choice of readers was Logan Circle. Last year 38% in 2012 said Logan Circle was the city’s primary gay neighborhood, with “Everywhere and Nowhere” in second place, and Dupont Circle in third place — with Shaw making big gains each year. (Results of previous reader polls are below.)

Today 17th Street is still generally recognized as DC’s “gay Main Street” — and only a few blocks from the Logan Circle neighborhood. But, overall, is the Logan Circle area the new Dupont Circle when it comes to all things gay?

Here’s how Borderstan voters responded the past three years.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

Sweet Daddy Grace, founder of the United House of Prayer Parade lived at 11 Logan Circle NW. Click on the image for more photos of Saturday’s parade. (Luis Gomez Photos)

See more photos from Saturday’s UHOP Parade as it made its way around Logan Circle.

On Saturday, we were lucky to enjoy what has become a neighborhood tradition during Memorial Day weekend — the annual United House of Prayer for All People, always on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Starting from UHOP’s main location at 6th and M Streets NW, the parade of marchers and marching bands wound its way through the Shaw and Logan Circle neighborhoods.

The parade reached Logan Circle around noon, and the location has become a gathering spot for residents in the neighborhood to watch the parade. At  the Circle many neighbors gathered with lawn chairs while kids played and dogs sat beneath the shade trees. The parade took almost two hours to go around Logan Circle, while the bands and congregants marched their way back to UHOP.

“Sweet Daddy” Grace (photo above), the founder of the denomination lived at 11 Logan Circle NW and the church still owns the house; Cultural Tourism DC has a good write up about Grace and the history of the house.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

South side of the 1400 block of Church Street NW, just east of 15th Street. The Metropole is visible at the far right. (Luis Gomez Photos)

From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com.

At the May 22 meeting, The ANC 2F Community Development Committee heard a presentation from Brook Rose Development on the construction of a multi-story apartment building on the site of 1456, 1458 and 1460 Church Street NW. The developer characterized the present structures on this site as “three small row houses in disrepair”.

Brook Rose Development will request relief from the obligation to supply parking spaces for the residents. The new apartment buildings, as planned, will contain 37 rental units. The size of each unit will be 250 to 400 square feet, and will rent for $1800 to $2000 per month.

UrbanTurf has more details, including artist renderings of what the building would look like. The three Church Street buildings remain, with the developer adding construction behind them.

Normally, DC regulations would require a building with this many units to contain at least 18 parking spaces. Due to space constraints and the long narrow footprint of the site, there is only room for two. If these two spaces were used, it would impede trash collection for the building, the developers said.

After consultations with the DC Office of Planning, the developers were seeking ANC endorsement on a zoning adjustment for the parking space requirement.

“It is physically impossible to put parking on this site,” one of the developers said.

Not only would there be no off-street parking, but tenants would also not have the right to residential parking permits. Applying for one would be cause for termination of the lease agreement. The developers pledged to periodically check for compliance with DC’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). They also said it is possible to register a building with DMW so that residents will not be able to get residential parking permits.

“The appeal is to a carless urban dweller,” a developer said.

The CDC voted to recommend to the full ANC to support Brook Rose Development’s application before DC’s Board of Zoning Adjustment for relief from the parking-space requirement.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.

From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com.

ANC 2F. Click for a larger image. (DC Board of Elections)

Police response times was on the agenda of Advisory Neighborhood Committee (ANC) 2F/Logan Circle Wednesday, May 22. ANC 2F’s Crime and Public Safety Committee and its Community Development Committee (CDC) met simultaneously in adjacent rooms at the Washington Plaza Hotel that evening.

Public Safety: Response Times

A bicycle theft has prompted ANC 2F to look into local police response times and practices.

At the April ANC 2F meeting, Commissioner Peter Lallas, 2F-01, asked why it took Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers 15 minutes to respond to his call when he saw someone riding his recently stolen bicycle, even though 47 officers were on duty and there were no other emergency calls at the time.

Chief Cathy Lanier has said the MPD strives for response times of five minutes. The MPD promised to look into the matter.

“If police are not responding as promptly as we’d like them to, that raises several questions,” Lallas said in an interview later. “Do we have enough officers? Do we have the resources available to keep out area safe?”

Lt. Jeff Carroll of the MPD was at the Crime and Public Safety Committee meeting to follow up. Records showed response time for the incident was 14 minutes, Lt. Carroll said. Carroll explained 911 calls are answered by a DC agency called the Office of Unified Communications (OUC). This agency then directs response appropriately. In this case, records showed, the call took 10 minutes to go from the OUC to the MPD, after which the police responded in four minutes.

According to Lt. Carroll, the theft of Lallas’s bicycle occurred at the time of a police shift change. At these times, the police are effectively at half-strength, and criminals know when police shift change occurs.

“The MPD should never be at half strength,” Lallas said.

Lt. Carroll also said the MPD had some relevant internal numbers about staffing and response time. He will look into whether they can be publicly released and report at future ANC 2F meetings.

The above and more will be discussed when ANC 2F has its next regular monthly meeting Wednesday, June 5, 7 pm, at the Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle NW.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.