SYMHM: Dog Parks, Homosexuals, Metro Stations, Bar Stools (Oh My!)

From Tom Hay. Email him at [email protected], follow him on Twitter @Tomonswann.

Shaw Dog Park: 3 Years and Lots of Improvements

See more photos from Saturday’s Shaw Dog Park celebration on Borderstan’s Facebook Page.

Shaw Dogs hosted a celebration this past Saturday at the Shaw Dog Park on the 1600 block of 11th Street NW to commemorate the third anniversary of the park and the $75,000 in improvements that went into it. The renovations were funded by a grant of ex-Mayor Fenty’s administration, and the improvements include tree boxes, benches, an improved water system and a shade-sail and bench in the “under 25 pounds” dog enclosure.

Off On The Wrong Foot

The candidates for the Ward 2 DC Council race are barely out of the starting gate, and one of them, Fiona Greig — so far the one challenger to incumbent Councilmember Jack Evans — has already encountered her first hurdle. The City Paper‘s  Loose Lips column reported that a spreadsheet, inadvertently filed with the Office of Campaign Finance by Greig’s campaign committee, refers to Greig’s co-worker at McKinsey Consulting as a “homosexual”. DCist notes that Greig has issued an apology. The term homosexual is considered by many people in the LGBT community to be a slur — at best, very clinical term.

U Street Will Remain U Street

The months-long debate over shortening Metro station names has come to end — at least for now. WMATA’s goal of limiting station names to 19 characters threatened stations names like U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo U Street. WMATA’S resolution is to have a primary/secondary station name. So, the primary name will be U Street  and the secondary name will be African Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo. Now, if they could just limit the escalator outages too.

Bar Stools On The Sidewalk?

Just a few weeks after its opening and already, Pearl Dive Oyster Bar at 1612 14th Street, NW is drawing crowds to what appears to be the latest Logan Circle hot spot. The restaurant has drawn particular notice for its large sidewalk window that swings open to the bar area. It really screams out for some barstools — which, after last week’s ANC 2F meeting, seems to be the plan. Last week, Pearl Dive presented its public space proposal of installing six barstools along the window. That said, Pearl Dive must now work its way through the DC regulatory process, including the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, so it may be spring before you can enjoy wine and oysters curbside.