East of the River Magazine November 2015 by Capital Community News

November 2015

YVETTE ALEXANDER ON JUNE 14, 2016

RE-ELECT

To Join Her Effort to Move Ward 7 Forward

Call 202.550.0029

Paid for by The Committee to Re-Elect Yvette Alexander 2016 4508 B Street, NE, Unit 8, Washington, DC 20017 Derek Ford Treasurer A copy of our report is filed with the Director of Campaign Finance.

East of the River Magazine November 2015

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DCRA FREE SEMINARS

FOR EXISTING AND ASPIRING DISTRICT BUSINESSES Senior Entrepreneurship Program Date: Thursday, November 5, 2015 Time: 10:15 am – 11:45 am Location: Hattie Holmes 324 Kennedy Street NW Washington DC 20011 To Register: http://bizdc.ecenterdirect.com/ ConferenceDetail.action?ID=41353

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For further information : Jacqueline Noisette (202) 442-8170 jacqueline.noisette@dc.gov Claudia Herrera (202) 442-8055 claudia.herrera@dc.gov Joy Douglas (202) 442-8690 joy.douglas@dc.gov East of the River Magazine November 2015

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

In Every Issue Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Washington

East of the River Calendar

The Classified

The Crossword

The Bulletin Board

E on DC

The District Beat

The Numbers

Trifecta of Fear

The Nose

Our River: The Anacostia

Affordable and Sustainable Housing Coming to Ward 7 by Catherine Plume

ACC Helps Reboot Ward 8 Civic Associations by Christine Rushton

DC Library and DCPS Consider Collaborating by Christine Rushton

DC is Going Foam Free!

by E. Ethelbert Miller

by Jonetta Rose Barras

by Wes Rivers

by Jonetta Rose Barras

by Anonymous

by Bill Matuszeski

by Catherine Plume

EAST WASHINGTON LIFE

Pick Up a Slice and a Smile from Mama in Anacostia by Christine Rushton

Photographer Krista Schlyer Documents the Anacostia River by Phil Hutinet

Learn. Build Community. Hang Out.

Prelude to Sugar: Pre-Diabetes

Jazz Avenues

by Virginia Avniel Spatz

by Candace Y.A. Montague

by Steve Monroe

REAL ESTATE

49 ON THE COVER:

Changing Hands compiled by Don Denton

KIDS & FAMILY

Washington National Opera Presents Appomattox. Soloman Howard as MLK. Photo: Cade Martin. Story on page 14.

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Kids & Family Notebook by Kathleen Donner

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

Black Nativity at Anacostia Playhouse This retelling of the Christmas story from an Afrocentric perspective is infused with rich gospel, blues, funk, jazz, and dance with griot style story telling from an ensemble cast. Embracing the original spirit of Hughes’ work, Black Nativity serves as a deep exploration of cultural identity, pride, and unity within the African-American community while also bringing a fresh voice to this holiday classic. It’s at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Pl. SE, from Nov. 25 to Jan. 3. Tickets are $35, adults; $20, military, students and seniors; $10 for children 12 and under. Order tickets online at theateralliance.com. Black Nativity originally premiered at New York City’s Lincoln Theatre in December 1961. It was the first play by an African American playwright to be produced at the venue. This production is recommended for audiences of all ages. Black Nativity 2015 Ensemble. Photo: Courtesy of C. Stanley Photography

Canal Park Ice Skating Lessons Canal Park Ice skating lessons begin on Nov. 21. Children are accepted into classes from age three, up. The rink offers a class for adults as well. All learn-to-skate classes last 30 minutes. Skaters are assigned to an instructor and class time based on skill level and experience. Private and semi-private lessons are also available. Canal Park Public Ice Skating begins for the season on Saturday, Nov. 7. Hours are Monday and Tuesday, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesday to Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Adults are $9; children/seniors/military are $8; and skate rental is $4. It’s open every day including all holidays but the hours vary. Canal Park is at 202 M St. SE. canalparkdc.org. Photo: Courtesy of Canal Park Ice Rink

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Veterans Day Wreath Laying at the Navy Memorial The United States Navy Memorial will honor Veterans Day with a wreath laying ceremony with special guest speaker Vietnam War Medal of Honor Recipient Sen. Bob Kerrey and author presentations on Navy and Marine Corps history, and readings by the Veterans Writing Project. On Wednesday, Nov. 11, author talks begin at 11 a.m. for Combat at Close Quarters and noon for They Were Heroes. The wreath laying is at 1 p.m. and Veterans Writing Project at 2 p.m. The Naval Heritage Center is at 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. navymemorial.org. Iconic Lone Sailor statue with Veterans Day wreath, 2014. Photo: US Navy Memorial Photo by Jeff Malet

Torpedo Factory Art Center Holiday Open House On Saturday, Dec. 5, 4 to 9 p.m., Torpedo Factory artists keep their studios open late for their annual Holiday Open House. Visit 82 artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; studios, seven galleries, two workshops, and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. The Alexandria Choral Society performs seasonal favorites throughout the evening. Founded in 1974 in an old munitions plant, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to the largest collection of publicly accessible working artist studios in the country. And it really once was an actual torpedo factory. The Torpedo Factory Art Center is at 105 N. Union St., Alexandria, VA. torpedofactory.org Photo: Courtesy of the Torpedo Factory Art Center

Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger 5K Please join So Others Might Eat in supporting the hungry and homeless in the District by participating in the Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger at Freedom Plaza (corner of 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW). Proceeds from the 5K benefit thousands of homeless families and single adults, include the elderly and people suffering from mental illness, by providing much-needed food, clothing and healthcare. The only turkey trot in the District, the Trot for Hunger is a tradition for thousands of area residents and a meaningful way to remember people in need on Thanksgiving Day. The kids one mile fun run is at 8:30 a.m. and the 5K run/walk is at 9 a.m. Register at soome.convio.net. P.S. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to run, or even walk, to enjoy this event. Just show up at the start, hand over a donation and let others do the work. Very satisfying! Costumes are encouraged at the Trot for Hunger, and the event features a Little Turkey One Mile Fun Run for young Trotters. Photo: Skewed Patella Photography by Derek Parks

East of the River Magazine November 2015

Calendar

waShington nationaL oPera PreSentS aPPoMattox. Nov. 14 to 22. From the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, the battle for equality in America marches on. This landmark production marks 50 years since the Voting Rights Act and 150 years since the end of the Civil War. Tickets start at $25 and are available online, in person at the Kennedy Center Box Office, and by calling 202-4674600. Kennedy Center Opera House. kennedy-center.org. Soloman Howard as MLK. Photo: Cade Martin

VETERANS DAY Veterans Day 10K & Tidal Basin Walk. Nov. 8, 8 AM. Honor America’s veterans with a run through West and East Potomac Parks along the Potomac River. Fast, flat course. T-shirts, refreshments, random prizes. 301-840-2042. runwashington.com. Veterans Day Public Skate at Fort Dupont. Nov. 11, noon to 2 PM. $5 for adults (13-64); $4 for seniors and children (5-12); $3, skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. SE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org. Mount Vernon Salutes Veterans. Nov. 11, 9 AM to 4 PM. In honor of our nation’s veterans, Mount Vernon admits all active duty, former, or retired military personnel free-of-charge. 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA. mountvernon.org. Wreath Laying at World War II Memorial. Nov. 11, 9 AM. 17th Street between Constitution and Independence Avenues NW. 202-619-7222. wwiimemorial.com. Veterans Day Wreath Laying at Arlington. Nov. 11, 11 AM. President Obama will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington. The public is invited to watch this ceremony and to listen to the speech that follows. There is standing room at the wreath laying and seating in the adjacent amphitheater for the speech. Get there early. The better the weather, the earlier you should arrive. Leave umbrellas and backpacks at home. Parking and ride to the ceremony are free. arlingtoncemetery.mil. Wreath Laying at Air Force Memorial. Nov. 11, 11 AM. Wreath laying ceremony and a two-minute moment of silence will be observed to commemorate those members of the US armed forces who were killed in war. Air Force Memorial is at One Air Force Memorial Drive in Arlington, VA. airforcememorial.org. Women Veterans Rock. Nov. 11, 11 AM. Rally and celebration at the George Washington University Marvin Center, 805 21st St. NW. WomenVetsRock.com. Veterans Day Observance at The Wall. Nov. 11, 1 PM. Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 202-393-0090. vvmf.org. Women’s Memorial at Arlington Cemetery Veterans Day Observance. Nov. 11, 3 PM. The ceremony will include formal military honors, a keynote address, veterans’ remarks, and wreath layings. womensmemorial.org.

THANKSGIVING Montgomery County Thanksgiving Parade. Nov. 21, 10 AM to noon. 50 foot balloons, floats and marching bands. Downtown Silver Spring on Georgia Avenue from Sligo to Silver Plaza. silverspringdowntown.com.

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Holy Eucharist with Hymns at the National Cathedral. Nov. 26, noon. This 40 minute service includes prayers, Scripture, a homily, and Holy Eucharist. All are welcome. Washington National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. 202-537-6200. nationalcathedral.org. George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation at Mount Vernon. On view through Jan. 6, 2016, in the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center, this important document was drafted after a contentious 1789 debate in Congress. It calls upon the President to “recommend to the people of the United State a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed.” This document marks the first national celebration of Thanksgiving on Nov. 26, 1789. mountvernon.org. Small Business Saturday. Nov. 28. This day encourages people to shop at small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. americanexpress.com.

EARLY CHRISTMAS Cut-Your-Own Christmas Tree Farms in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Visit pickyourownchristmastree.org for farms and directions. Then follow the prompts.

Practicing Gratitude through Poetry at the National Cathedral. Nov. 24, 6 PM. An evening of contemplative practice on the last Tuesday of each month; free and open to the public. nationalcathedral.org.

A Christmas Carol at Ford’s. Nov. 19 to Dec. 31. Join the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future as they lead the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge on a journey of transformation and redemption. Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. 202-347-4833. fordstheatre.org.

“Season’s Greenings” at the Botanic Garden. Thanksgiving Day through Jan. 3, daily, 10 AM to 5 PM. The best things in life are free: the fragrance of a freshly cut fir tree; the magic of holiday lights and sumptuous decorations; and the delight of a child discovering the make believe world of model trains. The train show, known as “Pollination Station,” features sculptures of pollinators like butterflies, bees, and bats, as well as flowers and plants; all of which are made from plants. Free. 100 Maryland Ave. SW. 202-225-8333. usbg.gov.

Mount Vernon by Candlelight. Nov. 27, 28, Dec. 4, 5 and Dec. 20, 5 to 8 PM. Join “Mrs. Washington” as she hosts an enchanting evening of candlelight tours, fireside caroling, and festive treats. Timed tickets are $22 for adults and $15 for children 11 and under. George Washington’s Estate & Gardens, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. 703-780-2000. mountvernon.org.

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Christmas at Mount Vernon. Nov. 27 to Jan. 6, 9 AM to 4 PM. Holiday visitors will enjoy themed decorations, chocolate-making demonstrations, and 18th century dancing. George Washington’s Estate & Gardens, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway. $17, adult; $8, child, 5 and under free. 703-780-2000. mountvernon.org. Zoolights. Nov. 27 to Jan. 1, 5 to 9 PM nightly, except Dec. 24, 25 and 31. Don’t miss your chance to meander through the Zoo when it is covered with thousands of sparkling lights. Attend special keeper talks and enjoy live entertainment. Free. National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave. NW. nationalzoo.si.edu. New in 2015 at Zoolights. Dec. 3, Brew Lights; Dec. 10 and 17, Date Nights. There is paid admission, adult drinks, photo opps and carousel rides. All activities that are fun on a date. All three nights are for ages 21 and older only. nationalzoo.si.edu. The Nutcracker at THEARC. Nov. 28 and 29. Set in Georgetown and replete with swirling snowflakes, cherry blossoms and historical characters including George Washington as the heroic nutcracker, The Washington Ballet’s The Nutcracker has become a tradition for generations of family and friends to celebrate the holidays. Tickets are $30 to $50 with a $15 discount for east of the river residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org The Nutcracker at the Warner. Dec. 3 to Dec. 27. See description above. Warner Theater, 513 13th St. NW. 202-783-4000. warnertheatredc.com. Lights on the Bay at Sandy Point State Park. Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, 5 to 10 PM. $14 per car. Enjoy from your car. Sandy Point State Park, 1100 East College Pkwy., Annapolis, MD. visitannapolis.org. Festival of Lights at Mormom Temple. Dec. 3 to Jan. 1. Lights are on from 5 to 11 PM. 9900 Stoney-

brook Dr., Kensington, MD. 301-5870144. dctemplelights.lds.org. Christmas Concert for Charity at the National Shrine. Dec. 4, 7:30 PM, but arrive earlier. This annual Christmas Concert for Charity features the voices of the Basilica Choir and the Catholic University of America Choir and Orchestra. There will be a free will offering to benefit a charity. National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave. NE. 202-526-8300. nationalshrine.com. US Army Band “Pershing’s Own” American Holiday Festival. Dec. 4, 8 PM; Dec. 5, 3 PM and 8 PM; Dec. 6, 3 PM. Joy to the World! The annual kick-off concert for the DC, holiday season will be at DAR Constitution Hall. Free tickets online at usarmyband.com. If sold out, there are usually some empty seats on stand-by. “A Christmas Carol” at The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Dec. 4 to 19. The family-favorite classic by Charles Dickens equipped with special effects, Victorian carols and Tiny Tim returns to the Little Theatre of Alexandria. $15. The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA. 703-6830496. thelittletheatre.com. NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas at the Kennedy Center. Dec. 4. Join the Kennedy Center and NPR as top jazz pianists perform their favorite holiday songs. This Washington tradition continues to bring new twists to holiday classics with worldclass musicians. $49. kennedy-center.org. Gay Men’s Chorus “Rewrapped” at the Lincoln. Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13. Not your grandmother’s carols! Your favorite holiday songs as you’ve never heard them before. Tickets are at GMCW.org. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. 202-328-6000. thelincolntheatre.org. Holidays through History Open House. Dec. 5, 4 to 8 PM. Celebrate the holidays at Anderson House, Dumbarton House and Woodrow Wilson House. Stroll through the three festively decorated mansions and learn about historical Christmas traditions. Shuttle bus transportation provided between museums. Reservations recommended. $10$20. societyofthecincinnati.org. Scottish Christmas Walk Parade and Concert. Dec. 5, parade 11 AM to 1 PM; massed band concert, 1 PM. Parade route begins at the corner of Wilkes and South Saint Asaph Streets and ends at King and Royal Streets. Concert in front of City Hall at Market Square. Alexandria, VA. scottishchristmaswalk.com. “Christmas in the Castle” by The Christmas Revels. Dec. 5 to 13. Celebrate the winter solstice and start your holidays with this fully staged performance at Lisner Auditorium at GWU. $12, up. revelsdc.org.

East of the River Magazine November 2015

Calendar Wolf Trap Holiday Sing-A-Long. Dec. 5, 4 PM. “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and members of local choirs and vocal groups perform. Free. wolftrap.org. Holiday Boat Parade of Lights. Dec. 5, 3 to 6 PM. Alexandria’s harbor lights up when more than 50 illuminated boats cruise the Potomac River at the historic waterfront. Alexandria’s Historic Waterfront at the foot of Cameron Street, Alexandria, VA. 703-838-5005. visitalexandriava.com. Dumbarton Concerts: A Celtic Christmas. Dec. 5 and 6, 4 PM; Dec. 12, 4 PM and 8 PM; Dec. 13, 4 PM. A holiday tradition for over 25 years, the Barnes and Hampton Celtic Consort performs traditional Celtic music alongside Christmas carols by candlelight. $17-$35. Dumbarton United Methodist Church, 3133 Dumbarton St. NW. dumbartonconcerts.org. National Gallery of Art Holiday Concerts. Dec. 6, 3:30 PM. Violinist Mark O’Connor performs with a six-piece ensemble in An Appalachian Christmas. Dec. 13, 3:30 PM. Trio Sefardi celebrates Hanukkah. Dec. 20, 3:30 PM. Eric Mintel Quartet performs music in recognition of the 50th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jan. 3, 3:30 PM. The New York Opera Society rings in the New Year with singers and a pair of ballroom dancers in a Viennese-style New Year concert. Concerts in the West Building, West Garden Court. nga.gov. This Endris Night at the National Cathedral. Dec. 8, 8 PM. Cathedral and the Diderot Quartet join forces to present a program that dwells on the mystery of Christmas as told through the ages. Washington National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. 202-537-6200. nationalcathedral.org. Daughters of the American Revolution Christmas Open House. Dec. 9, 5:30 to 8 PM. Live holiday music, tour 31 period rooms, cider, hot chocolate and cookies, Santa (bring a camera). Visitors are encouraged to bring new and lightly used children’s books to donate to their DAR Open House book drive. DAR Memorial Continental Hall, 17th and D Streets NW. 202-572-0563. dar.org. Winternational at the Ronald Reagan Building. Dec. 9, 11 AM to 2 PM. They invite you and your family, friends and colleagues to experience the holiday traditions from a global perspective. Free and open to the public. Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street NW. itcdc.com. Step Afrika! Magical Musical Holiday Step Show 2015 at the Atlas. Dec. 10 to 22. DC’s internationally-known percussive dance company invites you to celebrate the holidays with clapping, stomping and all around fun for all ages featuring their furry friends from the Animal Kingdom and a special dance party with DJ Frosty the Snowman. $15-$39.50. The Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org. Trans-Siberian Orchestra “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve” Rock Opera. Dec. 10, 7:30 PM. The story follows the journey of a young runaway who, on Christmas Eve. Breaking into an abandoned vaudeville theater seeking shelter from the cold, she experiences ghostly visions from the concert hall’s past. Verizon Center. Ticketmaster.com. Caroling in the National Gallery of Art Rotunda. Dec. 12, 13, 19 and 20; 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM. National Gallery of Art, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. nga.gov. Wreaths Across America at Arlington Cemetery. Dec. 12, 9:30 AM. Opening Ceremony is at 9:30 AM, at McClellan Gate, near the main entrance. At the ceremony, volunteers will receive a short briefing then move to the

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designated areas of the cemetery to participate in the laying of wreaths at headstones. For more information, go to wreathsacrossamerica.org. Celebrate Kwanzaa at Dance Place. Dec. 12 at 8 PM and Dec. 13 at 4 PM. Kick off the holiday season with Dance Place as Coyaba Dance Theater hosts their annual Kwanzaa Celebration, displaying the excitement and vibrancy of the holiday with their work based around the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Dance Place, 3225 Eighth St. NE. 202-269-1600. danceplace.org. An Irish Carol at Keegan Theatre. Dec. 12 to 31. The story, an homage to Dickens’ classic, is told as only the Irish can. An Irish Carol follows one evening in the life of David, a wealthy pub owner who has distanced himself from others and lost touch with his own humanity in the interest of self protection and material success. Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. 202-265-3767. keegantheatre.com. U.S. Air Force Band Holiday Concerts. Dec. 12, 3 PM and 6 PM. Show features the Concert Band and the Singing Sergeants. Free. DAR Constitution Hall, 1776 D St. NW. usafband.af.mil. The Joy of Christmas at National Cathedral. Dec. 12 and 13, 4 PM. A Washington tradition with carillon, Advent wreath procession, the great organ, and traditional carols led by the Cathedral Choral Society. $25-$75. Washington National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. 202-537-6200. nationalcathedral.org. Capital City Symphony Annual Holiday Concert and Sing Along at the Atlas. Dec. 13, 4 and 7 PM. Presented with the Congressional Chorus, the American Youth Chorus and the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Free. capitalcitysymphony.org. Andrea Bocelli in Concert Holiday Tour. Dec. 13, 7:30 PM. Verizon Center. Tickets at andreabocelli.com. Thomas Circle Singers “Sing We All Nowell”. Dec. 13, 4 PM. St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 4900 Connecticut Ave. NW. thomascirclesingers.org.

SPECIAL EVENTS First Annual DC PodFest. Nov. 6, 7 and 8. Podfest is a weekend podcast intensive for podcasters and podcast fanatics. They will focus on the business, creativity, and diversity in podcasting in various ways. Prepare to be engaged, entertained, and productive. Wonderbread Factory Event Space, 641 S St. NW. dcpodfest.com. Fuego Flamenco Festival at GALA. Through Nov. 15. With artists from Spain and the United States. Fuego Flamenco XI is an exploration of traditional flamenco and its breadth and diversity through contemporary expressions. GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. galatheatre.org. Artomatic 2015. Through Dec. 12. Artomatic returns for its signature free art event to be held this year in Hyattsville, MD. Artomatic draws over 1000 artists and performers throughout the area to showcase their talents for a six weeks free exhibition that routinely attracts more than 75,000 visitors. 8100 Corporate Dr., Hyattsville, MD. Artomatic.org. Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Gaithersburg. Nov. 20 to 22, 10 AM to 6 PM. Lovers of fine crafts and art will find more than 400 top artisans displaying and selling their unique creations in pottery, sculpture, glass, jewelry, fashion, home décor, furniture and home accessories, items for the garden, and photography. Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St., Gaithersburg, MD. sugarloafcrafts.com.

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AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD How the Civil War Changed Washington. Through Nov. 15. This exhibition examines the social and spatial impact of the Civil War on Washington, DC and the resulting dramatic changes in social mores, and in the size and ethnic composition of the city’s population. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu. Hand of Freedom: The Life and Legacy of the Plummer Family. Through Dec. 27. This exhibit looks at the life and legacy of the Plummer family in Prince Georges County, MD in the 19th century. Adam Francis Plummer (1819 to 1905), enslaved on George Calvert’s Riversdale plantation, began to keep a diary in 1841 and maintained it for over sixty years. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu. Icons: Las Virgencitas at Honﬂeur Gallery. Nov. 13 to Jan. 8. An artist reception will be held on Nov. 13, 6 to 8 PM. In a series of twelve paintings, Arias depicts women from around the world as the Virgin Mary. Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202-631-6291. honfleurgallery.com. Rhythm Cafe at ACM: The Life and Music of Billy Strayhorn. Nov. 14, 2 to 4 PM. Join an afternoon of cool jazz with Herman Burney and band The Ministerial Alliance. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu. Soundtrack for a Revolution Film and Discussion at ACM. Dec. 9, 1 to 3 PM. This documentary examines the music of the American civil rights movement and how the energy of the songs (many religious in origin) swept people up and empowered them to fight for basic rights. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. 202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu.

SPORTS, FITNESS AND DANCE Washington Harbour Ice Rink. Through mid-March. Monday-Tuesday, noon to 7 PM; Wednesday-Thursday, noon to 9 PM; Friday, noon to 10 PM; Saturday, 10 AM to 10 PM; Sunday, 10 AM to 7 PM. Skating is $9-$10. Skate rental is $5. Washington Harbour is at 3050 K St. NW. 202-706-7666. thewashingtonharbour.com. Canal Park Ice Rink. Nov. 7 through mid-March. Monday and Tuesday, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesday to Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Adults are $9; children/seniors/military are $8; and skate rental is $4. It’s open every day in-

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Calendar cluding all holidays but holiday hours vary. Canal Park is at 202 M St. SE. canalparkdc.org. Washington Capitals Ice Hockey. Nov. 7, 13, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27. Verizon Center. capitals.nhl.com.

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Washington Capitals Practice Schedule. Non-game day, 10:30 AM; game day, 10 AM; and day after game, 11 AM. All practices are at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, 627 No. Glebe Rd., Suite 800, Arlington, VA. They are free and open to the public. kettlercapitalsiceplex.com. Washington Wizards Basketball. Nov. 10, 14, 17, 24 and 28; Dec. 2, 4, 6 and 9. Verizon Center. nba.com/wizards.

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National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Skating. Nov. 14 to Mar. 13. Open Monday–Thursday, 10 PM to 9 PM; Friday, 10 AM to 11 PM; Saturday, 11 AM to 11 PM; Sunday, 11 AM to 9 PM. $8.50 for adults; $7.50 for age 50 and over, age 12 and under, and students with a valid school ID for two hour session beginning on the hour. $3 for skate rental. Seventh St. and Constitution Ave. NW. 202216-9397. nga.gov. Public Skating at Fort Dupont Ice Arena. Fridays, noon to 2 PM and Saturdays 12:45 to 1:45 PM. Public Skate, $5 for adults (13-64); $4 for seniors and children (5-12); $3, skate rental. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. SE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org. Adult Yoga at THEARC. Saturdays, 8:45 to 10 AM. Vinyasa Yoga is a practice where postures or asanas are connected through the breath for a transformative and balanccing effect. It builds heat, endurance, flexibility and strength. $6 for 20020 or 20032 residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-8895901. thearcdc.org. Zumba at THEARC. Mondays, 7:15 to 8:15 PM. Ditch the workout, join the party! Latin Dance-Fitness fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program that will blow you away. $6 for 20020 or 20032 residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org.

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Adult African Dance at THEARC. Wednesdays, 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Taught by Sylvia Soumah, founder of Coyaba Dance Theater and teacher at The Washington Ballet (SE Campus), Adult African Dance classes provide a friendly environment to learn West African dance. Come feel the beat. $6 for 20020 or 20032 residents. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org. Yoga @ the Library. Saturdays, 10 to 11 AM. Wear comfortable clothing and bring a mat, but if you don’t have one, yoga mats are available. Classes are taught by Yoga Activist and are held on the lower level of the library in the Larger Meeting Room. Free. Benning (Dorothy I. Height) Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-281-2583. dclibrary.org/benning. Barry Farm (indoor) Pool. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:30 AM to 8

PM; and Saturdays and Sundays from 9 AM to 5 PM. Free for DC residents. 1230 Sumner Rd. SE. 202-730-0572. dpr.dc.gov. Deanwood (indoor) Pool. Mon-Fri 6:30 AM- to 8 PM; Sat-Sun, 9 AM to 5 PM. Free for DC residents. 1350 49th St. NE. 202-6713078. dpr.dc.gov. Ferebee Hope (indoor) Pool. Open weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM. Closed weekends. Free for DC residents. 3999 Eighth St. SE. 202-6453916. dpr.dc.gov.

MARKETS Arcadia’s Mobile Farmers Market at THEARC. Wednesdays through Nov. 11, noon to 2 PM. Shop at their weekly market at THEARC for fresh, local fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy and bread. Arcadia accepts cash, debit, SNAP, WIC and Senior FMNP. The Farm Stand@THEARC. Saturdays through Nov. 14, 3 to 7 PM. The stand features fresh produce grown both locally. It also accepts WIC, SNAP and Produce Plus. THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-8895901. thearcdc.org. Downtown Holiday Market. Nov. 27 to Dec. 23, noon to 8 PM, daily. More than 150 exhibitors and artisans (rotating on a weekly basis) selling an array of high-quality gift items including fine art, crafts, jewelry, pottery, photography, clothing, tasty treats, and hot beverages. Market at F St. NW, between Seventh Street and Ninth Street. downtownholidaymarket.com. Del Ray Artisans Holiday Market. Dec. 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20. Market features handcrafted work from local artists; handmade ornaments to benefit Del Ray Artisans. Th Bake Sale benefits the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium. Colasanto Center, 2704 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA. TheDelRayArtisans.org. Parcel Market at Canal Park. Dec. 5 and 6. This is a holiday market featuring a 10,000 square-foot ice rink, an interactive art installation, a large-scale retail tent and food area showcasing a curated list of talented local designers, artists, food artisans, and restaurants and small businesses, with live and local musical performances. Canal Park, 202 M St. SE. canalparkdc.org. National Museum of the American Indian Native Art Market. Dec. 5 and 6, 10 AM to 5:30 PM. The NMAI Art Market offers oneof-a-kind, handmade, traditional and contemporary items directly from the artisans. More than 35 Native artists from North and South America will participate in this annual weekend market featuring a wide selection of items for purchase including handmade jewelry, beadwork, pottery, prints and sculpture. Free. Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW. 202-633-1000. nmai.si.edu. Alexandria’s Holiday Market. Dec. 5 to 24. While shopping for unique art and craft items for loved ones, at this unique holiday market, visitors can enjoy live entertainment, traditional European food and sweets, wine

PennSyLVania aVenue BaPtiSt church “LiVing” chriStMaS tree. Dec. 4, 7 PM; Dec. 5, 4 PM and 7 PM; and Dec. 6, 4:30 PM. This unique worship experience is highlighted by a replica Christmas tree that stands over six tiers tall. Among the “decorations” adorning the tree will be 50 men and women from area churches. They will sing the best of the season’s sacred music while standing within its structure bringing the tree to “life.” $15. Purchase tickets at the church office. 3000 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-581-1500. Photo: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church

and beer. 300 John Carlyle St., Alexandria, VA. alexandriaholidaymarket.com.

CIVIC LIFE

ANC MONTHLY MEETINGS

Councilmember Alexander’s Constituent Services Oﬃce. Open weekdays, 10 AM to 6 PM. 2524 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. 202-581-1560.

ANC 7B. Third Thursday, 7 PM. Ryland Epworth United Methodist Church, 3200 S St. SE. 202-584-3400. anc7b@pressroom.com. anc7b@earthlink.net.

Congresswoman Norton’s SE District Ofﬁce. Open weekdays, 9 AM to 6 PM. 2041 MLK Ave. SE, #238. 202-678-8900. norton. house.gov.

ANC 7C. Second Thursday, 7 PM. Sargent Memorial Presbyterian Church, 5109 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE. 202-398-5100. anc7c@verizon.net.

Eastland Gardens Civic Association Meeting. Third Tuesday, 6:30 to 8 PM. Kenilworth Elementary School Auditorium, 1300 44th St. NE. Contact Javier Barker, j58barker@yahoo. com or 202-450-3155.

ANC 7D. Second Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Dorothy I. Height Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE. 202-398-5258. 7D06@anc.dc.gov.

Anacostia Coordinating Council Meeting. Last Tuesday, noon to 2 PM. Anacostia Museum, 1901 Fort St. SE. For further details, contact Philip Pannell, 202-889-4900. Capitol View Civic Association Meeting. Third Monday, 6:30 PM. Hughes Memorial United Methodist, 25 53rd St. NE. capitolviewcivicassoc.org. Historical Anacostia Block Association. Second Thursday, 7 to 9 PM. UPO -Anacostia Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. For further details, contact Charles Wilson, 202-834-0600. Anacostia High School School Improvement Team Meeting. Fourth Tuesday, 6 PM. Anacostia High School, 16th and R Streets, SE. Fairlawn Citizens Association. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. Ora L. Glover Community Room at the Anacostia Public Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd. SE.

ANC 7E. Second Tuesday, 7 PM. Jones Memorial Church, 4625 G St. SE. 202-582-6360. 7E@anc.dc.gov. ANC 7F. Third Tuesday, 6:30 PM. Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, 200 Stoddert Pl., SE. ANC 8A. First Tuesday, 7 PM. Anacostia UPO Service Center, 1649 Good Hope Rd. SE. 202889-6600. anc8adc.org. ANC 8B. Third Tuesday, 7 PM. Seventh District Police Station Community Center, Alabama and McGee Streets, SE. 202-610-1818. anc8b.org. ANC 8C. First Wednesday, 7 PM. 2907 MLK Jr Ave. SE. 202-388-2244. ANC 8D. Fourth Thursday, 7 PM. Specialty Hospital of Washington, 4601 MLK Jr. Ave. SW. 202-561-0774. Have an item for the Calendar? Drop a note to calendar@hillrag.com. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

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Photo: Courtesy of Snapfish

ing covenant with Safeway at Skyland Town Center at 2650 Naylor Rd. SE. The agreement now makes way for the $265,000,000 destination retail town center that will feature a new urban-format Walmart, neighborhood retailers and restaurants. It will be the first pedestrianoriented mixed-use project in Ward 7 or 8, and includes transportation infrastructure improvements as well as a $5 million community amenities package. The Skyland Workforce Center opened in November 2014 at 2509 Good Hope Rd. SE to help local residents connect with jobs, both at the site and elsewhere. The development is expect to generate 300 construction and 300 permanent jobs. Visit www.skylandworkforcecenter. org for more details.

La Vie en roSe at ViVid SoLutionS

SeLfieS with Santa hoLiday Party Anacostia Arts Center will celebrate the holidays with their Selfies With Santa Holiday Party. Visitors can take advantage of a complimentary professional photo with Santa. The retail businesses will be open for holiday shopping. On exhibit will be Holiday Star Killer, a group show inspired by George Lucas’ space opera and curated by Andrew Wodzianski. The party on Dec. 5, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., is free and open to the public. All ages are welcome. Anacostia Arts Center is at 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. anacostiaartscenter.org.

12 hour hocKey gaMe at fort duPont The puck drops Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. for the First Annual Fort Dupont Ice Arena 12-Hour Adult Hockey Game. The event raises money for their Kids On Ice Programming. Participants must be 18 and older. Visit fdia.org and click “blue” or

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“orange” team for details. Non-skaters are welcome to watch. Fort Dupont Ice Arena, 3779 Ely Pl. SE. 202-584-5007. fdia.org.

SKyLand center MoVeS forward A deal has been reached to remove a long-stand-

Vivid Solutions Gallery presents a solo exhibition by artist Carolina Mayorga, Nov. 13 to Jan. 8. This digital installation is the first part of PINK: The Art of Infatuation and Embellishment; a three-part multimedia project that comments on ethnicity, gender and the role that aesthetics and beauty play in popular culture. La Vie en Rose is a focused on reactions to issues of war and violence. An artist reception held on Nov. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. features a performance at 6:30 p.m. Vivid Solutions is located at 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. vividsolutionsgallery.com.

forecLoSure: aVoid the deficiency JudgMent nightMare Homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure can find themselves wrestling with old mortgage loans years later. Don’t let this happen to you. Behind on your mortgage, condo fees or property taxes? Talk to a housing counselor about options at a Foreclosure Prevention Clinic on Nov. 19 at noon at the RISE Demonstration Center, 2730 Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Ave. SE. For more information, call the DC mortgage help line at 202265-2255 or visit housingetc.org.

“hoLiday StarKiLLerS” exhiBition From Dec. 11 to Jan. 9, Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd. SE, hosts the “Holiday Starkillers” group exhibition curated by Andrew Wodzianski. Holiday Starkillers celebrates the cultural phenomena of George Lucas’ space saga. It features works by Andrew Wodzianski, Scott G. Brooks, Greg Ferrand, Chris Bishop, Jared Davis, and Steve Strawn. The opening reception will be held on Dec. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. Learn more at anacostiaartscenter.org.

ward 8 farMerS’ MarKet endS for 2015 Ward 8 Farmers’ Market at the Gateway Pavilion, 2730 Martin Luther King Ave. SE has closed for the season. It will reopen in June 2016. ward8farmersmarket.com.

anc 7d new Meeting Location The Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7D that serves the Central North East, Deanwood, Eastland Gardens, Kenilworth, Kingman Park, Marshall Heights, Mayfair/ Parkside and River Terrace communities has changed its monthly general meeting location to the Benning Neighborhood Library, 3935 Benning Rd. NE, Community Room, Lower Level. The com-

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service@keyedinllc.com East of the River Magazine November 2015

mission holds its general meeting with the public every second Tuesday of the month from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. except in July and August. The monthly general meetings are open to the public. Read more at anc.dc.gov.

Learn Strategic Planning

Lower Your Electric Bills Using the Sun! You may be eligible for a solar electric system at NO cost. • Do you own your home? • Was your 2014 household income at or below the area median (AMI)? Call GRID Alternatives today (202) 602-0722. rkanchwala@gridalternatives.org or aarevalo@gridalternatives.org GRID Alternatives is a nonprofit organization that brings the benefits of solar technology to families that need the financial savings most, while giving volunteers and job trainees hands-on solar installation experience. GRID Alternatives is a fully licensed solar contractor, DC license number 420214000145.

Strategic planning is the backbone of the work of any organization. On Nov. 18, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., learn the dos and don’ts of strategic planning to help develop a planning process for your organization at THEARC. The registration fee is $49 for Center for Strategic Planning and YNPNdc Members. The cost is $89 for all others. There is a a discounted fee of $25 for members of nonprofits serving east of the river communities. THEARC is at 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202889-5901. thearcdc.org.

Volunteer at Kenilworth Park On Nov. 14, 9 a.m. to noon, join your neighbors and partner with the National Park Service and Student Conservation Association to give back in honor of Veteran’s Day. Volunteers will remove invasive plants and lotus leaves from the ponds and forest, pick up trash and tend to other park projects. Volunteers receive a free lunch in the picnic grove . Groups and individuals welcome. SSL credits can be earned. Sign up at scaveteransdaydc.eventbrite.com.

Kiesha J. Carroll Unveils #Unapologetic2015 GRIDAlternatives.org

Mosaic Art Studios exhibits a thought-provoking new art series on Nov. 14 for one day only. The 10 piece exhibit will be on display at the Anacostia Art Center from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Blank Space SE Gallery. The reception is from 6 to 8 p.m. mosaicartstudios.squarespace.com.

Anacostia Heritage Trail Inaugurated The ribbon-cutting for this new trail took place on Saturday, Oct. 24, near the Big Chair, Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and V Street SE. Over the centuries, groups ranging from Native American traders to freed slaves to the US military have all found a home on this hilly land along the Anacostia River. Follow this trail to savor the best views in the city. Anacostia is a study in contrasts. Walk along An East-of-the-River View: Anacostia Heritage Trail to understand this dramatic story. Meet heroes such as Frederick Douglass and villains such as John Wilkes Booth amid a once-bucolic landscape that has witnessed both life-and-death struggle and the everyday events of an evolving neighborhood. Find a map at culturaltourismdc.org.

Bikeshare Plans to Double Stations EOTR The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has released a draft of its first ever Cap-

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

ital Bikeshare Development Plan for public feedback. Under its guidelines, the District would receive an additional 99 stations over the next three years. This would double the number of stations east of the Anacostia River. By 2018, approximately 65 percent of residents, 90 percent of jobs, and 97 percent of all transit entry and exit points in the District would be within a quarter mile walk of a bikeshare station. DDOT is soliciting feedback on the plan until Nov. 15. Comment at dcforms. dc.gov/webform/capital-bike-share-form.

Help Restore Shepherd Parkway Volunteer from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12 to remove trash and invasive species from Shepherd Parkway. The park’s 205 acres are home to two Civil War forts, two bald eagle nests and some of the oldest forests in DC. Meet at the picnic tables near the corner of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Avenues SE. Gloves. Bags, and light refreshments will be provided. Wear boots and work clothes. For more information, contact Nathan Harrington at nbharrington@yahoo.com or 301-758-5892; or visit shepherdparkway.blogspot.com.

Traffic Pattern Changes on Minnesota Avenue As part of the ongoing Minnesota Avenue Revitalization Project, DDOT has implemented a new traffic pattern on Oct. 19 for 90 days. All northbound traffic will be shifted to the inside middle lane. Southbound traffic will not be affected during this phase of the project. The new traffic pattern is from East Capitol St. Bridge/Ridge Rd. to Benning Rd. NE. The new pattern will allow the safe installation of a new water main. Moderate-toheavy delays are expected. Motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are urged to stay alert and to use caution when traveling through the work zone.

Volunteer to Collect Wetland Seeds On Nov. 12 from 1 to 4 p.m., help collect wetland plant seeds. These seeds, stored over the winter, will be propagated next spring during the Anacostia Watershed Society’s wetland re-vegetation programs. All necessary tools and supplies will be provided. Meet at Bladensburg Waterfront Park, 4601 Annapolis Rd., Bladensburg, MD. Walking some distance in waders through thick mud is required. Register at anacostiaws.org. Contact Volunteer Program Manager Joanna Fisher at jfisher@ anacostiaws.org or 301-699-6204 ext. 109.

Artist Studio Tour to DC On Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., catch the Anacostia Community Museum shuttle to visit community artists in their homes and studios including Maroulla Morcos (sculptor), Sue Wrbican (public art) and David Driskell (painter). Register for this program at anacostia.si.edu/Events. The cost is a $10 pre-registration transportation fee. Bring the emailed receipt with you as proof of payment before boarding the bus. Participants can also pay by

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check made out to Anacostia Community Museum. Read more at anacostia.si.edu.

Seniors Got Talent! Enjoy a night of music, dancing, comedy, prizes and more, put on by DC’s most talented seniors. There will be celebrity judges and a special guest host. The cost is $20. THEARC is at 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE. 202-889-5901. thearcdc.org.

Call for Aspiring Curators The DC Arts Center Curatorial Initiative selects an apprentice curator each year to assist in the process of planning and mounting exhibitions under the tutelage of an experienced mentor curator. In the spring the mentor curator selects artists and plans the exhibition and accompanying catalog with the assistance of the apprentice. In the autumn, the roles are reversed and the apprentice plans and executes an exhibition with the assistance and advice of the mentor. Interested applicants should email their application, résumé and writing sample to info@dcartscenter.org by Nov. 15. More information can be found at dcartscenter.org.

Washington Capitals Blood Drive The Washington Capitals and Inova Blood Donor Services will host a blood drive on Nov. 14 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. Appointments are required and can be made by calling 1-866-BLOODSAVES (1-866-256-6372) or by signing up online at inovabloodsaves.org. All donors receive a bobblehead of forward Evgeny Kuznetsov as well as a Capitals T-shirt.

Street Sweeping Ends: Leaf Collection Begins Residential street sweeping ended on Oct. 30. “No Parking/Street Cleaning” restrictions have been lifted. All other parking restrictions remain in effect. Residential street sweeping will resume Mar. 1, 2016. DPW employees have transitioned to leaf collection duties. Leaves will be removed at least twice. The schedule can be found at dpw.dc.gov. Please have leaves ready for collection by the Sunday of each of collection week.

Join the DC Resident Snow Team There are new penalties and fines this winter for those who don’t shovel their sidewalks within the first eight hours

of daylight after a snowfall. To help seniors and the disabled, Serve DC has launched an effort to recruit 2,500 members for the DC Resident Snow Team. Volunteers will help shovel snow this winter. In anticipation of severe weather, Serve DC is hosting numerous orientation sessions each week to coordinate location assignments and shovel distribution. Register at 202-727-7925 or serve. dc.gov/page/dc-resident-snow-team.

UDC Community College Campus Expands On Oct. 26, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new wing of the University of the District of Columbia Community College’s (UDC-CC) Bertie Backus Campus at 5171 South Dakota Ave. NE. The campus expansion provides capacity for 1,100 additional students, 13 additional classrooms and labs, expanded course offerings and a business incubator space. The UDC-CC Bertie Backus Campus is also home to one of the Department of Employment Services’ American Jobs Center locations. For more information, visit cc.udc.edu.

DC Health Link Enrollment Ending DC Health Link Open Enrollment ends on Jan. 31, 2016. Read more at dchealthlink.com; or call customer service at 855-532-5465, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Free CPR Training Mayor Bowser has launched a “Hands on Hearts” initiative to train 5,000 people in hands-only CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators (AED) by September 2016. Hands-only CPR is a technique that involves chest compression without artificial respiration. Studies indicate that hands-only CPR performed immediately can increase a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of survival. The training instructs participants to focus on their hand placement, tempo and the number of compressions for two minute intervals. For information on how to sign up, visit fems.dc.gov.

Cherry Blossom Festival Seeks Local Talent National Cherry Blossom Festival is accepting submissions for the third annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Sing Into Spring Competition. The winning vocalist will sing at the East of the River Magazine November 2015

neIGHBorHood neWS / BUlleTIn Board

the PhiLLiPS coLLection PartnerS with thearc Beginning this fall, The Phillips Collection launched a long-term partnership with the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC). Upon completion of the THEARC’s Phase III expansion, the Phillips will offer high-quality K-12 arts-integrated programs for DC teachers and students as well as multi-generational art and wellness initiatives for residents of Wards 7 and 8. The Phase III groundbreaking at THEARC took place on Oct. 22. The expansion will add a third building with 92,000 square feet to THEARC’s footprint. The new building will house a new black box theater and four new partners: the Bishop Walker School for Boys, Children’s National Health System, Appletree Institute, and The Phillips Collection. Photo: StereoVision Photography for THEARC u

National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on April 16, 2016. The competition is open to all residents of DC, Maryland, and Virginia age eight and up. Applicants should submit a 30-second YouTube video for consideration by Nov. 13 regonline.com/Register/Checkin. aspx?EventID=1751562. A selection committee of celebrity judges will choose up to 20 finalists to move forward and perform in a live audition on Jan. 6, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Mayor BowSer urgeS cLiMate action Mayor Bowser has announced that DC will host mayors and city sustainability directors as part of the Our Cities, Our Climate international mayoral exchange convened by US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael Bloomberg. The exchange will bring together international city sustainability officials, US officials, and US organizations to share best practices and discuss solutions. A one-page summary of the OC2 international exchange can be found at eca.state.gov/ivlp/our-cities-our-climate.

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new dc circuLator weBSite DDOT has launched a new DC Circulator website that allows users to quickly access important bus and route information with ease. Built on a platform that adapts to all screen sizes, the new site offers visitors more timely, relevant information and an improved user experience on any device. Visit dccirculator.com.

Ceremony, Mar. 26; Family Day, Mar. 26; Blossom Kite Festival, Apr. 2; Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival, Apr. 9; National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, Apr. 16; and Sakura Matsuri—Japanese Street Festival, Apr. 16. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.

diSPoSe of hhw, e-cycLing and PerSonaL docuMentS

PePco urgeS cuStoMerS to thinK Safety thiS faLL

DPW has announced the November schedule for disposing of household hazard waste (HHW), e-cycling and personal documents for shredding at the Fort Totten Transfer Station. Weekly, Saturday HHW and e-cycling drop-off is Nov. 14, 21, and 28 between 8 am. and 3 p.m. DPW accepts personal documents for shredding the first Saturday of the month only. For a list of all household hazardous waste and e-cyclables accepted by DPW go to dpw.dc.gov and navigate to Household Hazardous Waste Drop-off.

dc heaLth LinK offerS ViSion DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority now provides access to individual vision insurance plans through a partnership with Vision Service Plan. It is one of a few state-based marketplaces to offer customers access to standalone vision plans. Read more at dchealthlink.com/beta-2016.

2016 cherry BLoSSoM feStiVaL dateS The 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival will be held from Mar. 20 to Apr. 17. The festival signature events are: Pink Tie Party fundraiser, Mar. 18; Opening

Pepco urges customers to avoid power lines when carrying long or tall items, such as ladders, scaffolding and tree saws. Touching a power line with any part of one’s body or most objects can result in serious injury or death. Electricity can move through conductive materials such as water, metal, wood, aluminum, strings and plastics. When trimming branches, check for power lines in or near trees before using a ladder or scaffolding. Certain critical clearances are required by law. A minimum of 10 feet must be maintained when working below or adjacent to power lines. Find additional safety information and tips at pepco.com. Have an item for the Bulletin Board, email bulletinboard@hillrag.com. u

E on DC

Make Me Strong and Wise at SixtyFive by E. Ethelbert Miller

’m running short of days. It’s November and another year is coming to an end. This month I turn sixty-five. When I was a child this was the number my parents looked for in their horoscopes along with fortune cookie advice. It would mean retirement; sixty-five was an end to backaches and swollen ankles. It was a time when rumors disguised as whispers would talk about returning to the South or the West Indies. But around dusk each night the dreams faded and paradise and comfort was reduced to quoting a psalm from the Bible. My parents taught me about the importance of work and the paying of bills. In spring of this year I went to work only to discover there was no work. Like many Americans each year I was given a white envelope filled with severance pay instructions and how to pay for my health benefits. Also included were instructions about resume writing which looked somewhat like the order forms from a cheap carryout. This was the year I went for a regular eye exam only to discover I had cataracts. Cataracts and arthritis were always part of my mother’s vocabulary. During her last days I looked at her hands and remembered how they sewed buttons and served meals. Her hands one

day unable to open a can, her legs preventing her from seeing what was on the top shelves in the kitchen. My father never looked his age. He was forever young. When my sister and I went to the funeral home to arrange for his burial, someone mistook her for his wife. I think of my father as this year prepares to wear its winter coat. This Thanksgiving I will give thanks, knowing in a few months I will be a grandfather. It’s amazing how one’s life can change in a span of months. We count daily our blessings. My mother often repeated a short prayer whenever my father went off to work and when he returned home. I finally understand her faith, this belief in the unseen, this way of making sense out of nonsense, of finding one’s way in the dark when it appears there is no way. It’s easy to say the world has gone crazy after turning off the news. Still we cannot turn our backs to the future. It’s coming and it just might be fierce. What I cherish about being an artist is the ability to create beauty and construct bridges of hope. Last month I gave a talk about the writer June Jordan who died in 2002. She was fighting cancer when I was completing my memoir, “Fathering Words.” I sent her the excerpt about how we first met in the 1970s. She wrote back a beautiful letter about how she was happy to be alive. Sixty-five is just a number that will get me a senior citizen Metro card and some Medicare. It does not define the artist in me – a person moving forward, walking these city streets. Let us not be defined by desks and offices, by computers and conference rooms, by the packages we deliver, the food we prepare, the rooms we clean, or the buildings we construct. Let us embrace the love which speaks the language of trees, wind, and rain. To go on loving means not to forget. Even as memory fails we must not love less. At sixty-five I want to live more. E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. His “Collected Poems,” edited by Kirsten Porter, will be published by Willow Books in March 2016. Miller was inducted into the Washington DC Hall of Fame in April 2015. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

neighborhood news / the district beat

It is Time for the Council Freshmen to Graduate the district beat by Jonetta Rose Barras

f a consultant created a PowerPoint orgchart of the current DC Council committees, it would resemble a mass of ill-defined squiggles. That design, seemingly lacking rhyme or reason, is the brainchild of the legislature’s chairman, Phil Mendelson (D). The council may say, for example, the key to solving the city’s homeless crises is preserving and constructing affordable housing. But neither homeless issues nor the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) come under the purview of the legislature’s Committee on Housing and Community Development. Instead they are within the Committee of the Whole (COW), headed by Mendelson. The COW is mess. It controls the University of the District of Columbia and its associated community college, although there is a Committee on Education. Mendelson has jurisdiction over the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, despite the fact there is a Committee on Transportation and the Environment. Interestingly, the transportation committee does not oversee Metro. It does, however, have oversight of the Department of Recreation and also the Department of General Services, a multimillion dollar agency concerned with the management and operations of the city’s real estate holdings and school modernization. The Committee on the Judiciary is responsible for 40 agencies, offices, or commissions, including the DC Board of Elections and the Commission on Fathers, Boys and Men. Is there a message in that latter connection? Equally troublesome is that the committee composition erodes transparency. What new resident, hoping to connect with the District government regarding the state of its vacant property, for example, would think to reach out to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment?

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Some city hall insiders say the committee structure reflects the chairman’s need to control as much of the legislative terrain as possible. His decision not to give chairmanships to any of the freshman legislators is consistent with his desire to dominate. “The committees are too broad and disparate,” says Dorothy Brizill of DC Watch, a good-government group. “There are issues not getting the attention they deserve.” She cites, among others, elections reform, contracting and procurement where the city spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually, and Metro, to which the District provides a sizable subsidy. Brizill is not alone in her criticism. Some advocates and civic leaders assert oversight is adversely affected. They say Mendelson’s failure to assign committees to freshmen misuses the legislature’s human capital and the public’s money. Those and other concerns have some people calling the council ineffective.“This has to be the weakest city council in memory. There is a dearth of real leadership,” says longtime civic leader Terry Lynch. None of that fazes Mendelson, who says this is an old and settled issue. “I am not planning any changes of the committee structure. It’s hard for the council to reorganize in the middle of the council period. It sets us back.”

The Past Should Be Prologue When Mendelson created the committees at the start of the new council period last January, he claimed that he wanted to give new members time to get acclimated to the council. The freshmen went along with his decision, although most were not new to District government. Ward 1’s Brianne Nadeau (D) had been an advisory neighborhood commissioner, an elected post. Ward 6’s Charles Allen (D) worked for eight

years as chief of staff to then-Councilmember Tommy Wells; many council staffers help drive their bosses’ legislative and public policy agendas. Atlarge Councilmember Elissa Silverman (D) reported and analyzed council actions when she worked for the Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, and later the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. “[They] didn’t suddenly get born and decide they wanted to be elected to the council,” says Brizill. The freshmen, including the more recently elected Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd (D), knew their way around the block, down the stairs, and into the basement where secrets may be buried. “I voted [in January] against the committee structure,” says Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (D). “It concentrates way too much authority in the chairman’s hand. It concentrates way too much authority in a couple of committees that don’t have the personnel or the expertise to deal with issues.” Mendelson refuses to even assign the newcomers subcommittees or special committees as his predecessors did. Consider that in 2005 then-Chairman Linda Cropp appointed freshman Councilmember Vincent Gray to lead a special committee on the prevention of youth violence. She also named Marion Barry to head a subcommittee on statehood and self-determination.

Committee Overload As a result of Mendelson’s adherence to an illogical structure, the council is operating with eight standing committees, the lowest number in more than a decade. During Council Period 14, for example, there were 10 committees; in period 16, there were 11 members. The reduction during this Council Period 21 means more work for committee chairmen, although additional funding was provided to increase staffing levels, according to the secretary of the council. Nevertheless, those who spoke with the District Beat say they are seeing adverse effects. “There has been a lack of effective oversight, monitoring of programs and seeing how the dollars are being spent,” says Brizill, who for the last 20 years has been a frequent presence at the John A. Wilson Building. “If we had 13 committees people would still complain about oversight,” counters Mendelson. “More or fewer committees don’t speak to the quality of oversight. The dissatisfaction with oversight isn’t necessarily addressed by reorganization.” But it couldn’t hurt. Additional training for councilmembers on how to conduct effective oversight could improve the quality of their work. During February, each standing committee conducts a performance oversight of agencies under its charge. In April, the council switches focus to examining the mayor’s budget proposal, agency by agency. But generally the council’s public hearings or roundtables are related to legislative proposals. For example, the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, chaired by Ward 1’s Mary Cheh (D), held only one oversight hearing on the Department of General Services unrelated to the budget. That took place in July and focused on City Auditor Kathy Patterson’s report on school modernization, which revealed several highly irregular financial transactions. Cheh has scheduled for this month a joint public hearing with the education committee on school modernization. But she has not yet to conduct a pure oversight of the DGS to examine in greater detail management and operations problems exposed by the auditor’s report. The judiciary committee, chaired by Ward 5’s Kenyan McDuffie, may have held 30 public hearings or roundtables thus far. But based on the District Beat’s analysis, it appears 12 of those were related to performance oversight, a precursor to budget hearings, or actual budget hearings. Another 16 were related to specific legislative proposals or confirmation of mayoral

appointees. Only two could be characterized as pure oversight, examining the internal operations of an agency including programs, personnel, and outcomes. As Brizill mentioned, there has been little attention to elections issues. “It is impractical for anyone to think that every measure that is referred to a committee would, or should, move forward,” responds McDuffie.He says he has “focused significant [oversight] time and attention on community policing, violent crime, and fire and emergency medical services.” No one expects McDuffie to ignore crises. But both crime and elections are important to government operations. In the past, when an agency has required an intense drill down, council chairmen have elected to create subcommittees. When there was a problem with the Metropolitan Police Department under then-Chief Larry Soulsby, a joint special committee was created and chaired by Evans and Ward 3’s Kathy Patterson; Mark Tuohey was hired as special counsel. Why wasn’t a special committee on fire/emergency medical services established before the council approved the executive’s privatizing plan? Could another solution have been developed through a more intense process?

Who BenefiTs Councilmembers without chairmanships are not subjected to the heavy lift that McDuffie and his staff endure. They do not have to deal with striking balances on legislation between what may have been introduced and what can be passed, after comment from citizens and the executive. They do not have to file reports, and when the budget comes back around this spring, they will not have the tedious task of matching the mayor’s proposal with public expectations and available funds, and the certification that must be provided by the chief financial officer. In other words, their days can be fairly easy.Council members without chairmanships receive the same pay as those with committees, however. Wilson Building sources told the District Beat that some councilmembers, including Nadeau, were com-

plaining privately about the structure, arguing they wanted to get in on the action.But Nadeau declined to be interviewed for this article. She also did not respond to questions submitted to her via email. Silverman says she is happy with the current arrangement. “Having a committee right away means you have to focus on issues.”She says time away from the gavel during the past 10 months has given her staff the opportunity to “gel” and to “see where I can add value to the council.” She continues, “We’re getting a sort of liberal arts [education] curriculum track as opposed to a professional curriculum track.” She has the ability, she says, to meet agency directors when she is “not their overseer,” which allows “the opportunity to develop good, rich relationships.” Having cordial relations with agency managers is a good thing. But that isn’t more important than strong oversight that ensures an honest and effective government, serving the needs of residents. Silverman predicts that next year, “The council will be stronger,” and she and her staff will be better able to determine “where[we]can add the most value.” District voters had some expectation that Silverman and other council freshmen were ready to hit the ground running. Lynch says, “Councilmembers don’t want to be in the line of fire of either the chairman or the mayor. Some councilmembers are dependent on the mayor, others are cautious to a fault; they are concerned that one false step could derail their reelection, imperiling the perks of the job.” He cites as example the recent proposal to build a practice facility for the Wizards and have the government pick up the tab. There is no context for how that facility might connect with the “whole development pattern,” continues Lynch. “So many opportunities for council oversight and engagement have been missed.”

H y p e r L o c a l | hīpər

. lōk(ə)l |

connotes information oriented around a well defined community with its primary focus directed toward the concerns of its residents.

synonym: eastoftheriverdcnews.com

Daily online. Monthly in print.

Jonetta Rose Barras is an author and freelance writer based in DC. She sometimes blogs at jonettarosebarras.com u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

neighborhood news / the numbers

DC’s Got It Going On we don’t need big tax incentives to attract businesses by Wes Rivers

he District of Columbia has become a magnet for a young and increasingly skilled workforce. With DC’s vibrant nightlife and cultural landscape, a comprehensive public transportation system, great new libraries and parks, and school choice options, it is not surprising that young people want to begin their careers here and stay. That gives businesses a large pool of talent to tap and supports a thriving restaurant and retail sector. That’s why Mayor Bowser’s $60 million proposed tax break for the Advisory Board Company – one of DC’s largest corporate subsidies in recent memory – doesn’t make sense. The proposal, like many before it, raises the question of whether tax incentives are needed to maintain a strong economy and keep businesses in an already attractive market. The Advisory Board tax subsidy threatens to set a bad precedent for business tax breaks that are not needed and in fact make it hard to continue investing in the things that have made DC attractive to a talented workforce, like schools and parks.

What Would DC Get for a Big Tax Break to the Advisory Board? On the face of it, Mayor Bowser’s proposal has a lot going for it. In return for $60 million in tax breaks over 10 years, the Advisory Board would have to lease a brand-new building in the District and add 100 District residents to its payroll every year for 10 years – 1,000 residents in total. In addition the Advisory Board’s lease would last five years longer than the tax abatements, so that the company could not leave DC as soon as the tax breaks end. Finally the Advisory Board would have to invest in a variety of community benefits, including volunteer hours at schools and mentorships, and training and workforce development activities for DC residents. In the world of corporate tax subsidies this one goes a long way to being a performancebased incentive. The Advisory Board would only get tax abatements if it stays in DC for a considerable amount of time and hires more District residents. But what if the Advisory Board really

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wanted to stay in DC anyway, and was already on a path to expand? In that case even the best-structured tax abatement would be a bad deal for the city. If tax abatements are not needed to keep the Advisory Board here, then the $60 million subsidy is simply less money for the city to invest in schools, parks, or healthcare.

Taxes Don’t Matter Much for Business Location Decisions Companies locate where it makes the most sense in the long-term. That usually means places with a skilled workforce and a good quality of life. State and local taxes usually are not major factors, because taxes are a small part of a company’s expenses. This is not mere speculation. Business leaders fre-

quently note that taxes are not high on the factors that affect where they locate. Companies seek tax incentives because they can – not because they are essential to a location decision. A look at the Advisory Board deal suggests that they would like to stay in DC. The mayor’s proposal requires the company to sign a commercial office lease this year. With that deadline it is likely that lease negotiations have been underway for some time. Beyond that, a $6 million/ year tax break would offset only part of the higher rent the company would pay in DC compared

District Of Columbia Housing Authority REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP) FOR

with the suburbs. And $6 million is less than 1 percent of the Advisory Board’s annual revenue. Is that really enough to keep them some place they don’t want to be? Seems doubtful. In other words, even though the Advisory Board says it needs a tax break, every other indication is that they want to stay in the city. That probably is because the company’s client base is here – and because the young talented people who work there want to live in DC. Is it possible the tax incentive is needed for the company to stay financially viable or to hire District residents? The answer is no, according to DC’s chief financial officer. The CFO pointed out that the tax abatement would be relatively small in the scheme of the company’s overall taxes and expenses. It is likely that the Advisory Board will hire 120 new residents a year with or without the abatement, based on their recent growth.

The BesT CorPoraTe aTTraCTion sTraTegy The fact that DC has become very attractive to millennials, many of whom are staying once they have children, is worth exploring. If educated and skilled workers want to live in the District, more companies needing skilled workers will want to be here, as will retail businesses. There is no hard evidence on why young people are flocking to DC, but public investments matter. The opening of Metro’s Green Line about 15 years ago spawned development in areas like U Street, Columbia Heights, and Petworth as more residents gained quick access to downtown and other parts of the city. Beyond that the District has invested heavily in DC Public Schools and in a robust charter school sector. Add the investments in playgrounds, sports fields, and libraries and you have a recipe for a city that will keep residents and draw restaurants and other retail amenities. That means that tax subsidies are the wrong approach to creating a business climate because they don’t work that well and because they take away money from things that really do matter, like schools.

if The Tax Break survives, make iT BeTTer If the DC Council agrees with the mayor that the risk of the Advisory Board leaving the city is too great, it should make changes to ensure DC gets the best deal possible. Most important, under the proposed deal, the Advisory Board could get a large share of the tax breaks even if it does not meet the hiring goals. For example, if the Advisory Board increases DC resident employment by 500 in five years and then stops growing, it could claim 82 percent of the tax-break package – even though it only met half of the hiring goal. Instead the formula should be adjusted so that the share of the $60 million received matches the share of the 1,000-job goal met. In addition nothing prevents the Advisory Board from terminating the newly created positions after the end of the 10-year tax breaks. DC should have some protections built into the deal ensuring that residents are hired for the term of the lease. That could be accomplished with a “clawback” provision to reclaim a portion of the tax breaks if net DC hiring growth falls below 1,000 after the tax breaks end. There is always the risk that the Advisory Board will leave the city if it does not get additional tax breaks. But the District faces that risk every day and is still doing well. Despite the higher cost of office space the District consistently has lower office vacancy rates than the suburbs. With limited resources and growing needs in the city, DC’s leaders need to be thoughtful about how tax dollars are used. A large business tax abatement that really is not needed sets the expectation that other companies can get the same, a standard that will mean less and less money for other priorities. Wes Rivers is a policy analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (www.dcfpi.org). DCFPI promotes budget and policy solutions to reduce poverty and inequality in the District of Columbia and to increase the opportunity for residents to build a better future. u

Development Project Management Consulting Services RFP No. - 0001-2016

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOUSING AUTHORITY (“DCHA”) will receive sealed proposals for Development Project Management Consulting Services - 0001-2016. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS will be available at the DCHA Procurement Office, 1133 North Capitol Street, N.E., Suite 300, Office of Administrative Services, Washington, D.C. 20002-7599 (Issuing Office); between the hours of 9:00 and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, or on our website at www.dchousing.org beginning October 26, 2015. SEALED PROPOSALS ARE DUE ON OR BEFORE: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 @ 11:00 a.m. at the Issuing Office identified above. Please contact Lolita Washington Contract Specialist at 202-535-1212 or via email at lwashing@dchousing.org for additional information.

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2

neighborhood news

Trifecta of Fear blame the message and the messengers by Jonetta Rose Barras

ee something, say something. Young black men are prime perpetrators of crime in the District of Columbia. White police officers are waging a war on African-American males. Those three messages are distributed daily by the media. They are also repeated ad nauseam in the public square by many elected officials, civic leaders, public intellectuals, and average citizens. Combined, the messages translate into a single word: fear. That became clear during a recent encounter between two sets of District residents and police officers at a commercial bank in DC’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Reacting in fear to the uptick in violent crime in her community, a white woman saw a black male who made her uncomfortable. To her he may have been a proxy for those the media claim responsible for crime. Following the

see-something-say-something directive, she, unsurprisingly, called the police. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department raced to the scene believing a robbery to be in progress. Jason Goolsby, the young, black male who was the object of the woman’s fear, possessed his own anxieties. Conditioned by the many media images of contemporaries suffering grievously at the hands of law enforcement, he ran from the police officers, possibly believing he would be the next African-American man to die on a city street. A palpable fear is eating at the core of America, even as most citizens are desperately trying to bury the vestiges of racial hatred that has affected blacks – and whites. Many of the current presidential candidates are helping to exacerbate phobias. As are some books like “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African-American male who writes to his son: “We

Activists from Black Lives Matter block Pennsylvania Avenue SE in protest over police treatment of Jason Goolsby. Photo: Andrew Lightman

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are captured, brother, surrounded by the majoritarian bandits of America. And this has happened here, in our only home, and the terrible truth is that we cannot will ourselves to escape on our own.” Coates misrepresents the full narrative of black men in America while stripping his son’s generation of its hope. Black men are cast as both bogeymen and victims, unable to chart their own destinies. Closer to home, some DC elected officials sell and resell the “us-against-them” doctrine, determined to improve their political standing at any cost. “Very seldom, if ever do they put anything on television or in the paper about what young black men are doing that is positive. Every time it’s about something negative, and therefore the belief [held by much of the public] is that it must be indigenous to the entire race,” says Francis Campbell, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner, third generation Washingtonian, and Capitol Hill resident with whom I spoke recently about the Goolsby episode. The father of five sons, one of whom still lives in DC, Campbell has a special interest in the flawed narrative of black men advanced by far too many people. “There is an element that is going to do wrong,” says Campbell. “But [there is] a blanket attitude toward young men of color. My sons have never been arrested, never used drugs. They are successful.” “It’s insulting,” Campbell continues. “We’re not all doctors and lawyers, but we’re good people.” It may be that everyone at that Capitol Hill bank was a good person. Fear produces illogical, sometimes knee-jerk, reactions. Consequently I empathize with Goolsby and the telephone caller. When my daughter occasionally calls me concerned about a group of African-American men she has seen around her apartment, I try to assuage her worries. But I also understand the story from the perspective of those black men. Sometimes they are homeless. Sometimes they have simply congregated to chat with friends. A few times they may be up to no good. It’s the latter that causes my daughter consternation. How to know the difference? If I am unsuccessful, I regurgitate the see-something-callthe-police mantra. “It’s tough,” says Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, taking my point and reflecting on the telephone caller’s predicament. “It’s hard to put ourselves in her shoes and judge whether what she saw was suspicious or not.” “There is a heightened sense of fear,” Allen continues, talking about the hike in violent crime in that community that the press conveniently failed to mention in reports about the Goolsby affair. On Oct. 21, 2015, the MPD reported six robberies on Capitol Hill in a span of 30 minutes, including at 9th and F Sts. NE; 3rd and G Sts SE; 1300 E SE. “Sometimes when I take the dog out at night, I find myself looking over my shoulder. A guy was murdered a block from my home.” Still, Allen says, Goolsby may be due an apology. He was thrown to the ground by police believing they were in pursuit of a robber; but he had done nothing wrong. Why didn’t Goolsby remain calm, stand firm, and proclaim his innocence to the police? Why did he run? Trust can be a risky business, particularly when there is history that whispers in your ear advising against it. In the District there are more than 3,000 police officers. Despite reports about excessive use of force by law enforcement, most follow the rules as they perform their duties. We know only a few of them have been fired or reprimanded for questionable actions while on the job. That reality rarely makes it to the headlines. Still, I understand the fear of police. I have my own troubled history of encounters, including one in Jackson, Miss., decades ago. I remember images of my mother going to the funeral home flashing before me. Chokwe Lumumba and I were driving downtown when we heard the

police siren. As they approached he cautioned me not to antagonize anyone- a natural tendency. Lumumba was an attorney representing several young African-American males. I was a community organizer trying to drum up local support for them. The officers surrounded our vehicle with guns drawn. A sawed-off shotgun was aimed at my head. As Lumumba had advised, I complied with every order, including subjecting myself to a search. We were told subsequently that there had been a report of two armed men circling the courthouse. I laughed at that tale, especially as a female officer had also been dispatched. There have been other frightening episodes in my lifetime. A couple of years ago Lumumba was elected mayor of Jackson. Unfortunately he died suddenly while in office. Still I took solace in that shift. Equally important, however, I refuse to permit negative historical situations to redirect my entire life, dictating how I interact with people who don’t share my skin color. Allen scheduled last month a meeting to discuss the rise in crime. Council Chairman Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie, who oversees the Committee on the Judiciary, also held town halls and summits. Was that enough? I don’t think so. We are all responsible for ending the dangerous and exploding fear plaguing the city, and the country. District leaders- the mayor, council, and others - can help. It’s possible that the network of advisory neighborhood commissions could take the lead, however, instigating conversations among small groups of residents with the aim of nurturing community, building greater trust, and shining a bright and lasting light on the good in us, all of us. Jonetta Rose Barras is a DC-based writer. Her opinions have appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post and Washington Examiner. u

THE NOSE

Developers Are a Mayor’s Best Friend

by Anonymous

hen Mayor Muriel trod the boards as a poor supplicant in the Democratic Primary, she touted herself as a “Fresh Start.” “Me thinks she is extoling her love for crispy veggies,” The Nose pondered as he first listened to her perform at the hustings. Meet Muriel Bowser: Fresh Princess of Ward 4. Well, the breeze has changed direction. Now, members of the Green Team are working hard to take shadow campaign tactics out of the closet. Why hide one’s contributors when one can glory in their strictly legal $10,000 donations? This Fresh Start requires the services of a FreshPAC, whose independent election expenditures will no doubt aid Bowser in her quest to win friends and influence councilmembers. After all, DC politics is a simple game of counting to seven. Inspired by our mayor’s audacious political savvy, The Nose has decided to form his own fundraising organization, StalePac. Dedicated to the supposition that politics is best when it resembles reality television, StalePac will fund the return of such prized personalities as Kwame “Bulletproof ” Brown and Harry “The Player” Thomas. Of course, StalePac will always keep a “piece of a piece” for Michael “Son of ” Brown. Sometimes sitcom reruns make the best couch suffering material. In the meantime, The Nose has authored a tune for our esteemed lady mayor set to the strains of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend:

Developers are glad to dig in the dirt. They delight in biding duels But I prefer those who live to donate like expensive fools. A kiss on the hand May be regally continental, But developers are a mayor’s best friend. A kiss may be grand But it won’t pay for air-time rentals Or subsidize your campaign’s humble flat Or help you take your opponent to the mat. Political allies grow cold As mayors grow old, And we all lose our popularity in the end. But green-backed or rectangular-shaped, Donated Benjamins don’t lose their shape. Developers are a mayor’s best friend. There may come a time When a pol needs a Lawyer, But Developers are a mayor’s best friend. There may come a time When a hard-boiled legislative Boyar Thinks you’re not so nice, Make him a deal or else no dice. He’s your guy When your favorables are high, But beware when they start to descend. It’s then that those political louses Go public with their grouses. Developers are a mayor’s best friend. I’ve heard of public affairs That are not strictly economic, Even the editorial mandarins of the august But Developers are a mayor’s best friend. Washington ComPost And I think affairs are starting to notice That you must keep plutonic a fresh odor drifting Are better bets across town. u If them come with big checks. Time rolls on, And the honeymoon is gone, And you can’t straighten up when you politically bend. But stiff backed Or in a stiff breeze You can always put them in a squeeze. Developers! Developers! I don’t mean CBEs! Developers are a mayor’s best friend.

East of the River Magazine November 2015

3

neighborhood news / our riVer

‘Paradigm,’

‘Signature Urban Park,’ & ‘Anacostia’

in the Same Breath? Are We Ready for This? our river: the anacostia

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

by Bill Matuszeski

f you had to name the “landlord” for the Anacostia River and the lands along and even under it, it would be the National Park Service (NPS). Here in the District, with a few exceptions like the Navy Yard and the adjacent Yards Park, the Park Service is responsible for the management of the riverfront. And we should consider ourselves lucky that nearly all that land is preserved forever as parkland open to the public. While the Park Service built its reputation with places such as the Grand Canyon and various national seashores, more and more of its work is focused on urban areas – Independence Hall, the Great Falls of the Passaic in industrial Paterson, and our own National Mall. Plus thousands of homes and workplaces of famous people. And Our River, at least to the Maryland line, where the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission (MNPPC) takes over. This shift to an urban focus is reflected in recent changes to the management structure of the Park Service. A year ago, Gopaul Noojibail was named the new superintendent of Nation-

al Capital Parks-East, a vast area that ranges from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to sites along the lower Potomac, and includes the Anacostia parklands. He joined five other superintendents in the region covering the National Mall and memorial parks, the White House, Rock Creek Park and northwest, the C&O Canal, and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. More recently Noojibail’s region was divided into three parts with two other superintendents north and south reporting to him, thereby allowing him to focus on the Anacostia and the city neighborhoods adjacent. All this is good news for us, because he has a desire to make things happen in and along the river. “We need to establish a vision and create an action plan to advance all our efforts around the river – a road map for NPS and its partners,” he says. “We can’t do everything, but we can go further faster if we agree to advance the right things at the right time.” Noojibail grew up in urban Chicago, the son of an immigrant from southern India, where his family has a farm up against the forests in a very remote region, and where he developed a personal connection to preserving natural areas. He feels like he has land management in his blood. His previous Park Service assignments include the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, and the National Mall and Memorial Parks in DC. The Park Service is preparing to celebrate the centennial of its founding in 2016. There will be much talk of the mission and relevancy of the agency in coming years. Noojibail sees it as an opportunity to present the Anacostia River restoration as a paradigm for Park Service activities in urban areas, overcoming historic neglect and building pride, economic success, natural resource protection, education, physical exercise, and a stewardship ethic into a comprehensive sense of what urban parks can do for the quality of Gopaul Noojibail on the River. Photo: Tyrone Eaton, Anacostia Watershed Society

life. And there is already a lot to build on along the Anacostia and in the historic parks and houses of our neighborhoods. Noojibail realizes that the Park Service cannot do it alone and has a great many partners to work with. There are citizen-based groups like the Anacostia Watershed Society, Anacostia Riverkeeper, and Groundwork Anacostia River DC, as well as smaller groups in neighborhoods and along tributaries. There are city agencies like the Department of Transportation, which is building the trails, and the Department of Energy and Environment, which is cleaning up the toxics. There is the MNPPC upstream in Maryland. There are key federal agencies like the Navy, the EPA, and the National Arboretum (part of the Agriculture Department). There are special sites and projects like the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (part of NPS) and the 11th Street Bridge Project (part of THE-ARC). And there are numerous groups in place that try to coordinate all that is going on, such as the multilevel Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership and the Mayor’s Leadership Council for a Cleaner Anacostia. It can be downright bewildering. But there are certain things that are clearly in the Park Service’s realm and others where it has a major role to play. Noojibail believes that completion of the trail system next year with the closing of the three mile gap from Benning Road to the Bladensburg Marina will fundamentally change the access and use of the parklands on the east side of the River. The same is true of the 11th Street Bridge Project following along a couple years later. And he has completed the planning and compliance aspects for the proposed 400-foot hiking and bicycling bridge from the trail and the Aquatic Gardens to the arboretum, a $25 million partnership undertaking that will soon enter the design, funding, and building stages. It will connect through the arboretum with a new trail coming out New York Avenue from Union Station. Engaging youth will be another part of the urban strategy, once again building on many programs that are operating on and along the river. Rowing the water trails, recreation opportunities on the land, youth gardens, and job-training programs should all be part of the mix that Noojibail sees – and he is open to more ideas from the public. As more progress is made on water quality, new options related to a fishable and swimmable river open up – the goal for that is 2024 in the eyes of the Anacostia Watershed Society, which may seem distant but is only as far ahead of us as 2008 is behind us. The cleanup of the toxics in the river will also be on the Park Service agenda, since it owns now

National Park Service Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail. Photo: National Park Service

or owned in the past a number of contaminated sites. In fact, Noojibail says he has more Superfund sites under his jurisdiction than any other superintendent in the Park Service. These include the Kenilworth Park playing fields, which were once a DC dump, the Washington Gas site near the 11th Street Bridge, and Poplar Point. In addition the bed of the tidal river is officially Park Service property and is filled with contaminated sediments that will have to be capped or preferably removed, something for which funds will need to be found. But the opportunities for the river are better than they have ever been, with new players and new connections coming with the new trials and bridges and boathouses. Add to these the array of NPS neighborhood parks and historic sites like the Frederick Douglass House, and there seems to be a basis for the “common vision” Noojibail is seeking – mapping out the assets and working with others in ways the Park Service has not done before. He sees the Anacostia as a potential “signature urban park,” showing the way for the Park Service to deal with these kinds of areas as it starts its next century. Can we achieve this together? For Noojibail “the Park Service is in the perpetuity business, but we need to work with others to develop entrepreneurial attitudes; we cannot be the agency of ‘no’; we must be the agency of ‘let’s talk.’” He’s finding there are a lotta folks to talk to about Our River. By the way, who would have thought 10 years ago that the Anacostia would be touted as a “signature urban park” by the National Park Service? Congratulate yourselves, readers, but keep at it! Bill Matuszeski writes monthly about the Anacostia River. He is the retired director of the Chesapeake Bay Program, DC vice-chair of the Citizens Advisory Committee on the Anacostia River, and a member of the Mayor’s Leadership Council for a Cleaner Anacostia River. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

neighborhood news

Affordable and Sustainable Housing Coming to Ward 7 by Catherine Plume

he words “affordable” and “sustainable” don’t always go hand in hand – especially when it comes to housing, but that’s changing across the District and in Ward 7. In August DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) announced that the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) had awarded the District a Technical Assistance for the Living Building Challenge Affordable Housing Pilot Project. DC is one of seven cities selected for this pilot and the only East Coast recipient. This is the DC government’s first Living Building Challenge project, which Building magazine describes as “a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification program that promotes the most advanced measurement of sustainability in the built environment.” The program was created in 2006 by ILFI. The project will be located in Ward 7’s Deanwood neighborhood on a vacant site at 58th and Dix streets NE. Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander notes, “We’re thrilled that this Living Building Challenge Affordable Housing Pilot Project is coming to Ward 7. We hope that this will be the first of many projects that will provide much needed healthy and affordable housing for DC residents.” While Living Building Challenge design has been incorporated into commercial properties around the US, its incorporation into residential properties is still relatively new. DC is a leader in green construction, with more green buildings per capita than any other US city. The District’s Green Building Act of 2006 states that residential projects of 10,000 square feet or greater in size that receive 15 percent or more in public financing must be certified to Enterprise Green Communities Criteria or a substantially similar standard that focuses on healthy, energy efficient, and environmentally responsible affordable housing. The bar for certification is higher under the Living Building Challenge criteria and, hence, for the 10-15 houses that will be constructed through the Deanwood project. Per DHCD and DOEE, construction will begin over the next two years. The resulting houses should meet “net zero energy” standards, meaning that over the course of a year each home will generate as much energy as it consumes, thereby providing considerable savings for residents through lower utility bills. Water conservation will also be a key feature. The project will contribute to the District’s “Sustainable DC Plan” (http:// www.sustainabledc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/SDC-Final-Plan_0. pdf), which seeks to improve the quality of life in DC by 2032 by working toward ambitious (but attainable) goals for buildings and housing, climate, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste, water, and the green economy. Developed through a District-wide consultative process in 2011-12 under the Gray administration, the plan is being embraced and continued under Mayor Bowser. Affordable housing is a fundamental aspect of this plan and is an important consideration in all new housing developments. Affordable housing has become scarce in the District. According to Zillow, as of August 2015 the median home value in the District was $489,800. DC home values have increased 5.9 percent over the past year and 38.5 percent over the last five years, an annualized growth rate of 6.7 percent. Zil-

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

low predicts that housing prices will rise 1.1 percent within the next year. While the Deanwood project is still in a pre-development stage, it will be a mixed-income development, though the exact number of affordable housing units has yet to be determined. Buyers may be selected through an affordable housing lottery, but that has not yet been determined. Whatever method is selected to identify buyers, DHCD will ensure broad outreach to potential homebuyers. Community outreach about the project was also an integral part of the competition. The health and wellness of District residents is another fundamental aspect of the District’s sustainability plan. The Deanwood project will incorporate green building standards such as an environmentally friendly indoor environment, including the use of low volatile organic compounds (VOC) paints that will help ensure the health and wellness of the residents. These green measures will benefit the residents of the homes while also contributing to an improved environment for the surrounding community. The project came about when the DC Living Building Challenge Collaborative, a group of local professional volunteers committed to sustainability, education, and implementation of the Living Building Challenge, decided to host a design competition. They approached DHCD and DOEE with the idea of designing concepts based on an actual site. Several sites were considered for the competition, and the Deanwood property, which is owned by DHCD, was selected based on its physical features as well as its proximity to amenities including groceries, schools, and recreational facilities. The newly designated East Capitol Farm located at 59th and East Capitol SE will be nearby. The efforts of the DC Living Building Challenge Collaborative and the design competition inspired the District government to pursue the technical assistance award to allow the incorporation of the Living Building Challenge standard for the future design of the site. While the District will not receive any direct funding through the ILFI award, the technical assistance includes hundreds of hours of documentation review, facilitation, and other technical expertise at no cost. There will also

be a sharing of information and learning with other recipient cities. While some might assume that there is little return on investment in such “deep green structures” promoted by the ILFI, this isn’t the case. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is another green building certification body with four tiers of certification. A 2014 study conducted by New Buildings Institute, International Living Future Institute, and Skanska found that the cost of converting LEED Platinum construction (their “greenest” certification”) to Living Building Challenge criteria was minimal and resulted in substantially more environmental benefit with relatively little additional investment. Specific findings of the “Net Zero and Living Building Financial Study: A Cost Comparison Report for Buildings in the District of Columbia” study include: • For a 1 to 3 percent added initial cost of construction, new developments in the District could save up to 60 percent of their energy consumption. • The return on investment for deep energy efficiency – the design and technical implementation of energy efficiency retrofit programs in a manner that maximizes job creation, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and energy savings compared to basic weatherization, is 6 to 12 percent and rises to 33 to 36 percent when modeled for net zero energy using solar power. • Advanced conservation measures to reduce water consumption and storm water runoff from the buildings cost 1 to 3 percent, conserve 45 to 60 percent of the wa-

Get Your East of the River ter usage, and have a return on investment of 5 to 10 percent. • Storm water retention measures included in the costs mentioned above eliminate water runoff from most storm events and allow buildings to retain water during catastrophic storms, thus helping to make the District more resilient. The Deanwood project is great example of a successful collaborative effort across DC government agencies and organizations. DOEE Director Tommy Wells notes, “This pilot project is the District’s inaugural Living Building Challenge project and will provide healthy, resilient housing for low- and moderate-income families. The Department of Energy and Environment is focused on providing equitable access to energy efficiency and renewable energy for the District residents who need it the most. The lessons learned through this pilot will enable us to increase affordable and sustainable housing initiatives that meet Living Building Challenge criteria across the District.” Catherine Plume is a lifelong environmentalist, a writer, and a blogger for the DC Recycler: www.DCRecycler.blogspot.com; Twitter @DC_ Recycler. u

Location

Address

River Terrace Rec Center & Elemantary School 420 34th St , NE CVS - East River Park 320 40th St , NE Safeway – NE 322 40th St , NE 6th District Police Dept - Main 100 42nd St , NE Ward Memorial AME 240 42nd St NE Kennilworth Elementary School 1300 44th ST NE Unity East of the River Health Center 123 45th ST NE First Baptist Church of Deanwood 1008 45th St NE Deanwood Public Library 1350 49th ST NE Hughes Memorial United Methodist 25 53rd St NE Capitol Gateway Senior Apts 201 58th St , NE Marvin Gaye Rec Center 6201 Banks Pl NE Watts Branch Recreation Center 6201 Banks St , NE Langston Community Library 2600 Benning Rd , NE Anacostia Neighborhood Library 1800 Good Hope Road SE Benning Branch Library 3935 Benning Rd NE Marshall Heights CDC 3939 Benning Rd , NE Kelly Miller Recreation Center 4900 Brooks St , NE Tabernacle baptist Church 719 Division Ave NE Randall Memorial Baptist Church 4417 Douglas St NE East Capital Church of christ 5026 E Capitol St NE Seat Pleasant CARE Pharmacy 350 Eastern Ave , NE 7-Eleven 950 Eastern AVE NE Riverside Center 5200 Foote St , NE Mayfair Mansions 3744 ½ Hayes St NE Citibank: East River Park 3917 Minnesota Ave , NE Chartered Health Center NE 3924 Minnesota Ave , NE Vending Machines – Deanwood Metro 4720 Minnesota Ave , NE The Minnicks Market 4401 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE Lederer Gardens 4800 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE Suburban Market 4600 Sherriff Rd NE Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church 4601 Sheriff Road NE Dave Brown Liquors 4721 Sheriff Road Northeast Dave Brown Liquor 4721 Sherriff Rd NE A & S Grocery 4748 Sheriff Rd NE St Rose Pentecostal Church 4816 Sherriff Rd NE Malcolm X Rec Center 3200 13th st SE St More Catholic Church 4275 4th St SE Fort Davis Recreation Center 1400 41st St , SE Ferebee Hope Recreation Center 3999 8th St , SE Emanuel Baptist Church 2409 Ainger Place SE IHOP Restauarant 1523 Alabama Ave, SE Giant Food Store 1535 Alabama Ave , SE SunTrust Bank 1571 Alabama Ave , SE Parklands-Turner Community Library 1547 Alabama Ave , SE Manor Village Apartments Leasing Office 1717 Alabama Ave , SE Garfield Elementary 2435 Alabama Ave 7th District Station 2455 Alabama Ave , SE 6th District Police Dept - Satellite Station 2839 Alabama Ave , SE Service Cleaners 2841 Alabama Ave , SE Safeway – SE 2845 Alabama Ave SE Pizza Hut 2859 Alabama Ave , SE America’s Best Wings 2863 Alabama Ave , SE M&T Bank 2865 Alabama Ave , SE Washington Senior Wellness Center 3001 Alabama Ave , SE

MIDCITY

St Timothys Episcopal Church 3601 Alabama Ave SE Francis A Gregory Neighborhood Library 3660 Alabama Ave , SE National Capital Parks--EAST 1900 Anacostia Dr , SE Kid smiles 4837 Benning Road SE Pimento Grill 4405 Bowen Rd SE East Washington Heights Baptist Church 2220 Branch Ave ,SE St Johns Baptist Church 5228 Call Place SE Capitol View Branch Library 5001 Central Ave , SE Marie Winston Elementary School 3100 Denver St , SE Subway 4525 East Capitol St Our Lady Queen of Peace Church 3800 Ely Pl , SE Anacostia Museum for African Amer History 1901 Fort Pl SE - Back Door Smithsonian Anacostia Marcia Burris 1901 Fort Place SE - Back Door DC Center for Therapeutic Recreation 3030 G ST SE ARCH 1227 Good Hope Rd , SE Anacostia Pizzeria 1243 Good Hope Rd , SE SunTrust Bank 1340 Good Hope Rd , SE Unity Health Care Inc 1638 Good Hope Rd , SE Bread for the City 1640 Good Hope Rd , SE Marbury Plaza Tenants Assoc 2300 Good Hope Rd , SE Dollar Plus Supermarket 1453 Howard Rd , SE Ascensions Psychological and Community Services 1526 Howard Rd SE Dupont Park SDA Church 3985 Massachusettes Ave SE Orr Elementary School 2200 Minnesota Ave SE Hart Recreation Center 601 Mississippi Ave , SE Southeast Tennis and Learning Center 701 Mississippi Ave , SE The ARC 1901 Mississippi Ave , SE Neighborhood Pharmacy 1932 Martin Luther King Jr , SE PNC Bank 2000 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Bank of America 2100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE C Aidan Salon 2100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Big Chair Coffee 2122 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE

For more distribution locations, contact 202.543.8300 x.19

Animal Clinic of Anacostia 2210 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Max Robinson Center of Whitman-Walker Clinic 2301 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE The United Black Fund 2500 Martin Luther King Ave SE The Pizza Place 2910 Martin Luther King Ave SE Metropol Educational Services, 3rd Floor 3029 Marin Luther King Jr Ave , SE National Children’s Center - Southeast Campus 3400 Martin Luther King Jr , SE Assumption Catholic Church 3401 Martin Luther King Ave SE Congress Heights Senior Wellness Center 3500 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE Congress Heights Health Center 3720 Martin Luther King Jr Ave , SE CVS - Skyland 2646 Naylor Rd , SE Harris Teeter 1350 Pennsylvania Ave SE Thai Orchid Kitchen 2314 Pennsylvania Ave SE St Francis Xavier Church 2800 Pennsylvania Ave SE Pennsylvania Ave Baptist Church 3000 Pennsylvania Ave SE CVS – Penn Branch 3240 Pennsylvania Ave , SE Congress Heights Recreation Center 100 Randle Pl , SE Johnson Memorial Baptist Church 800 Ridge Rd SE Ridge Recreation Center 800 Ridge Rd , SE Savoy Recreation Center 2440 Shannon Pl SE PNC Bank 4100 South Capitol St , SE Rite Aid 4635 South Capitol St , SE United Medical Center 1310 Southern Ave , SE Benning Park Community Center 5100 Southern Ave SE Benning Stoddert Recreation Center 100 Stoddert Pl , SE Union Temple Baptist Church 1225 W ST SE Senior Living at Wayne Place 114 Wayne Place SE 115 Atlantic St , SW William O Lockridge/Bellevue Bald Eagle At Fort Greble 100 Joliet St SW Covenant Baptist Church 3845 South Capitol St Faith Presbyterian Church 4161 South Capitol St SW Henson Ridge Town Homes Office 1804 Stanton Terrace, SE The Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW CCN office 224 7th ST SE Eastern Market 225 7th St SE YMCA Capitol View 2118 Ridgecrest Court SE CW Harris Elementary School 301 53rd Street, SE DC Child & Family Services Agency 200 I Street SE

FA G O N C O M M U N I T Y G U I D E

East of the River Magazine November 2015

neighborhood news

ACC Helps Reboot Ward 8 Civic Associations by Christine Rushton

cattered neighborhood communities in Ward 8 can start unifying to share concerns and celebrations with the help of revitalized civic associations. Members of the Anacostia Coordinating Committee (ACC) reached out to the Hillsdale and Bellevue neighborhoods three months ago to rebuild their neighborhood leadership. They hope to establish new civic associations so residents can address public safety, living environments, and locally sponsored events such as parades, fundraisers, and holiday celebrations. Bellevue’s meeting was the first in two years, said Philip Pannell, executive director of the ACC. He hopes to have Hillsdale and Bellevue groups up and running by the end of 2015. Next year he plans to add several more neigh-

borhoods to the list of those with active associations. “Civic associations give people a sense of place, a sense of belonging to a particular community,” he said. “During these days and times when people lead busy lives, there seem to be fewer opportunities for people to get together face to face to get to know their neighbors.” About four civic associations met regularly in Ward 8 two years ago, Pannell said. Undefined neighborhoods broke down the communication. But future economic development plans in the Anacostia area need the support of communities and leaders. “The district government no longer defines the neighborhood boundaries,” Pannell said. “It’s up to the residents.” Representation at the neighborhood level keeps strong values between old and new residents, said Arnehl Lyon, president of the Hillsdale Civic Association. With thousands of people moving in and around DC in more recent years, local identity can easily disappear. “DC is going through so many changes, not just racial but economic,” Lyon said. “We see an increase in numbers in our population and we are not properly represented.” Lyon plans to bring together the home associations, tenant associations, small businesses, schools, and churches. Unified goals will help com-

Leaders and residents of Ward 8 meet to discuss projects and upcoming events at the October ACC meeting on Oct. 27, 2015. Representatives from the D.C. Mayor’s office, Pepco and the arena planning committee gave presentations to update the Anacostia community.

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

Philip Pannell, executive director of the Anacostia Coordinating Committee, mediates the organization’s October meeting at the Anacostia Community Museum on Oct. 27, 2015.

bat safety problems and keep the area’s history alive. And welcoming committees can invite newcomers to a home in which they can feel safe and settled. “We try not to have a dividing line between new and old,” she said. “The ones that want to tear our neighborhoods down, no, but the ones who want to keep the values, we want to keep those residents, yes.” As the city develops and changes, though, many people continue to express concern about the outsourcing of jobs and costs of living rising higher than the means of long-time residents. Lyon said she knows Ward 8 neighborhoods need an influx of fresh businesses and employment opportunities but worries that too much could threaten people’s ability to stay. In September the city announced plans to build a $55 million arena in Ward 8 as home to the Washington Wizards NBA team and the Washington Mystics WNBA team. City officials estimate a $90 million economic impact on the area around the arena. During the October ACC meeting Ward 8 residents again expressed caution over who will work the estimated 600 contract and 300 permanent jobs for the construction. People don’t want the contracts to go to out-of-city companies, and want to keep the jobs available for workers east of the Anacostia. They want to build the local economy without displacing its communities, Lyon said. “The biggest fear is gentrification, but we don’t want gentrification, we want economic change,” she said. “To get that you have to have people coming into the community who have money to bring the average salary up and bring in what other neighborhoods have.” The other seven wards maintain active civic associations. It shows in the number of successful restaurants, stores, and community-planned events, Lyon said. Ward 8 wants that balance. “I’d like to be able to walk to a grocery store,” she said. “And right now we only really have two sit-down restaurants, where just across the river at the Yards there are dozens.” Pannell explained that civic associations also help give locals information about govern-

ment assistance programs for which they may qualify. For example, residents may need home improvements or repair funds that the city can help with. The meetings can host speakers and experts to guide the locals through each process. If crime increases, police representatives can meet with the local associations to listen to the ongoing problems and offer safety tips or updates on potential investigation leads. It’s always better to be working with a group than individually,” he added. At the October meeting for Bellevue at least 50 people attended as well as local officials. “We had Councilmember May, representatives from the mayor’s office, police department, and office of planning,” Pannell said. “People are getting excited about getting together.” Providing a collective voice for a neighborhood empowers its people, said Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May. Instead of sifting through numerous concerns or complaints, officials in Mayor Bowser’s office and the councilmembers’ offices can respond more effectively to a group’s requests. “I like to go meet residents where they are versus having them come to me. I like to take services to the people,” May said. “It becomes easier [with a civic association] to get opportunities for the government to come to their community to talk with them about those things that are specific to their neighborhood.” Attendees at the Hillsdale meetings

showed appreciation for the efforts and an interest in building their representation, she said. It’s a grassroots mission to bring life back to the residents and their families. “Ward 8 has been muted for so long. The concerns have been silent,” May said. “Neighbors and residents in Ward 8 have always expressed their concerns, but being able to express their collective concerns is important.” May supports the initiative of the ACC and Pannell. As in other wards, the city’s historical legacy can foster a sense of pride with its residents, she said. Continuing traditions and adding new ones can help engage the younger generation. Pride brings responsibility and care for neighbors. Said Pannell, “People are just living in neighborhoods. Folks are not getting together to discuss community issues.” Pannell plans to help the civic associations gain attention and elect leaders. Then he and the ACC will guide them on raising and maintaining funds and applying for grants to pay for meeting flyers, refreshments, and sponsored events. Eventually he said each organization will charge annual dues of around $10-20, build a budget plan, and establish regular meeting schedules. The next Bellevue Civic Association meeting is on Nov. 18 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the William O. Lockridge Bellevue Neighborhood Library. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

neighborhood news

he DC Public Schools (DCPS) and the DC Public Library (DCPL) are considering expanding the distribution of public library books to the individual school libraries. In 2014, roughly 22 percent of DC students attended schools with library collections containing less than 10 books per student, according to a Washington Post report. DCPS and DCPL conducted a joint study last year that examined sharing resources and reducing that percentage, said Richard ReyesGavilan, executive director of DCPL. The community supports the idea, but the administrators need to work out funding before they can start — no date is yet set. “It’s a great way in which agencies can share resources, leverage the expertise of the other and partner in dramatic ways that can be a blueprint for further engagement,” Reyes-Gavilan said.

Treating Schools like Library Branches Every student’s DC One Card gives them library access, Reyes-Gavilan said. A collaborative program would let them use it while in school. Students could hold a book online and request circulation to deliver it at their school library. Teachers could do the same. The books would move between school libraries and public libraries based on the requests of DCPL users and DCPS students and teachers. Check-outs and returns would function as if the schools were public libraries. DCPS allotted $20 per student for book funds for the first time this year, said Jennifer Boudrye, DCPS director of library programs since 2014. Boudrye and a liaison at DCPL started researching circulation systems about a year ago to broaden resource access for both schools and public libraries — they found Limitless Libraries in Nashville, TN. “I came in with three goals: to ensure we have a librarian in every school, provide equity between collections and to change the perception of what a librarian can and will do in the position,” Boudrye said. Boudrye studied the successful circulation program in Nashville and met with its directors with the hope of using a similar sharing model in DC. With students accessing more books and teachers using public library books during lessons, a Limitless Libraries could lift barriers to reach educational resources. Teachers could build collections for their curriculum using books from the public library. “I believe truly that what we do as librarians

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

DC Library and DCPS Consider Collaborating article and photos by Christin Ruston

Richard Reyes-Gavilan, the executive director of DCPL, opens the discussion for the new District of Columbia Public Library strategic plan at the Anacostia Library on Oct. 8, 2015.

and teaching information literacy is one of the most vital skills for students in their adult life,” Boudrye said. “Books can serve as windows and mirrors into knowledge.”

Limitless Libraries in Nashville When public schools in Nashville faced a state takeover due to low test scores, former Mayor Karl Dean suggested the libraries and schools work together, said Stephanie Ham, a former Limitless Libraries coordinator. Starting in 2010, the collaboration streamlined both systems and gave the schools access to the books they couldn’t pay for on their own budget starting. The public libraries deliver books directly to schools and prepare collections for teachers, said Ham. Ham, who now works as director of library services at Metro Nashville Public Schools, loves the program. Nashville’s library circulation has increased 17 percent since the start of Limitless Libraries five years ago. “School libraries were being disregarded and this was something new and exciting,” Ham said. “It made the school libraries relevant again. It organically has become a great tool.”

Nathaniel Howard, a junior at Eastern High School, works on filling out his suggestions for the new District of Columbia Public Library strategic plan at the Anacostia Library on Oct. 8, 2015.

Dean dedicated the funds to support the staff needed to get the program moving, Ham said. Strong support held the program together to reach its success. Schools in New York State, Seattle; St. Paul, MN; and Jacksonville, TX, have subsequently successfully embraced the Limitless Libraries model. Ham passed her role as coordinator in 2013 to Allison Barney, a former middle school librarian. “I saw firsthand just how much it opened doors for students,” Barney said. “Some had never been to a library and didn’t know what a library had to offer. They didn’t have to worry about transportation, and that was amazing.” Between the end of the 2014-15 school year and this past October, the number of student card holders in Nashville increased by nearly 36,000, she said. The program puts about $1 million annually toward adding to the school book collections. This year Limitless Libraries expanded to include elementary schools — they now reach students in grades three through 12, she said. Common Core curriculum also requires a lot of informational text. The public librarians help teachers prepare the books they need to prepare students for the tests, she said. Each teacher receives a kit with a variety of resources for the subject they’re teaching, said Barney.

Future Plans for the DC The 2014 Post article revealed an inequality of collections sizes between schools in low and high income neighborhoods. Those who fell below a 20 book-per-student average lived mostly in lowincome regions.

The imbalance drives the support for a new circulation program. Reyes-Gavilan and DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson plan to coordinate funding for staff positions and increased circulation to the 111 schools, said Anne Ledford, DCPL’s school liaison. She hopes to implement a program by next year, but can’t offer a start date until a budget clears. “If kids have any choice in what they read, they want to read more,” Ledford said. “When we’re thinking about reading levels and getting kids excited about that, you have to increase the selection of books offered to them.” The public libraries offer those books — if students can get there. “We would love for them to walk into a public library, but they’re in school eight hours a day,” Ledford said. “If we can get the books there we can get it into their hands.” Sending books students and teachers request to the schools also increases the library’s circulation. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, Leford said. “We are a space, we are a community living space,” Ledford said. “And I want them to think of us this way.” A DCPS-DCPL collaboration would be amazing, said Kathy S. Williams, president of the Friends of the Anacostia Library. Williams worked at the school libraries several years ago. The collections helped the teachers, but she knows a lack of funding forced their deterioration. “Some teachers will come into the libraries and reserve books for their students,” Williams said. “We used to have libraries that would go to various schools with books. That’s what the school and library should be doing.” A centralized circulation system could also improve the equality of collections between neighborhood libraries, Williams said. She notices that when books aren’t returned or get lost, that library’s stock suffers. Keeping collections fresh and monitored could keep those books in the hands of young readers, she said. “We don’t have to buy our books,” Williams said. “It will be one less item that the parents will have to worry about buying.” “I am incredibly encouraged by the coordination and collaboration of DCPL and DCPS, this effort will put every student in the best position to learn,” said David Grosso (I-At Large), chair of the council’s Education Committee. For more information about how students can get a public library access, visit www.dclibrary.org/dconecard.

DC is Going Foam Free! by Catherine Plume

here’s some good news coming for the Anacostia River – and for all waterways in the region! Legislation banning the use of expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam, goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2016. The legislation applies to all DC businesses and organizations that serve food including restaurants and carry-outs, cafes, delis, grocery stores, bars, pubs, food trucks, and cafeterias. While non-EPS such as clear plastic “clamshells” and plates will initially be allowed under the legislation, by January 2017 businesses will be required to switch to compostable or recyclable containers as well as straws, lids, and utensils. The DC Department of Energy and Environment’s (DOEE) “Foam Free DC” campaign has been conducting outreach about the upcoming requirements for the last several months. Part of that effort is asking the public to report businesses that are still using foam on the DOEE website and on Twitter (www.doee.dc.gov/foam and @FoamFreeDC) so they can contact these establishments to ensure that they’ll be ready for the ban starting Jan. 1. A recent and informal survey of Capitol Hill restaurants that have long used foam found that many of them have already complied with the regulation.

Why is This legislaTion needed? The accumulation of plastics in waterbodies around the world is of growing concern. According to the 2015 Ocean Conservancy report, “Stemming the Tide: Land-Based Strategies for a Plastic-Free Ocean,” the quantity of plastic estimated to enter ocean environments in 2025 is double that of 2015.

so, Why is dC foCusing on ePs? Resourcefulschools.org reports that Americans use 25 billion plastic foam cups every year. Foam doesn’t readily decompose, and it will remain intact in landfills for hundreds of years. Left outdoors it breaks down into small pieces which wildlife often mistake for food. With their light weight, foam cups, plates, and clamshells are easily carried by wind and rain and end up in storm drains, creeks, rivers, and eventually the ocean. Foam litter is one of the most common types of trash found in the Anacostia River. DOEE Director Tommy Wells has been a longtime advocate for the Anacostia, and as Ward 6 Councilmember crafted the much lauded DC Bag Bill that went into effect in 2009. He notes, “We are excited about the District’s upcoming ban on EPS and the important positive effects the ban will have on our urban environment. Over time, EPS breaks into small-

er and smaller pieces, and other pollutants – like oil, grease, and heavy metals – can adhere to them. These pieces are then consumed by fish and wildlife and bio-accumulate in the food chain. It’s encouraging to see three major jurisdictions – the District and Prince George’s and Montgomery counties – embracing legislation that will further reduce the amount of harmful pollution consistently found in the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.” According to Trash Free Maryland, Prince George’s County will ban the use of foam food packaging at restaurants and the sale of foam food packaging and foam packing peanuts as of July 2016. A similar law will go into effect in Montgomery County in January 2016, with restaurants required to use recyclable or compostable materials for disposable food ware as of 2017. Seattle, Albany, Portland, and San Francisco have also adopted legislation on EPS, but the road to these bans is not always easy. In New York City a ban on foam products was implemented in July after the Sanitation Commissioner determined that foam could not be recycled in an environmentally effective and economically feasible manner. A group of foam manufacturers, recyclers, and commercial users sued, and in September the ban was revoked when a state judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. The city will likely appeal the decision. A DC DOEE spokesperson explains, “New York City’s law differs from the District’s ban in two crucial ways: (1) the New York ban was created through agency rulemaking and (2) the ban was preconditioned on the unavailability of recycling programs. The District’s ban is statutory and was passed by the City Council. While no recycling companies operating in the Washington metropolitan area accept foam, DC’s EPS ban is not tied to the availability of recycling programs.” DC’s EPS legislation is part of the Sustainable DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2014. It contributes to the “Sustainable DC Plan” which was developed through a District-wide consultative process in 2011-12 under the Gray administration, and is now being continued under Mayor Bowser. The plan seeks to improve the quality of life for all residents by 2032 by working toward ambitious (but attainable) goals for buildings and housing, climate, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste, water, and the green economy. The District’s foam ban was passed by the DC Council to reduce foam litter in the Anacostia River and its tributaries. Think of it as a gift to our rivers and wildlife, and perhaps even a pathway to a swimmable Anacostia! Catherine Plume is a lifelong environmentalist, a writer, and a blogger for the DC Recycler: www.DCRecycler.blogspot.com; Twitter @DC_Recycler. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

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East washington lifE

Pick up a A

Slice

S MILE FROM M AMA IN A NACOSTIA

A meat pizza comes out of the oven for one of the first orders of the day at Mama’s Pizza on Oct. 28, 2015.

Mama’s Pizza on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Ward 8.

by Christine Rushton

even days a week, 14 hours a day, the royal blue doors of Mama’s Pizza Kitchen are open. Serving lunch and dinner and addressing cravings for dessert in between, the owners of Anacostia’s small sit-down restaurant share smiles with the neighbors they serve. “Hi, how are you today?” said Fatma Nayir to the first person who stepped over the threshold on a recent rainy October morning. Nayir, “Mama” to the locals, knows the children, grandchildren, and families that share a meal at her tables. She and her husband Musa Ulusan commute from their Bethesda home each morning to support the Ward 8 community. “All the people show appreciation,” Nayir said. “It’s not just taking orders. I’m 100 percent emotionally satisfied here.” Mama’s opened on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and V Street in 2012 after several years of business challenges for Nayir, her husband, and their four children. The 9/11 terrorist attacks brought unwanted scrutiny on her Muslim family, and Hurricane Katrina later wiped out the 100 or so chain restaurants they owned around New Orleans. Nayir moved her four children to DC in 2002 for a fresh start. Ulusan stayed behind to run what was left of the businesses and took flights twice a week to see their family. It took time and negotiations with harsh landlords, but the two finally started Mama’s. “It was like 20 years back with no money, but this time

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we had experience,” Ulusan said. “This became more than a pizza shop for us. We wanted a community meeting place.” The restaurant’s diverse, fresh-ingredient menu – house-made bread, pizza, calzones, sandwiches, wings, BBQ, cake – comes from the experiences of Nayir and Ulusan in the American food culture. Growing up in Turkey, though, they lived on traditional Mediterranean and Turkish tandoori-style dishes. On Christmas holiday she pulls all of the women from her local family into her kitchen to make ravioli-like meat pockets, garlic yogurt, and fresh tomato sauce. After finishing her degree in architecture in 1987, Nayir joined Ulusan in Philadelphia. He had moved to the United States in 1979 to study engineering, but ended up in the restaurant business after he graduated. Nayir wanted a change, so the two traveled to the streets of jazz in New Orleans. “I was looking for something different,” she said. “I would just hear about New Orleans jazz. You would wake up in the morning to someone playing saxophone.” But family comes first for the two entrepreneurs. When disaster threatened their livelihood and the children’s education, they found their new start in DC. Her eldest daughter, 22, attends Emory University and studies finance. She plans to help expand Mama’s and possibly open a coffee shop in the Anacostia area. Her youngest son, 15, still studies in high school but holds a job to keep himself almost financially independent of his parents. Each of Nayir’s children helps the family in any way they can, just as their parent’s help their community. Nayir works hard to support her children and regrets the times she can’t leave Mama’s to see her eldest daughter’s Emory University soccer games and her youngest son’s high school activities. “If you’re taking away from your child, it’s not worth it,” Nayir said. “But at the same time, Mama’s is worth it. It’s not black and white.” She said the children, moms, dads, and grandmothers that walk down Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue for a slice all call her “Mama.” She takes care of them now like she cares for her own family. Friends she met through the restaurant offer her a ride when her car breaks down. They offer to fund installing security cameras to stop break ins. And unlike the isolated sub-

TOP: “Mama” Fatma Nayir. MIDDLE: Nayir spreads fresh pizza sauce on a hand-stretched circle of dough on Oct. 28, 2015. BOTTOM: Nayir layers pepperoni slices on a Mama’s pizza. She works in the kitchen, at the counter and cleans after closing at her local Anacostia restaurant.

urbs, their daily visits make her feel like a real, connected person, she said. “They express everything from the heart here,” Nayir said. Even after robbers broke into Mama’s and stole food five times this year, she and Ulusan refuse to give up on the people they employ and serve in Ward 8. “We know this area is poor and changing,” Nayir said. “We just want to be a part of it. We don’t want to change it.” Nayir and Ulusan don’t take vacations as they once did to visit family in Turkey. But they love movies and plan to spend a night away from Mama’s at the upcoming midnight showing of the new James Bond film. And when she gets a moment to herself, she sleeps. Someday she hopes to introduce Anacostia and DC residents to her traditional Turkish meals. She and Ulusan always dreamed of opening a Turkish restaurant. First they want to focus on showing the community that they want to stay committed to bringing economic stability to the Ward 8. They are searching for ways to sponsor children’s activities and local events with any funds they can gather. “Mama’s will stay with our family and the community family,” Ulusan said. u East of the River Magazine November 2015

East washington life

Photographer Krista Schlyer Documents the Anacostia River as Its Future Hangs in the Balance by Phil Hutinet

e Washingtonians live at a critical moment, with profound alterations in our city’s physical landscape, resulting in demographic changes not seen in over half a century. As discussions mount about access to our changing city, and the specter of displacement looms over those who cannot afford the skyrocketing price of real estate, another series of changes has begun in earnest along the Anacostia River, from its confluence with the Potomac at Poplar Point to its headwaters in suburban Maryland. The resulting changes along

DC’s second river can lead either to the creation of an unmatched natural wildlife preserve in one of the nation’s most densely populated urban areas, or another overdeveloped, deforested environment with a handful of developers profiting from short-term gains at the expense of public lands that would have benefited future generations. Photographer Krista Schlyer, a Mount Rainier resident, has spent the past five years connecting with the Anacostia River. A self-identified conservation photographer, Schlyer combines documentary photography with fine art to connect people to ecology by highlighting its beauty and value.

Photos: ©Krista Schlyer/kristaschlyer.com

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Schlyer grew up in rural Kansas. A little over 15 years ago her life took a radical turn when her boyfriend was diagnosed with an aggressive, untreatable form of cancer which took his life at 28. To help cope with unrelenting grief, Schlyer took trips to national parks and began photographing what she saw. However, as she explains, “I wanted it to be about more than just nature photography.” Schlyer believes that when we are disconnected from our origins in nature, it has an adverse effect on our minds. During her travels through national parks Schlyer credits her connection with nature with her ability to cope with grief: “Things started to make sense when I was in wild places.” In an effort to place her growing body of work within a greater framework Schlyer connected with the International League of Conservation Photographers. Her critically acclaimed work documenting the environmental impact of the wall along the US-Mexico border led to a series of exhibitions, town-hall style discussions on immigration and the environment, and a book, “Continental Divide: Wildlife, People and the Border Wall” (Texas A&M Press). Subsequently, in 2010, Schlyer embarked on a project with the International League of Conservation Photographers to document Chesapeake Bay. While capturing the Anacostia and the Potomac rivers for the project, she documented the beauty and the struggles of the Anacostia River. She has now collected a body of work on the river to spearhead conservation advocacy through exhibitions, talks, and articles. Schlyer sees a lot of commonality between her work on the US-Mexico border wall and the Anacostia River. In both cases, “There is a strong environmental justice component. The Anacostia River has trudged a path with a community that has been historically poor. The US border with Mexico is one the poorest parts of US, and neither community has had much political power.” However, Schlyer is more hopeful about the Anacostia’s future owing to efforts

to clean up the river, while the environmental degradation along the US-Mexico border wall grows worse. The Anacostia Waterfront Trust, one of the organizations with which Schlyer has partnered, addresses three of the most pressing issues facing the Anacostia River. First is to speed up the process of cleaning the river, in particular dealing with street pollutants that wash into the storm drains. Second is to remediate inputs of raw sewage through a $2 billion sewage tunnel. And third is concern about legacy toxins from the Navy Yard and other former waterfront industries. While progress is being made on the first and second, the issue of toxins in the sedi-

ment remains an ongoing battle between the US Navy and various federal and DC agencies. Despite the unevenness of the clean-up efforts, Schlyer has brought the discussion of the future to the next generation of stakeholders – DC’s youth. Through the Daniel DiTondo Foundation, named after her deceased boyfriend, Schlyer has sought to connect youth to their river through summer camps and other programing which includes science and art as part of the curriculum. Beyond Schlyer’s advocacy through photography, the fine-art component of her work stands on its own merits. As an artist Schlyer explains that “I try to be on the river as much as possible. I like to go out when there is ice on the river and capture the different seasons. One of the focuses for me is the idea of biodiversity in cities. We are better off as people and have a greater wellbeing when we can connect with wild creatures and spaces. Fine art is about value: everybody values wildlife or nature but it’s often in the background. My hope is to make it a little more present.” More than a century later, like Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, or Theodore Roosevelt, Schlyer works in an inherently American tradition which reveres nature and places an emphasis on conservation for future generations. While efforts are underway to clean up DC’s eastern waterway, development pressures threaten to negate these gains. As an example Schlyer cites the construction of a new Whole Foods in College Park that will destroy a forest along the Anacostia’s watershed. “There wasn’t even a conversation about the development’s impact on the river,” laments Schlyer. As the urban area around the Anacostia River develops, Schlyer hopes that developers can work with the public to protect a “wild place,” home to foxes, turkeys, and bald eagles to name a few of the diverse fauna which coexist adjacent to one of the nation’s most populated urban areas. Phil Hutinet is the publisher of East City Art, dedicated to DC’s visual arts. For more information visit www.eastcityart.com. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

East washington life

Learn. Build Community. Hang Out. city sundays and america’s islamic heritage museum by Virginia Avniel Spatz

merica’s Islamic Heritage Museum (AIHM), in Historic Anacostia, shares the history of Muslims in America and promotes cross-cultural understanding around Islam. City Sundays, a new series of gatherings around town, is based in Islam, “open to all ethnicities, genders and faith traditions.” The two entities are fostering a diverse, new worship community.

History and Mission America’s Islamic Heritage Museum is a project of the Ward 8-based nonprofit Collections & Stories of American Muslims, established by Amir Muhammad in 1996. AIHM has occupied the former Clara Muhammad School, itself a part of DC’s Muslim history, since 2011. In addition to permanent and temporary exhibits the museum offers a variety of cultural programs. AIHM is also the site of Islamic Relief USA community days. Muslim vol-

LSMYO (Lauren Schreiber and Muhammad Y. Oda), Community Day at AIHM, Oct. 11. Photo: Spatz

unteers from the greater DC area offer residents of Ward 8, and all who stop by, clothing and school supplies, nutrition support and medical screenings, warm meals, and entertainment. While information about Islam is available, and Muslim prayers are conducted inside during these outdoor events, the focus is not religion but neighborliness. Religiously focused events are also held at the museum. City Sundays is an emerging ministry which meets there frequently. It is led by Muslim scholar Suhaib Webb and student chaplain Maggie Siddiqi, with a host of volunteers and a plan for collective decision-making. Webb hopes to gather Muslims who “feel in need of community that represents their social and religious context,” welcoming fellow seekers interested in learning from an Islamic perspective. City Sundays rotates between AIHM and other sites as part of a strategy to bridge communities, across quadrants and beyond. Varying location, Webb explains, presents “an opportunity for people from different ethnic and economic backgrounds to develop spiritual camaraderie.”

Extra Fabric Not Required

City Sundays at America’s Islamic Heritage Museum, Oct. 25. Photo: kicreativestudios.com

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City Sundays organizer Lauren Schreiber welcomed Oct. 25 participants to “learn, build community, and hang out.” “Extra fabric is not required,” Schreiber added, gesturing toward her headscarf. “Come as you are.” Welcoming all, AIHM encourages those who know little about Islam to participate in all its programs (and to join worship, if they so choose).

AIHM has no dress code. Still, fitting in is a common worry, Webb says. “People arriving tonight said, ‘I don’t think I dressed right,’” Webb told the crowd. “But those days are over.” Throughout the evening Webb stressed the importance of diversity and respect in Islam. The ultimate goal, he mentioned several times, is intimacy with the Divine, not any form of intimidation. The community’s goal should be learning “based more on empathy than on who’s right or wrong.”

Embryonic, Organic Ministry City Sundays does not center around “an orthodox religious service,” Webb explains. This allows the “embryonic ministry” to engage people with a variety of backgrounds. Formal prayers can be intimidating, he adds, both to people of different traditions, who might “feel they’re expected to know” what to do, and to Muslims who do not know how to perform the liturgy. Moreover, the new group does not want to begin by adopting a particular culture’s approach to prayer. The Oct. 25 gathering launched a new monthly series devoted to reading and explaining an Islamic text, community prayers, spoken word/art, and opportunities for networking and friendship. The first study text, the 9th century “Treatise for Seekers of Guidance,” is Islamic, Webb notes, but the values are universal. Moreover, while Webb – a recognized scholar with degrees from the US and Egypt – plans to prepare materials for study, he encouraged participants to explore the text on their

Imam Suhaib Webb addressing City Sundays, Oct. 25. Photo: kicreativestudios.com

own and to join with a small group of strangers for learning and discussion. Siddiqi opened the program with an activity encouraging participants to learn one another’s names and giving people an opportunity to share their reason for coming. General participation was encouraged throughout the evening. In a later interview Webb applauded spontaneous responses to his teaching and expressed delight at “that point – one we try to achieve – when the conversation shifted to two people in the audience addressing one another, separate from me.” In addition to the text study, Khalil Ismail, a Baltimore-based lyricist and vocal artist, shared several pieces with Islamic themes. A former student in the Clara Muhammad school, he had also organized the entertainment for the Oct. 11 community day and expressed gratitude to Amir Muhammad for bringing him back where he “started.” Ismail said later that he believes in music as an important medium for bringing people together. At the community day he watched music and the spoken word attract and unite non-Muslim locals and Muslims from a variety of communities. Through interfaith work he is convinced that “the language of music has the power to deliver otherwise difficult messages to the universe and aid in the efforts to increase understanding among races, tribes, and religions.”

Prayer and Relationships City Sundays gatherings are monthly now, with plans for more frequent meetings in the works. Meanwhile Webb and Siddiqi also hope to arrange opportunities for informal discussion and counseling. After the Oct. 25 program many of the evening’s 100-plus participants joined evening (Maghrib)

prayers. The formal Arabic service was conducted in traditional shoulder-to-shoulder lines, with male and female worshippers in separate rows. This was followed by a period of communal prayer, primarily in English. Participants shared concerns ranging from individual – issues of health, family, and livelihood – to local, national, and international. Notably for Washington, supplications for conflict areas and crisis situations were short, apolitical, and to the prayerful point. Siddiqi led brief prayers for each concern in English and then closed with communal prayer in Arabic. Webb told participants early in the evening that the goal of City Sundays is not to change the world or even the city, but to foster individual growth and build relationships. In a later interview he added that he envisions City Sundays as “a free zone, a safe place for participants to express themselves .... We’re working on breaking down human barriers within our own community and hoping that will benefit the city, too.” The next City Sundays is Nov. 24, 7-9 p.m., at Busboys and Poets, 1025 Fifth St. NW. Visit www. SuhaibWebb.com or find “City Sundays” on Facebook for more details. America’s Islamic Heritage Museum, 2315 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE, is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Sundays 12:00-5:00 p.m. Visit AIHMuseum.org or call 202-610-0586 for details on exhibits and events. Virginia Avniel Spatz participates in a range of Jewish and other worship communities. She participated in the Hartford (Ct.) Seminary’s “Building Abrahamic Partnerships” program and has worked on interfaith and inter-denominational projects. She blogs on faith topics at songeveryday.org. u

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

East washington life

Prelude to Sugar: Pre-Diabetes diabetes is a condition that often shows up announced. what can be done to stop it? by Candace Y.A. Montague

f you got a heads up that you were going to be in a car accident on your way to work one day, would you take a different route? Or would you proceed with caution and hope for the best? Unfortunately some things cannot be predicted so there is no way to prepare for them. But if a person has a chance to prevent a crisis, chances are they would take the necessary measures to do so. Such is the case with a pre-diabetes diagnosis. It serves as a caution sign that a person’s health is in danger. Thankfully there are ways to prevent pre-diabetes from progressing to a burdensome lifelong health condition.

tween 100 and 125 mg/dL on a fasting blood sugar test, or a reading of 5.7 to 6.4 percent on an A1c, the patients is diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a person is at risk for pre-diabetes. And since it doesn’t exactly present symptoms, people may have it and not even know. Dr. Ama Tyus, medical director at Nyame Nti Natural Health Solutions in Southeast, says that pre-diabetes doesn’t always have a “look.” “A lot of people have pre-diabetes. It’s not just the people who are overweight. You can’t always tell by looking at people. I have patients that are in dance companies that are pre-diabetic. It’s people who you would think are healthy. It’s a really big epidemic that I’m seeing at the clinic.” She says that it is critical that people get screened by their primary care physician for diabetes. Diabetes screenings are covered by insurance as a part of the essential screenings classified under the Affordable Care Act.

What Does Pre-Diabetes Mean?

Living in a food insecure area also puts people at risk for diabetes. Accord-

Pre-diabetes is considered to be an introduction to Type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is a middle ground. A person’s blood sugar level is elevated but not quite high enough to be considered diabetes. How long will it take before pre- becomes the real deal? Without interventions pre-diabetes can convert to diabetes over a span of 10 years. Sounds like a long time, but having elevated blood sugar levels for an extended period can damage the circulatory system as well as the heart. According to the 2010 US Census, 8.3 percent of DC residents reported having diabetes. The DC Department of Health reports that some of the highest numbers of residents living with diabetes come from east of the Anacostia River. In Ward 7, 11 percent of the residents are diabetic, while Ward 8 reports 15 percent. Complications due to diabetes are the sixth leading cause of death. Chances are that many of the residents that have Type 2 diabetes also had pre-diabetes.

The Pre-Diabetic Type If you an overweight adult, 45 years or older, with a family history of type 2 diabetes, you may be at risk for pre-diabetes. So are people who are African-American and have low levels of LDL (good cholesterol) and high blood pressure. A physician can tell that a person is on the road to diabetes through a blood sugar test. If the test reads be-

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Food Insecurity and Exercise Options

Trusted Health Plan holds monthly healthy cooking classes at its Minnesota Avenue location.

ing to DC Hunger Solutions, 13.2 percent of all households in the District of Columbia were food insecure in 2011-13. That is an increase of 1.2 percent from 2010-13 when 12 percent of all households were considered to be food insecure. The rule of thumb for pre-diabetics and diabetics alike is to reduce the dietary sugar and fats and increase the fruits, vegetables, and water intake. But living in a neighborhood where transportation to the nearest farmers’ market or grocery store can be challenging creates a formidable roadblock. Corner stores and carryouts provide tempting and unhealthy solutions for residents living in food deserts. Access to physical activities is also a factor. Are fitness solutions affordable and convenient?

Two ladies in cooking class and single lady cooking, Photo: Jason Thomas

Are exercise classes available at times that fit into a family’s schedule? What about childcare? Can anything be done at home to significantly reduce weight? These points are often included in a person’s planning when trying to decide how to address this health concern.

Can You Say Reversible? Fortunately pre-diabetes is a stop on a health journey and not a destination. A diagnosis serves as a wake up call to spring into action. It requires planning. Angela Wright, community health educator at Trusted Health in Northeast, says she works with pre-diabetic clients to change their lifestyle before onset becomes full blown. “The main thing they have to understand is good nutrition. That is about 80 percent of the prevention plan for diabetes. A good diet plan, be active, and if they’re overweight, lose a few pounds and continue to take medication as prescribed. We do nutrition consults with our members to emphasize portion control and make sure that they eat regularly. We also make sure that they don’t skip meals. Skipping meals will also contribute to diabetes.” Wright uses the My Fitness Pal app with her clients to help monitor eating and activity. Trusted Health also offers cooking classes for members.

Physical activity and stress reduction are critical to fighting diabetes. Losing just 10 percent of body weight can make a difference. Wright recommends that her clients get in at least 150 minutes a week of any exercise that includes cardio. In Wards 7 and 8 fitness options include classes at the Community Wellness Collective in the Anacostia Arts Center, Da GoGo classes offered in many locations (free of charge for Trusted Health Plan members), dance classes at the Northeast Performing Arts Center on Benning Road, and water exercises at the Therapeutic Aquatic Center on G Street in Southeast. As for stress, Wright recommends handling issues upfront. “Stress plays a big part in diabetes control. We work with members on more than just health issues. If they are worried about having a place to live or employment their health is going to take a back seat. So I emphasize working on their problems as they arise to minimize stress in their lives.” Pre-diabetes doesn’t have to define your health or repress you into a life of fingerpricks and insulin shots. It’s an opportunity to press the reset button on health. Heed the warning while there is time and change the route you take for a better health outcome. Candace Y.A. Montague is the health reporter for Capital Community News. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

East washington life / Jazz Avenues

Jazz Avenues by Steve Monroe

East of the River, Plenty of Strayhorn Music fans east of the Anacostia River have special treats this month, thanks to the Strayhorn Centennial Celebration series of concerts honoring the life and music of legendary composer and musician Billy Strayhorn. Vernard Gray and CA-FAM III Inc.’s year-long series of performances, public conversations, and dramatic readings culminates in the weeks ending on Nov. 29, Strayhorn’s birthdate. On Nov. 10 there is the “Gill/Dunn Exploring Strayhorn: East & West of the Blues” show at 7 p.m. at the Anacostia Playhouse. The concert features pianist Janelle Gill and her group, with Marshall Keys, saxophones, James King, bass, Adia Gill, cello, and Savannah Harris, percussion; and trumpeter Freddie Dunn’s group, with Lionel Lyles, reeds, Todd Simon, piano, Ethan Philion, bass, and John Lamkin III, drums. Also at the Anacostia Playhouse are a “Come Dance to Strayhorn” show at 2 p.m., Nov. 11; “Paris Blues: A Viewing and Conversation” at 7 p.m., Nov. 12; and “Day Dream,” a dramatic reading about the life of Strayhorn written by jazz vocalist Barry Moton and HIV activist Roderick Sheppard on Nov. 13. On Nov. 14 a “Strayhorn and Hodges/Coltrane” show features the Carl Grubbs Ensemble at 2 p.m. at the Anacostia Community Museum; and “A Conversation with Freddie Dunn” on Nov. 21 is at the Dorothy I. Height Benning Neighborhood Library. For more information on all events see www.eastriverjazz.net.

InPerson... Tim Whalen/C.V. Dashiell Pianist Tim Whalen and drummer C.V. Dashiell led a group that stormed through several hot numbers at Westminster Presbyterian Church in early October, featuring the music of Art Blakey. Tenor saxist Tedd Baker and alto sax guru Marty Nau helped highlight the opening “One by One” with bluesy riffs; “Crisis” was a rocker speared by trumpeter Joe Herrera and Whalen’s piano runs; and “Split Kick” soared as the horns led the way, with Reginald Cyntje on trombone; and Cyntje added more sizzle on “Plexus,” also powered by Baker’s hot sax and Whalen’s rippling melodies on piano.

In Review... Shannon Gunn’s ‘Bullettes and Friends’ With only six tunes, the new recording by area trombonist and bandleader Shannon Gunn, “Bullettes and Friends,” makes you wish for more. But what is here is tasty, beginning with “Australian Mood” by Bullettes tenor saxophonist Anita Thomas, a free-flowing melody highlighted by the harmonic sax, trumpet, and trombone sections over the solid rhythm section of Cyndy Elliott, bass, Lydia Lewis, drums, and pianist Miki Yamanaka with her lyrical, clear crystal touch. “Blue Moo” by one of our Washington Women In Jazz all-stars, saxophonist Leigh Pilzer, is a spicy rocker, with the horns featuring some soaring riffs by Thomas and Gunn and the alto saxist Halley Shoenberg. “Simon Sez” turns into a whipping jam behind Yamanaka’s rippling piano and Elliott’s’ grooves on bass under the swinging horns, including Alex Flanagan’s eloquent baritone sax lines. After a couple of small-group, bluesy, melancholy tunes with vocalist Taylar Lee, the big band is back with “Nigeria,” which takes its edgy cue from Elliott’s opening bass solo. And with Lewis’

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Esteemed educator and bandleader Bobby Felder leads his big band in concert on Nov. 27 at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

raps and rolls and intermittent horn riffs led by Gunn, and Yamanaka’s piano accents, the tune becomes a starkly visual tone poem. For more information see www.bullettesjazz.com.

Congrats, Monk Finalists! Way to go and best of luck to area vocalists Lena Seikaly, Christie Dashiell, and Danielle Wertz who are among 11 semifinalists for the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition to be held on Nov. 14-15 in Los Angeles. The winner receives a $25,000 music scholarship, a recording contract with Concord Music Group – and the prestige of winning a Monk competition. See www.monkinstitute.org for more information. November Highlights: … The John Lamkin “Favorites” Quintet, Nov. 6-7, Twins Jazz … Lafayette Gilchrist/Composer Collective, Nov. 7, Caton Castle … Karen Gray, Nov. 9, Vicino’s … Janelle Gill/Freddie Dunn/Exploring Strayhorn, Nov. 10, Anacostia Playhouse … Paris Blues: A Film Viewing & Conversation, Nov. 12, Anacostia Playhouse … Carl Grubbs Ensemble/ Strayhorn and Hodges/Coltrane, Nov. 14, Anacostia Community Museum … Kenny Rittenhouse, Nov. 14-15, Twins Jazz … Celebrating

Great Women of Jazz, Nov. 14, Kennedy Center Jazz Club … Sine Qua Non, Nov. 14, Jazzway 6004/Baltimore … Charles Rahmat Woods Trio Plus/A Tribute to Strayhorn: Avant Garde Interpretations, Nov. 16, Vicino’s Restaurant/Silver Spring … Howard University Jazz Ensemble, Nov. 19, Rankin Chapel/Howard University … Roberta Gambarini, Nov. 19-22, Blues Alley … Airmen of Note, Nov. 20, Clarice Smith Center/University of Maryland … The Abbey Lincoln Story/Heidi Martin, Nov. 20, Westminster Presbyterian Church ... Carmen Lundy, Nov. 2021, Kennedy Center Jazz Club … Aaron Walker, Nov. 20-21, Twins Jazz … Bobby Felder Big Band, Nov. 27, Westminster Presbyterian Church ... Tim Whalen Septet, Nov. 27-28, Twins Jazz … November Birthdays: Lou Donaldson 1; Phil Woods 2; Arturo Sandoval 6; Hubert Laws 10; Ernestine Anderson 11; Sam Jones 12; Hampton Hayes, Idris Muhammad 13; W.C. Handy 16; Don Cherry 18; Coleman Hawkins 21; Teddy Wilson 24; Paul Desmond, Nat Adderley 25; Randy Brecker 27; Gato Barbieri 28; Billy Strayhorn 29. Steve Monroe is a Washington, DC, writer who can be reached at steve@jazzavenues.com and followed atwww.twitter.com/jazzavenues. u

Changing hanDs

EAST

Changing hands is a list of most residential sales in the District of Columbia from the previous month. A feature of every issue, this list,based on the MRIs, is provided courtesy of Don Denton, manager of the Coldwell Banker office on Capitol Hill. The list includes address, sales price and number of bedrooms.

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

4

KiDs & faMilY / notEBooK

notebook by Kathleen Donner

tHE nutcrackEr at tHEarc This celebrated production has become DC’s perennial holiday favorite. Set in historic Georgetown with historical figures and whimsical touches. This sumptuous production showcases the grandeur of The Washington Ballet’s international roster of dancers and majestic Tchaikovsky score. Replete with swirling snowflakes, cherry blossoms and historic characters including George Washington as the Nutcracker and King George III as the menacing Rat King! Start a new holiday tradition with your loved ones. Performances are Nov. 28 and Nov. at 29: 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day. Tickets are $30 to $50 with a $15 discount for Ward 7 and 8 residents. Get tickets at thearcdc.org. For the discount, you have to buy tickets in person. thearcdc.org

WintEr Holiday EvEnts

akEElaH and tHE bEE Based on the beloved film, Akeelah and the Bee tells the story of an independent 11-year-old from the Chicago projects whose razorsharp mind keeps her one step ahead of the game in the neighborhood, but is it enough to get her to the top? Akeelah must turn to family, friends and a few unlikely mentors if she’s going to survive the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Playwright Cheryl L. West (Pullman Porter Blues) and director Charles RandolphWright (Ruined) bring this spirited adaptation to life this holiday season. Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. 202-488-3300. arenastage.org. Johannah Easley as Akeelah in Children’s Theatre Company’s Akeelah and the Bee at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, Nov. 13 to Dec. 27. Photo: Dan Norman

5

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

The White House Christmas Tree will be lit by President Obama and family on Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. Don’t have tickets? Watch the lighting and the show on television. Visit the tree at any time. The evening music program will begin with performances on Dec. 9 and continue through Dec. 22. There are no performances on Dec. 14. Visit nps.gov/whho for the schedule. There’s also a model train display at the base of the tree that kids will love. The Capitol Christmas Tree will almost certainly be lit on Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. but this is not confirmed. It’s a big secret that will be announced by the House Speaker’s office when the tree is harvested. The public is invited. No tickets are required. Subscribe to the EOR ebulletins and we’ll let you know as soon as we can confirm. Go to capitalcommunitynews.com, hit “EOR” and go to SUBSCRIBE on the left side of the front page of our online local news service. Here are a few other activities and events that work well for kids: Season’s Greenings at the Botanic Garden; Zoolights; “Oliver” at Arena Stage; “Joy of Christmas” at the National Cathedral; DAR Annual Christmas Open House; Mount Vernon at Christmas and Candlelight Tours; “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s; National Hanukkah Menorah Lighting at the White House; Caroling at the National Gallery of Art; Waterskiing Santa Comes to Old Town Alexandria; Family Kwanzaa Celebration at the Anacostia Community Museum; First Night Alexandria. The EOR Calendar in the front of this paper has time(s), date(s), place, costs, ticket information and a brief descrip-

tion of tons of things to do with the kids to celebrate the season.

tHEarc trEE triMMing On Dec. 2 at 6 p.m., kids and grown-up are invited to THEARC, 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE, for refreshments, music and to help trim their Christmas tree. thearcdc.org.

civil War tours to trEasurE On Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to noon, families get a personal docent-led tour of the exhibition “How the Civil War Changed Washington” and participate in a self-guided treasure hunt activity. Kids receive a free museum token for finishing the hunt. The program lasts approximately 90 minutes; recommended for families and children, six years and up. Call 202-633-4844 to register. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu

PrEsidEntial History cHallEngE The White House Historical Association and the Washington Nationals have created a shortfilm competition for 11th graders from DC public schools and public charter schools. This program will examine the constitutional powers of the President focusing on decision-making in the White House. Students have the opportunity to create a storyboard for a 50-second video examining a major White House decision made by one of the Racing Presidents. Five winners will have their storyboards professionally filmed and edited for broadcast during a game at Nationals Park in 2016. Historical resources that can help students create their storyboards can be found online at whitehousehistory.org/nationals/meet-the-presidents. All storyboards are due by Dec. 15. More information about the contest can be found online at whitehousehistory.org/nationals.

FrEdErick douglass oratorical contEst The oratorical contest is an opportunity for students to experience the same power of language that Frederick Douglass experienced as a young man. Open to all students in grades one through 12, the contest is held in the visitor center of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site on Dec. 11 and 12. Students memorize and present a por-

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

tion of a Douglass speech from a stage in a small auditorium before an audience and a panel of judges. Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, 1411 W St. SE. nps.gov/frdo.

ForuM on youtH activisM along tHE anacostia On Dec. 15 from 2 to 4 p.m., the discussions will highlight the efforts of local youth to preserve and advocate for the Anacostia River and the communities along its banks. Guest panelists will share how such work has impacted their connection to their communities and their visions of the future. They will also provide advice on how other local youth can become involved in the various programs and organizations working along the river. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

studEnt-atHlEtE advisory council announcEd The District of Columbia State Athletic Association has announced the inaugural members of its StudentAthlete Advisory Council. These six students are Nicole Maria Chapman, Georgetown Day School; Tytilayo Green, Wilson Senior High School; Favor Ogu, Cardozo Education Campus; Chima Osuagwu, Benjamin Banneker Academic High School; Will Thomas, Gonzaga College High School; and Ned Yarsky, Washington Latin Public Charter School. The council is charged with serving as a voice for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high school student-athletes and contributing suggestions for improvements. The members also help with postgame ceremonies at DCSAA championship events. To learn more, visit dcsaasports.org.

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On Nov. 16 and Dec. 21 at 5 p.m., join other girls ages eight to 14 and play Wii games, watch movies, play board games, talk about awesome books and hang out with girls from the neighborhood. Capitol View Neighborhood Library, 5001 Central Ave. SE. 202645-0755. dclibrary.org/capitolview.

stEP aFrika! Holiday Fun Pack Step Afrika! is back, Dec. 10 to

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OPEN HOUSES: Dec. 22, to delight audiences young and old with their magical musical holiday step show. Audiences are invited to make music with DC’s internationally-known stepping company and their furry friends from the Animal Kingdom in this annual holiday tradition. Come ready to bring in the festive season with a bang featuring the electrifying artists from Step Afrika! and special guest DJ Frosty the Snowman. Tickets are $15 to $39.50. The Family Fun Pack is $100 and includes four tickets, one snack and one drink each; two patrons must be 16 and under. The Atlas performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-399-7993. atlasarts.org.

ForuM on nEigHborHood cHangE and scHools On Dec. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m., join experts from the Washington area in a discussion of the impact that recent neighborhood change has had on schools in the region. Topics include shifting demographics, evolving educational policy and persistent inequality. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

EdFEst 2015 EdFEST is DC’s citywide public school fair designed to help families find the best fit for their child. EdFEST kicks off the 2016-17 Common Lottery, which opens Dec. 14. EdFEST will be held on Dec. 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the DC Armory, 2001 East Capitol St. SE. Explore more than 180 DCPS and public charter schools. Find out about schools’ programs and services, including schools’ curriculum, special education and services for English language learners. Learn more about My School DC, the common lottery for DCPS and public charter schools. Explore educational and community programs from city agencies. Participants include DC Department of Health, DC Department of Parks and Recreation, DC Public Library, and more. For more information, visit MySchoolDC.org or call the My School DC Hotline at 202-888-6336.

littlE turkEy Fun run The only turkey trot in the District, the Trot for Hunger is a tradition for thousands of area residents and a meaningful way to remember people in need on Thanksgiving Day. The Fun Run begins at 8:30 a.m. at Freedom Plaza, the corner of 13th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. To participate, each child or adult must be registered for the official 5K. Fun

run is $30. The run benefits So Others Might Eat. soome.convio.net.

“olivEr” FaMily Fun Pack

November 18 5pm-7pm December 16 5pm-7pm

Come tour the school and meet the staff!

“Oliver” is at Arena Stage through Jan. 2. With the Family Fun Pack, purchase four seats for only $125. The group must include a minimum of two patrons between the ages of five and 17 per Fun Pack. It cannot be combined with any other offer or applied to previously purchased tickets. There is a limit of two Fun Packs per household. All standard fees apply. Must be purchased by phone or in person. arenastage.org.

FlaMEnco En FaMilia Flamenco en Familia, free family interactive demonstrations in flamenco zapateo, castanets, and fans, takes place on Nov 14. Members of the Spanish Dance Society will lead two sessions from 11 a. m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 pm at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. galatheatre.org.

arts on tHE Horizon: Point a to Point b It’s just another day at the Lab, but today’s particular assignment has the two employees scratching their heads. A ball keeps appearing from a spot labeled “Point A” and needs to travel to “Point B.” The catch is that the ball can never travel the same way twice! As the two coworkers--one a careful scientist, the other an athletic risk-taker--begin to solve the puzzle together. They explore different modes of transportation in new, wonderful, and exciting ways. This world premiere, nonverbal production is inspired by the America on the Move exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Best for ages between two and five. Point A to Point B is at the Atlas from Nov. 11 to 15. $9. atlasarts.org.

MakE nativE aMErican drEaMcatcHErs On Nov. 21 from 2 to 4 p.m., families can make and decorate these traditional Native American ornaments attributed to the Ojibwe peoples of the Great Lakes area of the United States. Artist and educator Camilla Younger will lead the workshop. Call 202-633-4844 to register. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

rEnWick gallEry FaMily FEstival On Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., experience craft making, artist demonstra-

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4600 Livingston Road SE • Washington, DC 20032 East of the River Magazine November 2015

KIDS & FAMILY / NOTEBOOK tions, musical performances, games, and more at the Renwick. Come see the new contemporary art installations of the WONDER exhibition. Enjoy a fun-filled day with activities for all ages. The Renwick Gallery is at Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street NW. americanart.si.edu The Renwick Gallery, home to the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s craft and decorative arts program, reopens to the public on Nov. 13 following a major two-year renovation. A reopening exhibition titled WONDER, featuring nine major contemporary artists, a celebratory weekend of public programs. Three special publications will accompany the reopening.

Free Performances at the National On Saturdays at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. there are free live performances for children in the National Theatre Helen Hayes Gallery. Tickets are required and distributed first come, first seated. Tickets are distributed a half hour prior to performance. One ticket per person in line. The National Theatre is at 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 202-783-3372. Here’s the remaining line-up: Nov. 7, Single Carrot; Nov. 14, Barynya; Nov. 21, Tales as Tall as the Sky; Dec. 5, Virginia Ballet Company & School, The Nutcracker Selections; Dec. 12, Dicken’s Tale. Read more at thenationaldc.org.

Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play! In this vaudevillian romp of a musical based on Mo Willems’s children’s books, Elephant Gerald and Piggie sing and dance their way through plenty of pachydermal peril and swiney suspense backed by nutty backup singers, The Squirrelles. For ages three and up. Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play! from Nov. 25 to Jan. 3. $20. kennedy-center.org.

Capital City Symphony Family Concert Bruce Adolphe’s Three Pieces for Kids and Chamber Orchestra is an interactive journey through the orchestra that is sure to be fun for all. Benjamin Britten’s Soirées Musicales (1933), referencing themes by Rossini, are full of energy and fun. Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances Nos. 5, 6 and 7 are short and sweet works with lots of personality. The concert is on Nov. 22 at 2:30 p.m. There is an Instrument Petting Zoo for 30 minutes before the performance. The cost is $15 to $25. atlasarts.org.

Rock the Boat For Earth Conservation Corps In order to continue providing daily river cleanup runs and hands-on environmental education, job training and community service programs for District youth, the Earth Conservation Corps (ECC) needs funds to repair their boat. A small nonprofit for more than 20 years, the ECC has worked with the city’s disconnected youth to clean up the Anacostia. In the process

EastoftheRiverDCNews.com

of transforming the river, the kids have transformed their lives as well. While ECC has made great progress in watershed restoration, there’s still more to do. The ECC Sweeper is currently docked at the Washington Marina Company for repairs, which has total estimated cost of $4,500. You can make a donation at gofundme.com/dg6kyg3a. Read more at earthconservationcorps.org.

College Night at the Folger Pericles, Prince of Tyre, sets sail on an extraordinary journey through the decades and is blown from the coast of Phoenicia to Greece and to Turkey. Chased by the wicked King of Antioch, Pericles finds his true love in Thaisa, but loses both her and their daughter on the rough seas. Pericles expands on the notion of the “romantic play” to encompass life’s dramatic scope amidst an adventure tale replete with storms, shipwrecks and pirates. College Night is on Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15, with a valid student ID. Folger Theater is at 201 East Capitol St. SE. 202-544-7077. folger.edu.

Three Day Family Kwanzaa Celebration On Dec. 26, bring the entire family for Day One of the museum’s annual three-day Kwanzaa celebration. This year, Culture Kingdom Kids presents the original play Bone Soup. This energetic and interactive introduction to Kwanzaa includes dancers, singers, music, colorful costumes, and lively characters. On Dec. 28, members of the multi-talented mime and performance group Crazee Praise give a high-energy, interactive performance based on the seven guiding Kwanzaa principles. This performance will be at the Fort Stanton Recreation Center located one block from the museum. On Dec. 29, families participate in multiple arts and crafts activities using a variety of art materials in the museum’s multi-purpose room. Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl. SE. anacostia.si.edu.

Sesame Street Live No matter where you’re from or where you’ve been, everyone is special, so join in. Elmo, Grover, Abby Cadabby, and their Sesame Street friends welcome Chamki, Grover’s friend from India, to Sesame Street. Together, they explore the universal fun of friendship and celebrate cultural similarities, from singing and dancing, to sharing cookies. Sesame Street Live “Make a New Friend” will visit EagleBank Arena from Dec. 11, through Dec. 13. Tickets are $18 to $40. For more information, call 703-993-3000. To charge tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. Tickets may also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com.

Lemony Snicket’s THE LUMP OF COAL It is Christmastime! The hilarious and heartburning, uh, heartwarming holiday adventure of a Lump of Coal who wants to be an artist. Traditionally the dreaded stocking stuffer for children on the Naughty List, this Lump turns one

child’s worst nightmare into a dream come true. Direct from Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events, this stage adaptation by Norman Allen will delight audiences with its story of unlikely friendships and holiday miracles. At Glen Echo’s Adventure Theatre, Nov. 20 to Dec. 31. adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

Hansel and Gretel Complete with a cackling witch, enchanted fairies, dancing animals, and an over-sized gingerbread oven, the timeless Grimm brothers’ fairy tale returns for the holidays in Washington National Opera’s whimsical and neon-colored production from Dec. 12 to 20. $45-$59. kennedy-center.org.

A Family Christmas Concert A holiday treat for even the littlest fan, this one-hour, highly participatory concert delights with songs of Santa, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer, filling every soul with joy. Perfect for children ages five and older. This concert is on Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. in the Concert Hall. Tickets are $15 to $45. kennedy-center.org.

Learning through Theatre, DC This November, The National Children’s Theatre, DC Public Schools, and DC Public Charter Schools unite to launch Learning through Theatre, DC. In celebration of this inaugural partnership, 10,000 DCPS and DC Public Charter School students will receive free transportation and tickets to see a live performance of Roald Dahl’s award-winning The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) at The National Theatre between Nov. 2 and 13. The National Children’s Theatre will also provide teaching materials and professional development opportunities geared towards STEM and STEAM learning to accompany the theatrical performance to enhance the experience. nationaltheatre.org.

Free Access to the Newseum Newseum has launched a new online educational resource called NewseumED, which gives teachers and students free access to curated, standardsaligned content from its vast collection of more than 35,000 newspapers, magazines and other artifacts. The website offers lesson plans that use primary sources and historic artifacts to make history relevant today. It helps educators shed new light on current debates about the First Amendment and media ethics. The resource is designed to meet the needs of elementary, middle and high school classrooms, as well as college students and lifelong learners. Visit newseumed.org.

¡Ratón en Movimiento! Imagination Stage kicks-off the 2015-2016 Season of My First Imagination Stage with ¡Ratón en Movimiento!, a new bilingual version of the popular Mouse on the Move from Nov. 10 to Nov. 29. Developed by Imagination Stage, ¡Ratón en Movimiento! follows two adventurous mice ready to explore the world beyond their little mouse-hole. They decide to go to La Luna, since it is cat-free and made entirely of delicious, mouth-watering queso (so they have heard). In this interactive play, the audience becomes part of the story through multi-sensory activities. ¡Ratón en Movimiento! is best for ages one to five. Tickets are $14, with a $5 lap seat for children under 12 months. Tickets may be purchased online at imaginationstage.org, at the Imagination Stage box office, or by calling 301-280-1660.

DC Public High School Graduation Rate Increases The 2014-15 school year graduation rate for public high schools in the District of Columbia increased four percentage points over the prior year. Both District of Columbia Public Schools and public charter schools posted gains. The graduation rate for DCPS rose 6.1 percentage points to 64.4 percent. The graduation rate for public charter schools rose 2.8 percentage points to 71.7 percent. Overall, 3,210 of 4,912 public school students in the District graduated high school in 2015. For more information, visit osse.dc.gov. Have an item for The Notebook? Email bulletinboard@hillrag.com. u

East of the River Magazine November 2015

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East of the River Magazine November 2015

“X Marks the Spot”

Crossword Author: Myles Mellor • www.themecrosswords.com • www.mylesmellorconcepts.com

by Myles Mellor and Sally York Across:

1. Big do 4. Iron hooks, in fishing 9. Attention getter 13. Uneasy feeling 18. Swift fly 19. “Be-Bop-___” (Gene Vincent hit) 20. Reverberate 21. Leaf 22. Loyal, in Scotland 23. Plot again 24. Coconut fiber 25. Eccentric 26. Surpasses requirements 30. Aquatic South American rodent 31. Miami players 32. Snares 35. High point 36. Soak up 39. Hot sandwich 41. Bank offering, for short 42. “If only ___ listened ...” 43. Irate 45. “Laughable Lyrics” writer 47. Scale notes 48. Urgent crises 54. Reredoses 58. In a strongly attracted manner 59. Capital on the Dnieper 60. Peruvian tuber 61. Spoon handle 63. ___ nouveau 64. Fancy tie 66. Seabirds 68. Castaway’s place 71. Hajji’s destination 75. When repeated, a dance 77. Gave the once-over 79. Online magazine 81. Kaput 82. Dress ___ 87. Erase, in a way 90. Trip to the Mayan sites of Copan, e.g. 92. Entreat 93. Not yet final, at law 94. Beach souvenir 95. “The ___” (Uris novel)

98. Some degs. 99. Withdraws, with “out” 101. Sampler 104. Lower in rank 106. Some solvents 108. Filly’s father 109. Carve 110. Thrilling happenings 116. Anger 118. Met solo 119. Kitchen counter? 120. Circular course 121. Large lemur 122. Egyptian Christian 123. Give forth 124. Confused 125. Twangy, as a voice 126. ___ pads 127. Loser to Lewis 128. Compass reading

Down:

1. Crease 2. Flipped out, maybe 3. Lewd ones 4. Lake of northern Italy 5. Pub potables 6. Stew 7. Linen fabric 8. Poetess of ancient Greece 9. Liable to sin 10. Brit. balladeer 11. Islam denomination 12. Civil wrong 13. Solvent 14. High times? 15. Inflammation of the tongue 16. Not guzzle 17. Part of a Happy Meal 18. Jaw action 27. “Take your pick” 28. Musket ending 29. Malicious 33. Cantilevered window 34. Flippant 36. New York prison 37. News office 38. On ___ (without a contract) 39. Hurt

Look for this months answers at labyrinthgameshop.com 40. As a result 44. Really big show 46. Tests 49. Having entanglements 50. Time zone 51. Horse-and-buggy ___ 52. Standard 53. Most adorable 54. Wanted-poster letters 55. Sue Grafton’s “___ for Lawless” 56. Private eye 57. Long-legged bird 62. Pillow filler 65. Ethnic cuisine 67. Seaweeds 69. Abominate 70. More jittery

72. Vital force of Chinese medicine 73. Child of your unc 74. Had a little lamb 76. Missile’s path 78. Old Tokyo 80. Hydroxyl compound 82. Jewish teacher 83. College leave 84. Barrels 85. Elated 86. Line of symmetry 88. It’s rigged 89. Intertwine 91. Go to court 95. Idyllically tranquil 96. Malign 97. Frequent fliers

99. Cudbear 100. Letter before omega 102. “Earth Girls ___ Easy” (Julie Brown song) 103. Hexad 105. Boo-boo 107. Bonus 108. Marsh bird 109. Kind of call 111. Bulletin board fastener 112. ___ Maiden 113. Sprite 114. Outback birds 115. Start from scratch 116. Take the gold 117. Biology class abbr.

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