Rhode Island Insider

“When pigs fly.” That was a response when I told someone that good restaurants will make their way to RIA, either on the NE side or nearby. Sure, RIA has Boundary Stone, Rustik, and one or two other places, and they are all great and good food, but I wouldn’t put them down as the sit-down restaurant category that requires a reservation kind of place that my friend said would never come to the Avenue.

Well…I happened to venture into the Red Hen at 1st Street NW and Seaton Place this evening for dinner with friends. What we discovered was a gem yet to be discovered.

The dining room and central bar area was rustic and comfortable and the staff was very courteous (I’ll admit, they were after they finally allowed us to sit down even though the other two people were not there yet). Our dinner guests were no strangers to RIA and Brookland: a Friends of RIA board member, organizer of the famous Ward Five Happy Hours, and the Proprietor of Brookland’s finest speakeasy. We each ordered beers from their short yet really great selection of domestic and import beers (don’t event think about finding a Bud Light on this menu).

We ordered four appetizers to share. The favorite among us all was the ricotta crostini. I really enjoyed the salted cod dip with crostini, but my other fish-hating brethren didn’t (their loss). The owner brought over a special gift to help welcome us to the new restaurant: a tasting of a special microbrew… he knew how to make our table happy!

The dinners were a step towards fantastic. From the lamb sandwich to the rigatoni with ragu to the grilled hen, we were all satisfied and happy.

We ended the evening with one dessert. The chef brought out an aged Parmesan di mozzarella Di bufala and doused it with a 25 year old balsamic vinegar. One word: amazing. We also enjoyed some great scotch and bourbon (as an avid scotch drinker, I was also impressed with their selection).

The bill was well worth the food and atmosphere. It was great seeing friends there eating and imbibing, which made it feel like a neighborly place. If you haven’t been yet, check out the Red Hen before the rest of the DC Foodie nation does and you can’t get a reservation. Oh, and to my friend that thought no good restaurants would come until pigs fly, here’s what I found in the Red Hen. Your turn.

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The Rhode Island Ave NE corridor is finally making it onto the radar screens for retail promotion by the Washington, DC Economic Partnership. According to a recent Washington Business Journal article, the 

Partnership added Rhode Island Ave/Brentwood and Rhode Island Avenue/Woodridge to the list. 

What are these lists for? 

According to the article:

“We initially produced these profiles to encourage retail and housing investment in underserved neighborhood markets across the City,” Keith Sellars, the economic partnership’s CEO, said in a statement. “The demand for knowledge by investors and entrepreneurs at this level has exceeded our initial expectations so we have expanded our reach to include several nascent neighborhoods and emerging corridors ideal for investment.”

The partnership is funded by the D.C. government and its private partners. It has two main responsibilities: representing D.C. during the International Council of Shopping Centers conference in Las Vegas and promoting the District’s retail corridors through meetings, site tours and research.

 

Here is a complete list of neighborhoods added to the publication for 2013:

• Barry Farm
• Capitol Hill
• Congress Heights/St. Elizabeths (St. E’s was added)
• East Capitol Street/Capitol Gateway
• Fort Lincoln/Dakota Crossing
• Georgia Avenue/Brightwood
• Lincoln Heights/Richardson Dwellings
• Northwest One
• Park Morton
• Parkside/Kenwilworth
• Rhode Island Avenue/Brentwood
• Rhode Island Avenue/Woodridge
• Union Market
• Union Station/Burnham Place
• West End/Foggy Bottom

Some great news about RIA NE funding, including some other important areas along or just off of the Avenue!

• Up to $5 million to increase the Retail Priority Area program to include Ward 5 Great Streets, including a study for streetscape enhancements on Rhode Island Avenue, N.E.;

Some other funding to highlight are:

• Funding for the Langdon Park Community Center, Harry Thomas Sr. Recreation Center, Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, and Noyes Recreation Center;
• $4.8 million to complete funding for the Woodridge Public Library;

Here is the Councilmember’s letter:

For Immediate Release:

March 29, 2013

Contact:

Darrell Jackson

202.724.8028

DJackson@DCCOUNCIL.US

 

McDuffie Secures Funding for Critical Ward 5 Projects and Fights to Improve the Quality of Life for District Residents

Washington, DC – Yesterday, Mayor Vincent Gray (D) presented to the Council of the District of Columbia his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 budget.

Over the last several months, Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie (D – Ward 5) outlined his Ward 5 and agency budget priorities with the Mayor and agency directors. The Mayor’s proposed $10.7 billion dollar budget addresses many of these requests, including funding for Ward 5 schools and libraries, increasing the city’s investment in affordable housing, promoting economic development, and enhancing job and educational opportunities.

“Mayor Gray presented a solid budget, one that is aimed at improving the quality of life for residents, incentivizing economic development, and increasing educational opportunities for our students,” said Councilmember McDuffie. “I am pleased to see many of the issues for which I advocated in the Mayor’s plan. A number of my legislative initiatives over the past year are reflected in the FY14 budget, including replacement Supercans for all residents throughout the city. I am also pleased to see $100 million for affordable housing, full funding for the new Brookland Middle School, and the modernization of Spingarn High School and Langdon Elementary School, as well as capital to improve Ward 5’s Great Streets. These are all critical investments in the future of Ward 5.”

Additionally, McDuffie supported and is pleased to see increased funding for the DC Board of Elections (BOE), the Office of Campaign Finance (OCF), and the DC Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA). These agencies play a critical role in McDuffie’s plan, as Chair of the Government Operations Committee, to restore integrity to the District’s electoral process.

“Elections and a transparent campaign finance system are vital elements of our democracy. BOE, OCF, and BEGA must be equipped with sufficient resources to accomplish their missions – this has been lacking in the past and has contributed to the problems we have faced as a city. Through the budget oversight process, I will ensure that BOE, OCF, and BEGA’s budgets enable them to uphold and enforce our laws,” said McDuffie.

Working with the Mayor, Councilmember McDuffie secured and preserved funding for the following:

• Over $49 million, including receiving school realignment funds, for Ward 5 school construction and modernization;
• $2 million to expand the “Supercans For Seniors Act 2013” to include all residents;
• Up to $5 million to increase the Retail Priority Area program to include Ward 5 Great Streets, including a study for streetscape enhancements on Rhode Island Avenue, N.E.;
• Funding for the Langdon Park Community Center, Harry Thomas Sr. Recreation Center, Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, and Noyes Recreation Center;
• Over $1 million in operating funds to implement the Bloomingdale Flooding Task Force’s recommendations to combat systemic flooding issues;
• Initial funding of $1.4 million for McMillan redevelopment and $47.8 Million over the next four years for construction;
• $4.8 million to complete funding for the Woodridge Public Library;
• $9.8 million for the much needed rightsizing and realignment plan of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC); and
• $1.7 million in FY14 in UDC’s operating budget to enhance programming and activities for students.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Council to refine the budget over the next 56 days,” stated McDuffie.

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Applauding that the first thing on Councilmember McDuffie’s focus for the 2014 budget is RIA NE (even if that is just by listing luck or true priorities)!

Improvements for Rhode Island Avenue N.E. – The Rhode Island Avenue N.E. corridor has lacked the resources necessary to become a truly vibrate gateway into the city. In 2012 I introduced, and the Council passed, a bill formally designating Rhode Island Avenue as a Retail Priority Area. To realize Rhode Island Avenue’s full potential, my priority is to allocate funding for economic development incentives, walkable streetscape enhancements, a Main Streets program, and targeted assistance for small businesses along the corridor

Councilmember McDuffie’s letter regarding the 2014 budget is here:

McDuffie Fights for Ward 5 Projects in FY14 Budget

Dear Residents,

Tomorrow, the Mayor will deliver his Fiscal Year 2014 budget to the Council. Once the Council receives the budget, we will begin a month-long process of conducting budget oversight hearings for the District’s agencies.

The Government Operations Committee, of which I am chair, has oversight over 19 agencies, and will hold budget oversight hearings on April 11, 22, 25, and May 2. For a full listing of hearings, see the Council’s calendar.

I have heard from many of you about what you would like to see in this year’s budget for Ward 5. Over the last several months, I have outlined my budget priorities with the Mayor and various agency heads, related both to Ward 5 and the agencies under my committee. I presented them with realistic priorities that I feel would have the greatest impact on our Ward. Details of some of those priorities are listed below.

Over the next two months my staff and I will work diligently through the Council budget process to ensure that we are improving the quality of life for Ward 5 residents, incentivizing economic development, and enhancing job and educational opportunities throughout our Ward.

Warm regards,
Kenyan

Improvements for Rhode Island Avenue N.E. – The Rhode Island Avenue N.E. corridor has lacked the resources necessary to become a truly vibrate gateway into the city. In 2012 I introduced, and the Council passed, a bill formally designating Rhode Island Avenue as a Retail Priority Area. To realize Rhode Island Avenue’s full potential, my priority is to allocate funding for economic development incentives, walkable streetscape enhancements, a Main Streets program, and targeted assistance for small businesses along the corridor.

Spurring Economic Development Along Bladensburg Road N.E. – Bladensburg Road N.E. deserves the same resources and capacity-building assistance as H Street NE. To this end, I have been working to enlarge the boundaries of the H Street Main Street to include Bladensburg Road N.E., an expansion that would extend critical support to small businesses along the Bladensburg Road corridor. On a parallel track, I am advocating to designate Bladensburg Road N.E. as a Retail Priority Area, which will provide access to funds for larger-scale economic development.

Supercans for Seniors – Last year I introduced the Supercans For Seniors Act 2013, which provides free replacement 96-gallon trash cans and 32-gallon recycling carts to senior citizens within the District. I, along with my colleagues on the Council, have encouraged the Mayor to fund this bill, and to go further by allocating funding for replacement cans for all District residents.

Shaed Elementary Conversion – For many years, the residents of the Edgewood community have asked for a new recreation center that meets the needs of their growing community. To address this need, I have asked the Mayor to consolidate the Shaed School and the Edgewood field house into a state of the art community service center and sports facility.

Langdon Elementary School Modernization – As Langdon Elementary School prepares to absorb students from other schools, I have heard from many Ward 5 parents about the need to modernize the school in the FY 14 budget year. Therefore, I am advocating for improvements to the facilities over the summer, in advance of the upcoming school year. I am also requesting a FY14 modernization that includes a new gym, auditorium, and cafeteria.

McKinley Tech Middle School Cafeteria Enhancement – As we move towards opening the new STEM middle school at the McKinley Tech campus, we need to ensure that students have the facilities to make the best out of their learning experience. The current cafeteria configuration is not adequate for McKinley’s needs. To address this issue, I have requested funding to convert the courtyard into an expanded cafeteria for McKinley’s students.

Lamond Riggs Library – Ward 5 deserves not one, but two great libraries. That is why I have requested a full modernization of the Lamond Riggs library similar to the Woodridge library modernization plans.

We’ve talked a lot about what we want along RIA NE over the years. From the types of retail or restaurants or service to beautification and streetscaping. Now is the time to step up and tell the City directly.

This Thursday, March 28, starting at 6:30pm, the City’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will hold a “lstening tour” at the Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr. Family Life Community Center, 605 Rhode Island Avenue, NE, to hear directly from residents and business owners on what the City should be prioritizing in Fiscal Year 2014. Here is the City’s description from their website:

Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), announces a series of public hearings on “Housing and Community Development Needs in the District of Columbia”. `The hearing will help form a basis for developing the District’s draft “Consolidated Plan for the District of Columbia Fiscal Year 2014 Action Plan” and the spending priorities utilizing federal entitlement funds.  DHCD, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health will each provide input into the plan. 

Residents and stakeholders are strongly encouraged to come out and participate in the development of policies and programs in the following areas: 1) affordable housing; 2) special needs housing; 3) homelessness; 4) homeownership; and, 5) community development and public service activities.  The Department is also interested in receiving community feedback on innovative strategies to enhance community participation during this planning process. 

This is your chance to speak directly to the City and tell them they should focus on RIA NE!

Can’t make it to the meeting? Send them a letter.

Written statements may be submitted for the record at the hearing, or until close of business, Friday, April 12, 2013.  Mail written statements to: Michael P. Kelly, Director, DHCD, 1800 Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20020.