Posts Tagged ‘friends of ria

17
Dec
12

Is Woodridge Part of the “Up and Coming”?

By rhodeislandinsider 3 Comments
Categories: Redevelopment
Tags: , , , ,
photo by DC Urban Turf

photo by DC Urban Turf

DC Urban Turf has listed their “Best Use of a Magic 8-Ball” on the best upcoming neighborhoods in the City.

 two years ago UrbanTurf reached out to a selection of bloggers, journalists, real estate agents and developers to get their thoughts on what DC neighborhoods would be attracting homebuyers in 2015. Earlier this year, we decided to check in with the same group to see if they still agreed with the choices they originally made.

Woodridge wasn’t singled out as an up and coming neighborhood, although the same blog did write about RIA NE as recent as Octoberof this year, we are encouraged by the immediate surrounding communities’ designation as such. But being located between Brookland, Fort Lincoln, and Fort Totten, plus having one of the most promising “Main Streets” in the area and large single family homes, Woodridge is, by default, a part of these up and coming neighborhoods that you should keep an eye on. The Friends of RIA (FoRIA) are making huge strides with this area and the addition of over $1 million being slated for improvements along RIA NE, we plan to see the area transforming for the better.

As Urban Turf noted:

That whole part of NE — including Brookland, Woodridge, Michigan Park, Fort Lincoln — is seeing a lot of new developments come out of the ground that are going to transform the area.

What are your thoughts? Is the entire area going to surge or are parts of it going to be left behind?

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26
Nov
12

Come Home to the Avenue

By rhodeislandinsider Leave a Comment
Categories: Life on RIA
Tags: , , , , ,

The Friends of RIA NE (FoRIA) are hosting the first “Come Home to the Avenue” event on Friday, December 7 from 6 – 8:30 PM. As part of this event to bring neighbors and friends together, they are hosting a Silent Auction with items donated from area businesses and others (in fact, the Rhode Island Insider is donating a Wine Basket!). The event is being held at Art Enables located at 2204 Rhode Island Ave NE, and as a thank you to Art Enables, the group is asking folks to support them by donating art supplies.

So to recap: 

WHAT: FoRIA’s “Come Home to the Avenue” Holiday Reception, Gallery Show, and Silent Auction

WHEN: Friday, December 7, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM

WHERE: Art Enables, 2204 Rhode Island Ave NE

See you there!

25
Sep
12

Taylor Gourmet. Rustik. Hell Yeah.

By rhodeislandinsider 11 Comments
Categories: Life on RIA and Redevelopment
Tags: , , ,

Remember back, more than a year ago, when the Rhode Island Insider first reported that 1811 Rhode Island Ave NE was suspected to be a new location for Taylor Gourmet? Well, a local circular confirmed recently that Taylor Gourmet is, in fact, coming to the exact location that we first reported.

“It’s kind of top secret what we are planning to put in there, but there are definitely plans,” [Mazza] said.

At first, David Mazza, one of the owners of Taylor Gourmet, reported to the Insider that the location was going to be just a bakery where it could produce its bread for its DC sandwich locations. Now it seems, they are coming with a full blown store. More on this story later….

What? You want more good news?

Ok. Here’s some more. Rustik Tavern celebrated its second anniversary in Bloomingdale yesterday. The Insider tweeted that they hope that we could all celebrate its second anniversary next year at its new Woodridge location along RIA. Their response is below.

As you remember, the Friends of RIA hosted a “Rhode Trip” there last month to convince them to come to the NE end of RIA.

Are you as excited as I am?

29
Aug
12

Time to Celebrate

By rhodeislandinsider 3 Comments
Categories: Life on RIA
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Friends of RIA (FoRIA), along with the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the DC Dept of Housing and Community Development, will be hosting a FALL FEST later this September. The group would like to make the Fest to be an annual event that brings residents in the area to Rhode Island Ave NE and interact, meet, and spend time getting to know their neighbors and area businesses. In addition, the Fall Fest has the potential to show other small business owners who are considering a move to RIA that residents will come if they build their business here (and believe me for now…there are several small business owners considering a move… more on that later).  Many local businesses are already signing on to participate including DC Brau, Rita’s, and Art Enables.

See the flyer below regarding the event, but here are the basics:

WHAT: Fall Fest, A Day to Celebrate the Avenue

WHEN: Saturday, September 22nd, 2012, from Noon – 4 PM

WHERE: Rhode Island Avenue NE, between South Dakota Avenue NE and 20th St NE

15
Jul
12

Ward 5 Heroes and a “Rhode Trip”

By rhodeislandinsider Leave a Comment
Categories: Life on RIA and Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Friends of RIA not only became Ward 5 Heroes this past Saturday, they were also filmed by DC Office of Planning to showcase how residents are taking it upon themselves to help revitalize their neighborhood. Members of FoRIA were joined by Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and Council candidate David Grosso for their monthly RIA NE Cleanup. The Friends were given “Ward 5 Hero” buttons to show how their hard work does not go unnoticed.

In addition, Deborah Crain Kemp, Ward 5 Planner, was on hand to take pictures and film FoRIA’s efforts to turn around the Avenue and show businesses that the residents in Ward 5 care about their neighborhood enough to spend their Saturday picking up the trash and beautifying the street.

In addition to thanking Friends for their help, FoRIA President, Kyle Todd, announced an effort to lure at least one business to RIA that will take place on Wednesday evening. Calling it a “Rhode Trip“, members of FoRIA will all head to Boundary Stone on Rhode Island Ave NW at 1st Street NW to tell the owners that if they come further up to RIA NE, residents will come. Boundary Stone is rumored to be considering an expansion of their hit neighborhood restaurant/bar. So, if you are around and want to see more businesses along our section of RIA NE, show up to Boundary Stone between 5:30 pm and 8 pm, have a pint and a bite to eat and let the owners know that you are with FoRIA and you want them up on the NE side of RIA (even if you cannot stay, just stop by and tell them to come to us). FoRIA will most likely have a small slip of paper for you to hand to the owners saying this point. See everyone on Wednesday!!

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05
Apr
12

Why We Do What We Do

By rhodeislandinsider 3 Comments
Categories: Life on RIA and Redevelopment
Tags: , , , , ,

by Greg Roberts

I started this blog over four years ago as a means to show the rest of the world why I chose to move to a neighborhood off of Rhode Island Avenue. I saw the potential of a DC street that sees over 30,000 car trips daily in and out of the District, wide sidewalks along Main Street type of corridors, and wonderful people. Over the last year, the Insider grew to include more contributors who wanted to share their experiences and insight in this area. In addition, the readers of this blog used it as a means to connect and form a community group called Friends of RIA (FoRIA) to take our neighborhood to another level. None of us get paid for what we do…heck, we barely have time given our full time lives. So why do we do it?

The answer to that is in the email below that I received to a new RIA resident and neighbor:

Greg,

Hi- I have to thank you so much for your awesome blog.  My friends (future roommates) and I have been in DC for a few years.  I lived on H Street for two years and currently live on the Hill, the other two attended Catholic in undergrad and now live in NoVA (No!  terrible! haha) but none of us ever considered Rhode Island Ave.  We stumbled across the Rhode Island Row apartments, really loved the proximity to the metro and also the individual units, but we were concerned about the neighborhood.  Honestly, after reading your blog we were completely sold on the area.  It’s obvious that so many people care and are trying to make it better all the time.  I really just wanted to compliment you on the high quality of the blog, it’s clearly a labor of love on the part of all your talented contributors and that’s unique.  There are other good neighborhood blogs (PoP obviously) but more often than not they’re all posts clamoring for a LuLuLemon or something equally obnoxious. I like that you’re as focused on what the neighbors can do to improve their neighborhood as you are “when are we getting a Starbucks?”  Anyway, keep up the good work- we’re really enjoying all the info!

We’ll be moving in during May.

Thanks to all of our readers, those who comment, and those that volunteer your time… the message is for all of you. We all make a difference.

 

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