Lights, coffeehouses, medians

[extracts from the ANC4C09 listserv, by 4C09 Commissioner Joe Martin]

Grant Circle is in the dark again after a recent car crash into a light pole in the Circle. I have written to PEPCO and the National Park Service asking for an update and timeline on repairs. I will share what I learn.

*****

Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse

An entertaining read. In Boston, where I grew up, I first discovered outdoor cafes and coffeehouses when I was a child... in the Back Bay neighborhood, in the North End, Boston's Italian neighborhood (the oldest neighborhood dating to the early 1600s) and in Cambridge's Harvard Square.

For me, as a kid of working class origins, cafes and coffeehouses provided an early vehicle for meeting people from all over the world, hearing a variety of languages spoken, first examining magazines and newspapers written in languages I did not know, getting the sense of there being a much larger world out there.

From the little Palestinian-owned place on the side of the Brattle Theatre, an arthouse cinema, the patisserie run by a family from Paris, and the coffeehouse on Newbury Street run by two elderly ladies from Vienna, who often gave me free cups of cafe mit schlag when they saw me counting my coins, to the many cafes in the North End where clusters of men dressed in smart suits hung out speaking Italiano, those coffee spots strengthened my curiosity about it all.

*****

Kera Carpenter, owner of Domku, 821 Upshur Street NW, picked up her public space permit from DDOT this week, allowing the restaurant to provide service at outdoor tables.

*****

Do you prefer placing trees in a traffic calming median strip planned for New Hampshire Avenue NW between Georgia Avenue NW and Grant Circle? (Note: The plans do not call for a reduction in traffic or parking lanes.)

To vote, please visit the following web page.

Comments

[Bill]

Well, I think I'll pass on creating a poll here, unless someone tells me that the trees won't happen without a big show of community support. Opponents - and I suspect there are only a few - are free to press their case with the city as they see fit. I just can't bring myself to host a referendum on whether our neighborhood should be beautified or not. I mean, come on.

For those for or against, or to contribute specific ideas for plantings, here are the emails to use:

[email protected]
[email protected]

In addition to the current New Hampshire Ave post and comments, here's a previous substantial thread on this topic:

http://petworthnews.blogs.com/petworth_news/2007/01/georgianh_impro.html

[DC1974]

As someone that lives in ANC 4D, I'm not all that interested in "joining" for the ANC 4C list. I'm already on too many Yahoo! Groups to keep track of. Perhaps polling could be handled through Petworth News or some other site.

[JM]

While on my lunch break, I read on the Wikipedia site that the first coffehouse in my native Boston opened in 1670, 337 years ago!

[Joe Martin]

You may have to "join" to cast your vote. Read further down on the main page to add your name to the membership list.

JM