ANC2f meeting this Wednesday--Ghana Cafe protest continues

This month's ANC2f meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 2 at 7 PM at the Luther Place Memorial Church (NOT the usual ANC2f meeting location). The full agenda can be found below.

It's a rather quiet meeting agenda (pending any last-minute agenda items), but one thing worth mentioning is the unresolved protest against 14th Street restaurant Ghana Cafe and their plans for an outdoor summer garden. By some accounts, negotiations with owner Tony Opare have not gone particularly smoothly. Wednesday night's meeting promises an update on the status of the summer garden protest.

Also on the agenda is an update from the Arts Overlay Committee (to discuss the new banners that have recently been hung throughout the neighborhood) as well as a scintillating discussion about trash pickup in the alleyway between CVS, Logan Hardware and the Whole Foods.

ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 2F REGULAR MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 – 7:00 PM

LUTHER PLACE MEMORIAL CHURCH – 1226 Vermont Avenue, NW
The Church is directly across the street from Washington Plaza Hotel,
and may be entered on the Vermont Avenue side.

AGENDA

COMMUNITY FORUM

Call to Order – 7:00
Commissioner Announcements – 7:00
Report from Executive Office of the Mayor – 7:00
Report from Office of Jack Evans, City Council Member, Ward 2-0 – 7:00
PSA 307 Report – Metropolitan Police Department, 3D – 7:10
DDOT Report – Ward 2 Transportation Planner – 7:25
Community Announcements – 7:30
- 10 Minute Recess -

Business Meeting

Approval of Agenda – 7:40
Approval of Minutes of Meeting of January 5, 2010 – 7:40
DCHSEMA/Street Closures – 7:50
Bike DC

ABRA – 8:00

Ghana Café status of protest against summer garden

Education Committee – 8:10


DDOT – 8:20


Crime and Public Safety Committee – 8:25


Community Development Committee (Mike Benardo, Chair) – 8:30

1513-1521 14th Street, NW Application for Variance
1432 Q Street, NW – Application for Variance
1211 10th Street, NW – Application for Variances

Arts Overlay Committee – 8:40


New Business – 8:45

P Street Greenway Project
Amendment of Bylaws and appointment of CDC member
Trash pick-up alley way between CVS, ACE Hardware, and Whole Foods

Treasurer’s Report (Matt Raymond, Treasurer) – 8:55

Approval of Expenditures
Approval of 1st Quarter 2011 Report

Adjournment - 9:00

ANC Approves Voluntary Agreements for Estadio, Cork and Fork; Ghana Cafe Opens

Passing along a few notes from this evening's ANC2F meeting, before my head hits the pillow:

The ANC voted unanimously to approve the voluntary agreements for both Estadio and Cork and Fork, paving the way for liquor licenses for both. The approval of Cork & Fork's VA was pretty much a foregone conclusion--only an issue concerning an arcane ABRA regulation relating to the single sales ban caused any hiccups.

Estadio, on the other hand, had provoked a reasonable level of concern from residents of the condo building at 14th and Church streets that it is going to call home. Thanks to the savvy negotiating tactics of ANC2F chairman Charles Reed, all parties came away from the table satisfied. In addition to the VA covering the standard ANC fare (operating hours, parking, noise, etc.), the Estadio team also negotiated a "side agreement" with residents of the building covering issues such as odors and the location of vent fans. If all goes as planned, Estadio looks to be open by this summer.

In other ANC business, the Commission voted unanimously to endorse seven projects, totaling $350,000, that would be applying for funding as part of the Logan Circle Neighborhood Investment Fund through the DC government. Five of the projects were specific recommendations made by the Arts Overlay District Committee involving funding for economic projects for the 14th Street Arts Overlay District, such as a branding campaign for the neighborhood. The other two projects are for a "green team" for 14th Street south of U Street, and $50,000 for a "U Street Visitor's Center" to be awarded to Cultural Tourism DC.

In a later post, I'll delve into more detail on the recommendations made by the Arts Overlay Committee.

**********

One final note to pass along: following months of space build-out and contentious liquor license negotiations, the Ghana Cafe has opened at its new location at 1336 14th Street (although their website says 15th Street--woops).



In addition to a full bar and a menu full of West African goodies, the Cafe will feature live DJs on Thursdays through Sundays spinning Reggae, Afro-Pop and International tunes. More information--including a full menu--can be found at Ghana Cafe's website.

Back to the Grind: ANC Meeting This Wednesday-ABRA Matters and ARTS Overlay Committee Report

We hope everyone has had a good summer, and while we can't believe that it's drawing to a close, the pace of neighborhood news right now tells us otherwise.

Back from vacation, we're proud to remind everyone that it's ANC meeting week. And since the ANC didn't meet this past month, this month's agenda is chock full of interesting tidbits. The full agenda can be found here, but I'll pull out some of the highlights below.

The ABRA matters are always fun, and this month we get no fewer than six of them. Some are rather innocuous--1409 Playbill is petitioning to add lunch hours, a good thing as far as we're concerned (the more businesses open during the daytime, the better), and the application for soon-to-arrive wine retailer Cork and Fork. But there are also a few that stand out.

The Ghana Cafe (pictured at left), set to relocate to 14th Street from Adams Morgan, will be before the ANC to begin work on a voluntary agreement for their operations. The sticking point? The 2 am weekday and 3 am weekend closing time. Yeah, we know Saint-Ex has those hours, but we can't all be Saint-Ex, can we? Also, rumors of live dancing abound. Be afraid...be very afraid.

Next up, the rather interestingly named American Sacrifice Foundation. You may not be familiar with them, but you are likely familiar with the club that previously occupied the location now held by the Foundation--The Space. The Space's problems with its neighbors were well-documented here and elsewhere, so there's no need to rehash them. Suffice to say, expect the ANC to tread quite carefully here, seeing as how some people point to the lack of a voluntary agreement with The Space as one of the reasons the problems persisted for as long as they did.

Finally, Wednesday night may very well bring a conclusion to the longstanding saga of the voluntary agreement for the Vegas Lounge on P Street. Seems negotiations for this one were quite tense, with the Lounge bringing in their counsel and ANC2F commissioner Charles Reed making accusations of negotiating in bad faith. No one wants to see the Vegas Lounge go anywhere, so hopefully things will get wrapped up tomorrow evening.

In non-ABRA related happenings, Wednesday night will also mark the public unveiling of the zoning plan recommendations as put forth by the Arts Overlay Zoning Review Commission. Committee chair Andrea Doughty will be on hand to present the Committee's recommendations, which seek to guide and shape the direction of development of 14th and U streets during the coming years.

There has been much discussion recently over the future of the corridor--what kind of businesses should be here, do the arts have a future on 14th street, and so on. The Committee took an in-depth look at many of these issues during the course of a number of public meetings throughout the summer, and present the initial phase of their recommendations on Wednesday. The recommendations deal largely with zoning-related issues, and specifically look at the mix of retail (bars and restaurants, arts-related businesses, etc. and the types of developmental incentives that can be offered to projects that incorporate arts uses.

I am aiming to have a sneak preview of the Committee's recommendations up sometime tomorrow, but unfortunately can make no guarantees.

For those who miss Ms. Doughty's report on Wednesday evening, there will be a repeat performance at Thursday evenings ANC1B meeting.