Pretty signage at Florida Avenue's 24-hour Tire Service Center

There is a beautiful, classically-designed neon sign in front of Mac's Tire Service at 423 Florida Avenue NE. It's been there for a couple months, but I thought it deserved a little special attention.

Last summer, the Washington Post ran a great story on Mac's Tire Service, which touts itself as the only 24-hour tire service center in the metropolitan region. The story included a video and photo gallery with Dennis Parker, a mechanic at the shop.

Consider this a reminder that there are people worth knowing, respecting, and appreciating in the gritty parts of DC that the world doesn't pay attention to every day.

Traffic bollards at 2nd Street and Florida Avenue NE need help

When DDOT completed the reconstruction of the intersection of New York Avenue, Florida Avenue, 1st Street, O Street, and Eckington Place NE (known by some as "Dave Thomas Circle"), they included plastic bollards in the part of the Florida Avenue roadway immediately east of the intersection to control traffic coming out of the somewhat blind corner with 2nd Street NE. Unfortunately, those bollards need maintenance and replacement, and DDOT needs to step up to keep this intersection safe.

On August 22, 2011, I sent a 311 request (number 11-00259888) for bollard replacement. Many had been run over or were missing, and I frequently observed dangerous and illegal turns. The request wasn't resolved for over 3 months. On December 2, 2011, I received the short reply "NO WORK NEEDS TO BE PERFORMED. PER VICTOR N."

As of this morning, it appears that a vehicle ran over many of the remaining bollards. Debris is scattered all over the roadway and adjoining sidewalk. Bollards are either missing, snapped in half, or have been pushed off their moorings and are certain to fall under the wheels of passing vehicles sooner or later. Someone has taken the time to collect a few bollards and place them behind the guardrail that keep traffic away from the nearby rail overpass.

This intersection will likely be reconfigured when the Washington Gateway development on the north side of the block is completed, but it's doubtful that will happen in this calendar year. In the meantime, I hope DDOT will go out and make the simple repairs necessary to keep this intersection safe for those driving, cycling, and walking through it. They've certainly shown to be responsive about simple things, like updating road paint, that make a big difference, before.

Two Rivers PCS produces rubbish for the real two rivers

Biking home from the New York Avenue metro station yesterday evening, I noticed that every fence and gate on M Street NE was adorned with a lime-green flyer in a plastic bag. Many of them were already blowing down the sidewalk and into the gutter.

I stopped to pick one up and found it was a notice from Two Rivers Public Charter School to encourage people to apply to enroll their children in the school.

While I'm all for a local school reaching out to the neighborhood, Two Rivers could have been much less ham-fisted about it. They placed these flyers on the gates or doors of EVERY house I saw in Near Northeast and Trinidad on the way home.

Half these flyers (and the plastic bags they're in) are going to end up washing into the sewer. The flyers will disintegrate, but there's a good chance the plastic bags will end up in the Anacostia River, which I'm pretty sure is one of those "Two Rivers" that the school is named after.

Couldn't the school have done a more sophisticated job of outreach? Putting a flyer encouraging people to apply for a local school doesn't do much good if the people in that house are in their 80s, retired, and definitely without school-aged children. I'd have expected better from a school with a pretty stellar reputation.

Come to Art Enables' 10th birthday party, February 25

Artwork by Nonja Tiller.

Art Enables, a fantastic art studio and gallery on Rhode Island Avenue in Woodridge, DC, will be throwing a 10th anniversary party next Saturday, February 25. Please consider stopping by the studio at 2204 Rhode Island Avenue NE (easily reachable by bus if you're using public transportation) between 2 and 4 p.m.

From their release:

Art Enables is a 501(c)3 nonprofit gallery and supported employment program for adult artists with developmental disabilities from around the Washington Metropolitan area. Art Enables’ mission is to offer participants in the program the opportunity, the environment, the materials, and the marketing support they need to succeed as professional artists.

For more information on the anniversary party or on Art Enables, call (202) 554-9455.

We're proud to have a fantastic painting of the John A. Wilson Building by John Simpson that we purchased at Art Enables hanging in the entryway of our house. They're a fantastic organization full of wonderful people, and they richly deserve your support.

Near Northeast burrito joint opens tomorrow

A new restaurant is opening at 635 Florida Avenue NE. Chinito's Burritos will have a soft opening from 10 am to 5 pm tomorrow (Wednesday, February 8). Our friend Lori stopped by earlier this afternoon and verified the opening, and said the owner is still figuring out regular hours. Here are a couple pictures of the interior I took on the way home tonight:

Here's hoping the restaurant is successful!

For a little history, here's a snapshot of the building from DCRA:

As you can see, the sign said "Southern Fried Chicken, Fish, Subs & Pizza" was coming soon in the summer of 2004.

By the summer of 2009, when we moved to Trinidad, the restaurant was closed and the owners were looking for a new tenant:

It's also worth noting that the shell next door has been fixed up and turned back into a proper house.

UPDATED: Attempted assault with a Circulator bus

UPDATE: A representative from WMATA called back to let me know that the driver had been identified and served with a two-day suspension (without pay). He will also have to undergo remedial training when he returns to active duty.

(The original post continues below.)

Photo by Elvert Barnes on Flickr.

The "Assault of Bicyclist Prevention Act of 2011" is still bottled up in the D.C. Council's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, which is chaired by Councilmember Phil Mendelson. Though the bill was introduced last September by nine sponsors (a supermajority of the council), it hasn't been moved to the committee of the whole in any form. Here's one example of the assaults that happen every day on our city's streets, necessitating action on the part of the D.C. Council to protect cyclists from harm.

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Wednesday night, I was biking home from the New York Avenue station, heading eastbound on Florida Avenue NE. When I got to West Virginia Avenue, I turned left (north) and headed into Trinidad. I took note of the fact that there were a couple cars and a Circulator bus heading north on West Virginia Avenue, waiting at the light. I always check traffic there, because I know that any vehicles will catch up to me on West Virginia Avenue within a few seconds after I make my turn.

I took the lane on West Virginia, as I always do, to avoid being doored by parked cars, and to avoid being squeezed into those cars by traffic overtaking me. By the time we reached Morse Street NE, one block up the road, both of the cars had been able to pass me, but oncoming (southbound) traffic kept the bus from being able to do the same. I knew he was still behind me, but wasn't sure quite how far back. Suddenly, the driver accelerated so that the bus was just a couple feet behind my rear wheel. He began honking. I turned back to look, and he was waving his arms and shouting. The driver was not in total control of the bus, or his emotions for that matter.

I realize I am outspoken about the right of cyclists to use the road just like anyone else, and I realize that there are a lot of cyclists in the city that break the law. Drivers of all stripes complain about this and say that they'll respect cyclists as soon as cyclists start following the rules.

Last night's incident was a perfect example of a cyclist following the law (taking the lane was my right—it's even a signed bicycle route—I had front and rear lights on the bike, and I was wearing a helmet and a reflective strip on my pants). This bus driver decided he would use his multi-ton vehicle to intimidate and harass me. No physical harm occurred, ultimately, but his reckless actions could have led to my death had he accidentally accelerated a little more. Putting the two of us in that position is nothing but negligent. I don't know what kind of reprimand can be given to the driver, but it should be easy to identify him.

Actions such as this are absolutely intolerable, and until people start realizing that there are consequences to childish behavior like that, I fear that this kind of thing will continue to happen until - oops - someone is maimed or killed.

Patience and respect are a two-way street. I gave, but did not receive it last night. That bus driver needs to be retrained on how to operate on DC's streets, or he should be removed from them permanently.

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I sent a version of the above in a letter to DDOT, and ultimately received a phone call from WMATA, as they manage the Circulator program. The WMATA representative was professional, kind, and understanding, and she promised me the bus driver would be identified and spoken with. She acknowledged that his actions not only could have hurt me, but any injury to a cyclist could have caused him to lose his job. I'm very grateful for the professional follow-up from DDOT and WMATA.

West Virginia Avenue NE is slated to get dedicated bicycle lanes this year on the entire stretch from Florida Avenue NE to Mount Olivet Road NE. Hopefully the additional markings will make it even more clear that bicyclists have just as much right to use the road as motorized traffic.

Updated Ward 5 redistricting map from the DC Office of Planning

This is the map that was just released from the Office of Planning.

When compared with the map that was shown as an example of how to create near-equal sized SMDs on Greater Greater Washington, there are only minor changes.

Those changes include:

• Catholic University is in ANC 5A, not ANC 5C.
• The population numbers for the Arboretum area and the western edge of Carver Langston show a shift of 19 individuals.
• Two SMDs in Bloomingdale show a shift of 53 individuals. This is due to the splitting of the census block that is bounded by U Street NW, First Street NW, and Rhode Island Avenue NW. The houses on the eastern edge of Crispus Attucks Park, north of U Street, were included in that block. They have now been added to the rest of the block bounded by U, V, First, and North Capitol.
• The Washington Gateway project, at the corner of Florida and New York Avenues, has been moved from the eastern Eckington SMD to the one that includes the Florida Avenue Market, Gallaudet University, and Ivy City.

This is the map that will be voted on by the D.C. Council on December 20th.

This is the map that was posted on Greater Greater Washington last month.

Much thanks go out to Councilmembers Harry Thomas, Jr., Michael A. Brown, Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and their staffs for working so diligently on the redistricting process in our ward. It's great to see that we're looking at SMDs that make more sense.

The full council will be voting on this map (and the ones for the other seven wards) next Tuesday, December 20th.

If you support these changes, I'd encourage you to send a note to the councilmembers letting them know you approve of this map. Their emails are available on the Council website here.