New D.C. Blog To Launch Monday

DCist.com, a website I edit about Washington D.C. will go live Monday, August 23. For more information, see my main blog.

Thanks for Reading!

I'm involved in a very exciting group blog about DC which will launch soon. Rest assured, you'll be the first to hear about it. Until then, I'll be suspending posting on this blog.

Restaurant Week Is Here!

Yes friends, Restaurant Week is upon us. This week, organized by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington and the D.C. Tourist Bureau, gives area residents the opportunity to dine out at some of DC's most well known restaurants at a fixed cost. For this week, a fixed 3-course lunch at any establishment on the long list of participating restaurants is $20.04, and a 3-course dinner is $30.04. Reservations are suggested, and can be made online, or at the individual restaurant by phone.

> Restaurant Week Website
> Now might be a good time to check out local blog DCFoodies.com

Washington City Museum Struggling

The City Museum of Washington D.C. is facing a problem: nobody's coming. Attendance so far this year is 33,000, far less than the 100,000+ some thought possible. Just steps from the new convention center, the museum isn't lacking in location. Some are faulting conventional displays, or the $5 entrance fee:

"Many visitors said they felt disconnected and confused about the storytelling in the museum."

Camille Riggs Mosley, a consultant and member of the museum's board, says the repositioning should reflect that there are many Washingtons and many experiences to tell: "That is the challenge with everything we try to do. Nothing that is done in Washington serves all people. Washington is political, Washington is black, Washington is wealthy, Washington is emerging Hispanic. There is not only one Washington."

If Washington isn't your idea of fun, there's always the penny museum, about which the AP says: "Squished penny museum elongates fun"

> W. Post: "City Museum on Shaky Ground"
> City Museum of Washington D.C.

Outfoxed Screening

This week's Washington Post Style section "Names & Faces" column features this picture, taken at a special intern screening of Outfoxed at Visions earlier this week. The caption reads: "Capitol Hill interns, Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, left, and director Robert Greenwald watch the anti-Fox News film "Outfoxed" at Visions theater Wednesday." (Photo source)

In a shameless plug, I'd like to point out the third row up contains no interns who work on Capitol Hill, but instead interns at a variety of nonprofits. From the left, the row contains my friends Abby Clark, Libby Benton, Jenny Nathan, and Paul Spurgeon.

The DNC Convention

... Will be covered by just a few bloggers, including media, participants, and a number of others, not to mention an official blog.

Bookstore Faces Eviction

Sisterspace, a bookstore on U Street specializing in books for an by black women and an important neighborhood hub, may be evicted from its building as soon as today. Fortunately, an anonymous invester has offered to provide funds to the struggling bookstore, which has found itself priced out as the U street area has gentrified:

"We really need to spend resources to protect our traditional businesses who are faced with ever-rising rents in red-hot real estate markets," Mr. Graham said. "The city needs a commitment to maintaining commercial diversity as well as residential diversity."
U Street, for example, is going to look like Connecticut Avenue, which is fine for Connecticut Avenue, but "I want U Street to look like U Street," Mr. Graham said. ...
Longtime Washingtonians coming through the store said they think Sisterspace is symbolic of the "what is happening throughout the city," as once-neglected neighborhoods are being redeveloped and property prices are skyrocketing. They worry that black businesses and families are being driven out by gentrification.
"We deserve the right to buy this building and stay on U Street," said Ms. Williams. She stresses that their fight is not about rent but about legal machinations designed to displace Sisterspace.
Gentrification is an emotional as well as economic issue in the District. Indeed, incentives should be enacted that provide assistance to longtime residents and merchants who want to preserve and maintain their homes and their businesses if they so choose.

The bookstore is accepting donations on their website via paypal, and is planning a fundraiser for July 31.
> W. Times: "Help is on the way for beleaguered Sisterspace"

Also, two crabbers have caught an albino crab.