Blog Category: Local News

Capitol Hill development

Mayor Fenty announced recently a new Capitol Hill development. Stanton-EastBanc has been chosen to redevelop the former Hine Junior High School in Washington DC in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The school was closed in 2007. In 2006 discussion started to close Hine due to declining student body population, and merge its students with another local DC school at Eliot Junior High School located a mile away at 1830 Constitution Avenue, NE. Hine’s enrollment had declined to 379 from 546 in 2005 and Eliot’s to 274 from 307. In 2006 education activists criticized the proposal to close Hine Junior High School on Capitol Hill, saying they feared it could exacerbate an already sizable exodus of middle grade students from the school system into charter schools. Read More

Community Service: A Wider Circle

Eight years ago, Dr. Mark Bergel was teaching stress management, social connection, and other health topics at local corporations and universities. He began requiring that his American University students perform community service as part of their course work. Through this exercise he came into contact with people who had no basic necessities of life. They were sleeping on bare floors, living with no furniture or household goods, not even beds for the children. He gave up everything else in his life and founded his non profit organization in his own living room. Read More

down arrow

Dupont Down Under

Dupont Circle is a vibrant, diverse neighborhood considered by many to be the heart of Washington, DC’s nightlife. It boasts some of the DC area’s finest historic homes, foreign embassies and museums. You will also find a large variety of ethnic restaurants, art galleries and bookstores. What is Dupont Down Under? Read on.

The old Dupont Circle Subway Station lies below Dupont Circle and above the Dupont Metro Station. It was built in 1949 to relieve traffic congestion on Dupont Circle created by the old trolley system. In 1962 the station was closed when the trolley system was shut down. It remained closed for over 30 years. Read More

Foreclosure Abandoned Home

Foreclosure Mess Takes A Turn For The Worse!

Foreclosure Mess Takes A Turn For The Worse. Title insurance is no longer issued on Washington DC Foreclosures of formerly owner occupied properties! What? This was a result of actions taken by the Washington DC Attorney General last week. Read More

calculate property taxes

How are property taxes calculated?

Property taxes are a part of the cost of owning a home. When you buy a home you not only have the cost of the monthly mortgage payment. You also need to consider property taxes, homeowners insurance, any HOA dues, maintenance, and utilities.

What amount will I owe?

Many people wrongly assume property taxes are a fixed cost. They believe whatever amount is billed when you first buy the house, is what the amount will be for the life of owning the home. However, property taxes can change quickly after buying a home. Most counties assess property value annually, and adjust the amount due annually. Read More

New Cultural Center for Arlington Virginia

Arlington is about to unveil the plans for its new Cultural Center. A special preview will be held on Saturday, October 10, from 8-11 pm, and it is FREE! It will be an evening of short performances by Synetic Theatre, Washington Shakespeare Company, Rapper Remy Munasifi, videos, music by Anthology of Booty, Los Quetzales Mexican Dance, and much more. Read More

New Washington DC Development Coming

New Development in the Brookland area of Washington, DC is coming.

Abdo Development and Catholic University are seeking approval from the Washington DC Zoning Commission to approve changes to the University’s campus plan in order to go forward with Abdo’s plan to revitalize the Brookland area of Washington, DC. The decision of the Commission is expected on November 9th 2009 by which time they will have the necessary information about parking and fire code requirements. At a hearing on October 5th 2009 during which the plan was presented to the Zoning Commission, the Commissioners seemed quite impressed with Vice Chairman William W. Keating III saying he was “very excited about this project.” Read More

Prince George’s County Development

What is happening with Prince George’s County development? There is new development proposed in Prince George’s County

Earlier this month, over opposition from some residents, the Prince George’s County Council approved legislation, called the Subregion 5 Master Plan, which would allow more land development in some rural areas in the southern part of the county.

The proposal includes a plan to rezone the Hyde Field airport in Clinton and replace it with about 300,000 square feet of retail space and 2,100 housing units, to include 1200 single family homes and 900 townhouses and apartments.

Developer and owner, Nabil Asterbadi, a Washington-based doctor who has owned Hyde Field since 1995 says the airport has not done well since the attacks of 9/11. Since then, there have been severe restrictions on the flights of private aircraft and business at the airport is down to 15% of what it was before 9/11.

The plan, which would impact residents of Accokeek and Clinton, is not without opposition. Area residents objecting to the new plan cite potential traffic nightmares and negative impact on a rural way of life.

Don’t locals always want to stop land development, once they buy in an area? And don’t developers just want to develop and pave over the whole country? I am sure there must be a way to provide for a happy medium. It seems to me the questions is how much density can a certain area sustain, as well as, should some areas be restricted from further growth to maintain the green space or the scenic beauty of the raw land. Whatever the answers, I think we can all agree the answers are found at a local level, and its best to let the locals, the town councils, and the developers, battle it out.

sun setting in the sky

Solar Power In DC

Is there solar power In DC? In 2008, a group of homeowners in Mount Pleasant launched a solar rebate program in their neighborhood. By the end of next month, 48 homes will have had solar panels installed on their rooftops. Most of them will receive an approximate $7,000 rebate and a 30% tax credit. In addition, they will be able to sell their unused energy to Pepco. They were able to accomplish all this by coming together and forming the Mount Pleasant Solar Co-Op. Read More

big city

Sprawl Or Smart Development?

Does your area have sprawl or smart development? Communities across the country are realizing more and more that the spread out patterns of growth (i.e. sprawl), which have shaped American communities for the past several decades, cannot be sustained. Read More

Streetcar

Streetcars In Washington DC Again

Streetcars are returning to Washington, DC. Almost 50 years after the District shut down the old system in 1962 when DC Transit was ordered by Congress to switch to buses. Congress had forbidden overhead wires in the city as early as the 1880’s to preserve views of the White House and the Capitol. Read More

Thanksgiving basket

Time To Give Thanks

It is that time of year to give thanks. Some of us don’t give thanks, it’s just a time of year to eat a lot and take time off of work. I think many of us that do give thanks do so for varied reasons. I give thanks for many reasons to many things. I try and acknowledge the good, but also the bad. It is my Thanksgiving version of Santa’s naughty and nice list, as far as who deserves my thanks and who does not: Read More

us capitol building

Washington DC Tax Sale

The Washington DC government’s Office of Tax and Revenue has rescheduled its property tax sale for November 30th. Interested parties can register from Nov. 23rd – 25th.

Read More

paperwork signing

Will a Business Loan Affect Getting a Mortgage? Maybe.

Getting a mortgage when self employed can be tricky. If you own a business and have a loan for it, and you are planning on buying a home, you might be wondering if the business loan will affect getting a mortgage. A business loan can impact your credit score. And if you are the sole proprietor of the business and take out the business loan in your name instead of the business’ name, that may cause issues. 

Read More