Jaybird's Jottings

Capital Bikeshare Coming to Alexandria?

As reported by Dr Gridlock,

Alexandria transportation officials are considering a $400,000 pilot program with Capital Bikeshare, the regional bike-sharing network started by Arlington County and the District in September.

The King Street Metro is the no-brainer locale as astutely noted by this commenter at GGW.

Being able to grab a bike at King Street station and riding it east to the heart of Old Town would be fantastic. Often the mile is a little far to walk (especially when you're in a rush) but taking a cab or bus is often impractical. Bike share solves that problem immediately!

by Adam L 

The King Street Trolley is also available.

 

HT Coming to OT

In the past so many years, food shoppers in Old Town Alexandria have certainly enjoyed the convenience of having a Giant and a Safeway, two smaller, park-in-front grocery stores.   They’ve also had choices, with a Trader Joe’s, Balducci’s and even though it’s not technically located in Old Town, there’s the Whole Foods at the West End.

Is there room for another grocer?

You bet, and the news that North Carolina-based Harris Teeter is coming will echo with happy chords across the historic district.    And no loss on the teardown buildings, those are unattractive eyesores that have been there for years.

DC Mud has renderings, which include 175 apartments.  

2014 is the target date for opening.   The streets are N. St Asaph, Madison and N. Pitt, across from Royal Restaurant and one block east of Washington Street.

By the way, do cars with UNC and Duke bumper stickers get a discount?

 

 

Sprinkles Coming to Georgetown

Cupcakes, schmupcakes, we’ve had enough already!

Uh, no, that was your basic attention grabber, to pass along the news to my fellow cupcake lovers that Sprinkles will open up a store in Georgetown at 3015 M, next to the Old House.

Sprinkles is based in Beverly Hills, and is credited with being the first cupcake-only bakery.

Amanda at Metrocurean has the details.

Their food truck will give out free cupcakes this coming week in the District.  They open March 3.

Sweet!

 

 

 

Ghost Buried

The Giants won the World Series on November 1, 2010.  

Now I believe it.

“A Band of Misfits: Tales of the 2010 Giants,” by Andrew Baggerly, is currently number one at Amazon’s bestsellers in Baseball History.

Number two is Hirsch’s bio of Willie Mays.

Number three is Baseball America 2011 with Tim Lincecum on the cover.

Number seven is Jim Kaplan’s “The Greatest Game Ever Pitched:  Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century.”

Not bad for a franchise and set of fans whose souls were shaken after what happened in October 2002.

Ghost buried, don’t you think Giants fans?

 

 

 

The Last Lions

“We no longer have the luxury of time when it comes to big cats.  They are in such a downward spiral that if we hesitate now, we will be responsible for extinctions across the globe. If there was ever a time to take action, it is now.” – Dereck Joubert, award-winning filmmaker 

Last month when we saw the previews for “The Last Lions,” the documentary film by Beverly and Dereck Joubert that hit the theaters last weekend, I knew I would be going (the better half has an option clause and exercised it, instead seeing “The Illusionist”).   I’ve always loved watching the Big Cat shows on TV, and especially the lions, and I knew I would love seeing the action on the big screen (turned out to be a medium screen but I shan’t complain).

The one worry I had was the sameness of the storyline.    The cameras typically focus on the pride and their behaviors.   I went on Saturday and I’m delighted to say this film takes a different and more compelling approach.   The Jouberts turned their lens to a single lioness named Ma di Tau, and her three cubs.   Fleeing from a rival pride, they are hemmed in.    Farms cut off their retreat to the north so they end up having to escape to Duba Island.  This is, of course, a cruel fate, because lions don’t like water and it severely restricts their food supply. 

Ma di Tau has to adapt and hunt the water buffalo on their home territory.   Crocodiles lurk, and when the waters recede, the rival pride stalks them.    The voice of Jeremy Irons provides the perfect tone and gravitas, and is used sparingly.

Lions can usually find some small prey in between bigger ones, but Ma di Tau struggles to find food for her family.   Even though she does find a stray smaller water buffalo, the herd hears the cry and moves in.    Ma di Tau becomes desperate, unable to feed her cubs and getting thinner and weaker by the day.   At first, you sense her wounded pride, but with each unfruitful attempt, you feel a deeper compassion and a serious worry.   

I rarely ask my audience to support a cause, but when I got a lump in my throat at the end of the movie, and couldn’t tell my wife about the movie because I was choked up, I knew I had to say something.

In the beginning of the film, the Jouberts capture Ma di Tau’s mate taking what appears to be his last breathe, after being mortally wounded by three younger males.    As sad as that moment always is, the lion’s passing is part of the tale of survival on the plains.   Can you imagine, however, having to watch the last lion on earth taking its last breath? 

If you want to help, or need more info, please visit Nat Geo’s site.      

Thank you.

 

A New Day Dawns at Potomac Yard

In August 1906, Potomac Yard, a train switching station in Alexandria that served Washington for over 75 years, began its operations.   In its heyday in the 30s and 40s, workers processed upwards of 100 trains a day, making it one of the busiest freight transfer points in the nation.   Owned and operated by the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Company, as well as four others, and nicknamed “The Gateway Between North and South,” the station also handled as many as 14 to 18 passenger trains each day.

These days, a few long trains still rumble past each day, but the only cars transporting merchandise are automobiles owned by shoppers who flock to stores like Target and Pet Smart.   And now, about 15 years after those stores opened at “Potomac Yard Center,” another transformation has begun for this two-miles long swath of land sandwiched in between Route One and the rails.   

Over the next 25 years, Potomac Yard’s 295 acres will be re-developed into a transit-oriented mini-city.   Generations younger and those ready to ditch the sprawl of suburbia are salivating due to its walkable, mixed-use plans and proximity to the District, National Airport, the Potomac River and the charming neighborhoods of Del Ray and Old Town.    

Of course the critical mass, transit way system and new metro stop (projected for 2016) are a ways off, but the portion north of Four Mile Run that cozies up to Crystal City already sports a popular Harris Teeter, new residents who marvel at their views of the monuments, and a bevy of new eating establishments along Crystal Drive.   Coming on board in March is Marriot’s impressive new Renaissance Hotel, and National Gateway is already bragging it’s “the centerpiece of Potomac Yard.”  (Future residents will have fun arguing that one)

Crystal City itself is at the dawn of an urban re-working while the new Long Bridge Park being built just south of I-395 will mark the northern most point of all this re-development that will extend to the Braddock Road Metro, and will include public spaces, parks, playing fields, and possibly street cars.

The core of Potomac Yard, which runs from the big box retailers down to the new Monroe Bridge, is seeing one of the first signs of change.    Pulte Homes has installed “Luxury Condos Early 2011” signs that herald the start there, while bulldozers and workers are hard at work to bring along Main Line Boulevard, which will cut halfway through and extend down to a point just short of the Braddock Road Metro.    

Potomac Avenue is taking shape with a new bridge across Four Mile Run and stoplights being installed.   Serving as the lone-standing newcomer, the red-bricked “Station at Potomac Yard” holds affordable apartments, a new Fire Station, and a few spots for future small retail.  

The new residents will have to wait for all the planned items, but will benefit from proximity to Del Ray (St Elmo’s Café, Dairy Godmother), Old Town (Buzz and Rustico), the aforementioned spots on Crystal Drive (Jaleos, Chick Fil-A, Legal Seafood) and the existing retail and movie theaters.  The Braddock Road Metro is about .8 of a mile away from Landbay J.

The plans for PY will work off a series of land bays.   As you come off the Monroe Bridge headed north, one of Pulte’s signs can be seen.   The drawings show this as Landbay J, which will become the Howell neighborhood, named after the street in Del Ray that is across Route One.     Pulte Homes plans to start building there soon for 226 townhomes.

Landbay L, a more-hidden patch south of Monroe Avenue and closer to the Braddock Road Metro, could also see new housing start this year, including multi-family units.  This is where Main Line Boulevard will be extended down to GW Middle School.  From there, it’s a few minutes walk to the Braddock Road Metro.     

Work is forecasted to start this spring on Potomac Yard Park. Nearby, two soccer fields next to Eugene Simpson Baseball Park (Home to the T.C. Williams Titans) appear close to kickoff.   I talked with a city official who said lacrosse will also take place there.   The fields, he said, will look ready this summer but they have to make sure the grass is fully grown.

Potomac Yard will build out in three phases with upwards of 4B earmarked for the re-development.   Plans call for the popular Target and other retailers to be re-incorporated into the new urban configuration.   It’s uncertain which stores will stay, or when this will happen.   At a recent town hall meeting, an Urban Planner for the city tossed out a ballpark figure of five years.

Like any change and construction, there will be some headaches with this massive project and some will not like their suburban style parking lots going away.   This, however, is the re-making of strip-mall America into something more attractive and sustainable.    Mass transit will be the main way to go, something Potomac Yard knows a lot about.

Note:  This overlay map I put together not 100% accurate.   I had to cut my Potomac Green section and lengthen it to show where it ends.   Some of my placements are not exact and I also couldn’t get in all the landbays, but this should give an idea of some of the past, present and future.   

 

 

Acknowledgments

A big thanks to Jim Foley who helped me with Potomac Yard’s history and provided a list of the buildings and such seen in the middle of the yard.  

They are:

"the Main Office building, the Southbound and Northbound Humps, the Coaling Tower and Ash Pits, Machine Shop, Roundhouse, Turntable, Store House, Oil House, Power House, Auditors and Accountants Building, the Bunk House and the Water Tanks, and in modern years the Trainmaster's Tower and the NB and SB Retarder Towers."      

Also, the photo of the rail yard is the front cover of a book published by The Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Historical Society.   You can order the book at their website. 

A big thanks to Pamela Cressey, Alexandria’s Archaeologist for her assistance in locating resources.    Fans of commemorative plaques and interpretive markers (wonder who that could be??) will be pleased to know the City has plans to erect markers to document the history of Potomac Yard, and one commemorating the start has already been placed at the northern end of the Monroe Bridge. 

A tip of the hat to Colleen Willger of the Dept of Planning and Zoning and to others who answered my probing questions. 

Additional Reading

Alexandria dot gov has all the links for the re-development plans.

Greater Greater Washington’s February post on Potomac Yard has a discussion on the Metro station and other links, including a new EIS process website which has maps for the proposed location.   

Del Ray Citizen blog has a link to their interpretive markers which touch on the town’s role as home to the railroad workers and one of the first suburban streetcars.  

 

 

Mount Vernon Visit

Photos from our morning visit to Mount Vernon, where admission was free today for Washington’s birthday.    Took in the wreath-laying ceremony and the official start, with Miss America 2010 signing the national anthem, President Washington saying a few words and the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps strutting their polished stuff on the Bowling Green.

Talked with a docent, he said Mount Vernon will break ground on the new library in the spring.

The Ice Man Cometh in Old Town

Last summer, when I was conducting my survey of commemorative markers in Old Town, I nearly overlooked one at Gadsby’s Tavern (134 N. Royal).   Well, not so much “at” as “under.”   If you take those downward steps at the southwest corner of Cameron and N. Royal, they lead you to an ice well.    In the 18^th and 19^th Century, the blocks were cut from the Potomac River in the winter time and taken to Gadsby’s.  

This afternoon, the Tavern Museum re-created the journey of the ice and held a “Guess the Melt Date” Contest.  Money is being raised to help with a refurbishing of the well.

No ice has been seen on the Potomac lately, so re-enactors took a block of ice obtained from Manassas from the foot of Cameron up the four blocks to Gadsby’s Tavern.    In 1805, ice went for 8 cents a pound and John Gadsby was the sole source provider (at least in the summer).

In 1976, the City installed steel bands and constructed the viewing area you see today.

Or don’t see...  

 

 

Char Bah

One of the saddest aspects of baseball history is that, due to the failure of newspapers to cover all the games of black baseball, there’s incomplete knowledge of the Negro Leagues.    Researchers have to work twice as hard as others, and depend on oral history.

The same sort of situation exists with African-American genealogy.  No one knows more about this than Char Bah, a native of Alexandria and a genealogist for the City.   An expert on the descendants from Alexandria connected to the Freedman Cemetery during the Civil War, she spoke today at the Alexandria Black History Museum.    Bah gave a workshop on how to conduct family histories by showing her work in searching for information about John F. Parker and Sarah A. Gray, the two highly respected black educators in Alexandria in the latter part of the 1800s, and the namesakes for Parker-Gray School.   

The biggest challenge for Bah was Sarah Gray.   There were two Sarah Grays born in Alexandria in the middle of the 1800s, and both taught at Hallowell School.   Some people have confused Sarah A. Gray with Sarah D. Gray.  Bah showed how she used Census and school records, articles and addresses, to track down the distinguishing evidence.          

  John F. Parker lived at 810 N. Columbus.  After the talk, we went there but were disappointed to see no houses from 806 to 810, and just an empty space.   Then we drove over to the east side of Columbus in between Queen and Princess to hopefully see the house that Gray's father had left her.    Same story, an empty space, house gone.   

One last try was at the 100 block of Queen.    There's something there, town homes built circa 1970, but like the other two, the living connection had been torn down.

As sad as that is, the loss is symbolic.    When it comes to certain aspects of our history, much is lost.  But through the hard work of researchers like Bah, the stories can be told.   We thank them and we thank Char Bah.

 

 

Baseball Prospectus at Politics and Prose

What happens when a literary landmark in the nation’s capital hosts a baseball institution?

It’s the annual visit of the BP gang to Washington.  The Baseball Prospectus caravan arrives Monday, March 7 at their usual stop, Politics and Prose and usual time of 7 pm.

Confirmed are Kevin Goldstein, Steven Goldman, Jay Jaffe, and Ben Lindbergh.

Get those questions ready and make them short.  These guys always pack the house.