We survived a week that felt like a year, everyone! Give yourselves a round of applause! Do you remember the Ward 6 Happy Hour that was happening earlier in the pandemic? Many of you have continued the tradition in your blocks, which is the kind of thing we love about this neighborhood. For those of you who might need a gentle reminder to reconnect, pencil in 6 p.m. this Friday and tag us in your photos and celebrations! And by the way, it’s Black Restaurant Week, so consider ordering dinner and cocktails from your favorite Black-owned restaurants in the area. In the midst of so much sadness, we need to celebrate our community and all the members in it. We had so much fun seeing all your joy and celebration on Saturday– did you check out our Instagram stories? (Follow along on Insta— I think we’re pretty fun!)
In case you missed it, we had some elections happening a week ago. Now, this being D.C., I don’t think I need to tell people how to obtain results or what to read– most of you breathe politics. But, just in case, here are a few sites to read results and analysis both at a national and local levels:
If you want the most comprehensive archive of results, where you can get every single result by ward, you need to check out the Board of Elections website. It seems the count is stalled, but hopefully the full results will be available soon. WJLA has a portal with the Associated Press that gives an easy-to-read breakdown of all the local races. Politico has a very nice site that gives you results at a national level. Interestingly, although they do not include local race results, they do have the results of Initiative 81. The New York Times‘ DC portal has a check by Robert White’s name in the the At-Large seat, but there should also be a check by Christina Henderson’s name. They also give top billing to the D.C. Senate race, even above the D.C. council, which is just like…. no. That’s not how it works, alphabetically or otherwise.
For analysis, turn to ANC commissioner Corey Holman on Twitter. He has several threads analyzing voter turnout and candidate preference and vote differential in contested races. You really should just follow him anyway.
By the way, Mayor Bowser and her staff attended the festivities Saturday evening in Delaware and it looks like this was essential travel for them so they will not be quarantining, per Mark Seagraves via Twtter. Considering her office has mandated that anyone who travels from Delaware needs to quarantine. Feels double-standard-y.
Okay– have we had enough of voting results? Let’s move on.
Leni, an Eastern European concept restaurant, will be alighting at The Roost starting Friday, November 13. Their hours will be 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Monday & Tuesday; 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; and 8 a.m.-8 p.m. on Sunday, and you can have breakfast or lunch at Leni’s from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day. You can dine in or have takeout. I’m particularly excited to try out their borscht and their pickled eggs, for some reason.
Copycat Co. has suspended their bar manager, who was arrested for groping a woman at another bar back in 2019. The employee is on paid leave pending his trial, as opposed to being placed in another role within the establishment, away from patrons (Eater). As with a previous incident where another bartender harassed a patron (Washingtonian), Copycat owner Devin Gong has taken a stand against misbehaving or possibly misbehaving employees.
Eater also had details this week about two trucks: Big Frank’s BBQ, which will be parked outside the Ugly Mug/Valor Brewpub and sounds incredible; and Swizzler truck, which will be slinging burgers that sound amazing. Friend of the blog Mark Sussman already tried them and liked them– tell us what you think!
Speaking of #BikeDC, I bet you want to see the plans for the Kentucky Avenue bike lane. Click here to check that out, courtesy of ANC commissioner Kirsten Oldenburg.
Have you been following the saga of Handle 19, the proposed sports betting bar that might be coming to the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue SE? Looks like the ANC 6B Alcohol Licensing committee isn’t too thrilled with the prospect of mixing alcohol and gambling in a quieter neighborhood (Capitol Hill Corner). There will be a full vote at tonight’s meeting. You can tune in via WebEx here.
On Friday, Mayor Bowser’s administration announced the ribbon-cutting of Park Kennedy and other developments around Hill East. The DC Line
Demetrius Jones was killed close to Rosedale Recreation Center on Saturday. As of today, there have been 172 homicides in the District, per MPD statistics. This year’s homicide count so far is higher than all of last year’s (166 people). WTOP
On Monday night, there were at least two carjackings in the neighborhood. One of the cars was stolen from a Metro employee near the Eastern Market area (Alan Henney on Twitter), and the other was in the 1500 block of Independence Avenue SE (Denise Krepp on Twitter). On Sunday afternoon, there was a shooting in Hill East – one at 18th and Independence, as well as one at 1st and P SW. The pandemic and uncertainty in the city is making people suffer and more needs to be done. It can be very frustrating to see multiple people dying every day in our communities.
Councilmember Charles Allen said in his most recent newsletter,
I believe we have to treat gun violence as the public health emergency that it is and that all the levers of government should be brought to prevent violence before it takes place. That’s why this summer, I created the city’s first Gun Violence Prevention Director. It’s an outgrowth of the great advocacy from Moms Demand Action and others that share a desire to end gun violence in our city. Applications have been pouring in and the city is moving forward in creating this new effort – seated at the top levels of government to ensure that they can marshal every agency and effort to combat gun violence in any form. This is just one more way we’re creating specific action steps to put strategies into practice to fight violence and ensure safe communities for all neighbors.
If you are like me and feel sad, confused and powerless, take some time to read resources from the Giffords Law Center, the Prevention Institute, or Cure Violence. Reach out to a local activist movement like Black Lives Matter DC or register to be a volunteer with the Brady Plan. Our current police system fails us in many ways, partially because they lack the resources to deal with something that is much greater and more nuanced than just incarcerating people, without addressing recidivism or ways to disrupt the cycle of violence. We need officers with special training to deal with intense and emotional situations. We need officers in the community who are invested in truly getting to know the people and the stories in their beat, like our friend Officer Maz, who patrols around Barracks Row and southeast DC in Ward 6 (follow him on Instagram if you don’t yet). Let’s educate ourselves if we haven’t and try to keep the lines of communication going among neighbors. And if you encounter someone who doesn’t share your point of view, let’s try to be civil and to listen and educate. We’ve had four years of government that placed a higher emphasis on division and name-calling: We can be better than that.
By the way, it looks like some of our neighbors at Jones Day, just at the foot of the Hill, are not having a fun time with all the post-election lawsuits. Dear Jones Day friends: We know you can be better than that, and we feel for you. The Hill