It’s that time of the year again. Plans for Park(ing) Day DC is currently underway! The global event to occupy “metered” public spaces and turn them into temporary public places known as Park(ing) Day will be held on September 17, 2010.

In 2009, we had the opportunity to work with organizers from Park(ing) Day DC to plot a space along Garden District by 14th and S in Northwest. We’re also glad to be on board for the second time this year. Organizers are looking into several locations as we plan to reach out to more participants for the September 17th date. The short video below was filmed during Park(ing) Day 2009 in several cities, including DC and NYC. Will you join us this year?

For more information about Park(ing) Day DC, registration or general inquiries, please direct all correspondence to info@parkingdaydc.org.

Photos by Katie Filbert and Charles Planck

During Digital Capital Week you probably attended a couple of parties and possibly some lectures. Maybe in between jotting down notes or partaking in the booze, you noticed that the Office of Planning in collaboration with the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership was celebrating the release of their Creative Capital Report which was timed to coincide with Digital Capital Week. Creative Capital: The Creative DC Agenda is a report that is part of Washington, D.C.’s Actionomics[dc] initiative which calls on Washington, D.C.’s creative class and knowledge-based economy to ACT and CREATE. (more…)

Tomorrow night, we will host the second The Art of the Blog_ with David Alpert of GreaterGreaterWashington.org. It will be from 6-8PM at the DCWeek Pop-up Lab at 13th & H Streets NE (old DC Kiosk Library). We will be discussing neighborhood development and how that relates to H Street NE. This will include a talk by David Alpert as well as a Q & A.

The Art of the Blog_
Tuesday, June 15th | 6-8PM
DCWeek Pop-up Lab | 1300 H Street NE

If you plan to attend, please register HERE.

Common Good City Farm is located in the LeDroit Park neighborhood in Northwest, Washington DC at 3rd and V Streets.  They can be reached at 202-330-5945 or at info@commongoodcityfarm.org.  Common Good is having a Public Opening Day celebration and offering the class, “Good Design, Bad Design”, this Saturday, April 10th, from 10am – 1pm. Register for class or to volunteer online and stop by and get to know more about what Common Good City Farm is doing to help grow the urban agriculture movement in Washington, DC.

In 2007, when Common Good City Farm started in the Shaw neighborhood, their goal was simple: help provide locally-grown food to low-income DC residents while simultaneously teaching them the art of urban agriculture.  Since then Common Good has grown significantly and has moved to the LeDroit Park neighborhood, but their core missions of food and education for the communities’ most needy residents has not changed.  The benefits of Common Good extend beyond the immediate nourishment offered by the locally-grown food  – the farm is a source of pride in the community and has developed into a special place where all members of the neighborhood can gather, get to know each other, and celebrate their community bonds.

When Common Good began it was known as the 7th Street Garden and was located in Shaw.  As their available use of the space ran out in 2008, they were actively recruited by the LeDroit Park Civic Association to be part of a redevelopment effort of the shuttered Gage-Eckington school campus at the corner of 3rd and V Streets NW.  It is a testament to the sincerity of Common Good’s dedicated community oriented focus that they were hand selected by a near-by neighborhood and welcomed into the community with open arms.  When they moved to their current site – a city owned 1/2 acre plot that was formerly a baseball diamond – in the fall of 2008 the organization changed their name to “Common Good City Farm.”  Liz Falk, one of the co-founders and the Director of the organization, explains the name selection “the word ‘farm’ evokes food more than gardening.  We consider ourselves a community farm or communal farm.  We haven’t quite found the proper term for us yet!”. (more…)

Who doesn’t love a good map?  I mean really, what is better than a map to help you understand where you are, how you got there, and where you are headed?  Below are five maps that have been incorporated into public outdoor spaces around the District.  Do you know where they all are (there are a couple gimmes)?  Leave it in the comments.

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“Bike here” is the message that Oliver Delacour delivered with his Dupont Circle bike rack, installed in 2009. Delacour, a local architect, was the winner of the Golden Triangle BID’s first Creative Bike Rack Design Competition. His winning entry, both clever and functional, adds a bit of whimsy and color to the highly-trafficked Dupont south Metro entrance.

Building on their success with the “bike here” rack, and the popularity of the artistic racks that DDOT/DC Arts and Humanities installed around the city, the Golden Triangle BID has announced their second Creative Bike Rack Design competition. Click here for the BID’s Call for Entries. Designs are due on March 4th at 5pm and selections will be made in April, with installation slated for this summer. The winner of the competition will receive a $1,500 Honorarium and a complementary Saturday night stay for two at the historic Hay Adams Hotel (not to mention the pride of seeing their design fabricated and installed in the District). (more…)

I will be walking in a fashion show fundraiser for the organization Luke’s Wings. Luke’s Wings is a great cause dedicated to the support of service members who have been wounded in battle. “Recognizing the immediate need for families to be with their loved ones during such a difficult time, Luke’s Wings provides families with the means to visit during the service member’s hospitalization and rehabilitation.”

Hosted by WUSA 9′s Angie Goff, the event will feature cocktails, hors d’eourves, and a silent auction. Models and military service men and women ‘take flight’ in a swank, high energy runway exhibition highlighting cutting edge fashion from Washington’s best boutiques and collections by the District’s premier designers. Make it out if you can, it should be a fun event!