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I haven't been there myself, but readers are reporting via Twitter and Facebook that Harry's Reserve Fine Wine and Spirits is now open for business on the southwest corner of New Jersey and I, in the ground floor of 909 New Jersey. It's been almost 10 months since the owners first signed a lease and started the liquor license process, but it's now the neighborhood's first outlet for the hard stuff in a number of years. It's also the first retail space at 909 New Jersey to be occupied, and the first new retail offering in Near Southeast since Justin's Cafe opened last April.
This is apparently a bit of a soft opening (so be gentle!), with a true "Grand Opening" coming in two weeks or so. The owners are the same folks who own Capitol Hill Wine and Spirits in the 300 block of Pennsylvania Ave., SE, and who owned the Harry's liquor store in the old Waterside Mall in SW. When the owners met with ANC 6D's ABC subcommittee, they indicated that "they would sell beer, wine, and liquor, as well as milk, sodas, juice, cheese, and other "quick stop" items, and are very much wanting to emphasize that this is going to be a 'community' store, with higher-end products, wine tastings, and other offerings beyond what people normally think of when they hear 'liquor store.'"
I will get down there myself to check it out if the rain ever stops, but if you've paid a visit, let us know in the comments what's on the shelves and any other impressions.
 

When this photo popped up late Tuesday, it seemed like maybe Harry's Reserve at New Jersey and I would be open today, but we're hearing now that it'll be "a day or two," with a grand opening to come in two weeks. In the meantime, everyone's watching 2nd Street between I and M and reporting in about No Parking signs and stakes in the ground as construction on Canal Park seems to get ever closer. So, I guess I have to come up with something to post.
* With all the land now in hand that they were eyeing on Square 906, the National Community Church has filed for a raze permit for the old Miles Glass building at 8th and Virginia, says WBJ. Although the site is within the Capitol Hill Historic District, that in and of itself may not be an impediment to the building being torn down, the article says, since it was constructed in 1963 and "the vast majority of buildings deemed historic on Capitol Hill were erected prior to 1945." Not that any razing will happen anytime soon, but I'm still glad I went and got a bunch of new photos of it last week. (Though I still prefer the photo at right, from my first photo trek in January 2003, when the Miles Glass sign was still there.)
And, in his blog post about the final land purchases, NCC's Mark Batterson tells a story about how the acquired the car garage at 7th and K, given that the owner had refused all previous offers: "On September 15th our staff went over to the property and we laid hands on that auto shop. It felt like an impossible prayer, but we prayed for divine favor. [...] Then on January 15, four months to the day after we prayed on the property, we got a contract."
* Meanwhile, on the south end of the Saints and Sinners block, it looks like the 8th Street Beer Garden will be back in front of the Historic Preservation Review Board on March 24, at least according to the current agenda. At last month's meeting, the designs were described as being "very close," but revisions were requested and board members voted to look at them one more time. It sounded like some of the "busyness" was going to be simplified, so it will be interesting to see the revisions.
(I will say my mea culpas and admit that I sat on these links for way too long because I had grand dreams of getting project pages done for both the NCC and Beer Garden undertakings, but that hasn't happened. Yet.)
 

With an instruction to residents to Please Don't Panic, I'll pass along the news that Onyx on First, the 266-unit apartment building at 1100 1st St. SE, is up for sale. With a brochure touting "Excellent Transportation Infrastructure, Phenomenal Employment Opportunities," and "Shopping and Entertainment Options Abound," the sellers look to be trying to get in on what is clearly a rebounding multifamily market in DC.
Apparently there's no price set for the sale, and with a building that's 92 percent occupied with what looks like pretty high average rent numbers, I imagine investors will be taking a close look. The eventual sale (should there be one) could also be an interesting barometer of how "the markets" view the neighborhood. Proposals are due April 14.
The building, originally planned to be condos but converted to apartments during the construction phase, was developed by Faison and the Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund and completed in 2009. It was built the same time as its neighbor 100 M, the office building that recently bought for $57 million in a foreclosure sale. Onyx is on the same block as the New Jersey Avenue entrance to the Navy Yard Metro station, two blocks north of Nationals Park, and one block west of the Courtyard by Marriott that is being bought for $68 million. And, of course, just across the street from the Market Deli.
You can see my Onyx project page for photos and more information.
 

With "Academy Award Movies" having been the winning theme for the Capitol Riverfront BID's 2011 summer outdoor movie series, the BID is now asking people to vote on which Academy Award movies should be screened. The series starts on May 26, and will once again be on Tingey Plaza, at New Jersey and Tingey just behind the USDOT building. (Last year's screening location, the Canal Park footprint, will be unavailable this summer because the locusts have arrived, dogs and cats are sleeping together, and it appears that construction is about to get underway.)
While the movie series isn't being held at the Yards Park (just a smidge to the north of it) the BID is working on an ever-growing list of events that will keep the park hopping through the year:
* Kicking off the slate, there will be a Family Fun Day on April 2 from 11 am to 4 pm, in conjunction with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. According to the press release, activities at the free event will include sake tasting and a Japanese beer garden by Mie N Yu, lantern making, sushi from Nooshi Sushi, a moonbounce, and more. (Then everyone can take a leisurely walk down M Street to the Southwest Waterfront for the Fireworks Festival, which actually starts at 1 pm and runs until the fireworks kick off at 8:30 pm.) This is also the day of the first Saturday home game of the year at Nationals Park, just two blocks to the west, starting at 1:05 pm against the Braves.
* Sensorium, the "culinary and sensory experience" announced a while back, starts its multi-week run on April 12.
* While the summer movies will be on Thursday nights, the park will also host a free summer concert series on Friday nights from 6 to 8 pm, kicking off on May 13 and running through August 19. This will be in addition the the lunchtime concert series that the BID has run for the past three years, and is expected to feature music ranging from jazz and blues to rock and reggae. (If you're a food provider and you want to serve at the concerts, here's the RFP.)
* July 9 will see MetroDash, the "country's premier obstacle race series," which includes obstacles such as tire flips, rope swings, 15-foot cargo net climbs, wall jumps, monkey bars, the "strongman shuffle." You can sign up here (if you dare), though the web site doesn't seem to be responding right now.
There are also plenty of private events already on the park's calendar, so if you were thinking about throwing your own shindig there, you won't be alone.
UPDATE, 3/20: According to their web site, the May 7 DC Music Fest has been cancelled, "due to lack of funding and sponsorships."
 

A Historic Landmark nomination was submitted on Friday for the Market Deli at 1st and L SE, according to 6D07 rep David Garber. Calling the nomination "potentially controversial" (perhaps remembering this comment thread from a few months ago), Garber says: "I am 100% pro-development, but stand by my support of this because I think saving pieces of our history will make our neighborhood stronger and more valuable in the end."
He describes the "humble" building as the only remaining wood frame corner store in existence south of the freeway. (The brick building next door, where the Market Deli operated in the last few years of its existence, is not part of the nomination.) He also says it "represents the scale and the history that our neighborhood had for most of its history until very recently." He also says that he did not submit the nomination himself, though helped prepare it (but doesn't say who did submit).
The building, constructed in 1885, is currently owned by Akridge (along with the rest of the block's frontage along 1st Street). There has been no public information on what Akridge plans to do with the block, but raze permits were filed for the Market Deli building(s) and the other buildings on the north end of the block earlier this year, which presumably is what kick-started this move. You can read about the city's Historic Landmark designation process at the Historic Preservation Office's web site. Readers may recall that the St. Paul's church at 4th and I received a landmark designation in November.
A slew of photos showing the Deli unchanging in the face of nearby development can be seen in my archive.
UPDATE, 3/7: Here is the nomination form, submitted by Hayden Wetzel of "Historic Washington Architecture."
UPDATE, 3/11: The hearing date at the Historic Preservation Review Board has been set for April 28; here's the hearing notice.
 

DDOT has announced the "First Semi-Annual DC Circulator Public Forum," with Near Southeast residents hitting the jackpot since it's being held at the Courtyard by Marriott at New Jersey and L, SE. It's scheduled for Thursday, March 17, from 6:30 pm to 8 pm, and the release says it will cover topics "including potential changes to the span of the Union Station-Navy Yard route."
In subsequent tweets over the past few days, the Circulator folks have expanded on that, saying that they'll be talking about extending the hours on the route until 9 pm Mondays through Saturdays during the baseball season (April-September), and that it may be paid for by ending the weekend-only service on the Mall. (Other tweets hint that the National Park Service may eventually "support" a Mall route using Madison and Jefferson drives.)
They asked for feedback: would there be support in the neighborhood for running the buses until 9 pm? Is there another service improvement you'd rather see in place of that?
 

Tucked away in today's DC Register is a zoning request by Forest City Washington to allow the second story of the currently de-skinned Lumber Storage Shed at the Yards Park "to be used for general office purposes, on an interim basis, for no more than 20 years." The filing says that Forest City wants to temporarily relocate "in order to facilitate the leasing of the ground floor and to finance the building's restoration."
The intention has been for the shed to be given glass exterior walls and be a retail space--this new plan would still include ground-floor retail (in a very picturesque location at the Yards Park, right by the 3rd Street Plaza and the overlook). There are two other retail pavilions planned for later phases of the park as well, on the open spaces just to the east of the shed.
 

I don't have a lot of firm details yet, but: Apparently the Capitol Hill Day School folks, who have been searching for "swing space" to move to during renovations at their Dent School building at 2nd and South Carolina, are negotiating with the DC Housing Authority to set up modular classrooms on the vacant lot at 5th and K that was once and may some day again be the Capper Community Center.
If the deal comes to fruition, CHDS would occupy the lot for about six months, starting in June, with the plan of moving back to their renovated home in early January. What other facilities they might use in the neighborhood have not yet been firmed up, though it's possible they may negotiate the use of some space at Van Ness Elementary.
A Board of Zoning Adjustment case has been filed, though a hearing date has not yet appeared on the BZA calendar.
A final agreement is still pending, so more information will be available when that's done.
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More posts: Capper, Community Center
 

The framing of the next batch of townhouses in Capitol Quarter's second phase continues, and so I headed out to get an updated batch of photos at 3rd and I (which also happen to show the buzz around 225 Virginia/200 I, as workers are prepping to take down the exterior walls, perhaps starting next week I was told).
But it isn't just houses being built--a few weeks ago, curbs and asphalt were put in for the new 3rd Place, a north-south street between 3rd and 4th that will run between I and L streets. (You can see it, although it's unmarked, on this map.) It's the first time I've had to add a street to my Photo Archive, but it seems to have worked, and I not only have photos I took today, but whatever photos I could find from deep in the archives that by chance ended up being taken in the right location.
You can see my photos at both 3rd Place and I and 3rd Place and K and perhaps see some 2004-2006 photos you haven't come across before. These two shots are looking north-northeast at the new 3rd Place & K intersection:
(The street isn't actually open yet, though, since it goes right through the block that's currently under construction.)
I also took a lot of pictures along 11th Street, ostensibly to document the progress on the 11th Street Bridges, but I didn't actually go anywhere close to the waterfront, so you have to be satisfied with various other photos that show progress if you squint at them.
And I grabbed a lot of other shots around Square 906 today (7th, 8th, L, Virginia), since my archive is woefully lacking in images of that block, and things will be a'changin' around there before too long. You can see them as part of the display of the 151 pictures (eek) I've posted today, but I'll have something a bit more targeted within the next few weeks. You can also, as always, browse the photo archive at your own speed, using the map or the search boxes to see the intersection(s) you're interested in.
As for additional construction photos perhaps in the offing, a reader reports that No Parking signs have gone up along Second Street, indicating that parking will be prohibited 24 hours a day starting on March 7 for approximately 15 months. Is a certain park about to see some action?
 

I'll ask everyone to contain themselves as I bring the news that the city has posted its proposed tax assessments for 2012, and the tally for Near Southeast's properties as I calculate it comes to around $5.99 billion, a whopping 0.001 percent lower than last year's $6.001 billion proposed value, a number which was then revised down thanks to landowner appeals to a final 2011 number of about $5.81 billion.
I've pulled together a chart of the assessed values of the neighborhoods' shiny new/ish office buildings and non-DCHA non-condo multi-unit residential buildings, showing their 2011 proposed assessment, along with the final 2011 number and today's new 2012 proposed number. The proposed 2012 valuations for this specific sub-group of properties totals $1.77 billion, which is up a tad from the $1.75 billion proposed for 2010--but which ended up being dropped to a $1.58 billion final 2011 valuation after appeals.
The expansion in the neighborhood's tax base in terms of new residents has become clear as well: Looking at the numbers for the Capitol Quarter and Velocity condos parcels: in 2007, before construction got underway, they were assessed at around $92 million; for 2012, the proposed value is around $282 million. (It should be noted that Capitol Quarter's taxes don't go into the general fund, because owners there actually are governed by a Payment in Lieu of Taxes [PILOT] structure that uses the tax proceeds to pay down the debt on the bonds used to finance the development.)
As for the number everyone always wants to know about: Nationals Park remains valued at $999,982,800, unchanged since the first time the ballpark's assessment appeared, back in 2009.
Yearly Near Southeast Proposed Assessments
2002: $221M *
2003: $428M *
2004: $642M
2005: $771M
2006: $896M *
2007: $1.78B
2008: $2.54B
2009: $4.47B
2010: $6.01B
2011: $6.00B
2012: $5.99B
* Includes a mix of proposed and revised assessments
And it's likely that the neighborhood will continue to be home to the most valuable privately held property in the city, as the US Department of Transportation HQ has been assessed at $662.7 million, about $73 million higher than the final 2011 number that made it the most valuable property in the city in 2010, according to WBJ.
I keep a database of neighborhood assessments going back to 2001, although it only took about eight years for me to grasp the concept that the proposed numbers released in March aren't always the final ones, so it was just in 2010 that I started tracking both proposed and year-end numbers. (Though it must be said that during the Bubble Years, landowners weren't quite so vigorous about challenging their assessments.) Plus for a long time I got the years wrong when referencing: numbers posted by the city in one year are labeled as being the proposed/actual value for the following year. And some tax squares inside my strict Near Southeast boundaries escaped my attention for a few years early on. But I don't think the numbers are so out-of-whack that they can't be compared in a general way, as long as you keep the caveats in mind; with that admonition, check out the table at right for the yearly numbers.
And, of course, it should be noted that since large portions of the neighborhood's land is owned by the Feds (*cough*Navy Yard*cough*), there aren't taxes being paid on every dime of these assessment numbers.
If your envelope hasn't already arrived, or if you want to see how your number stacks up against your neighbors, you can search the assessments database yourself.
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More posts: assessments
 

Last night the National Community Church held its "All Church Celebration" at the Lincoln Theater, and, while I wasn't there for the "big announcement," I do know that lead pastor Mark Batterson told the assembly that the last of their land acquisitions on Square 906 (bounded by Virginia, 7th, 8th, and L) have been finalized.
As I've been conjecturing, this includes the auto garage on the corner of 7th and Virginia. But it also includes a contract for the two small apartment buildings at 716 and 718 L Street, just west of the alley. Batterson tells me that they are leasing back the garage to the current occupants until July so that they can find a new location.
Combined with the Miles Glass site that started it all and the empty lot on 7th, this now gives NCC (the folks behind the successful Ebenezers coffee house near Union Station) over 26,000 square feet of land on a somewhat T-shaped footprint on which to build their combination coffee house/performance space/offices. As I've mentioned previously, Batterson wrote on his blog in mid-February that they are now "full-steam ahead with designs" now that the footprint is finalized, and that he is "looking forward to initiating meetings with Historic Preservation, ANC, Riverfront Bid, Barracks Row Main Street, Office of Planning, etc." It wil be interesting to see if the zoning and height changes that business owners are looking for along lower 8th get through, and whether NCC would be taking advantage of being able to build a bit higher as a result.
Of course, this isn't the only new activity on Square 906, since it's on the south end of the block where the beer garden at 8th and L is supposed to be going in once the design gets through its historic preservation review, a process NCC will have to undergo as well since the block is within the Capitol Hill Historic District. This Saints and Sinners stretch of 8th is definitely going be a focus of activity in 2011.
 

At a meeting Monday night, DC Public Schools announced that, despite the hopes of the parents of small children who have moved to Near Southeast, Van Ness Elementary will remain closed for a few more years, perhaps opening by the 2014-15 school year. I wasn't at the meeting (was watching McEnroe, Lendl, Sampras, and Agassi at Madison Square Garden), but I can pass along the handout from the meeting (page one and two) that provides the rationale and data behind the decision.
The next open question is whether DCPS will expand the boundaries of Tyler Elementary at 10th and G SE to allow Near Southeast children to attend, rather than continuing to send them to Amidon-Bowen in Southwest, a situation which has many parents unhappy. Also, parents' groups have meetings scheduled with various city officials in the coming days to discuss the situation.
Sorry this is brief; if you were at the meeting, please feel free to use the comments to highlight anything said that isn't in the handout. You can also read my previous Van Ness entries for more background.
 

Just crossing the wires: "Chesapeake Lodging Trust announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the 204-room Courtyard Washington Capitol Hill/Navy Yard located in Washington, DC for a purchase price of $68 million, or approximately $333,000 per key." The hotel, at New Jersey and L, SE, opened in spring 2006 along with its next door neighbor, the Capitol Hill Tower co-op; both were developed by Valhal Corp. (whose principals then formed Ranger Properties in 2007). It will apparently remain a Courtyard; no word of what if any impact this sale would have on Capitol Hill Tower.
 

* I imagine most interested parties do not need to be reminded that tonight at 6 pm at 900 5th St. SE is the meeting with DCPS to find out what they plan to do with Van Ness Elementary. With laser-like precision, they picked a date when I absolutely can't be there, so anyone who wants to pass along the news as it's happening, please do. (I will be keeping an eye on Twitter.)
And, two recently Tweeted links that might be of interest:
* The Yards was named one of Five Projects that Will Transform Washington by the Washington Business Journal. "When completed, the neighborhood may finally achieve L'Enfant's vision for a bustling center of activity on the waterfront."
* The DC Fiscal Policy Institute takes a look at the possible $8 million tax break to bring Whole Foods to New Jersey Avenue, asking "why it makes sense for the District to continue putting money into an area that has seen tremendous public investments and is already on the cusp of development" and why the project would require a special subsidy to move forward, since they say that "Whole Foods already would qualify for a set of tax incentives on grocery-store development, including a 10-year property tax break on the store itself."
 

On Thursday the city's Historic Preservation Review Board took up the designs for the new building to be constructed at 720 L St. SE that is going to house a beer garden. You can watch the proceedings if you want (it's about 25 minutes long), which might be of interest if you're an architect or deeply interested in building design.
The commissioners all seemed to feel that the staff report (which I summarized here) was on the right track with its comments on the building's design: "You're close, you're very close," said board member Robert Sonderman to the building's team, and staffer Amanda Molson and other board members seemed to agree.
Before the board members had a chance to weigh in, applicant Mark Brody responded to some of the concerns in the staff report, offering to remove the rain screens that go up above the roof deck, reducing the number of finishes, providing more information about how the roof deck's lighting and sun-screening will be designed, and looking more at how the business relates to the 8th Street streetscape (Brody said that they'll be trying to include a sidewalk cafe in the final plans).
Architect Matthew Battin did seem a little frustrated by the amount of input the design has received, talking about how some design changes have been in response to comments, which have then generated comments that counteracted the initial comments. The board members seemed sympathetic to the "too many cooks" issue, and many focused on wanting the design to be simplified in order to "clarify the concept." They also seemed to like the industrial/warehouse feel, and were not concerned about it fitting in with the Capitol Hill Historic District. There was some discussion about using roll-up windows rather than the flat ones to further emphasize the warehouse feel (though costs do seem to be a concern in much of the design). There was also a suggestion that an archaelogist be brought to the site, given its location near the Navy Yard and on a hill with views of the Potomac where "the people before us" lived.
While the original staff recommendation was for the design to be approved by staff once comments are incorporated, chair Catherine Buell suggested it come back to the board one more time, "hopefully on the consent calendar." This was approved unanimously.
 

My dad has handed in the final installment of his memories of life on Capitol Hill, this time covering the very tumultous late 1960s. While there are plenty of good memories (and home movies!)--swimming at the Skyline Inn, birdbath martinis at the Market Inn, the Gangplank, and my brother's days attending the nascent Capitol Hill Day School--Dad's essay focuses in large part on the 1968 riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the impact it had for people living on the Hill.
We left the Hill--and Washington--in late 1969 when Dad took a job in Chicago, but we returned to the area in 1977, living in Chevy Chase but always keeping our ties the Hill strong, both professionally through Dad and my brother's jobs and then personally when I moved to the Hill in 1994.
When my now-husband and I bought our house in June 1995, right as DC was hitting rock bottom and just before the financial control board was instituted, most of our friends were more than a little concerned about our decision, especially given that this was how many people thought of Washington outside of far Northwest and the National Mall. But Dad and Mom certainly approved of my decision to put down stakes back in the neighborhood where their life together--and my life!--had started.
So, this brings this nice wintertime diversion to an end, and I hope people have found it interesting. And maybe it's spurred a few of you to get your parents' memories of your childhood neighborhood (wherever it may be), and maybe some longtime Hill residents have shaken loose a few of their own recollections while reading this. (I know I've gotten a number of "Yes! The Oakland Inn!" responses.)
Thanks for doing this, Dad, and now go get back on your bike: spring is coming.
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More posts: Rearview Mirror
 

From DDOT: "The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will close N Street SE between 11th and 12th Street SE on Thursday, February 24. Traffic that would have used N Street SE will be permanently routed to the intersection of 12th Street and M Street SE.[.]" There are stoplights now at 12th and M; I saw them on Saturday night, and thought they were pretty new (and indeed they are!).
This is all part of the 11th Street Bridges reconstruction; see my project page for more details. This closure would seem to mainly effect Navy Yard employees who come northward across the bridges and have been able to turn left at the bottom of the ramp on N to head toward the Navy Yard's gates, and who will now have to go up to M, turn left, and then turn left on 11th.
UPDATE: In looking at the plans, and parsing the press release wording, I think the "permanently" refers to drivers coming off the 11th Street Bridge inbound having to go to 12th and M. It looks like N will still be in existence, and in fact will be built through to 12th. I can't quite tell from the various graphics how traffic will flow on the new N. But basically, the way that N is used now (as a turn off the exit ramp) won't exist anymore.
 

DC Public Schools has scheduled a public meeting on Feb. 28 to announce its decision on the reopening of Van Ness Elementary School. Parents were already told back in December that the school won't reopen for the 2011-2012 school year, but residents hope that DCPS could decide to get the school back online for fall 2012.
If the school isn't going to be reopened in the near future, there might be the possibility of expanding the boundaries of Tyler Elementary (at 10th and G SE) to allow Near Southeast children to go there, rather than to Amidon-Bowen in Southwest, their current assigned school. (I don't know whether a decision on that would be announced at this meeting.) The meeting is at 6 pm at the Arthur Capper Seniors building at 900 5th St., SE. You can read my previous posts on Van Ness for more information.
 

[While this is technically outside of my strict boundaries, I know a lot of Near Southeast residents patronize the restaurants and shops on 8th Street, so....] A survey is being conducted on resident attitudes toward restaurants on Barracks Row. It's being funded by the business owners, and is being overseen by Barracks Row Main Street. Deadline for completing the survey is midnight, Sunday, Feb. 27, and four participants will win a $25 gift certificate to the Barracks Row restaurant of their choice.

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More posts: 8th Street
 

If you're actually visiting the default JDLand.com home page to read this post, you'll notice things look a little different. Again.
I've tinkered with the design, with the biggest change being the addition of a Latest News box at the top. Given the amount of content that flows through the site, it's easy for people who don't read it obsessively (i.e., most everyone) to miss big news as it quickly ages down the page and then off into the archive. And my Spidey Sense is tingling that 2011 is going to have more big stories from Near Southeast than it's seen during the past few years of The Great Recession, making it even more important that there's an easier way to catch up with the latest.
You won't see this box if you come to the site via a direct link to a blog post, but you can then just click on the "See the Latest News" link to get to it, which does nothing more than take you to the default home page.
However, note that I didn't do the Full Gawker and ditch the standard reverse-chronological display of blog entries. They're still on the home page, under "The Feed," requiring just a bit of scrolling or a click on the light-gray link at the top of the page. There's no change to the mobile home page, either.
And I couldn't bear to do away with the random before-and-after photos, though I moved them and shrunk them a bit.
But there is one fun addition: Current Weather Conditions! Since Weatherbug has a station at Nationals Park, I thought it'd be cool to have the local neighborhood weather report available, just like a *real* media site.
There's other tweaks here or there that few people other than me will notice, because I have to stare at this page way too much and after awhile I have to move the furniture around otherwise I'll go [more] insane.
I imagine there's a bug or two that I'll be stomping out over the next few days, but I hope that readers find this a useful addition, or at the very least not a tremendous imposition. (And, if you're reading this post via RSS or e-mail subscription or some other method, be sure to visit the home page to see the new additions.)
UPDATE: If the layout is acting weird, try doing a forced refresh (CTRL-F5). This is especially true with Chrome.
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More posts: JDLand stuff
 
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