‘Save Shaw Middle School’ Campaign Continues
The campaign to reestablish a middle school for the Shaw community, using the Facebook and Twitter hashtag #SaveShawMS, is continuing to gain momentum. Bright red “Save Shaw Middle School” signs are popping up in neighborhood yards, the online petition supporting the movement has over 1,200 signatures and there is a banner announcing the campaign on the fence at the old Shaw Junior High School site.
On Dec. 20, the community met at the Watha T. Daniel Library to plan the next steps in the campaign. Besides members of the parent and teacher organizations for neighborhood elementary schools, attendees included representatives from the Logan Circle Civic Association, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6E and New Bethel Baptist Church. The discussion reviewed the weaknesses in the current plan to use the Shaw Junior High site for a new high school, and tried to determine who should be lobbied in the community, DC government and DC Council to get the plan reversed and allow a new Shaw middle school to be built on the site.
Kennedy Recreation Center and Metropolitan Police Team Up for Christmas
The Kennedy Recreation Center and Friends of Kennedy Playground teamed up with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Third District to hold a Christmas party for the children of the Shaw neighborhood. District Commander Stuart Emerman kicked off the event by welcoming a crowd of 50 children to the party. Coordinated by Lieutenants Dawn Anu-Amen Ra and Nicole Lindsey and Sergeant Jurithia Gibson, the event had food, drink, cookies and presents for the children provided by members of the Third District. Thanks also to Brock Thompson, who donated a portion of the toys.
LGBTQ Dance Forum Opens in Shaw
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, the District’s population has a higher percentage of gay people than any other US state. Shaw has been recognized in various reader polls as DC’s gayest neighborhood. But Shaw’s cachet was weakened with the closure of Town Danceboutique, the city’s largest gay venue, last year. The neighborhood did get XX+, a new women’s bar at 1926 Ninth St. NW, in the fall.
But now, in an effort to amp up Shaw’s gayness, the 9:30 Club on Jan. 5 inaugurated a new dance party, BENT, oriented toward the LGBTQ community. A quarterly event, BENT will invite all elements of the LGBTQ community and involve both dancing and performance art, taking up both floors of the 9:30 Club, according to impresario Steve Lemmerman.
Grand Cata Wine Shop among Nation’s Best
Grand Cata, the Latin-oriented wine shop at 1550 Seventh St. NW, was declared to be among the 10 Best Wine Shops nationwide in December by VinePair magazine. In a survey including the publication’s staff, readers and industry professionals, the candidates on the list had to be independent stores that were a cornerstone of the local wine-drinking community. In declaring Grand Cata the best wine shop in the Mid-Atlantic, VinePair said that in a city with an increasing selection of quality wine shops “Grand Cata is at the forefront. Forward thinking with easygoing service, Grand Cata is perfectly placed to serve a city starting to take wine very seriously.”
880 P St. Wins Architectural Award
The last component of Shaw’s City Market at O project, 880 P St., has won an architectural award from the DC Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The high-end apartment building on the corner of Ninth and P streets NW won the 2018 Merit Award in Architecture/Washingtonian Merit Award for Multi-Family Housing. Designed by Shalom Baranes Associates, the apartment building is described as “a sibling, not a clone,” of the other structures comprising City Market at O. Much admired was the effort to have the building’s western facade mimic the massing and rhythm of the rowhouses across the street.
The AIA noted that the completed City Market at O “offers much-needed retail to both old-timers and new arrivals in the surrounding community, increases neighborhood connectivity via the reopened Eighth Street, and accomplishes the neat trick of fitting in while standing out.”
Impact of Shaw’s Art All Night Measured
While people have been impressed by the crowds drawn to Shaw’s annual Art All Night festival, there has not been a good estimate of the actual impact of the event. Until now.
A study from Jon Stover and Associates, commissioned by Shaw Main Streets, found that the one-night Art All Night festival in September 2018 brought over 24,000 visitors to Shaw, generating an additional $1.6 million in spending that would be unexpected if not for the event. Among the attendees, 40 percent were DC residents outside the Shaw neighborhood, while 43 percent came from outside of the District of Columbia. The one-night event even generated an extra $159,000 in tax revenue for the District gov
