Shaw Art All Night Coming September 30
Art All Night, the annual overnight celebration of neighborhood arts and culture, returns to Shaw the evening of Saturday, September 30. This year, Mayor Bowser has attempted to have every area of the District participate in the festival. The 12th Shaw Art All Night welcome center, artists’ market and main stage will be on the west plaza at Banneker Academic High School, which will include visual artists showing and selling their work, video projections, and live entertainment, including fire dancers. Headliners include R&B recording artist Afi Soul. The Watha T. Daniel Library will offer do-it-yourself art programs and entertainment for children, teens and adults. The Shaw Skate Park will host skateboarding demonstrations and live painting.
There will be 15 other art and performance venues in Shaw during the festival, including outdoor locations and a parade led by drummers. Events DC will activate the entire lawn of the Carnegie Library with art-related programs. Roadside Development’s new Intersect at O building will host a photographic exhibit by Jeffrey Morris, along with dancers and performance art. A block party featuring the Black Beer Garden, hosted by Right Proper Brewing Company, will return to the 600 block of T Street, NW, along with visual artists and musical performances. Team Rayceen’s LGBTQIA+ artist showcase including a mini-ball returns to the DC Housing Finance Agency auditorium. The Embassy of Spain and District Coalition will present internationally acclaimed DJ Pau Roca, hailing from Barcelona’s bustling music scene, blending house, disco, boogie, and electronic beats for dancing outdoors at Electric Cool-Aid. All Art All Night in Shaw events are free and open to the public, and no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, visit www.artallnightdcshaw.com.
New Jersey Avenue and O Street Park Meeting
The Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) held a community meeting July 19 on the status of the renovation of the New Jersey Avenue and O Street Park. The meeting was at Dunbar High School, although people could join virtually.
Peter Nohrden, a landscape architect who is the DPR manager for the project, noted that the required archaeological survey for the park started two years ago, and that they are just getting all the permits needed for the renovation work. Approximately $1.3 million dollars will be devoted to the project.
The project will go beyond just repairing the fixtures of the 40-year-old park. Entry into the park will become more inviting. The new design will encourage community gatherings, possibly including concerts and summer cinema viewing. There will be new and more direct lighting. Plans include a specific area for a children’s playground. Drainage will be improved by replacing concrete with permeable surfaces, installing bioretention areas for stormwater and adding new plantings. Plans also call for commemorative and climbable sculpture pieces in the park.
Questions came up about the hours that the park would be open. DPR said that it recognized that the community did not want the park to be open all night. They said that given park ranger schedules, the park would have the same hours as the New York Avenue Park, which are 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. A contractor has been hired for the park renovation. Work on the project will start in the early fall of 2023, with completion expected in the spring of 2024.
Hearing on Shaw Alcohol Moratorium Set
The Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, to receive public comment concerning a petition to establish a new moratorium zone in the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW. The moratorium petition, submitted by the Westminster Neighborhood Association and tentatively called the North Shaw & Ninth Street Neighborhood Moratorium Zone, seeks to impose a new moratorium on all license classes and types in the 1900 block of Ninth Street NW.
The Westminster Neighborhood Association is a community group along a one-block street comprising approximately 170 rowhouses. Their petition argues that the overconcentration of liquor establishments in the area has led to high rates of crime, noise problems and disorderly conduct in their neighborhood. They propose a moratorium on new liquor establishments on the 1900 block of Ninth Street. If enacted, the proposed moratorium would prohibit the issuance of new liquor licenses in the moratorium zone, prohibit the transfer of existing licenses to the block or allow existing licenses to make substantial changes in their operation. Hotels and new restaurants would be exempt from the moratorium.
The Board’s public hearing will be conducted virtually via video conferencing through the Cisco Webex meetings platform. Internet access is required for participation. The public hearing will also be streamed on the ABCA YouTube page.
Individuals and representatives of organizations who want to testify at the hearing should contact Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) General Counsel Martha Jenkins via email at Martha.Jenkins@dc.gov by no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 8, 2023. Please include your full name, title, organization and your phone number. Once you have submitted your contact information to ABCA, you will be provided information regarding how the Board intends to conduct the hearing, and what your participation in the hearing requires.
Members of the public who are unable to testify or who do not desire to testify in person may provide written comments, which will be included as part of the Board’s official record. Copies of written statements should be submitted to ABCA Legal at ABCA.legal@dc.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 29, 2023. The Westminster Neighborhood Association petition is available at abca.dc.gov.
