The Board of Zoning Adjustment hasn't been able to establish a quorum for more than a month, bringing housing renovations and development to a screeching halt. Suzie Amanuel spoke to an elderly couple who are caught in the middle:
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7838...
Happy 40th Anniversary to the DC Archives!!
I have heard very, very good things about the status of the DC Archives funding. The hearing is 4/27. 🗃️
View and map of Toledo, 1610. Another wild & wonderful work by El Greco, who died (in Toledo) on this day in 1614.
HISTORIC DAYS IN APRIL 3. Negro troops enter Richmond, 1865 . 4. Richard Allen and Absalom Jones organized the first Negro aid and beneficial society , 1787. 5. Report of commission sent to San Domingo to investigate the question of annexation sent to Congress , 1871 . 6. Second Continental Congress passed resolution against importation of slaves , 1776 . 7. Lewis Hayden , fugitive slave and tireless worker for the advancement of the Negro , died , 1889 . 8. New York prohibits slave trade , 1801. 9. Lyman Trumbull's Civil Rights Bill, which gave the Negro status in the courts of the United States, became law , 1866 . 11. Richard Allen, first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church , consecrated , 1816 . 12. Battle of Fort Pillow , 1864 . 14. First abolition society in the United States organized , 1775 . 15. Abraham Lincoln died , 1865 . 16. Emancipation in the District of Columbia by act of Congress , providing for compensation of slaveholders , 1862 . 17. Robert G. Shaw commissioned colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment , 1863 . 18. Reconstruction constitution of Louisiana ratified , 1868 . 19. Oberlin , O. , founded , 1833 20. Anti-Ku-Klux Act approved , 1871 . 23. Gen. Benjamin F. Butler offers to suppress servile insurrection in Maryland, 1861 . 27. Toussaint L'ouverture died , 1803 30. The Fifteenth Amendment pro- posed , 1866 . L. M. HERSHAW.
Historic Days in April
from the Crisis, April 1912
hdl.handle.net/2027/msu.312...
Well they’re busy doing other things around the city, Neil.
If you stay in bed a little longer, you’ll have more time to read this ⬇️
Of nerdy urbanist interest: Next week the D.C. Council will cast a first vote on @brianneknadeau.bsky.social's bill to allow for new D.C. buildings up to six stories tall to have only a single stairwell in them, instead of the current two. Proponents say it creates more residential space.
Neil
Not only is this correct, it's how the designers of the National Mall thought.
The McMillan Commission imagined clearing out neighborhoods for grand buildings and wide roads. NCPPC executed that vision with a full commitment to the automobile era. The Mall has been obsolete from the start.
That’s right. @kimpbender.bsky.social
🍜
No it’s a good take
A 1944 map by geologist Harold Fisk charts a 40-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from Friars Point to Gunnison, Mississippi. Fisk used aerial photos and maps to estimate the past and then-present channels. Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mississippi-rivers-hidden-history-uncovered-by-lidar?fbclid=IwY2xjawQYXkdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFCZ2JBT2tWdVlXMmEzNU5Uc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsbjW-Yuubr_o_Kfeh0Elzc94geDwfXIZmeNL7NyljEBAOEjH53m2QLSo1NF_aem__4NkCIJ_D8J6mI1e8eMByg
Rivers are living beings.
A receipt
A fragment of a poem about vegetables
Today’s archival research has been weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable other than the random fragment of a poem about vegetables on the back of an 1819 receipt tendered to the Boston Board of Selectmen 🗃️
Tammy Stidham is going to vote for this but she voted against the DC Archives. Just something I expect to remember in 2029.
Neil’s newsletter is destined to be required DC history reading. 🗃️
❤️ + $1
It was a pleasure to talk to Alex Wagner about the president's half-baked and self-aggrandizing plans for Washington.
Thank you to @heurichhouse.bsky.social for allowing me to film in their amazing and acoustically great dining room.
Pleasure to talk to Anthony Burke about the administration’s plans for Washington, and in good company.
This really is incredible
🎂
Help us find our next Executive Director.
good-insight.org/careers/
Some more news: I am thrilled that my next role will be to support DC's architectural community! In March, I will start my new role as Executive Director of AIA|DC and the Washington Architectural Foundation, who together run the District Architecture Center.
All buildings in DC will now be required to contain glass blocks and alabaster, and serve pho.
Since 1986, Don Miller’s 56-foot painting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, has served as a visual portal into the civil rights leader’s life and legacy.
to despair and embrace cynicism was to hand powerful weapons to the enemy
Our community members have always been such an important part of our work - whether through partnering, donating, visiting, or cheerleading - I hope you will all join me in continuing to support the organization as it evolves!
