REMINDER: Edgewood Neighborhood Cleanup TOMORROW!

The weather is looking good for a February cleanup!  I have asked the Ward 5 candidates if they are coming and I think we may see a few.  Please join us in making our neighborhood a better place.

Just wanted to send out a reminder that tomorrow is the Edgewood Neighborhood monthly cleanup. The group meets in front of the Edgewood Rec Center at the corner of 3rd and Evarts NE at 10:30 a.m. The cleanup is sponsored by the Friends of Edgewood Recreation Center and occurs the first Saturday of every month same time and location. The group picks up trash around the neighborhood including the rec center and has a cookout afterwards.

This is a great way to meet your neighbors and show pride in our neighborhood!

If you cannot come try and cleanup around your block today or tomorrow morning so we can cover more areas!!!

Edgewood Home Sales

Here is the updated data on homes for sale in Edgewood. I am using Redfin because it allows you to search by neighborhood, but if you have any other ideas or ways to get listings or open houses please let me know!

Here is the link to the data in Redfin:

Edgewood DC Real Estate

Edgewood has a very diverse housing stock with a wide range of sizes and prices. Right now the most expensive places listed are the new homes being built in Chancellor's Row listed at $649,900 while the least expensive listing is a one bedroom condo listed at $125,000. It seems that there continues to be a steady number of houses selling across the price ranges and there are quite a few pending sales that have yet to be posted.  The overall number of houses in the neighborhood for sale continues to be low.

There are new sales posted.

227 Bryant Street NE sold for $361,000 on December 13th
513 Montana Ave NE sold for $160,000 on December 15th
2905 7th Street NE sold for $369,900 on December 21st
2625 3rd Street NE Number 303 sold for $129,900 on December 23rd
225 Channing Street NE sold for $145,775 on December 28th
330 Rhode Island Ave NE Number 101 sold for $100,000 on December 29th
434 Evarts Street NE Number 2 sold for $82,000 on January 10th
2626 4th Street NE sold for $247,000 on January 13th

The Chancellor's Row development continues to be a high seller in the neighborhood having sold over a hundred houses to date.  The prices have gone up as I noticed they changed their signs from houses in the 400s to in the 500s.

There is one open house listed for Edgewood. There an open house at  2402 3rd Street NE on Sunday, Janunary 29th between 1 - 4 PM. If you know of any others please add the information to the comments section.

Metropolitan Branch Trail 5K

The date for the second annual Metropolitan Branch Trail 5K was been set for Saturday, May 5th, 2012.  The website is up to accept registrations!  Please sign up and join us!

http://www.gometbranch.com/

Jobs in Edgewood: Monroe Street Market Project

Monroe Street Market Project and DOES would like all job applicants for the MSM project to apply via the new One City, One Hire registration website. 

https://app.does.dc.gov/register/

The trades that will be working here at the projects are:

Carpenters
Laborers
Brick Masons
Concrete Laborers and Finishers
Electricians
Plumbers
Sheet metal Workers
Roofers
Waterproofers
Caulkers
Window and door installers
Painters
Carpet installers
Ceramic Tile installers

For more information, please contact Kelly Wallace at kwallace@bozzuto.com or 5c10@anc.dc.gov

Good Luck!

Community Weatherization Project in Edgewood

Please see the information below about the project starting in Edgewood for weatherizing your home.  I am one of the homeowners that has signed up so far and I wanted to make sure that more of my neighbors knew about this opportunity.  I was drawn to the project because it creates new green jobs for DC residents with training and room for advancement while using local, small businesses.  The need to weatherize my old rowhouse and be able to save money while helping create jobs in DC seemed like an ideal opportunity.

Community Weatherization Project in Edgewood

WeatherizeDC guides community members in coordinating their home energy upgrades. Pooling residents’ purchasing power helps lock in a discounted rate for efficiency services, generates savings for each household budget and lowers families’ energy use. And participants use their strengthened economic power to reinvest in their local communities.

The initiative makes investing in home energy efficiency simple and affordable. By engaging as a group, residents lower the cost of investing in efficiency upgrades. In Silver Spring, Maryland, families who coordinated their home energy improvements saved on average 15 percent. Local and Federal tax incentives provided additional savings.

By vetting local small businesses, WeatherizeDC ensures residents hire contractors that deliver top- quality service. We only work with Building and Performance Institute (BPI) certified contractors. Every project is designed to create a unique community benefit. Residents give input into the social impacts they would like their group purchase to create.

Now one of these projects is taking place in our community.  A group of six homeowners has already committed to moving forward with the project, and will begin work at the end of February – join now and help us secure greater discounts by increasing the number of participants.

The Process
WeatherizeDC:  

• Partners with neighborhood associations and other community networks to create simple ways for members to participate.
• Organizes individuals into bundled requests across neighborhoods.
• Supports representatives of the purchasing group with the selection of a local business to perform the work based on pricing, quality and their social impact.

Interested in starting a community efficiency project on your street?
To learn more, contact Organizer Ayla Schlosser at ayla.schlosser@weatherizedc.org or 202.630.9381.

Recap of the Rhode Island Avenue Task Force Meeting

This morning I attended the Rhode Island Avenue Task Force meeting and I wanted to share what  I learned as it pertains to Edgewood.  Also,  I would like to encourage people to attend these meetings as they are open to the whole community and it is a great way to get your voice heard and be a part of the development of Rhode Island Avenue NE.  The next meeting is being scheduled for the end of February.

The meeting started with an introduction of the different groups that were present.  There was quite a bit of blunt expression demonstrating the fractured relationship by the Premier CDC group towards the Friends of Rhode Island Ave group.  I have experience with the Premier CDC group in regards to them working towards starting an Edgewood Farmer's Market and I joined the Friends of Rhode Island Avenue group when they started last year.  So, that said I am not going to go into details of the discussion I am going to say I think both groups have a niche and there is so much to be done that the more the merrier.  I just hope people can work together and not duplicate efforts.  I think it would be best if each group could focus on specific initiatives and the Task Force meetings could be used to delegate and discusss what each group is doing.

There was a representative from CM Orange's office there and Jeff Miller, Director of Real Estate from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development was there as well.  They were both very informative about programs and initiatives and honest about the lack of money for government funding for many of these items.

I asked many questions about the potential Farmer's Market in Edgewood.  Premier CDC group stated that they are still working on it hoping to start one this year.  They have been talking with Vanguard at the Rhode Island Shopping Center, but they still do not have anything signed.  Jeff Miller stated that his office has also been discussing it with Vanguard and also offered the option that the Rhode Island Row development would be happy to have the Farmer's Market there.  It seems that we may very well have one this year.

Jeff Miller also stated that over 50% of the Rhode Island Row development's retail has already been leased.  He did not share any new tenants past the ones we already know.  I am hoping that Rhode Island Row will start advertising who they are as their spaces are being completed.

The Rhode Island Shopping Center was discussed further as I asked a few more questions about it and was told that development may be closer than I was previously told.  Basically the leases being signed by the new discount grocer/retailer are going to be shorter term and redevelopment could happen in pieces.

I made a few connections at the meeting for an outdoor movie night that I am trying to plan and coordinate with multiple groups along Rhode Island Avenue.  If anyone is interested in being involved with planning let me know!

Rhode Island Avenue New Tenant

ICYMI Lydia DePillis reported this week that a Sav-A-Lot discount grocery store is coming to the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center.  She reports that it will be opening in Spring/Summer 2012 in a portion of the old Safeway spot.  I had been told awhile ago by Vanguard that they were looking at a discount grocery store/ discount store combination to fill the space.  This makes me wonder if Big Lots is still looking to fill the rest of this space or if they wanted too long of a lease.  The shopping center is looking to redevelop when the leases of its current tenants end in the next 8-10 years.