Casey Trees issues annual spring tree-care guide

Casey Trees has provided us with the following tips on keeping all the young trees alive and healthy in our neighborhood.  Please consider adopting any new trees that have been planted on your block to make sure they survive the summer!!

Proper watering techniques and mulch installation are crucial for the growing season.

(Washington, D.C. — March 20, 2012) Though the D.C. area has experienced spring-like weather for weeks now, March 20 marks the official first day of spring and with it comes some useful tree-care tips from Casey Trees.

D.C. residents are encouraged to:

Install slow-release watering bags around newly planted trees. Practice 25 to Stay Alive by giving trees that have been in the ground less than three years 25 gallons of water, equal to 1.5 inches of rain, a week.

Remove winter weeds and emerging grasses from around the trunk base.

Add trunk guards if lawn mowers or weed whackers will come near the trees. If you live near locations with deer populations, install deer guards.

Mulch your trees to keep the soil moist, discourage summer weeds and deter pests and diseases.

Apply mulch using the 3-3-3 rule — 3 inches of mulch in a 3-foot ring with a 3-inch space around the tree trunk.

Inspect for dead or crossing branches. Damaged branches should be pruned carefully. Dead branches should be removed.

For step-by-step instruction on how to properly plant and care for trees and information on programs available to D.C. residents to help offset the cost of purchasing trees, visit www.caseytrees.org.

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About Casey Trees:
Casey Trees is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, established in 2002, dedicated to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the nation's capital. For more information, visit www.caseytrees.org

Ward 5 Budget Town Hall

Please see the message below about the Mayor's budget meeting in Ward 5.  This is a good opportunity for us to speak out as a community about the needs we have and need to see filled by the upcoming budget.

Good Afternoon Ward 5,

Please join Mayor Vincent C. Gray and your neighbors for an important presentation on our City's Budget.  It is crucial to have you present, so that we may have the opportunity to share details about the budget that may be of interest to you and your family. Also, we expect several key cabinet and agency directors will be present to answer any questions or concerns regarding other important matters for our community.

We look forward to seeing you there.

With warm regards,

 WHAT: MAYOR’S BUDGET TOWN HALL
WHEN: April 10th, 2012
TIME: 6:30-8:30pm
LOCATION: McKinley Technology High School (151 T st. NE)

 Carl Thomas
Ward 5 Community Liaison

Edgewood Community Garden

Please see the message below about the expansion of the Edgewood Community Garden this year!  This is a great community amenity and a way to meet your neighbors!  I am excited that they are taking over from me and expanding the garden!!  Please read below and join them.

Good Morning!

I want to make sure everyone know they don't have to sign up for the WHOLE day on the dates listed.  If you can come for an hour, 2, 3, 5, etc., that is AOK!  Whatever you can do, will be great!  Just respond back to this e-mail and let us know, when you know, which date(s) you would like to help out. 

Also!  If you have kids, bring 'em on down!  There is a playground next to where the garden is and a soccer field and so many wonderful things for the kids to be involved with, not just playing in dirt (who didn't love playing or even eating dirt as a kid?!). 

And lastly, we intend on having food and drinks available on these days, so knowing how many can help out ahead of time will ensure that we will have enough on hand.  Of course, this is still a few weeks away, so we just want to make sure that we at least given everyone a head start in planning ahead. 

We are looking forward to seeing, meeting you in April!  Thank you for considering in volunteering your time with us in building a garden in the Edgewood DC neighborhood, in Ward 5!
Karin & Cassie
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Cassie Phillips & Karin Bleeg
Edgewood Community Garden*

E-mail: edgewoodcg@gmail.com
Blog: http://edgewoodcommunitygardendc.blogspot.com/
*sponsored & supported by the Public Service Grant Commission, a program of The George Washington University's Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service

Edgewood Development Update

Just a glance around Edgewood and you can see all the ongoing construction with developments completing and new neighbors and businesses moving into the neighborhood.  I feel like a broken record trying to get these developments to acknowledge that they are in Edgewood! So below are the updates of the developments ongoing in the Edgewood neighborhood for your reading pleasure.

Chancellor's Row (3015 4th Street NE) - 10-acre residential development on St. Paul's campus which began construction Fall 2010 as promised and already has residents living there. They have sold all 100 houses in Phase I and they will all be complete and occupied by May. Phase 2 starts construction in April and is currently open for sales having already sold 29 houses.  They have already added a ZipCar to this location and they are supposed to be adding a Capital Bikeshare Station as well.

Monroe Street Market (formerly CUA South Campus Development) (7th Street and Michigan Ave NE) - mixed use development will include approximately 720 housing units, 45 townhouses, and a public square with a college main street with 83,000 square feet of street-level retail, 15,000 square feet of artists' studio space and 850 below-grade parking spaces. They started demolition on the CUA buildings in 2010 and broke ground on November 9, 2011. The first phase of 562 residential units is scheduled to be completed in Summer 2013. There will also be improvements made to the sidewalks, crosswalks and Met Branch Trail connection in that area.

Brookland Artspace Lofts (3225 Eighth Street NE) - 41 live/work rental units directly adjacent to Dance Place's HQ and studio space for qualified DC artists making 60% or less of the area median income construction began Spring 2010 and is completed and at 100% occupancy now. They are accepting applications for their wait list.

Developments Surrounding Edgewood

Rhode Island Row (919 Rhode Island Ave NE) - This project is well underway and already has residents moving in as the apartments are completed. They have posted the rents and they range from $1740 for a 1 bed/bath to $3465 for a 3 bed/bath. The retail is still being kept pretty hushed even though it was supposed to be anounced the end of last year and open Spring 2012 it is rumored to have over 60% of the space "spoken for". I have only heard that CVS, Five Guys, Dunkin Donuts, DMV and Sprint are going to open over there.  The CVS "coming soon" sign is up on the corner retail slot on Rhode Island Avenue NE.  This development is also supposed to add a Capital Bikeshare Station. 

Mint Condos (329 Rhode Island Ave NE) - This project is currently underway and is across the street from Edgewood in Eckington. The burnt out shell of a building is being converted into 24 luxury condos priced between mid $250,000 and mid $300,000. The building is also supposed to include five retail units and is currently selling. The last I heard they had 4 condos already under contract. They are close to being finished and it looks great with the new fence and landscaping.

901 Monroe Street NE - This project was recently approved by the zoning commission across the street in Brookland and looks promising. The plans are to demolish the current buildings and build 212 Apartments, 16 units at below market rents, and 13,000 sq. ft. of neighborhood-serving retail including a restaurant. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Fall 2012. 

Washington Gateway (Intersection of New York Ave and Florida Ave NE) - This project which has been recently revived and modified to include more residential instead of a hotel will connect NoMa with the Eckington neighborhood. A huge empty 3 acre lot will be transformed into office space and residential with a small retail component. There will be improvements made to the Met Branch Trail which will connect to this development. The groundbreaking is supposed to happen before the end of the year for Phase One which is a building with 400 residential units and 5,200 sq. ft. of retail.

NoMa West (Eckington Place and Q Street NE) - This development broke ground in March 2011 and they have been hard at work with construction ever since. There will be a total of three buildings when they are completed and a small amount of retail. There will be an extension of Q street, a pedestrian walkway and connection with the Met Branch Trail included in the project.  Apartments are scheduled to be available starting in Fall 2012.

McMillan Sand Filtration (North Capitol Street, Michigan Ave, 1 Street NW) - This huge 25 acre site has been the focus of many meetings and plans over the years and I'll put its timeline as I'll believe it when I see it. The current plans call for mixed-use development and park space which I think would be amazing! There are many sites and posts about this development as everyone seems to have an opinion as to what should happen with this piece of land. They have recently filed a draft PUD and there have been more meetings so I am sticking to my last update that I will believe it when I see it.

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 condo listed at $137,000. 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.

618 Evarts Street NE sold for $349,900 on January 27th
227 Cromwell Ter NE sold for $175,000 on January 30th
2517 3rd Street NE sold for $181,000 on January 30th
2625 3rd Street NE Number ? sold for $129,900 on February 3rd
2333 3rd Street NE sold for $180,000 on February 17th

The Chancellor's Row development continues to be a high seller in the neighborhood having sold 129 homes to date. The prices have gone up again for some of the models as their listings have been recently updated.

There are no open houses currently listed for Edgewood. If you know of any please add the information to the comments section.

Stolen Phone or Electronic Device? MPD may have recovered it for you!

If you have missed the recent news MPD has arrested many people and found hundreds of stolen items that were being illegally sold in corner shops and gas stations around the city.  They have created a system where they are cataloguing the items and if you have had something stolen you can email them identifying information and may be able to recover it from them.

Here is the message from MPD:

I wanted to follow-up on my posting regarding the recent operation that resulted in the recovery of several hundred stolen electronic items.  If you believe your property may be among those recovered, you may now submit your ownership information to stolen.property@dc.gov.  In order to help us search the available information and conclusively establish ownership, please submit a serial number or other uniquely identifiable information, and our members will follow-up with each inquiry.  Thank you.

Tree Rebates available to green residential, commercial property in D.C.

If this weather has you thinking about fixing up your yard - then see the press release below from Casey Trees about rebates for adding a canopy tree.

Rebates up to $50 for small and medium canopy trees, $100 for select large canopy trees offered.
(Washington, D.C. — March 14, 2012) Spring is an ideal time to plant trees and Casey Trees offers rebates up to $100 per tree to individuals who plant trees on private property — residential or commercial — in the District.

Small and medium canopy trees — including standard-size fruit and trees — are eligible for rebates up to $50 per tree, as long as the tree reaches 15 feet tall and wide at maturity. Seven genera and 27 species noted for their large canopy and environmental benefits qualify for rebates up to $100 per tree. There is no limit to the number of rebates per property.

Invasive tree species and any species of ash, dwarf trees and shrubs do not qualify for a rebate of any amount. 

To help customers identify rebate-eligible tree stock, many D.C.-area nurseries and home improvement centers are promoting the program in their stores with promotional signage and special tree tags. However, trees may be purchased from any store and through landscaping and landscape architecture companies.

The Tree Rebate program is funded by the District Department of the Environment.

Downloadable rebate forms, submission instructions and a complete list of trees eligible for the increased rebate are available at www.caseytrees.org/rebate.