Posts by John Muller — Contributor
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Then & Now: Anacostia’s Saint Teresa
As songs of praise emanate from numerous houses of worship in Anacostia each Sunday morning, one church stands out as a part of living history. It has experienced reorganization, schisms, and change, but it still faithfully anchors the same corner as it did more than 130 years ago. Keep reading…
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Then & Now: Anacostia’s neon sign
At the corner of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, Historic Anacostia’s gateway, is a landmark older than the famed Big Chair. Keep reading…
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Look inside a historic Columbia Heights “abandominium”
Anacostia isn’t the only place in DC with “abandominiums.” Canvassing 13th Street NW in Columbia Heights for information on a forgotten murder, I found an unlocked front door to the Warner Apartments, one of DC’s most historic abandominiums. Keep reading…
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“Abandominiums” house Anacostia’s resentment
In the heart of Anacostia lie a large concentration of forgotten or unfinished housing enterprises. Instead of generating needed jobs and taxes, these “abandominiums” play home to squatters and a community’s frustration. Sitting on the steps of an abandoned apartment complex in Historic Anacostia, underneath graffiti reading “Beneath the INFLuence… Keep reading…
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Ward 8 development founders, may lose $4 million in grants
In 2007, the federal government awarded a $20 million HOPE VI grant to redevelop the site of the former Sheridan Terrace public housing project in Southeast. Since the first phase of rental and market units came online in December, the situation has taken a turn for the worse. “We’re having an appraisal problem,” said Chris Evert of William C. Smith, the lead developer,… Keep reading…
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Technology helping MPD set course for fewer homicides
DC police are on track to hit a 3-year-old goal of less than 100 homicides in 2012, after finishing January and February with fewer deaths than last year. They have help from a nationwide drop in violent crime, but the department also benefits from emerging technologies that help quell crime, and new research promises even more assistance. The department, and others around the… Keep reading…
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Roads by Anacostia Metro among worst in DC for pedestrians
Narrow sidewalks, a 5-way intersection, and missing median strips and crosswalks are just some of the problems around the Anacostia Metro. A project funded by several federal agencies aims to find solutions to what EPA officials called the city’s most dangerous intersections for pedestrians. The Anacostia Metro opened in December 1991 as the southernmost Green… Keep reading…
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“Obama hates BORF” buffed from the Red Line
The graffiti scrawls of “Cool ‘Disco’ Dan” and “Gangster Chronicles” have disappeared from along the Red Line, faded memories for a generation of riders. The mark of “Borf,” a more recent omnipresent oppidan vandal, is now vanishing, too. First proclaiming in red paint “Bush Hates BORF” a half dozen years… Keep reading…
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Anacostia loses another 19th century home from neglect
For the past two decades Hannah Hawkins has watched a 120-year-old house gradually deteriorate behind the community center she runs in historic Anacostia. The crumbling home at 2228 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE will be demolished this spring. The Department of Housing and Community Development has owned the home and several adjacent properties since July 2010. DHCD filed… Keep reading…
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Then and Now: The 11th Street Bridge
At the doorstep of Historic Anacostia, the junction of Good Hope Road (formerly Harrison Street) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue (formerly Piscataway Road, Monroe Street, and later Nichols Avenue) is an old corner with a unique place in the lore of DC and American history. Keep reading…