XM Radio: Eckington's Technological Pioneer

Most people are surprised to learn that XM Satellite Radio's corporate headquarters and primary broadcasting station are located within my district. It's a testament to the hurdles of the past that have been overcome and the opportunities presented for the future. XM is located at the corner of Florida Avenue N.E. and Eckington Place, within sight of the New York Avenue metro station.

What exactly is XM Radio? Here's how they explain it:

XM Radio is broadcasting over 170 digital channels of totally new music, news, sports and children's programming direct to cars and homes via satellite and our extensive repeater network, which supplements the satellite signal to ensure seamless transmission.

The channels originate from XM's broadcast center, the world's largest all-digital studio complex in Washington, DC, and uplink to our satellites. These satellites transmit the signal across the entire continental United States. Each satellite provides 18kw of total power making them the two most powerful commercial satellites ever built, providing coast-to-coast coverage.

I sat down with XM Radio staff, including Chance Patterson, the Vice President of Corporate Affairs, to learn more about XM's history in the community. Why the name "XM Radio"? Patterson replied that it describes "taking radio beyond. . . The 'x' is an unknown, one never experiences the same thing twice" when listening to XM.

This past Monday marked the five-year anniversary of XM's first broadcast in our Eckington neighborhood. Five years ago, the area was particularly crime-ridden and the police operated a station out of XM as a way to help control unwanted activity. Today, XM faces growing pains due to dramatic changes in the surrounding area with numerous building projects in the pipeline.

I noted that some residents sometimes complain that XM employees park in coveted spots zoned for resident parking only. Chance suggested that more spots would exist if the city created angled (metered) parking on Harry Thomas Way. In addition, Chance argued that XM has been a good neighbor. For example, a drug clinic for felons on parole was planned for the corner of Q Street N.E. and Eckington Place, but XM successfully fought to have the project moved elsewhere.

XM employees Stuart and Ross gave me a tour of the facility... the building is huge and has a very modern decor. There are 84 studios on site, many of them cleverly decorated to match the genre of the music being played on the particular station. Beyond the music, there are 21 stations dedicated solely to weather and traffic reports. Bands and artists regularly come in to play in two performance studios, such as Kanye West, P. Diddy, and Phil Collins.

The cost of equipment to receive XM Radio's material ranges from $30 to $300, depending on user desires. Some of the equipment is very portable, the key elements that a person needs to carry around being the size of a matchbox. Some of the devices permit a person to record many hours of material, for playback in locations where the device is out of satellite range (i.e., inside an interior office).

In cooperation with XM Radio, I will be organizing tours of the XM building, led by a member of XM staff. Just e-mail me at KrisForANC@yahoo.com if you are interested in a tour.

Neal Drobenare Speaks at the Edgewood Civic Association Meeting

Last night, I attended the Edgewood Civic Association (ECA) meeting, held at McKinley High School.

In response to a question from the audience, Rhashidi Christian, an ECA leader, noted that ECA rival Eckington Civic Association is a historical community and not an official civic association. He argued that one "will never see Eckington Civic Association state in writing what their boundaries are." He added that Eckington's boundaries are within those of the Edgewood Civic Association, and D.C. officially recognizes Edgewood, so Eckington cannot obtain recognition without the cooperation of Edgewood.

Most of the meeting consisted of an update from Neal Drobenare, the developer of the St. Martin's Catholic Church apartments project. He described the St. Martin's project as being "housing for working folks making between $35,000 and $54,000 per year," comprised of 178 units, including 50 apartments set aside for "working but formerly homeless people." Drobenare later opined: "I don't consider people making between $34,000 and $50,000 to be low-income."

Drobenare said "There are some folks who would want us to be building upper income condos here. We're not going to be doing that. . . . We're not going to make it into a market-rate project or massively reduce density." He continued with respect to the effort to protect the St. Martin's convent on the property: The convent is "not historical. Folks who have moved for this know that it is not historical."

You read the 178 units figure stated above correctly, because as of this week the project is no longer 184 units. St. Martin's has reached an agreement with the Historic Preservation Review Board, which pulled the convent from its hearing scheduled for later this week. The convent will be incorporated into the St. Martin's project, it will become a part of the building. I believe Drobenare stated that the plan is to lift the convent and put it on a new foundation, at substantial expense. This also resulted in the loss of a few units, hence the 178 figure.

Drobenare stated that he has negotiated this past year with the Eckington Citizens for Responsible Development (ECRD), a group strongly opposed to the St. Martin's project in its current form. But, accord to Drobenare, ECRD first proposed that the building be rented with 35% market-rate units. Drobenare countered with 10%, and ECRD responded with 50% market rate. That's not how negotiations are suppose to work, he said, and there will not be any market rate housing unless ECRD/Eckington Civic Association agrees to support the project. Although the parties have not met for several months, Drobenare stated that he still willing to negotiate.

Drobenare added that "the reality is that it actually costs more money to put in market rate housing" because a $50,000 tax credit subsidy is lost in the process. If the church puts in more market housing units, then the mortgage will end up being larger. Supporters of the project are willing to put forward a bit more money, if necessary. "We're committed to doing what we need to do to make this happen."

ANC candidate Michael Henderson observed that there seems to be a disconnect between the two opposing side of the debate (I agree with him). Christian responded: "How do you reach out to people who are already doing things against you?"

I suggested that the two sides sit down and hash things out in a formal, moderated public debate, something I had already proposed to Father Kelley of St. Martin's. Drobenare responded: "We're not interested in having a debate." The president of the Edgewood Civic Association agreed. However, Drobenare said he would be happy to talk with me.

After the meeting, I spoke with Drobenare on the front steps of McKinley. Some items of note include: St. Martin's has proposed that residents be on a steering committee that will continually review the applications of residents for suitability. Drobenare believes that this is a unique proposal in the D.C. housing environment.

I asked whether Section 8 housing vouchers would turn St. Martin's into an all-low-income-housing project. Drobenare responded that a 100% Section 8 housing would not be ideal for St. Martin's bottom line. The maintenance costs would be higher. St. Martin's can legally prune the Section 8 list by requiring that applicants be employed and that they submit to a credit check.

I told Drobenare that my perception is that residents' concerns about the project boil down to a lack of trust in St. Martin's to be able to fulfill the promises it is making. He agreed.

I suggested: What about requiring the 50 formerly-homeless apartment residents to submit to regular drug tests, to be automatically evicted if they deal drugs, and put on probation pending eviction if they test positive for drugs? Drobenare seemed to agree to all of those terms, in writing. He pointed to the current residents of the convent as evidence of how St. Martin's would handle the proposed apartment building (adding that only about 1/3 of the residents currently occupying the convent have had a drug problem). He contrasted Catholic Charities with So Others Might Eat (SOME).

What about providing residents parking spaces free of charge, rather than requiring them to pay for a space? That seems to be on the table, according to Drobenare.

So I asked about teeth in the agreement. Would St. Martin's be agree to a provision that would give residents within a certain radius of the project standing to sue in court for injunctive relief if the terms are violated and grant attorneys fees. Drobenare agreed to that as well.

An alternative, Drobenare added, is for St. Martin's to simply build 50 cheaply-built units of low-income housing that it is permitted to build by right, community input not required by law. While some perceive that option to be a threat, it was the original proposal before St. Martin's received early feedback from the community.

Back to the meeting . . . Ward 5 City Council candidate Harry Thomas, Jr. spoke for several minutes. Thomas said "I'm a very spiritual person," and indicated that given that one woman took prayer out of schools with a lawsuit many years ago, one should "never underestimate the power of the few."

Thomas said that he wants to propose legislation that will create uniformity in amenities packages (Eartha Isaac, Thomas is listening to you).

Thomas looked around the room and stated: "When we see chips in the paint at McKinley, we need to demand more, because it shouldn't be that way."

As for the housing issue, Thomas said he was a "support of workforce housing, 100%."

St. Martin's Catholic Church

Here is the moment that many of you have been waiting for . . . a discussion of St. Martin's Catholic Church.

I attended services this morning at 9 a.m., and imagine my surprise when I discovered that the building is not a front for low-income housing construction, but a real church with a full mass and everything. Or at least folks are very good at hiding the aluminum siding in the basement. I jest.

First, the church itself. It's beautiful inside and out (I'll probably need to take these photos again, on a sunny day). The sanctuary features blue-tinted stained glass windows with large arches throughout the sanctuary. In the front of the sanctuary there is a large wooden gazebo overlooking the altar.

The congregation is friendly. I spoke with several people after the service over donuts and coffee, including Father Kelley. A few people were amused when I told them who I was running against, because she regularly attends services here. You might call her the odds-on favorite within these walls.

The church has been a center of controversy in the community due to its plans to build a large (184 unit) low-to-moderate income (depending how one defines it) apartment complex at 116 T Street N.E. The development will encompass the city block surrounded by T Street N.E., Todd Place N.E., and Summit Place. I first learned about the project around November 21, 2005, when Father Mike Kelley and the Catholic Community Services made a presentation to the Eckington Civic Association. ANC 5C had already voted on the project the previous month, apparently at the behest of Commissioner Jones.

Organized community opposition to the project began in November with flyers and petitions. Residents were concerned about the size of the project (out of proportion to the community), parking issues, building design, congestion, security, and the concentration of low-income housing rather than a mix-income project. The 50 junior-one-bedrooms set aside for recovering/former substance abusers was of particular concern.

In January 2006, the featured character in this saga was St. Martin's real estate developer Neal Drobenare. It came to light that a D.C. agency had admonished him for a possible conflict of interest in 2002. He also had some interesting e-mail exchanges with residents that created a stir.

Also in January, one Andrea posted to the Eckington listserv: "After my email to [Commissioner] Jones, and the rest of the staff on the letter, I received a call from Ms. Jones. She said basically the 184 unit project is a done deal because they own the property and that all we can do now is to ask them to build it within some confines."

In February, Drobenare disappeared and the church hired public relations specialist Sharon Robinson to assist Catholic Charities with community support and lobbying. In March, Robinson removed several residents opposed to the St. Martin's project from a community listserv that she had a hand in moderating. She had posted several pro-St. Martin's statements at Ward5@yahoogroups.com that residents wished to answer. Rick Lee, owner of Lee's Flower and Card Shop at 1026 U Street NW wrote at the time: "unfortunately people who hide behind computers are cowards and very dangerous. Hopefully your message will touch their spirits and they will repent of their wayward communications. I was thinking about unsubscribing myself because of all the garbage I continue to see."

On Sunday, March 12, St. Martin's (aided by the Bloomingdale and Edgewood Civic Associations) held a procession at St. Martin’s followed by a community meeting at McKinley High School. I wasn't able to attend, but residents who did reported it was more of a rally than a balanced meeting discussion.

On April 6, the Washington Post covered the story:

[N]eighborhoods . . . are awash with charges of hypocrisy, classism and racism -- the result of a continuing rift over gentrification. It's playing out on neighborhood listservs, at civic meetings and at St. Martin's, where the pastor, the Rev. Michael Kelly, has an acerbic tongue and a chastening tone for some of his neighbors.

There would be 134 one- and two-bedroom apartments renting to families earning $30,000 to $54,000, depending on family size. Fifty "junior one-bedroom" apartments, according to St. Martin's, would rent to the formerly homeless with an income of roughly $18,000 a year. Rents would range from $500 to $1,039 a month, amounts aimed at working families and retirees, church officials said.

The latest developments concern certain residents' attempts to achieve historical designation for a convent that the church proposes to demolish in order build the project. Naturally, efforts to designate the convent historical are motivated by a desire to curb the size of the St. Martin's project. On the other hand, two buildings designed by the architect of the convent that are located elsewhere in D.C. have been protected.

Many people argue that a large segment of St. Martin's parishioners do not live within close proximity of the project. I spoke with a 2nd-and-T Street resident and two individuals who live on Rhode Island Avenue, but the vast majority of the 20 or so people I spoke with this morning live closer to Catholic University, in Maryland, or elsewhere.

I've barely begun to cover this issue, but that's what comments are for. If you post anonymously, please be tactful.

Attempted Car Jacking

From the Scott Roberts neighborhood listserv:

Carjacking attempt in Eckington: "Attempted car jacking in Eckington…occurred at approx. 11:20pm, Fri, 22 Sep. on the corner of Lincoln St NE and R. St NE. A friend of mine was waiting at the stoplight, traveling westbound on R St NE when a car turned the corner from Lincoln St NE onto R St NE traveling eastbound. The car stopped very close to hers and somebody got out from the back of the car and attempted to open her car door and started knocking on the window. My friend stepped on the gas, ran the red light (and she thinks over his foot too); thankfully they didn’t succeed and there was no cross-traffic in the intersection as she sped away.

A reminder to keep your doors locked and your options open; hopefully the newly installed CCTV camera put on that corner by MPD will be able to help track down the criminals."

As noted previously, D.C. recently installed cameras on the corner of Lincoln Road and R Street. Either the word hasn't gotten out yet, or some folks love to be on camera. Also, the incident took place 20 minutes after police foot patrols are scheduled to end. Perhaps those schedules should be randomized.

I hesitate to post about crime because some of my friends are already afraid to come to the neighborhood. The fact is that something like this could occur anywhere in D.C., and it's not like carjackings are imminent should one be out after dark. I drive a convertible with the top down whenever it's warm enough, whatever the hour. I choose not to live in fear. I had to run a red light once at the entrance to Interstate 395 (some pushy pan handlers refused to back away from my car).

What does happen too often is people driving off with vehicles left running unattended. I recently informed a delivery guy that he should not leave his vehicle with the engine running.