Does the Shuttle's Stop End H Street Growth?

Have businesses suffered since the shuttle stopped running?

One of the hottest new neighborhoods to visit for happy hour or bar-hopping is the H Street Corridor. Mini-golf at H Street Country Club, a restaurant, or watching a live concert at the Rock and Roll Hotel are just two of the many new places that have popped up in the past few years. Five years ago, these places weren’t here. In 2002, Anwar Saleem founded H Street Main Street, a non-profit whose purpose was and is to revitalize H Street and “take the burden off of the city,” according to Saleem.

New Businesses and Transit Troubles

Over 50 new businesses moved in between 2009 and 2010, most of them bars and restaurants. With cheap land in a strategic place between Gallaudet University, Union Station, and the Capitol, Saleem said it was a “no-brainer” for business owners. Another neighborhood addition that drew in new businesses: streetcars coming in 2012, according to the District Department of Transportation. One business I talked to said he expects business to triple once the streetcars start coming and they open outdoor seating. While the roadwork should be finished in August 2011 with the street cars arriving one year later, “it’d be a miracle,” said Saleem of the estimated finish date.
How did H Street Main Street manage to turn this 20-year plan for revitalizing the neighborhood into a success in the first 10 years? A free shuttle, paid for by a grant from the city. Starting in 2009, the shuttle ran evenings until midnight (3 a.m. on the weekends), taking people from Chinatown to H Street and back again. The shuttle “served as a catalyst to pull people to H Street,” said Saleem. Unfortunately, the grant money ran out and the shuttle stopped running at the end of 2010.

Business Slows Down?

“We’ve seen thinner happy hour crowds, less dinner reservations,” said James Silk, general manager at H Street Country Club, about business during the week. He said the lack of shuttle hasn’t really affected the weekend business, as people choose a “destination” for their weekend outings. To keep business up, H Street Country Club has used daily deal websites, such as Groupon, both before and after the shuttle.

They also focus on “The food and the games. People nowadays want to do something fun, exciting and quirky,” he said regarding advertisements on social media.

On the other hand, Pie Slinger Kane Roe said he thinks business at Dangerously Delicious Pies has gone up. “Yesterday, we did a pie for a dollar, and we had a line around the corner into the alley,” he said. He also said a lot of people pick up pies they pre-ordered. “We do hope to get more business with the trolley,” he said

“I don’t think it’s about the shuttle, said Zak Amin, a server at Souk Moroccan restaurant. “Here, it’s the weather. If it’s cold...” there’s not too much business. Amin also mentioned the trouble people had parking.

The Future of H Street

Saleem remains optimistic about continued success in the corridor. “People find different, creative ways to get to H Street now, without the shuttle,” he said citing taxis, buses and a short walk from Union Station. Silk said most people take taxis. “Unfortunately, not everyone takes the bus. They all have their reasons.” On the shuttle, there was “always excitement when you’re on a free shuttle with your friends,” he said, describing it. While H Street is “one of the strongest ‘come-back’ neighborhoods in the country,” he wishes the shuttle were still running. “With another year of the shuttle, we would’ve been perfect.”

Overall, has the end of shuttle service meant a drop-off in business? According to Saleem, “It slowed things down a little, but...we’ll survive it.”

“It was great, but it’s not fair to complain about something that was free (for business owners) to begin with,” said Silk. “You’ve gotta roll with the punches.”

Collegiate Cooking on Campus

When it comes to eating on campus, nothing beats the Terrace Dining Room (aka TDR). Right? Walk a couple minutes, use a meal swipe, and fill up. Nothing could be simpler. However, some American University students find it more satisfying to cook their own meals.
Rachel Karp, a junior, works three to four days a week at the State Department. Instead of eating expensive lunches out, "I brown-bag it to work," she said. Mondays, she prepares lunches for the week. This week is egg sandwiches in her rotation of burritos, cheese sandwiches and other lunches. When I talked to her, she was cutting up eggs she had hard boiled before class in the communal kitchen near her dorm room in Centennial Hall. She said one big disadvantage of cooking is the communal kitchen. "I might have to carry two to three trips," she said, regarding cooking supplies like cutting board, pots, pans, plastic ware--and various other tools I saw on her bed, hung from the closet door, and on top of the fridge in her room. "Lack of storage" is a big problem for her, she said. While Karp said she eats in the dining hall four to five times a week, when she cooks "the food is generally better than what's available at TDR." She goes shopping about once a week to Safeway or Giant, and usually stocks up on Cocoa Puffs, milk, yogurt and "lunch stuff."
Students living in apartment-style dorms in Nebraska Hall have complete kitchens--all to themselves (and their roommates). "Having your own stove and kitchen.....in regular dorms, you'd have to set up camp out in the lounge or go back and forth between your room and the lounge," said Michael Carusi, a senior. Carusi does not have a meal plan, and said he cooks 90 percent of his meals. Often, he said that what looks like one meal will turn in to two or three by saving the leftovers. "My mom taught me a lot about cooking," he said. His advice to other students interested in cooking is "Don't feel obligated to cook....I mean, give yourself a break sometimes." Once or twice a week he heads to Whole Foods or Safeway to pick up pasta, fruit, bread, turkey meat and orange juice. The worst part about cooking is "watching something cook and knowing there's more time left when you're really hungry," he said. Carusi said lots of students in Nebraska Hall cook, and you can smell it walking down the halls. "It's unmistakeable," he said.
Carusi's roommate, Bryan Koenig, also tried his hand at cooking. While he does have a meal plan, "I avoid TDR as much as I possibly can," he said. His main meals include frozen pizzas, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles. "Boiling water is one of my few cooking skills," said Koenig, finishing his ramen and microwaved beef tips. He shops about every two weeks at Safeway, buying easily prepared foods and fresh fruits and vegetables. "Don't burn down your kitchen!" was his advice, along with "clean your stuff... and get it out of the sink. That's important for sharing your kitchen."
Katie Latchford, a senior who is living at home this semester, was an RA last semester, living in a regular dorm with a communal kitchen. She went to Giant or Whole Foods about once a week, due to her small fridge. "I bought soy or rice milk, chicken and pasta, juice and fresh fruit and veggies," she said over the phone describing her usual grocery list. She said the most important thing when it comes to new cooks is "starting out with basics." "I saw friends make disasters with complicated foods," she said, laughing. "I am pretty health conscious," said Latchford. "Eating school food wasn't always the best choice nutritionally." When cooking, you also "eat what you want," she said, which was another big benefit. The downsides were "Time. And the communal kitchen," Latchford said.
Whether it is to save money, improve your health, or just fit your lifestyle better, many students conquered the cooking challenge. Carusi put it best when he said, "I was a little perplexed when a friend of mine told me that, you know, cooking was something to do to unwind, because it's something I always associated with chemistry, but there really is a relaxation going on with that."

College Students Need More Naps than Toddlers

A couple of days each week, Izzi Stern crawls under her teal, green and brown striped comforter with her iPhone(*), and slides on a black eye mask for an afternoon nap, which lasts from one to three hours.
Like Stern, one out of every three college students nap, the same as adults, according to a recent Pew Research survey. Students nap for many reasons, but especially to stay focused during the day.
Stern, a sophomore, said her favorite thing about napping is the "peace. No problems, no interferences." She usually sleeps after class, drifting off while listening to music. "It tunes everything else out," she said. And while she is still tired after waking up, she said she feels an increase in focus. "You lose time, valuable time," she said about napping. "But sometimes, I work better under pressure."
Oana Leahu-Aluas, a graduate student, is another napper, snoozing five to six times a week. She usually takes a 15-20 minute "power nap" on weekdays and takes longer naps on the weekend. "I don't drink coffee, so I feel like the power naps are kind of a replacement," she said. When she feels tired in the middle of the day, she knows it's time to nap. "I can't focus, but I know if I take a little nap, I'll feel energized again," she said. Leahu-Aluas, who lives in a house near campus, said she sleeps at home, between classes and work.
The National Sleep Foundation Web site, sleepfoundation.org, says that naps 20-30 minutes long increase alertness and improve mood and performance. According to a recent study from UC-Berkeley, napping refreshes your brain and can help you learn new information. Despite the benefits, not all college students can make napping a priority.
"I haven't napped a lot recently, because I'm in college. I've been busy too much," said Will Leon, a freshman who lives in Tenleytown. "If you go to campus, you go to campus for the day. You're not going to go back home to take a nap, it's not gonna happen." While he said he enjoys napping, he doesn't have the time. "There's always stuff I have to be doing, and if I'm not doing it, then I get behind," said Leon.
In an informal survey, 80% of 45 American University students said either that napping has caused them to not finish school work or that regretted the time they lost napping when they could have been doing homework. The National Sleep Foundation says that naps that are longer than 30 minutes can cause the napper to feel groggy after waking up, and this could contribute to decreased productivity.
Melissa Grodofsky, Stern's roommate and fellow sophomore, said she does not usually nap. "I just see it as a waste sometimes. Sometimes I do, just because I'm exhausted...but I feel there are more things to do than nap," she said. Grodofsky also said she was more likely to nap if she didn't get much sleep the night before. "I don't see the point of napping, honestly. But, when you need to, you need to," she said. Busy times in the semester also increase tiredness. "Definitely during midterms and finals, there's more nappage," Grodofsky said.

New Security Laws Affect Students

After the passengers of Northwest Airlines flight 253 successfully foiled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt at a terrorist attack, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) scrambled to make new policies that would ensure the safety of American citizens. The blogosphere erupted into a panic, fearing restrictions like staying in your seat during entire transatlantic flights, not being allowed to use any electronic devices in flight, and ultimately, the dreaded "body scanners." Despite new regulations, Alternative Break leaders from American University didn't allow the TSA to stand in their way.
"There was definitely more security in the United States airports as you were going in, but i wouldn't say that, I don't feel that there were any more security checks than there would have been normally," said Amanda Moore, a co-leader on the break trip to the Burma-Thai border. "There was a lot more announcements about you can't bring this in, you can't bring that in, aerosols, and the liquids." She said that in the Thailand airport, she had to go through two security checks. The first was security like at a regular airport. The second was at the gate before boarding.
Only passengers traveling from or through countries with governments that support terrorism, or other "countries of interest" would be required to go through extra screening, according to tsa.gov. The extra screening would be either new imaging technology or a pat down. The website explains how millimeter wave technology works to create a three dimensional image of a passenger's body, with the facial features blurred for privacy, while an analyst in another room checks the image for any weapons or explosives a passenger may be carrying. If passengers aren't comfortable going through an imaging machine, they can ask for a pat-down instead.
Baltimore-Washington International airport and Ronald Reagan National airport have imaging technology machines for extra screening usage. Overall, 19 airports in the United States have imaging machines.
"I'll put up with things if it means that I'm safer. I know there's a fine line where things sort of start to get into your right to privacy, and different things of that sort, but generally it doesn't really bother me if it's going to make us safer in the long run," said Emily Phillips, a leader on the Guatemala Alternative Break trip, when referring to the imaging machines.
Moore objected more to the idea of imaging technology machines. "Those are the ones that they can scan through your clothes and see your skin. I don't like that, really. I think that's kind of invasive. At this point, if that's what they feel they have to do in order to protect people getting on the airplanes, but I don't like that at all." The imaging technology does miss one thing. "You could hide stuff in your body as well, it's not just outside your body that's a threat. If you want to bring something on the plane, you can get it on there if you know the right ways to go about it. So I think there are other ways to prevent something like that from happening than just scanning under someone's clothes," Moore said.
International airports bumped up security following the attempted attack. The TSA issued instructions for tighter security to all airlines flying into the United States, effective January 4th, 2010.
"When we were leaving Guatemala, we first went through the initial security and they divided us up into lines of men and women so they were patting down everyone, through security. That took a little bit longer but it was okay, everybody got through. Then they started before we began to board, and they did it again," said Phillips, who definitely noticed the new security measures. "They had a men's line and a women's line, and they did it through like the zones of the plane like typical boarding, so they would call up your zone, in men and women lines, and they repatted us down again, and they then had us go to a separate area with tables and they were checking through everyone's carry-on bag again, and they were looking for anything with like, I guess like bizarre liquids maybe." Phillips said the most interesting thing was that, unlike previous flights, "even water you had bought after you were through security they wouldn't let you take on the plane, if it was already open. So they took away all partially drunk water bottles." She said two passengers had items taken away, including a "mysterious blue item" and a cream or lotion. "But the only thing they were really taking away was water bottles. And after they looked through everyone's bags again, then we were free to go on the plane. That was the first time I'd ever been patted down, and then it happened twice." Phillips , who said she "usually gets through security pretty well," added that "Coming back into the U.S. last year from Gautemala I did not have that experience. I've never had that experience coming back into the U.S., like with that level of security and almost like three securities where you're being patted and everything."

Yes to Voting Rights, No to Guns

Passionate voices rang out at the John A. Wilson building in support of voting rights and statehood for the District of Columbia.
Michael A. Brown (At-Large), chairman of the DC Council Special Committee on self-determination and statehood, invited citizens and advocates to share their thoughts on the voting rights amendment and the gun amendment attached to it.
“I’ve called this public roundtable in order to hear from the public and gauge public opinion on the specific issue of this legislation and to help shape district-wide opinion” said Councilman Brown, opening the meeting.
The first amendment would give the District of Columbia one voting representative in the House side of congress, and the gun amendment the senate added would take away all authority DC has regarding gun control.
More than fifty people sat in the green-walled, high-ceilinged room by the start of the meeting. According to a press release, more than 100 people showed up throughout the night, some people staying past midnight. “No gun deal” stickers were worn by many, showing opposition to the gun rights amendment tagging along with the DC voting rights amendment.
Another issue touched on was how to promote activism regarding voting rights in DC. Council Chairman Vincent Gray suggested boycotting Independence Day—comparing the District of Columbia to the British Colonies. Other suggestions included advertisements, human resources, educating people to realize how the lack of voting rights affects their lives personally, and finances.
“We need to put some money into this effort…The people of the District of Columbia don’t understand how this affects their lives,” said Michael D. Brown, shadow senator for the District of Columbia, citing the AIDS epidemic and the 40,000 veterans living in DC, “We have a lot of problems that play into the fact that we are treated like the poor stepchildren of congress and we have been for 200 years.”
The mood was adamant, but hopeful as Washingtonians, DC voting and statehood advocates, and advocates for victims of gun violence waited their turn to testify. According to an informal audience poll, only one person was for the voting rights bill with the gun amendment attached. The rest wanted a “clean” bill—with no gun amendment attached.
Statehood was another goal many people identified with, seen as another avenue for both self-determination and voting rights.
“I believe that the right to be fully and equally represented in my national government and to have control over my own local affairs are cornerstones of democracy,” said Janet Brown, citizen of Ward 4, “There is not a single area of life in this city that is not affected in some way by our lack of statehood.”
And, when Councilwoman Yvette Alexander (Ward 7) asked if there should be separate committees for statehood and voting rights, audience members shook their heads—voting rights, statehood, and self-determination are inextricably tied.

Fashion Show

By Emma Wimmer
More than 30 American University students walked the red carpet runway Tuesday wearing everything from jeans and t-shirts to tuxedos and dresses – in all sizes -- to raise awareness about body image.
Women recruited from the campus community and men recruited from Delta Tau Delta fraternity strutted down a makeshift aisle in the Tavern, a campus gathering place, and included sizes never seen on a typical runway.
“It’s about anyone being able to get up and celebrate who they are and how they are built,” said Meghan Clark-Kevan, deputy director of the Women’s Initiative.
The university expanded National Eating Disorder Week, Feb. 22-28, to be more inclusive to other groups and issues, members of WI said about Body Image Awareness week.
“We extended (National Eating Disorder Awareness Week) to be about body image in general, because there are a lot of different issues surrounding it that don’t get talked about, such as race and gender, identity and sexual orientation, and how all people, especially women, view themselves,” said Tim Salemme, deputy director of the Body Image subdivision of Women’s Initiative.
The fashion show is key to getting the message across that all body sizes are beautiful , organizers said.
“This is the most important event of Body Image Awareness Week,” said Laura Hunter, a senior at American University and an emcee for the fashion show. “Bring in all types of bodies, bring out our own unique style, it’s a key aspect of awareness.”
The models wore casual wear, club or “going-out” clothes, formalwear and “green and periwinkle.” Green is the color of recovery, and periwinkle is the color of eating disorder awareness. This was the most symbolic category, and while the clothing styles were normal, such as a tee-shirt or oxford, there was meaning behind the color of the garment.
The other categories featured typical fashion fare—jeans, tee-shirts, flowy tops or dresses for women and oxfords or polo shirts for men for the Club Wear and Formal categories, as well as a white tuxedo for the Formal category. Many audience members were models for other categories, and clapped and whooped as their fellow models worked it on the runway. The white tux got the most attention, illiciting whistles and applause from the audience.
About 10 million American women and 1 million American men have eating disorders, according to nationaleatingdisorders.org. According to United States statistics on disordered-eating.co.uk , between 19 and 30 percent of women on college campuses are diagnosed with an eating disorder.
“It wasn’t a fashion show about vanity,” said Sophia Gangei, a freshman model. “It brings (eating disorders) out in the open.”
“Bringing together people of different backgrounds and sizes sends a really positive message of equality,” said freshman audience member Rachel Lachenauer.
“It’s about being comfortable with who you are in a very healthy way,” said Katrina Casino, freshman model. “It’s coming to terms with who you are.”
Body image director Carmen Rios said the overall lmessage of the True Beauty Fashion Show is, “’We love ourselves the way we are. You know what, I like the way I am!”
Other on-campus events throughout the week included resources and documentaries about body image and a visit from Kristen Haglund, Miss America 2008, survivor of an eating disorder.