Updated October 19
Thank you for coming to the first official beta community meeting on Wednesday night.
Below are the attendees, followed by what places inspire them:
Fred, Anacostia resident and organizer of Intersections – The walkability to goods and services in Savannah
Ahtur, partner in Everlasting Life restaurants – The old section of Tucson near the university, with restaurants, funky boutiques, arts & culture community, walkability and closed off streets to cars.
Hakim, ‘the developer’ – The people, history and human scale of Paris; the distinct neighborhoods of Boston, and the yin/yang of the wilderness to the city
Charles and Edwina, Hakim’s parents – Full write-up coming, including Edwina’s poetic description of the legendary arts/music/culture/social scene in New York City in the 1950s and 60s.
Faheem, Hakim’s son – No comment
Hannah, visiting from Montana – The close-knit connectedness, interaction and walkability of NYC
Shivahn, chef and health specialist – The co-creating, vision, arts and holistic community, and how the people
aren’t afraid to interact and share in Takoma Park
Don, guest of Shivahn, IT - The mixed-income ideals of Columbia MD
Pam, key building owner – The inspiring beauty, people watching, ethnic restaurants, waterfront, Misha’s coffeehouse, though lacking diversity of Olde Towne, Alexandria
Briony, staff at ARCH, Honfleur Gallery – The unique character, identity, arts venues, walkability, and non-gentrification of Mount Washington, Baltimore
Jabali – The hot bed of progressive ideas, politics in Berkelely, CA; the community marketplaces of Tanzania
Nefret – The beautiful, walkable urban fabric of Charleston; the diversity of Eastern Market
Sariane – The visually beautiful old Colonial stores, galleries, restaurants, markets, of Antigua, Guatemala, where everyone came from around the world to visit and chill; outdoor brunch in Federal Hill, Baltimore
Rasul – The small town nature, yet with lots going on in big cities like DC and Paris.
John – Knowing everyone in the diverse, fresh neighborhood of the Bronx, with Eastern Europeans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans…
Neil – The history, authenticity and wildly pedestrian-scale streets of the French Quarter, New Orleans.
Hakim then presented the building opportunity at 1500 Good Hope Road, the price points for the apartments on the second floor (around $280/s.f., which is half that in NW DC), and the commitment to healthy, creative businesses on the ground floor, provided a market can be proven.
We then centered on a discussion over what that anchor ground floor business could be, and given the talent in the group, it quickly focused on a community-oriented coffeehouse/cafe with an emphasis on healthy eating and entertainment.
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