RSS FeedDowntown BID Turning 10
Happy 10th anniversary to the Downtown DC Business Improvement District (BID). To celebrate they’re having a “Downtown Power Breakfast” & brief program Tuesday morning (11/13). Breakfast starts at 8:30, the program runs from 9:15 to 10 am.
The BID is a tax-funded nonprofit that has been “working to revitalize the city’s urban core.“
Trabants Featured At Spy Museum
Head down to the International Spy Museum in the heart of the Penn Quarter during your lunch break today and you’ll find out that the Trabant is the East German equivalent of a Chevy Chevette. The Spy Museum will host a parade of Trabants from 10 am to 2 pm today to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. All the cars will then park in front of the museum on F Street so the public can get a look at a production car (1957 to 1991) with an engine normally found in a lawnmower (two stroke engine). Wendig! Schnell! (in English: Agile! Fast!)
Check out this ad for the Casco, the Hungarian equivalent of the Trabant.
International Spy Museum
800 F Street, NW (F between 8th and 9th)
202-393-7798
Thanks to PQ Living reader Hans for pointing this one out.
Own in PQ? Get The Homestead Deduction!
When searching property records online, we’ve noticed that some of our neighbors who own their condo are not taking advantage of the Homestead Deduction. There are two easy ways to see if you’re receiving the homestead deduction: First, it will be listed on the property tax bill you receive from DC; Second, you can search the DC Office of Tax and Revenue website.
To get there & check a property I always do the following steps:
- Go to DC.Gov;
- Follow the link to (under Popular Online Services) Visit The Taxpayer Service Center;
- Next go to the Real Property Service Center;
- Then go to Real Property Tax Database Search;
- And finally follow either Real Property Assessment Database or the Real Property Sales Database.
From either of the final databases (I usually choose the assessment database) enter part of the address of interest (say 1600 Penn Ave NW) and choose the lot/square of interest and we see that the White House is not receiving the Homestead Deduction, and their 2008 proposed value is $963,825,340.00, wow!
A few quirks of the system: I find it’s often best to leave off the quadrant (i.e., NW, SW, NE, SE) from your search, especially for newer condos.
If you’re not receiving the Homestead Deduction but should be, you have two options here as well: First you could try filing an application/reconfirmation; Or if you’ve already done that and still are not getting the benefits you deserve, you can file an appeal.
Mrs. Columbo and I had to go the appeal route as we could not get the application to go through. Less than a week after mailing off the appeal, our Homestead Deduction was in place.
Chop’t Creative Salad Opening Next Week – Confirmed!
Thanks to Jon and Dana for writing in and lettings us know that Chop’t Creative Salad Company (730 7th St NW) is training employees this week and will open next week, according to the manager!
DC Chop’t prices are lower than in the NYC stores. Some items are $1 cheaper and others are about 10 cents cheaper.
Also interesting: Hidden on Chop’t’s website (click on the DC menu pdf), there is a list of two other DC area locations that are opening soon: 1300 Connecticut Ave NW and 1735 N Lynn St in Rosslyn.