RSS FeedConvention Center Hotel Update
WaPo reports that the costs for the long awaited convention center hotel at Massachusetts Ave and 9th Street are escalating and the timeline is stretching farther into the future possibly altering or sinking the prospect of construction. The hotel was to be the largest in DC with 1,400 rooms.
Ed. Note: We added the following related links, some of which were pointed out by commenters (thanks!):
WaPo – A Bad Idea’s Slow But Merciful Death (Perlstein)
WaPo – Perlstein Live (online chat with some Q & A on the hotel update)
WaTimes Examiner – Shaw Businesses Hit By Center Hit Back
WaTimes Examiner – Unconventional Trouble
WRC Channel 4 – Convention Center Hotel May Not Happen
WAMU 88.5 FM Radio Interview with Mayor Fenty – DC Politics Hour Live with Kojo & Jonetta (skip ahead to 20:50)
Arts On Foot Festival This Saturday
It’s that time of year when the Arts On Foot Festival hits the Penn Quarter. The festival will take place this Saturday, September 15 and it features theaters, museums, and arts at a variety of venues in the neighborhood. The festival transforms the area into an art walking tour with more than 65 area restaurants, theaters, galleries, museums, and visual artists participating and 35 venues hosting visual art exhibits, performances, workshops, demonstrations, and concerts.
The outdoor street festival will be at 8th and F Streets and it includes the following event venues: Cultural Corridor, Music Stage, Art Market, World Market Wine Tent, Restaurant Sampling Pavilions, and Cooking as Art Chef Demonstrations. Also, don’t miss the open house at the new Sidney Harman Hall of the Shakespeare Theatre.
Official Website: www.artsonfoot.org
Howto: Find Groceries-Delivery Options
A few months ago, PQresident composed a three part series on local grocery stores that service the Penn Quarter area. But while the Shaw Giant, the Waterfront Safeway, the Foggy Bottom Trader Joes and the Logan Circle Whole Foods are good options for many, they just don’t work for this workaholic. So, like many Penn Quarter residents, I have my groceries delivered.
So, for those urban dwellers who have been thinking about giving grocery delivery a try, this post should serve as a comparison and a critique of the two major providers–Safeway.com and Peapod.com (a service of Giant). Continue Reading >>
DC Public Library Going Into OverDrive
Back in May we blogged about a new service by the DC Public Library allowing users to download audiobooks online and then listen to them on MP3 players, their computer, or in some cases burn them to CD. Through this same service (OverDrive) DCPL is now offering downloadable movies, music and eBooks!
Same rules apply: you have to install the OverDrive software on your PC and to listen to audio on an MP3 player, your player must accept windows media files and play DRM protected content. Right now the video and music content isn’t great (decent classic movies and classical music though), but back in May the audiobook content wasn’t great either, now it’s fantastic.
Currently this is a Windows only program, although the DCPL OverDrive website has posted the following:
At this time, OverDrive Media files cannot be used on iPods or Mac computers.
Our media titles, provided by OverDrive, Inc., use DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection technology from Microsoft Corporation. Unfortunately the iPod (and Mac) currently support neither DRM-protected Windows Media Audio (.wma) files nor Window Media Video (.wmv) files.
OverDrive, along with hundreds of online media providers, is hopeful that Apple and Microsoft can reach an agreement that would enable support for Microsoft-based DRM-protected materials on the iPod/Mac.
To review a list of devices that are compatible with OverDrive Media, click here.
You may also want to check device documentation to determine if a device supports DRM-protected Windows Media content.