The Washington Area Bicyclist Association reports mile markers will be placed on the Metropolitan Branch Trail. From the article:

Over the past few weeks, a series of troubling incidents on the Metropolitan Branch Trail have again raised questions of user safety on this popular urban trail. Though counter data show an average of 1200 trail users each day since April, recent incidents and the law enforcement response to them have justifiably shaken the confidence of regular trail users.

Two weeks ago, WABA sat down with leadership from District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Office of Uniform Communication (OUC), and DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) to address these concerns. As a result, DDOT will install mile markers throughout the trail backed by changes to the 911 computer dispatch system to ensure a timely and direct law enforcement response to 911 calls.

From the Washington Business Journal permit report:

5510-5512 Fourth St. NE: These two vacant lots in the Lamond-Riggs neighborhood will be home to a pair of new single-family houses from Edge Investment LLC.

Tomorrow, DDOT will be at Rhode Island Avenue metro station from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm as part of its Vision Zero initiative. This will give residents a chance to chat with DDOT about necessary traffic safety improvements in the neighborhood.  

Can’t make it to tomorrow’s event? Highlight traffic safety issues on DDOT’s vision zero map. If there is already a location highlighted, click it again and add your own unique comment. Let’s use this opportunity to establish a record of the improvements we would like to see in the neighborhood.

From DCPL:

CAUSE AN EFFECT
Make eating a selfless act by joining us for a fundraiser to support the DC Public Library. Just go into any Washington, DC Chipotle on Tuesday, July 14, from 11 a.m. & 10 p.m.
Show the adjacent image on your smartphone or tell the cashier you are supporting the cause — and 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to DC Public Library.

Metro Movie Night at Fort Totten Station

Metro invites you and your family to a night under the stars! The first-ever Metro Movie Night will be held on Saturday, July 11 at the Fort Totten Metrorail Station parking lot. This family-friendly event is free for all guests.

Bring your lawn chairs, snacks and beverages to this special screening of the DreamWorks animated film “Bee Movie”. Gates open at 5 pm and guests can enjoy interactive sports games and music, or just sit back and relax with friends and neighbors, until the movie starts at dusk (approximately 8:30 pm).

Metro staff will be on hand to answer service questions, offer trip planning advice, and discuss parking options for Metro riders. Local community organizations will share information and offer giveaways.

Parking for this event will be limited, so we strongly recommend that guests take Metrorail (Green, Yellow or Red Line) or walk to the event. Food and beverage are welcome, but please note that alcohol and glass containers are not permitted.

We hope you can join us for this special community event!

The Washington Post highlights the Alleypalooza kickoff in a neighborhood alley at Galloway Street and Eastern Avenue NE. District officials will pave eight alleys in each ward. Commissioner for the area Frank Wilds states in the article, “‘You’ve got a clean alley . . . it makes a difference in the whole neighborhood.'”

If you take a walk down the broken path on First Place NE by Fort Totten metro station, you might miss the historic site located at 5321 First Place NE. Currently home to the Lighthouse Center for Healing, the building once housed WOOK-TV, the first Black-oriented television station in the nation, according to Cultural Tourism DC. The station was known for the Teenarama Dance Party, DC’s first Black teen dance show.

WOOK-TV, 5321 First Place NE

If you click on the “Neighborhood Document Library” tab in the menu at the top of the page, you will see a document entitled Riggs Road and South Dakota Avenue NE Small Area Plan. This small area plan was approved by the DC council in 2009 and it serves as a blueprint for development in the neighborhood.

For reference, below is a snapshot summary of the plan:

A number of DC agencies are responsible for implementing the plan. Take a look at the most recent implementation report created for fiscal year 2015. Notice not much has changed from the Riggs Road/South Dakota Avenue SAP Fiscal Year 2012 Implementation Report.

DC agencies rely on residents to bring to their attention items that residents would like to be addressed. Are there “No Action” or “Future” items listed that you would like to see action taken on? Are there items “in process” that you have questions about or that you would like to comment on?

From Walmart:

On July 8, MPD’s Fourth District is hosting its summer kick-off of Beat the Streets

5701 6th Street NE

3:00 pm – 7:30 pm

Free giveaways, music, fun, and games.

When we posted about neighborhood identity and branding, a couple of people mentioned part of the area was known as Terra Cotta, apparently in reference to the clay soil prominent in the area. Check out this map showing landowners in the area in 1894. Notice Terra Cotta is indeed on the map.

Source: District of Columbia Public Library

The neighborhood gets another shout-out, this time in an Elevation DC article on neighborhoods that should be on people’s radar.

Djana Morris, Keller Williams Capitol Properties
“One neighborhood that I think is a great neighborhood, but is going to come up in terms of amenities, is Riggs Park/Fort Totten. (Map) That’s a great area. It’s been a great area for a long time, but it was definitely off the radar, and still is. The price points are pretty reasonable; you can get something that needs some work in the low $300,000s and something completely fixed up for as much as $500,000. It kind of tops out there…It’s just as convenient, just as close to downtown as Petworth is, but about half the price….

The style of rowhouse is different than a Petworth [house] because it tends to be smaller square footage. A thousand to 1200 square feet is the norm, with a front porch and a back yard. It’s really cute. There’s a big Giant on Riggs Road [just across the border into Maryland]..the best crab place in D.C., that everybody in the know knows about is Ruff N Ready which is on Riggs and Eastern [Avenue]. It is just the best. You go there any weekend and there’s a line out the door.”

Lieutenant Posey is hosting a PSA 406 meeting tonight at 7:00 pm at MPD Fourth District headquarters (6001 Georgia Avenue NW). PSA 406 generally covers the area north of Kennedy Street NE. If you have questions about the recent uptick in crime, please plan to attend.

Fort Totten? Riggs Park? Lamond-Riggs? What do you call the neighborhood?

With all of the development taking off in the neighborhood, some residents have raised questions about how to make sure the neighborhood keeps its identity. Part of the impetus for the conversation comes from the fact that the major developments are branded as Fort Totten though they sit in Riggs Park. The retail node along South Dakota Avenue and Riggs Road is identified as Fort Totten in a profile sheet by the Washington, DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP). The WDCEP describes Fort Totten as the area comprised of several different neighborhoods within a one-mile radius of the Fort Totten metro station, though some view the Fort Totten neighborhood more specifically as a separate, distinct neighborhood west of the tracks. The metro station itself is named after Fort Totten Park, which was a defense fort during the Civil War.

Many of us know the neighborhood as Riggs Park and that is the name I use for the blog. When people ask where I live, I say Riggs Park. If that response draws a blank stare, I say it is in Northeast DC by Fort Totten metro station. Many others know the neighborhood as Lamond-Riggs. The neighborhood library is called Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library. The civic association is called the Lamond-Riggs Citizens Association.

So there is history in both names, Fort Totten and Riggs Park or Lamond-Riggs. Fort Totten was not made up out of thin air by developers. However, residents are of course wedded to the history of the neighborhood known as Lamond-Riggs.

There are a couple of ways to preserve the neighborhood identity. One would be a branding exercise for the neighborhood. This exercise would entail coming up with a logo or theme for the neighborhood that could be displayed in various points along the major thoroughfares of the neighborhood.

Another option that a neighbor brought up is to have a heritage trail developed by Cultural Tourism DC. Posts with pictures and narrative telling the history of the neighborhood could be placed along various points to get people to walk the neighborhood and learn its history.

What do you think? What do you call the neighborhood?