Art All Night 2021 is back in person! Enjoy an evening of art, live music, and food! The festivities this year will feature five events across Ward 7 on Friday, September 24th. This will include two events near us at the Penn Branch Shopping Center and a youth-oriented event in Fairfax Village. Start time: 7:30PM
On Saturday, May 15th at 9:00AM Penn Branch community members will meet to begin cleaning and restoration of 9-11 Memorial Park, located at the intersection of Carpenter Street and O Street SE. In addition to cleaning, we will plant and install new shrubs and park signage purchased through a recent $1,000 grant from the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS).
If you plan to join us, please remember to bring your gardening tools, including rakes, shovels, shears, trimmers as well as lawn and leaf and trash bags.
The PBCA board is also making plans to launch a community fundraiser next month. Your donation will help us to replace the deteriorating bench and install new pavers in the main walkways. If you can’t join us on Saturday, May 15th, please consider making a donation to help us restore and maintain the gateway to our community! To make a donation online, please visit: https://pennbranchdc.org/donate/
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Gallery: One of our last major community restoration of 9-11 Memorial Park took place on October 18, 2014. Many Penn Branch residents came out to help groom plants, restore walkways and flower beds.
Spring is looking good. As the weather is getting nicer, now is the time to get back outside to prep our backyards, patios and gardens for use during throughout the warmer months. Your PBCA board has also sprung into action along with a few dedicated community members to help plan our first spring cleaning of 9-11 Memorial Park. It is the gateway to our neighborhood at the intersections of Carpenter and O Street SE. Last month, Joan McKenzie applied for and was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), on behalf of PBCA, to spruce up the park. The funds will go towards new native plantings and additional signage. However, the park is in also need of a new bench and paving stones. These additional costs were not covered by the grant. So, we’ll soon be launching a fundraiser to help us pay for those items. In the meantime, we’ll gladly accept your donations.
Lastly, we have new families in the neighborhood. Let’s welcome them. Let your block captain know so that we can invite them to join us and deliver our famously practical welcome buckets, which Mrs. Patricia Hall is always putting together with loving care. Thank you for your continued support.
Please continue to be safe and take care of each other and I’ll see you at the meeting!
Stan
PBCA President
I’m starting to see a sliver of light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel as more vaccines become available.
Perhaps we’ll soon be able to have our meetings in-person and maybe even bring to fruition one of the PBCA Board’s long-term goals for 2022: Bringing back The Annual Penn Branch Dinner Dance.
The Dinner Dance was started in 1987 by the former PBCCA President, Eloise Prince, and was held annually until 2015. The event provided an excellent way for new and longstanding neighbors to get to know one another. I always enjoyed seeing the younger folks, along with our seniors, all on the dance floor performing the latest line-dance together.
After being held up in our homes for the past year, now is the time to start planning for this event–as well as other ways to get us back together again. To do this, we’ll need your help. Please make a donation to PBCA and share with us any creative ideas you may have. Until then, lets’ keep fingers crossed for continued progress in beating back this virus.
See you at the meeting!
Stan
A quick look back at images from past ‘ Dinner Dance’ events where Penn Branch residents came out looking their best to celebrate, mix and mingle with community and city leadership.
The DC Office of Planning (OP) is developing a Small Area Plan for the Pennsylvania Avenue East corridor. The plan will focus on enhancing a safe, accessible, and vibrant public realm; encouraging economic development and retail opportunities; improving transportation access and connectivity; and exploring housing opportunities to improve access for upward mobility. It is important that throughout this planning process you make your voice heard! To get involved, visit the project website (publicinput.com/PennAveSEPlan) to learn more, register for updates, provide critical feedback through the online survey, and sign-up for the first community townhall meeting!
The first community townhall will be held on Wednesday, April 14 at 6:00pm. The virtual meeting will be broadcast online at: publicinput.com/PennAveSEPlan. If you are unable to join online, you can also dial-in at: 855-925-2801 (pin: 9252).
Thanks for getting involved in the Pennsylvania Avenue East Small Area Plan. If you have questions about the plan, you can reach out to the OP project team at [email protected] or call: 855-925-2801 (pin: 9252).