C A P I C O S T I A

There're a lot of empty living rooms in Silver Spring. (Photo from ZedsCafe.com)   I like coffee, and THIS is the BEST COFFEE in the entire WESTERN WORLD! I wrote a review of Zed's Café and One Big Living Room, many years ago, on a now defunct WordPress blog, and I might have described little else, but, the coffee, ..which is phenomenal. So, this time, while there is much to praise about this legend of Silver Spring hospitality, I don't want to diminish that one, indisputable fact. Phenomenal coffee! Go anywhere else, where you are poured a cup of coffee, and the quality of the coffee that you will find at Zed's Café will surpass it, every time and at every hour of the day. How does proprietor, Zed Mekonnen, do it? He has a gold standard. Zed's Café, in Downtown Silver Spring, delivers the promise of what a cafe serves, coffee, and that standard is never compromised. Ever. The quality of the coffee - a cup of Nirvana, every time - and the paninis and ...

For the people...is it, really? [Photo from the the51st.org] by Mel Dyer I have very good reasons, being a resident of Ward 7 and ANC-7B, both in River East, to oppose DC statehood.  I'll try to state them, as plainly as possible, here. Ward 7 simply isn't ready to be a city/county.  Nor is ANC-7B. Neither have the commercial development or subsequent REVENUE to build strong enough economies to successfully sustain a city or county--to support public works, police, EMS, good schools and to attract subsequently necessary growth.  I see people Downtown, some from Wards 7 and 8, raving about DC statehood, and I continue to ask them how it would benefit Seven Bee and the rest of River East--no answer.  So long as we, east of the Anacostia, have no means of creating industry, DC statehood remains something for affluent people in thriving neighborhoods, like Capitol Hill, NoMa or Georgetown, .. west of the River. There must be s...

  Surprised and delighted to find live music and cafe life, just past the D.C. state line and sitting next to an art gallery, in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Seriously. I am not imagining this. When I recently learned that the  Urban Eats Arts and Music Cafe has just celebrated two years in business, at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue (Mount Rainier, MD), ..I was thrilled! As I'm always looking for places like this, away from the bustle of Downtown Washington and Capitol Hill, and rarely finding them, ..clearly, I have been missing out. There's a cafe area, with charming, little tables for two or three, and a couple of larger, roadhouse tables for small meetings, over coffee. There's the prerequisite, cozy, little lounge area - a coffeehouse standard - with cushy sofas and loveseats, ..where a good buddy of mine reads his comics, while locals soak up the FREE WI-FI on their laptops. The lounge area gives you a fro...

By Mel Dyer I've been warning people in Penn Branch how dangerous it would be, when our neighborhood no longer produced enough revenue to keep it competitive with the affluent communities popping up, all around us in SE. There's Capitol Hill, Near Southeast, Historic Anacostia - to keep Downtown interested in delivering top-priority EMS/police services to Penn Branch, as it did in the past.  It has been a controversial opinion to share with all of you, but, right or wrong, I have been consistent in it, ..until I have reason to consider, otherwise.  For this reason, I am not surprised that almost no one has listened...   And that day is here.   For the safety of my family, I've secured emergency resources and an exit strategy to get us - my mother is a stroke survivor - out of harm's way in a natural disaster that might prevent or delay police and EMS from reaching Penn Branch. Though it was not easy to leave, with God's blessing, I f...