September 2013 RSS Feed

Found 14 blog entries for September 2013.

Over the summer, I wrote about the living wage bill passed by the DC Council. The Large Retailer Accountability Act (LRAA) increases the DC minimum wage from $8.25 to $12.50 for certain large retailers in the city. 

But DC Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed the bill today. In a letter to the DC Council, Gray wrote, “If I were to sign this bill into law, it would do nothing but hinder our ability to create jobs, drive away retailers, and set us back on the path to prosperity for all.”

It was feared that Walmart would cancel plans for new stores in the city if the LRAA went into effect. Two Walmart stores are slated to open later this year or early in 2014:  one at 5968 Georgia Avenue in Northwest and the other at 99 H Street in Northwest. A third Walmart at…

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Two-story condos are hard to come by in Washington D.C., but the real estate market here does have several properties for homeowners looking for the convenience of cooperative living spread out on two floors.

The majority of condos in Washington D.C. are tight quartered, with the most common being studios or one-bedroom units. In the more suburban-like areas of the District, buyers may be more apt to find the rare two-story condo, although two-story condos can be found throughout all parts of the District.

Not surprisingly, two-story condos are significantly more expensive than their one-floor counterparts. For example one two-bedroom, two-story condo in the Adams Morgan area lists for $675,000. Other condos on one floor in this neighborhood list…

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DC’s Department of Fire & Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) has been criticized for slow response times. But in August, Chief Kenneth Ellerbe announced that his organization hired 20 new paramedics and will have 30 new ambulances by the end of the year.

Of those 30 ambulances, the first six will be refurbished to allow for quicker delivery. The following ambulances will all be new, and the department will first receive seven and then the final 17.

Hiring of paramedics is critical to FEMS since 80% of their work is medical emergencies. But it has been difficult for two reasons. Firstly, there is a shortage of paramedics across the country. And secondly, until April of this year, DC law prevented hiring those who were not also firefighters.

But…

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Chinatown in DC’s Penn Quarter seems like the obvious place to find authentic Chinese cuisine. But according to Todd Kliman, Dining Editor for Washingtonian Magazine, the best place for gourmet Chinese food in the DC area is Rockville, MD.

Kilman says that many Chinese immigrants first settled in Chinatown in the 1950s and 60s. But since that time, they have gradually been moving into Maryland. Edward Shen, co-owner of Seven Seas restaurant in Rockville, immigrated to the US in the 1970s and opened his Chinese restaurant in 1986. When his wife moved to Maryland from Seattle in 1993, she says, “He called Rockville a Little Taipei, meaning that I can get all sorts of gourmet Chinese food in Rockville area. ...Rockville is becoming a small Chinatown in…

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