Dragon Video Billboards for Penn Quarter

More video advertising boards are being added to the area around the Verizon Center in Penn Quarter. The newest addition has been in the works for a few months, creating an inaccessible construction area on the G street pedestrian walk. This weekend, we got to see a bit of  the resulting work. 

This video board is mere feet above the heads of the average passerby, maybe 12-15 feet above ground level. Apparently there will be a dragon-like sculpture attached to the billboard, because... Chinatown? I mean, I should wait until completion to judge, but this seems to be a very strange location for a permanent video billboard and the addition of the dragon could be awesome or terrible depending on the execution.

The boards attached to the side of the Verizon Center last year were placed high up on the building, near the third floor, at the corner of 7th and F NW. The new video board is double-sided and has been placed in the busy "pedestrian walk" area. The pedestrian walk links 6th and 7th Streets NW, is home to several food-based kiosks, and leads to a mini-entertainment center featuring Bar Louis, Lucky Strike Bowling, and Regal Cinemas, among others.

I'll definitely post a photo after the billboard is complete. 

Verizon Center Installs Electronic Billboards

Black framing for new video billboards. Smaller video boards can be seen below ("Tickets Available").

The semi-controversial electronic video billboards are now being added to the facade of Verizon Center . The most prominent additions are two 1,035 square foot video boards at the corner of 7th and F Streets NW. Two identical billboards will wrap the corner above the Metro entrance. 

More billboards will be installed along the 7th Street side of Verizon Center (near G Street, where the old vinyl ads were previously). There are already smaller, live video billboards in place at the top of the Metro escalators at F Street and near the Chinatown Arch. They currently display promotional ads for Verizon Center concerts, ads for upcoming sporting events, and third party media.

The larger billboards were the cause of much consternation, with this 2010 article asking "Is D.C. getting its own Times Square?" (Whenever a headline asks a question that way, the answer is always NO.) And Ted Leonsis --majority owner of the Verizon Center, Wizards, Mystics and Capitals-- took to his own blog to make a case for the billboards.

I'll follow up with a few more photos when the work is complete.

Flap Over Billboards Just a Prelude

Some residents in DC's Penn Quarter/Gallery Place neighborhood are at odds with a plan that would allow more video screen billboards to be erected on and around 7th and H Streets NW. There are already video billboards in the area at 7th and F, 7th and G and three television-like boards directly above the Metro entrance at 7th and H. The current proposal would more than double the number of locations with video kiosks on street level, new video billboards in the Gallery Place Walk area (7th and G) and vertically mounted video billboards on the façade of 777 7th St, a residential building.

This seems to be an issue that will persist even after the current episode is settled. Looming large is the future development at old convention center site, renamed City Center DC. There are grand plans for the prime real estate now occupied by a vast parking lot. Bound by New York Ave, 11th Street, H Street and 9th Street, the new development will include entertainment, retail and open public space; all above, below and adjacent to each other. The East End/Downtown area has been a shopping destination for years. Now the entertainment sector is rising with Museums (public and private), nightclubs and sports venues. Add to that a vibrant and growing residential base and well, there you go. Unfortunately the residents are sometimes pit against the casual visitor in the fight for amenities.

The billboards are not meant to appeal to the residents of Penn Quarter only. The advertiser's audience is also made up of the office worker, bus rider, hotel guest, convention attendee or museum goer. There will always be the built-in animosity between commercial and residential interest. And that clash only has the potential to worsen over time. Can some of that be avoided? Yes, probably. I urge the city, developers and potential residents to set firm guidelines now before City Center begins to take physical form. Otherwise this will be just one in a series of roadblocks for a Downtown otherwise still on the a joyride of commerical and residential comeback. Let's make the ride smoother for all invested parties, especially the residents who are the most permanent fixtures in any vibrant city.

Music to Our Ears?: Two Stories About Music, Sound and Quality of Life

In the Washington Post this weekend:

A story in Saturday's paper highlighted the struggles of Don Juan's and other Mount Pleasant businesses in their relations with neighborhood associations, city agencies and the area's changing demographics. Don Juan's has been involved in a bitter fight over where the owners can store trash outside of the building. At stake however, is not just who can store what, where, but the very essence of how independent Mount Pleasant businesses like Don Juan's are able to survive while seemingly being treated unfairly by the city and the controversial Voluntary Agreements. The article points out something I'd always wondered about: how some businesses have been able to sign agreements which allow them to host live music several times a year, while others are not. Why can't our commercial neighbors get a just shake? We should all be trying to play fair in seeking out the best for our neighborhood, Mount Pleasant. Start today people! It not that hard.

Sunday's Metro section featured those pesky and ear-numbing advertising video billboards at the corner of 7th and H Streets NW. In an article that mentioned Times Square about 20 times too many (really no comparison at all), some residents note their relative unhappiness at the current billboard situation. I fail to realize how the city overlooked this such a significant detail in the permit for these TVs, the fact that they emit audio. Not only are they garish in appearance, but the sound they emit is soul sucking. The AT&T ads run nearly 24 hours a day and compete with nothing! No other companies run adds on the boards. Monotony rules. Coca Cola ran some initial ads, but he point is that the boards are too loud, annoy passer-bys and keep the locals up at night.

TVs to Compete With the Chinatown Arch

On the way to Chop't for lunch, I saw in person what I had read about on Penn Quater Living a few weeks ago. There are now three larger than life video screens installed on the corner of 7th and H Streets NW. I'll soon have access to more television channels while standing on 7th St NW than at home in my living room. The idea for the video boards in PQ isn't new. There's a double-screened video display a block and a half away on the western face of the Verizon Center. But these three promise to compete for attention with the historic Chinatown Friendship Archway. I was ambivalent before, but seeing the screens up close, I can't help to feel like the neglected Arch is crying a little inside...