The National Geographic Society is sponsoring a free film screening and discussion about the street and basement flooding that afflicted parts of Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park in 2012.  The film, Neighbor to Neighbor: The Bloomingdale Story, will be shown on Thursday, May 21 from 7 to 9 pm at St. George’s Episcopal Church (2nd & U Streets).

Here’s the full description from the flyer:

In September 2012 Bloomingdale was hit by one of the severest storms in recent memory. As Mike Thomas’ home flooded, neighbors—from different backgrounds and walks of life— came together to help him recover from the storm. This film tells that story.

Why Attend: Storms are hitting the District at an ever-increasing rate. In addition to infrastructure problems, weather crises due to climate change are on the rise: flash floods, severe freezes and snowstorms, and intense heat waves.

Katrina and the Chicago Heat Wave taught us that knowing your neighbors is one of the best predictors of survival. We know that communities with the strongest social connections are also the most resilient (able to bounce back from a challenge).

Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park, and the Southwest Waterfront are on the front line of critical weather events. Come see this insightful short film, share some food (provided), conversation, and wisdom about human connections and the resilience of our neighborhoods. The director of the film, Steve Droter, and Mike Thomas will be available to participate in the conversation.

This screening is funded in part by the National Geographic Climate and Urban System Partnership (CUSP).

Photo: A drop shaft in Bloomingdale for the tunnel boring machine that will drill a stormwater retention tunnel under First Street in Bloomingdale. The tunnel is expected to resolve flooding problems for good.

Google Maps has enabled a Pac-Man mode that turns ordinary street maps into a Pac-Man game.  Click the Pac-Man box in the lower-left corner of Google Maps and you too can chomp your way around Anna Cooper Circle!

A photo posted by @ericfidler on Mar 21, 2015 at 11:56am PDT

As part of DC Water’s construction work on the First Street Tunnel, the agency paved a temporary parking lot on the grounds of the McMillan Reservoir. Community leaders took a tour of the tunnel project on Saturday and got a close-up photo of the top of the McMillan Fountain, which stands just beyond the parking lot fence.

The base of the fountain, pictured below as it originally stood, lies dismantled in Fort Washington National Park in Prince George’s County.

Mark your calendars for the annual spring celebration in the park on Sunday, April 26 from 11 am to 2 pm.  The LeDroit Park Civic Association and Common Good City Farm are putting together an event that includes activities for kids and opportunities to learn about the farm.

Children’s activities

• spring egg hunt
• seedling planting
• face painting

Volunteer activities

• tree watering and mulching
• park clean-up
• dogpark clean-up
• community garden work day

General activities

• Tours of the farm
• Sign-up for income-qualifying weekly vegetable program
• Seedling sale: kale, collard greens, lettuce, basil

More details will come as the event approaches.

Photo: Tulips on the 200 block of Elm Street. April 2012.

A photo posted by @ericfidler on Mar 5, 2015 at 12:13pm PST

It’s snowing outside and LeDroit Park is more beautiful than ever.

A photo posted by @ericfidler on Mar 5, 2015 at 12:14pm PST

A photo posted by @ericfidler on Mar 5, 2015 at 12:13pm PST

Uprising Muffins on 7th Street closed early.

A photo posted by @ericfidler on Mar 5, 2015 at 11:57am PST

Meet your neighbors at the next LeDroit Park Happy Hour, the LeDroit Park Civic Association’s monthly informal social event.

This month we’re meeting on Tuesday, March 10 from 6:30 pm to 8 pm at the bar All Souls (725 T Street NW).

Everyone is welcome to attend.

LeDroit Park’s next monthly happy hour will be at Costa Brava (1837 First Street NW) in Bloomingdale on Tuesday, February 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.  We will be at the upstairs bar.  All neighbors are welcome to attend.

Join your fellow neighbors for food and fun at the LeDroit Park Holiday Party. There will be free appetizers, a cash bar, and all children are welcome.

The party is on Sunday, December 15 from 4 to 7 pm on the second floor of Shaw’s Tavern (6th Street & Florida Avenue).

The LeDroit Park Civic Association is hosting the party, but you don’t have to be a member to attend.

Two— possibly three— new movie theaters are set to open within a mile of LeDroit Park by 2016.  All will be located within a block or two of Florida Avenue and are easily accessible by foot, bike, and 90s bus.

Atlantic Plumbing site – 800 V Street NW- unknown screens

Prolific developer JBG is starting construction on its Atlantic Plumbing project by the 9:30 Club.  The project includes two mixed-use buildings on 8th Street NW, each on opposing sides of V Street.  The northern building was supposed to include an 11,000-square-foot movie theater, but a September article in the WBJ makes no mention of a theater.  The building will probably open in 2015.

Landmark Theater – New York Avenue & N Street NE- 10 screens

Capitol Point, another JBG mixed-use project, is located on New York Avenue NE near the maddening intersection with Florida Avenue NE.  The mixed-use project is slated to receive a 10-screen Landmark Theater showing foreign and independent films.  The chain currently has a location downtown on E Street and one in Bethesda.  This new theater is scheduled to open in 2016.

Angelika Film Center – Union Market (5th Street & Neal Place NE) – 8 screens

Soon after you pass under the railroad tracks on Florida Avenue NE, Union Market appears embedded in the background on the left.  These blocks constitute a wholesale food market that is slowly being redeveloped.  The new Union Market building has met great success, featuring produce, prepared foods, oysters, meats, and dairy products along with chairs and tables for the impatient.  The market fare is definitely upscale and vendors never shy from the word ‘artisanal’.

The market building’s developer announced it will open an 8-screen Angelika movie theater on an adjacent lot.  Angelika theaters feature foreign and independent films and, as the Post described it, “culinary offerings from former Food Network executives.”  The developer expects the theater to open in 2015.

Are we over-theatered?

Another movie theater is coming to different part of the District.  In the Navy Yard, developer Forest City is planning an upscale 16-screen theater near Nationals Stadium and the Navy Yard Metro.  The theater, at N Place and the future 1½ Street SE (a terrible name for a street), may not open until 2016 or later.

Can’t wait until 2015? There are four existing theaters within a 2.5-mile radius of LeDroit Park as the crow flies.  The Landmark E Street Cinema (1100 block of E Street NW) and the Regal Gallery Place (7th & G Streets NW) are easily accessible from the Green Line, Yellow Line, and 70s buses.  To the west of us, the West End Cinema (23rd & M Streets NW) and the AMC Loews Georgetown (3111 K Street NW) are easily accessible from the G2 bus, whose eastern terminus is LeDroit Park.

400 block of U Street NW