Corner of First and Rhode Island in Bloomingdale

Corner of First and Rhode Island

I'm not sure why I took this photo recently of the buildings at the corner of two local streets except that this corner has not really changed much since I first moved into the Bloomingdale neighborhood over twenty years ago. Oh, they've added a coat of paint or two, awnings and signs have changed and been added, the tree's grown, plant pots added, new owners and new tenants, that sort of thing. But the size and scale of the buildings hasn't changed. The two stores are still single storey shops. The grey painted house on the left is still residential and not converted to a business use (although I think someone used to do taxes there on the first floor at one time). The Chinese Dragon in the middle has been selling carry out food the whole twenty years. And, I don't think their menu has changed much! The Windows Cafe on the corner replaced a dumpy liquor store and has contributed to the greatest change as it is a cafe and not one of those stores with the cashier behind plexiglass. They now have potted plants growing out front and to the side and tables and chairs for guests. So, it's a lot more civilized looking.  Part of my thinking was to photograph these corner buildings before real change occurs -- like someone tears the building down and puts a giant glass thing there, or a change is made that alters the scale of the buildings in relation to each other, like an addition or a fence or a switch from business to residential status. So, I've captured it for now and we'll have to see what happens in the next twenty years.

Telecommunications Titans and Those COAT People

I nearly fell over with surprise at an event this past Tuesday when Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts included me in a list of five people that he named and said we were "telecommunications titans." Interestingly, a co-worker snapped a shot of the live captioning behind him as he said it. So here it is, immortalized on the screen behind his head, at the celebratory event in the very grand Caucus Room of the U.S. House Cannon building. The five of us have been called several things along the way as we have lobbied for disability accessible technology policy over the last five years, but this one is the most interesting moniker! I consider it a great honor to have been called out like this in a public venue where there were almost 200 people, including a senator, the chairman of the FCC, several administration appointees and no end of other highly influential Washington DC people! At another event we were referred to as "the COAT People" as our coalition's acronym is COAT. That one made us all laugh, particularly as it was said in a very matter-of-fact tone by a private sector attorney -- that we all loved to work with -- at another public event. Our legislation was signed by the President in October. Learn more about COAT here.

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