Given Batterson's description that the church will now have frontage on 7th, 8th, Virginia, and L, it would appear that the new lot under contract is the empty one directly across from the Marine Barracks on 7th, where a few years back a small developer had dreams of an apartment building, but never followed through; the lot then sold for $400,000 through a foreclosure sale last year.

Batterson says that this lot will enable NCC to add about 15,000 square feet to their final footprint--"and I don't think we're done yet." (Maybe that auto garage on the southeast corner of 7th and K is noticing that the church will soon own the land on both sides of it.)

The church is buying the properties because they're running out of space for services and staff at Ebenezers, Batterson has written. There's been no official announcement of what exactly they're planning for the site, but in a tweet to me right after I wrote about the first land purchase, Batterson said, "definitely another Ebenezers and we'd like to design a theater."

So I decided to ask ANC 6D07's candidates, incumbent Robert Siegel and challenger David Garber, a series of questions about Near Southeast, their impressions of the role of an ANC commissioner, and what they see as some of the issues the neighborhood is currently facing. And they were generous enough to respond!

I tried to ask questions that would elicit some actual information to help voters choose between the candidates, and so hopefully their answers will be enlightening. And no, I didn't ask about CSX and the Virginia Avenue Tunnel, because I didn't see the chance that one or the other might suddenly pop out with a big pro-tunnel-construction viewpoint. But I did ask which potential new Marine Barracks site each candidate would support, although it's worth noting that most of the sites that the Marines are looking at aren't actually in 6D07, but are in 6B.

So, read both Siegel's and Garber's answers (all the way through, you low-attention-span blog consumers!), and then remember to actually vote on Nov. 2.

(* I am a poster child for Generation X Watergate-instilled political cynicism, aided by the fact that Nixon resigned on my eighth birthday. I also broke a finger in a playground fight the day Jimmy Carter got elected, but I don't think we were fighting about politics.)

The first, on Oct. 19, is a Special Forum with Kwame Brown, the presumptive next chair of the city council. Presumptive-Chair-to-Be Brown, along with Tommy Wells and several of the council's at-large members, will be talking about the future of the council, along with topics such as how the council will keep education reform a priority (especially given today's news) and how the council and Presumptive-Mayor-to-Be Gray will work together. It's also expected to delve into what Kwame sees as the council's role in the continued growth of Ward 6 neighborhoods like Near Southeast as well as H Street NE and the Southwest Waterfront. (What other subjects you'd like to hear discussed at the forum? Leave your thoughts in the comments.) The meeting is from 6:30 to 8 pm at the Southeast Branch Public Library at 403 7th St., SE, right across from the Eastern Market Metro plaza.

Then, on Oct. 25, a Ward 6 School Board Candidates Forum will be held, from 6 to 7:30 pm at Maury Elementary School, 1250 Constitution Ave., NE. Candidates Melissa Rohan and Monica Warren-Jones will be asked about their plans and visions for Ward 6's public schools.