"The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation will host the inaugural NatsTown Green-Up, an Anacostia Clean-Up Day designed to bring attention to the works of the Dream Foundation and their partner, the Earth Conservation Corps. Close to 100 volunteers from the Washington Nationals front office, Alion Science & Technology, Capitol Riverfront BID, Capital Rowing Club, HNTB Corporation, and Sidwell Friends, will "Rally 'Round The River" and help to clean and beautify the nation's most polluted waterway. The day's activities will include mulching, planting and trash pick-up at the Matthew Henson Center, the base of the Earth Conservation Corps located at 2000 Half Street, SW, and removal of trash from the shoreline of the Anacostia at Poplar Point. Boats will take volunteers across the river to the Poplar Point location.

"Waste Management, a Nationals corporate partner, will provide the dumpsters for materials removed from the river banks during the event, along with t-shirts for all volunteers. Hard Times Cafe and Gifford's Ice Cream & Candy Co. will provide complimentary lunch for the volunteers at 1:00pm in the Nats Family Picnic Area. During the lunch portion of the event a Nationals player will meet with the volunteers and thank them for their participation. Each person will also receive two tickets to Dream Foundation Day at the ballpark on Sunday, May 24 when the team faces the Baltimore Orioles in the final game of the homestand. The pre- and in-game entertainment at Sunday's game will highlight the works of the Nationals Dream Foundation and provide fans with information on how they can get involved."

Registration starts at 8:30 am on Friday at the Henson Center at 2000 Half St., SW.

The somewhat threatening skies held off before gametime tonight and allowed the Bullpen to open its doors for the first time. When I arrived around 6 pm, there was a healthy crowd, and the spirits (emotional and liquid) seemed to be flowing well. I didn't stick around for long, but I did take a few photos.

(Also note: "The Bullpen is available for private events on game nights and non-game nights. The Bullpen welcomes happy hours, political events, fund-raisers, company outings and other large group events.")

See the few pictures I've posted of the venue if you can't bear to wait.

There also apparently is going to be a Bike to the Park Day on June 21, when the Nats play the Toronto Blue Jays. More info on that to come.

* On Monday night, Fox5 news ran "Waste of Space?", detailing the nearly $550,000 a month the city pays in rent for 225 Virginia Avenue (aka the old Post plant), now totalling nearly $15 million in payments since the city leased the building in late 2006. (The piece also discussed the other buildings that the city leases.) There wasn't really anything new--Phil Mendelson railed against the deal, and Fox5 did note that Mayor Fenty and Phil Mendelson voted to approve the lease when they were council members. The piece ended with the reporter saying that Fenty had said the city is "on the verge of making a change" and that we'd all hear about it soon. Whether this entails the moving of the Child and Family Services Agency into the building (as WBJ reported recently), or whether the city has found a developer to take over the sublease, we'll just have to wait and see.

If you're just tuning in and want the entire sordid tale, spend a few hours reading my 225 Virginia news archive.

* A couple outlets (including the Post and MASN) reported last week that a romantic comedy by James L. Brooks (director of Terms of Endearment and executive producer of The Simpsons) starring Owen Wilson (as a Nats relief pitcher), Reese Witherspoon, and Paul Rudd will start filming in June, and will include scenes at Nationals Park. Now, about the part of the obsessive-compulsive neighborhood blogger....

* On Friday (May 15) at 12:30 pm, I'll be doing a live chat over at Urban Trekker. So come on over and torment me with some questions, though with the school buses now gone from Canal Park, I'm not sure anyone has anything to ask me anymore. :-)

* There's probably only about three people who'd really find this of interest, but if you'd like a low-bandwidth version of the JDLand home page to use on your phone/PDA (compared to the behemoth that is the "real" home page), you can now bookmark m.jdland.com. The interior pages won't be mobile-ized, but at least this way you can get to the blog entries (and comments) without all the other stuff.

* The latest Capitol Riverfront BID newsletter is out, with a few items of note. First off, there's a new "branding" campaign going on--"Be Out Front." Look for signs promoting "Front Yard," "Front Office," "Front Door," "Store Front," etc. And they'll soon be launching an equally rebranded web site.

Also, the current estimated population within the BID is 1,584 residents; the newsletter says that there are now more than 2,000 residential units, more than half of which are leased/sold and occupied.

The newsletter also gives the Bullpen's official opening date as May 15, and also mentions that the weekly Tuesday farmer's market at USDOT is now underway, and that the weekly Wednesday lunchtime concerts start on May 20.

* The agenda for Monday's ANC 6D meeting is out (hopefully it'll show up online before the meeting itself), and the only Near Southeast item is a presentation by Michael Stevens of the BID--kind of a BID 101 tutorial for the ANC commissioners. Otherwise, it's voting on marathons, bus stops, after-school programs, and also an announcement of a "Southwest Night" at Ft. McNair on July 1. The meeting is at 6th and M streets, SW, at 7 pm. (Maybe next month it'll finally move to the new digs at the new 1D police station at the former Bowen Elementary.)

* The Examiner reports that the 2010 federal budget includes $15 million for "Southeast Federal Center remediation." There's certainly been piles of environmental cleanup there over the years (not surprising when it used to be blocks and blocks of munitions factories).

* EYA has spiffed up its web site a bit--their Capitol Quarter page is worth a visit if you haven't checked it out before.

* The fourth Anacostia Waterfront Forum is scheduled for May 19 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the MLK Library. This month's subject: "Waterfronts and the World's Great Capital Cities," with Harriet Tregoning, the director of the city's Office of Planning.

* Hard to think about when the weather remains so cruddy, but WalkingTownDC's Spring Edition lineup is available, and again includes a Capitol Riverfront Tour, leading by the BID's executive director Michael Stevens. It's on Sunday, May 31, from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Reservations for all tours will start being accepted on May 11.