The Naval Historical Center at the Navy Yard has announced its public programs for the month of May, and I've added them to my Upcoming Events list. UPDATE: The events calendar on the historical center's site is now updated.

It's a good day for tips from readers! Another correspondent passes along this piece from Shopping Center Business magazine, "Washington DC Focuses on the Waterfront," a roundtable with lots of big names in DC development and government discussing the state of retail in downtown DC. One of the participants was Forest City Washington, which is developing Capper/Carrollsburg and the Southeast Federal Center, plus is one of the four companies working on the Ballpark District. There's no real *news* on the projects, but they indicate that they are getting a tremendous amount of interest from retailers who want to be part of the combined 300,000 sq ft of retail planned for Capper and the SFC. They also say that "bulldozers will be moving by the end of the year at Southeast Federal Center." Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the box highlighting Forest City, with the following sentence that will warm the hearts of Near Southeast residents and neighbors: "Forest City Washington believes a grocery store would be a good addition, and several are interested." Yes! And please hurry!

A sharp-eyed correspondent passes along this press release from WMATA, announcing that Metro is finally removing the buses parked on a leased lot at Half and O, land that was seized by the city via eminent domain for the new ballpark. (The buses will be moving to a lot leased from Pepco at 1st and R, SW, with the city picking up the "costs associated with the move.") With this, all stadium footprint land has been vacated by its (former) tenants. Is the start of demolition still coming May 1 or thereabouts? Haven't heard anything more one way or the other. Tick tick tick!