The wreckage of the O Street Market will soon be just a memory on the 7th Street corridor with the groundbreaking for CityMarket at O now set for September 1.

Watha T Daniel Library will have a ribbon cutting on Monday.

The books are already on the shelves. (At the center, there's a book on Norman Rockwell who's marvelous exhibit — taken from the Grorge Lucas and Steven Spielberg collections — is coincidently currently on display at the Portrait Gallery down Seventh Street in GalleryPlace/Chinatown).

Grand Opening of the Watha T. Daniel-Shaw Library
10:45 am, Monday, Aug. 2

Join friends and neighbors for the ribbon cutting and the grand opening of the new Watha T. Daniel/Shaw library located at 1630 7th Street NW, across from the Shaw Metro station.

The new three-story library is approximately 22,000 square feet and will feature separate reading areas for adults, teens and children; a children’s program room; space for 80,000 books, DVDs, CDs and other library materials; 32 public access computers with free Wi-Fi Internet access; comfortable seating for 200 customers; large program room for up to 100 people; two 12-person conference rooms; and a vending area.

First cranes in the ground in central Shaw behind Gibson Plaza at 1301 Seventh Street NW.

Gibson residents will be happy to get rid of the temporary window a/c units once the next phases of the complete renovation of the building get started.

Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, Mayor Adrian Fenty, US HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Eleanor Holmes Norton were on hand for the grand celebration which included a great performance by the First Rising Mount Zion Church choir.

[Photo courtesy Office of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans]

Ms. Adrianne Todman, Interim Executive Director, District of Columbia Housing Authority, and CM Evans gave remarks. CM Marion Barry (center) thought the event worthy of leaving Ward 8 for a few minutes to be a part of the momentous occasion under the big tent.

2:30pm update:
And this just in from DPR on upgrades for the NJ Avenue & O Street Park (THAT STILL NEEDS A PROPER NAME...):

The new light fixtures are scheduled to be shipped by mid-August, and the contractor anticipates completing all lighting work by the end of August.
 
On a related matter, DPR is pursuing installing center armrests on all of the newly refinished benches, to limit folks napping on them.  Lead time on materials is 4 weeks, and we hope to have that work done by the end of August, as well.