No Pains No Gaines » Business
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December 9, 2007
Cole’s Cafe Needs Cold Cash to Continue
  Category: Eats in DC, Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 10:57 am  

Why does it seems like for a city to grow, it has to destroy itself in the process? Over the last several years that I’ve lived here, I’ve read articles about small business owners having to go out of business because of the spike in taxes they owe, developers buying their land or the building they’re in and giving them the pink slip or some other negative turn of events that benefits one party and not the current party.

Even in Anacostia where they development may not have reached the same proportions as the Baseball District, NoMA or H Street (yet), Evangeline “Mama” Cole-Thompson needs help now for her local neighborhood restaurant. She not only has been serving food to the locals, but she has given away a lot of free food reqarding the children for their grades, helping the elderly on fixed budgets, giving away scarves and gloves for the needy.

Her husband recently suffered a stroke and the bills have been a struggle to keep up with. And now her landlord is pressing the issue of get it together or be out. Thank you but no thank you.

A sign on the door says Cole-Thompson needs 300 people to donate $100 each, or $30,000. It’s short of the $50,000 required to get her back even but more than enough to pay her back rent and allow her to renew her $3,000-a-month lease.
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January 8, 2007
SprintNextel to Debut 4G Technology in DC
  Category: Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 10:42 pm  

SprintNextelNow that the SprintNextel honeymoon is nearly over, it’s time to get to business. They are about to begin their next wireless network called WiMax by the end of the year, and they chose two cities to debut it. Chicago and Washington DC are the chosen ones to be part of the birth of the “fourth generation” network which SprintNextel is spending $2.5 billion to $3 billion.

My main curiosity will be if they are going to be able to build the network so it works in the Metro tunnels. DC is a city in which a large percentage of daily commuters rely on the Metro. Having access to this new network underneath the city will greatly improve Sprint’s ability to market the new services.

I also wonder if any of the current phones will be able to work on the new network. I seroiusly doubt it, assuming new technollogies are coming out to support the new network. That means a lot of people are going to have to purchase new equipment and unless they wait until the new network rolls out before they upgrade their equipment, it’s going to suck for them not not to be able to enjoy the new perks without shelling out a ton of money for new equipment.

Regardless, it’s good to see companies bringing the latest and greatest to the District. Now if we can only get more wireless spots throughout the city for those of us without Sprint.

September 7, 2006
Imagine Paying For Metro Parking With Your Cell Phone
  Category: METRO, Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 3:55 pm  

Metro - Eastern Market StationBeing a regular Metro rider, any news about anything new at Metro is good news. Even if it’s something bad because it brings attention to the system and becomes a catalyst for change.

Though I don’t drive, just hearing about some ideas/plans Metro has for its parking spaces is good news. Imagine this: paying for your parking spot using your cell phone, credit and debit card machines at exit gates and setting up online transactions to reserve monthly spaces.

Also they’re talking about finding a business to manage all the parking lots and garages, including regular cleaning of the areas. Charles Deegan, a Maryland representative on the Metro Board, said he receives a lot of complaints about the trash cleanliness of the garages and the stairwells. Bringing in another company to handle the dirty work ideally will free up Metro to focus on other things, making them more efficient and hopefully help out financially. The contract for managing the parking spaces is expected to be around $4.3 million over 10 years. That isn’t expected to happen until next spring, though.

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September 4, 2006
Greater Southeast Community Hospital May Have New Owners Soon
  Category: Health Care, Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 11:20 pm  

Greater Southeast Community HospitalHealth care east of the Anacostia River just may be seeing healthier days soon.

Two unnamed groups have submitted offers to buy Greater Southeast Community Hospital from Arizona-based Doctors Community Healthcare, according to councilmember Marion Barry. The current owners of Greater Southeast Community Hospital have owned the hospital since 1999 when they purchased the hospital out of bankruptcy for $22.25 million.

Since then, the hospital has still experienced financial and medical crises. From 2000 to 2002 while still in bankruptcy, the owners spent $675,000 in lobbying expenses and candidate contributions for city politicians. Whatever and whoever they were lobbying, the hospital still has had its issues. The hospital had been stripped of its national accreditation, dropped by medical insurance companies and was being investigated for six “preventable” patient deaths between 2002 and 2003.

The local candidates to purchase the hospital are thought to be George Washington University Hospital and its parent company, Universal Health Services, and MedStar Health, which owns Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center. Maybe having local owners will benefit the improvement of the hospital, assuming one of them or someone local is bidding on the hospital.

July 19, 2006
Can You Hear Me Now, Down Here?
  Category: METRO, Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 3:23 pm  

I remember when I worked for Verizon Wireless, one of the selling points of the service was the fact that Verizon Wireless phones worked in the tunnels of Metro rail. If you used any other service down there, you’d be roaming so each minute that passes, you were being charged a quarter or more a minute.

Looks like those selling point days are about to be over (but I no longer work at Verizon Wireless). The four major wireless service companies are joining forces to do some magic so anyone can use the tunnels for their wireless needs. Verizon Wireless, Sprint-Nextel, Cingular and T-Mobile are looking to land a lucrative deal with Metro for a major revamping and expansion to the system which would also include the station platforms and bus stops.

The deal could potentially bring in tens of millions of dollars in new revenue to Metro. Some of that money could be used to making sure the trains don’t catch on fire.

May 21, 2006
Metro Thinking About That Cream
  Category: METRO, Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 10:31 am  

With my brother in town visiting for the next couple of weeks because our mom just received a long-awaited kidney transplant here (12 years!), we’ve been all over Washington, DC. Between visiting our mom at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and showing him around, we’ve made many trips all over Washington, DC, many just on the fly.

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April 16, 2006
Fran O’Brien’s vs. The Hilton
  Category: Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 1:31 pm  

Fran O'Brien'sNow you know I wasn’t gonna let this go by and not mention anything. Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steak House on 16th Street has been the place to be for wounded service members returning from the war(s). The restaurant bends over backwards to bring in the wounded Americans, by volunteers van, carrying them down the stairs, helping them in their wheelchairs. The restaurant owners, Marty O’Brien and Hal Koster, know the returning men and women by name and call them even when they’re not at the bar.

The restaurant has become a quiet legend among the returning wounded. But the Hilton wants the sanctuary to go quiet for good.

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April 7, 2006
Local Business Says Cluck-U To ANC
  Category: Business   |     Posted By: David Gaines @ 10:06 am  

H StreetWhen I first moved to Washington, DC, everyone was telling me about how much of a risk I was taking. All I heard about was how Washington, DC, is a huge ghetto, infested with sexual assaults and homicides, broad daylight robberies, prostitution, psychopaths, homelessness and everything else that would keep a sane person out.

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