Hill firebrand Jim Myers has discovered that the political process in D.C. works best when it is aroused from its normal torpor by, say, an outrageous poster plastered all over a neighborhood.

His latest mocks an architect’s vision of the plans for the old D.C. General site at 19th Street and Massachusetts Avenue S.E. “The National Capital Bioterror Center” is the headline, and under it, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

Myers’s white mustache and large, expressive voice are well-known to area gatherings, as is his 15-year campaign to make his Hill East neighborhood better. He wrote a nationally noted article about Hill East murders several years ago in The Atlantic magazine, and now, with the neighborhood rapidly gentrifying, he wants to move on.

His current subject is Reservation 13, the 67 acres surrounding D.C. General Hospital, now the subject of a plan, pushed by Mayor Anthony Williams (D) and City Manager Robert C. Bobb, to build a new, $400 million hospital there.

But what, asks Myers (and others), about the already existing hospital? Why not use those facilities? Because, Myers glares conspiratorially, “they may have other plans.” Those plans, he thinks, include making the new hospital a receiving facility for the victims of the (possibly) inevitable terrorist attack on Washington.

This thinking explains why there are so few officials worried about the cost, ostensibly to be shared by Howard University and the city. As a “bioterror” hospital, the facility could dip into the apparently bottomless pot of money available for homeland-security schemes.

It also explains why there has been no thought of reuse or adaptation of the vast, purpose-built campus of D.C. General, already equipped with wards, operating theaters, laboratories, etc., etc. A previous Myers poster effort called the old hospital campus “an ugly government junkyard” and sparked a move to turn the trash-strewn and neglected shore of the Anacostia River into what Myers lovingly called “Hill East Waterfront.”

“Here,” he proclaimed at a pile of trash illegally dumped on the D.C. General site, “is the most valuable real estate on the Hill. But where’s the river?” Fences, plus impenetrable bush honeysuckle thickets planted by the National Park Service, keep all but the most intrepid from the riverbank in Hill East.

“I want them to remove that fence,” Myers said. A recent article of his, “Wasted Waterfront,” appearing in the Hill Rag, reinforced that point.

Howe to bring comedy to press corps duds

In his time, comedy-show producer Tim Howe has seen reporters change from free-spirited optimists into the buttoned-up careerists they are today. That’s one reason he’s bringing his free-swinging show to the Press Club April 1.

Yes, it’s April Fool’s Day. But Howe is not kidding about the show, which will honor the late Hunter S. Thompson and feature Comedy Central vet and humor columnist Will Durst, mainlining to the increasingly self-important D.C. press corps at its home haunt.

Titled “Fear and Loathing at the Press Club — a night of frivolity and fun,” it seems an appropriate sendoff for the irreverent Thompson, “with a special tribute to the life and words of the good Doctor.”

The format will be “one half reporters telling jokes,” Howe deadpanned, “and the second half will be a panel hosted by Durst, who has been fired by the San Francisco Examiner more times than Hunter Thompson.”

Howe, political junkie of 47, Democratic campaign vet and a Clinton pal, is best known for pulling together live comedy shows at times of political focus — such as the national political conventions. But now he’s trying to launch a foundation that will keep the voice of humor from being smothered by the gray suits and the so, so serious opinions. It’s to be called the Will Rogers Washington Comedy Foundation (www.washingtoncomedyfoundation.org).

Howe hopes to give awards to the funniest politician, the funniest journalist — of course the award will be called the “Willy.”

Howe lives in a garage behind a neat Hill row house and is reckless of dress and convention. He smokes, for heaven’s sake, and is unafraid of poking sacred cows. Which is why Thompson (who was to have appeared in this show, thanks to the persuasion of The Hill’s Al Eisele) won’t get solemn treatment. “If you believe in reincarnation (and he did), what’s the difference?” Howe mused last week. “I hope I’ll have the courage.”

As was the case with his previous shows at the conventions and at the Warner Theatre here, all is in flux until the last few hours. Howe has no staff, but his Rolodex is immense. Rolling Stone’s Corey Seymour and Dem immortal Frank Mankiewicz are to appear with Durst — but will Pat Buchanan or Chris Hitchens arrive? Will Bill Greider be pressed into a jest? Who knows?

The sureties are that curtain time is 8 p.m., the price is $20 with a $5 discount for NPC members, and the address is 529 14th St. N.W.

Objections? Comments? Send them to washingtoncomedy@ gmail.com.

Buzzard Point — surely that’s Lookout Pointe

The first thing they had better do is come up with one of those great new names Realtors are fond of. Buzzard Point could become “Channel Cove” or “Lookout Pointe.”

Possibilities are endless now that Pepco, the D.C. electric utility, is selling two parking lots, 9 acres in all, to take advantage of the real-estate feeding frenzy being generated by the new Major League Baseball stadium going in at 2nd and P streets S.W., three blocks east. Final price? Washington Business Journal estimates it could approach $100 million.

No doubt the older denizens of the neighborhood, like the hardy boating set who hang out at the Buzzard Point Marina, will shake grizzled heads with wonder.

The place won its name more than a century ago because of the miasma caused by floating carcasses and sewage that swirled in the whirlpools caused by the juncture of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. But now, bright young people chirp about creating a neighborhood with “water views,” and the current mantra of mixed development is always in the discussion. Developers have always avoided this part of town, formerly zoned for light industry. It is now part of the Capitol Gateway Overlay District.

But Pepco’s decidedly non-scenic generating plant and service center, where the repair trucks congregate, is not for sale.

Whether or not the new “neighborhood,” now consisting of asphalt and a few weed trees, will blossom into a paradise of condos over upscale retail is a matter of conjecture. But the sale is one more building block in the enormous cycle of change coming to Southeast (and Southwest) Washington below the Freeway. Once the city’s small industrial core, it is becoming, for better or worse, another Rosslyn or Crystal City.

METRO

• TV’s “Desperate Housewives” has spawned a new style of barfly with the advent of “viewing parties.” Such a one has been launched at so-smart La Tasca (722 7th St. N.W.), where, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sundays, $1 sangria specials are on offer. Get desperate. ...

• Hill East, Reservation 13, D.C. General, D.C. Jail — whatever you call it, it’s more or less up for grabs and the local community is entering the fray. Longtime political activists Ken Jarboe and Beth Purcell will run a community meeting on the controversial 67 acres. Payne Elementary, 14th and C streets S.E., April 6, doors open 6:30 p.m. ...

• Smokers aware: Two City Council bills to ban smoking in D.C. offices, bars and restaurants are in process as anti-smoking forces gather to tell others how to live. But cigar bars, tobacco shops and outdoor dining areas are exempted. ...

• “And I am not done,” said Mayor Anthony Williams (D) during last week’s State of the District address, the closest we’ve heard to a hint that Tony may run again — that plus a newly aggressive style toward his gaggle of challengers...

• Barry Watch: Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) went to bat for D.C. baseball viewers as a battle raged over whether Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos owns “area” television rights. Meanwhile, an old Barry pal, Courtland Cox, got on board with the new Nationals as the D.C. Sports Commission director of minority business contracting. ...

• Newest near-Hill hotspot is the North Capitol Street corridor, where towering brick row houses are still undervalued due to crime, drugs and competing gentrifying neighborhoods. A nonprofit organization, North Capitol Neighborhood Development, is at odds with the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development over an affordable-housing project in the 1300 block. ...

• That festival again: The unstoppable cherry blossoms, iconic for tourists and almost ignored here, are due to begin their 93rd festival this week. The celebration of 3,000 Japanese cherry trees runs through April 10, and includes a parade (April 9), a Smithsonian kite festival plus other events; D.C. Convention and Tourism Corp. (www.washington.org) has all details.