Month: December 2006

The Blog site is having trouble. As of 11pm Thursday 12/7/06

I’ve been lax but luckily Frozen Tropics and Richard Layman of Rebuilding Place have been all over it.
Vincent Orange and his buddies are trying to take cheap food out of my mouth, ’cause face it housing will drive the warehouse businesses to BFE, Maryland. There are certain things that do not mix well with where people sleep. You can mix warehouses and offices. You can mix offices with housing. But housing with offices and warehouses? Mixed use is a lovely tool, but like many tools it can be applied to the wrong job with bad results. The result I see are businesses, jobs (magic word JOBS) moving to Maryland. And I won’t have a place to get my tenderloin for less than $4 a pound.
This weekend I’ve been living like a queen eating fillet minion I got from the market area. My house smells of beef. I’ve hauled in some good stuff before posted here and here. But will I lose opportunities to get a lot of food for a little money because Mr. Sang Oh Choi wants the city to forcibly grab his neighbor’s land, bulldoze buildings and shoehorn a project that might be a better fit elsewhere. I mean it isn’t the only housing proposal going up in a 1 mile radius. The stuff proposed along and around that area will add enough people to make traffic a headache. Part of me wonders wouldn’t it have been easier for him to have sold the land and bought a parcel that would have been a better fit?

OK 1900 census stuff. So, I have taken a new approach to the census and gathering more information, moving from heads of households to individuals. There are relationships that I keep an eye out for because I pause and wonder. The most typical one I wonder about is the live in servant. That is, the person listed as “servant” in the column stating the person’s relationship to the head. At 43 New York Ave (am I on the right side of the road?)NW, Joseph Lott, a 54 yo government clerk, and his wife Margaret had a 22 year old servant named Mary Collins. Miss Collins was a white District native with Irish parents. It was just the three of them in the house so I wonder why did the Lotts need a live-in servant and what kind of money was Mr. Lott making to have a servant?
But the most interesting find, for several reasons is at 89 New York Ave NW. First, I’ve hit upon my first Asians. Two Chinese men, Moy(?) Fooy and Ican’treadhisfirstname Hong, both in their 30s were laundrymen. But what I find interesting is how Mr. Hong is listed in his relationship with Mr. Fooy. Typically unrelated single persons are listed as ‘boarders’. Mr. Fooy is listed as ‘partner’. This being 1900 DC I’m going to take a good guess that means business partner.

Over in Ward 3 they are seeking to make Chevy Chase a big ole historic district divided into 5 zones. Now the residents of Chevy Chase can do whatever they will.
However it just shows a trend of neighborhoods of running after historic district status when their main thing is not the pursuit of preserving a history but of preventing certain types of architecture, like modernist styles or McMansions or just the cache of saying you live in an historic district.
Maybe what is needed something that will allow limited homeowner associations to be imposed on established neighborhoods or something else so people don’t have to go through the farce of pretending they are preserving a particular story, a unique story. [Insert geographical location] was built/ established/ formed in [date -50+ years from today] by [insert name of builder/ architect]. It served [ethnic group/ occupation/ class] with [businesses and/or services]. In time that will describe the whole effin’ city.
It would help maybe if someone could describe what ISN’T an historic district and why. Because every single brick/ concrete slab has a history.

Leroy Thorpe plans to resign…. the chairmanship of ANC 2C. According to the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting at Africare it is slated that he will step down from the chair (see KC’s site for agenda). The next day will be the recount so we’ll see what happens.

The Unofficial Shaw Gay & Lesbian Association (that’s what I’m calling it)will be having a happy hour this Friday. Where? I have a guess but you really need to go to 5th & O’s blog for more information. The happy hour is open to straight neighbors as well, so no one is excluded.

Mt Vernon Sq has mad skilz. Not only will you know where the crime is at, locations of service requests but also when the next train is arriving at Mt. Vernon Sq/Convention Ctr.

Lastly, tonight. BACA meeting. 7PM in the basement of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church. This is an opportunity to say thanks to all who put wreaths up all over the TC.

Next bus is coming in a few minutes. I can see it on the website. Well just for the 90, 92 & 93. It will be great when they expand it to some of the other routes I use.

Normally I’d throw this over to the main announcement board but:

Neighbors,
The US Marine Corps sponsors a toy give-away campaign every year for “needy” children in the community. To be eligible to receive toys, the US Marine Corps coordinator must receive a written request from the parent or social service representative. Distribution of the toys will begin on Monday, December 4th, at Boys and Girls Club (#14) at 4103 Benning Road, NE (202) 388-8197, (202) 388-8183
To request a toy: Fax the request to: (202) 433-2497 or Write: Toys for Tots, PO Box 3124, Washington, DC 20336
One can also apply online: www.toysfortots.org
The request must include: 1.) Child’s Name, 2.) Address, 3.) Phone Number, 4.) Child’s age, gender, 5.) A one toy wish. (doll, truck, car, ball etc)

For information email the Toys For Tots coordinator Johnny Noble Johnny.Noble @ USMC.Mil (202) 433-0116, (202) 433-0132
Please pass this information along to anyone whom you believe might be in need of it!

Best,
Jim Berry
ANC 5C

Okay last year there were some kids in the hood who got a not so great Christmas because there might have been some misunderstanding about how one non-profit’s toy program worked. Let’s not have a repeat of that. I say we hunt down the needy kids of the hood, and hook ’em up with the Toys for Tots so that no kid (unless their guardians or parents don’t do Christmas) goes with out a touch of Christmas.

In my profession we have these things call records management schedules. They tell you what records to keep, for how long, when to toss them and when to shove them off to the archives. If I could make a schedule for Shaw buildings, I would put the Susan Reitig (not sure if the spelling is right) building on S Street, across from the Wonderbread warehouse, on the dispose when no longer in use category.
The building is fairly new, only a few years old. But remember our present, will be someone’s past. I have this small fear that just because someone designed something and it manages to survive 2 generations or worse gets named after an honorable person it becomes slated for permanent retention. So I propose surveying the neighborhood and finding buildings, that when they have become no longer useful (ie abandoned), as buildings have been from time to time in the history of this neighborhood that they should be disposed of. And the people of the present should guide the people of the future on what buildings to put their energies behind and preserve and which ones need to meet the wrecking ball or get radically redesigned.

I want one of those binocular/ digital camera doohickies. I want to take pictures of the corner and get license plate numbers….. from a safe distance.
I also want one of those signs that say “If You have Time To Lean. You Have Time To Clean.”
But more importantly I want the corner to be completely drug free. It is reduced from before, but I want to go for the gold and make it drug free.