Home Depot as a labor site

Okay I am wondering if I haven’t been observant, but this weekend I and my hosts went out to the Home Despot on Rhode Island Ave and nearly got mobbed by Latino laborers. When did this HD become a labor site?
I could have sworn that I’ve been to that HD before, in the morning, mid-day but mostly after work, when it first opened and years after and I don’t remember seeing a small crowd of laborer before. Did another labor site close somewhere and the demand switched over to the HD that never seems to have the small specific part you want? Well, it is a metro-accessible site, I guess that’s a plus in its favor. But really, anyone know?

Renovation 2007: Radiators

I am keeping my radiators. I love my radiators.
During this renovation the radiators have been moved around and are no longer sitting right up on the walls. I figured this was an excellent time to remove the several layers of paint on them. So I spent an afternoon stripping the paint off of them with a heat gun and a metal scrapper.
I know the top layer of paint was good old latex paint, as it was the same color of paint that covered the whole house. However, that bottom layer, the layer above the rust colored metal…. I don’t know what the heck that was, and it was a pain to get off. The latex bubbled a little but the paint under it just had to be burned off. Which then made me wonder if taking a flaming torch to the blasted thing would make my job easier. However, the risk of burning down the house, greater.
While I was scraping I was wondering about the history of the radiators in the house. Wondering when were they put in, were they painted then? Were they new or some old used ones the landlord dug up from somewhere? Then who put on the first coat of paint, and did that paint have lead? That’s the question that made me hunt the job site for a facial mask.

Renovation 2007: Inspections & Miss. Cel Lany

Well my contractor called and said that the electrical inspection passed. Yay. And because they can’t do anything until the plumbing inspection there has been a lull in the amount of work they are doing at the house. Meaning, no one is around when say the plumbing inspector drops by. So there was a big red sticker (not orange but red) on the door saying that the plumbing inspector was by and there was no one to let him in. So that holds back the work until sometime next week when the contractor will wait around the house for the city inspector to come by and look at the plumbing.
The plumbing looks, interesting. He’s using plastic or pvc or whatever the heck that is, instead of copper in some spots. I guess that saves me money, considering the price of copper. The radiator lines do have copper.
Once the plumbing inspection goes through then they will begin the dizzying fast paced work of insulating and sticking up drywall. That’s when the walls will seem more real and I get closer to moving back into my house.
****
On the TC front it looks like the grant for the Hanover Civic people and their Truxton Circle confirming beautification project will go through. I say, looks like. Given that the city already calls the area Truxton Circle and the Hanover people need the money and a few of us sent letters in support of the Hanover grant, I think we should be good.
****
In the Shaw history research area I went to look for Shaw, Washington’s premier Black neighborhood : an examination of the origins and development of a Black business movement, 1880-1920 by Michael Fitzpatrick at the MLK and it is lost. It might be misfiled but it wasn’t behind the desk, like it was supposed to be. Nor was it on the shelf in the Washingtonia room. Confronted with this problem, I decided to leave the MLK, hop on the yellow line and go to VA to buy shoes. Cloth flats totally make up for a disappointing research outing.

Blagden Alley alert

|————————————————-|
| Blagden Alley Association |
| |
| See the |
| Washington Post Article |
| Today, concerning |
| The proposed charter school |
| as 1234 Ninth Street |
|————————————————-|

There is an article in the WaPo today
on the proposed charter school
that we have all been tracking for the last few years.

See

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051603207.html

In particular, the article has

Last night’s decision came too late for SAIL, whose board of directors voted two weeks ago to close its upper school, affecting students in grades 8 to 11. SAIL, which also serves students in kindergarten through seventh grade, had to move out of its location on H Street NW, where the older students were.

Because SAIL could not settle on financing for its new facility on Ninth Street NW and the Fletcher-Johnson option was still pending, its board of directors decided
two weeks ago to sell the Ninth Street property and close the upper school.

(The above is also in the deadtree version of today’s WaPo.)

Also, don’t forget the meeting on the 24th with Jack Evans.
–>The start for the meeting will be 7:00, not 7:30

More details in this weekend’s email and newsletter.

Wiki-wiki

Okay, I have finally dug up my Wikipedia log in info and I’m now dangerous. I thought about making changes to the Shaw, DC wiki article but the changes would be so extensive, it frightens me. For example:

Shaw once included the areas of smaller neighborhoods, such as Logan Circle and Truxton Circle, but in recent years those neighborhoods have grown into their own and become separate from Shaw.

It was the RLA and the National Capital Planning Commission that created it, who else is to say what’s in and what’s out. The Post still occasionally refers to parts of Logan as Shaw. Besides I consider myself part of Shaw. I wouldn’t know where to start with that statement.

Shaw grew out of freed slave encampments in the rural outskirts of Washington City. It was named after Civil War Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

There were houses located in the Shaw area prior to Lincoln’s presidency and the Civil War. And then there are those pesky white people, who really don’t fit in this wonderful AfAm History narrative. I don’t doubt the Shaw in question is Col Robert G. Shaw. But the actual naming the neighborhood after him…. I’d have to wipe out the whole dang paragraph and replace with something that reads like. In 19?? (50 something 60 something) the Government agency (RLA? NCPC? Model Cities? I gotta look back and figure out who to blame) carved the Shaw School Urban Renewal Project out of the city’s 2nd District. The Shaw school, a junior high school named after Civil War commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, covered an ??? square acre area running from 15/14th Street on the west, Florida Avenue (and some other little streets above FL) on the north, North Capitol Street on the east and M Street to the south. The Shaw School Urban [whatever] became what is currently called Shaw.

Shaw thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the pre-Harlem center of African-American intellectual and cultural life. Howard Theological Seminary received its first matriculates in 1866; by 1925, Professor Alain Locke was advancing the idea of “The New Negro,” and Langston Hughes was descending from Le Droit Park to hear the “sad songs” of 7th Street. The most famous Shaw native to emerge from this period—sometimes called the Black Renaissance of DC—was Duke Ellington.

The problem with establishing the neighborhood name in the mid 20th Century is referring to the cool stuff that happened before the establishment of the recognized name. Also where the heck was the Howard Theological Seminary? Yes, I could look it up, and I will, maybe around lunchtime. I’m worried about stealing another neighborhood’s history, which is a problem when certain things are close to or straddle the boarders. Also the notables need addresses that actually put them in the neighborhood, so as that we are not stealing another neighborhood’s historical figures.
Oh, and there is not a single solitary thing about the urban renewal. Can’t ignore the urban renewal. And more importantly, the why, the reason for the urban renewal in the first place.
Since as a habit, I tend to work with primary sources and not secondary sources, that makes writing a history of something probably more difficult for me than it really needs to be. Secondary sources, like books on the topic, and there is one out there, sum up what the primary sources (like newspaper articles from the day and eyewitness accounts) say.
PS- Blagden Alley people, the wiki for your area is ripe for the pickin’.
Update: As of 1/2 through my lunch dish I wandered around the net and found that Howard Divinity School was (according to the Divinity School website) in Douglass Hall, which is north of Florida Ave, was never in the Shaw School borders (and why would any part of Howard U be part of the urban renewal plan).

Letter writing campaign to help history

Got a letter in my email box that I’d like to share with you. The Historical Society of Washington operates the archive/library that I find useful in doing neighborhood research so that’s why it is slightly applicable to InShaw. Also they hold some photographs of neighborhood streets, not just the ritzy addresses, but mine. If you are interested in researching your house or your street, I suggest paying them a visit.

BREAKING NEWS: As many of you read in today’s Washington Post, the City Council yesterday voted to wipe out $500,000 in funding promised to HSW in the coming fiscal year. Council members say they do not understand what it is we do here at HSW and why it matters so much.

We hope you can help us by telling D.C. Council why HSW matters to you.

ACTION: Please call or write or email the members who represent you – from your ward AND the at-large members elected citywide – and tell them why HSW matters to you. Council contact information is listed below. If you are willing to share your communications with us, please copy us at info@historydc.org or fax 202.383.1870.

If you have questions or comments for us, please contact me. My direct line is 202.383.1810, and email clement at historydc.org.

D.C. history matters. We need to say this to our Council – we need your help.

Thank you,
Bell Clement

Click Here for full post
All Council mailing addresses are: 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, 20004

Ward 1 – Jim Graham, Suite 105; Phone 202-724-8181; Fax: 202-724-8109; Email: jgraham@dccouncil.us

Ward 2 – Jack Evans, Room 106; Phone: 202-724-8058; Fax: 202-724-8023; Email: jackevans@dccouncil.us

Ward 3 – Mary Cheh, Suite 108; Phone: 202-724-8062; Fax: 202-724-8118; Email: mcheh@dccouncil.us

Ward 4 – Muriel Bowser, Suite 406; Phone: 202-724-8052; Email:Mbowser@dccouncil.us

Ward 5- Harry Thomas, Jr., Suite 107; Phone: 202-724-8028; Fax: 202-724-8076; Email: hthomas@dccouncil.us

Ward 6- Tommy Wells, Suite 408; Phone: 202-724-8072; Fax: 202-724-8054; Email: twells@dccouncil.us

Ward 7- Yvette Alexander, Suite 400; Phone: 202-724-8068; Email: yalexander@dccouncil.us

Ward 8- Marion Barry, Suite 102; Phone: 202-724-8045; Fax: 202-724-8055; Email: mbarry@dccouncil.us

At-Large: Carol Schwartz, Suite 404; Phone: 202-724-8105; Fax: 202-724-8071; Email: schwartzc@dccouncil.us

At-Large: David Catania, Suite 110; Phone: 202-724-7772; Fax: 202-724-8087; Email: dcatania@dccouncil.us

At-Large: Phil Mendelson, Suite 402; Phone: 202-724-8064; Fax: 202-724-8099; Email: pmendelson@dccouncil.us

At-Large: Kwame Brown, Suite 506; Phone: 202-724-8174; Fax: 202-724-8156; Email: kbrown@dccouncil.us

Chair: Vincent Gray, Suite 506; Phone: 202-724-8068; Fax: 202-724-8097; Email: vgray@dccouncil.us

Renovation 2007: Bathroom flooring

I’ve run the idea of using linoleum (the eco-stuff) by my contractor twice. And on the second try he gave a strong ‘no’ and “I’m not putting that in”. I’m not going to battle with him over the bathroom flooring as we have other disagreements I’d rather spend time winning.
Worse comes to worse I have tile options picked out already at Home Depot and Lowe’s, but they aren’t the kind of patterns I have in my head that I want. They are close enough. I know I want a black and white pattern for the floor and a white subway or field tile for the walls.

BACA meeting, TC happy hour & etc

The lousy meeting notes from last week’s BACA meeting are up at the super secret site. Okay user name is ‘thismeeting’ pswd: ‘neverhappened’.
Also check out the TruxtonCircle dot Org discussion board as there is a TC happy hour in the works for June. I expect Eckington people to crash it. It’s okay, we like you NoFlo people anyways.
Oh, other random things that I’m not bothering to link to because the links require 3 extra more steps than I care to take right now:
There were meetings about the Florida Market this week. (See Frozen Tropics and Rebuilding Space)
Arrests in the Montgomery schoolyard and rocks get thrown at Fox5 cameraman. (ANC2C)
The BACA website is not working for me. (DCBACA.ORG)
Big Bear Cafe said somewhere (probably on the Eckington listserv) that their aiming for a June opening. They open, when they open.
Soil samples are the new thing going on with the EC-12 firehouse.
As far as my renovation… waiting on inspections and I’m looking for the perfect tile. If you know where I can get a hold of a nice checkerboard black and white pattern for the bathroom, email me.