Author: Mari

It is difficult to judge if the corner is getting better or worse since last year. I know it is better than the first year I moved here, but comparing it with 2005, hard. The problem, our friendly neighborhood drug dealers.
There was a crowd of surly teens that used to hang out in front of one house, where other surly teens lived. Sometimes there would be a little back and forth to the corner but they’d go back to their friend’s house. Recently I have noticed that some surly teens have taken to hanging out on the corner, where normally they had not been before. It seems to me that they are trying to make new hang out spots. One neighbor mentioned that they had set up in front of her house, with chairs. She called another resident for neighborhood reinforcements. I haven’t heard of the kids doing it again.
Recently I heard of an old timer confronting the guys on the corner about cleaning up. The corner boys asked the old timer why everyone called them drug dealers. Ha! Let’s see, you hang out on a corner, in a neighborhood where you don’t live, where there has been drug activity before. Gee, I don’t know. It’s one thing when you hang out in front of a friend’s house, it is a whole ‘nother when it is on the corner or in front of someone you don’t know.
And since I’m slightly touching the topic, out neighborhood crack ho has branched out into drug dealing. She doesn’t do the corner, she hangs out in the middle of the block and it has been mentioned by a neighbor that she was spotted distributing something in a tiny little baggy. Is this improvement, because to be a seller you must be able not to smoke up all your inventory. But she’s going to get caught one day, if the cops bother to stop her, because she isn’t as organized as the dealers. The dealers don’t keep the inventory on their person. They hide the drugs in garbage cans, in people’s yards, in other neighborhood nooks and crannies so when they are stopped by the police they don’t have drugs on them.
Is it getting better or worse? Still very hard to tell. I’d like to think as more folks who are less tolerant of drug dealing and anything that looks like drug dealing remain and like minded folks move in, yes, it will get better. More people calling the police, fewer people providing shelter and safe haven for the dealers, more people maintaining their properties so there are fewer places to stash the stashes, those things should make things better.

Shaw has three or more theaters (with actors and all) such as the Studio, the Source, and Warehouse Theaters. Does that make Shaw an artsy neighborhood?
Discuss.

Okay it has been about 40 days since 1617 New Jersey came on the market and it still hasn’t sold (as far as I know) and last night I heard some power tool noise coming from the place a little after 7pm. Keeping in mind the listing says:

Newly renovated, finishing touches being completed (will be completed prior to settlement).

It looks like it will still be a while before the contractor is done with the finishing touches. I’ve noticed (based on the noise factor & the sight of his dog on the deck) he does a little bit of work, here and there but nothing sounds as if he’s picked up the pace. It seems that we’ll be fully in a buyer’s market before he’s done.

Good news it has been reported by our Eckington brethren that Councilman Adrian Fenty (yes still a lovely cup of cocoa) is supporting the plan to allow for the transition of Emery from taking all comers to just serving homeless men with jobs. It seems that someone pointed out that the shelter is not downtown but in a residential neighborhood. And highlighted the notion of sex offenders being housed next door to a facility with a Head Start program. Yet, I’ve seen questions of if there are actually any sex offenders at the Emery shelter, considering they take all sorts it is a strong possibility.
Anyway we know that 3 of the council members are running for mayor, Fenty, Linda Cropp, and the Orange. Y’all know how I feel about Fenty, but he’s not just a pretty face. I admire his energy and his responsiveness to residents. Linda Cropp. If the elections were held today and just based on yard signs, she’d win. There are a lot of red Cropp signs in my hood. She’s got experience and knows the city government. What one can hold against her is that same experience and familiarity with District government. Then there is the Orange. Vincent Orange. A neighbor pointed out that for three years he didn’t even acknowledge the NW section of Ward 5. My problem, it seems that he is out of touch with reality and residents. When he started his campaign I was wondering who among the residents is supporting this guy as a viable candidate? Where is his base? Businesses, contractors, can only vote with their dollars but what about those with votes that really count? When listening to people (voters) I hear support for Cropp, Fenty and Marie Johns.
Oh and then there is Marie Johns. Former telephone exec. I am worried about her lack of elected office experience. I have a preference for folks who have had to deal with consituents, some who have opposing needs.
Michael Brown? He seems like a nice guy. He’s got all the right connections. I just don’t feel any excitement.
She’s not running but I’ve seen a pattern, so I ask the Republicans of Washington, DC to please, please, please don’t force Councilwoman Carol Schwartz to run for mayor, again. It just seems cruel. Find someone else. Don’t put her through this again, and again. Come on there must be someone in your ranks who can run instead.
Speaking of running again, and again, there is Faith. Chick with a horn. You can usually count on her to run, ever hopeful that this time, this time she’ll have a chance. With so many on the ballot, hey you never know.

Okay I read the following from the Logan Circle listserv and got angry. Now before you read let me tell you what was going through my mind. There are Christians and there are “Church Folk”. “Church Folk” are the agents of the Devil undermining the work of the Almighty. They call themselves christians but harbor within them enough hate, spite, uncharitablity towards their fellow man and self-centeredness to share.

Is the John Wesley AME Zion Church at 14th and Corcoran one of the churches that is part of the discussion with the ad hoc committee on parking?
I just had a really bizarre experience this morning when my car was blocked in by double parkers on 14th street. After about 40 minutes and asking 5 different people in the church vestibule to please move the cars double parked and blocking me in, it was pretty clear that no one was going to move until services were over.
The white Hyundai DC plate BW0830 that was double parked directly beside me never did move.
Luckily another neighbor who was parked behind me (legally) came by. He was not blocked in, and was able to get out. As he was trying to get out, amazingly, another church goer, A gold Mercedes, MD license MNV622 pulled up to double park next to him to block him in. I tried to explain that he was leaving and was trying to get out and the passenger in the Mercedes started yelling that this is her church and she’ll park “wherever she wants” The Mercedes driver finally backed up enough so the legally parked car behind me could continue to try and get out.
After helping direct the guy behind me out so he didn’t bump the double parked white Hyundai beside me, this churchgoer in the Mercedes slid into the just vacated space behind me. Luckily a very nice elderly came out and moved her double parked Kia Sportage which was in front of the double parked Hyundai and I managed to squeeze out.
The irony is that even though I explained that I was trying to get home from the gym in time to change because I was doing the reading today at my own church, the level of hostility from the churchgoers was pretty palpable.
I did call both 311 then 911 when the Mercedes was so aggressive, but no one from the police came, and there were no warning notices on the double parked cars. Looking around I could see legal spaces available, and just across the street they could have instead double parked in front of the construction at 14th and Q without blocking anyone in. They also had some sort of attendant standing there the whole time at the parking lot they use at 14th and Corcoran. He identified himself as a retired pastor of the church and would do nothing to try and get the cars moved.
Can someone remind me of the status of enforcement of parking laws and whether this particular church is subject to whatever compromise was worked out?