Month: March 2004

Brief Notes from PSA 312 Community Coalition Meeting 3/10/2004

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 21:09:10 -0500

Neighbors,

I attended the PSA 312 Community Coalition Meeting last night. In

brief,

Lt. Dennis gave us an overview of the “Operation Fight Back” plans that

she

is implementing in the PSA, along with DPW, DCRA, DOT and other members

of

the Ward Five Neighborhood Services Programs Core Team.

A lot of attention was focussed on the persistent problem of “open air”

drug

activity along Q Street, N.W. and I reiterated my request for the more

frequent use of the Drug Free Zone strategy to assist in the MPD’s

ongoing

efforts to abate this problem.

The need to supplement the efforts of the Office of Property Management

to

keep the building that formerly housed the Armstrong Adult Education

Center

secure and free from the destruction of vandals, is also a goal that I

asked

Lt. Dennis to give some special priority to.

With respect to the ever-increasing sound of gun shots in the

neighborhood,

Lt. Dennis advises that we contact the police every tme we think that

we

hear gun shots so that the volume of calls that we place, can bump our

concerns up to a higher priority for the police who cover our area. I

know

that the coming of the summer months will further complicate this

situation

(what with the constant sound of fire crackers, cherry bombs, and other

minor explosive devices that we begin to hear from May through August).

However, we must continue to call to make our record as well as to

justiy

our need for more police coverage for our area.

Finally, it seems that Lt. Dennis is having a measure of success in

getting

the city to come by to pick up abandoned cars; hence, please email her

when

you discover abandoned vehicles on our blocks. And, please include in

that

email as much relevant informtation about the color, make, model, year

and

current location of the abandoned vehicle as you can compile. Lt.

Dennis’

email address is ADENNIS@MPDC.ORG.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

Neighbors,

Please help us to spread the word concerning the next two meetings of

ANC

5C.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 5C

POST OFFICE BOX 77761

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20013

TELEPHONE: (202) 832-1965/1966

www.anc5c.org

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICES

Monthly Meeting

Issues to be discussed include:

North Capitol Main Streets

New York Avenue Corridor Study

MPD Public Safety Report(s)

Where: Franklin P. Nash

United Methodist Church

2001 Lincoln Road, N.E

When: Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.

__________________

Monthly Forum

Where: St. George’s Episcopal Church

2nd and U Streets, N.W.

When: Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.

Maybe the City does care?

Got a call yesterday from DPW. They asked about the car and said they’ll have someone come out and look at the grey car. Blue, car is blue, everyone says it is grey but I think it is blue.

Getting home, I saw a bright yellow sticker on the windshield. A sign maybe that the car will go away. Maybe. I’m not optimistic about city services.

We’ll see.

Broken Window Syndrome

Okay not like I haven’t tried.

There is a car.

An abandoned car. It has been sitting on the corner since Christmas. Now good citizen that I am, have alert City to said car. City tickets car in January. Car still there. City tickets car in February. Car still there. Now it had been sitting there not really bothering anyone so no big rush to get it moved.

Then they broke the window. I’m blaming the neighborhood teens for this. I have no proof but I’m blaming them anyways. After 2 months of sitting, not bothering anyone, they broke the passenger side window. Why? The car was unlocked. So that meant I had to increase efforts to get car moved.

The next week they (teens) broke the windshield trying to smash it in. I’m wondering at what point will the car be set on fire.

Now people will pass by and see the car and think that we don’t care about the neighborhood because we let an abandoned car sit on the road. We do care, the City apparently doesn’t.

For today only

Neighbors,

This is to remind you that the DC Department of Health’s Mobil Unit

will be located in the parking lot of Mt. Bethel Baptist Church, 1st Street and

Rhode Island Avenue, N.W., between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00

p.m., on Tuesday, March 9, 2004, to test DC residents for possible excessive

levels of lead in their blood. The populations that will be primarily

focussed upon during this effort are (1) expectant mothers and (2) children

under six years of age. However, I am told that no one who presents themselves

for testing will be turned away.

A second opportunity to get your blood tested for lead will take place

this coming Friday, March 12, 2004, also between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and

4:00 p.m., at the Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Road, N.E.

Again, expectant mothers and small children are being targeted for this

effort; and, no one is suppose to be turned away who presents himself/herself

for testing.

If you have the slightest concern about your level of exposure to lead,

I hope you will find the time to get your blood tested during one of the

abovementioned time periods.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

Diversity out the ying-yang

I’ve been advertising somewhat for a roommate. My problem, diversity. I’m comfy with it, actually it benifits me. However potential roommates, problem. I don’t think a lot of people are comfortable with economic diversity. Can you stand to live next door to the poor? What about the working class, people who dump your garbage and clean your toilets at work, the guy who fixes the thing-a-ma-jig, the mover guys? Can you tolerate them kicking back after a weeks worth of work or coming back home after some fairly odd non-business hours? Can you also deal with the fact that your new neighbors who look like you are replacing those working class families? One day the woman who works at the bank as a teller with her 2 kids, next a single guy who is in charge of the IT department who went to Brown U. Or what about the gay couple who work for a non-profit that bought the house once owned by a retiree housing her kids and grandkids?

Now mix.

I have been encountering interviewees that I swear have only lived in strictly middle class neighborhoods, thinking of diversity only in terms of race or religion. They can deal with their own economic kind but anything that whiffs of poor and indescreet (they’re poor and they don’t keep it to themselves) screems ‘unsafe’ & ‘high crime’. Maybe that is true. Then there is the replacement factor, the new residents vs the old.

My block is diverse out the ying yang. My neighbor has decided to figure out who else is gay on the block and point them out (isn’t there some sort of rule against that? Anyway current count 5 gay men, and 1 suspected lesbian). There are the black families who have been on the block since forever, the one Latino family, the buppies (Black yuppies, I think I’m one), the Section 8s, the working class family, the working class-business man (works w/ his hands, gets paid WELL), professionals, various non-blacks, seniors, kids, just-outta college, Jews, Catholics, the 7th Day Adventist folks and what have you.

Diversity. Out the ying yang.

Neighbors,

I received a call from Ward Five Council Member VIncent Orange’s office

today, informing me that Council Member Jim Graham is going to hold a

public

hearing regarding the “Disposition of Square 553, Lot 844, also know as

the

Armstrong Adult Educaton Center, Approval Resolution of 2003.” As it

was

explained to me, the purpose of the hearing is to receive guidance as

to

whether Armstrong should be declared a surplus property in the

District’s

inventory. If it is declared a surplus property, then the District of

Columbia Government would be free to sell it, presumably, to the

highest

bidder or to dispose of it in some other way.

I am told that the hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 9, 2004,

in

Room 123 of the John WIlson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,

commencing at 1:00 p.m. If you would like to sign up to testify at the

hearing or would like to submit a written statement concerning your

point of

view on the matter, the contact person for making those arrangements is

Steven Hernández, Legislative Counsel Sub-Committee on Human Rights,

Asian-PI and Latino Affairs, and Property Management; Office of Ward

One

Councilmember Jim Graham, 202-724-8107.

Although the specific issue before the Sub-Committee concerns the

determination as to whether the city should give Armstrong a surplus

designation, I am certain that Mr. Graham would also be interested in

hearing the many different opinions that neighborhood residents have

with

respect to its next use, i.e., from luxury condos to charter school to

community center.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

MONTHLY Meeting Notice

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Invited Guests Include Representatives from the Following:

Third District, Metropolitan Police Department

Department of PublicWorks

North Capitol Healthy Families Collaborative

Monday, March 1, 2004

Mount Sinai Baptist Church

3rd and Q Streets, N.W.

Rooms 1 and 2

7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

For more information regarding the meeting and/or the Association,

contact

J. Berry at (202) 387-8520

WHAT!!!

Got the tax assessment. Someone is smoking some serious crack downtown. My neighbors got it worse, the city says their house is worth over 1/2 a million dollars. Nah! We got crack heads 1 block up. Even with the new kitchen the house isn’t worth that much.

I tell you, serious crack being smoked.