Day: March 8, 2005

Note: the summary of the BACA meeting is at the main In Shaw site.
I stopped by the U Street Starbucks for coffee grounds for the compost. Normally, they are pretty good, but I did get the deer in the headlights look from the kid behind the counter. I mention the Grounds for Your Grounds program. Deer. Headlights. Then I have to wait for someone who has been there at least 4 months to catch this thrilling conversation and explain to their co-worker that I want the espresso pods in the little drawer and take my little plastic bag and dump them in. I go away happy and dump the coffee grounds in my compost bin out in the backyard.
The compost bin mind you is a 30 gallon garbage can with holes drilled in the top and bottom. Nothing fancy. I’m thinking of moving to stacked storage bins next year, so I can have phases of compost. The current bin works well, I just gotta sift out the undecomposed matter.
The compost worms have been doing a great job eating my garbage. I throw in shredded receipts, dryer lint, egg shells, salad and other veggies that have gone bad in the fridge, dead plants from the previous year, discarded parts of fruits and veggies, used tea bags and coffee grounds. The worms eat it and I get compost. Life seems to have been good for the worms as they have been having little baby worms. At first I thought the pale babies were maggots, but looking closer I noticed they were longer and skinnier than maggots.
When I went to dump the coffee in, I stirred up the compost, bringing some adult and a lot of baby worms to the surface and put the espresso in. They went crazy. The baby worms were in constant movement, dancing around like crazy, surrounded by coffee grounds. I got worried and wondered if their little baby worm bodies could not take the caffeine still in the grounds….. Oh well.
Also as a garden thing The Garden District is back open.

The BACA (Bates Area Civic Association) meeting was held last night in the basement of Mt Sinai Baptist Church at about 7pm. The meeting was led by Mr. Jim Berry.

First speaker was Mr. Tashir Lee bringing up his project BZA Case No. 17298 regarding 1507 4th Street, NW. Mr. Lee and the architectural firm he has hired, Studio 27, would like to turn the 4 unit apartment Lee has purchased into a 6 unit condo. He needs 4 variances and is seeking approval from the community. Concern was expressed about the look of the design which is more modern and urban than the neighboring Victorian buildings. Also there were questions about parking as the building has 2 on street allowances and with the 3rd level Lee would like to add, would need to be excused from having to create a 3rd parking spot.

Second speakers were Mr. Tommy Wells, the District 3 Representative of the DC Board of education and Ms. Kathleen Patterson, Councilmember and Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation. They spoke about the conditions of the DC school buildings, maintenance vs capital improvements and the budget. Apparently there needs to be greater political will on the part of the community to improve the interiors of the school buildings.

Councilmember Orange popped by quickly to make a few announcements and left.

Mr. Wendell Butler representing the Community Academy Public Charter School, which is going into the Armstrong building at 1st and P, threw out many national statistics about schools before speaking about the Armstrong school building they bought in 2004. It has taken them 4 months to clean out the debris and junk left by the homeless and criminal element and now the building is secure. If they are lucky the building might open for school September 2006 or 2007. There is a waiting list (if I heard right).
Meeting continued past 9:15 when I left to get a late dinner.