Month: June 2005

From Jim Berry

Neighbors,

At Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson is hosting a Town Hall meeting on
tomorrow evening in order to receive feedback from the Ward Five community
on the oerall perfomance of the Metropolitan Police Department as well
as on the quality of services that we routinely receive from them (i.e., positive
or otherwise).

This meeting will take place at the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, 605
Rhode Island Avenue, NE, in the Bishop Alfred A. Owens Family Life Center,
commencing at 7:00 p.m. For more information regarding tomorrow’s program
or the work of the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on the
Judiciary, please contact Councilmember Mendelson’s office at (202) 724-8064
or you may email him at PMendelson@dccouncil.us.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

PUBLIC NOTICE

Monthly Meeting

Invited guests include representatives from the following:

Metropolitan Police Department

DC Is Electric

Eric T. May
Vice President, Urban Realty Advisors, LLC & Thomas Gnecco
Sr. Project Manager, James G. Davis Construction Co. re. An update on development and construction issues pertaining to the Old Gage School, 2nd and Elm Sts., NW

Where: Edgewood Terrace Senior Building
635 Edgewood Street, NE, 9th Floor
(Crawford Hall)
When: Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.

Well I still believe that my block will win the Flower Power 2005 best block category because we rock.
Last year the Bates Area Civic Association had a Flower Power contest where neighbors nominated yards, and back yards and blocks for recognition of all the hard work people are putting in to make their yard and neighborhood beautiful with greenery. Well they are going have Flower Power again, but this time it will be a garden tour where people vote on their favorites.
So think of yards and gardens in the Bates Area section of Truxton (anything above Dunbar) and nominate them, or yourself. Last year nomination forms went to Mary Ann Wilmner and Jim Berry, I don’t know if she’s (Mary Ann) taking nominations right now. But when they do take them, I know of a dozen yards on my street and Richardson Pl. that I’ll nominate.
Also the garden club is looking for volunteers to be guides for the garden tour which may take place in late July. Guides would serve the purpose of:
A. Making sure people don’t get lost
B. Providing safety in numbers
C. Answering questions about the area
If you want to be a guide or volunteer for something else I guess you can contact Mary Ann or Scott or Matt via the TruxtonCircle.org discussion board or email them.

Check the Truxton Circle website for the links in regards to the things and docs passed out at the BACA meeting last night.
One of the links is Art Slater’s Straw Suryvey of Small Area Plan Businesses, Amenities (http://www.truxtoncircle.org/doclib/strawsurvey.pdf) which you can give to Art, email him talader@verizon.net but I think it should be stalader@verizon.net . Just fill up to 15 businesses and rate them.

I got to the meeting late because I was waiting for a phone call that did not come.
I saw the police cruiser but apparently missed the police person(s) that came with it. So I have no clue if the shooting death of the Howard student over on the 1700 blk of 3rd street was covered or what other citizen crime complaint was covered.
I did get there in time to hear Josh Burch (?) of Shaw EcoVillage and he had some news. For one they will be moving from the corner of 6th and R Sts. to 1416 North Capitol, yes, that includes the bike shop. Also he is looking to see if any group would be interested in sponsoring or hosting a rainbarrel workshop. If you attend a rainbarrel workshop you will get a FREE rainbarrel. I have one still and that sucker is big. They have 8 more workshops left, so please contact them if you want to host or attend.
Next topic was ReStore DC. ReStore DC offers technical assistance to any group. Art Slater passed out a survey form to list the kinds of businesses or community amenities (dog park) we’d like to see AND that we would support. [Editorial- I’m underlining the last one because a business is a business and not a not profit charity and if they cannot make money in our neighborhood then we would have done a great disservice to them if we brought them. Also with support, means we would support other impacts as in if a drive thru Starbucks ever plopped down on North Cap would we bitch loudly about the traffic coming off the main road and on to the residential streets?] Also Art has been in contact with Clear Channel about the property they own on the corner of NJ and P Street where they have the billboards. Apparently one letter got them to mow the corner. Art is also the Land Use, Planning and Economic Development Committee Chair for the BACA (correct me if I am wrong) mentioned a comprehensive plan, which is a document regarding land use in the city. Art has been talking with the Office of Planning, about what, my notes don’t say. But the exciting thing my notes do say is that THE FIREHOUSE ON NORTH CAPITOL WILL BE UP FOR BID. I think it is the one in Eckington by Quincy and R Sts. The Firehouse is a wonderful piece of property and would make the best luxury lofty condos evah! Or really cool office space or a restaurant with wait staff.
The next speaker was Thomas Gore, from Renewal in Education which is over at 45 P Street. His group has been there for 18 years with 2 Head Start classes and before and after school programming. They take in kids as early as 7am and end the day around 7 or 8pm. His group has been trying to purchase the property from the city but to no avail. Now the city is putting the property up for bid and there are several developers looking into it and Mr. Gore brought one from United Development (I looked for more info for UD and all I could find was PMA which shares the same address). The UD developer passed out a proposed drawing of what he wanted to do with the property that the Slater and Langston Schools sit on. He wants to build a 8-9 story building on top of what I think is now the playground, and it will be moderate income (60% AMI) senior housing. There was a spirited discussion about senior housing and the one woman peanut gallery, the burgundy dyed island accented misanthrope, had a lot to say against him…. of course. She questioned the source of his funding, was it government funding? Tax incentives from the IRS and private equity would fund the proposed project. Then she and others got into why senior housing, why not luxury housing. This is where the developer could have said more than what he said with some numbers. He said that the rents in the area don’t support the kind of rents for luxury housing, and as one who has tried to rent out things here, they don’t. Homeowners can wait for amenities because our homes are investments, renters on a 1 year lease want the here and now. What’s here right now does not support luxury rental housing.
At this point because of the spectacle of disrespect and evil emitting from the unpleasant woman I stopped taking notes.
But I still have the meeting agenda. Mary Ann Wilmer spoke about Flower Power 2005 and there will be a meeting tonight at Scott and Matt’s house, check the Truxtoncircle.org site for meeting time and place, for the garden club to talk about how to do it. This year it may be a garden tour where tickets are sold and people walk around and judge the gardens and treeboxes. Then Linda Perkins, Director of Constituent Services for the Orange spoke. Orange. Contracts. Government Contracts. Orange. Then I can’t remember any thing else. Oh, the Brown Report from Kwame Brown’s office was passed out at some point. All hail the Brown. Jim Berry said something, what, I don’t remember. We adjourned and ate Mary Ann’s Grand Marnier soaked pound cake and staggered home…..

Where I killed 7 slugs in my backyard. I asSALTed them first and when they took too long to die, particularly the really big ones, I squished them. Let them be a warning to all other slugs in my backyard.

On a rainy Thursday night Bc, formerly known as Suburban Friend, was driving me home (the other trick to not having a car, having friends with cars) when he turned the corner and I started being silly. “Are they there?” I asked meaning the friendly neighborhood drug dealers. “Are they there?” I repeated. “Yes, they are there,” I exclaimed upon seeing them, in the rain and the dark. “Well,” Bc remarked, “you can’t call them lazy.”
Now they have been there a lot more often then usual. It didn’t help that the chairs they dragged from somewhere didn’t move. When I was tempted early Sunday morning to remove the chairs, ’cause it’s on public property, one of them was out there, at 8AM. 8AM. Sunday! Who on earth buys crack at 8AM on Sunday? Actually I had seen them out there earlier and earlier and at times and weather conditions I did not expect to see them. Which makes me wonder if they are trying to meet some quota or something. Bc reminded me that they do work on commission.
Maybe I am forgetting their Summer patterns but they do seem to be out on the corner more often than usual. This does make me wonder if they are putting in longer hours because a change in the drug economy. That might be good news. If they are forced to make up for a shrinking client base then the economic conditions of the neighborhood should make the area less attractive for drug dealing because it means more work. Throw on the changes in the neighborhood that include fewer new clients, more police because of neighbors complaining, and possibly time lost in jail or avoiding cops, fewer houses they can seek cover in, and the racial changes that make blending in harder, then it is possible that the area becomes less attractive for drug dealing. However, it is not like they can move in to another area without some costs and headaches, so they might stay put until the costs of operating on that block, outweigh the benefits.
So my neighbors keep up the pressure. Call the cops. Make street furniture like those plastic chairs and milk crates “disappear”. Hang out on your alley side balconies, and wave “hi” to all who look up as they pass by. Walk your dog. Black people walk with pride. And white people, be white.

Darned rain.
Makin’ my plants grow.
I’ve got so much dang lettuce I can’t keep up with it. I’m really going to try to eat enough to keep the mixed greens from crowding each other out.
I had to give away a nice bunch of radishes. A- I can’t eat a lot of them & B- they are a companion plant to the beans. I also grow them because when you wash off the dirt they are so fricken purdy.
Maybe this a precursor to when the tomatoes, beans and squash mature. But I really like tomatoes. Squash I can give or take. Depends on the day. Beans. Well I can dry those.
Speaking of squash those leaves are HUGE! They are taking up 1/2 the back yard!
Anyway when you see me around give me a heads up if you are willing to take my veggie overflow so I know where to dump my extras should this be a good year.

It has been an odd week and I wonder what new surprises the Post shall throw my way. But the week is nearly over, so hopefully nothing.
Monday, Memorial Day, I went out dancing to see some friends as I hadn’t gone out dancing at the ballroom for a while. So I danced with some people I hadn’t seen in a while including Rev. Arnold Taylor. The next day I get the Tuesday Post and who is smack dab on the front page? Arnold. In his Army uniform from his participation in, I guess, the Memorial Day Parade and festivities. So I’m being silly pointing out to my co-workers, that I danced with the guy on the cover of the Post. I thought it was amazing. Someone I knew. On the front page. And they didn’t knock over a liquor store. Amazing. However as I type this I just remembered I did dance with Fritz Hahn, who at the time was an entertainment writer for the Post, at least once, but really, not the same thing.
On a sadder note, a woman I interned under Mary Wolfskill died May 23rd and her obit appeared in Wednesday’s Metro section. She got a nice write up and a photo that showed the joyous woman many of us in the library and manuscripts field knew and loved. Reading more about her life I discovered she volunteered with my 2nd church’s Grate Patrol in Foggy Bottom. I called up Bc, who is very involved with the church, and asked if he knew Mary. Everybody knew Mary and asked if I wanted to attend her 7am memorial mass. I was told of her death and funeral after the fact by a friend who does research at the LC, so I was very willing to get to work late for Mary. At the memorial mass I ran into people I didn’t expect to see. People from where I worked, used to work, people from my main church, as well as those from St. Paul’s.
I have heard it said before that DC is a small town. Typically I never really believed it. But this week, because of the Washington Post, DC seems a bit smaller, where we all are just a few degrees of separated from each other.

Okay no secret that my councilman wants to be the next unpopular mayor of Washington, DC (face it after 3 months we will hate your guts, whomever is mayor). I believe he has no chance compared to his fellow council members with greater name recognition for other things than trying to run for mayor. Regardless, I wish him the best of luck.
But I’m writing to complain about the Ward 5 website. You go to it and Orange takes up like 1/2 the page. The page seems to be more of a tribute to Orange than about Ward 5. I’m not into joining the cult of the Orange (which I imagine may include hanging out at the Rhode Island metro wearing saffron sarongs… wait wrong group…) I just want to know about getting the dealers off my street. Also it is a little out of date.
Compare it with the Ward 8, site and like Barry, who is a major personality loved and loathed by many, has a very snazzy site. Barry only takes up about 1/8th of the opening page.
Anyways, I’m just sayin’….

Yesterday I puttered around in the backyard and then giving myself permission to rest I just sat and admired the greenery, the flowering plants, and the fullness of the pots. For the moment I took in the peace and quiet that was the back yard, with the absence of dealers ripping through the alley, or contractors banging away or the sounds of sirens. I pondered how well and lucky I am to have this little patch of greenery, a yard in which to create this garden space, and thought:

1. I am grateful everything grew and for the food thus far harvested.

2. I am grateful for front and back yards.

3. I am grateful for my crumbly pile of bricks I call home.

4. I am grateful for the DC Fiance Housing Authority that put me through hell to get a really great loan.

5. I am grateful for the wonderful and helpful neighbors who live on my block.