Day: November 16, 2005

Right now I and my Shiloh attending family members are playing a game of Thanksgiving chicken as none of us have stepped up to host Turkey Day at our houses so there hasn’t been a lot of communication. If there has been communication, it has been very brief.
What has gotten through the shorter than normal phone calls was that Shiloh believes that it has won in it’s battle against Queen of Sheba in the liquor license fight. I was told that the congregation was told that because Queen of Sheba is less than 400 feet away from the school it cannot serve liquor so Shiloh’s work is done.
That announcement has been rattling around in my head for a few days and it doesn’t make sense as there is a liquor store…. ah, never mind.

From Jim
Neighbors,

1. Mondie Proposal: As we strategized on last Wednesday, Mr. Mondie saw the wisdom of deferring his plans to proceed with the Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing on December 13, 2005; hence, we withdrew his request for support from ANC 5C at tonight’s meeting. I believe that Mr. Mondie wants to develop a plan for the properties on Richardson Place, NW that is acceptable to his neighbors. As soon as possible, he wants to meet with community residents to present his revised plans for the properties and from the plans he showed me tonight, I could see several of the recommendations made to him at the BACA meeting reflected in this work.

Unfortunately, I will be on travel (for my real job, i.e., the one that enables me to pay my mortgage) from 11/16/2005 until 11/23/2005. So, I will be back in touch when I return to set up the follow-up meeting with Mr. Mondie and his representative.

2. Group Home Initiative: The next meeting of those who are interested in working on this initiative is tomorrow night, i.e., Wednesday, November 16, 2005, from 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., at Ben’s Chili Bowl, 13th and U Streets, NW, in the rear of the building. The agenda will include an update on the status of the new group homes that are rumored for our area, as well as a report on the feedback that was received from Council Member Fenty in response to a letter that was written to him about these rumored facilities.

As we begin to grapple with this problem, we are conducting an inventory of all group homes, boarding houses, nuisance properties, vacant properties, that presently exist within our area. Therefore, any one who is aware of or strongly suspects that there is a group home, a boarding house, a nuisance property or a vacant property on his/her block, please email that specific address to me as soon as possible. Once we get an accurate sense of what we actually have out there, then we can develop an effective strategy to deal with those that are currently presenting problems to us, as well as defend against new, unwanted facilities that might be contemplated for our neighborhood.

3. Citizen Summit IV: While a competing professional obligation will not allow me to be with you on Saturday, I strongly encourage every resident of the community who is able, to be present. This is the ideal opportunity to get our public safety, zoning, alcoholic beverage control, sanitation, recreation and other major concerns on the proverbial table of policy-makers from the DC Government. As you well know, our needs are many and if we are to get them attended to or adequately met in the near future, we must show up and participate in forums of this kind in large numbers. This will be the first summit that I have missed and I really feel bad about it. Nevertheless, I know that there are those among you who will take good notes and will fill me in on the details when I return.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C