Day: February 8, 2006

Where was I? Please read Part 1 before Part 2.
Ms. Francine P Edmonds spoke and said that it is the RESIDENTS who bring the complaints so that the city knows what to do.
Now before I get into the rep from North Capitol Collaborative, I need to say that there have been some very negative concerns from some residents about them moving their office to North Capitol Street from Sursum Corda.
Mr. Tony Dugger from the North Capitol Collaborative (NCC) spoke. I think rather,[statement removed to clarify, once again read part 1 before part 2].
First tried to explain that there are 7 organizations thoughout the city. They are funded from the DC Govt Child Family services. Their mission is to prevent child neglect and abuse. At this point I believe Mr. Dugger has come to BACA before as this is not the first time someone has mentioned ‘child neglect and abuse.’ Their vision is to build healthy families. When needed they assist the CORE team (just know it is when various DC agencies come together) process, if the problem involves families.
NCC operates in Wards 1, 2, 5 &6. Their borders are around 2nd and D ST (south), Washington Hospital Center(north), Bread for the City (west) and 4th & Rhode Island/ McKinley High School (east).
NCC provides family services, and to do that they must have a licensed social worker.
1. NCC does not serve families outside of its geographic service borders.
2. NCC provides emergency services
3. Something about case management.
NCC partners with the Marines for their Toys for Tots, so it is NCC that one would go to for Christmas gifts for underprivileged children in this neighborhood.
NCC already has one office at 113 Q Street in the North West (forgot the rest of the name) apartment complex.
ANC Jim Berry asked a few questions of Mr. Dugger (these are not exact quotes, but close enough)
Berry: Question. Is the service area too large given the number of staff?
Dugger: ….without the NCC people will go unserviced.
Berry: Given the demographic changes, is there still a need?
Dugger: …look at the change, but there are still families that still need services.
Jim: When people hear Sursum Corda there is fear. Are you bringing Sursum Corda problems with you?
Dugger: … People do not move out of their neighborhoods for services…..
Mary Anne gave some wonderful testimony on her past dealings with NCC and how she got a grant (from them? in cooperation with them?) and ran a program out of St. George’s Episcopal (yea!) for parents and children. She then asked, “Do you have programs that service young adults?”
Mr. Dugger’s answer ran along the lines of yes, they have events such as an All Father’s Conference and a job fair. These are one time events and not something that require regular visits.
OK part 3, later on in the week.

From Karl

Well the Board met yesterday on the Mondie matter and was about to render a decision (most likely in the negative from the comments they were all making) when Mr. Mondie jumped up and withdrew his application. He cannot (if he does at all) reapply for a zoning ruling on the subject Property for 90 days — guess we’ll see what is going to happen.

Okay I wonder what he’s going to do this time? Cause really, we would like him to build something, just not an apartment building or something that will come back and bite us in the butt years down the road. Three Single Family homes, brick, 18 feet wide, the more detached from each other the better, those would sell, in the upper range.
Also, yea! Karl.

This time I had something to write with so…. yea! Unfortunately, I had dinner with wine and whoda thought one little glass of Charles Shaw (lovingly known as 2 buck Chuck) would make me a little out of it. So that’s my excuse. Also I wrote down a lot so I’m dividing these notes into 2 or 3 parts. This is part 1.

Meeting began at 7pm, with our great leader Jim Berry in charge. I noticed some new people who I’ve never seen before come out, I guess they are new residents. It is always good to see new faces.
The first speaker was Ms. Francine P. Edmonds, Neighborhood Services Coordinator for Ward 5. Her position was created by the Mayor’s office (yea mayor!) to deal with multi-agency problems. She said that something, as I didn’t write down what was the something, at 1405 1st St NW was closed down. She stressed that it takes time to build a case and though it may seem that the city isn’t doing anything, they are doing something. They are building a case. An illegal transfer station on Lincoln Road was shut down. She talked about an unpaved alley between Eckington and Q. The problem with things like that is the budget for DDOT is made a year in advance, so if the money is not already earmarked for it, or if there isn’t any extra money laying around paving problems are not tackled as quickly as residents would like. Something that was done quickly was that Hub Cap Tom’s (?) on Florida Avenue was shut down in 2 days. Apparently Tom’s was harboring rats. Rats bad. If there were other violations I didn’t write those down. The house at 13 R St NE which is vacant is on the market. It must be sold in 6 months. If not sold it has to get fixed up in 3 months.
Ms. Edmonds said that the first job is to educate THEN later issue citations and fines.
She would also like you to bring in your trash cans from the alley at night (after garbage pick up I presume). If you have an elderly neighbor who can’t bring in their can, do it for them. Trash is supposed to be in a trash receptacle, preferably those green cans. NOT just in a bag. Cats. Rats. & Dogs get into them and strew the trash all over and then someone complains about the trash being strewn all over the neighborhood. If your neighbor is not putting out the trash in the can like they are supposed to call the city to report “improper storage of trash.”
Someone in the group had a trash question about trash not getting picked up because the can is too heavy. I didn’t write down the answer.
Feb 14th ??? (ward 5?) is having an information fair at the Joseph Cole Rec Center from 12-3pm. April 8th, from 2-4 they(?) will host a listserv training just for civic leaders. Ms. Edmonds acknowledged that Truxton Circle had a pretty good listserv going on, but this is for other leaders in Ward 5 who don’t. At some point, I don’t remember, but BACA is supposed to be getting it’s own website with its own domain. The purpose is to put out static information. I didn’t really catch the name of the domain. On March 4th, Ward 5 will be having a Landlord Tenant Roundtable for landlords and tenants, mainly landlords.
To issue a complaint with the city call 202 727 1000 or you can go on to the DC.GOV website and file a complaint or request city services. It is important that you have the complaint number. If the request is not completed in a timely manner, then contact the Ward 5 services coordinator at 202 671 0726.
The next speaker was Mr. Tony Dugger of the North Capitol Collaborative which is currently on the 1400 block of North Capitol. I will have that in part 2 of the meeting notes.