Day: April 5, 2006

I don’t talk about my dance hobby here much as most of it happens outside of the District. However this weekend, there will be dancing in the city. With a lot of swing dancers visiting our fair city from other areas. Sunday April 9th is Swing Dance Day, as a part of Jazz Appreciation month. But from the 7th to the 9th is the DC Lindy Exchange. For DCLX I’m just going to the free events like the scheduled dancing on Freedom Plaza and the dance at the American History Musuem. Besides registration closed up and I’m still healing. Last year we danced in Dupont Circle and I see that there is no Dupont dancing this year.

Well lesson learned. Stretch before engaging in strenuous garden activity. My legs still hurt because I was digging and hacking away at the dirt this weekend.

I have plans for my front yard. And I have a theme. When I tell people of my theme, they smile and say, “Mari you’re so funny.” But I’m serious. I want an edible front yard. This means getting rid of the flower that starts with a “C” and comes back again and again. It may mean getting rid of the mums too. It definitely means getting rid of the grass. What little grass is left as weeds have taken over.
I will have tomatoes. They take up a lot of space but they aren’t pretty. Yummy, but not pretty. They vined all along the fence last year, even along the fence facing the sidewalk. No one bothered my tomatoes, and they were so nice and leafy. Maybe too leafy. This year, less leaf more fruit.
I’m trying to get peas going. I had a few last year. They produce a small pretty flower and a very tasty pea. This year seems rough going as the peas I planted in the front don’t seem all that willing to grow. Could be because I used old seed, or it hasn’t been all that rainy, or because I haven’t fertilized the front yard yet.
To replace the grass I’m going to go with creeping thyme (any thyme really) and mint. I’ve had thyme growing between some of the spaces in my walkway and I believe peppermint can survive some light traffic. Other possible ground covers are oregano, pennyroyal, catnip (maybe), and sweet woodruff. I haven’t had much luck with sweet woodruff (used in May wine). I have plenty of thyme from last year, that I can transfer to the yard. We’ll see. Hopefully when I go to cut these things down there’ll be a sweet smell!
Something new I’m trying is Swiss Chard. It is a very colorful vegetable. I’ve never eaten it before. So this is a veggie I’m growing for looks.
And not to make this post too long, I’m planning on growing other things as well. Squash, beans, maybe spinach, blueberries, basil, and possibly strawberries. I don’t know how it will all turn out. The only thing I can do is hope for the best.

Today’s Washington Post Metro section covers crack pipe making paraphernalia. One little interesting tid bit thrown in was the idea that residents could challenge the liquor licenses of business that sell the little pipes and the blunts. Well what about those marts like the quickie mart and the gas station that don’t have such licenses?

THIS WILL BE DISCUSSED AT THE NEXT ANC MEETING, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5,
2006 – 7 PM – THE WASHINGTON PLAZA HOTEL

Dear LCCA Members, My Neighbors and Friends:

I’m sorry to have to share this news with you, but I’m hoping you
will agree to support me in my current predicament:

I’m facing a very serious situation with the builder next door, one
that risks putting me out of business, if they’re allowed to go
through with the sidewalk and street closures they say they have
obtained permits and ANC approval for .

I found out Friday (03/31) morning from Holladay Corp., builders of
the “Matrix” site, that they have a permit to close off the
sidewalk, a curb and a traffic lane (i.e. sidewalk, plus 2 of 3 car
lanes) for the next 2-3 months NONSTOP, in order to carry out heavy
duty work on their construction site.

Every time they block the sidewalk and the street off to operate
their crane or larger machinery (which they have done for 1-2 days
at a time in the past months), my sales take a nosedive, because all
pedestrian and car traffic to the store are severely impeded.

The prospect of making this a permanent situation for 2-3 months,
without any passage for pedestrians, even when Holladay is not
working there (evenings and weekends) means my business will be in
jeopardy. I have asked Holladay to at least work with me and other
businesses/residents by re-opening a passage for pedestrians on
evenings and weekends, and they are not cooperating.

There are precedents on this very street, in fact on this very block
btw. Q and P Streets, with other builders providing at least a
jersey-barrier protected passage for pedestrians, a passage that was
available at all times, not just on their off-time. Holladay tells
me they can’t do the same on their site. I find this hard to
believe, considerig what I (and most of us in the neighborhood) have
witnessed at other construction sites here over the past two years.

I have called the City government to see if this is an acceptable
situation and an inspector is coming on Monday (April 3) to take a
closer look at their permit and what exactly Holladay is doing. To
the City government, I’ve also mentioned that with 2 of 3 traffic
lanes blocked and no access to the sidewalk, people are getting on &
off the bus (there’s a bus stop right outside my bookstore, SE
corner of 14th & Q) in the leftmost traffic lane of the street, as
the buses can’t pull into the stop. The lady I spoke to at the
Office of Infrastructure Oversight said this closure sounds wrong.
We shall see what, if anything, gives.

In the meantime, I wanted to share this alarm with you.

I am working with the wonderful folks at the ANC and LCCA to get
Holladay to redress their current plans. It seems Holladay Corp. may
not have been as forthcoming with this dire situation to the ANC
(when they applied for ANC approval of the closures and how this
would be executed). The attitude I encountered talking to Holladay
this past Friday is very different from the spirit of cooperation
promised to me and to the ANC.

I’m sorry to be breaking this news to you, but my bookstore is
truthfully facing a threat to its continued viability.

I hope that I can alleviate the situation. If I have to move on to
signature-collection or petitions, I hope I can turn to you for
support.

I’m trying my best to get to a solution without having to bother all
of my wonderful neighbors and supporters. I’m hoping that inspectors
and public officials can see the need for a more moderate approach
to these closures. This is not just a question of the bookstore’s
viability, it’s also a question of public safety and public access
that affects all of us as we move between Q and P Streets: with our
heavy shopping bags, strolling our pets, navigating our strollers,
etc..

If my current efforts don’t work, you will hear from me, as I will
have to ask for public support of my demands.

Thank you,

– Candida Mannozzi –

Candida’s World of Books, LLC
1541 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
tel. (202) 667-4811
fax.(202) 667-4813
www.candidasworldofbooks.com
Tue-Sat 10-10, Sun noon-8
closed Mon

Neighbors,

A local resident is available to volunteer their time and talents for 90 to 120 minutes per evening, on one weekday evening per week, to an interested and motivated high school student in the community (preferably, one who attends Dunbar, if possible). The volunteer has taught both math and verbal SAT preparatory classes at the high school level, and has identified their ability to teach humanities, i.e., literature and writing, as particular strengths. Arrangements could be made to hold the weekly sessions at the Perry School Community Services Center on an evening of mutual agreement between the parties. This would seem to be a good opportunity for one who is preparing to take his/her SAT’s or for one who could benefit from some supplemental assistance in the areas of math, reading and writing, respectively.

If you know of an interested and motivated student, please have his or her parent contact me and I will facilitate the initial contact between the parent, the student and the volunteer.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

(202) 387-8520