Month: May 2006

Jimbo has finally posted his tirade about flippers and men who gut houses so they have something to brag about at JRs. What? You can actually hold a conversation in JRs? It’s loud and crowded.
Personally, I got no problem with folks who gut the house, if the house is in need of gutting. Actually, there should be a point system to house gutting stories. 10 points for simply gutting it. 50 points if you found something between the walls (in the ceiling, etc) that was from the time the house was built and you had to send it to a restorer to fix it. 60 points if you kept it in place and worked around it. 5 points if it was over budget. It is always overbudget. 100 points if it was on or under budget and on time. 20 points if you and your partner did the work yourself. 40 points if you did it solo. 30 points if crackheads kept breaking in and stealing stuff. 100 pity points if your contractor runs out on you AND/OR puts a lein on your property. 1 point for each day you spent covered in some layer of dust. ….and so on.

The condo on the corner of 5th and Q had an open house. A small band of us went to check it out. There are two large condos for sale. The first one covering the basement and the 1st floor is going for $920K and the second covering the 2nd through 4th floors for $1.2million. Yes, over a million dollars.
If you happen to have a mill laying about buy the top floor condo and let us be friends. I want to come over and hang out on your top deck. I’m a really nice person and so are you. Really. And not just saying this because you are a millionaire.
“Amazing”, “Impressive” and “Wow” were words I used often when we wandered through the still not finished building. The bottom unit had it’s exceptionally large rooms downstairs. It’s fine for people who don’t spend a lot of time in their bedrooms gazing out the window. The bathrooms. The half bath had this funky glassy bubbly tile that I just loved. The showers were big and luxurious. The upper unit was even better, far better, than the lower unit and the lower unit was impressive on it’s own. One of the bathrooms in the upper unit was so big, I think it was the size of my bedroom. Heck the bedroom was so big it was the size of my whole 1st floor. The kitchen was big and amazing with a stove that could feed a dozen or more people and a living area that could host maybe 50-75 people?
But the view on the top level…. The view. First thing I saw was the top of the Capitol dome. Would have seen the whole dome were it not for some trees. Also could see the National Cathedral, sort of, a few branches were a problem. But with out tree sight problems we could see Howard University Founder’s Hall, HU Hospital, McKinley Tech, the Basilica, Kenilworth Gardens, and a couple other buildings we couldn’t positively identify (is that Children’s Hospital? What’s that steeple to?).
I had a conversation with Ly who is in Real Estate about a property somewhere in Shaw selling for about a million. She mentioned how it really was a luxury building. The problem is that many slap the word “luxury” on many condos and houses, when it really means the expensive stuff from Home Depot or Expo or Lowes. This place, I couldn’t say where you would get many of the things in it. It is truly a special place.
IT pointed out one little fault of the place. The exterior doesn’t match the interior. The exterior is modern. The interior is traditional with lots of custom wood things. I didn’t care.
Okay. I think this is a rarity. It’s Spring so I’ll probably see more Real Estate Agents on Crackhouses, but this one is not one of them.

Get out there and garden. It is a lovely day.

One of the neighbors threw a fantastic Cinco de Mayo party where a few neighbors and their kids showed up. 10 points for the baby who slept through it all. She was so quiet (ie asleep) that it was easy to forget that, oh yeah, there is a baby in the corner. But 100 points to the hostess for planning and doing all that she does, it is great having a neighborly party person on your block.
Once again it was an opportunity for those who have not seen K&M’s renovation to see how one could add a lot of space to these teeny rowhouses. They did a wonderful job, as for 2 years they lived in a construction zone. Their neighbor saw how much space the renovation added that she also had work done on hers, with the help of M & our neighborhood handiman Lem, who was also there. Of course, it didn’t take 2 years. It helps to move out for renovations.
So a lot of us neighbors there, comparing notes and getting to know each other. The problem when you live on one end of the block, you really don’t know the people on the other end real well. Also depends on if you are out in your yard, doing any sort of renovations, and the like, presenting opportunities to interact with your neighbors. Lucky, there are several of us on the block that are geared towards beautifying our yards and treeboxes so several of us are out.
Now you too could join this happy band of citizens, once you get a certain real estate agent off crack. There is a house on the block, 1620 4th St NW (MLS DC5580335)up for sale. On the small house side of the block for $420K. $350K maybe, but $420K? I’ve been inside that house. Yeah, it was renovated in 2003. Yeah. If you want more information you are going to have to email me.
Yes, the block is not like Dupont or Foggy Bottom (where $420K for a tiny townhouse would make sense) or any other tony neighborhood. But the negatives are offset by many of the positives. And some of those positives are the other people who inhabit your block.

Duffy’s Irish Restaurant and Pub says they’ll be open on the 12th and Big Bear Cafe also says they’ll open their doors (just for an art viewing) next week as well. Duffy’s is across the street from the 9:30 Club and I can’t wait to share a plate of fish and chips with Jimbo. Also, when Big Bear does open I would like to check them out and see if it is a place I’d want to hang out and maybe it could host a Truxton Circle meetup.

At the Zoning Commission meeting last night the Zoning Commission had voted to strike section 410 in it’s entirely. I think. I’m actually confused now. According to the agenda they were voting to strike all references of R-4 districts from the 410 Zoning Regulations. But it seemed to me that they voted to get rid of the whole thing because there was something else in the regulations that better suited R-5 zones, where 410 was just confusing.
Now the people who will benefit most from this are the residents of Square 507 fighting Wilbur Mondie. By striking R-4 from 410 or 410 altogether, the loophole for Mondie to build skinny little 14 ft wide townhomes on the land is gone. Yay.
I must say it was the best public city government meeting I’ve ever attended. I was the only member of the public there. Even though the Zoning board started 15 minutes late, the meeting lasted about 5 minutes and all was good.

I have a fuzzy picture somewhere but twice this week I have spotted a mounted policeman on my street. First time was Wednesday? Not sure, but there were two cops on horses. The sight of them delighted the kids. The second time, yesterday, one guy galloping down the street as an SUV raced beside and behind him. I wasn’t sure what the heck that was all about. The guys on the corner? They only shifted a bit during the police horse sightings, moving into the shady shadows. A few minutes later they would move completely.

I’m back.
At some point today I need to call my sister and wish her and my brother-in-law, T. Feliz Cinco de Mayo. My brother in law T. is Mexican and before he married my sister, was incredibly illegal. He’s kinda new to the family so my feelings about him and his immigration status haven’t fully gelled. All the protests and chatter about immigration has gotten me to think about something a bit more local, the friendly drug dealers on the corner.
Some folks feel sorry for the guys on the corner. They can’t find work, some say. It’s hard for them because they are disadvantaged, others say. Huh? I’d like to think that even a substandard American education and having English as a first language trumps the education and English skills of the average guy crossing the Rio Grande. Of course, some of the guys crossing the border have some marketable skills like carpentry and other building trade skills, which for one reason or another aren’t taught widely here in the US. Tracking? Is that what it is called when you gear a kid towards shop class and not the academic classes? Do they still teach business in high school? Are there still any shop classes where students learn to fix a car? Or has this gone the way of the dodo because of testing and liability insurance?
One could argue that the immigrants are taking jobs away from the guys on the corner by taking lower pay. Oh, last I heard a drug dealing foot soldier makes less than minimum wage on the corner. So I suspect it may be something else.
Anyway. Happy 5th of May, where we celebrate the kicking of French butt by Mexican boots, or we celebrate margaritas and nachos, one of the two. Be you native born American, Mexican, Salvadorian, or what ever, enjoy the day.

If you’re curious to read more about policing strategies, Google is your friend.

Alternatively, you could be lazy and just read this or read about Philadelphia’s strategies (at bottom of page). Philly identified all open air markets and put two uniformed officers at each site.

I know there’s going to be a lot of discussion over the coming days about what are the appropriate steps to take. I think the community should focus on how to get the political and MPD leaders to take responsibility for making a serious and noticeable change. We need to focus on individuals’ accountability. Press Orange on this and make him make it a campaign issue. Don’t let him talk about budget, there are a lot of reasons why his increase in budget is bad idea or just a red herring…. It’s throwing good money after bad, it requires too long to get new officers and programs up to speed and, most simply, more money just isn’t necessary to make arrests.

My suggestion is to get Councilmember Orange, Chief Ramsey and the PSA Lt’s in a room and have them all commit to (by signing) a short-term and a long-term plan with metrics that they can be measured to. People do what gets measured and reported.

Other ideas?

So I just got back from the emergency crime meeting. Interesting hour and a half. It’s tragic that two individuals were shot last night at 1st & O St and Bates area. That has to be said upfront. It’s proof that though the Eastern edge of Shaw continues improve, there are still quality of life and crime issues that exist in the area that need to come to a hard stop, immediately.

Couple of thoughts. Vincent Orange was there and sort of took a MC role of the meeting. I’ve said it before on here, but I, Truxtonian, really do not like the man… at least as a public official. I think he does a very poor job with the responsibility bestowed upon him and he has done far less for the ward than should be expected of an elected representative. If he had put half the effort in helping his constituents fight crime as he has in his cheap political theatrics while running for mayor… well, there’d be less crime in his ward. I could go on about him, and how I think he cheapened the discussion with his calculated jabs against Cropp and other Councilmembers, but I saw this today and I think it sums up the tragedy of Vincent Orange quite nicely. Read Orange’s Long Shot Candidacy halfway down the page.

Ok, on to the meeting. If you missed the meeting, here’s my take on it. It may vary from what others heard or saw. The officers there, Lt Welch and Lt Wright, are very eager to make changes in the area. They picked up PSA 501 in February (I believe), so they haven’t had responsibility for the area for very long. Regardless, the residents in attendance did not seem very interested in cutting them much slack. Most of the residents’ heartfelt comments seemed to revolve around why the 1st St area has had problems with crime for the past 10+ years. There were emotional appeals and most people brought up fair points, to be sure. However, I’m not sure if the two Lieutenants are the right targets for some of the outrage. Maybe they are, I don’t know. One memorable moment was when ANC Brannum stood up and said that the dispatchers intentionally treat calls originating in this area differently than calls originating from other areas west of the park– implying the MPD does not respond to dispatches here the same as they do in more affluent areas because of who lives here.

Anyways, Lt Welch’s message was this: “Make us accountable to you.” So, whenever you call in a situation/issue, get the dispatcher’s number and record the time of your call. Write down the number of the scout car that is dispatched (it’s on roof, back bumper and sides of car). Follow up with Lt Welch, personally, if you are dissatisfied with the MPD’s service and provide enough information so that he can look up the officer that was dispatched, check the recording of the phone call with dispatch, and determine where the MPD failed the public. Lt Welch talked about some major progress that they continue to make. I think he mentioned four arrests for carrying weapons in the Bates/1st St area in the past week or so. He also said something about arresting an individual with something like 14 bags of heroin on him in the Hanover area within the past day or two.

Finally, the MPD mentioned that they have a pretty good idea of where a lot of the crime/chaos on 1st street is coming from. They identified a specific number of homes (3) that they believe are responsible for a large share of the crime. They are working hard to find a way to change the status quo. Time will tell how successful they will be.

Someone else there will probably have more info, another take on the meeting or something of more value than my quick impressions.