Month: November 2007

Radio One, back to the drawing board

In the Washington Post Business section page D4, “Council Rejects Plan To Give Radio One Land.” The land in question is the empty lot on top of the S Street entrance to the Shaw/Howard metro stop. Well, it’s been taking a forever and a half for this project to get off the ground, in the meanwhile, why not turn it into a dog park until the details and whatnot have been ironed out?

Corruption ain’t cute, even with a Hermes Scarf

I remember a couple conversations with some relocated New Orleans citizens who seemed to take a light hearted attitude regarding the corruption in their city/state. This was before the student activity fund and the tax office embezzlement news, and I state then as I say now, corruption will destroy the republic, so it ain’t cute.
For one, I already pay enough in taxes, why on earth would I agree to higher taxes when I believe it is not only supporting schools, housing, roads, and someone’s lunchtime shopping spree? There are many, many things that the government does that requires tax money but until there is a mass purging of the system I won’t trust it. Calls for more funding will ring hallow until the city cleans house.
I’m not calling on Fenty to do the cleaning, I’m calling on all agency heads, make it part of making city services more open and accessible to the people. Unfortunately it is part of the city culture to obscure itself in cries of low staffing, outdated systems that make clarity impossible, and general incompetence.

Cary Silverman throws hat in Ward 2 ring

I’m not sure if this is news as it has been mentioned on the MVS listserv/blog, but Cary Silverman, ANC 2F and Logan Circle Community Association prez is going to challenge Jack Evans for the the Ward 2 Council seat.
I know the citizenry over on this end of the ward is a bit unhappy with Jack Evans for a variety of reasons. However, I’m not sure if voters on the other end of the ward are just as annoyed with him as well. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Silverman can appeal to the people of Dupont, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom and other points north and west.

Rowhouse lines

Looking out my back window I noticed something odd about one of the houses. And it is a weird little thing that I wondered about regarding my house, and other houses around. As these are townhouses, all connected and everything, is there like an easement or something that allows part of your house to be attached to your neighbors.
To better illustrate here’s the deal: Houses A has a closed in rear porch thing that leans (possibly due to age) into what looks to be House B’s side of the property line. What’s on House B’s side from House A are the gutters, roof overhang, and flashing. There is no adjoining structure like a porch on B’s side. Another example, my house, from the front it would appear that the fence and the paint line show where one house ends and the other begins. Nope. Discovered this when making a vent for the basement, the hole wound up on the other side of the fence in the neighbor’s yard. Similar problem in the back. Where the kitchen chimneys meet is a little less than a foot on the other side of the fence and the neighbor’s AC/heat pump thing sits right on the fence.
Now back in 1870-whatever when the landlord who owned my side of the block had these houses built, the exact line of where one house began and the other ended probably didn’t matter much. He owned the whole row of near cookie-cutter houses. But in time they got sold off bits and pieces to other landlords and until the late 20th century these units were almost always rental housing, so those with the responsibility to maintain and repair, didn’t have to live with the results.
The not-exactly cut and dry line of this side mine this side yours can create problems when it comes to fences, additions, weed trees, repairs, etc when the relationship you have with the owner of the neighboring house is not the best.

Blagden Alley Meeting

|————————————–|
| Blagden Alley |
| and |
| Naylor Court Association |
| |
| Monthly Meeting |
| |
| THURSDAY, November 15, 2007 |
| ^^^^^^^^^^^ |
| NOTE! |
| 7:30-9:00 pm |
| Bob and Sherri’s |
| 945 O Street, NW |
|————————————–|

(Note: the meeting in November is one week earlier than the fourth
Thursday
this year so as not to pre-empt Thanksgiving.)

The newsletter is at

http://www.pro-messenger.com/Blagden/Monthly%20Pages/2007%20Monthly%20Pages/BAN_2007_11_P1.html

Topics:
1. Police.
2. Discussion/approval of bylaws, Part 2.
Corrections/Modifications from Last meeting.
3. Update on 917 M Street.

Off topic: Freedom of Speech?

If you can’t lash out at some political SPAM as part of your first amendment right to the freedom of expression, especially when you belong to the 5th column, then truly the terrorists have won.
Washington Post music critic got some SPAM from the staff of…. well guess:

Must we hear about it every time this Crack Addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new — and typically half-witted — political grandstanding? I’d be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose. Sincerely, Tim Page.

I don’t completely disagree but the moral side of me tells me that I shouldn’t wish for nor be unmoved by an overdose. Not wishing for anyones death. But really, if we can’t call our elected leaders nasty names then the democracy is in grave danger. And if you can’t blast spammers, including political spammers who apparently didn’t blind copy (I’m taking a guess here if Page hit ‘reply all’ then it should have just gone to the sender and those cc’d), then I don’t know what.
Yes, Page shouldn’t have sent the reply from his work email, where he received the offending email, there he was in the wrong. But is it a firing offense? Heck naw. An offense deserving leave? Admin. or leave without pay? Admin. with pay, for a few days, with flowers and a gift basket, maybe.
There is more here too, apparently Mr. Barry’s staff is dismissive regarding bloggers.

Ebay alert: Hopkin’s Map of Shaw

FYI over on Ebay there is a reproduction of the 1887 Hopkin’s map for the area south of Q, west of New Jersey and east of 9th up for sale for $90. You could also get a repro from the Library of Congress and maybe the National Archives, if you happen to know what map you want (I suggest going down into the basement of the Madison building @ the LC/ Archives II-College Park to find out and make sure), so don’t go overboard with the bidding.

…..and an original 1887 Hopkin’s map currently going for $156.00. It has a little bit of the TC, and a good amount of what looks to be Kevin Chappel’s ANC area.

Before there was the Shaw School Urban Renewal Area there was NW pt 2

So I have sworn I’ve seen this storefront church window before, I just can’t remember where. Driving me nuts now.
Anyway, where did I leave off? 1957. Italians.
Next is your favorite and mine, Shiloh Baptist church at 9th & P, then led by Rev. Earl L. Harrison who lived at 1743 Webster St NW, which I believe is in the Crestwood neighborhood. It had a membership of 7200 people, 1,200-1,500 attending worship services any given Sunday, with 3% living in the urban renewal area and 95% elsewhere in DC. There are no stats regarding occupational makeup. In 1957 they had a scouting program made up of participants from the church and the surrounding community, and a Baptist Training Union. It was founded in 1863 at 17th and L Streets and moved to its current location in 1924.
Bible Way Church of Out Lord Jesus Christ is not in Shaw but I find it very interesting. It is one the other side of NY Ave at 1130 New Jersey Ave NW. Their pastor, Rev. Smallwood E. Williams lived at 1328 Montello Ave NE. They had a total membership of 2000 people, and the average attendance exceeded the membership with 2200 (3,200 for all three services), it seems they had a lot of visitors and I gather a lot of non-tithers. Thirty percent lived in the renewal area and 69% scattered throughout the rest of rest of DC. This was a working class church, and that’s why I find it so interesting as 90% of the working people attending were ‘unskilled manual’, with 2% professional, 3% white collar, and another 3% skilled manual labor. They had no mortgage and seemed to have owned a good chunk of land down there.
Last in my review is a church that was a storefront that is now a steeple church and that is Mt. Sinai Baptist Church at 1615 3rd St NW, then led then by Rev. Charles Hayes of 47 M St. NW. It had a membership of 225 people with an average worship service attendance of 125. A insignificant number of members, two percent, lived in the renewal area, 96% were in the rest of DC. Occupationally it was 55% unskilled manual, 40% white collar, and 2% professional. They had a mortgage of $2K. Listed under “Future Expansion Program” they desired to build a new church on the present site. If it became necessary to move (because of the renewal) they wanted to stay in this central area so it would be accessible to all members.
SUMMARY
Shaw had a lot of churches then, has a lot of churches now. There were Italians running around the TC on Sunday. And Marie doesn’t like to spend a lot of time typing.