Under normal circumstances those of us in the room regarding what to JF Cook are disagreeing over the name of the neighborhood (or avoiding the naming fight altogether). However, last we were pretty much united against the idea of a food and clothing distribution and a city wide job training center. And strongly for a police substation, early child development and youth services/recreation.
Sadly, the MM Washington and JF Cook discussions were in separate rooms, despite the fact that the two schools are right next door to each other, so the same set of neighbors are impacted by what happens at either school. Our great BACA leader Jim Berry was there and later went to the next room where I guess he expressed the same background and concerns regarding the neighborhood, and the history of surplussed schools such as Armstrong. So, I have no idea what went on in the next room.
I can say what happened in the Cook room. There were several ideas about what the school could serve as in the interim and long term. The two ideas that got the room riled up came from two individuals who were pushing for services for the homeless and the nearly homeless. Because of the schools’ proximity to S.O.M.E. and the residents’ rocky relationship with the non-profit (and other near by social services) as a neighborhood entity, there was an uproar. It did not help those individuals’ case when they opposed the idea of moving the early child development from Slater to Cook and opposed the police substation idea. There was a lot of people talking over each other and the Planning Office representative looked like he was on the edge of losing his temper with the group.
If you missed this meeting there is a follow up April 10th at I guess the same time 6ish, at McKinley Tech’s Auditorium. But really, as someone mentioned, since these impact the local neighborhood these feedback sessions should be presented at the ANC meetings and to the civic groups.
Month: March 2008
Composting confusion
I’m reading Real Simple at lunch and and glancing at their article on How Green Are You. There is a chart of greenie activities, one being “Compost A Fifth Of Your Garbage” which I do, maybe 1/2 of my garbage. But part of the reasoning, struck me as stupid:
“..Plus, composting food scraps, like apple cores, keeps them out of landfills, where they can break down to release a potent greenhouse gas.”
….so what is that apple core doing in my composter if not breaking down? And I’m sure it is off gassing something, particularly when I haven’t balanced it with the browns. Maybe I’m missing something. Does an apple core become dangerous in a landfill but not so in my backyard composter?
My other problem with the article is there is no mention of mercury in CFLs bulbs. You gotta be careful with them and dispose of them properly when the day comes when they burn out.
While I’m on the topic of compost and gardening. I did not realize how wonderful my soil is until I started hacking away in someone else’s yard. Over the years I’ve been living at my house, I have amended the soil, put down lots of compost and other organic matter and after the rains it is soft and rich. The other yard, a big mass of heavy wet clay.
More on the empty schools
From the Truxton Discussion Forum:
Please see this idea from Jim Berry:
Please consider . . . the idea of making JF Cook School a police substation, the site of office space for ANC 5C and, perhaps, other appropriate community uses, as well as the idea of encouraging an Arts emphasis for the future use of MM Washington, should it eventually close. I think it safe to assume that none of us wants the buildings that now house JF Cook School and MM Washington to go the way of the former John Mercer Langston Elementary School or the former Armstrong Adult Education Center buildings — essentially, abandoned by the city and languishing in our community as an attractive nuisance for drug dealers and users, homeless persons, and the like.As for MM Washington… one possibility might be to turn it into a place for artists — an idea that was floated by the local government and one which we endorsed, I believe, in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. At the time, O Street, N.W. and Hanover Place, N.W. were already budding hubs for this kind of activity. Perhaps we could revisit some of those ideas. Also, we could give artists special consideration to locate their businesses there and require them to hold classes for interested children and adults, in return for that consideration.
I love the idea of artists studios. There are artists studios already in the hood and the more the merrier. What I would love is something linking the artists areas in the TC so we have this spot over in southeast Truxton for art professionals and amateurs. Excellent idea Jim.
As far as the substation at Cook… Sure, as long as the building can share with offices.
Mulch
Over at ANC Kevin’s site is an announcement that free mulch is available near 5th & P. I’ve already grabbed some, and will probably grab some more later this week.
I’m not taking it for my yard, but for the vacant property near me. My street has a reputation to uphold for cute yards. Though I can’t do too much about the occupied houses with people who don’t do anything with their fronts, I can take control over one yard. What I figure I can do is chop up the weeds, lay down some newspaper or thick cardboard, wet it, then cover it with the mulch. I will leave some open spots to plant day lilies and other items that I’m moving out of my own garden.
Maybe if there is mulch left and if I haven’t thrown out my back and if I still have the energy, I might try to talk one of the neighbors into letting me do their yard.
What is it about the bus that attracts the nutters?
When I first got on the bus I just figured the guy was having one of those animated loud conversations with another passenger, that men have. It took about 2 minutes for me to realize that he was talking to himself, as no one answered back to his statements. The rest of the bus ride was ‘concerning’ as he talked about going into hand to hand combat with his enemy (with body movements to illustrate), his enemy being evil in general. Then there was the cursing and insulting of foreigners, but really that paled in comparison to the Kung-Fu moves.
Couldn’t get off that bus fast enough.
What to do about empty schools
There will be a meeting (isn’t there always a meeting about anything around here?) March 20th for Ward 5 from 6-8pm at McKinley Technology High School about reuse of school buildings like JF Cook (as seen in pix); Backus; Taft; Slowe; MM Washington and Young.
If nothing else pops up on my after work calendar (like another meeting for something else or emergency hair appointment) I’ll probably attend. I have some ideas of what I’d like the two closing schools in the TC to be:
Not residential housing- Takes too long, requires too many committees, red tape, and people get all huffy when it’s not affordable or it’s not luxury.
Office Space…. for a non-social services branch of DC govt- I can’t imagine it would take too much work to replace small desks with cubicles. I say non-social services ’cause folks get annoyed with the non-profit social service orgs around here and get into a tizzy when another one pops up (SOME and group houses).
Office Space-non-profits (non-social services)- for the same reasons stated above. However, it would require hoops and other pieces of red tape.
My main interest is finding someone, something that could move into Cooke or MM Washington as soon as the kids clear out. As when the city mothballs these buildings they allow for their slow destruction. The longer they are mothballed the more likely they will look like Langston or Armstrong and become de facto homeless shelters and crack ho bordellos.
NW TC houses 4Sale
Mrs. Gibb’s house is no longer popping up on Redfin so that leaves me to gather that it is under contract. I hope that goes well. The house next to hers (yellow house in picture), 1628 3rd Street, is up for sale for the sweetheart price of $284,900, I wonder what’s wrong with it? It’s advertising itself as a 3 bedroom 1 bath “bayfront Victorian showing age and in need of a redo. Classic floorplan, everything painted, but orig mantels, 2 sets of pocket doors in place.”
The two 4th St NW houses that were on the market, then went off the market, are back on. This time it says that the renters were given right of first refusal. Now even though the renters can’t and don’t want to buy the houses, it’s nice (and legally required) to be asked. The prices for the rentals, still high, and I’ve been told about some ‘issues’ with one of the houses, that would need to be addressed. Knock the price down by $30- $50K as they will both eventually need work.
There is another house in the hood that I really want sold. Ok, not just sold, fixed up but owner occupied. But what can I do as a 3rd party? I’m seriously thinking of making up fliers to try to get that damned house sold, as it is becoming a nuisance.
Capital Market: Sam Wang Produce Inc.
Sam Wang Inc.
300-A Morse St., NE
202 544 5162
No Retail Sales After 3pm
Takes: Cash Only
Description: Sam Wang has a selection of fruits and vegetables. Usual products include lemongrass, garlic, coconuts, avocados, apples, oranges, lemons, limes, onions, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and ginger. Regularly, but not always, you may find bananas, mushrooms, curry leaves, mint, snow peas, green beans, pears, grapes, mangos, shallots, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, thai basil, thai eggplant, squash, bok choy, and cucumbers. Outside of its produce room there are pallets of corn and olive oil. The 3 liter tin of olive oil runs about $11-$12. There are rarely any signs denoting price or item description. Prices are significantly cheaper than that of a regular supermarket. Some items have a short shelf life (lemons, asparagus, etc), so limit yourself to things that last fairly long (coconut, garlic, onions, etc) or things you will use that week.
Extra:When leaving present your receipt to one of the gentlemen at the entrance. If you are not sure who to present it to, walk slowly holding out the receipt.
LINKS:
Capital City Market: The Series
Capital City Market Blog
Frozen Tropic’s posting where Sam Wangs is mentioned, with photos.
Richard Layman’s Mention of Sam Wang with Pictures.
Conversations I need to stop having in mixed company
I was in Georgetown talking with a woman when in the conversation I mentioned my usual neighborhood complaints of guys on the corner, drug dealing, the friendly neighborhood crackhead (formerly crack ho as no one has lately reported her doing business), and vacant houses. She asked “Now where do you live again?” This is when I realized I should have kept my mouth shut, as idle chatter about boyz in the hood and other transitional neighborhood woes don’t play well in other parts of town. I do remember responding to the question with humor.
Useful tool? Good Government?
While on vacation, I did watch the news so yes, I’m aware of certain big national stories. However, I didn’t care. What did catch my eye was something the town of Winter Garden, FL was doing which made me wonder if DC is doing something similar, and if not, why not.
What the City of Winter Garden has is a website showing commercial properties available for lease or sale. Then when you find a property, it gives you the selling price, the lease per sq ft, and the contact agent should you actually want to set up shop. The demographic information is possibly where the city mixes in it’s info by showing what certain (I’m talking very specific like “Medical transcriptionists”) occupations make per hour and annually, where other businesses are in relation to the location you are looking at, and how much money per household and per $000s was spent on things like “Women’s Apparel” in a certain mile radius.
When I heard of that I thought, that would be great for parts of DC that need to attract businesses, like North Cap. However, that would require sharing information with the public, being pro-business, working with private entities, and pro-active. Yet considering that the District can be sloppy with information, anti-small business, and stubborn as a mule against change, I highly doubt the City would provide a tool like Winter Garden’s that would inspire someone to open that small boutique or that dentist’s office, or some other small business by seeing how much particular skilled labor and space will run them.
Another thing, looking at the long list of Winter Garden occupations and their average wages and salaries, got me to thinking about how that may be helpful for job seekers and people trying to become more valuable as workers. So not only would the tool help potential employers but employees as well.