Month: June 2008

Getting all nosey in 2Cs business

First I’d like to say that there is love and happiness over here in ANC 5C. We have been blessed with great leadership as well as good and plain old leadership. So I sit comfortably outside the boundaries of ANC 2C at home.
I was praising the Lord upon hearing the news that someone is running for the ANC 2C-03, the seat currently held by 2C Chair Doris Brooks. Brooks was elected chair with the vote of sorta outgoing Mr. L. Thorpe of 2C02. However, despite electoral defeat, Mr. Thorpe assists Ms. Brooks as the “parliamentarian” an office with powers that, I believe no other ANC has. But that’s a whole ‘nother long sad story.
ANC 2C03 amazingly covers a huge swath of real estate that includes all the Gallery Place Penn Quarter loveliness that is 7th and the odd side of 9th Street. I’m wondering if the boundaries were drawn up prior to all the condos, because that’s a lotta people to be represented by someone so….. lacking.
Ms. Jessica Lanza is planning to challenge Ms. Brooks. She is having a fundraiser June 7 from 6pm to 10pm at the Residences at Gallery Place, 777 7th Street NW, 3rd floor. Individual contributions are limited to $25. I got $25 in my budget, and since I haven’t heard of any other challengers, she’s got my support. Gotta remove Mr. Thorpe’s puppet.
Speaking of Mr. Thorpe, I noticed a flier on the sidewalk today from his hi-jacked ECCA (another long sad story) organization. And should you not have received this flier in your gate or mailbox I will retype his letter to Shaw residents, caps & all por tu:

DEAR SHAW RESIDENTS: ANC 2C-02 SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT HAS EXPERIENCED AN INCREASE IN CAR ACCIDENTS AT THE CORNER OF 5TH & “QUE,” STREETS, NW OVER A NEARLY TWO YEAR PERIOD. THE ECCA- EAST CENTRAL CIVIC ASSOCIATION WILL ADDRESS THIS ISSUE AT OUR MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2008 MEETING TO BE HELD AT THE THIRD BAPTIST CHURCH LOCATED AT 5TH & “QUE,” STREETS, NW.
ALSO ANC 2C-02, ONCE THE SAFEST SINGLE MEMBER DISTRICT OF ALL FOUR COMMISSIONS WHEN I SERVED AS IT’S REPRESENTATIVE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE WORST REGARDING CRIME. CHARLES WALKER A RESIDENT OF ANC 2C-02 WAS SEVERLY ROBBED AND BEATEN LAST WEEK at 6TH AND QUE STREETS, A SIGN THAT CRIM AND DRUG DEALING ARE NOT PRIORITIES FOR THE CURRENT ANC COMMISSIONER SERVING ANC 2C-02. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE 1500 BLOCK OF 7TH STREET IN FRONT OF THE LAUNDROMAT, THE LOWEST PRICE GAS STATION LOCATED AT NEW JERSEY & RHODE ISLAND AVE OR 5TH & N.

I’m not going to bother with the signature which has a bunch of letters that mean nothing to me. I got only to words for that letter. Pig poop. It looks like someone is going to try to get his seat back. Guess puppeteering gets tiring after a while.

People watching

This is mainly a response to those who say, all people in DC dress a certain way, plus something I noticed about the Gallery Place 3-6pm crowd.
Maybe it is where you live and work and who you actually notice versus the people you sort of ignore thing. If I went by what people just around where I work, a good number wear whatever the uniform supply company put out (security, maintenance, and Downtown BID personnel), followed by what can be called business causal which is a huge range, followed by people in suits, and then casual (shorts/jeans and tee-shirts, or what I wear on Fridays to work).
Now let me speak of the Gallery Place crowd. Despite also being called Chinatown, there is a noticeable lack of majority of persons of Asian decent mulling around. Sometimes what’s going on at the Verizon Center determines what crowds are seen along 7th and H. If I see a lot of suburban harried looking parents with children I guess the Wiggles or whatever big ticket children’s entertainment phenom is in town. Crowds of people in over-sized Caps jerseys, hockey game. But there is another set of people who I must of not noticed before, young African American men and women dressing in a highly conscious urban style.
Not really paying attention, I just probably lumped these folks in with the rowdy after school crowd of kids who look like the kids from my neighborhood. But then, after waiting so many times for the bus I noticed groups of late-teens, twenty-somethings with the big sunglasses and a detailed attention to coordinating their whole look. I noticed the newness and crispness of some of the clothes, ie a total lack of wrinkles. I tend to prefer a more conservative and preppy look. Yet, as I’m noticing this subset of the crowd it was like a little light going off, where, “oh, I see what you’re doing. That goes, with that, which accentuates that other thing.”
Anyone else notice them too?

Gardening success. gardening failure

First, failure. Though I can see the pea vines from the peas I planted, I’m announcing my guerrilla gardening effort a failure. It’s okay. Lessons were learned. For one, though I decided to make just a small plot for the garden, it was a little too deep into the property. When the weeds got up to a certain size I really couldn’t go back there. And didn’t want to wade through the grass and not see what my feet were stepping on. Second, I thought I could deal with the glass, the trash, the bricks and the rocks. Nope. A hard ground wasn’t helping either. Lastly, the biggest problem was me. I would ignore the plot for days or even weeks at a time. Oh well, nothing ventured…
Where I have so far succeeded is my own yard. I was just able to harvest just enough purslane to make a personal salad. In the other salad greens area, I have been able to cut a handful of clippings and have them for lunch at work the next day. The end is nigh for the spring salads. Tuesday, I should go around to my pea plants and snip off the pea pods and shell the peas, then blanch the peas and freeze the peas. Some of the peas are doing what I needed them to do, help the soil then die when I’m ready to put in tomato plants. Some are a little to happy and productive to kill just yet.