Yesterday I wandered over to 3rd Street NW to admire the history. Please note this house, the chain link fence, the history! Some folks know the significance of this house, which currently is a private home from all indications. So please do not harass the occupants. Up until a few days ago I had passed the house on a few occasions without noting its importance. Then one day I was cleaning off my desk at work and there was this brochure for the National Archives’ Regional Archives- Southeast Region in Morrow, GA. As objects of interest they had on the brochure national registration cards for notables who at the time probably weren’t that notable when they filled out the card. Of the five cards there are the names and then current addresses for Huey Long, Jr., George Herman Ruth, James E. Carter, and Harry Houdini. And also some guy named Ed who lived on 3rd Street.
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The house was one of several homes occupied by Edward Kennedy Ellington, also known as Duke Ellington. He was 19 when living at the house pictured.
Day: June 26, 2009
How not to run a green campaign
I walked home from work, and found DDOE’s Green.DC trash strewn all on my street’s sidewalk. Little door hangers like you see pictured, weren’t even on the fence. They were on the ground in front of the gate like someone didn’t even try. Later, walking around the neighborhood, I saw more of these things on other fences, on doorsteps, on security door gates, but not on any actual doors, as the items are designed to go on. More than often I saw them on the sidewalk, in the gutter, in treeboxes and in the streets.
And to date this witnessing, I had a continuous soundtrack of Micheal Jackson music playing from various houses along my route, as the King of Pop had just died a few hours ago. I swear yesterday/this morning someone (can’t remember who, PoP?) blogged about the “Green” trash littering the neighborhoods and someone from the DC government saying that was a mistake and they’d clean it up.
Maybe I could suggest to DC Green to just stop. You stop now, and don’t distribute anymore at this moment, you’ve cut down on trash by prevention. Then I suggest oh, an hour or two in training distributors on the finer points of the door notice. Note that it is supposed to go on a door. Not a fence. Not a gate. But a door. More specifically, a door handle. A door handle is the thing people use to open a door. I recommend the guy who distributes the Chinese carryout, which managed to make it to my mailbox. Though not correct, better than the sidewalk in front of my house.
Maybe the city can lead by example by not trashing my hood like a bunch of thuggy teenagers with a finished bag of Rap Snacks.