Month: October 2009

Brief on BACA meeting

I left at 8.
Mayor Fenty arrived fairly early in the meeting and it was well attended with a long table of students on one side of the room. When I left, Cook School was still the topic and despite the kids presence, residents, and their elected leaders let it be known that the LAYC’ dorm with some classroom’s plan wasn’t wanted. Residents told the mayor that the processes, which he kept focusing on, was flawed and someone failed in the process. The mayor tried to point out that in locations where LAYC was development wasn’t hampered. I don’t know if anyone pointed out that in those areas, the zoning and height restrictions are different and can accommodate the density that would make LAYC’s impact unimportant.
I got a brief report of what happened after I left. Someone questioned the wisdom of having the LAYC students at the meeting where they would be exposed to opposition to their school. Jim Berry was very good at keeping the meeting moving. Yay Jim. And the mayor seemed open to making out community a part of NoMa. ??????!!!!

Miles Preaching

FYI Miles Holloman is in charge of the BACA Youth Services and sent out this announcement:

Dear Friends,

I like to extend an invitation to you to come share a moment in the spirit of Jesus Christ. I will be preaching the 10:45 am morning service at my church, 46 Q st., NW. A neighborhood that can pray together can stay together. I hope you all can make it.

God bless,

Minister Miles Holloman

Ten Days of Truxton- Continuing the Revolutionary War

Day 5. When we last left Tom Truxtun was a privateer having successfully captured ships with the Independence in the Caribbean. In 1777 at the age of 22, Captain Truxtun of the Mars, sailed towards the English Channel to take on British ships. The Mars, other privateers and the Continental Navy were also cruising those waters to pick of British merchant ships. When they overtook a ship, they would then go to the friendly ports of France, and have the items liquidated there.
In January 1778, he returned to America, specifically Boston, then later that year with his wife and child returned to Philadelphia after the British had vacated. In 1779 he captained the Andrew Caldwell, which sadly was captured by the British as it was just in sight of the neutral Dutch island of St. Eustatius. After his capture he was able to get to St. Eustatius and there he made an effort to get back to America. While there he managed to buy another vessel and cargo to take back to Philadelphia. On the way back Truxtun hit what probably was a hurricane, off the coast of the Carolinas. In the storm he lost all of his masts but was able to limp home (while initiating an attack on the way) by creating a jury-mast(?) and a jury-rig. The ship he was on was the Lydia and he renamed it the Independence II after she was fixed. The new name brought better luck in the privateering effort in 1780. Truxtun almost made a million dollars off what he was able to capture, however inflation was ever so increasing as the Continental Congress kept printing money.
In 1781, Truxtun managed to get himself into a fight with a British ship where both parties were hit pretty hard. However, later it was discovered that the ship was an American British loyalist ship out of New York. In 1782, General George Washington praised Truxtun’s service at a dinner, remarking that he had, “been as a regiment to the United States.”

Fenty Scheduled to Show Up @ BACA meeting

Some of the chatter in the beauty shop a few days ago was on how the older women did not like that Fenty. And yes, I admit he’s less than popular but unless the Superman/Batman ticket is running against him, he still has my vote. Mainly because he comes to my hood. On a regular basis. And because he’s not Marion Barry, which face it, for some of us has been a major selling point for Fenty and Williams.
Anyway, the BACA meeting is in the basement of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church and starts sometime about 7. Sadly Heroes starts at 8 (used to be 9) and mixed with my slight souring of local politics lately, I’ll be departing at 8. No I don’t have TIVO, nor a VCR or any recordable do-hicky.
Anyway, since Fenty is showing up I gather a whole gaggle of people will appear, probably Harry Thomas Jr (D-Ward 5) and some cops. On the agenda is the John F. Cook (no ‘e’) School. At the ANC 5C meeting that topic took up a huge amount of time, I expect the same at BACA. However, Jim Berry is a gentle leader who is very aware the church will kick BACA out at 9 (and they do) so time to spend on topics may be limited and when Fenty shows up, cut off.
Lastly for you newbies, BACA is the Bates Area Civic Association, which covers the northern half or essentially ANC 5C01, part of Truxton. The southern half is covered by the Hanover Civic Association, part of ANC 5C02. Hanover isn’t as active on the web as BACA.

Ten Days of Truxtun- What I did During the American Revolution

Day 4 of looking at the man for whom the neighborhood gets its name.
In my last post about Tom Truxtun I mistakenly said he was captain of the Chance, I was wrong. After losing his first ship he captained to the British, he was just a prize lieutenant on the privateering ship the Chance. Not because he lost a ship in the Caribbean but because he got to the investors too late and they had already chosen captains.
So in Spring 1776 he sailed out from Philadelphia on the Chance heading for the Caribbean to stick up British merchant ships. Which by the way was a very profitable enterprise during the Revolutionary War. Investors would get half the spoils, and the rest were divided amongst officers and crew…. once it got through the court system. The Chance did well taking unarmed and out gunned British ships.
In the Summer of 1776 Tom Truxtun teamed up with a New York investor by the name of Issac Sears. Sears made Tom the captain of a 70 ton sloop called the Independence at the age of 21. Apparently the British were holding New York’s bay at the time so he had to sneak his ship out by going down the East River.
Somewhere in southern waters he managed to capture a ship that got separated from its convoy. In capturing that ship he got a hold of the signals the convoy was using. So he joined the convoy, showing all the right signals, blending in. At night he came close to a ship he thought was holding the greatest bounty, took it over and separated it from the convoy. His adventure with the Independence led in the capture of 2 brigs and two ships, though one did get recaptured by the British.
I’ll continue with Tom Truxtun in 1777 as captain of the Mars.

Ten Days of Truxton- Commodore’s Background

Okay day 3.
Who was Thomas Truxtun?
He’s a boy from Long Island, 20 miles from the “town” of New York. Born in February 17, 1755 son of a barrister who was working on his second family. His father had left the first set in Jamaica, West Indies. Tom Truxtun had about two years of formal schooling before he was sent off to sea at the age of 12. Though this reminds me of a Dicken’s plot, his mother had died and his father was working on family #3 and poor Tom gets apprenticed to the Pitt. The Pitt was a Bristol ship and Tom was to be cabin boy. At the age of 16 he was pressed into His Majesty’s Royal Navy (remember America was still a colony) during some international flap between England and Spain. After England and Spain settled peacefully Tom Truxton, went back to merchant seamanship on the London.
When he was 20 years old he became captain of the Charming Polly and married a 15 year old girl named Mary in 1775. He was captured in that same year, due to hostilities between the British and the American Colonies, lost his ship (of which he’d owned ½) when overtaken by the Brits in the Caribbean. When he got back to America he became a privateer as captain of the Chance exacting his revenge on British ships in the Caribbean.
Next- Ten Days of Truxton- What I did During the American Revolution