Author: Mari

Warning about Lockboxes

Lockboxes are those things you see outside of houses for sale, it is a lock and a box in one. Well this weekend someone broke the lockbox that was on the fence of a neighbor of mine. The neighbor is having work done and the place is a construction zone and there aren’t any major appliances in there. But someone posing as the ‘drywall guy’ was poking around, then later the lockbox was missing, the house unlocked. The lockbox was found later in a treebox, sans keys. From the looks of the lockbox it appears the guy took a vise grip and squeezed it popping the lock. The thief ran off with a couple of saws and other tools.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 12, 2010 8:45 AM.

Trust, a fragile thing

The only reason why I’m mentioning this article from today’s Washington Post, “The Court of Vanished Dreams,” is because the court in question is in the TC. According to the article a homeless fellow had a good idea, create a basketball league, involve area teens to keep them out of trouble. Problem was James Russell, the homeless fellow who started it, bailed on the teens and the other homeless men who were to be coaches and timekeepers, taking $1,000 with him. Being charitable, one could say Russell couldn’t battle his own demons which part of him meant well but another part didn’t and that part won. Not being charitable, Russell was a con man who not only took away people’s money but heavily damaged their trust in others. Trust is a very fragile thing and when it is damaged it hardens the hearts of the victims and makes it that more difficult for the next person who might not want money, but good will, time, mercy, patience, and or faith.
According to the article, the league used the basketball court at 1st and Florida on the Shaw side of Florida, opposite the Big Bear. I’ve seen groups playing there but never really thought any of it was organized. Next time, I’ll take another look and be a bit more observant.
There is a bit of a bright light to this story of a bum that let his colleagues and the kids down, another homeless fellow, Wade Simmons, who was coaching for the league took over. Though the whole thing is less than kosher, meaning if it were run by some responsible non-profit a number of the participants might be excluded. But it is good in that it allows the usual recipients of charity to be charitable and it is better to give than receive.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 8, 2010 8:13 AM.

Beau Thai

Don’t get that excited yet. Walking by it still looks like they’ve got a few more weeks of painting and shifting stuff around before she (the owner) opens up and starts making this neighborhood what I hoped it might become when I bought the stack of bricks and wood 9 years ago.
I got an email from Mr. Renew Shaw about what’s up and I’ll just sum it up. The opening should be soon, like maybe in about a week and she (Aschara) will be gradually building it up from carry out (phase I) to sit down real live restaurant (phase II). There is stuff to get through with BZA (Board of Zoning Adjustment), which is why she’ll have to start as a fast food carry out place.
Mr. Renew Shaw had an opportunity to taste Aschara’s food and says the menu has fresh and healthy Thai fare.

Theater Stuff

I am looking forward to Banished Production’s Fringe Festival piece “Handbook for hosts” which is described as where film noir meets radio drama. Go to their website at http://banishedproductions.org/productions.html to see what it is all about. I’ve enjoyed their past productions of a “Tactile Dinner” and wonder what they have in store. The tickets are about $15 which is a good price for live theater. You can get tickets here. I’ve been told they’ll be doing this out of the Studio Theater on 14th which is a good Shaw spot for pre-theater noshing and grabbing chocolate.

I also got another theater email, and since I don’t really do announcements anymore (that’s what BACA is for), but now looking at it now the information had expired. Oh well.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 7, 2010 8:24 AM.

Looks Like We’ll Have a Library This Summer

The following announcement came across some of the listservs about the Waltha Daniels/ Shaw Library.

Dear Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Library Patron,

The new Watha T. Daniel/Shaw library located at 1630 7th St. N.W.,
across from the Shaw Metro station is scheduled to open on Monday, Aug.
2. The Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library, located at 945 Rhode Island
Ave., N.W. will close Tuesday, July 13 at 5:30 pm in order to move to
the new library.

The new three-story library is approximately 22,000 square feet and will
feature separate reading areas for adults, teens and children; a
children’s program room; space for 80,000 books, DVDs, CDs and other
library materials; 32 public access computers with free Wi-Fi Internet
access; comfortable seating for 200 customers; large program room for up
to 100 people; two 12-person conference rooms; and a vending area.

The nearest libraries are Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Library, 901 G
St, N.W. and Northwest One, 155 L St, N.W. Library users can return or
renew books at any DC Public Library.

Archie

Well, yay! I’ll admit I haven’t ventured over to the trailers when the library building was getting worked on because my lazy self thought an extra block and a half was too far to go for horrid flashbacks of the classroom trailers I had to endure in high school.
Now I wonder how strong that wi-fi signal is going to be as I imagine internet junkies hanging around the outside with their Starbucks cups. I’m glad to see that there will a section for children, which hopefully will include children’s books, something woefully lacking in the old building. Though I avoided children’s anything in library school, I do realize the great importance of reading to small children. I hope the library will have the classics Cat in the Hat, and Goodnight Moon.
While I have your attention I’m going to propose calling the new building the Shaw library because people keep thinking ‘Waltha’ was a woman and it’s too Barry-era to me. Shaw, is the neighborhood name.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 2, 2010 10:28 AM.

Steal this bike

Steal this bike This was the weekend of careless bike owners. I spotted this bike Saturday morning. The lock was on the bike handlebars and it looked like it was in the blind spot of any of the workers inside the structure being worked on. Later that day I spotted another women’s bike parked on my street so poorly locked it seemed to be asking to be stolen. The rear wheel was locked to the street sign. Anybody could have just popped the quick release rear wheel off and run off with the rest of it.
So what is it to me if some stranger’s bike gets stolen? For one, it helps increase the perception of my area being a high crime area when it does get stolen. Second, there are the periodic emails and messages from folks who’ve had their bikes stolen asking for help. I’d assume that the victims did take some caution in protecting their property. But that willingness to believe people made that effort to prevent their bike from being stolen gets eroded every time I see a poorly locked or unlocked bike.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 28, 2010 7:43 AM.

Believe me when I say there is trash

Trash bag and trash

Shane on Q has been to BACA meetings before to plead for help or some relief from the trash that piles up on the 100-200 block of Q Street NW. The street gets cleaned up on the Co-op’s side, and I gather that is due to management of the property and its block proper. However the opposite side of the street gets to have McDonald’s bags, liquor bottles, and today, watermelon rind littered upon it. The only one cleaning it up (unless you witness someone else also doing it tell me) is Shane. And Shane is getting kinda frustrated.For Flower Power I did a walkby on Q, noticed the trash and decided to get a bag and clean up. I ran into Shane and he offered to join me. He wondered if he should leave the trash so that when the FP group walked through we’d see the trash and understand his predicament. Noted that his problem was he was out of the range of cleaning crews and trash pick up guys. 100-200 Q is too far west of the North Capitol and NOMA clean up crews. It is too far north for the lone guy from S.O.M.E. picking up trash. Too far east for Brian (big tall blond guy with the trash can). And not adjacent to a major church, which would have some caretaker.

I suggested residential parking. Now I’ve just had an unfortunate incident with residential parking as my new roommate got a ticket, with me thinking that parking enforcement wouldn’t be around. Wrong, so I am very aware of the downsides of resident parking. But I think it might help with the trash. The trash come from people visiting and being bad guests, tossing their trash on the street. Now my block got the residential parking to combat drug dealers. The presence of drug dealers is down, but that comes from a combination of things of which parking was a tool.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 26, 2010 11:38 AM.

Tomorrow is BACA’s Flower Power

The only thing that will post-pone it is rain, not soaring temperatures.

Just to remind you, if you plan to join us, that we’ll meet up in front of the Armstrong (CAPCS) School on the 100 Block of P St NW. Look for a table and some people at 3PM. You wouldn’t think it but groups walk incredibly slow, but, they, do, so the walk may take a while, thus the 3-5 time slot.

Tickets the day of are $6. Monies go to support BACA beautification.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 25, 2010 8:31 AM.