Author: Mari

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.

Kids and the Florida Avenue Park

Yesterday I went to the Bloomingdale Farmers Market and decided to buy stuff till I ran out of money, which was about $45. Painted Hand was selling a chicken for less than $4 a pound so I had to hop on that. And I bought carrots, celery that doesn’t look like the celery at the store, onions, cherries, blueberries, baked goods and string beans. I had two bags full of stuff. While I was at the market I ran into some of the neighborhood munchkins and their parents. When I was done shopping I noticed a bunch of kids and parents had wandered over the the playground at the Florida Avenue Park on the other side of Florida Ave. There was a whole gaggle of kids on the kiddie swings running around, doing the things that make the Pre-K crowd happy.

I remember when this would not have happened. When parents would not have taken their precious charges to the park where odd old dudes hung out. I remember back when a parent told me she found human poop on the play equipment and swore off ever returning there. Well in the meantime the park has improved a bit, but there are still complaints. Apparently, shards of glass can be found in the mulch that covers the play area. I didn’t see any, but then again I don’t have a kid running around in the stuff. Also it is said the trash cans are overrun with sharp things.

Anyway, according to a post on the BACA blog, the park is slated to get a $1.2 million dollar makeover. Hopefully that may include something addressing the suitability of the play area.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 21, 2010 8:15 AM.

Flower Power Nominations Due Tomorrow

If you haven’t submitted your paper ballots to 308 P St, there is the on-line option at this link or go to the Bates Area Civic Association’s website regarding Flower Power.

Why nominate your neighbor or yourself? If your, or your neighbor’s yard is chosen for the walk it will give different folks from different parts of the neighborhood an opportunity to slow down and LOOK at streets and blocks they’ve might have never been to in a while. Some of us when we get home just stick to our street or our little corner, this walk is a chance for neighbors to come and check out other streets. Also, it is a chance to share gardening and landscape ideas, to expose neighbors and visitors to the possibilities. Lastly, if you or your neighbor have made efforts to tame a wild yard and invest in plants and dirt, you, or they, should be recognized and acknowledged for that.

What’s the walk for? The walk serves as an opportunity to show off our neighborhood to residents and visitors and raise money for beautification efforts in the neighborhood such as rose bushes in planters. On other ocassions it has been an opportunity for city officials to see what is good and what is needed in our neighborhood.

Where is the Bates Area? It is the ANC 5C01 area. Which is the northern part of Truxton Circle, which is the far eastern section of the old Shaw borders,

When and where is the walk? The garden walk is June 26th from 3-5pm, at 1st and P NW and tickets are $5 the days before the walk, and $6 the day of. If you would like to be a docent and walk folks around please email bacaflowerpower@gmail.com

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 11, 2010 7:57 AM.

Small Scale Canning

“The food that we canned from last summer is gone and I’m busted.”

-Song Busted (sung by various but I’m listening to Ray Charles)

Last year I ran out of strawberry and cherry preserves. I tend to use them to flavor yogurt and top ice cream. So this year I’m trying to make sure I’m well stocked. When I do visit the farmer’s markets I’ll go for the cheaper seconds and the nice pints to turn the produce into a simple fruit sauce.

I do have the big canning operation with the large black pot and the rack and all the fun tools. However, when working with smaller batches I turn to the 4 ½ quart pot I cook rice in and ½ pint jars,which hold about 8 oz. It uses less water and is less of a hassle. This week I picked up even smaller jars at 5th St Hardware that hold only 4 ounces. Now I don’t know the official stance on using a smaller pot, but I have used the small pot for dealing with small batches 2 or 3 cans of tomatoes and other things. I’ve gotten some mixed results. Some things sealed nicely, some other things, no so much and I just put them in the fridge.

Cherries are coming into season and I will can a bunch and toss a bunch into a jar of vodka. Yes, my other form of preservation.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 10, 2010 7:57 AM.

Mobility and gentrification

I did a phone interview today with someone doing research on gentrification. I think I overwhelmed them with too much historical information or background. The devil is in the detail.
Anyway one of the popular aspects of gentrification to focus on families and individuals being displaced. The problem with that view is that Americans (and maybe other people) are very mobile, so it is hard to say if ‘genrtrification’ could bear the blame, or is the chief reason a person or a family moves. considering people move all the time. I tried to illustrate the mobility of city residents to the interviewer, but didn’t do such a great job.
Here’s one example. in cleaning up some data from the 1900 census I was looking for a Chinese’s fellow’s address. The Census taker must have been drunk because towards the end of the page he was listed a bunch of people with different street addresses (usually there is a block of addresses) and it was barely legible. So I figured I’d fine Mr. Woon(?) in the city directory. In the directory, there were 2 male Woons of the same name in DC neither of them living in the Enumeration District I was researching. He wasn’t the only one. When I couldn’t read the sheet I would refer to the directory which was 2 or so years off from the Census, and it wasn’t helpful because the people tended to live at a completely different address on a different street.
I’ve lived in Shaw going on 10 years, and compared to others that’s not much time, but I’ve seen neighbors come and go for all different reasons. Renters may leave because they graduated college, because it was a health danger, because their landlord was an ass, or because their landlord decided or sell or the bank decided to foreclose. Owners leave because of job re-locations, marriage, divorce, separation, illness, family changes, desire for something different, taxes, frustrations with neighbors, or because the good Lord decided to call them to eternity. In that gentrification plays a part in the owners’ motivation in selling to cash out and maybe taxes. All the other reasons I’ve observed, family breakup, professional moving on and death have very little to do with the neighborhood and more to do with the individuals.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 8, 2010 11:09 PM.

Church Announcements

First, Shaw Main Streets and Emmaus Services for the Aging is putting on a ‘Shaw Gospel Music Explosion.’ Yup, explosion. Call Homeland Security. Anyway, if you want to witness this musical bang it is being held at Shiloh Baptist Church on 9th Street, August 7th, at 2pm and tickets are $10. The money raised will go to help seniors services and outreach programs. Contact Emmaus Services for more info at 2/ 745 1200.

Second, know of a non-profit looking for new digs? Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church has a vacancy next door to it’s offices and is seeking a renter in the townhouse. The occupant must be a non-profit for tax purposes. It is located a block from the Washington Convention Center, is close to the Mt. Vernon Sq. metro and not too far from the Shaw metro. Contact their office for more information.

Lastly, it is nice to see the 7th Day Adventists doing a kind of outreach that doesn’t involve door to door literature drops. No seriously, the Fourth Street Friendship SDA Church does a pretty good Sunday feeding program that doesn’t have a negative impact on the surrounding community. Sometimes the music has crept out but participants don’t loiter long and there isn’t much of a trash problem. Anyway, they are sponsoring a few programs that seem directed more at the middling classes. One that caught my eye was a workshop on Vegetarian Cooking. This workshop is to be held Monday June 21st facilitated by Mark Anthony. According to the blurb I found on the flier, “Mark makes regular appearances on T.V. including regular appearances on the 3ABN Network. He will present the topics of Plant Based Health & Nutrition, Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking. As a bonus, Mark will prepare a healthy and delicious meal for all!” The workshop is free but they are asking for a free-will offering, so treat it as a pay-what-you-can event. If one is interested call A.S.A.P. (that’s what the flier says) 2/ 797-9255 to reserve or R.S.V.P.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 6, 2010 7:50 PM.

Flower Power and the Treebox thing

Yesterday, Caryn of the BACA blog sent out an email calling for more treeboxes to be signed up for the June 5th event. Not enough people have signed up. I mentioned it to a neighbor on my street, he’d heard of it but didn’t think his treebox needed any more plants. My side of the block several treeboxes are still coasting on what was planted in the Fall of last year. But still, more participation is needed, if your ANC is Anita Bonds you’re in the BACA area and if yours or a neighboring treebox can do with some plants (or dirt or mulch) please sign up at http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGhjbFdWNUxPWnE0ZjZWWFVlZjdPd0E6MA to pick up the items on June 5th. It is asked that you take a before and after photo. In the Fall our block managed to get a new tree out of the deal.
Also with low participation, so far, are nominations for Flower Power. Of course the deadline for nominations is two weeks away.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on June 1, 2010 8:19 AM.

A coupla house & garden things

I’m a little late mentioning this but have you heard of the partial house collapse on Morgan St? A street that is both in Mt. Vernon Square and the TC.

As a reminder, these houses aren’t as strong as you think they are, unless someone in the 100 or so years they’ve been standing did more than slap band-aids on them. A neighbor is gutting his house and the stories he’s told about what dangerous defects they found once they’ve peeled away the plaster is frigging frightening. Walls with nothing but sandy mortar keeping them up. Walls that were leaning and bowing and not really locked in place that possibly could have taken the neighboring house with it. Well that’s just our block. I’m sure your house was built by guys who wanted the place to stand for a hundred years. Oh wait, your hundred years is up.

Well now that I’ve depressed and unnecessarily scared some of you (really, unless you’re renovating don’t worry. If you are renovating factor structural fix-ups into the costs), here’s something nice. I was in the 5th St Hardware store to get some zip ties. Spent $75 in gardening stuff and forgot the zip ties. Anyway I saw a non-motorized lawn mower for sale. If I still had a tiny lawn I would really consider one of these. It is one of those really old fashioned push reel mowers and since the only power it uses is people power, it is green. I have heard it is greener not to have a lawn at all. But I didn’t ditch my tiny lawn to be green. It was ditched it because I wanted to grow food and I can’t eat grass.

Not so nice. They are almost out of tomato plants. There were 1 or 2 left. I bought 2. Hit the farmers markets. Thursday in Penn Quarter, there is a vendor who sells patio tomato plants, great for small spaces. Patio tomatoes don’t vine all over the place. They are kinda bushy.

Ok this post is rambling.

BACA Clean Up Tomorrow and Something completely unrelated

First, BACA Saturday, 1st & P @ 10AM. See more here. I won’t be joining this cleanup as tomorrow is run around town looking for something and dropping stuff off day. My main goal is to get sample sizes of various Benjamin Moore paint colors (used to be able to get them at Monarch Paints but no more) and get rid of an old pre-HD TV.

Unrelated- history. Everyso often I think of papers I would write if I were really inspired to write and had the time to write. One topic I’d like to spend some more time on is the topic of urban renewal looking at some long term things. For one I’d look at the gensis of DC urban renewal by NCPC and DC government and any non-government players and get a sense of what their motivations were. Then try to figure out what happened to those individuals as they dropped out of the process when plans changed, and plans do change. Second, changing plans. The experts and planners start off with one set of plans and then due to budget, staff, political pressure, the odd riot, or whathaveyou the plans change. The big freeway that is currently I-395 does not continue up New Jersey Avenue and on to U Street. And the big thing is I’d want such a paper for people to look up the primary sources for themselves. I don’t want people to automatically take my word as gospel. I have biases, and some of them I will publicly admit to, others I won’t. Some will look at the same information and draw different conclusions, but the main thing is that they look and think.