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5C Meeting 3/20

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C
MONTHLY MEETING NOTICE AND AGENDA

March 20, 2007
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
McKinley Technology High School, 151 T Street, NE

Call to Order and Welcoming Roll Call

Part I: Community Concerns and Presentations 7:05 p.m.
Note: The audience is asked tobe recognized by the Commission Chair to make comments, and to limit question/comment to 30 seconds. Every effort will be made to recognize all that seek to speak, but only one person will be recognized at a time. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

1. Acknowledgements of Special Guests and Community Leaders
2. Office of Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr.
3. Introduction of Presenters:
Public Safety Report: Lt. Wright, 5D MPD and Alice Harper, CSOSA…..….. by Commissioner Hammond, ANC5C Public Safety Liaison

Proposed New Restaurant: Mr. Julius Bell …..…. by Commissioner Bonds, SMD 5C01

4. Update on Armstrong School Renovation plans ……….…. Commissioner Hammond
5. Update on National Marathon run through ANC5C ..….. Commissioner Davenport
6. Update on Bloomingdale Farmers Market plans ……..….. Commissioner Davenport
7. Update on Saint Martin’s Housing Plan ………… ……… . Commissioner Farmer-Allen
8. Community Concerns and Announcements
9. Update from Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services …… Alice Thompson, Ward 5 Coordinator
10. Single Member Districts Reports
11. ANC Committee Reports

Part II: Committee of the Whole Executive Session 8:30 p.m.

Note: This portion of the meeting is reserved for COMMISSION ACTION ONLY. The audience is asked to hold their comments to share with their Single Member District Representative at the conclusion of the meeting. Thanks again for your cooperation.

1. Approval of the Minutes of 1/16/07 and 2/20/07 ………… Commissioner Grant
2. Treasurer’s Report ………… ……… ……… ……… ……… …….. Commissioner DeFoe

Outstanding Business:
3. Return of Outstanding ANC Property ………… ……… ……… .. Commissioner DeFoe
4. Ratification of Operating Rules and Procedures ………… ….. Commissioner Phillips
5. Status of Use of Catholic U and the Storage Lease …….… Commissioner Salatti

New Business:
6. Support Request for Full Yum Curb Cut (withdrawn). . Commissioner Hammond
7. Pay Bills …………………………………….. Commissioner Daneker
8. New Proposal for office site at DOES ………… …. Commissioner Bonds
9. 2007 ANC Meeting Schedule and Location
10. Status of Community Grants of 12/06
11. Agenda Items for Next Meeting of ANC

Adjournment

Ingenious evil plan

I was talking with someone who has been in the neighborhood a while and mentioned something I found interesting. There is a property that is a shell, now logically it would get taxed the vacant property rate, to encourage selling or fixing up the property. Well, the person I was talking to mentioned on of the houses on their block has been vacant for a good long while but isn’t getting taxed the huge tax amount. Why you may ask. Well according to the source, the property is listed for sale. So if is for sale, then you don’t get taxed the $5 per $100 in value. The property has a sign. But the owner has no real interest, according to the source, in selling the property.
I see the property is listed on the DC.Gov list (pdf file) of properties exempted from the huge honking tax rate. I noticed some other properties listed, where I wonder, wonder why would they be exempted?

My fellow pedestrians

Don’t jaywalk at night wearing dark clothing, sauntering across the street like cars going 10+ miles over the speed limit are actually going to stop for you. Yes, you people on Rhode Island Avenue NE. We can barely see you. You are an oddly shaped shadow. Are you a trick of the light or a human target?

Anyone else get the call?

Last week, I got a call from someone (I was half asleep when I answered the phone) looking for volunteers for a candidate running for the Ward 7 seat. “Who?” I asked, though it didn’t matter because I forgot his name as soon as I went back to my nap. I am not sure how I, an Independent in Ward 5, got on someone’s potential volunteers list for a candidate in Ward 7. Anyone else outside of Ward 7 get a random call from someone looking for unpaid campaign workers?

Surprise me gardening

Okay. I have mentally accepted that I won’t be in the TC or anywhere in Shaw or even Eckington, and will be spending a lot of time in an undisclosed location in PG County where the buses suck. So if all goes well I won’t be back in my house till June or July, Summer. However, I still want to garden. I want to come back to a garden.
I could just buy tomato and other plants and concentrate on fall plantings and crops when I come back. I could. Rather, I have decided to take my chances with nature. I have some left over seeds that should have been planted last year, and so I took them outside and threw them on the ground and covered them with dirt. If they grow and there is something for me to tend and something that hasn’t been destroyed by workmen, then YAY! If not, so be it. They should get a decent amount of water from rain till Summer hits. They’d be in the ground, so hopefully that will help.
Winter has proven that some plants just don’t need me. The Arugula was holding strong till that nasty highs below freezing weather. Then it died off. Now it is coming back, again, with no help from me. And I put them there by, randomly throwing seed against my house. I’m hoping for the same miracle.
Moving the mulch made from last year’s tomato vines and leaves, I discovered the peppermint has gone wild. And that’s why you keep peppermint in a friggin pot. So has the Sweet Woodruff. Before the Sweet Woodruff was impossible for me to keep alive, but it found shelter under the leaves of the arugula and several tender young leaves greeted me.
The thyme is fine. The oregano seems to be okay. I discovered some sage I’d completely forgotten about. The mint is more than fine and acting true to its nature, like a weed.
In the back, in pots, the Spring Onions are surviving squirrel attacks. As are the few sprigs of cilantro. The pot with the daylilies looks dry and the lilies are doing, something, I don’t know what. The compost is looking good. I shoveled a little out last night. I’m not seeing a lot of worms and I’m worried the frost might have killed some off. I may seed one huge pot for tomato and hope that it holds enough water until I can return.
It will be interesting to see what Nature surprises me with.

Sick and moving

I think got whatever headachey, muscle ache, toss yer cookies virus that’s floating around. It was bad last week, and then I thought I was well, but then I went out with some friends and quickly discovered, no, I wasn’t well. This weekend, same thing, I thought I was over it, and was proven wrong.
Part of me wonders if I really am sick or just anxious about the whole renovation, move out the house project. I’ve been packing and the house looks naked. Wall hangings have been taken down, most furniture has been given away, promised away, stored away, thrown away, or set in the big honking “Goodwill” pile. Having to figure out which of my worldly possessions goes into which category, has been challenging. Half of what is in the Goodwill and give away categories, I’d keep if I wasn’t desperate to cut down on the amount I need to put in storage.
Then there is the issue of where am I going to live. I do have options outside of the borders of Shaw and I am really thankful for those who have opened their homes to me. However, they are not “in Shaw”, nor close to the TC, so to answer Dr. Soh N. So’s question of am I going to blog while I’m gone, the answer is I don’t know. Probably not as much, which means I’ll be putting pressure on Truxtonian to blog. If a suitable short term rental pops up in my hood, then I’ll look into it.

Open letter to DC visitors

Hello and welcome,
I hope that you are enjoying our fair city be it for work or leisure. As you walk around the unfamiliar settings I understand that you might have questions. Seeing me with my tags as I come from or go to work, you may confuse me with a tour guide. I am not. Yet I am willing to answer two questions. Two. One main question and one follow up to clarify the first question.
Also do not assume that just because I work downtown that I actually know where anything is. When I was a student at UMCP I knew where 5 buildings were on campus. I was aware of other buildings but since I didn’t have to go in them, I didn’t bother remembering their names. Downtown is similar, if I don’t go in it, don’t have to go in it, or don’t relate to it, I don’t know where it is. Lucky for you I am okay with not knowing and will say so. Also, there are people in red jackets, that say “Downtown” on them, and they are there to answer questions. They are good for when you’ve forgotten where the Payless and the Wachovia are and sometime they can tell you if the bus you wanted just passed.
Also don’t get testy with me when you ask where the Smithsonian is and I say “on the mall” or ask “which one?” The Smithsonian is an institution with several museums. You mean the Castle? Well it’s on the mall.
Thank you.

Note to self: Turn in Federal Taxes

Thank you Marion Barry for reminding me that I really need to turn in my federal tax forms today. I’ve been procrastinating because 99% of it’s done, I just need to put in that 1%, print it out (or fill out the form) and mail it.
But really. I feel really badly for the people of Ward 8. It is bad enough that the seats for Wards 4 & 7 are open, but if or when Marion gets his wrinkly rear thrown in jail for not filing (dude extensions, not just for hair) his taxes, while on probation for…. not filing, then there will be 3, THREE Ward seats on the Council vacant. And that’s just wrong.