Category: Uncategorized

In today’s paper I saw a friend’s house. The story was not about their house but the efforts to convert the former girl’s school into a quirky housing development. They live across the street and are involved in the Save Our Seminary and have been doing an excellent job preserving the history and the buildings.
The preserving part sometimes takes a real active part. One night Stue (St&Su, the friends) were hosting a party and several of us were out on the deck when I swore I saw an odd light coming from the seminary across the street. I mentioned this to St and we headed out to the seminary. We snuck around in an attempt to catch the trespassers and did catch up to them, chasing them off the property. Problem is that people go to the seminary at night for lots of stupid & destructive reasons, one being ghost hunting. The seminary is supposed to be haunted. It’s been a hotel, a school, an Army Annex and in the space of a hundred or so years, I’m sure bad things have gone down, but I don’t see why it should be haunted.
If someone dying, or a bunch of people dying is enough to make a place haunted then I should be tripping over ghosts and slipping on ectoplasm everytime I wander over to the Dunkin Donuts. I remember once seeing a Post article on unsolved murders in the District with a map of little dots of murders during DC Crack Period. There was one big splotch of unsolved deaths over by where the BP station sits on Rhode Island and 4th. But I am not tripping over or running into ghosts, unless you count the few dealers and addicts that still, still haunt the area.
So where is the logic? Why is X supposedly haunted by ghosts and Y isn’t? Yes, there is no logic in superstition. Part of me says class, age and maybe play a part and tell a better story. Note our own present and how the news gets all excited when certain people get shot, kidnapped, or go missing and others don’t get the same attention.

Getting closer to understanding my house, I had a structural engineer come by as consultant. I think he specialized in foundations so we did the basement first. Then we moved up to the first level where he made a hole in my ceiling. I’m going to see how much joint compound I still have to fix it, as it will be a few months before I actually do any tearing apart. Lastly he looked at my roof crawlspace and noted a concern.
In earlier conversations with him I mentioned the house was about 130 years old and I was wondering about a crack in the party wall. When he looked at the basement I told him what the landlord of the house told me, which was when “they” dug out the basement it created a crack in the party wall and the landlord wanted to sue the previous owners but didn’t ’cause by the time he got around to thinking of sueing the house was up for sale. The engineer did not see a horizontal crack long the basement wall, so he doesn’t think the party wall crack was the cause of the basement. Because I’ve been in the house for 5 years and nothing bad had happened he didn’t think I had anything to worry about.
He aslo gave a long explaination of how my wall worked and why he believes it is doing what it is supposed to do. Vertical loads are fine. The problem is horizontal pressure from all the dirt below the neighbor’s soil line. But it is not a huge problem as the walls aren’t bowing. I’ve got unlevel floors through the house and to level the floor above (the first floor) the beams in the basement may need to be shimmed.
On the first floor my concern was if I could get rid of a center wall. Answer, yes as it is not a load bearing wall. Moving on.
On the second floor the question of if I could get rid of the walls was harder to answer. He looked in the crawlspace and noticed a center beam, which was 10 feet from a certain point in the ceiling. The center beam is old and sagging and seems to be loading on the wall between the bedrooms. The bedroom wall juts out a bit into the hallway and continues overhead giving the appearance of a load bearing wall. However when measuring it, it was about 5-6inches short of where the center beam is ‘loading’. The engineer said that the wall wasn’t supposed to be a load bearing wall. The beam keeping the roof up is begining to bear weight on something, possibly on the wall I want to remove. He gave me a couple of options of what to do, one was to shim the center beam so that it is bearing more weight on the party walls and less on whatever it is bearing weight on. That would give me the freedom to get rid of that bedroom wall.
I’m blogging this so I won’t forget it and because I’m not getting a written report. At $150 an hour, on top of the come to the site and walk through the door fee, I’ll write up my own report.

I got some word on the progress of the Bear. One they have had some problems but are now chugging along and just got a spanking brand new espresso making thing. They hope to open up before the end of year, DC govt willing.

Got a report of the 2C meeting, and Leroy is very angry. More later, I have to get something out of my system before it becomes bad snarky snark. [snip] I’m willing to relax the rule about Anon comments for this posting, however, no cursing, spitting, and keep it legal/worksafe.

Update: There is a summary of the 2C meeting at Life In Mt. Vernon Sq. I had to stop myself from laughing tea out of my nose when I read:

That resident, who maintains the 5th and O Blog, noted that he had never posted anything negative about Commissioner Thorpe but that the blog allowed others to express their opinions and promoted community discussion. Commission Thorpe rejected the resident’s portrayal of the blog as promoting free speech, instead comparing it to distributing crack.

Crack. Never thought of blogging as crack dealing. It’s legal, we don’t hang out on corners, and blogs sure as heck won’t make you lose weight.
Anyways, DaddyFiveOh wrote about the meeting and I suggest you read his side.

Hopefully, I will be relocated from my Maryland office to the downtown DC office in October, maybe November, it depends. I look forward to it as I’m more than sick of my current commute of taking the train, to wait for a bus, that may or may not come early, but most of the time comes 10-15 mins late, and only comes once every 1/2 hour, if it is on schedule. A switch to downtown would allow me to do the train or bus, or if I’m feeling up to it, ride my bike, or if it is a bright sunny day, walk.
Besides making my commute less irritating, I see the benefit of getting more in tune with the neighborhood and the city. When I get back from Maryland I have very little energy or desire to leave the house again. The few times I have walked home from the downtown office I :
Looked in the window of TicketPlace to see what shows were at a reduced price
Stopped at the Warehouse Theater Cafe.
Noticed the progress of another large condo going up
Asked the folks at Starbucks for coffee grounds for my compost.
So sometime next month or the month after that I’m finished with project X and X(misc) and when my bosses figure out where to put me and what I’ll be doing, then I shall sweeten my commute. That and sleep in for an extra hour.

Got this email today:

Neighbors,
I take this opportunity to inform you that I will not be seeking reelection to represent the citizens of Single Member District 5C01 on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5C. I have recently been offered an opportunity for career development that I cannot refuse. So, after several days of serious introspection, I have reached a final conclusion. I will continue my work with the Bates Area Civic Association, Inc., as well as with many of the other neighborhood organizations with which I am presently involved. As you may already know, a couple of folks have picked up nominating petitions to represent SMD 5C01. Among them is Ward Five political and community activist Anita Bonds. Should Anita become elected to this position, she is someone who can definitely “hit the ground running,” as she has an extensive history of involvement in our in our city and in our community and she is intimately familiar with most of the issues with which we have been grappling over the years. Of course, I will share any insights that I have gained over the years with whomever is ultimately elected to this position. Thank you for the overwhelming support that I have received across the years!
Best,
Jim Berry
ANC 5C

I will miss our great leader’s leadership, and we’ll see who decides to run, but no one can really replace Jim.

Because the city is so heavily registered with the Democratic Party the mayorial race will be determined soley by the Democrats in the city. And provided none of the candidates pulls a Lieberman it’s pretty much a given on November 7th who the next mayor for DC will be. I’m hoping for Fenty but I have a horrid gut feeling that Cropp will win. As an Independent (I’m not complaining) there is no role for me to play on the 12th. The things I have been able to do is share my opinion and give money (I could have volunteered).
However, there are several reasons to get out and vote November 7th. Well for people fed up with their Single Member District ANC, 11/7 would be their chance to change… or not. There are At Large Council Seats and the School Board.
So if you can, vote.

So I’m thinking not living in the house during the whole of the renovation. For one, renovation takes longer when trying to keep the place livable. I lived through the renovation of the kitchen and that was a mess. Cooking on a hotplate, dust everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE! Also you have to make it so that the guys can do whatever it is that they are supposed to do without your crap being in the way. So I’m looking around the house and thinking of getting rid of my stuff. Well the stuff I’m not willing to put into storage.
For most of my adult life I moved every 2 years, which kept me from accumulating lots of crap. I would have to seriously wonder if I really wanted to pack X and move X and unpack X. Since I believe a renovation would take a while I’m going to have to store my things and a lot of what I have isn’t worth storing. The fiberboard dresser, the 10 year old futon, the $15 computer desk, cheap IKEA chairs, the table I found on the sidewalk…. not worth the hassle of moving and storing. They so scream Goodwill.
Oh, and as a side note, I found a structural engineer and made an appointment so he can come out and tell me how I can keep the house standing for another 100 or so years. Just because a house has been standing for over 100 years, don’t assume it’s just going to continue to do so.

Neighbors,

Below please find an message from my ANC 5C colleague Robert Brannum regarding the DC Emergency Management Agency’s plans to distribute sand bags tomorrow in the event of a storm that might be accompanied by flash flooding. Please take due notice of this information and govern yourselves accordingly.

Best,

Jim Berry
ANC 5C

“Greetings and salutations neighbors, this to confirm DCEMA will be distributing sand bags (1,000) for the community tomorrow morning – 7:30AM until distributed. The distribution site will be behind Howard University Services Building at 10th & W Streets, NW. Along with the bags will be instruction for stacking the bags for maximum protection effect. Please know those who pick up bags may have to demonstrate District residency. Please note it is advisable to arrive to pick up bags in vehicles with non DC license plates. If you have any questions, please contact me. Robert – rbrannum@robertbrannum.com.”

Robert Vinson Brannum
ANC Commissioner 5C04
202-256-8452
202-328-7611 – fax

PREMIER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION PRESENTS A WARD 5 COUNCIL CANDIDATES FORUM ON THE ISSUE OF:

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

What is it? — How to Retain It? — How do We Build It? “ What About Property Taxes? “What about Gentrification? — Where Will Teachers and Police Officers Live? — Where Will My Son, an Entry Level Professional Live? “Will Middle Income People Be Eliminated? — What Will Happen With Excess School Property? Do We Have Enough Condos? “ Who benefits most from skyrocketing housing costs?

AT:
GREATER MT. CALVARY FAMILY LIFE CENTER
605 RHODE ISLAND AVENUE, NE
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 2006
6:30 P.M.

FOR INFORMATION, CALL:
Hazel Thomas at 202/491-9245
Or Stephanie Rones at 202/ 832-3448