Category: Uncategorized

…walk 3 miles along the C&O canal in street shoes and no walkman just to buy 2 dozen nightcrawlers for the compost bin. I walked from Georgetown University to Fletcher’s Boat house, not thinking it was so far, because, like, I had passed it a bazillion times before on bike. It was far. But well worth it, and luckily, I was able to find a bus (and taxi) back home.

Why nightcrawlers? Compost. Those suckers eat that stuff we throw in the compost heap, and since my roommie has been cooking and eating a lot of farmer’s market stuff, we got lots of organic waste. I had been trying to get redworms from my own yard but I haven’t seen too many of them and I want my compost to be active. I know that nightcrawlers aren’t the preferred worm but so far those are the worms I could a) get in DC & b) that they were selling.

I know it my fall under TMI, but I cannot describe the joy that leapt into my heart upon seeing one of my nightcrawlers pooping nutrient rich worm poop.

I have a vision. I see a rich garden of tomatoes growing in the back yard, feeding on the compost. I see thyme, peppermint, rosemary, basil (wait why am I growing basil, I don’t use it…) pansies and lemongrass all growing and feasting on chemical free enhanced soil. *smile*

Private Eyes

They’re watching you.

Private Eyyyyyyes

Watching you

Private Eyes

–Hall & Oates

My neighbor and colleague was telling me of a conversation he had with other neighbors on our street about Oktoberfest. He went to tell them about one of cops he was semi-flirting with, while I stood about absolutely uninterested. The conversation between him and the two female neighbors got on to the type of guys they have seen me and my roommate with, and speculation about our preferences. Don’t let the emptiness of our street fool you, the neighbors are watching.

While keeping a eye out for no-goodniks, loud kids, and what not, they also take in who visits what house, what kids belong to what house, and everything else that happens on the block. This has proven to be good for crime prevention in the case of the attempted break-in at B&L’s house. But upon finding out what my neighbors have gathered on their own it reaffirms that if it is out in the street, it isn’t private.

As reported in the Washington Post, today through Saturday Ms. Anu Yadav will be performing “‘Capers” at the DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan (2438 18th St. NW). Donations of $5-$10 is the entrance fee. The play is about the different people invovled with gentrification of the Arthur Capper/ Carrollsburg housing project in SE.
According to the Post article, people have been relocated to other parts of the district. There is a question of if those people will ever come back to the ‘Capers area as their old housing project is supposed to be reborn as a mixed income area. To make something mixed income, you gotta get rid of some poor people and replace them with middle class people.

Okay public promise.

I will update InShaw before Veteran’s day, because the BACA (Bates Area Civic Association) have put a link up to my site, which I’ve semi-abandoned. So if you see me, ask “Hey, have you updated your site yet?”

1800 Block of 3rd St

Vote. If you don’t like anyone on the ballot, still go to the polls and write in “Nobody”. No one will know who you voted for, but they will know if you went to the polls or not.

If you’d like to inform yourself about who is running where in the District check out the Common Demonimator’s 2004 Voter’s Guide.

Ah, and a note… I’m sick. I am the germy tissue queen and I’m going to take it easy for the next few days. I might post something about the BACA Oktoberfest, but I think I’ll post again after the elections.

I have a feeling I may have written on this before but the problem with a gentrifying neighborhood is that it is too bad for a taxi to search for fares but not bad enough that you try to hail one. When I was at Ella’s I spent a good 10 minutes plus watching a group of three white people trying to hail a cab at Florida and North Cap. They gave up and hopped a bus. Note: don’t try hailing a cab on North Capitol. If you do see a cab, it is usually full. The only place I have sucessfully caught a cab on North Cap is down by Kaiser Permanente.

My cab catching attempts on Rhode Island and New Jersey have been hit or miss. They are not looking out for you. The time I did catch a cab on New Jersey I was hard to miss, I was in a full length evening gown. Other times, nothing.

Calling the dispatcher, also hit or miss. That’s why I was on New Jersey Avenue hailing a cab in an evening gown.

Anyone know of the secret street corner I need to stand at to catch a cab around here?

Via Jim Berry

Neighbors,

It is with pleasure that I invite and encourage you to participate in

Oktoberfest 2004 — an event that is being sponsored by the Bates Area

Civic Association, Inc. and co-sponsored by Council Member Vincent B. Orange,

Northwest Cooperative Homes, the Metropolitan Police Department, Mount

Sinai Baptist Church, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency,

Soul Day Spa, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Polly’s Cafe, Safeway, Inc., City Year

Americorps, John F. Cook School, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Perry School Community

Center as well as the DC Department of Parks and Recreation.

Octoberfest 2004 will take place this coming Saturday, October 30 2004,

between the hours of 11:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m. at the triangle park

located at First and Florida Avenue, NW. The day’s activities will include a

Chili Cook-Off, games, raffles and prizes. In addition, there will be a

modest flea market, information tables featuring various community services;

there will be a moon bounce for the children, along with face painting, arts

and crafts and a kick-boxing demonstration.

Oktoberfest 2004 is the first of a series of events that are being

scheduled to take place in the triangle park as we continue to make a serious

and a sustained effort to transform this location into the safe space for

children that it was intended to be. Won’t you please join us in this

initiative.

We are in need of plenty of volunteers to make the activity a success.

If you have some time to volunteer on Saturday, please let me know as

soon as possible. That is, if each of us contributes a little, no one will

have to do a lot.

For more information regarding the event, you may visit our website at

www.oktoberfest.bacaDC.org.

Looking forward to hearing from you as well as to seeing you Saturday!

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

(Washington, DC) Stanley Jackson, Director, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), announces the implementation of the American Dream Down-Payment Initiative (ADDI). ADDI aims to increase the homeownership rate, especially among lower income households, and tenants of public and assisted housing. ADDI also seeks to revitalize and stabilize communities.

ADDI will help first-time homebuyers with the biggest hurdle to homeownership: down payment and closing costs. The program was created to assist low-income, first-time homebuyers in purchasing single-family homes by providing funds for down payment, and closing costs. The maximum amount of assistance, under this initiative, per eligible household will be $10,000. Eligible households will receive assistance under this initiative in the form of a forgivable loan.

Eligibility Requirements:

Individuals must be residents of the District of Columbia and must have legally resided in the District of Columbia for at least one year at the time of application

Individuals must be first-time homebuyers. (A first-time homebuyer is defined as an individual and his or her spouse who have not owned a home during the three-year period prior to the purchase of a home in the District of Columbia.)

Individuals must be able to secure a first-trust mortgage from a reputable lender.

Applicants’ income must not exceed the following limits:

1 Person 2 Person 3 Person 4 Person 5 Person 6 Person 7 Person 8 Person

$40,250 $46,000 $51,750 $57,500 $62,100 $66,700 $71,300 $75,900

Community-Based Organizations will begin accepting applications for the American Dream Downpayment Initiative on November 15, 2004.

Contact the organization nearest your residence to schedule a pre-qualification interview

I was wandering around my agency, I’ll just call the Death Star, looking to nab some extra office supplies, when I happened upon a group of Imperial Stormtroopers talking about DC housing prices. I could not help myself, I joined in the conversation. I made a comment explaining why some neighborhoods are getting so pricey in that the area was getting better. One trooper looked at me with a steely look and asked, “What do you mean by better?”

In one second I noticed I was standing on the edge of a muck hole of race and class issues, so I said, “Oh, the crime has gone down.” The trooper reflected, agreed and went on talking.

I keep forgetting the race and class issues when I say the neighborhood is getting better. Some can interpret the statement negatively, and they do have a point, as for some others “better” means doing away with the old residents of a neighborhood. I have seen articles in the Washington Post about how older residents feel threatened by newcomers who demand a different way of life. These newcomers are usually white and middle class and the old timers are black with a wide range of income levels.

But what do I mean by better? I feel safer. Whether not I actually AM safer is another thing but I FEEL safer walking down the street, going home. I can chalk it up to not seeing as many people hanging out in certain spots and the crowd of young people loitering down the block seems to have dwindled a bit. Joggers & dog walkers, they strangely make me feel safer, despite all my complaints about them.

I also mean better in aesthetics. An abandoned house is not a pretty thing. Every other house on the block abandoned is just plain ugly and depressing. Rehabbed houses, new construction, and sometimes a new paint job make it easy on the eyes when walking down the street. At times, a house can be inspiring and uplifting, far better than being depressed by decay.

Another “better” is being able to spend my money in my neighborhood. If there are more opportunities for me to go out and eat or buy somewhere near my home, that is a good thing. I am trying to train myself to go to Logan Hardware over the chaotic Rhode Island Ave Home Depot. I do try to keep an eye open for businesses close to home worthy of my money. And if it is just one thing, like milk, I will go to G&G quickie mart. Before, I had to leave Shaw to buy somethings or the mini marts had nothing I wanted to buy or were too icky to even think of walking in.

It’s getting better.

Hopefully, the neighborhood can keep all her citizens black, white and latino, working class to upper middle class, and all who work for “better”.

When does a neighborhood stop being transitional? When is it done?

This weekend, I was enjoying the city, catching 3 movies ( a record for me, oh and don’t waste money on Shall We Dance?), walking and biking around. And I saw the neighborhood in a slightly different light. Might be the uptick of people jogging in places I didn’t see people jogging before. Then there are all these people with dogs. Parts of Shaw I think are done being transitional. They still have problems, but on the surface, things look fine. But when is a neighborhood done? And what does not transitional look like?