Category: Uncategorized

Across the alley

Maxine is at it again. I was in the front of the house, watching a DVD when the yelling from across the alley (windows up now, can hear more) got me up. I figured I should check it out since it was SOOOOO loud, maybe someone is getting beat up. Dunno.

Anyway, I listen and the best I can figure, they were chasing something. A rat? Gerbil? Pet lizard? Then it all settled down.

The house across the alley is loud. I would love to not know about things but can’t help it when it is soo frickin loud I can pretty much catch the whole conversation. This weekend there was some ruckus about a dream she had confirming her suspicions that her man (husband? boyfriend?) was cheating on her with a white woman. I heard a bit of him, but his volume did not match hers.

The noise from the other side of the alley I’m used to. I’ll go out on the patio to water the plants, try to nap or fix something and I’ll hear what’s going on in the other house. Ricky is always in trouble. I don’t know who Ricky is, but his name gets yelled a lot. I don’t call the police. I don’t hear anything that would make me think there is abuse, deafness, but not abuse.

Da hood: What’s going on

Sunday was lovely and everyone was out. Two neighbors painting, others in the backyard entertaining, little T terrorizing the block on her big wheel, her mom and granddad sitting out front watching the world go by (and the neighbors paint). I was out front for a while cutting grass by hand, pulling out roots and what not. Everyso often I’d wander over talk to my neighbors, then go back and do my thing.

The kids on the other side of the block were terrorizing their side with a motorized big wheel. It was loud, in that grinding gears kinda way. I know several adults who would like to “fix” this child’s toy. We can only hope it gets fixed or it is not seen ever again. I’m glad it’s on the other side of the street.

I’m Booooooooooooooooooooooooored

I left a PSA (Police Service Area) community meeting early because I figured playing Civ (my addiction) would be far more interesting than hearing crime stats, listening to the same complaints and what not.

This month’s meeting talked about the switch over to the 5th District and leaving the 3rd District. That should have been interesting on it’s own, but no. The crime stats were slightly interesting. I mean I learned something new, our PSA had about 900 calls for service in the past month. Some were repeat calls.

As at every meeting, well not every, there is the one angry person. Past angry people are citizens who just heard about the meeting and come to vent about the drug dealing, the loitering, (sometimes) prostitution, abandoned cars, abandoned properties or (my fav) the crime that happened to them. Not to dump on crime victims, but just ’cause YOU finally became a victim does not mean the world suddenly jumps into action. It is sad that it takes a crime for you to finally get involved in your community. But they don’t stay invovled, they just vent and leave, never to be seen again. Tonight’s angry citizen was an angry black man who thought this give and take between the citizens and police was odd, and mentioned this several times. It was new and foreign because, as he explained, his past dealings with police have been confrontational. He finally said what brought him to the meeting, apparently he’s the manager of a residence and the warrent squad and he got into it at 6AM.

Civ was more interesting.

Easter in Shaw

I did not leave the house. At all. Saturday I did venture out. I searched for wood. I searched for white cedar. No luck.

Beyond that and beyond the dumbass ‘bama honking their horn at 4AM screaming “Mom” things were pretty quiet in Shaw.

Spring

It’s rainy.

It’s on again off again cold/warm

And the “For Sale” signs are littering Shaw.

I was sad to see the couple on NJ and Q put up their cute little house for sale. I ran into John Bratton, a Realtor who mainly does Shaw, and he said they wanted a lot for the house. He apparently suggested a price below their expectations so they have someone else. Some other houses I pretty much expected to go up for sale, just wondered how long it would take them. These are the houses that have been rehabbed, converted, cleaned up over Winter. Well I can say there is nothing under $200K in the hood. The prices are now in the neighborhood of $300K and $400K. I couldn’t afford to live here. I wonder with this price increase if the neighborhood can maintain it’s economic diversity.

Neighbors,

The admission deadline for McKinley Technology High School is April 2,

2004.

Please share this information with friends and neighbors whose children

will

be entering the 9th or 10th grade this September. Additional

information

follows.

McKinley Technology High School will open in the fall of 2004 with 9th

and

10th grade students recruited from across Washington, DC. The school

will

offer a learning environment that is digitally enhanced to allow for

teachers and students to engage in a project based curriculum that has

the

rigor of a first class liberal arts education and the job skills of a

technical program.

McKinley Technology High School will provide students the opportunity

to

pursue an intense focus in bio/medical technology

, information technology

, and/or broadcast technology

.

Admission to McKinley Technology High School is by a competitive

application

process. The process ensures that students who enter McKinley Tech have

demonstrated sufficient academic success, social maturity and the

personal

discipline necessary to be successful. Students from throughout the

District

of Columbia are invited to apply. The deadline for applying for

admission is

April 2, 2004.

The application process will ask for the following information:

* A photocopy of an official grade report from the last two years

* Attendance record for the last two years

* Recommendation forms

* An essay written by the student

* A personal interview

* A writing sample

Admissions information and applications for McKinley Technology High

School

are available in PDF format by clicking on the links below:

MTHS 2004-2005 Application in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) version



MTHS 2004-2005 Application Information Packet

in Adobe Acrobat

(pdf)

version

Hardcopy applications are available at the school’s temporary offices

at

1709 3rd Street, NE. For more information, call 202-576-8058 or email

the

principal at daniel.gohl@k12.dc.us.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

Neighbors,

Below please find important information concerning Hazardous Waste

Collection events scheduled to occur in April 2004.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

HAZARDOUS WASTE COLLECTION – 4/3 & 4/24

The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) will hold its bi-annual

household

hazardous waste event at two

locations on Saturday, April 3 from 9 AM to 3 PM.

Residents may bring household chemicals and other materials to the

Carter

Barron Amphitheatre parking lot at 16th and Kennedy Streets, NW or to

the

Penn

Branch Shopping Center parking lot at 3220 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.

This

drop-off service is free and open to all District residents.

DC residents can bring items including old cleaning and gardening

chemicals,

small quantities of gasoline,pesticides and poisons, acids, varnish,

oil-based paints, solvents, aerosols, wood preservatives, spent

batteries of

all kinds, roofing tar, chemistry sets, automotive fluids, even

asbestos

floor tiles to the collection site for environmentally safe disposal.

A professional hazardous waste contractor will remove materials

from residents’ vehicles. The materials will then be taken to an

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved facility for processing.

Electronics recycling, normally conducted in conjunction with the

household

hazardous waste collection, will instead take place at the Carter

Barron

parking lot on April 24, from 9 am – 3 pm.

Residents are asked to bring computers, cell phones,television sets,

office

equipment and other electronics to that special collection event.

Iems that will not be accepted during the Household Hazardous Waste

Collection Day include munitions, explosives, bulk trash, wooden TV

consoles, propane tanks, microwave ovens and other appliances, as well

as radioactive or biologically active wastes.

For more information on household hazardous waste,visit the DPW website

at

http://www.dpw.dc.gov/info/house_haz_waste.shtml

Neighbors,

On Thursday, April 1, 2004, the kick-off event for the Keep America

Beautiful Great American Cleanup will take place at 1st and O Streets,

N.W.,

commencing at 10:00 a.m. I know that this is a workday and a weekday;

hence, it is not terribly convenient for most. Nevertheless, I

encourage you

to attend and participate, if you can.

Best,

Jim Berry

ANC 5C

Here is the content of a recent fact sheet on nuisance vacant properties.

For a copy of the fact sheet, (electronic or via fax) reply to this email.

Who to contact regarding nuisance vacant or abandoned properties.

Report Vacant Homes:

1) Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs

Ø Neighborhood Stabilization Program – 442-4610

(Contacts the owner and enforces codes to ensure

that the house is brought up to standards. Also imposes fines for unkempt

homes.

http://www.dcra.dc.gov/about/index_hra.shtm

2) Office of Tax & Revenue fax# 442-6691

http://cfo.dc.gov/services/tax/forms/tax_forms/pdf/vacant_prop_reporting_for

m.xls

Higher tax fines for owners of abandoned/vacant homes- 5 times the normal

rate

3) United States Attorney’s Office/Fourth District

Report Nuisance Properties (for abatement action)

Ø Michelle McIver, 576-5255, Community Specialist

4) DC Office of Corporation Counsel (Neighborhood & Victims Services

Division)

Ø Nicholas Majett, 727-4171, Legal Counsel

5) Jose Sueiro, 671-2338, Ward One, Neighborhood Services Coordinator,

Office of the City Administrator

6) Office of the Fire Marshal (to have homes posted with unlawful entry

sticker), 727.1600

7) Report People in Vacant Homes: AUTOMATIC ARREST IF HOME IS POSTED BY FIRE

MARSHAL FOR NO ENTRY

Ø Metropolitan Police Department/Fourth District/ 3-1-1

8) Yvonne Smith, MPD Community Outreach & Ward One Mayor’s Core Team

ysmith@mpdc.org ? 202.576.8227 phone

9) Operation Crackdown- Bar Association of the District of Columbia

(Volunteer Lawyers)

http://www.badc.org/html/ylocd.htm

(202) 293-1348 opcrackdown@aol.com

In an effort to reduce crime and social disorder in the local Patrol Service

Areas (PSAs), officers of the Fourth District Substation have begun working

on the “Board Up and Lock Up” project. Vacant properties have long

contributed to quality of life issues in the District. Metropolitan Police

Department have partnered with its fellow members of the Ward One Mayor’s

Core Team to begin addressing the issues associated with vacant properties.

All vacant properties will be reported to the Department of Consumer and

Regulatory Affairs (DCRA). Officers will make sure each site has been

reported to the Office of the Fire Marshal to determine if they are eligible

for posting. Once homes are posted (though postings may be illegally

removed), officers will make arrests. This means anyone caught inside,

without official permission from the owner (i.e. making repairs) will be

immediately arrested. A hotline will be provided to neighbors, surrounding

vacant homes to report any violations. We will not tolerate vacant nuisance

properties in our neighborhood! This effort is another way officers and

neighbors can do their part to help “Take a Bite Out of Crime.”

Yvonne Smith, Community Outreach

Metropolitan Police Department

750 Park Road, NW

Washington, DC 20010

202.576.8227 phone

MEETING NOTICE

The D.C.DEPT.of HEALTH’s VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ADVISORY BOARD MEETING

is

Friday April 16,2004 9:30 a.m. 825 North Capitol St.N.E. 4th Floor Room

4131.I chair the sub-committee on CHILD MALTREATMENT. pass the word.

Bishop

Imagene B.Stewart www.houseofimagene.org