Category: Uncategorized

Hey the Cops Sometimes Come

Yesterday I notice a man hanging out in front of the overpriced house for sale. He’s there for a good 30 minutes. At first I thought he was a workman, doing some finishing touches on the outside. But no. He was a strange one. So after about 1/2 an hour I call 311 and I don’t know how long I had to wait to get a person on the other end but by the time I get an operator, he starts moseying up the street.

About 5-10 later the cops drive by, and slow down at the address given. I’m standing in the doorway chatting w/ Brett and wave to the officers, who warily wave back. They turn around and come back to the spot get out and say, “Well I don’t think either of you called it in..” Oh, I fess up that I did it and describe the ‘weird’ behavior.

Well they did show up within a resonable amount of time, they get points for that.

Welcome to home ownership

My neighbor is annoyed. He was venting yesterday and he’s still venting. He’s angry at General Contractors and deliverymen. Understandable because he still believes they actually say what they mean when they say they will be at so-in-so at such&such time. They all lie, they are men. It’s like “I’ll call you.” They never call.

Of course I warned him. I recommended one contractor, but told him to stick with the outside stuff, nothing inside. Did he heed my word NOOOOOOO! Not only is he having said contractor do outside work, he’s having him do inside work as well. Now he’s angry that said contractor did not show up when he said he would because he (neighbor) took off work to be there.

Clean Up

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Did you seen the Green Team cleaning up 14th & U Streets this past weekend?

This past Friday marked the beginning of a 45 day, seven day a week, demonstration project to clean, maintain and enhance the 14th & U Commercial

District. The program is a partnership between:

> 14th & U Main Street Initiative (14th & U MSI)

> Coalition For the Homeless (CFH)

> University of the District of Columbia-Extension Program (UDC-EP)

The demonstration project will provide 5 full time and 5 part time positions through the end of October. The demonstration project will be managed by the Coalition for the Homeless, located and 13th & Massachusetts, and is

being financed by UDC-EP and by PN Hoffman, which has pledged a five-year annual $10,000 contribution as part of a PUD application before the city for their project on 14th Street between V Street and W Street.

The demonstration project will spend this week focused upon trash and weeds.

Many sidewalks, gutters, alleys and tree boxes along the corridor have not seen any maintenance this year. We are in need of a volunteer or

volunteers to provide support for the team as it works upon clearing the overgrown tree boxes. Many of the tree boxes have been landscaped with

flowers and other plants that should be retained and we could use help in identifying the desired plants and in identifying the removable weeds,

particularly for the lower 14th Street areas. Please contact Scott Pomeroy at 202.550.0769 if you are available. The following week they will begin to focus on removing graffiti and posters from the corridor, working in conjunction with the city to make a visible impact all along the corridor.

The program is designed to supplement existing efforts by DPW, merchants, property owners and residents not to replace those efforts. Merchants and commercial property owners are still legally responsible for the maintenance of the area in front of their businesses from the store front to 18² into the curb. The goal of the demonstration project is to raise awareness for the need of the services being provided and to raise funds to enable the program to expand to a year round program that would hire 24 full-time

workers and would be able to expand services into other neighborhood commercial districts. The expanded program will also include a two-day

hospitality, heritage and ambassador training program conducted by Cultural Tourism DC, a landscaping training program by UDC, and an school-based landscaping and heritage training program.

Learn more about this program and other projects and goals of the 14th & U Main Street Initiative at our 1st Annual Membership Meeting that will occur

on Monday, September 29th at the True Reformer Building at 1200 U Street, NW from 6:00 ­8:30.

PSA 312 Meeting

Sadly only 2 residents showed up. Basically Sgt. Evans went over the crime stats and we 2 citizens mentioned crime hot spots, which if there are any hot spot past 4th St, they weren’t reported because there weren’t any east of 4th St residents there.

The community of PSA 312 has not shown up for meetings in the past quarter in any great number. Sometimes this is the fault of the police who have sometimes failed to send a representative. A lot of time the residents can be faulted for their failure to come to the meetings in numbers greater than 3.

This was a good weekend for the block.

Brian was cleaning the sidewalk and streets.

My new neighbors were tearing apart/rehabbing the house, meeting other neighbors, and playing with the neigborhood kids.

The sun was shining.

Kelly showed me a bullet they had pulled out of the floor as they have been rehabbing the house and liked the info I had on the 1930 version of the neighborhood.

All the neighbors (okay not all we still have the anti-social types) were out talking to each other, exchanging information, it was beautiful.

Gettin’ in touch with my inner Republican

I wonder if some neighborhoods are better because residents take on some problems themselves with out waiting for the city government to take a lead?

This weekend I tackled the problem of illegal dumping in backyards. Well one backyard in particular. The owners, who do not live there, had cleaned out the yard that was filled with wet cardboard boxes, bags of garbage and discarded furniture. Well that lasted a good month before someone dumped a couch and a bedspring in the yard. The problem I saw, was that the yard was open and exposed to anyone coming through the alley and ripe for dumpers as well as prositutes and crack-heads.

What business of is it of mine? Well when I look out my window I see it, and it is ugly. It attracts rats and I don’t want rats getting too comfy close to my house. Same goes for crackheads.

One way is to complain to DCRA. But that may take weeks or months and nothing may happen.

I decided to close up the hole. I took about $17 worth of materials and used what was in the alley to fill the 6 ft wide hole in the fence. So far so good. It is still up. I don’t see trash. I can’t see into the yard.

My inner Republican claims credit. It says that you shouldn’t believe that government can solve your problems. That if you want something done you’ll have to make it a DIY project. Trash, clean it up yourself & hire a guy to take it away. Noise, ask the violator nicely if that doesn’t work, sue them. When I noticed crackheads wandering into neighbors fenced yards I informed them. When that didn’t seem to stop the problem I offered to put locks on the gates. Yes, there are somethings you can’t do yourself but let’s just work on the stuff you can.

DC City Services Form

http://dc.gov/citizen/request.shtm

When it is not a rush, as a reply may come 5 days later.

Kennedy Playground to Open!!!!!!

“After more than a decade of lobbying, planning, construction, and interminable delays, the new Kennedy Recreation Center at the Kennedy Playground will open on Thursday, August 28, 2003, with ceremonies beginning at 6:00PM.

Mayor Williams, Ward 2 Councilmember Evans, and other dignitaries are expected to be on hand. The entrance to the rec center is on the east side of the 1400 block of 7th Street, NW, just south of P Street.

The new center’s facilities include an indoor gymnasium, weight training room, an arts and crafts room, two classrooms, a computer lab, locker rooms and showers, a tennis court, two children’s play areas, and a new outdoor basketball court, in addition to the baseball field and picnic area that existed previously.

The successful completion and opening of this important facility is a milestone for our community. The opening ceremonies are free and open to the public, so please attend if your schedule permits. And be sure to let your neighbors know, especially kids, that the new rec center will begin normal operations the next day. Hours of operation and schedules of activities will be available at the center.

If you can’t attend the opening, please plan on stopping by for a tour of the facility when your schedule permits.”

Diversity

Soon in a week or a month Brett and Ira will move in. At that point my block will have a gay couple, a white nuclear family, a coupla of white married couples, black families (nuclear and other), Africans (immigrants), a hispanic family, single females (black and white), 1 single black male, roommate situations, senior citizens, and a Howard U student group house. We got professionals, blue collars and section 8s. We are diverse. Tolerating each other almost appears possible. People who don’t like each other aren’t on speaking terms anyway, and since they are not actively going after each other, I’ll call it tolerance.

Drama Mamma is getting tolerable. There is still the large band of kids who congregate in front of her house and bounce the ball up and down the walkway at all hours. But I’m not hearing the loud music at all hours. I’m not hearing the stereo blasting so loud that I can hear it from inside the house. The people coming through her house are less obnoxious now. I don’t foresee any more guests simulating sex acts on cars in front of my house anymore.

The Seventh Day Adventist church on the block is tolerable. They feed the hungry on Sundays and manage it well. The people they serve don’t congregate in large numbers outside. They don’t loiter.

The mosque down the block is tolerable. So far (knock on wood) I have not been woken to the sounds of the 5 something-ish o’clock call to prayer.

The crowds and crackheads from the block up…. well we’re still working on that.