In two paragraphs or less:
Mayor Fenty showed up after the police were happy to report that certain crimes were down. There was a big crowd and 1/2 of em disappeared after the mayor departed. KIPP presented a video and talked about the kind of school they would like to have and the improvements they would make to the Cook campus.
KIPP was talking mixed use and apparently they’d been talking to Paul Rupert (of Warehouse Theater) and seem open to a partnership with the arts community. Charter schools have first dibs supposedly, so if the arts group can ally with a charter school for the proposal than, win-win.
Tag: BACA
BACA meeting, Fenty might show
Once again, like every first Monday of the month there is a BACA (Bates Area Civic Association) meeting 7pm in the basement cafeteria of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church at the corner of Q & 3rd. Jim Berry says that Mayor Fenty will make a quick appearance. Also on the schedule is someone from KIPP to talk about their interest in the Cook School. Last time the KIPP person did not show.
I’m just happy there are two parties interested in the school. One being a collection of arts folk, called FLUX, the other KIPP. I have concerns about both. The question I have about the arts group is how open they’d be with the surrounding area. There are about two places with artists down in the Hanover region of the TC and they periodically open their doors. Would this be another art fortress, and I completely understand the need for closed doors, or would the doors open more often for regular exhibits and performances? With the KIPP school the problem is traffic and the attraction of students from all over the city. P Street can be tight already, add that to the Armstrong charter school and other KIPP school on P.
Chance of a sub-station in TC small
I keep forgetting (along with a bunch of other things) to mention a bit of information taken from the last BACA meeting. Though we really, really, really want a substation being so very far away from the main 5D station, it doesn’t look likely. It was explained by Groomes, MPD that substations have to be manned and having officers inside manning stations means fewer officers outside patrolling streets. And something about other communities out their are clamoring for their own substations as well. We can keep fighting for one but it won’t be an easy fight.
I do like the idea that Councilwoman Schwartz mentioned, of getting DC government offices out of expensive downtown rental space and into DC owned surplus buildings…. surplus buildings like the schools. Well after a substation, a government office (something on the bureaucratic lines, not anything providing services) would be something around my second or third choice.
BACA meeting TONIGHT
I actually got a flier. I have heard tales of BACA meeting fliers being distributed but rarely has one made it to my door and my hands. This morning was one of those rare moments, I guess I need to show up.
According to the flier Carol Schwartz will be showing. Oh yeah, there are elections coming up besides the big prez thing. Schwartz is the lone Republican on the City Council and there is some fellow challenging her for her At-Large seat in the Republican primary. Also from the Council scheduled to appear is another At-Large, Kwame Brown, who lo and behold, also up for re-election. What either one of them will speak about is unknown.
Meeting starts at 7PM at Mt. Sinai Baptist in the basement. Ends at 9PM, I plan on departing earlier than that.
Screw the children
I dedicate this posting to B. who gleefully gave me this title.
B. and I just stepped out of this month’s BACA meeting. He was happily recounting part of the meeting where a woman claimed that there really weren’t that many children in the community. Recounting this, as we watched about 3 kids from our street horsing around on the other side of the street.
A couple of things were brought up in the meeting that I’m going to touch on, community, and community services.
Community. Who are we talking about? I live here am I part of the community? When we, city employees, politicians talk about the community, are they talking about the community as a whole, certain parts, what? This is important because the city wants to (trys to) serve the community.
Which brings me to city services. It may have been the same woman who said there weren’t any children around needing services, who pointed out that no one in the room at the meeting needed drug councilling, or job training, or shelter, or housing services, mental health services, or any of the ‘community services’ that the young mayor’s rep was mentioning. The problem is the city will never offer me any direct services I will ever use in my neighborhood. Of the neighbors I associate most with, neither will they. They probably won’t put their kids in city aftercare, or send their kids to existing rec centers, and they sure as heck don’t go to the regular public schools. The only housing help I’ll take from the city (that I haven’t gotten already with the 1st time homebuyer prgs) is the homestead exemption.
Indirectly, the services are to benefit me by supposedly taking care of problem people , and if the people with problems are served then crime would go down, which serves me. The problem is that the people who use those services aren’t represented at the meetings. Most who attend meetings have little firsthand knowledge of the programs, which then makes me wonder about adequate feedback for the city. Also since there is no direct participation, I wonder how hard would those of us in the community who are more politically involved (the letter writers, meeting attenders, etc) will fight for these community programs/ dollars, as compared to areas of the city.
Lastly, I want to write about what I’m not saying in this. I’m not saying there aren’t any city services that can’t help me and others in my neighborhood. Good functional libraries with active reading/ storybook programs, popular books available, comfortable reading areas, and available internet terminals would be nice. I know I ain’t gonna get it, but it would be nice. And there are things the city and some local politicians do beyond regular services and problem targeting, that positivity impact my quality of life, such as business promotion, providing mulch, and co-sponsoring events.
I’d guess I’d be more gung ho for programs for children if I actually believed the kids on my street and the other neighborhood kids I know would actually use them.
Mayor Fenty may show up at tonight’s BACA mtg
Got an email from Jim Berry:
Neighbors,
I have recently been informed that Mayor Fenty has placed tonight’s BACA meeting on his schedule for the evening and, if possible, he intends to stop by. As you know, we will be talking about the Focused Improvement Area Program that he initiated in parts of Ward Five (including our neighborhood) and we will present a modest award to Ms. Alice Thompson, Outreach and Services Specialist for Ward Five, Executive Office of the Mayor. Finally, we will be receiving community feedback from residents about the future re-uses of the JF Cook Elementary School and MM Washington Career High School buildings to pass along to our neighbor and Advisory Neighborhood Commission Chairperson Anita Bonds as well as the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education.
Hope to see you there!
Best,
Jim Berry
Bates Area Civic Association, Inc.
Another BACA meeting missed
I’m so bad.
I was planing to just pop by the function at Vegetate for Roadside Developments‘ O Street Market. I figured I’d pop a few munchies and show up to the BACA meeting fashionably late. I wound up running into some neighbors from the street and well, time flew. I’m so sorry. Sorry that I can be so easily distracted by free wine and polenta bites.
Anyway they need community support Thursday before the Zoning people.
I swear I will make the next, BACA meeting…. well, unless a certain idiot finally asks me out that night.
BACA meeting to address Armstrong
Tonight is the 1st Monday of the month so, it’s BACA meeting time and one of the scheduled speakers is someone who can tell what’s going on with Armstrong. Ya know it would be nice if Armstrong opened before Cook and Washington close. Also there will be someone from the organization housed in the Slater school building.
According to Jim Berry:
As indicated, the first half of our meeting on Monday will include presentations by Mr. Thomas W. Gore, President/Executive Director of Associates for Renewal in Education, Inc., 45 P Street, N.W., concerning the interesting mix of services that A.R.E. provides to children in the community, and Mr. Wendell Butler, Chief Operating Officer of the Community Academy Public Charter Schools network, who will talk about plans to develop the building that formerly housed the Armstrong Manual Training School at 1st and P Streets, N.W. There will also be a few brief committee reports. Importantly, the second half of the meeting will be devoted to the hour of fellowship that we sponsor annually during the holiday season. This is an ideal opportunity to meet and greet neighbors from all parts of the community and, as usual, feel free to bring a dessert or a covered dish to share.
Note: I’m getting all woo-woo in the head and that’s nature’s signal for me to get more sleep. So I’ll be skipping tonight’s meeting and taking a nap, ’cause I don’t know how much longer I can last on auto-pilot today.
BACA and Blogger issues
First, Blogger is taking it’s sweet time posting my post and your comments. I’m guessing this will appear sometime tomorrow morning.
Second, there was a BACA meeting tonight and I may or not post my notes. If I fail to post the notes there are a few things I need to pass along.
202 373-3711 is the police non-emergency number. On my cell 311 does nothing.
Also ever wind up fighting with the 311/911 operator? Well you can ask to speak to a supervisor if the call is going that way…. and when you do and get hung up on, call 202 373-3700 for the call center supervisor.
BACA meeting 9/10
I’ll get my skimpy notes up later on the super secret site later. Yet there are two things I want to address.
Just for the love of G-d say no to chain emails.
The email the woman mentioned prior to the official start of the meeting, I believe is a hoax. But this one has the anti-illegal immigrant flava crystals. Warning emails like this are half the time false, clog up inboxes, and only serve to unsettle the receiver’s nerves. Not like we don’t have enough crime in our own little section of the world to worry about much less some story in another time zone.
Churches need to better publicize their local mission work.
Attending the BACA meeting was the pastor of Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai Baptist Church has been hosting the BACA and back when the PSA meetings since as long as I can remember. And the pastor asked the tiny assembly what the church could do to help the community (in addition to keep allowing BACA to meet). A fair amount of discussion was on social services and there was some back and forth with the Ward 5 representatives from the mayor and Mr. Thomas’ office, regarding a person the govt people are trying to find help for.
In that discussion I found out about some of the services that some of us could refer folks to in dire need.
Shelter– The church has a men’s shelter in the neighborhood with a handful of beds and it is staffed by a church volunteer. They used to have a women’s shelter but that apparently had too many complex issues (children, family, spouses, etc) and they just did not have the volunteers.
Clothes closet– You’ve seen it though the window. Free clothes to anyone who asks. There are no regular hours, but if you go to the educational center on R and 3rd or call the church office at 202 667-1833 or get a staff person at the church building who can call the person with the keys and let the person who needs it come in and pick out what they need.
Food pantry– Like the clothes closet.
Benevolence Committee There are funds to help with utility bills of persons in need. There are some questions the applicant needs to answer. Also one does not need to be a member of Mt. Sinai to request the help of the Benevolence Committee, but if the person is a member of another church community, Mt. Sinai would ask that the other church be asked first. It seems that Ebeneezer Baptist on the unit block of Q, also has a similar Benevolence fund.
I want to state that I know most of you reading this blog won’t probably ever need to use the church’s services, but from time to time bump into other residents who do need emergency food, clothing or a little help with the light bill.
There are plenty of churches…. plenty…and a mosque, around here that I know offer a hodgepodge of social services that can be tapped by those of our neighbors’ in need, it just that we don’t know or are not sure how they operate. There are also the odd program sponsored or hosted by churches that people of various income levels, such as AA meetings, Girl Scouts (yummmm cookies) and Boy Scouts.
Since I’m on hodgepodge, I believe the church on the 1200 blk of New Jersey Avenue on the Ward 2 side, offers a free breakfast. Or at least did offer a free weekday prayer (okay not completely free if prayer is costly) breakfast. And the 4th St 7th Day Advents on the 1600 blk of 4th has an early morning breakfast (with sermon) for the homeless/hungry on Sunday to feed a handful of people. The Korean Protestants at 4th and R offer free legal help.