Tag: government

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.

Fun with Eleanor Holmes Norton

This weekend, I and several neighborhood bloggers were invited to talk with Delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton. From my notes the topics were the $5,000 DC tax credit for home buyers and businesses, development, the gun law, Home Rule, Homeland Security, how she got into her position and Union Station. Possibly before all the questions she did talk about how she wound up getting into it with Stephen Colbert and how Colbert has helped the cause of DC voting rights. (See video of Colbert honoring her for an award)
I asked the question about the tax break because I consider it part of a package that makes buying in DC more attractive than MD or NoVA. Ms. Norton talked about how that lovely tax credit came to be in a GOP dominated Congress and how a tax credit was more appealing than asking for more money. As one who has taken that tax credit, I told her (later, after the Q&A ended) what it meant for me.
Though she cannot vote on the floor, Ms. Norton is in several committees where she can vote. She is the chair for the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. Now what does that mean for neighborhoods? Well she did explain it, but I take crappy notes. Somehow it relates to the creation of places like NoMa, and it relates to being able to influence developers who do government and public/private development and encouraging positive development that helps the city grow. Grow and not be a dead urban center surrounded by suburbs where agencies (and there are a lot out there in Langley, Beltsville, Bethesda, etc) flee.
Anyway, it was a good exchange.

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.

Friday grab bag

Brian of OffSeventh retires from blogging. He had a good run. I understand it, as you may know my co-blogger Truxtonian no longer posts. Back when I did bother to bug T. and ask him to post something, he said he didn’t want to post angry. Understandable. There are things that make me want to quit too. However, I’m clinging to the idea of ‘it’s my blog, I’ll post whatever the hell I feel like.’ Which means not posting a lot of things, because I don’t wanna, and I don’t feel like it. And posting somewhat neighborhood related stuff that I care about right now, like houses, gardening, new businesses opening up. Next week it might be alley cats, some history related item, and “dude, where’s my trash bin?” InShaw exists for my entertainment, when I cease to be entertained, so will the blog.

Yesterday, I wandered over to the courthouse after work to try to figure out how to legally get my name changed. I’ve been noticing that ever since 9-11 it’s been harder to get people/ agencies/ companies to go along with the first initial, middle name, last name style I’ve been using since high school. There is a new ID I have to get as a federal drone that won’t/ can’t let me go by my middle name. So, I have to legally change my name, to my name. Sadly, I found the DC Court website, not as helpful as I would have liked. I was able to find one of the name change forms, but no fee schedule ($60 for what I want), or what ID I needed (birth certificate, passport, etc), or the other forms needed.
So I walked over to find the main entrance blocked off and the Chief of Police standing in front of a bunch of local reporters. Someone was nice enough to point out the downstairs entrance that I didn’t know about. Apparently someone fell from the 3rd floor. The chatter in the elevators was that it was suicide.
I got my forms and my info and now I got to find my birth certificate, a newspaper with legal notice fees that aren’t high, and $60 bucks.

Lastly, Mrs. Gibbs house, at 1626 3rd St NW is back on the market. Rumor had it that Mt. Sinai, which owns a few properties along the 1600 block of 3rd was talking with the family. Guess that fell through, if it was true. So 1626 & 1628 are on the market for a combined price of $635K if someone wanted both. Another thing I noticed was 1620 4th St. dropped its price again, and is $250,000, down from its original price of $390K. The taxable land value is $223K, so I guess the structure is almost worthless.

There is nothing like a common threat to bring folks together

Under normal circumstances those of us in the room regarding what to JF Cook are disagreeing over the name of the neighborhood (or avoiding the naming fight altogether). However, last we were pretty much united against the idea of a food and clothing distribution and a city wide job training center. And strongly for a police substation, early child development and youth services/recreation.
Sadly, the MM Washington and JF Cook discussions were in separate rooms, despite the fact that the two schools are right next door to each other, so the same set of neighbors are impacted by what happens at either school. Our great BACA leader Jim Berry was there and later went to the next room where I guess he expressed the same background and concerns regarding the neighborhood, and the history of surplussed schools such as Armstrong. So, I have no idea what went on in the next room.
I can say what happened in the Cook room. There were several ideas about what the school could serve as in the interim and long term. The two ideas that got the room riled up came from two individuals who were pushing for services for the homeless and the nearly homeless. Because of the schools’ proximity to S.O.M.E. and the residents’ rocky relationship with the non-profit (and other near by social services) as a neighborhood entity, there was an uproar. It did not help those individuals’ case when they opposed the idea of moving the early child development from Slater to Cook and opposed the police substation idea. There was a lot of people talking over each other and the Planning Office representative looked like he was on the edge of losing his temper with the group.
If you missed this meeting there is a follow up April 10th at I guess the same time 6ish, at McKinley Tech’s Auditorium. But really, as someone mentioned, since these impact the local neighborhood these feedback sessions should be presented at the ANC meetings and to the civic groups.

More on the empty schools

From the Truxton Discussion Forum:

Please see this idea from Jim Berry:
Please consider . . . the idea of making JF Cook School a police substation, the site of office space for ANC 5C and, perhaps, other appropriate community uses, as well as the idea of encouraging an Arts emphasis for the future use of MM Washington, should it eventually close. I think it safe to assume that none of us wants the buildings that now house JF Cook School and MM Washington to go the way of the former John Mercer Langston Elementary School or the former Armstrong Adult Education Center buildings — essentially, abandoned by the city and languishing in our community as an attractive nuisance for drug dealers and users, homeless persons, and the like.

As for MM Washington… one possibility might be to turn it into a place for artists — an idea that was floated by the local government and one which we endorsed, I believe, in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. At the time, O Street, N.W. and Hanover Place, N.W. were already budding hubs for this kind of activity. Perhaps we could revisit some of those ideas. Also, we could give artists special consideration to locate their businesses there and require them to hold classes for interested children and adults, in return for that consideration.

I love the idea of artists studios. There are artists studios already in the hood and the more the merrier. What I would love is something linking the artists areas in the TC so we have this spot over in southeast Truxton for art professionals and amateurs. Excellent idea Jim.

As far as the substation at Cook… Sure, as long as the building can share with offices.

What to do about empty schools


100_0726.JPG
Originally uploaded by In Shaw

There will be a meeting (isn’t there always a meeting about anything around here?) March 20th for Ward 5 from 6-8pm at McKinley Technology High School about reuse of school buildings like JF Cook (as seen in pix); Backus; Taft; Slowe; MM Washington and Young.
If nothing else pops up on my after work calendar (like another meeting for something else or emergency hair appointment) I’ll probably attend. I have some ideas of what I’d like the two closing schools in the TC to be:
Not residential housing- Takes too long, requires too many committees, red tape, and people get all huffy when it’s not affordable or it’s not luxury.
Office Space…. for a non-social services branch of DC govt- I can’t imagine it would take too much work to replace small desks with cubicles. I say non-social services ’cause folks get annoyed with the non-profit social service orgs around here and get into a tizzy when another one pops up (SOME and group houses).
Office Space-non-profits (non-social services)- for the same reasons stated above. However, it would require hoops and other pieces of red tape.
My main interest is finding someone, something that could move into Cooke or MM Washington as soon as the kids clear out. As when the city mothballs these buildings they allow for their slow destruction. The longer they are mothballed the more likely they will look like Langston or Armstrong and become de facto homeless shelters and crack ho bordellos.

Useful tool? Good Government?

While on vacation, I did watch the news so yes, I’m aware of certain big national stories. However, I didn’t care. What did catch my eye was something the town of Winter Garden, FL was doing which made me wonder if DC is doing something similar, and if not, why not.
What the City of Winter Garden has is a website showing commercial properties available for lease or sale. Then when you find a property, it gives you the selling price, the lease per sq ft, and the contact agent should you actually want to set up shop. The demographic information is possibly where the city mixes in it’s info by showing what certain (I’m talking very specific like “Medical transcriptionists”) occupations make per hour and annually, where other businesses are in relation to the location you are looking at, and how much money per household and per $000s was spent on things like “Women’s Apparel” in a certain mile radius.
When I heard of that I thought, that would be great for parts of DC that need to attract businesses, like North Cap. However, that would require sharing information with the public, being pro-business, working with private entities, and pro-active. Yet considering that the District can be sloppy with information, anti-small business, and stubborn as a mule against change, I highly doubt the City would provide a tool like Winter Garden’s that would inspire someone to open that small boutique or that dentist’s office, or some other small business by seeing how much particular skilled labor and space will run them.
Another thing, looking at the long list of Winter Garden occupations and their average wages and salaries, got me to thinking about how that may be helpful for job seekers and people trying to become more valuable as workers. So not only would the tool help potential employers but employees as well.

Info Government May Provide

During one of the usual weekend calls I have with my mother, my mom was complaining once again about her property tax. Without getting too detailed, my parents divorced but Dad’s name is still on the land, and thus, Mom says her homestead exemption is not as great as it could be. So the other day I wandered over to her Florida county tax assessor’s website, which is embarrassingly amateur looking, to see exactly how Mom’s getting taxed.
I wasn’t expecting much, maybe just an assessment pulled out of thin air. What I got blew me away. I got the usual, the assessor’s idea of property worth, the homestead exemption, the tax, and a general description of the property. In addition, there were links to vital records like my parent’s divorce judgement. Clicking around, for other properties, there were links to PDF copies of death certificates (with SS#s blacked out), quit claims, certified titles, maps, tax deeds, and building permits issued if the documents were produced in the last 10 or so years. The public information about things relating to property was linked right on the assessor’s page.
This made me wonder, could larger cities have the same sort of traditionally public information (deaths, divorces, permits, quit claims) available on line? Links to permits would be exceedingly useful. Not even the copy of a building permit, but just even the building permit number, date issued, would be very helpful. Right now I can only find permits issued in the last few months.
But I realize this is only a dream because it would mean different agencies actually working together to serve the citizenry.
___
Additional: I just dug deeper with the example permit, it shows the inspection. I would kill for this depth of detail with permits issued in the city. No more trying to read tiny writing on a stair of a rickty house.