DC Feds go home. Government is closed according to WJLA and Fox 5. I would have checked OPM but it wouldn’t load.
I’m going home to a nice warm, warm house. I got the boiler yesterday from Contractor #1 installed and it churns out heat like a big heating thing…. Contractor #1 has now received many many brownie points.
Tag: government
Dang it, it’s cold
My face froze.
That’s what it felt like walking to the metro this morning. According to WAMU the weather with the wind chills feels like the teens or single digits.
In other weather related tales, from the Eckington Listserv:
The District of Columbia wants to help residents whose heat has been shut off, but it’s having trouble finding them. That’s because consumer protection laws prohibit utilities from turning over their addresses.
Without that key information, the city has been trying to pinpoint zip codes with a history of disconnections. Mayor Adrian Fenty has directed his staff to begin door-to-door visits of homes in those areas to let people know about utility assistance that’s available from the government.
Terry Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, says utilities told him that between 700 and 800 customers are likely without gas heat. Lynch made his inquiries after the death this month of 65-year-old Bessie Sanders. Her home caught fire because she had been burning candles after her utilities were shut off.
Information from: The (Washington) Examiner: http://www.dcexaminer.com
I don’t have heat. Okay that’s a lie. However, my furnace is still (after nearly a month) non-operational because of that blocked chimney thing. Don’t worry, I discovered my basement maintains a temperature of about 50F no matter what I do. The “new” kitchen has electric radiant heat in the floor. When I’m home I just heat the room that I happen to be in, and not the whole house.
Usually when it gets cold I see the hotline number for the shelters for the homeless. I’m not seeing it but when it gets below freezing call the Hypothermia Hotline at 1-800-535-7252 so those sleeping on the street will be offered a warmer alternative.
Can DC workers make a suggestion?
I regret that I’m going to have to be vague because I really don’t want to get this person in any more trouble than they already are, so bare with me. Say person X, let’s call ’em Bob, works for a DC agency. Bob is a trained professional, and I belive certified to do what he does. Over time Bob discovers fraud. Not on the part of the DC govt or any of its workers but on the side of the people that he serves. Because of some loop holes in the rules and guidelines, non-DC citizens are getting benifits that are supposed to go to DC citizens. The agency and thus the city is failing to confirm that the people are DC residents.
I don’t know if Bob suggested closing up the loophole to his superiors, which he should have done in the first place. What I do know is that Bob made mention of it in the Mayor’s suggestion box. Then the poop hit the fan.
I need a mini-can
I have a large supercan. With 1 or 2 people I tend to put the trash out maybe once a month or every 3 weeks. My alley is too small for the trash truck to come through and so my side of the street has to put the cans out on the sidewalk. Several of my neighbors have just taken to leaving the cans on the sidewalk. Which is “improper trash storage”, but I’m not going there. No, I don’t need a supercan. I need a mini-can. I spotted a few minicans in other neighborhoods, in front of houses with obviously no yard space. They are the size of the blue recycle cans. My recycle can goes to the curb more often than my supercan. My yard is too small for the supercan. My backyard could do without the hulking ugly that is my supercan. But am I willing to deal with DPW to try to get a minican and be all different?