Lost Logan Cat
I don't often post about lost pets and got this plea.
Hello. I, too, am anticipating the fourth here in our neighborhood: my cat is missing and the 4th is not a good time for a lost cat (cats are abused/hurt with firecrackers, loud noises make them run even further from their home location, etc.). Can everyone here on these blogs, Mari, please post info about my cat on other blogs and websites you know of, in addition to telling/emailing your friends, neighbors, community groups, churches, libraries, park area, etc., in order to spread the awareness of my missing cat, and be on the lookout in our neighborhoods--especially on the 4th with all the celebrations going on (and the shenanigans that could involve abusing cats). btw, my cat is VERY friendly, so he could easily be grabbed and abused. 8(. fyi, I live at 12th and Q; I can be reached ANYTIME (any sightings) at 2/ 683-0130 cell (email mariannalafollette at yahoo com). You can find more info and pictures on www.thumpercat.webs.com; also, there's a dc craigslist notice, http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/laf/1244678823.html. You can tell people about my site and refer them to the craigslist notice, btw, for easy, quick posts, and email headsup--and verbally tell people, too. ALSO, there is a reward, btw. Thanks for your comments about the 4th this weekend, Mari. Cheers, Marianna
(edited to deal with spambots)
Also considering the insensitive & cruel comments I saw on DCist regarding Molly the dog (plus the fact it's a holiday weekend and I don't want to spend too much time filtering) comments are closed.
Labels: animals
4th of July
I feel the need to warn the new people on the block about the 4th. But then so far all signs seem to say it isn't worth saying anything. In the past week I've heard only a few instances of fireworks going off. Before that maybe the odd explosion, but nothing worth blogging about.
So it is entirely possible that this July Fourth the DIY fireworks in the hood may be fairly tame and less war-zone like. But I'm not entirely sure as there are still vacant lots and other things that attract people with boxes of illegal fireworks. So we'll see.
Also I'm available should anyone want to invite me to their rooftop gathering. Watching and comparing the fireworks from the Mall, with the various displays popping out of Columbia Heights, Brookland, Capitol Hill, and Dupont/ Foggy Bottom/Georgetown (can't really tell) is quite enjoyable. However when stuck on the ground it's a bunch of noise & smoke.
Labels: events
Quirky Business
I went to
Thai X-ing, and it has been a while for me as I've been making more of my own meals and cooking up ingredients from the Bloomingdale Farmers Market. Since opening
back in 2005 getting your food isn't measured in hours any more. Taw has gotten help, made some changes, and if I order early enough, I get my food around the estimated time. In time some of us have learned to tolerate/love Thai X-ing's quirks. With those quirks, others, have managed to work with Taw's flexible, if not super easygoing nature, to transform the little hole in the wall eatery. It isn't like your average Thai restaurant or carryout. I've been in it at times when the best description is 'your friend's friend's basement apartment living room that happens to have a guy cooking Thai food in the back.'
Timor Bodega is another quirky business, and it's been open for about a year and a half and is still figuring itself out. It's not like your usual quickie mart, in that it lacks cigarettes, Lotto, and 5 kinds of MD 20/20, the big money makers. Nor is it a chi-chi wine and cheese shop, mainly because of the minimal amount of cheese, which may or may not change. I hung out with the owner this past weekend and learned a bit about the Timor and its quirks. Kim, the owner, does some small scale coffee roasting for customers, but doesn't heavily promote this service. The store does experiment with various new products, like the duck eggs (good for when you're aiming for thickness). I guess I can't avoid mentioning the least popular quirk, the post-robbery closed gate during business hours thing. Kim's reasoning on doing this has less to do with the crime (where they only got $50, and sadly there was another sort-of attempt by some 15 yr olds) and more to do with business being slow on beautiful days. Besides he's usually 15-20 seconds away. But there are things about Timor that make it a neighborhood jewel. For me it is and always has been the milk and the rich cream. It is also the local eggs, the granola, and the wines, of which Kim can talk about, if you ask him. It will be interesting to see what Timor will look like in a year and what it will be carrying. Maybe more cheese and cured meats?
Labels: Bloomingdale/Eckington, business
Anyone know anything about this bill
Today around noon the DC Council is looking at the "Human Rights for Ex-Offenders Amendment Act of 2009”,
Bill 18-0136. According to the Council's agenda it is:
To amend the Human Rights Act of 1977 to prohibit employment, housing, and educational discrimination based upon arrest record, or conviction record, with certain exceptions based on the relationship of the arrest or conviction to the position sought, lack of knowledge of the conviction, reliance upon an authorized certification, a record of violent crimes, or positions specifically exempt.
The DCGOP is looking at it from an employer standpoint. I'm comcerned about it from a residential and landlord standpoint, as I know several people who rent out their basement apartments, and when they bother to do a background check past criminal activity is one of those things. I believe it should be at the owners descretion.
Labels: government
Random Lunchtime babbling on Bundy Park
A couple of weeks ago I signed a petition in favor for a dog park at Bundy. I don't own a dog and have no plans to own one in the immediate future. However I do benefit from having a neighborhood with responsible owners with well trained dogs, like I benefit from living on a block dominated by homeowners. It's not my house or my dog, but the actions that the homeowners and dog owners take, or have incentives to do, that improve the neighborhood and improve my quality of life here.
I will also note that I don't live in Ward 2 where the proposed parking lot/field is. I'm over in Ward 5, so my opinion doesn't matter or count. But I have an opinion and Ward 5 owners over in the Truxton area would more than likely use it, and it is very unfortunate that our voices won't count.
One could say it is a children vs dogs, white vs black, adults vs children, greenspace vs pave the world, or a slew of other A vs B. For me 'A' is comprised of those residents who wake up within comfortable walking distance (everyone has a different comfort level) from the parcel of land in question. This includes white residents, black residents, Latino residents, Asian residents, multi-racial residents, grandmas on fixed incomes whose companions are little yippie dogs, single women who got dogs for security, kids that pestered their parents to get a dog, other people with dogs and their friends who may not have dogs, but like dogs. What I have noticed with the increase of having neighbors with dogs is there are people walking around in the morning when I go to work. Those people are more eyes on the street adding to my personal safety. There are people walking around in the evening when I run errands. There are neighbors, people I've met at BACA meetings or other gatherings, who are out, available for a quick word, a wave hello because they have to walk the dog. More people on the street encourage more people to get out and walk, dog or no, which improves the health of the resident community.
For a while my dog owning neighbors would walk their dogs in the alley, which in turn, discouraged drug stashing and other negatives that were problems.
I consider a convenient location as something that you can walk to at a regular pace in 10 minutes, 15 maybe. The Shaw dog park is past my 10 minute range and I walk fast, so a convenient location is Bundy.
Another point, Shaw as a whole has a lot, a lot of social service organizations of various sizes that do a lot of great work from providing day care for children of families with AID/HIV, homeless services, counseling, food distribution, poverty advocacy, you name it, it comes with the diversity of the neighborhood. One would hope that new social services moving to the area would become good neighbors. Unfortunately with the sensitivity of the function of Safe Shores, I can see how it could develop into a fortress to keep out the community in order to maintain privacy and security. That sort of thing would not make the surrounding area safer or secure. Besides asking for variances and other permissions, I don't foresee much future interaction with the surrounding community. I can foresee walking by a darkened parking lot at night, making that corridor of P Street scary and dangerous.
The other thing is does Safe Shores really need 100 parking spaces? Since the organization's parking space would come from government owned land that we believed slated for community (and one hope 'community' in this sense means nearby residents) use, the community should question the need for the number of spaces. Does it need 25 spaces? 30? and why. This isn't Largo, MD or other parts of suburban Maryland where parking is a given. This is central, Old City DC, and free parking isn't a guaranteed right. Nor should it be automatically given no questions asked to non-profits and other organizations no matter how nobel the mission. Safe Shores will not be the last social service locating to the area if history is a guage. I understand counsellors and parents coming from other wards will need parking, but how much?
Labels: non-profits/advocates, parking, quality of life
Before the ANCs
Everyso often I see on
other blogs commentary about the
ANC system here in the District. Suggestions on how to improve them varies, but I wanted to share something, which may or may not add to the discussion. The ANC system came about after Home Rule in the 70s and are in line with the Ward system. Before Home Rule there were the civic (black) and the citizen (white) neighborhood associations that would advocate for city services.
I noticed, when poking around in early 20th century DC history, some associations' borders kept changing or had proposed changes due to population changes or other reasons. In 1925 the North Washington merged with the North Capitol and Eckington Citizens Asssociations to become the North Capitol Society. The reason was the two groups tended to overlap and replicate each others work.
Even after the ANC system, there were changes in size and number. The system that was put in place in 1974-1976 does not look the same as the one we have today. So changes can be made, because they have been made.
Labels: ANC, city services, history
Historic house in LeDroit
Yesterday I wandered over to 3rd Street NW to admire the history. Please note this house, the chain link fence, the history! Some folks know the significance of this house, which currently is a private home from all indications. So please do not harass the occupants. Up until a few days ago I had passed the house on a few occasions without noting its importance. Then one day I was cleaning off my desk at work and there was this brochure for the National Archives' Regional Archives- Southeast Region in Morrow, GA. As objects of interest they had on the brochure national registration cards for notables who at the time probably weren't that notable when they filled out the card. Of the five cards there are the names and then current addresses for
Huey Long, Jr.,
George Herman Ruth, James E. Carter, and Harry Houdini. And also some
guy named Ed who lived on 3rd Street.
----
The house was one of several homes occupied by Edward Kennedy Ellington, also known as Duke Ellington. He was 19 when living at the house pictured.
Labels: historic districts, history, other neighborhoods
How not to run a green campaign
I walked home from work, and found DDOE's
Green.DC trash strewn all on my street's sidewalk. Little door hangers like you see pictured, weren't even on the fence. They were on the ground in front of the gate like someone didn't even try. Later, walking around the neighborhood, I saw more of these things on
other fences, on
doorsteps, on
security door gates, but not on any actual doors, as the items are designed to go on. More than often I saw them on the sidewalk, in the gutter, in treeboxes and in the streets.
And to date this witnessing, I had a continuous soundtrack of Micheal Jackson music playing from various houses along my route, as the King of Pop had just died a few hours ago. I swear yesterday/this morning someone (can't remember who, PoP?) blogged about the "Green" trash littering the neighborhoods and someone from the DC government saying that was a mistake and they'd clean it up.
Maybe I could suggest to DC Green to just stop. You stop now, and don't distribute anymore at this moment, you've cut down on trash by prevention. Then I suggest oh, an hour or two in training distributors on the finer points of the door notice. Note that it is supposed to go on a door. Not a fence. Not a gate. But a door. More specifically, a door handle. A door handle is the thing people use to open a door. I recommend the guy who distributes the Chinese carryout, which managed to make it to my mailbox. Though not correct, better than the sidewalk in front of my house.
Maybe the city can
lead by example by not trashing my hood like a bunch of thuggy teenagers with a finished bag of Rap Snacks.
Labels: city services
Hanover Civic Association Meeting
I'm posting this here because I got a very recent question about the Hanover Civic Association and my basic answer was 'Idunno'. The northern half of the TC is Bates, which is what I know more about, the southern half, below P Street is Hanover.
Neighbors,
On Thursday, June 25 at 7:00 pm members of the Hanover Civic Association will meet at the Armstrong School to entertain presentations on the recent DC Government decisions providing:
(1) the Cooke School for social, health and after-school programs and housing for 40 families by the Latin American Youth Center, and (2) the potential development of the vacant lot located at the intersection of Q Street and Florida Avenue, NW into 27-units of cooperative housing.
Both projects were presented at the Bates Area Civic Association meetings, but the meeting tomorrow will give us an opportunity to learn more.
Both projects will increase the number of housing units as well as the mix of diversity in our community that many neighbors welcome. However, is the new housing an indication that government is giving our community increased attention? How will the new housing improve our neighborhood? How will it increase the tax base? Will the new housing be compelling enough to spur development of commercial establishments, sit-down restaurants, and retailers along the North Capitol corridor? Will the need for social services increase in the neighborhood? Will the programs be open to current neighbors?
Comissioners Sylvia Pinkney and Anita Bonds
Labels: Hanover
Will do history for food/ keyboard
Here's the thing. I need a new
keyboard for the old Mac. The current one is kinda cruddy and it would be a simple task to ride on over to the Apple store in Arlington, but I've noticed that I haven't been across the bridge to Virginia for what seems like a year. And thus, I have discovered this personal record of not going somewhere and would like to extend it to Thanksgiving (I may want to hit up Pentagon City for Christmas).
So what is this to you? Well if you live in Truxton Circle or one block off on the New Jersey side or the New York Avenue side, I will do an address history for you in exchange for a new keyboard. Since I have a lot of data related to the constantly dropped Census project and can hit 3 repositories for DC history on my way walking home, it would be a sort of easy for me. My qualifications? Seriously, if you need to know, is a MA in Early Modern European History from UMASS-Amherst and an MLS (grad degree in Library Science) from UMCP and over 10 years working in libraries and archives. So this is a deal.
But you'll get what you exchange for, meaning I'll give about 5-10 hours of work and no more than $10 worth of photocopies. Also no packaging, just raw data. I like to leave interpretation up to the user.
So, who wants to get me a keyboard?
Labels: neighborhood history
Bundy
There is a fair amount of unhappiness on the Shaw Neighborhood Listserv. Part of me is a little detached as it's over in Ward 2, Jack Evans Land, and I am over in Ward 5 (dang Ward system separating us from the rest of Shaw), so as a voter I don't have Jack, I just got jack. But, Bundy is on the edge, close to the TC. I've not nothing useful to add but links.
DC Gov Responds on Bundy Parking Lot- from the BACA blog
One unhappy email on the
Shaw Listserv, and
a response from Jack Evans.
No surprise this happened as BACA had been surprised about the future use of the Cook School.
Labels: city services, schools
