“HIPSTERS WHO fled Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights to
take refuge in the Georgia Avenue corridor in recent years are being
followed up Park Road by construction equipment…” according to yesterday’s Washington Express.
Mmm, yeah I think I saw a hipster at the Hitching Post drinking a Pabst beer just the other night.
Are there hipsters (present company excluded) in Petworth?
As Homer Simpson might say: Taco Bell – the cause and solution to all of life’s problems. With this in mind I thought I would treat myself to my standard T-bell fare – two meximelts and a nachos supreme. It is the small things in life that make it special. Alas the Taco Bell on 14th Street can sometimes be a less than ideal experience.
So I’m waiting on line to order the meal I would probably order as my last meal if I were on death row and I’m getting giddy with anticipation. Unfortunately, the cashier did not share my joy. Instead she is yelling at whom I can only assume must be the manager. She is adamant that she is not going to plunge the toilet. And I have to admit I sympathized with her. I can only imagine how horrid the toilet in Taco Bell on 14th Street must be.
So the manager leaves and the cashier and I have a heart to heart, we discuss all the reasons why she is not going to plunge the toilet. I admit that this is less than ideal banter before ordering dinner but I do believe the manager was being a jerk, so I fully supported her decision.
I finally ordered my dinner and I was already imagining that first bite when things seemed to have hit a snag. My comrade, the cashier, took my money, ordered my food and then promptly went on break. Unfortunately nobody was there to give me the order.
I saw the food sitting on the table just taunting me. But no, the woman who makes the food, very nicely by the by, does not give it to the customer. The cashier must also give the food to the customer. Well, it felt like a curb your enthusiasm episode. I’m standing there, staring at my food on the counter, listening to the cashier in the back talking about not plunging the toilet… So I’m thinking to myself – do I hop the counter and grab my food? I mean I already paid for it. No, I just sit and brew. And five minutes later I got my food and ran from the border.
T.A. Uqdah
Last Wednesday evening I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mr. Uqdah and his wife and campaign manager Pamela Ferrell to discuss Mr. Uqdah’s run for Ward 4 City Council. My neighbor and Domku bartender Joe was making fun of me for pretending to be a journalist when Mr. Uqdah and his wife arrived. Mr. Uqdah had a presence about him that allowed me to recognize him immediately even though we had never met. Mr. Uqdah, dressed impeccably in a tan suit, is a tall man with a magnetic personality that makes you feel like you are in the presence of a TV star, a professional athlete or a, well a politician.
Although, as I was to learn, Mr. Uqdah did not come across as a traditional politician littering our conversation with campaign rhetoric, rather Mr. Uqdah comes across as the exact opposite, frankly he is a passionate person with an engaging personality and with some bold and somewhat controversial new ideas, if not the most politically sophisticated ones. Clearly there is no Greenberg and associates feeding him polling data behind the scenes here. Nevertheless, Mr. Uqdah seems to be brimming with confidence and charm. The fact that Ms. Ferrell was able to join us was an added bonus. Ms. Ferrell was about half the size of Mr. Uqdah with very serious eyes that exuded intelligence. So we sat down for a half an hour interview that ended up lasting one and a half hours. Mr. Uqdah had the mussels and a black coffee while Ms. Ferrell had a specialty tea and apple pie.
Mr. Uqdah is a lifelong DC resident who attended public school in DC and now lives in the Brightwood Park or 16th Street Heights neighborhood of Ward 4. He is 54 years old and the father of two young children. He has lived in Ward 4 for the past 26 years and he previously ran for city council, unsuccessfully, in 1992. Currently he is a businessman, he and his wife own and run Cornrows & Co. hair salon on 14th Street. In addition to a businessman, Mr. Uqdah, is a community activist, volunteer and lobbyist for a variety of causes. Although he seemed most proud of his efforts working with community youth as well as working on efforts to beautify neighborhoods in Ward 4. When asked why he was running now he replied “the opportunity presented itself.”
DC Public Schools
Mr. Uqdah supports in principle Mayor-elect Fenty’s plan on taking over the school board, however, he will first need to see the plan in full before he will make a final judgment. Mr. Uqdah presented some unique ideas as we discussed the DC public school system. DC should consider establishing more vocational schools to teach our youth practical skills that can help address the City’s future needs. He offered the teaching of elevator and escalator repair as an example. Secondly, and a bit more controversially, Mr. Uqdah stressed the need for more parental involvement vis a vis their children’s education. He suggested an admittedly radical solution to make the parental role a mandatory one. When I inquired further as to what exactly he meant by mandatory he alluded to the fining and/or incarceration of parents if they failed to fulfill their roles. Now what exactly their roles are to be aside from attending PTA meetings was not completely flushed out. Nevertheless it was refreshing to hear a point of view that included the importance of parents in the successful education of their children.
Mr. Uqdah’s children are currently home-schooled.
Garbage on the streets
“Consider legislation that would make an additional tax for carry out restaurant orders” Mr. Uqdah boldly suggested. This additional tax could then be used to fund additional cleanup crews. But to get at the root of the problem Mr. Uqdah believes that this issue must be addressed in DC public schools. “The kid need a civics lesson,” he said. Couple that with more garbage cans on the street and you can make a dent in the problem. Mr. Uqdah hopes that if the children are educated to take pride in their community they can then transfer this pride to their parents and guardians.
Crime
Cameras will not solve the problem according to Mr. Uqdah. Rather we need a revised community police effort. This effort will allow Ward 4 residents to get to know their neighborhood police officers just like many residents know their mailmen/women. When I asked Mr. Uqdah who his mailman was he answered without hesitating. He also told me where his postman lived and when his birthday was. It was very impressive. Mr. Uqdah said he can train people to do what he has done successfully: cleaning up neighborhoods, working with troubled youth, even getting a dysfunctional mental health home removed from his neighborhood.
In Mr. Uqdah I saw a man who practices what he preaches. But my concern is that many of his answers worked on a small scale but I question whether they can work on a larger Ward wide scale. It was not clear he had fully thought out the obstacles to translating his personal experiences to a Ward of over 50,000 residents.
Gentrification
Not an issue according to Mr. Uqdah. The best way to get people to integrate into their neighborhoods is simply to get out with your kids or your pets and meet and talk with your neighbors.
Georgia Avenue Revitalization
We need more restaurants, bookstores, flower shops, bistros, watering holes, we need all of those things according to Mr. Uqdah. This was music to my ears. Although Mr. Uqdah does not believe that the government should dictate what type of stores must go in certain locales. Let’s let the market take care of that, said Mr. Uqdah.
Proposed Homeless Shelter in Ward 1 on Georgia Ave
We need to create a program to transition the homeless not simply to shelter them temporarily said Mr. Uqdah. The people running the homeless shelter must give real assurances that they will have ultimate accountability for the shelter he said. When pressed if he supported the specific shelter in Ward 1 off Georgia Ave, he said he would not support its move from the U Street area.
Old Soldiers’ and Airman’s Home
“In a perfect world I’d like to see really affordable housing” said Mr. Uqdah. He tweaked Mayor William’s wish that DC attract 100,000 new residents, rather Mr. Uqdah would like to see DC attract 100,000 new families. The key to that success, according to Mr. Uqdah is affordable housing. Mr. Uqdah did not mention anything about the need for public green spaces.
Books, Music and Movies
Mr. Uqdah is currently reading a book on Martin Luther King’s leadership style by Donald T. Philips.
Mr. Uqdah is listening to a CD by John Legend.
As for movies, Mr. Uqdah reminded me that he had two little children and mentioned something about the wheels on the bus going round and round.
In Sum
Mr. Uqdah is someone with a real passion for the City and for Ward 4 in particular. He has adopted the successful green colors (his campaign literature does feature a photograph of Mr. Uqdah in an unfortunate combination of light green turtle neck sweater and green felt hat but this is not a fashion critique) from the Fenty campaign, and most importantly he is not afraid to speak his mind. I have no doubt he would be a passionate advocate for Petworth.
You can visit Mr. Uqdah’s website at www.UQDAH44.com
I have decided to experiment with hair gel this morning as my hair has started to get a bit long. I may have made a mistake. I now look like Gordon Gecko from the movie “Wall Street” circa mid-80s.
I cannot express how weird it is to eat borsht in Petworth but like a Beck song it is a little twisted but mostly very, very cool.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernake says the economy is doing well but the housing market is slumping. My question to you is – how will this affect my eating borsht in Petworth? Is the housing market slump good or bad for Domku? Like many I think housing prices in Petworth have gotten a bit ridiculous. I was excited at first but then realized quickly that property taxes can get brutal. I digress, I just want to make sure we can all continue to eat Borsht in Petworth. Will Petworth residents continue to support Domku strongly enough for it to survive?
As is the theme in the Prince of Petworth, I absolutely do not advocate doing as I do. So as I have mentioned, my walks home from the metro are sometimes less than pleasant. As such I have taken to preparing myself for my walk home with a little bit of protection and I don’t mean the trojan kind. So from time to time I carry a little something in my back pocket not really so much for defense but psychologically it makes me feel a bit better.
So I was going to a metro stop on the green line with my defense in my back pocket listening to the ipod and feeling good. So of course I’m waiting 12 minutes for the metro to come and I’m oblivious to the world around me. Well, a metro cop walks right up to me and asks if he can talk to me. Of course being the good law abiding citizen that I am, I oblige the officer. He asks me “are you off duty?”. Hmm, I’m thinking I had jury duty once but I have no idea what he is talking about, so I stutter what!? He quickly realizes I’m not a cop which is pretty apt as I look more like an insurance agent. At any rate he says “you know I could arrest you for that in your back pocket”. I say, very innocently, I did not know that. I ask the officer if he would like me to put it in my back pack? He replies no it’s cool just cover it with your shirt – have a good day.
Now, of course I am grateful to the officer for not arresting me but it does make me wonder how much discretion these guys have enforcing the law. Anyway, I shan’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The moral of the story: The Prince of Petworth is one lucky bastard.
Now like anyone I appreciate a clean car but I have to be honest, I don’t really understand obsessive car washing. Is it just an excuse to get out of the house? Is car washing the golf of Petworth? True story: scene – about three years ago when that hurricane hit us, I had to walk my dog because my dog was a very particular dog and understandably (as has been posted below) when you gotta go you gotta go. So I take my dog for a walk and the wind is howling, the rain is pouring and I’m thinking to myself, why the hell did I get a dog? At any rate as I’m congratulating my dog for taking car of business and tree branches are littering the street, I see a guy washing his car. During the hurricane he is washing his car? What the hell is that? I mean, won’t the 65 mph winds and driving rain clean the car anyway?
Well, as I always say I don’t like to judge. And I of course appreciate the gleaming cars I see on my walk to the metro. So to answer the question about obsessive carwashing – who cares! What ever works for you. I’m sure people would question my obsessive ping pong playing. So cheers to all the clean cars and please forgive my dirty Honda – I’m just waiting for the next hurricane to show my solidarity.
Say what you will about the service but Domku has been an incredible addition to the flavor and feel of Petworth. The owner of Domku deserves huge credit in taking ownership and pride of the once beautiful, once sketchy, and now starting to become beautiful again Upshur street corridor. I just read the post in Petworth News about the possible addition of a Farmer’s Market Saturday mornings. I am near tears I am so happy. This kind of development is exactly what makes me so proud to be a Petworth resident. We’ll finally get farm fresh eggs! Wonderful news and my gratitude to all the folks behind this effort.
Tip of the day: Say hello to folks as you pass them on your walks, it brings a smile to their faces and helps foster the community feel that is so strong in Petworth.
The age old question: Do I walk home from the metro or take a cab? Now, as I’ve mentioned previously I am a cityboy from New York and as such was raised in a way, well, actually to be paranoid. Now I come home from the metro especially when it has gotten dark and I wonder to myself – Am I going to get mugged today? I know this is crazy but I guess I read the metro section of the Post too frequently. Well, I see young ladies walking home alone and I wonder to myself are they crazy? Do they know something I don’t know? So the question is: What is the cut off time for walking home from the metro? 8 pm, 9 pm, 10 pm, later? What are your thoughts.
Also, for those runners out there: how comfortable do you feel jogging around the neighborhood? Do you always run with a partner?
Stay tuned for Ward 4 Candidate interviews which should begin posting next week.
And most importantly have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
As such, I will be interviewing all candidates running for City Council in the special election to replace Mayor Fenty. I will not post a word for word transcription but I will post my overall impressions and particularly impressive responses or fresh ideas. (Ed note: I was a reporter for two years covering the Pentagon and US national security issues.) I am not out to embarrass anyone. I simply will give my own personal impressions for you to do with what you wish. At the end of all my interviews I will endorse a candidate who I hope will be the best bet for representing Petworth and all of Ward 4 during these critical years. Pl ease consider this another resource for Petworth residents, no more no less.
I am happy to announce that the first potential candidate to be interviewed will be Mr. Tony Towns. Please email me at [email protected] if you or your candidate would like to be interviewed as well.
These special elections are known to have a low voter turnout and generally generate less interest from the mainstream press. This is understandable but as conscientious Petworth residents and voters it is our duty to educate ourselves and vote for whichever candidate we think is best for Petworth.