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“Dear PoP,

Have you heard anything about the car fire that happened last night on the 3200 bock of Hiatt Place NW. I live across 16th Street from Powell Rec Center and just before 10pm last night I heard a huge boom and when I looked out my window I could see rapidly rising flames on a parked car. I also thought I heard 4-5 gunshots in the following minutes between the explosion and the arrival of the fire trucks.”

I haven’t seen anything from MPD or DCFIREEMS yet. Anyone else who lives around here see what happened? I’ll be sure to update as more info becomes available.


“Dear PoP,

Today I was walking home from work on 16th St. NW, about a block behind a large group of kids probably around the age of 14-18. They were generally being loud, boisterous, and threatening to those around them so I kept my distance. If it ended at that, I probably wouldn’t even be remembering this right now. However, every time a Metrobus would drive past them, they would start throwing some sort of projectiles (looked like snowballs or ice but couldn’t really tell). I could see everything they were doing and was probably far enough away to call 911 but didn’t do so, fearing for my safety. Now, when I think about it, I probably could’ve gotten away with calling, following the kids from a block away, and updating the police on where they were. However, given the priorities of the DC police, do you believe this is something they would even bother to respond to? Has anyone else seen a group of kids around this area doing this sort of thing? While some would see this as a break, throwing that crap at buses (or cars if they so decided to) could result in a major traffic accident.”

I definitely would’ve called 911. No question. Since there’s no snow on the ground they were clearly not throwing snowballs. Whatever they were throwing, it can be an extremely dangerous situation. If a similar situation would arise, I’d hang back and tell the cops where the incident(s) occurred and they will definitely send a car to investigate.

Would anyone else feel uncomfortable calling the cops in a similar situation?


As a reader noted in the comments on Friday, construction has begun on 15th Streets. These orange cones have sprung up on a huge section of 15th Street (where it is one way). Back in February we learned that there was going to north and southbound bike lanes. So far there there was only cones on one side of the street. Do you like the idea of north and southbound bike lanes?


“Dear PoP,

Has anyone else reported seeing what looks like the original batmobile around DC? I saw it earlier today (Friday) on the Sousa Bridge on Penn Ave. in SE. I wonder if it’s the original??? It has all the switches, bat gauges and everything inside. Even a parachute on the back….”

That is hilarious. I wonder if someone bought the original and now uses it to commute to work. Has anyone else seen it around town?


Here’s another example of a sorta vestibule that I think looks a bit odd because it is underneath a porch.


I thought this was an interesting one from the 16th Street Heights area. I couldn’t tell if it was new(ish) construction or the part to the right of the door was an addition – what do you guys think? If it is an addition – thumbs up or down?


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