Columbia Heights

Wed. Afternoon Rental Option – Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

1210 Girard Street Northwest

This rental is located at 1210 Girard Street, Northwest:

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The listing says:

“Spectacular, Sunny, Victorian Townhouse with a contemporary flair, ready to move-in! Remodeled; updated bathrooms, kitchen, new windows, freshly painted! Romantic fenced yard with patio and gardens, great for entertainment! For your convenience private parking for two cars in the back yard/alley! Beautiful front entrance with gardens! Security door! Foyer, formal Living room and Dining room.”

You can see more photos here.

This 4 bed/2.5 bath is going for $4,000/Mo.

Props to the Cops – Armed Carjacking Arrest

By Prince Of Petworth

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Around 6:15pm I got a series of emails and tweets. @Sandi tweeted:

“15+ cop cars just sped past @TheWonderlandDC going north. Know what’s happening?”

Update from MPD:

“At approximately 610 pm a citizen was carjacked by an unidentified male displaying a gun at Georgia Avenue and Harvard. Minutes later, a 3d officer got behind the vehicle taken and a short pursuit began. Additional officers were able to respond to the area and the pursuit ended in the 1500 block of Ogden Street with the arrest of the wanted subject and a recovery of the car and handgun believed to have been used in the crime.. There were no injuries to anyone and as a result of the great actions of the officers and civilian witnesses, tonight we have one less criminal on the streets. Thank you…..”

Motorcycle Troubles – Arson, Vandalism and Theft

By Prince Of Petworth

ninja burned

“Dear PoPville,

Two weeks ago around 3am Sunday morning somebody torched my Kawasaki Ninja 500 motorcycle, parked over by the old Italian embassy at 16th and Fuller. It was a 20+ year old beater I’d been repairing, covered with a tarp, so maybe someone was ticked off that they took a risk uncovering it only to find I had the tank, seat, and carb off that week.

Cops came out, CSI took some pics; they were pretty impressed because you don’t see a lot of motorcycle arson in DC, more just theft. The officer admitted there wasn’t really anything to be done about it, but gave me the case number for insurance. I had Comprehensive through Geico with a $500 deductible because most companies don’t want to ensure motorbikes in DC. Go figure.

Even with the deductible I still came out for around what I paid for it, the only problem is I still want to have a motorcycle, but not really inclined to just park it on the street again. In 18 months in DC I’ve had a Honda 250 Nighthawk stolen, the Ninja was knocked over twice while parked on the curb (not sure if vandals or just careless parkers) breaking off a lever here and a mirror there. And just a month before the arson someone stole the $30 cover off my motorcycle (for kicks? for $5 of crack?) so my current one was bike-cabled to the frame.

Anyone have a better idea of how to secure a motorbike in Columbia Heights? Is there any parking garage that rents space out that has a small section for bikes? Any way to find out who’s got spare garage space? Or should I just get the cheapest dual sport (street-legal dirtbike) I can and just chain it to a post or railing on the sidewalk or alley like the Vespas and mopeds do? It’s just frustrating that short of paying sky-high rent to move into a new yuppie fortress with underground parking, having a bike in DC requires a willingness to just shrug off vandalism and theft. Bikeshare still rocks though.”

Dog Found at 13th and Spring Road, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Can you see if anyone in the community knows this dog? Ill be holding on to him for a few hours but will need to take him to animal rescue tonight as we already have our own pooch. Thanks! maddenlp21(at)gmail(at)com”

Columbia Heights PSA

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

“Dear PoPville,

This is probably nothing, but just in case it’s something: I live in Columbia Heights, near the corner of 13th and Columbia Road. When I came home yesterday afternoon and was walking up my steps to my shared rowhouse, a middle-aged man came out of the vestibule, which we keep unlocked. When I said hello, he said “Just dropping off some cards, looking for work,” and then walked off pretty quickly. But when I went into the vestibule myself, there were no cards.

Our inner door was locked just fine, and when I walked inside I noticed some valuables were visible from the front window.

Anyway, probably nothing, but I thought it was weird that he didn’t leave any cards, and didn’t try to talk to me about the kind of work he was looking for. I think it’s possible he was “casing” our house. Wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood has noticed anything similar, and definitely advise everyone to keep their valuables locked up/out of view.”

Update on “Attempted attack on my wife and I on Friday at about 5:30 PM on 14th and Park”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user rosiedawn

Yesterday we learned about the troubling incident:

“Attempted attack on my wife and I on Friday at about 5:30 PM on 14th and Park” MPD reached out and here is an update from the reader:

” So I’ve spoken with several different officers including supervisors tonight.

They’ve all been very responsive to the issues at hand and know who this individual is. They did canvas the area looking for him and showed me his photo which I confirmed that it was him.

They are going to also deal with my concerns regarding the officers I dealt with on Friday and Saturday.

I can wholeheartedly say that everyone I’ve spoken with tonight has been fantastic. And it’s definitely been genuine concern. All the way down to the thoroughness of making sure I identified the right “suspect” via a photograph they had.

While I don’t feel it should take a blog post with 100+ comments and several tweets to influential officials to get some action taken, I do commend MPD for responding extremely quickly and going beyond what they probably had to do with me tonight. I think that speaks volumes about their concern, and I only hope that it makes an impact on how they handle certain things going forward. If not, then this was all for nothing.

All supervisors who I spoke with tonight seemed adamant about correcting the issues with these officers and felt genuinely bad about the experience I had.

As far as this “suspect”: if you do see him and feel he is a threat to you or others, please call 911, state he may be mentally ill and a risk to you or himself and ask for a supervisor to be sent to his location to speak to him in order to assess the situation and the individual. It is clear that he’s on the radar of many of the officers in the 3rd district (especially now) so I feel confident that they will be responsive to any calls about him.”

“Natural Market” Coming to 2400 14th St, NW Applies for Liquor License

By Prince Of Petworth

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2400 14th St, NW looking south towards Florida Ave

Thanks to all who sent emails. We’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the “Natural Market” coming to the new Capitol View on 14th building. They’ve applied for a liquor license which says:

“New grocery store with organic and locally grown produce, meats, nutritious foods, and eco household products. Their food court will serve as a bakery, deli and sushi bar. 25% or less Alcohol Sales.”

Hours will be Sunday through Saturday 8:00 am – 10:00 pm. More info as it becomes available.

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14th and Belmont St, NW looking north toward Columbia Heights

Dear PoPville – “Attempted attack on my wife and I on Friday at about 5:30 PM on 14th and Park”

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user rosiedawn

“Dear PoPville,

At about 5:45 PM on Friday night (June 21), my wife and I were walking down 14th street toward the metro and were approaching Park Road. We were just at about the front door of Z Burger on 14th street when we both noticed a suspicious male staring at us as we we were walking. He was maybe 3 feet from the Z Burger entrance where we were closer to Wells Fargo entrance but much closer to the right side of the sidewalk, close to the street.

We both didn’t know we sensed something strange about this guy until my wife and I talked after the incident once we were safe. Basically, “Yeah I noticed him too when we were walking but didn’t think that was going to happen.”

As we were approaching him, I started to move my wife and I closer and closer to the right hand side of the sidewalk as I saw the man keep staring at us and walking slowly towards us. Again, something seemed strange and my instincts kicked in.

I would say there were probably easily 100 people crowded on the sidewalk in every direction as this was as a very busy time on Friday night as the “square” in front of the Pollo Campero and the yogurt shop was packed and people walking “with” us and past us on 14th as usual.

As we got closer to the Z Burger, he came sprinting at us with what I can only describe as a 1000 yard stare in his eyes – as if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. It was very scary. I yelled at my wife to run, and I shielded her from him as we moved away. He came charging at me, and I put my hands out instinctually and yelled as loud as I could at him. My hope was I could startle him as well and prepare to physically defend myself if he kept charging. (more…)

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