DC Government

Mid City East Small Area Plan Draft for Public Comment

By Prince Of Petworth

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Map courtesy Mid City East

From the DC Office of Planning:

“I am very pleased to present the Draft Mid City East Small Area Plan, a framework for conservation, development and connectivity in the neighborhoods of Bloomingdale, Eckington, LeDroit Park , Bates/ Truxton Circle, Hanover, Sursum Corda and portions of Edgewood and Stronghold. The plan is downloadable here. Please let me know if you would like me to send you a hard copy for your review.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Advisory Committee, for your thoughtful approach and feedback throughout this process – you have been integral to shaping this plan. Over the past year, a team of city planners, consultants, agency representatives and community leaders led a comprehensive planning effort that thoroughly examined the study area and engaged its residents in a robust public engagement process that incorporated both traditional and unconventional methods of outreach. The resulting plan is evidence of the impact of teamwork and citizen involvement in generating ideas and setting priorities to achieve the shared goal of making the District of Columbia a more inclusive city and a better place to live. As you’ll note, the plan places a premium on preserving and enhancing neighborhood character and enhancing corridors, especially North Capitol Street.

The Office of Planning will be accepting formal feedback from constituents until Tuesday, September 2, 2014. Public comments will be accepted in writing via email, U.S. mail, or in person at the Mid City East Mayoral Hearing on Tuesday, July 29th, 2014 from 6:30-8:30pm @ The Summit located on 116 T Street, NE. All comments in writing should be directed to:

c/o Chelsea Liedstrand
Mid City East Small Area Plan
1100 4th Street, SW Suite 650
Washington DC 20024
[email protected]

Prior to the hearing, the Office of Planning will host Office Hours on Wednesday, July 16 from 9-10:30am at the Big Bear Café located at 1700 1st Street NW and on Thursday, July 24th from 4:00-6:00PM at the Rustic Tavern located at 84 T Street, NW. This will be an additional opportunity for the community to view the plan and provide formal feedback via Public Comment form, which will be provided and collected on site. If you would also like OP to come to your organization’s meeting to present draft plan recommendations, please let me know.

As noted, the plan is available online at www.midcityeast.com and at the various locations listed below: (more…)

Dear PoPville – Social Security Number on Parking Ticket?!?

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user BrennaLM

“Dear PoPville,

I had parallel parked on a residential block of 11th street NW in a spot that was apparently reserved for a handicapped person that lived there. I did not see the sign (it was dark and I wasn’t looking for it, because I didn’t realize that a personal reserved handicapped spot was a thing–dumb, I know). When I came back to my car, I saw the $250 ticket, which was a gut punch, worsened by the fact that there was a free spot right in front of me.

I thought that was the worst of it, but as I studied the ticket (which was sitting on my windshield, face up, with no envelope, for all to see), I saw that it not only had my first, middle and last name, my address, my date of birth, my home address, and my license plate number, but it also had MY FREAKING SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON IT! This seems like a massive privacy violation, not to mention incredibly stupid (and I think illegal) due to the HIGH RISK that anyone walking by could easily steal my identity or use the information for other ill purposes.

I saw online that a class action lawsuit was successful, ruling that police departments that put too much information on parking tickets are violating privacy law–and that case didn’t even involve a social security number! Has this happened to anyone else? Is it common/legal? Does anyone have advice of how I should proceed in reporting and possibly litigating this?

I’ve since learned about the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act, which governs the disclosure of personal information gathered by the DMV and the recent (2012) 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said that police that put too much personal information on parking tickets are in violation of the Drivers Privacy Protection Act (and the case in question here didn’t even have social security numbers on the ticket), so it really does seem like a violation was committed. Oh, yeah, and I called the police station (that’s who gave me the ticket) and they were phenomenally unhelpful and basically just said I could come into the station and file a complaint.”

Ed. Note: When I first got a DC drivers license in ’97 we had our Social Security number printed on the card, later this was removed and replaced with a random number. Never heard of one on a parking ticket before.

DOH Report Shows “continued progress in the District’s fight against HIV and other diseases”

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user J Sonder

From the Mayor’s Office:

“Today, Mayor Vincent C. Gray and officials from the Department of Health (DOH) released a new report showing continued progress in the District’s fight against HIV and other diseases.

“My administration’s commitment to addressing the District’s HIV epidemic has turned the tide on HIV in our city, and I’m proud of the progress we continue to make,” said Mayor Gray. “While we are still experiencing an HIV epidemic, our innovative programs and partnerships have allowed us to make significant progress in reducing new HIV infections and improving treatment for those with HIV.”

The DOH report released today provides the annual update on the state of HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and tuberculosis (TB) in the District through the end of 2012. This latest snapshot of the epidemic shows that the District continues to make progress in reducing new cases and improving health outcomes for those infected with HIV.

“The District continues to lead the way in getting people diagnosed with HIV infection earlier and connected to care through our treatment-on-demand policy,” Mayor Gray said. “We should continue to embrace and follow the National HIV Strategy so that the nation’s capital can get to zero new infections.”

This year’s annual report highlights continued improvements, such as: (more…)

DC Housing Authority Determines Violation Complaints were done intentionally

By Prince Of Petworth

From a press release:

“A report of “deplorable housing conditions” at Park Morton on a local blog has been determined to be fictitious.

The District of Columbia Housing Authority takes complaints seriously. DCHA immediately investigated a Prince of Petworth post that featured several housing violations. The claims made in the post were found to be fabricated. The blog post has since been removed from the site. Ed. Note earlier this week the post was removed at the request of the OP who at the time said he felt threatened. Nevertheless, my sincere apologies to the DC Housing Authority if the photos were indeed fabricated by the OP.

During the inspection, it was determined that the online post was submitted by an adult dependent of a Park Morton resident. That dependent admitted to causing the destruction of property and making a false report to a neighborhood website. DCHA repaired the issues.

It is DCHA’s mission is to provide quality affordable housing to extremely low- through moderate-income households while fostering communities and cultivating opportunities for residents to improve their lives.”

Dear PoPville – Anyone Know the Purpose of the Street Construction on 14th?

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Dear PoPville,

Two days of messy, loud construction on 1700 block of 14th street, nw — for what?

All they have done is first saw a wider path (along one that was already opened a few months ago and covered over), jack hammer all the asphalt, tap down the soil, lay plastic sheeting, then fill it all in with cement. Obviously (?) there is some purpose for this. Also, this is the same channel / ditch where the bus got stuck in the cement at 14th and S St.”

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Wait, Was Resident Only Parking (outside of stadium/special zones) a Mistake?

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Dear PoPville,

Have you heard anything about the status of the Resident Only parking program, where residents on their block can designate one side of the block as “residents only” (i.e., no free 2-hour parking like the normal zoned parking). The link for the petition on the DDOT website appears to be dead (See link at the bottom of the page labeled “Resident Only Form”.) I just called DDOT and they said that the resident only program has been suspended until they can go through the rulemaking process. As I understood it the program was apparently incorrectly implemented, and was supposed to be for special zones like around the ballpark. But it somehow became a citywide thing where any neighborhood could petition the city for resident only parking. So it sounds like for now there won’t be any more of those red and white signs going up. They did say that this does not affect the other programs where neighbors can petition to have zoned parking hours extended.”

Friday Question of the Day – Thoughts on DC’s Proposed 2015 Budget?

By Prince Of Petworth

NBC Washington reported:

“A 24 percent middle class income tax cut for those earning $40,000-to-$60,000 per year. To help fund the tax breaks, an $800 million, multi-year streetcar budget was cut back to $400 million with no immediate impact on construction.”

And a reader specifically asks – “Yoga Tax Is Back?”

Just wondering what your readers think about the tax on health clubs. Specifically, this quote from the article from the Washington Post:

“The following would be newly subject to the city’s 5.75 percent sales tax under the draft budget legislation:

Health clubs: the services of a health club or a tanning studio … mean[ing] a fitness club, fitness center, or gym the purpose of which is physical exercise, including fitness and recreational sports facilities featuring exercise and other active physical fitness conditioning or recreational sports activities, including swimming, skating, or racquet sports, except not health resorts and spas where recreational facilities are combined with sleeping accommodations … [or] a business the purpose of which is to provide individuals a manmade tan, including sun tanning salons and spray tanning salons”.

Why is DC punishing people for trying to be healthy?

Do you guys support this proposed budget approved by the Council? What if anything do you think can/will be changed before the final Council vote June 11th?

Council Members contact information after the jump. (more…)

“Now instead of new cans I didn’t need in the first place, we have NONE”

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99

“Dear PoPville,

The city seems to have a new problem with Supercan removal. In DPW’s zeal to remove old trash cans in Ward 1, they are removing cans without the yellow “take me” stickers. It happened to me on 11th street. Now instead of new cans I didn’t need in the first place, we have NONE.

Not sure how widespread it is but yet another example of just how horrible this entire saga has been handled. I got DPW on the phone and they claim they will rectify the situation soon but could not make any promises as to a time frame. Fingers crossed.”

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