Dear PoPville

“Learning American Sign Language in DC”

By Prince Of Petworth


from the H Street, NE Starbucks

“Dear PoPville,

My husband and I would like to learn American Sign Language (ASL) because he has an inherited degenerative hearing condition. While he can still hear alright, we see ourselves communicating with ASL later in life and we’d like to be competent enough that we can expose our (young) children to it too (since they’re likely to inherit the same condition and learning in childhood will give much greater fluency).

It seems like DC must be the perfect place to do this, given Gallaudet and the widespread deaf community, but it’s been difficult to figure out what resources exist and the best way to get started.

A few questions: (more…)

“I knew when they were walking me to an ATM that I was never going to see this money again”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Sunday outside of the Adams Morgan Community Center, a couple in their 30s said their car was towed with all their belongings and had no means of getting it back without cash. They claimed to be law students at GW and that they were married (neither wearing wedding rings). They said they had no family or friends here since they just moved to DC. They would venmo me back in 2 hours and I could have their phone and ID as collateral. I had my car towed when I first moved here so I was too sympathetic to their story. (more…)

“Was this a scam?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Friday night I was picking up a delivery held at the Fedex in Admo. I was looking to park and found an alley across the street out of the way of traffic to pull into.

But when I pulled in a man in a parking company jacket said I had to pay $20 to park in his spots. The only indication this alley was a privately owned parking area was the man sitting on his stool at the entrance to the alley, so I pulled through and found a spot at a bank that was closed, (more…)

“Zoning of the past, housing of the future. By ileana schinder”

By Prince Of Petworth

Ileana Schinder is an architect in Washington, DC. She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Architecture from Universidad Nacional de Cordoba (Argentina, 2000) and a M.A. in Communications from the American University (Washington DC, 2006)

Ileana is the Author of “Housing for Humans: A book to imagine, Create and Design a New Housing Model in America” Ileana was born and raised in Argentina. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and her dog, Cecilia.

As public debates of new zoning rules and livability plans heat up in the region, we wonder: can zoning solve our current housing crisis? Yes, and here is how.

The lack of innovative housing options is the result of an outdated zoning approach to residential design. In the past, homes and every other activity was divided by swaths of land: work, play and life were tied by wide roads and car dependent. Limiting one house per also kept limited offer of housing while population grew at a faster pace.

Also, not only zoning rules limit how many, and which shape the homes will be, they also limit the number families that can occupy a property. So, with today’s zoning code, a homeowner can easily erect a garage, or a storage shed, but it bans the same homeowner in creating an additional dwelling unit of the same shape. Even if the architectural addition were to be identical, the zoning code is clear: you are not allowed to house more humans, but you have permission to create space for more cars and stuff. (more…)

“Vaccine Walk in Clinic at Fort Stanton was a CLUSTER F$%#”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

This is what happened to me yesterday:

First and foremost I am grateful that DOH and the District have organized free walk-in clinics for the Covid Vaccines and Boosters. However, the situation I experienced today at the Fort Stanton site was unorganized and unprofessional.

While it’s fine that the nurse may need to leave the room or go on break, this information was not conveyed to those of us waiting in the room nor to anyone in the hallway. After a 15-20 minute pause from administering the vaccines, a female security guard entered the room and began to call the woman seated in seat #1. Normally this would make sense but right before the break, the individuals in Seats 1 & 2 had received their shots – leaving me in Seat 3 to be next.

Two people in the room tried to explain the situation to the guard. Other than handling the situation professionally, the guard accused us of being dishonest and of fighting “while mom was out of the room.” (more…)

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