Dear PoPville

“I’m a furloughed fed and would love to volunteer but don’t know where to start.”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by Tyra Blew

“Dear PoPville,

I’m a furloughed fed and would love to volunteer but don’t know where to start. The catch being that, when I’m allowed to work, I don’t have time for a regular volunteer commitment. The organizations I have bookmarked for when I have more time all require training and a regular time commitment. Do you know of a list of organizations that take one off volunteers, or maybe organizations that could use a group of us furloughed feds for a day-long (or maybe several day-long) project(s)?”

Also,

“Dear PoPville,

I am a furloughed fed who is very frustrated with the current state of affairs and how negatively it is impacting all of DC and the mood in the District. In response, I started a charity drive on Facebook. I plan to do a series of these if the shutdown drags on. Trying to make some lemonade out of lemons. All of the proceeds go directly to the Feeding America.”

“Would love to know what other parents do!”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Beau Finley

“Dear PoPville,

Does anyone have any tips for commuting on the metro with an infant? My husband and I are coming to the end of our parental leave periods, and our little one (7 months old) will be starting day care in the city near work soon. We can get a parking spot that is several blocks away from the daycare, but since we live right by a metro station, we are wondering if commuting on the metro with an infant is doable, since it is cheaper and we won’t have to deal with the longer walk from the parking spot. What is the latest time in the morning we could leave and not have to deal with major crowds? How early do we need to leave in the afternoon to avoid crowds?

Would love to know what other parents do!”

“Oh yeah? That’s because I’m a white person. I’m not Japanese or Mexican.”

By Prince Of Petworth


2630 Adams Mill Rd NW Walter Pierce Park from Calvert Street entrance

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to share a disturbing exchange I had this morning at the Walter Pierce Dog Park. I’m a half Chinese woman in my 30s. I was there around 8:00am when a man walks in with a throwing stick and kicks a park toy near my dog while making kissing sounds. Something is immediately off (his posture, the way he’s looking at my dog) and I glance around and see he is not accompanied by his own dog. (more…)

“It’s quite a bit of money and we aren’t quite sure which way to go…”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Brian Mosley

“Dear PoPville,

I live in one of those DC rowhouses that has a long backyard that opens to an alley. We park our car in the backyard and drive pretty frequently. We have padlocked fence doors we have to unlock the padlock, prop open the door, close door, and re-lock, every time we want to use the car. So we are considering installing an open-air electric garage door to replace our fence doors.

We’ve come across three main types of garage doors and here is what I know so far:
(more…)

“If there is any advice or help out there, we would welcome it.”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Dating back to November 1, 2018, a homeless woman named Gloria moved into the alley between a former Howard dorm and our condo building. The dorm is under construction and initially, one of my neighbors overheard a construction worker informing Gloria to look out for people trying to steal from the construction site for some amount of money. Since that time, she occupied the alley and regularly yells between the hours of 11pm-7am and outside of those hours as well. She is loud enough that the ground floor up to the third floor can hear her loud and clear.

Fast forward to the month of December and here is a summary of what she has done repeatedly: (more…)

“Firecrackers on the Metro– Mass Shooting False Alarm. It was total chaos.”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Paul Sirajuddin

“Dear PoPville,

Last night around 9:30pm I was riding a northbound Yellow line train home and had a frightening experience. When our train came to a stop into Gallery Place we heard 15-20 loud gunshot-like bangs from the car in front of us. As the train doors opened everyone in the station and cars sprinted to an exit or dove under their seats– it was total chaos. (more…)

My car was stolen off my property that I own, the police admitted their error, but now my credit is adversely affected and I’m stuck with this bill.”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Several months ago, my car was towed off of my private property mistakenly after a renter in my condo mistakenly called the police after not recognizing my car. The police ticketed my car and had it towed without any type of validation of the claim and did not bother to run the tags to see it was registered. After finally walking into a station with my compaint, several calls, and emails the officer hand delivered a cancellation for the ticket and admitted his error. The renter paid me for the towing fee, and the officer assured me it was all fine now and apologized.

Six months later I received a delinquency notice from a debt collector that I I still owe the city for the ticket and the total is now $600. (more…)

Family-friendly fun for NYE with Kids?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user DCbmyers

“Dear PoPville,

Our New Year’s Eve travel plans fell through and we’re looking for some family-friendly (6yo and 9yo) activities to celebrate the coming year in DC. We’re usually on vacation around this time and are at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Would love any suggestions from PoPville.”

“do you default to 5 or 4 stars? do you usually tip your driver? How much?”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Erin

Now that we’ve tackled the elephant in the rideshare room…

“Dear PoPville,

Looking for the PoPvillers take on rating and tipping Uber/Lyft drivers.

I give a driver 5 stars unless something significant comes up — noticeably dirty car, clearly unsafe driving, etc. — and then always submit a comment on what I “dinged” the driver for. Those above issues equal 4 stars and only if there’s a serious safety/service issue (very rare) would I give 3 stars.

A coworker says his default rating is 4 stars and that only if the driver is exceptional — super personable/friendly, goes out of their way to be helpful (eg helping with luggage) etc — does he give 5 stars. A dirty car would get 3 stars. Unsafe driving would get 2, and “something egregious” (?) would get 1.

However, (more…)

Are New Two Story Garages Legit?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

It looks like our neighbors have decided to build a two story garage in the back of their gut-rehab. They’ve been working on the rehab since March, and today they just started building a second story on the garage. Should they have had to send a notice? No other houses on the block have this two story garage and concerned its going to look like a sore thumb.”

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