Dear PoPville

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr.TinDC

“Dear PoPville,

Today I got notification from my rowhouse’s management company that on May 4th my property received a Notice of Violation: Solid Waste Not Properly Stored/Contained for Collection and Providing Food Or Breeding Ground For Rodents Or Causing A Potential Fire Hazard. The violation comes with a fine of $75, and it states that a response needs to be received no later than 19 calendar days after the notice was given out (so the deadline has passed).

Several pictures of overflowing trash bins were attached to the violation. But the thing is: these bins are being used by another house, as shown by the location of the bins in the photo (probably 20-30 feet away from where my house places our bins on pickup days). (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Pablo Raw

“Dear PoPville,

I recently finished renovating my unfinished basement in a victorian in NW DC, and had to relocate my gas meter from inside basement to outside the house. Since the basement would become habitable space, by code, the gas meter has to be moved to the exterior of the house for safety. Of course, it would also open up a lot of space too – since the meter is a big bulky thing to have sticking out from the wall. Anyway, this simple requirement turned into a big headache lasting many months, so I want to share my experience with your readers. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Jordan Barab

“Dear PoPville,

I’ve been in DC for about 10 years now and have lived in several different rowhouse in various DC neighborhoods. Recently, I moved into a “federal” style rowhouse. It is an older house that hasn’t been renovated much, but is in pretty good shape.

The issue I’ve been having is a ton of everyday noise traveling through our shared walls. First, I want to say that I have lovely, respectful neighbors. The issue is that I can hear a lot of what goes on in their house (i.e cabinets shutting, people walking down the stairs, TV shows playing, voices at a normal indoor level etc). I’ve never been able to hear so intimately into another neighbor’s house in any of the previous rowhouses that I’ve lived in before. It makes me feel anxious to know that, likewise, they must hear me all the time too which I feel bad about! (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user kelly bell photography

“Dear PoPville,

Three weeks ago, I was driving south down 15th Street towards L Street NW. There was a large truck in the right lane, so I switched to the left lane. I then signaled back to the right lane and came to a full stop at the red light. A few moments later, I heard a loud bang coming from the back right side of my car. I realized someone on a bike had hit my car, and he pulled up to my passenger side window, and said “I’m sorry, that was my fault, I was too close to your car.” He asked if I was ok and I did the same. We both were fine.

He had not been riding in the the bike lane that was 5 feet to the right of the vehicle lane, but rather he had driven in between the large stopped truck and the bike lane and then directly into the back of my car. I guess when he passed the truck, he didn’t see my car to the left of the front of the truck and ran into it.

He started to leave, but I asked him to wait so I could see if there was damage to my car. Indeed, there was a large dent on the trunk (presumably from the handlebars?). I asked for his information and he let me take a picture of his license and gave me his phone number. (more…)

“Dear PoPville,

We are looking for a charity or organization that would benefit from a brand new 8 foot FAO Schwartz stuffed animal giraffe! It obviously doesn’t fit in our DC row home, so we are happy to gift it to a worthy cause!”

Children’s?