“Dear PoPville,
Do we know what’s going in next door to Petco and IHoP in Columbia Heights? Lots of work being done recently.”
This has to be – Five Below, “leading retailer of trend-right, extreme-value merchandise to the teen and pre-teen market – all for $1.00 to $5.00″.
3415 11th Street, NW
Speaking of the Coupe. Back in August we learned that they were looking to add a sidewalk cafe along 11th Street. They got it:
“Dear PoPville,
I wanted to bring an alarming crime to your attention. Yesterday (9/23) my nanny’s son — a sixth grader — was held up at knifepoint at about 4 PM at 13th and Kenyon street in Columbia Heights (this is second-hand according to the victim’s mother, her son is a grounded, solid kid not prone to exaggeration or getting into trouble). The perp was a man in his probably twenties, he evidently made off with an iPhone from one of the eleven year old victims.
The kids called MPD and reported the incident, but I haven’t seen much about the crime online, which is very alarming to me: eleven year-old kids were stuck up with a visible weapon in broad daylight half a block away from the entrance to Tubman Elementary.
All I can find from MPD is a Tweet which matches some, but not all, of the details:
“Robbery Knife at 14th & Irving St NW. LOF a H/M, 116-20 yoa, 5’5”, gray hat, gray/white shirt.”
Hopefully some more information will bubble up on this, in the meantime I imagine other parents in the area should definitely know about it.”
3548 14th Street, NW
From an email:
“For at least this weekend and next, donut holes are good for you. And good for penguins. And the Penguin Counters. A three-fer! Count yourself in!
Antarctic penguins are the region’s “canaries in the coal mine.” And for almost 20-years, Ron Naveen, a modern-day Dr. Dolittle, has been counting them, studying the health of three penguin species and their colonies. His work, the Antarctic Site Inventory, has helped instruct polar policies and research of countless scientists and members of the Antarctic Treaty Organization.
World-renown Besthesda-based film documentarians, Peter Getzels and Harriet Gordon, recently followed Ron Naveen and his Penguin Counters to the Antarctic, producing more than 70-hours of footage on their work and the amazing animals, sights and sounds of the Antarctic. Now it is time to take the footage and create a movie to tell this important story.
The Penguin Counters Movie is a labor of love, not money. To continue their work, Peter and Harriet have set up a Kickstarter Campaign to raise the funds necessary to put the movie together and submit it to film festivals worldwide. October 10th is the final day for donations. As with all Kickstarter campaigns, it is all or nothing.
The Pinch [3548 14th Street, NW] is very pleased to join this effort to help ensure the Penguin Counters story is told. The weekends of September 28th/29th and October 5th/6th, The Pinch will donate $5 for every order of donut holes to the Penguin Counters kickstarter campaign.”
“Dear PoPville,
There is a crazed raccoon in the neighborhood that killed my neighbor’s cat on their back porch (9/20/13). DC Animal Control was contacted but I don’t know if a trap has been installed near their house. People should be on the lookout and think twice before leaving a pet outdoors and unsupervised.”
1454 Park Road, NW
Bravo! Salon/Spa is located at 1454 Park Road, NW above Laughing Hyena Tattoos in Columbia Heights.
Thanks to a reader for sending:
“Love that someone did their rehearsal dinner at Wonderland!”
“Dear PoPville,
I’ve often wondered about the large blue house with the barbed wire fence at the corner of Monroe and Holmead. It’s an odd place. For example, my wife walked by the other morning and heard a man snoring very loudly out on the lawn. That said, it’s always seemed harmless enough.
This morning, around 7:30 am, I passed by and saw 4-5 guys in U.S. Marshal shirts and gear surrounding the place. I didn’t stop and stare, but I saw and heard one of the Marshals banging loudly on the door.
Any idea what was going on? And, more generally, does anyone know the story on that house?”
Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC
“Dear PoPville,
A few buddies and I were watching football on the front patio at Lou’s City Bar in Columbia Heights around 3:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon when my friend glanced outside and saw two guys carrying away bikes belonging to her and her husband. My friends had locked the bikes up across Irving street from Lou’s while we were watching the game, and these guys had successfully cut the lock and were brazenly walking away carrying (not rolling) the bikes, in broad daylight, with dozens of people out and about. Nobody else appeared to notice them cutting the lock or walking away with these bikes in hand.
We confronted the two guys in an alleyway behind Target, off of Irving; one of them was still holding a small pair of bolt cutters (maybe 10” long) and was trying to remove the remnants of the lock, which had coiled up around the front wheel. The other reached in his jacket and said “I’m gonna smoke you,” but fortunately pulled out just an empty hand. After a very short standoff, a couple of punches thrown by one of the thugs, and a tug-of-war over one of the bikes, the guys left the bikes and took off running.
I was content to just get the bikes back, but two of my friends ran off to follow these guys while calling 911–they tracked the thieves for a few blocks (at a distance), watched them get on a 64 Bus, and then followed the bus, describing its location to the police. DC Police responded immediately and within minutes had pulled the bus over around 11th and Monroe. When the officers removed the perps from the bus, one of them put up a fight. Officer Chen sustained some scrapes and bruises while trying to restrain this jerk. The officer fortunately didn’t seem to have major injuries, and impressively stayed to help fill out paperwork after he got some medical attention (double extra PROPS)!
Ultimately, Metro PD got these guys in custody and they will hopefully be charged with theft, assault, assault on a police officer/resisting arrest, and perhaps robbery. (In other news, one of the perps was already wearing an ankle monitor, and some synthetic marijuana was found on the bus.)
The police did an awesome job responding to this incident–many thanks to Metro PD. There is certainly more serious crime in this city than bike theft, but it is a huge and growing problem nonetheless. In retrospect, I can’t recommend people confront bike thieves themselves. We lucked out, but if these guys had a weapon one or more of us could be in the hospital right now. If you see an apparent bike theft, call Metro PD and maybe follow the thieves at a safe distance if you are in a public place.”
Thanks to a couple of readers for sending word. Looks like Love ‘n Faith Community Cafe will be taking one of the retail spaces in the Capitol View building at 14th and Chapin St, NW. This is the same building where a ‘Natural Market’ is also coming. More info on both as it becomes available.
