quality of life

Dear PoP – Blight in Brightwood Remains, Revisiting 809 Kennedy St, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

809 Kennedy St, NW was on PoP here, a year ago.

While the disgusting flow of water did get resolved, the property is still a shoddily-fenced disaster — huge pits full of stagnant water, a wasteland of mud and debris. And it’s been like that forever. Again, it’s slightly better than it was in that PoP post from a year ago (chain-link fence surrounds it, and the piles of debris got a bit smaller, it’s not quite as smelly), but it’s worse than an eyesore, it’s dangerous and depressing.

Is there anything residents can do about properties like that? Or is it, since it’s private property, OK by the city as long as their taxes are paid?”

We need to get DCRA and Ward 4 Council Member Bowser’s office to follow up on this property. Since there doesn’t seem to be an actual property on the property – does anyone know how this affects how it gets taxed? Do you guys have any other suggestions on how to remove this blight beyond contacting DCRA and CM Bowser’s office?

Dear PoP – My Elderly Neighbor Won’t Stop Smoking Pot and our Apartment Reeks

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Bogotron

“Dear PoP,

My fiance and I rent a condo in a small condo building (9 units). My elderly downstairs neighbor smokes pot. A lot. In fact, our unit smells strongly like pot four or five times a day for at least half an hour.

We’ve lived here about a year and a half. This man’s wife died about six months ago. Before she died, we would see him occasionally smoking in the storage basement or in his car; however, I assume his wife did not approve of him smoking in the house, so we didn’t have any problems with the smell for the first year we were here. There was an occasional smell of cigarette smoke, but it was only every once in a while. Since his wife died, however, he’s moved it inside.

My fiance and I have always been friendly with him when we see him outside of the building. He doesn’t really seem to take women seriously (another post for another time!), but my fiance talked to him, told him that our bedroom smelled strongly of pot all the time, and asked him if he could try to smoke on the porch. Our neighbor was not receptive: “Why don’t you all just open a window?”

I have spoken to our landlord (the condo owner) about this. I have also spoken to the neighbor’s grandson, who moved in with his grandfather when his grandmother died. Basically, nobody feels like anything can be done. Our landlord even spoke to the condo association, and they also feel that nothing can be done.

For what it’s worth, this man is not a kind person. We often heard him yelling at and insulting his wife. (I never heard any physical abuse, though I always kept an ear out in case I need to call the police.) I’m sure he’s grieving, in his way. He doesn’t seem to have dementia, though he’s seemed a bit out-of-it on occasion lately (perhaps he’s just high?) I don’t know if his pot smoking has increased since his wife died, but I imagine it has. We’re just the kids upstairs to him, I’m sure (when you’re 85, 35 year-olds probably seem like kids), and we don’t have the kind of relationship where we can broach trying to help him. From anything I’ve heard from other neighbors, he’s highly defensive in general and also tends to insult people directly. The grandson is an adult in his mid-twenties , but talking to him about the issue or concerns about his grandfather’s health doesn’t really go anywhere.

I’m just wondering if the PoP readers can think of anything I haven’t tried. I don’t really care about the legalities, etc; I just don’t want to smell pot when I’m at home. For what it’s worth, except for him, this is a great unit at a great price in a great location (and I’m already too busy working full-time and going to school and planning a wedding) so we don’t want to move away from here until we’re ready to buy (another year or two).

Any ideas?”

I’m afraid I don’t think there are any simple/quick answers here. Besides talking to him and getting him to change his behavior I don’t think anything else will compel him to change. We’ve spoken about cigarette smoke in apartments before but this is certainly a much more complicated situation. Even though it may seem uncomfortable, I really think the only thing you can do is continue to try to talk to the neighbor even if he is completely ornery. You might even want to bake him a pie or get him some dinner or something to break the ice. I know it may feel insincere but maybe you can win him over with friendship?

If he continues to not be receptive to rational actions/conversations then I’m afraid the only other option is to move (congrats on your wedding by the by!). Can you guys think of any other diplomatic/sensitive ways to resolve this situation?

Dear PoP – Would You Rent Near a Soon to be Construction Zone?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

Would you rent an apartment directly across the street (P and 7th St, NW) from the incoming O Street Market construction zone? How do you think the immediate neighborhood will be impacted by the construction that’s slated to start soon?”

Hmm, this is a good question. Personally I think this development is going to be huge for the neighborhood but is def. going to take time. If you asked me would I buy here – I’d say yes in an instant. But renting – I’m not sure it’s gonna be worth the aggravation until construction is completed. What do you guys think – would you rent across the street from a soon to be construction zone?

Dear PoPville – Bed Bugs. Shoot me. Help?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

I have a major issue with bed bugs and am looking for some guidance. I live in a rowhouse with a boatload of roommates, and I discovered bugs in my room late last last year. About two and a half month ago, I hired a great pest control company to come have one of those bed bug-sniffing dogs inspect the house. We had bugs in my room and one other.

I know it’s DC law that, in a single-family rented unit, tenants have to pony up to get rid of bugs, but I figured the property owner would have a vested interest in at least helping solve the problem. Ha. No such luck. Property management basically said, “sucks to be you.” No pun intended. Anyway.

I’d read all over the place that chemical treatment requires multiple rounds and isn’t as effective as “thermal remediation” (you know, where they bring in giant heaters and essentially bake the room.) So, I swallowed hard and footed the bill to have the two rooms treated. Cost? $1300. That was with a discount, mind you. I’m fresh out of school, so this was NOT easy to afford.

Long story short, I found a live bug ON ME yesterday. I have no idea how they came back because believe me … the pest control company treated the holy heck out of my room. My guess is that they’re coming from one of the adjoining townhomes, in which case, I may NEVER be able to get rid of them. The two rooms in our house that had bugs aren’t even adjacent at all; the only thing they share in common is a wall that connects to one neighboring house. I saw a pest control van outside that house not too long ago. If they sprayed pesticides, it could’ve sent them scattering back over my way.

I can afford one more round of extermination, but I want it to be my last one — maybe getting a moving van treated instead of the room. There’s no point treating my room again because they’ll just come back. And my landlord seems to have NO desire to help.

So, what can I do? Is this grounds to terminate a lease? I still have three months left on the lease, and it’s almost cheaper to swallow the rent than have to pay for rounds upon rounds for treatment that probably won’t work. This is driving me insane. I’m desperate (and darn near broke.)”

Terrifying. What do you guys suggest – is this grounds to terminate the lease? Does anyone have experience successfully removing bedbugs from their homes/apartments?

We spoke about one reader’s experience with bed bugs here and Tony’s battle with them here.

Dear PoPville – “What would you have done? Verbally Harassed by an Elementary School Aged Child!”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist

“Dear PoP,

I live in East Capitol Hill, by the Potomac Ave Metro. Twice daily for almost 2 years, I pass in front of the Friendship Public Charter School across from the Harris Teeter on my way to and from the metro. I actually have always enjoyed having the school there because let’s face it – kids are cute, and I it was always nostalgic to see these high-energy kids heading to school or hanging out front waiting for their parents to pick them up. It was a nice reminder that we all used to be that age, and had that level of boundless energy.

Well I had quite a different experience yesterday. As I was passing by the front of the school, there was a group of 5-6 African American kids, roughly around 10-12 years old, in the middle of the sidewalk. I had my headphones on, with the volume relatively low so that I was not oblivious to my surrounding and traffic, etc. As I approached this group of kids and was just at them, I said “excuse me”, so that they would move out of my way as they were taking up the whole sidewalk. A young girl was staring at me as I was passing, said “hi”, I said “hi” and smiled in return, and she sort of attempted to put her arm on my shoulder. I t was then that the kids burst out laughing, all of them speaking at once so I couldn’t really understand what each were saying, but it was clearly at my expense. I was puzzled and a few feet away already when one of the male kids shouted out “ha, you stupid white cracker!” (FWIW, I am a 30 something white female).

I was really jarred, and being a completely non-confrontational person, pretended I did not hear due to the earphones, and kept going. I was really disturbed by this though, and wondered as I walked home if I should have said something to the kid? Gone inside to get a teacher to reprimand them? Anything else? After I calmed down and stopped going through the what-ifs, all I ended up feeling was sad. How on earth could this child say something like that to another person? What made them think that was OK? I know kids say and do awful, hurtful things (didn’t we all?) that they regret when older, but this was just – ugly. The racial component is obviously what disturbs me the most, and I ask in advance that the commentariat not be d-bags in your responses to this. I want honest suggestions.

So I still wonder – Should I have told someone or confronted them? What would you have done?”

For me and I think many others there are probably three answers – what you would like to have done, what emotionally you wanted to do, and finally what you would do. And as some will surely note this is also a situation where you won’t necessarily know how you’ll react unless you experience it for real. So it’d be very interesting to hear if others have experienced this or a very similar situation – what did you do/how did you react?

Personally, I’d like to think I would have spoken to/found a teacher and explained the situation in hopes the teacher would not only reprimand the student but explain why it was wrong. Unfortunately when kids are in groups they behave differently (as do adults). If the child was not in a group I’d like to thing I would have spoken to him/her and explained directly that it hurt my feelings and explained why.

Emotionally, I would like to approach the kids and strongly/loudly say, “do we have a problem? You think it’s ok to insult people? You realize cracker is a very insulting word don’t you? Don’t you!”. I’m certainly not saying that is the smartest/most effective reaction but, to be honest, emotionally I think initially I would have felt that way.

In reality, I’m sad to say I think I would probably just shake my head and walk away without saying a word.

Anyone ever been in this situation for real? If not how do you think you would react? What do you think is the most appropriate/beneficial (to the kids) way to react? For those that have children – how would you explain to your kids that this is wrong? Do you think there is any hope in correcting this behavior in 10-12 year olds?

Dear PoP – Press Conference Today About Alleged Chipotle Mistreatment in Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

Lots of readers have been writing in about the following press conference:

WASHINGTON– On Wednesday, March 23, fired workers will present management at the Columbia Heights Chipotle with a letter demanding that they treat their workers like they treat their product: with integrity. The workers, who were suddenly terminated from the Columbia Heights Chipotle, are demanding the payment they should have received had they been allowed time to attempt to resolve the paperwork issues cited by management as the cause for their termination.

Workers, advocates, and DC council members will participate in a press conference in front of the Chipotle restaurant in Columbia Heights. Councilmembers will also announce their intent to introduce legislation that protects the fundamental rights of all Washington’s workers.

WHAT:

Press conference to denounce Chipotle’s mistreatment of workers.
· Jim Graham, DC Council Member
· Michael Brown, DC Council Member
· Workers fired from Columbia Heights Chipotle
· Emily Tulli, employment policy attorney, National Immigration Law Center
· Community Leaders, advocates, and union representatives will be available to conduct interviews.

WHEN:

Wednesday, March 23, 2011
12 – 1 p.m. EST

WHERE:

Columbia Heights Chipotle
3113 14th Street NW
Washington, DC
Columbia Heights Metro (Green and Yellow lines)

BACKGROUND:

At the D.C. Columbia Heights Chipotle, a dozen workers were fired in one day — March 9th, 2011. They were taken into the back room during a 30 minute break and replaced with new employees before they could return to work their next shift. Many long-time workers — some who had worked at Chipotle for six years — were literally tossed out in the cold. They received no warning and no respect.

While it works to be an ethical company, Chipotle is setting a dangerously low standard for how it treats long-time employees. The workers were fired ostensibly due to errors found in their employment paperwork. These workers, many of whom had been loyal employees at DC-area Chipotle restaurants for years, were not given the opportunity to correct their paperwork, nor were they provided with notice that their termination was imminent. Mass firings have also taken place at the Woodley Park and Chinatown Chipotle restaurants, and firings at other area Chipotle restaurants are feared.

FQotD: How Many Liquor Stores Does One Neighborhood Need?

By Prince Of Petworth

A couple days ago a received an email titled, “Alcohol Saturation in Bloomingdale”. It linked to some really cool maps by a Bloomingdale resident “stereojam”.

Below is one he put together of Class A + B stores (A sells wine, beer and spirits while B sells wine and beer).

You can see more detailed maps here.

So for today’s Friday Question of the Day – at what point does a neighborhood have too many liquor stores? Now I’m wondering if there is a historical component here – as many liquor stores also function as corner stores/bodegas. I assume they proliferated for convenience and perhaps a lack of access to proper grocery stores? But in 2011 given the state of our neighborhood’s access to grocery stores and the existing corner stores – at what point are there too many liquor stores? Should there be moratorium? Or should capitalism work this problem out?

I know in Petworth we have a lot as well but to be honest it doesn’t feel like we have too many. I mostly class B that only sells wine and beer and to be honest, I rather like the convenience of where they are located. But as I look at Stereojam’s maps again vis a vis Bloomingdale – I can’t help but think that perhaps the saturation point has been reached.

What about your neighborhoods? Do you think your neighborhood has too many liquor stores? Do too many liquor stores affect your quality of life?

Ed. Note: On a future Friday I will make a part 2 out of this question and substitute bars for liquor stores.

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