quality of life

Dear PoP – What to do about Second hand smoke in apartments?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Bogotron

“Dear PoP,

I recently purchased a condo on the second floor of a small building. The owner of the unit below me smokes, and I can often smell his/her second-hand smoke in my unit. I think the smoke is coming in through either the bathroom or more likely, the area where I have my HVAC system.

The smoke bothers me, and I’m wondering what I can do about it. He/She isn’t smoking in a common area; he’s/she’s in their unit. Our by-laws have a general nuisance provision, but I don’t want to invoke that because he’s/she’s in their property, he’s/she’s lived there for 30 years, and I have a nuisance of my own in the form of a dog that barks when I leave my unit.

I’m wondering whether anyone has tried to seal off cracks in the likely sources of entry, either with insulating tape or silicone. Does this work? Is this pretty easy and something I can do myself? Or do I need to hire someone? How much will this cost? Any recommendations?”

Has anyone lived in a unit where a neighbor smoked? Is there anyway to seal up the apartment. I know someone who rented an apartment that had a no smoking clause but was explicitly told that a long time resident smoked and was allowed to because they were grandfathered in. When you buy a condo, or rent a new place – should it be disclosed if a resident smokes? I can see a slippery slope argument here…

So really two questions – anyway to mitigate the initial situation sent in by a reader? And on a side note – should it be mandatory to reveal if a unit contains a smoker in a condo? In a rental?t

Dear PoP – Light Pollution from Howard Univ. Stadium

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

I live at the corner of 14th and Fairmont in Columbia Heights. I have been having a problem with the stadium lights at Howard (I think these lights are from Howard) University being left on every single night, all night, regardless of whether there is a football game or not. The stadium lights are searing straight into my apartment. (Not to mention are a huge energy waste.) Do you know if any other readers have complained about light pollution from Howard? Has anyone else that lives on Fairmont, Euclid, or Girard Streets been able to read in their living room at midnight with no lamps on? What does one do about light pollution? Should I call the university politely? Please help!”

This is a very interesting question as I’ve been hearing folks mention light pollution lately (I wasn’t too familiar with it). But I passed the stadium recently when there was no game and indeed the lights were on at like 11:30pm (so I doubt a practice was going on). I know some folks will be disturbed with this question arguing “we have bigger fish to fry” but I really do think this is an interesting question.

Number one – why do you think the lights are left on all the time? Safety? Do you think it would be helpful to contact the university? And aside from this specific example – have you noticed other cases of egregious light pollution in other parts of the city?

PoPville PSA – Have Fun but Remember to Be Smart

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ewilfong

“Dear PoP,

Friday night around 2 am there was a woman walking home alone and intoxicated who was assaulted by 2 dudes in the alley off 18th street in Mt Pleasant. She luckily was only scuffed up and fortunately she’ll physically recover, but the incident rattled the woman and the neighbors. I think there are a couple important learning points we need to take away from what happened Friday night (and what happens too often in our city). Obviously, we’re not going to stop crime but there are important measures one can take to reduce the odds of becoming a victim. If you’re going to get lit (and I enjoying having drinks as much as anyone) then be smart about how you get home. For the past four years I’ve worked in one of the busiest ER’s in town and have been keeping a mental tally of the demographics behind assault victims that I treat. Where were they? Who were they with? Intoxicated? All too often, these people have been walking home alone, deep into the night, and are intoxicated. It’s not rocket science. Don’t make yourself an easy target. Take a cab, get a ride from a friend, or walk home with a friend (I rarely see an assault when people are walking in groups), especially if you’ve been drinking.”

I know I’ve certainly made the mistake of walking home when I should’ve taken a cab. As the original poster says this is not a case of blaming the victim but sadly, walking home alone after a night drinking can be like a form of Russian roulette. This is probably the best advice that was ever given to me years ago. When in doubt, don’t hesitate, and always take a cab home late at night especially if you have been drinking. The advice can be easy to shrug off but it’ll be the smartest money you ever spent if you consistently heed the advice. And remember this advice applies to all DC neighborhoods!

Dear PoP – If You See Something, Say Something

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

“Dear PoP,

What is wrong with people these days?!? Seriously! I am so completely disheartened with people as I write this story. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE this city, but after last week I am really disappointed in the people of this city. I met up with two friends at a tattoo shop near the corner of 14th and U streets, NW. It was a Thursday night and the streets are pretty well lit and populated. I chain my bike to a tree right in front of the shop. As we are leaving, I say to my friends jokingly “Hope no one steals my bike!” As I say this a guy walks by and says, “Oh if it isn’t chained up they totally will.” I reply with “My bike is such a POS, who would bother to take the time?” He says “Once as a test I left two really old rusty bikes, one with flat tires out front of this shop just to see. The bikes were gone in under 5 minutes. They will take the bike too if it isn’t locked up.” Well I know this, that’s why my bike is chained to the tree. So I thank the guy and assure him it is locked and we head down a couple blocks to grab some grub.

Less than 2 hours later we return to the tree and my bike is GONE! All that is left is my bike lock…still locked but sliced in two as if it were butter, mocking me on the ground. I picked it up and my two friends and I start laughing at the irony of it all. One of my friends offers to drive me home and as we walk around the corner of U to 14th, what do I see? Some asshole sitting on my bike not even half a block down 14th. Before my friends even knew what was up I am running at the kid who doesn’t see me coming. I shove him off my bike and then a tirade of swear words that would make a sailor blush burst out of my mouth. The guy is so shocked he sort of just stands there still half on my bike. I grab the handle bars and say THIS IS MY BIKE! He has the audacity to tell me it is HIS bike. Then I tell him he is a POS that stole my bike after cutting my lock. His reply of “I didn’t steal no bike.” has me so convinced of his innocence…riiiiight. So then he tries to climb back on the bike at which point I again shove him off and bombard him with more curses.

As I walk off with my bike and my friends back around the corner to U, I notice he has the nerve to start following us. So again I turned around and screamed at him. This time telling him to stop following us or I will call the cops because I have all night to waste, but does he?!? I guess he decides he does not because he crosses 14th and heads the other direction.

Now as excited that I am that this guy is an idiot who stole a bike then stuck around, and as excited as I am that I got my bike back, WTF people?!? Why did no one do a damn thing the entire time? First the bike was stolen in good light, on a busy street where tons of people were walking around. Why did no one do a thing! And then when I was screaming pretty loudly at some asshole who stole my bike, everyone just stood there?!? How come no one bothered to ask if I needed help or anything? How come a small woman who is only 5’2, was not offered any type of assistance? Yes, my friends (a guy and another small woman) would have jumped in had there been a problem, but where was everyone…anyone else?”

Dispatches from the Bedbug War by Tony Lizza

By Prince Of Petworth



Guest Contributor Tony Lizza last wrote about his experiences at the Antiques Road Show.

Bedbugs had attacked my apartment. Bedbugs–pests, scourges of Brooklyn, instant transformers of dwellings from Good Deal to Not, had been reported here for months, but in a fit of narcissistic pique I had always assumed I’d be spared. I crafted a series of creaky rationalizations to myself to justify my belief that they would never come my way. “I’m not home often enough to get bedbugs.” “I don’t have much furniture.” “Bedbugs can’t reach the 10th floor.” When I went to bed one night and awoke the next morning with an archipelago of red welts on my chest, I knew I had a problem. Since then, my apartment has been doused with pesticides twice and counting. I have wrapped my possessions in plastic and garbage bags. I know what it is like to bathe in Diatomaceous Earth.

I contacted residential services after I’d been bitten. A building employee stopped by my place, took apart my bed, and found one coffee-ground sized bedbug skulking around in my box spring. He scheduled me for what he blandly called a “treatment.”

Days turned to weeks. Finally, a packet of stapled papers at my door informed me that my apartment was to be sprayed for bedbugs in two days and contained instructions for preparing my apartment, which consisted of disassembling my bed, placing all of my bedding and clothes into plastic bags and removing them from the apartment, and, finally, moving all of my furniture to the middle of the apartment.

I came home to find my entire room had been tossed—ransacked, even. The exterminators had flung the mattress across the room and completely eviscerated my box spring. My desk was turned on its side, its drawers removed and laid on the floor next to it. My bookshelf had been taken apart. I made my bed, wheezing and sneezing and red-faced from the aerosolized poison floating about in my apartment, and laid down on it that night only to awake to fresh bites and a bedbug crawling on my wall that left a massive pocket of blood behind when I smacked it with a shoe. I was going to have to step up my game.

That night, I scored some Diatomaceous Earth at a hardware store. Diatomaceous Earth is an off-white sedimentary rock made of algae that, when viewed under a microscope, looks like the contents of someone’s junk drawer. When pulverized, it makes a powerful insecticide that works by extracting fat from a bug’s exoskeleton, dehydrating it. That sounded like a perfectly torturous death for these vermin. I laid down a small mountain of DE on the legs of my bed frame, sprinkled a thick layer on top of my box spring and drizzled some on top of my mattress cover. Again, I woke up with bites.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Dear PoP – Why are religious groups allowed to proselytize on the National Mall?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

“Dear PoP,

When I’m running or walking on the Mall I often see various religious groups ranging from Scientology’s big yellow tents, which are typically down there at least once a month, to the Falun Dafa folks that often hang out across from the Air and Space Museum, and the Christian group that built a giant replica ark on the Mall last year. What’s the deal? Surely they had to have applied for a permit with the NPS somewhere, but does this strike anyone else as odd and why don’t more people seem to be bothered by it?”

Hmm, I’d think our founding fathers would be ok with this as it demonstrates our country’s tolerance and freedom of religion. What do you guys think – is the Mall an appropriate place for religious groups to proselytize?

Dear PoP – Noise reduction suggestions

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user fromcaliw/love

“Dear PoP,

I recently moved into a new rental, and it turns out that there is a bar across the alley that tends to keep its back door open, allowing noise to flow out and its customers to congregate in the alley to drink/smoke/talk loudly. The noise is annoying during the day, but it makes sleep nearly impossible when it is going on at 2 or 3 in the morning almost right outside the window. I looked online and found some curtain liners that supposedly will reduce the amount of sound that comes in from the outside. I wondered if your readers had any experience with these, or had other suggestions beyond the obvious (using earplugs or a loud white noise machine)?”

Anyone ever find some unique ways to block out noise. No lie, in college I had a roomate who snored so loudly that I wore the earmuffs that you wear at a gun range. Not very comfortable though.

A Reminder of the Beautiful Life

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

On the beautiful side of DC living, here’s a sign from a yard sale in Mt P ~

They had a good amount of interesting books, household items, things from afar, etc.

(Somehow I think it would have diminished the positive effect if they had cheap crap.).

Hasta la Mt P fest!”

Dear PoP – The Kids are Driving Me Crazy

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

A question for you regarding those damn noisy kids that are moving into the neighborhood. Specifically, a group of very nice early twenty-somethings are renting a house on my block and insist on having acoustic-guitar jamfests every night on their front porch. I’m not talking 9pm, it’s more like 11 or 12, with at least one night going from 2-4am, when a neighbor hissed at them and they (reluctantly) stopped and went inside. I don’t want to be the grumpy old curmudgeon down the block (especially since I’m only about 8 years older than they are) but as the weather gets cooler and we turn from AC at night to windows, these guys are not only gonna keep me up, but my kids as well. Anyone know any solution to this problem that doesn’t involve me going over and displaying the unneighborliness I’m afraid I’m going to have to display eventually?”

I actually don’t think it is being unneighborly if you go over and talk to them in a casual way. Sometimes you’ll be surprised at how reasonable people can be if you talk to them directly with respect but frankly. I think if you say – it’s reasonable to play the guitar until 9 or 10pm on weekdays but you have little children that need to go to sleep they’ll understand. Of course not everyone is reasonable but that is definitely the first step that should be taken in my opinion.

If a discussion is not able to resolve the problem another reader would like to know when it is reasonable to get a lawyer involved (in a different situation with a stereo blasting at all hours) and if anyone has any recommendations?

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