I’ve always known there were benches here but I never noticed the writing on them before. I’m not sure who sponsored the writing but it is certainly thought provoking. It is very interesting to see this perspective. You can see some of the writing on the bench above answering the question: “Why do you think the benches were taken out?”.
Do folks know if these benches were supposed to be removed or is this a preemptive protest?
More benches after the jump. (more…)
“Dear PoP,
I’m a big fan of free speech – yay soapboxes for whackos – but shouldn’t there be restrictions on pure noise? I know this issue has popped up before – streetcorner idiots with amplifiers that can be heard two blocks away. These guys are particularly ugly, but I don’t really care what the cause is – I shouldn’t have to hear it over a loudspeaker in my neighborhood. Anyone know what the deal is? ”
I remember talking about these guys before. They’re often outside of the Columbia Heights metro. And I know that H Street, NE has dealt with a similar situation. I find them terribly irritating. But here is my serious FQoTD – how far does free speech extend? Can anyone set up outside the metro and spout whatever they want, whenever they want? Where is the balance between tranquility and free speech? Is it just a decibel level? Maybe I should set up next to them and start preaching about the beautiful life? Anyone got my back? Warning, I bruise and bleed easily…
I’ve been getting a number of emails that the turf has been installed at the Tubman school located off 11th Street between Irving and Kenyon. Here’s what it looked like a month ago. So how do you think it looks? The photo doesn’t show it that well but there is a big DC flag in the middle with Fenty’s name up top.
But I have some more questions.
I received the following on twitter at 6:30ish Tues. evening:
“police detaining 8 latino men trying to use the unfinished Tubman field”
So was anyone at Wonderland at that time and also saw what happened? Were they actually insisting on playing even after MPD showed up? I’m wondering if they were just told that the field wasn’t finished yet. Were they arrested? When the field is properly finished will people be able to play soccer there like before? Is a turf field like this hard to maintain? Will pick up soccer games destroy it?
This truck was sitting on Florida Ave just west of 14th Street, NW. I spoke with the guy in the truck who said he gets the Watermelons from a farm in Greenville, NC. They are $10 a piece but they are gigantic. I just loved the scene.
“Dear PoP,
The morning of Wed. August 5th, I left my Parkview/Petworth house for only a half hour and came home to find the five year old crepe myrtle –which I had planted in memory of my grandmother the week after she passed away – cut clean about five inches above the base and just laying there. The look on my face prompted a neighbor walk up and tell me “those Mayor’s kids in the blue shirts just did that a few minutes ago”. Sure enough – the band of blue shirts was walking aimlessly down the block with branch cutters. Confronting them was to no avail – and so now I have a dead tribute tree that I bought and planted to show for all the great work Fenty’s kids are doing in this city this summer being paid for in part with MY tax dollars!
In the press release (http://www.facebook..com/note.php?note_id=214813510712) that announced the program’s kick-off back in June Mayor Fenty proudly proclaimed, “My Green Summer Job Corps will lead to a cleaner, greener nation’s capital. All summer, the young people in this program will also do meaningful work and learn skills they can use for the rest of their lives.” Um yeah Mayor Fenty — vandalizing neighborhoods – yup – that’s about the only skills most DC kids need to learn to live in this city for the rest of there lives!”
While a different program than the one we discussed last week, it certainly seems that more supervision for both these programs is required. Let me just add, that when I was a youth I was no saint. I did, however, have part time jobs since I was 13 years old (stock boy, lawn mowing, ass’t town handyman) and for all those jobs I was closely supervised to make sure I did the work I was being paid for. I’m not saying I would’ve vandalized shrubs but I may have taken a nap or two without supervision. So I’m not blaming the kids. It seems the program itself needs to be reexamined. I do think the program is a worthy and necessary one. But why can’t we demand closer supervision. It seems like an easy fix. Am I missing something?
Ed. Note: At 11am Monday morning, I will post a response from:
Alan Heymann
Director, Public Information
District Department of the Environment
“Dear PoP,
This ghastly thing was on Columbia Rd. It was a trailer with glass enclosing a casket and the goriest pictures I have seen in my life of gunshot wounds to the face and torso. I asked Marco S., the DCPD liaison who organized the PSA 302 event on Columbia, if he had lined up the hideous casket ‘n’ blood trailer – he said he didn’t know who invited them, they just showed up!”
I actually think that could be a pretty good deterrent. What do you guys think – too graphic?
Also from National Night Out:
“Dear PoP,
Get this. MPD PSA 405 had a Night out event on the unit block of Buchanan St, NE tonight. One of the questions asked was related to littering. Did you know the city does not have a litter law? Yep thats right if you toss trash the street in front of a cop, they can’t do anything! The only law on the books is illegal to through trash from a moving vehicle. Apparently though, you can pull over and shovel trash out of your car on the curb and it is perfectly legal.
I am just stunned This is the national’s capital for goodness sakes.
I am writing my Councilmember.”
Is it possible that DC doesn’t have a litter law? That seems insane to me. I always thought they just weren’t really enforced but surely one has to be on the books – anyone know for sure?
“Dear PoP,
Please post that at 1:30PM today 8/4 at the Adams Mill playground, some students from the Mayor’s Youth Corps were taking “up skirt” pictures of a 3 YEAR GIRL. She was just changed and was running from her mom up some playground equipment. She didn’t have any diaper on yet and these pedophiles lean over from otherwise doing nothing and take phone camera pics. My wife notified the lady, who owns a local business and demanded the creeps empty the phone. We should have called the cops. What do we do with these Neanderthals? I’ve notified Green Corps and our ANC folks. They’ll be off the street in no time…”
This is obviously extremely disturbing. The writer of this “Dear PoP” is the young girl’s father and is understandably extremely upset. I can’t imagine how outraged I’d be in a similar situation. I hope to God the offenders can be identified and punished. I’m not sure the offenders realize just how abhorrent the act they committed was. I most definitely think they should have the crap scared out of them. Of course I wasn’t there so I don’t know exactly what happened but I’d be cautious to label these teens something beyond idiots. And they most certainly were idiots. And we’ve spoken about this in the past but it is becoming ever more clear that these Summer youth programs need more supervision. Of that I am certain.
Tons of readers wrote in on Friday about the possible Post Office closings in DC (photo above of Le Droit Park). We spoke of the Petworth post office back in March. The news of the potential closings were first reported in the Post’s Federal Eye blog. They wrote:
“The Postal Service has marked 677 post offices nationwide for possible closure or consolidation, according to a document given today to a House subcommittee holding a hearing on the future of American mail delivery. Among them are 10 post offices in the District and three in the Maryland suburbs of Hyattsville, Rockville and Silver Spring.”
Well, I for one think this is horrible. I use the post office from time to time to mail out t-shirts so it’s really convenient for me to have one in my neighborhood. But then again, I don’t really use the post office that frequently. So what do you guys think – should most neighborhoods in DC have their own post offices? Or have post offices really become a thing of the past?
“Dear PoP,
I wonder if you would get a discussion going on your site about mice in apartment buildings around the local neighborhoods. My wife and I live in an apartment building and recently our digs have become infested with mice; for six to seven weeks now, the little critters have run amok and torn into, among other random items, a cereal box and a fresh tomato. The runts are getting braver and coming out more frequently and out of more unpredictable places (the other afternoon, one little guy jumped out of the dishwasher and onto our dog’s back before performing a somersault-landing and sprinting away to safety in a water heater closet. We’ve tried everything to get rid of the runts (i.e. traps–first, the snap traps and then the less humane glue traps, putting steel wool in the holes, and conducting immaculate house cleaning routines). All attempts have failed. It is unclear that the management company has responded appropriately given the level of infestation (we know other building tenants are experiencing the same problem). We are curious how prevalent such mice issues are for other D.C. residents? And we’re also very interested to hear about other people’s experiences. For example, what they do to rid themselves of mice and how do their landlords/management companies respond, etc.? If there is a reader that knows tenants’ rights and can speak about whether a tenant can break their lease if there is a persistent and serious problem that remains unresolved by management, we’d like to know that, too.”
Back in June ’07, I revealed a dirty little secret – we all currently have or have had mice in the past. For me the only thing I was able to do to deal with the problem was to get a cat. (Ed. Note: My cat, Dingo, has been ruled ineligible for the coolest pet in PoPville contest by an independent panel of advisors.) Before I got a cat I used traps that would catch them but there seemed to be a never ending supply of reinforcements. Since I got a cat I’ve never seen one or evidence of one since. I did, however, also have some outdoor spaces patched up. However, I live in a house. If I lived in an apartment building I would definitely request exterminators from the building management. Some advice was given here. But what do you guys recommend for one facing this problem in an apartment building?
So much for a lighthearted Friday… But I’ve been listening to so much talk about this and something struck me right away that nobody has mentioned. As most surely know by now Prof. Gates was arrested when someone called the police as he was pushing in a stuck door on his home. Some are being critical of the Cambridge police and some are being critical of Prof. Gates. For sure, I believe, race to a certain degree was likely an issue with how he got arrested. But I have a problem with the neighborhood. Because I was thinking how this would never have happened where I live. Presumably it was a neighbor who called the police. And as they say it’s good to have folks looking out but on my block everyone knows each other. If I saw my neighbor Joe, black and often casually dressed, pushing in his door. I’d say, hey Joe what’s going on, you ok? It seems insane to me that this neighbor does not know what her neighbor looks like. Perhaps she saw the driver but I’d say this incident says a lot about the neighborhood of Cambridge, MA.