“Dear PoP,
My neighbor put this chair out with a “free” sign. Then this guy came along and sat there reading for about an hour.”
As an avid reader I think this is a beautiful sight.
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quality of life
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The Washington Post reports:
“In a strongly worded opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit condemned the roadblocks, which police used last summer in the city’s Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast Washington. The checkpoints, which have not been used in about a year, were a response to a spate of shootings, including a triple homicide.”
Council Member Mendelson sent out a press release:
“I am pleased with the U.S. Court of Appeals decision reversing a lower court’s approval of the controversial roadblocks. It is unfortunate that the District’s Attorney General was so wrong to insist that the roadblocks were constitutional. However, today’s decision is no surprise given that the DC Court of Appeals came to the same conclusion regarding roadblocks – ironically, also in Trinidad – in 1991.
All of us want to reduce crime – there is too much of it despite the recent drop in numbers. But the District government should pursue strategies that are proven to work. Roadblocks sound good – they’re a “get tough” approach – but they are controversial and often illegal. There are much more effective strategies, as Police Chief Cathy Lanier has shown, that have the community’s support and reduce crime.
Today’s decision is a triumph over rhetoric.”
I’m curious to know how you guys feel about this issue.
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photo by John
Ed. Note: I didn’t have a photo of the firehouse at Newton so just picked a random one from flickr. Regarding the firehouse at Newton, I too have seen random people hanging out and setting up a small portable bbq and wondered if it was sanctioned by the firehouse.
“Dear PoP,
I wanted to raise the issue of loitering in front of the firehouse on 14th and Newton streets, as it’s caused a great deal of frustration for the residents of Newton and certainly beyond. Those familiar with this spot know that there used to be benches in front of the firehouse, a beacon for all types of characters. Generally, these people are unruly, intoxicated, offensive and pretty insensitive to anyone around. Jim Graham had the wood benches removed last year, but the cement structures of the benches remain, and now the regulars have taken to bringing their own furniture in the form of lawn chairs, desk chairs, etc. It’s easy to write these folks off as “homeless”, however, it’s become pretty obvious that they do have homes. They park cars along the curb of 14th St. and blast music; if it’s nice out you bet they’re grilling (that’s right they have a grill and meat to cook), and after they leave the entire area is a disaster. Trash is left everywhere as well as items that apparently aren’t worth holding onto.
We started by contacting the firehouse. The gentleman who was apparently in charge, asked if we were referring to “Bumfest”. That’s right, this is a civil servant. The obvious indifference to members of the community and apathy towards the situation outside of the firehouse is pretty frustrating considering we care about our neighborhood. Most of these firefighters are from other states, and seem to care less about the immediate community. Councilman Graham has expressed repeated frustration to his constituents, but there’s no loitering law in DC, and police claim they can do nothing.
I find it hard to believe that if my friends and I decided to congregate on the sidewalk and grill, start fights, curse out passersby, puke, and trash the area, we wouldn’t be punished in some way. It’s really embarrassing to have the first site visitors see on your street be a group like this.
Does anyone else in the neighborhood share my sentiment? We’ve contacted the non-emergency number close to 10 times now, but the problems persist. Please make the community aware of this issue, I really want to offer these people an alternative.”
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It’s signs and gestures like this that remind me why I love this city so much.
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Photo by PoPville Flickr member Rukasu1
The following was written by PoP contributor Eric Nuzum.
This one is for the interlopers and sojourners in the house. Native sons and daughters can sit this one out, opting instead to monitor the comment thread and shake your heads in mild disgust.
So I’ve been wrestling with something lately and could use some advice: How does one go about explaining our neighborhood life to folks back home?
My wife and I have become increasingly perplexed by the fact that, despite moving into our Petworth home 18 months ago, neither set of parents (mine from rural Ohio; hers from rural Indiana) has come to visit us yet. Seeing that we are the first kids on either side of our families to buy homes, we expected a little more interest.
The answer came during a visit home a few weeks ago. When we pointed out the lack of parental visitation to my folks, they were pretty silent.
“You aren’t frightened of where we live or anything…are you?” I asked.
Long pause.
“Well,” my mother said. “Maybe a little.”
In hindsight, this didn’t surprise my wife at all.
“Think about the stories you tell them,” she said. “It’s all crack addicts and crime and problems and sketchy this and that. If that was all I heard about any place, I’d be frightened too.”
Okay, she’s right. But in fairness, when I’m telling stories, I go for the colorful and entertaining, I’m not shooting for high journalistic objectivity and fairness. However, I admit that the end product does come off a bit askew.
Going solely off my solely-for-entertainment-value stories, the unfamiliar might be left with the impression that Petworth is a place where bullets fly daily, bugs and rodents conduct their own ANC meetings, the Sunday paper contains coupons for local heroin and crack dealers, and residents mope down the street openly weeping (when we all know that only the residents of Chevy Chase walk down the street weeping, come on). You can even see from my own previous guest posts on PoP (spottily chronicled here), I admittedly tend to focus on the less-than-positive, less-than-normal, and less-than-flattering.
My wife issued a decree, right there in the car driving across the Pennsylvania turnpike: No more negative yarns and jokes about DC to family and friends.
To me, that seems to harsh, almost like suppressing elements of life here. She clarified that she wasn’t asking me to censor anything, just realize that by sharing stories and making jokes about one side of life here, I was casting the entirety in false light. I see her point. Continues after the jump. (more…)
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I’m always impressed by folks who go the extra effort for no personal gain. Someone found a bike and decided to post signs to find the owner. I think this is part of what makes a neighborhood/community great.
And finally a condo/apartment name that I like. Kinda reminds me of the simple brilliance of the Irving.
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From Kash:
“The street was blocked off so the kids had lots of room to play. The lack of traffic and parked cars really changed the character of the the street, making it feel more like an inviting part of the interior of the house. It was like we extended the boundary of our living room out into the street to overlap with the neighbors’. Everyone came out and grilled and socialized as if we all shared a common courtyard in the same building. Wish it could be like that every day!”
I think this is one of the best ways to build community. You had old, young, black, white etc. All with smiles. A beautiful sight and most definitely part of the beautiful life.
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“Dear PoP,
I’m living downtown in a condo building on the first floor. My apartment is one of the only ones that is rented, so I feel like I’m a “less important” tenant when it comes to the condo board. I have contacted them about this problem already, and they weren’t able to / didn’t want to do anything, but I just wanted to get some reader’s opinions on this.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 7:15 am, the trash guys come and haul up our trash from the basement. This entails them *BANGING* it up the marble stairs, through the lobby, and *BANGING* it down the front door stairs. They take it outside, then they come back in to bang it back down the stairs. This wakes me up 3 times a week, for almost a year now, and I can’t handle it anymore. We have a quiet hour policy that runs 11pm-8am, and I stated that in my e-mails to the condo board, but the only thing they did was tell me to wear earplugs. Fine, I wear earplugs. Doesn’t help since my entire apartment shakes while they are banging garbage cans around. Tenants up to the third floor are also disturbed.
Anyone have any advice on how to approach this? I don’t care if they bang garbage cans around, but do it outside of quiet hours! I respect other tenant’s right to quiet, why can’t our contractors do the same?!”
Wow, I feel the frustration here. Personally I’m most interested to learn about how folks who rent in condo buildings are treated. In this example, I think the condo board’s advice to wear earplugs is preposterous. A buddy of mine rents in a condo building and hasn’t had any problems. Have others who rent in condo buildings felt that their complaints are not heard or respected?
Again, in this instance, it seems you should talk with the other units that are affected by the noise and if they own perhaps they can have a bit more clout resolving the problem. Ear plugs is most definitely not the answer. What do you guys think? Anyone face a similar situation?
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photo by JUDGE DREDD76
Back in April we had a FQoTD about street harassment. Now I don’t mean to be insensitive but I have to follow up on this question. You see, today as I was walking home from the metro I saw a woman wearing very similar shorts to the one from flickr above. And it got me thinking about this issue again. Let me just say I don’t mean to imply that anyone deserves harassment based on the clothes that they wear. I’m just wondering if it’s a smart choice in certain sections of the city where street harassment is a known problem. God knows, I hope women will be able to wear whatever they want to wear in any neighborhood of the city.
But it reminded me of when I was a kid going into NYC before NYC became much safer. When I would travel to the City I would always put my wallet in my front pocket. And I even remember school trips where they would tell those who wore jewelry to leave it at home. (There were lots of jewelry snatchings back then.) Of course nobody deserved to get there jewelery stolen but it was considered a prudent choice to leave it at home or put your wallet in your front pocket.
Anyway, my question is that maybe it’s not a good idea to wear shorts like this on certain streets, particularly if you are by yourself. Again, I’m totally disgusted and appalled by the street harassment stories we have heard. But isn’t it a good idea to dress slightly more modestly to avoid such unpleasantness? Or is that kind of like letting the terrorists win? I’m totally sincere with this query. I don’t know what the “right” answer is. I’m guessing there might be a slippery slope argument here. And I know there are harassers who would happily torment a woman regardless of what she is wearing. Like I said, I’m conflicted on this one.
So I thought I’d throw it out there for a FQoTD – in known street harassment areas should one choose their dress more cautiously?
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Cause I wasn’t sure if they were talking about the dog or the dog walker…