quality of life

First PoP Day of Service Neighborhood Selected

By Prince Of Petworth

The winner with 39% of the vote is Petworth! Columbia Heights came in second with 27% of the vote and Mt. Pleasant squeaked by Park View for third place with 7% of the vote. I suggest we do the first cleaning from Grant Circle to the Petworth Metro (however, if large numbers turn out we can split up and send folks in other directions as well). To allow for planning purposes we’ll do the first cleaning Sat. April 25th. Please allow 2 hours for the cleanup – say 10am -12pm?

May’s cleanup will be in Columbia Heights and June’s will be in Mt. Pleasant. We will then re-vote to see where we’ll hit in July. So for those that volunteered to help with logistics – thanks! I’ll post a few reminders as the date approaches. Thanks to all who voted and hope lots of folks will be able to participate.

In Defense of L. by Robyn

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by Sanjay Suchak

Ed. Note: This is a slightly different take on Robyn’s “in defense of” series. I certainly don’t think homelessness is a trivial matter but I do believe that some of the characters in the neighborhood most definitely add to the beautiful life. When I lived in Woodley Park, there was a great guy named Stoney who would light up my day nearly every morning saying/singing some impromptu rap/poetry. There are characters and there are trouble makers. I hope we don’t mix the two together. Do you have any characters that add to the beautiful life in your neighborhood?

Meet L. She’s been on the block for 45 years, and she’ll tell you that within seconds of meeting you. Well actually…L doesn’t necessarily ‘meet’ people. She prefers to walk up to you uninvited, size you up, and if she deems you fit, proceeds to tell you some news, then asks for either a cigarette, change, or a job offer to clean your stairs. L spends most of her time occupying a neighbor’s front porch, fence, or stairs, and walking up and down my block gathering the day’s gossip. Then at night you can find her spreading the news and otherwise being an uncouth, slightly jarring staple of Monroe Street. While I don’t know her complete story, L’s weathered the years. Her voice sounds like she swallowed granite, and her sobriety is always in question. Once she crashed party I threw and started her own dance party (remember, Prince?). When I first met her, I must admit I was a little dismissive. I’d put my head down and pick up pace as soon as I heard her charismatic baritone. But L caught onto me. It started slow, with a simple “What’s up deeeeva?” whenever I would pass. I’d nod back (who doesn’t like being called a diva?) and move on, but this wasn’t enough for L . One day she parked herself in the middle of the sidewalk not leaving room for any awkward maneuvering. Then she proceeded to give me the most bizarre interaction I’ve had in a while (besides for any I’ve had at Charlestown Races and Slots).

L: “DIVA!”

Me: “Oh, hey L.”

L: “Can I get my face back?”

Me: “Ermm…I don’t think I have your face? Maybe you lent it to someone else? Also, it appears that you have your face on right now.”

L: “No. I got YOUR face.”

After a few seconds of confusion, it was clear I wasn’t allowed passage in this Monty Python-esque challenge. I decided the best response was to play L at her own game.

Me: “Well, then L, can I have my face back please?”

She smiled, winked and said, “When I let it go (snap)!”

I didn’t get it, but it made me laugh for a good day and a half. When I see her today, we exchange our metaphorical faces, wink, and go on our separate ways. Now and then I’ll see new neighbors in their first L encounter. Not realizing she’s harmless, they clutch their belongings and look for the nearest cop car. I’m defending L. Sure, she’s loud not entirely trustworthy, and can be a bit of a nuisance when in a hurry. But she’s a staple of the block, and even though the neighborhood’s changing, I hope she remains for a while. Because eventually I would actually like my face back.

OK, Looks Like Folks Are Up For a PoP Monthly Clean Up and Chat

By Prince Of Petworth

I’d like to make this a monthly event. I think the third Saturday or Sunday of every month for a two hour period. Obviously many neighborhoods are quite large so we’ll have to pick small sections and return for other sections. But I’d like the neighborhoods to rotate so that if folks participate in the clean up who live elsewhere their neighborhood will eventually be hit as well. I’ll select a “winner” on Sunday night.

Dear PoP – How ‘Bout a Day of Service?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

So, I was reading the rock throwing post and all the diatribe that always comes with such discussions of our neighborhood. It seems to me that there is a split – those of us who love the beautiful life and want to work to make it better and those who hate the beautiful life and want the rest of us to join them. For those of us who want to make it better, what would you think of organizing a different kind of PoP happy hour? We complain about litter, general apathy in the neighborhood, etc, so I was thinking we could do a spring cleaning day somewhere in the neighborhood. Again – there are ways other than violence to show the thugs that they aren’t in charge any more.”

I think this is a great idea. And I believe we should do it once a month in a different neighborhood from April – September. We can pick a new neighborhood every month. I suggest we make it the third Saturday of every month. And I know folks are busy so let’s just plan on two hours of not only cleaning but also chatting neighborhood folks up and perhaps grabbing some beers upon completion. Ideally it would be great if everyone could participate even if it falls in a neighborhood that they don’t live in. And we should be a force. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get 50 people together every month for this? I think it is doable. But if there’s only 6 of us it’s not going to work. So let’s see if folks are into this in the comments. If there is a positive reception I’ll put a poll up to see which neighborhood we’ll start with. Sound like a plan?

Dear PoP – It’s Time For Some Good News

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by John von Rosenberg

From a reader:

Dear neighbors,

On Monday I posted to the Brookland list that I had lost a wallet in or near the Brookland / CUA Metro Station. I was fairly frantic at the time, having lost not only my ID, cash, and my credit cards, but proof of insurance and other critical pieces of my life – and worse, I was running from the Metro to get my son on the day my wife left the country on business.

I spent the next day canceling credit cards, getting a new driver’s license, and generally trying to reconstitute my life.

You can imagine my delight and surprise when the wallet arrived in today’s mail, completely intact – cards, money, ID, etc. Not a thing missing. There was a letter (unsigned) saying the person found it by the “Brooklyn Metro Station” and that I must have “been in a rush”. Truer words have rarely been written about the rush and my general
frame of mind that day.

There was no name, but an address, with the closing note, “God Bless.” Continues after the jump.  (more…)

Dear PoP – Help Me See The Beautiful Life Again

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by Luis

“Dear PoP,

I live on the southwest corner of Harvard and 14th and, like the couple of shootings and the one stabbing I have read about at my corner over the last two years, this again strikes too close to home for me. You seem to have kept a remarkably cool head about this whole thing. I get mad and upset just thinking about the “what-ifs” of these situations, but it actually happened to you and in just one day’s time you are able to think clearly about it and are trying to bring a sense of calm to all of your regular commenters.

This has thoroughly bummed me out today. What is your secret? How are you able to keep your perspective in tact so soon after the fact? Did you just continue to Commonwealth and then drown the memory away with pint after pint (I might have)?

Help me see the beautiful life again.”

Getting hit by a rock is most definitely an unpleasant experience. But I try to keep things in perspective. Fortunately, the throw was weak and I was not injured. I was absolutely pissed off and fuming for about 20 minutes. For the record, I only had one glass of Bushmills after the fact.

I try and live my life by a certain philosophy. There is a Hebrew expression that says, Gam Zeh Ya’avor. This basically means – This too shall pass. It’s funny re-reading some of the comments from yesterday. I’m really not a naive person. Nor am I goofy optimist. I’m not saying that I’m going to wake up one morning to a crime free world. But I do think over time and with hard work the situation will improve, in this case in Columbia Heights. I also know that life, while often beautiful, is not perfect. Far from it. This relates to work, personal life, health, you name it. So I thought about getting hit by the rock. I recognized that, thankfully, I wasn’t injured and I realized the “good” people that I encounter far outnumber the “bad”.

Also I try and remember the things I love about living in the city. And I also think about the many folks out there, volunteering and working to improve the situation in the city. Another reader wrote me (more to come on that Friday) suggesting that 50% of people want to embrace the beautiful life and see what they can do to make it better while the other 50% (not necessarily through any fault) have decided the situation will never improve. Well, I’d like to think I fall in the former.

And you know, I listened to some good music, had an interesting interview with a British journalist, ate a good dinner and admired the homes of Columbia Heights after dinner. As I’ve said many times, some days are better than others. I’m not saying you should ignore the negative aspects. It’s ok to get angry. Hopefully that anger can be channeled to do some positive things. I know I was fucking pissed. But it all depends on what you decide to focus on. An example I’ve given before is when you see some trash on the street near some flowers. You can focus on the trash and get really pissed off. Or you can look at the garden and say, those are some beautiful fucking flowers. Ideally, you’ll pick up the trash while admiring the flowers. Sometimes I pick up the trash and sometimes I don’t. But whenever I walk away the thought I always to chose to keep is that those are some beautiful fucking flowers.

If you focus on the unpleasant aspect, sure you’ll probably want to move. I chose to focus on the happier times. And I know that there are going to be some shitty days in the future and I know there are going to be some awesome days in the future. It is the decision to focus on the positive aspects of living where we live that will help you capture the beautiful life. And remember whatever happens – This too shall pass.

Well, It Finally Happened To Me

By Prince Of Petworth

This is another one of those situations in which you have no idea how you will react until it happens to you. Lots of folks have told me about the problem of rock throwing in Columbia Heights but I’ve probably spent half my time walking around CH and have never seen it and certainly hadn’t experienced it. Sadly, that changed this evening. I was heading up 14th Street on my way to an interview at Commonwealth (more on that later).

At 7:50 pm I felt something hit the top of my head. It was more of a lob shot than a fastball. I was actually quite confused. There were 4 twelve year old boys behind me. So I had to decide what to do. Oh yeah, this happened at the corner of 14th and Harvard. So I have my ipod on and am just staring at them, thinking to myself, ‘did they really just throw a rock at me’. I was definitely in disbelief.

Well, I’m not a super tough guy but I’m pretty sure I can beat the shit out of a 12 year old kid. So I’m thinking to myself, do I just go over there and punch one of the kids? No, I can’t do that. You can’t punch a 12 year old kid. I’m also thinking, ‘well I don’t want to break my ipod if they all jump on me’. I swear to you, these are the thoughts going through my head. I’m not necessarily proud of them.

I decided to just turn around and continue my walk up 14th Street as I had an appointment and all. But then an older man comes up to me and says, “did those boys just hit you with a rock”. I said, ‘yeah they did, I was just deciding how to react’. He said, “yeah I saw that”. Then he said, “what you should’ve done was grab a stick and whoop them good, then they’d know not to throw rocks”.

So, I don’t know if there is a lesson here but this is not good. I don’t necessarily think violence would’ve prevented this in the future. Not to mention violent crime is not unheard of on this street corner and who knows how these things could escalate if someone else decided to get involved. I don’t know if there is a proper response. What would you have done?

What’s Your Favorite Warm Weather Beer?

By Prince Of Petworth

One of the things I love most about running this blog is randomly meeting readers. So on my walkabout this Saturday a couple of readers said hello as I was wandering around the edges of Shaw. What was even cooler was that they offered me a beer on the spot. They claimed Dominion Spring Buck is one of the greatest beers. It has honey, chamomile and orange peels and clocks in at a nearly 8% alcohol level. Nice. Sadly, I had a huge walk left and was unable to accept the beer.

But it got me thinking, what is the best warm weather beer?

Councilmember Jim Graham’s Anti Loitering Bill Withdrawn

By Prince Of Petworth

From an email by Councilmember Jim Graham:

“Throughout my career I have tried– working with others– to solve problems. I have worked hard to listen to my constituents. People know also that I am a determined crime fighter who is equally determined to address the root causes of crime.

Children should be able to play outside safely. Neighbors should not be afraid to sit on their front stoops, or walk to the local convenience shop. Our young people should not live in fear while they wait for the bus. People ought to be able to walk freely into their homes and the lobbies of their apartment buildings.

Those concerns led me to try to draft a constitutionally sound piece of legislation. The purpose was to give residents and neighbors some much-needed relief from criminal congregants while also reaffirming the right to assemble. So the draft bill was narrowly focused by requiring a limit of 240 hours, a designated area, and other restrictions.

I care deeply about civil liberties. I am also concerned about giving government power that can be abused, through unfairly targeting people on the basis of race or background. After a lot of effort, there are still critical ambiguities (e.g. the definition of what constitutes “loitering”) . Thus, the opportunity for abuse is too great. Very recent events have reinforced that conclusion.

Thus I have withdrawn the bill.”

Thoughts?

Dear PoP – Songster and Boogying Dude, on 14th Street NW, Near Monroe Edition

By Prince Of Petworth

“Hello Prince of Petworth!

Forgive me if you have already covered this guy and his “deal”. I work in the office across the street – for over a week now, there’s a guy who blares (I mean BLARES) music and sells “wares” on 14th street NW, across from the Tivoli Building. It’s not really a huge issue – except his music is extremely loud and not my particular taste in music ;). But, freedom of speech (music), I guess. He definitely likes to boogie and dance around – it’s just simply amusing. I am surprised though, that no one has complained about the noise level. He might make for an interesting interview subject.”

I’ve been looking for this guy ever since I recieved this email last week but I’m not sure I found him. I did however find a boogying dude (photographed in the white shirt with his arm outstretched). across outside the liquor store singing and dancing and spinning and asking for money. But I’m guessing that’s not who you were talking about. So I guess I’ll open up this Dear PoP to any readers familiar with the “boogying dude” in the original question.

But I’m also interesting to hear what you guys think about panhandlers. I rarely encounter them in Petworth, Columbia Heights or really any neighborhood except for downtown. I asked a cop I saw on a segway if the panhandler photographed above was a problem and he said he had not received any complaints. So have you guys noticed any panhandlers in your neighborhoods? Are they overly aggressive or generally polite?

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