quality of life

I’d Rather Just Have Cheaper Gas

By Prince Of Petworth

I did a double take when I went to get my Saturday afternoon Slush Puppie at the gas station at the corner of 15th and U. I don’t know if they’ve installed televisions because people were buying huge SUVs that took a while to fill up or if they installed them because gas is becoming so expensive they were looking for ways to distract the customer so they wouldn’t realize they just paid 68 bucks to fill up their minivans. I think this idea may backfire though as watching six minutes of CNN has been known to cause outbreaks of violence, depression, irritable bowels, feinting, vomiting and nausea. If you are nursing or pregnant definitely avert your eyes if Wolf Blitzer is on.

Reason #56 Petworth Kicks Ass

By Prince Of Petworth

I was out to dinner tonight and apparently my house alarm went off and I missed the call from the alarm company.  Well, one neighbor called my cell phone and two others came up to me when I came home to ask if everything was alright.  This is what I mean when I say that people watch each other’s backs here.  It’s a damn good feeling.  For the record it was a phantom alarm, whatever that means.

“I’ve fallen and I can’t reach mah beer!”

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Katie for sending in the following photo and note:

“My husband was walking down Buchanan St. when a man said, “Looks like he’s tryna cool off too.” He pointed at someone’s front porch where a squirrel was cooling his belly on the concrete. My husband snapped this photo on his phone before the squirrel got annoyed and scampered off.”

I’m glad to know the squirrels are taunting others besides me… For those who have been pushed to the edge it may be worth reading this piece from the New York Times titled Peter Rabbit Must Die.

PoP’s War On Squirrels – Porch Edition

By Prince Of Petworth

After a lull in battles from the infamous car fiasco the squirrels have launched their Summer offensive on PoP headquarters. As I came home last night this squirrel was all sprawled out, just chilling. And daring me to do something. So I of course walked right up expecting him to flee the moment I got close. Ah, but these are a special breed of squirrel. They are fearless. This one scooted around the corner of the porch and as I followed this was the scene:

I am embarrassed to admit, but, I retreated. Damn that’s squirrels two – PoP zero.

Street Beautification – Vermont Avenue

By Prince Of Petworth

I just noticed how this spot on Vermont Ave has an awesome median filled with flowers and trees. It is amazing what a difference it makes over just a concrete median? Does anyone know if there are plans for these types of street beautification to come to Georgia Ave. or 14th St.?

Has Central Air Conditioning Killed Community Cohesion?

By Prince Of Petworth

Obviously this weekend was a bit extreme but I think my theory my have some truth to it. One of things that I immediately loved upon moving to Petworth was the fact that many hang out on their porches after work and folks travel from porch to porch having serious conversations. You know more than just a “hey how you doing?”. Folks are actually spending time hanging out together because they like each other but also because it can be damn hot in the house without AC. So I’m wondering with all the new renovations coming with central ac do you think that has an effect on the overall community feel of a neighborhood?

11th and Monroe Park Drunk Speaks

By Prince Of Petworth

Mad props to New Columbia Heights who spotted a phenomenal quote from the 11th and Monroe Park meeting notes: “Anonymous resident (self-described drunk who hangs out in the park): people in the park aren’t that bad, come on into the park, we welcome kids, we welcome the church.”

And it was answered with vigor, a Columbia Heights resident posts on the listserv:
“We’re beginning a play group for any/all kids at the park on 11th and
Monroe. The park has a history of being a wee bit unclean but most
days it’s passable and it’s hoped that citizen use of the park will
help us reclaim this space a bit. We did this last fall and it was
fun, never too dirty and never had any problems until the cold set in.

So, if you’re interested, meet at the CH coffee shop at 8:30 on 11th
(between park & morton) to grab a cup and then walk over to the park
shortly thereafter. I’ll be with the young 2 year old with blond
curls and probably my wife and new baby most days.”

Beautiful.

Well, My Power is Out

By Prince Of Petworth

So tonight’s blogging or rather tonight’s web service is provided by the good folks at Looking Glass Lounge.  Looking Glass Lounge where the bartenders might seem surly but they’re quite nice once you get to know them.  They made a mean pulled pork sandwich ($9) tonight and Tues. Wed. and Thurs. you get a complimentary drink with an order of an entre.  So if my posts progressively make less sense this evening you’ll have to understand.  Anyway, how far does this power outage go?  It’s obviously out in major parts of Petworth but working at Looking Glass.  Is it working in Columbia Heights?  Mt. P?  The one nice thing I noticed about the outage was that everyone on my block were on their porches.  I love that.  I’d be there too, but damn it then you’d yell at me for not having any posts up tomorrow…

Interesting Article in the New York Times about Gentrification and Portland’s Restorative Listening Project

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Reuben for sending me the article. I can certainly see there are similarities to many neighborhoods in Washington, DC. A taste from the article:

“Yet one person’s frontier, it turns out, is often another’s front porch. It has been true across the country: gentrification, which increases housing prices and tension, sometimes has racial overtones and can seem like a dirty word. Now Portland is encouraging black and white residents to talk about it, but even here in Sincere City, the conversation has been difficult.”

You can read the full article here.

Do you think a listening project would be useful in some of DC’s neighborhoods?

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