Saturday night at about 2:00 am a car went out of control and landed on a neighbors front lawn.
quality of life
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This one from a reader on Irving Street:
Hello PoP:
This morning @ 8:00 a man (about 35 yrs old, 5-9, 160 lbs) knocked at my door, my brother in law answered. This fellow, in a friendly manner, told of his need for $18.00 to take a cab to the hospital to pick up his father. He explained that he lived “a couple doors down.” I asked him to point more clearly to the house – he said grey porch a few down. I asked him the house number – he said “21” (meaning 521 or 621 on this block.) I proceeded to walk to that house with him now saying he was ok and didn’t want to ask for the money now. Sure enough, the house was not 521 or 621 and he walked away. I would not have been adverse to loaning the money but since it was so easy to verify where he said he lived, I did so.
Also disturbing was that he approached our house at a time later than when I can easily be seen leaving for work, so I wonder if in addition to the money scam, was he also checking to se if the house was empty and easy to break into (we have no bars.) Saving grace is that brother in law works from the house.
Do you think this was handled appropriately, or should you just say, sorry and close the door?
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I thought it was super cool that on this beautiful Saturday we had these folks were just chilling on their porch playing their guitars. They were actually quite good! I also saw some folks throwing the frisbee on one of those small triangle parks and it almost felt like I was in college. It was such a relaxed friendly atmosphere. Folks throwing the frisbee, everyone saying hello to everyone else, so when people ask “what is so special about our neighborhoods, it’s just a place to live?” I totally disagree. I’ve lived in neighborhoods were people don’t say hi to one another. Neighborhoods where people don’t know each other’s names, or introduce themselves. Neighborhoods without music. We live in a place that has its share of problems, sure, but we also live in a place with many joys and those joys shouldn’t be forgotten when the occasional unpleasantness occurs. We live in a place where people play guitars on their stoops, and that is a very cool thing.
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I didn’t but as I was walking past Tubman Elementary school on 13th Street in Columbia Heights I saw tons of folks working on beautification projects. They were planting gardens, cleaning up and painting murals. It was a great sight to see, that’s for sure. Check out another mural in action after the jump. (more…)
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Now believe me, I have been guilty of this infraction many times. For some reason I have been blessed with some of the nicest neighbors in town. I have one neighbor who from time to time busts my chops in a very good natured manner. Before my lawn mower broke, I’d laugh with my neighbor and then immediately mow the lawn. More recently I have another neighbor who is way too nice to me. This neighbor has mowed my lawn, shoveled my walk, brought in garbage cans…you name it. I’m just waiting for her to do my taxes next year. But in all honesty I try to have my lawn mowed fairly regularly because my neighbors take such good care of their lawns that I feel like a jackass when my lawn gets out of control. So, what do you do when you have a neighbor or an absentee landlord who doesn’t mow the lawn?
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Forget all the gardens, two words, blue raspberry. What’s your favorite part about the warmer weather?
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It’s time to bring your hammocks out of storage!
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The following letter was sent to me by a reader and was originally sent to Councilmember Graham. The reader tells me that the Councilman has promised to send the appropriate authorities. It is really quite a sad situation all around. Hopefully, this guy will get the help he clearly needs. Has anyone else faced a similar situation? If so please tell the reader how you dealt with it.
“I am writing because we have exhausted all of our available resources and desperately need help with a mentally ill neighbor, residing. I understand under DC Law that unless he is a direct threat to himself or others, there is little the police or Department of Mental Health can do. However, the quality of life for this whole block, most particularly for the neighbors located on both sides of him, has deteriorated.
He frequently yells at passersby and his neighbors, using racial and sexual insults that must be heard to be believed. In the past, he has tried to spit on elderly women walking down the street and has begun throwing all the contents of his house onto his front steps. (I submitted a complaint for sanitation violations on 3/23/08 on the DC Government’s website). A consequence of his unsanitary living condition is we have mice and roaches in our house and must pay Orkin for regular maintenance. Letter continues after the jump. (more…)
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I have to be honest, I had no desire to loiter but when I saw this sign it just felt like a challenge to me and then all I really wanted to do was loiter. They need to use some reverse psychology, maybe…
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We’ve seen some drug free zone flyers before but this is the first prostitution free zone I’ve ever seen. I found this flyer in the Shaw Logan Circle neighborhood off 12th Street. So, it’s pretty cool that a nice xerox can declare a zone drug and/or prostitution free. I hope they’ll print a few more out for litter free zones, double parking free zones, maybe murder free zones, hypocrisy free zones, etcetera etcetera…