A previous frustration articulated nicely
“Dear PoPville,
Checking to see if anyone knows what can be done to stop a car alarm which keeps going off down the street from my house on 10th St in Shaw. It will beep for about ten min, stop for about a min and then start again. This has been going on for about an hour. Wondering if anyone has suggestions (anyone to call?) otherwise it’s going to be a long night!!”
Ed. Note: Previously folks have had success calling 311.
“Dear PoPville,
So Georgia Avenue not by some considered the most beautiful or esthetically pleasing part of Petworth but you know we love it.We love the community the hellos the fact that we live on a major thoroughfare in DC and we all make it work. Sadly last week we collected six bags of trash(im taking big black bags folks) from the sidewalk.Seriously who just throws trash out of a car these days? Well it turns out lots of people do and tonight I had the displeasure of meeting some of these trash fiends.
At about 8:45pm tonight we witnessed a car pull up, people threw a plate of food out and entered next car. We suggested that the street wasn’t a trash can. Not a suggestion that was taken or well received. Looks like someone had a nice birthday party from the plate of cake I then picked up. How do we stop this sort of thing from happening in our beautiful community?”
Sadly I’ve been wondering the same thing since 2003. I don’t think it can ever be completely stopped. What you did was the best – pick up trash when you see it (within reason of course). It’s frustrating but if folks see you picking up trash – perhaps some will think about it more. Others will not care but at least you made an effort. And know that your efforts are appreciated by many.
The original 11th street chicken when spotted back in 2008
“Dear PoPville,
I live in a row house within Ward 1 in Columbia Heights. We have a next door neighbor whom we share an adjacent wall/fence with who has recently (approximately sometime in the the last few months) been housing a very loud rooster and we think a few hens in the backyard. Notwithstanding the noise complaint, what are the regulations in this area permitting or prohibiting raising domestic fowl? Usually a running joke, the 5:30 am rooster wake up call has not always been equally as pleasant (not to mention the welfare of a rooster who seemingly survived the elements of this horrid winter!)
I know that their was a petition to amend the regulations sometime in the recent past but the coding is hard to decipher if you are new to the area and were never “officially” informed of your neighbor’s previous arrangements.”
Ed. Note: The bill stalled and it is still not legal to have chickens/roosters in your backyard in DC.
“Dear PoPville,
I just witnessed [Sunday] a mother of a 5-6 year old girl take her to a tree in Logan Circle park, drop her pants, and instruct her to urinate in public and plain view of all. Shocked, I politely spoke with the woman to let her know that it was in my opinion inappropriate. Let alone hypocritical as we forbid, by law, homeless people and drunk adults from public urination in our neighborhood — a constant challenge we all encounter. She turned the conversation to one of sexism and public health, stating that it would be okay if a little boy urinated in the park and commenting on how urination is different from defecation, as the later would be a public health issue and require that the human feces be picked up if she had needed to do that. Further, as someone who lives “a couple blocks away” she ranted on how there is a shortage of bathrooms in the area. Evidently she did not see a one block walk to her home, Starbucks, Whole Foods, or Chipotle as convenient as dropping her girls pants in public. Having approached her politely to offer my opinion and distaste, she started waving her hands in proclamation that “we are done here.” And the conversation ended.
Can we arrest adults for indecency and public urination while allowing parents to lazily teach their children it’s okay to pee in a park, 20 ft from people?”
Photo by PoPville flickr user wolfpackWX
“Dear PoPville,
OH MY GOSH. Did anyone else witness the world’s biggest asshole driving down 14th last night/this morning?? [going south past Taylor and Shepherd]
I was awoken by persistent honking around 3:00am. Living on 14th Street I’m used to being woken up by car alarms, sirens, and even the occasional drunk person yelling, however last night was probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve witnessed since I moved to the city. A pick up truck with Maryland plates and what looked like construction equipment in the bed of the truck was driving at a snail’s pace (probably > 5 MPH) and deliberately preventing anyone from passing him. The driver was swerving into oncoming traffic so people couldn’t go around him, and when drivers behind him would honk, he so kindly responded by holding down his horn as if it were all just a fun game. He also came to a complete stop a few times, as if to let people go around him, but when cars would try, he would swerve in front of them again.
To make matters worse, while cars were lining up behind him, I saw him leaning out his window to talk to a group of people who were walking up 14th (not sure if he was harassing them, or if they also thought it was a hilarious game to play at 3:00 in the morning). All of this continued for as long as I could see him from my window, and I could still hear the honking for a few minutes after.
In no way do I blame the drivers who were honking at him; I definitely would have done the same thing. It’s the fact that even at 3 in the morning 14th is a busy street, and yet someone would still act so recklessly just because they think it’s funny. It’s astonishing.
I realize there’s not much we can do at this point, but I’m just curious if anyone else saw this all go down?”
Has Logan Circle’s nightmare been resolved? Yes! tweets the P Street Whole Foods last night:
“@dcwater has fixed the issue (we hope!) We’ll continue to monitor. Thanks!”
Can anyone confirm it’s gone?
Photo courtesy Union Station Redevelopment Corporation
From a press release:
“Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC) along with Union Station Parking Garage (USPG) have announced the grand opening of the Union Station Lending Library. The library currently holds over 100 books, ranging in categories from fiction, auto-biographies, children’s literature, young adult, and more.
The library, originally inspired by the Bryant Park Reading Room in New York City, is open and available to the public at no charge. Situated in the waiting pavilion on the bus deck level of the parking garage, the lending library is open to all station visitors, but primarily targets those boarding and de-boarding the buses. The library operates on a leave-one/take-one system, and visitors are encouraged to use the books while waiting for their rides, or even to take them along on their trips. Likewise, any additions to the library from passengers are also welcomed.
The books hosted on the shelves have been donated by Better World Books, an organization whose mission is to promote and fund literacy, and donates books with every purchase made on their website BetterWorldBooks.com.”
A reader reports at 11pm last night:
“There is a man who was screaming on the 1400 block of Harvard St NW. No one knows what he was screaming but multiple neighbors called the cops and one neighbor, who is a doctor, stabilized him. 911 hung up on my cousin who called to let them know there was a man unconscious on the street, then took 11 minutes for them to get here. I started directing traffic down the alley instead of through the people.”
Thanks to a reader for tweeting us:
“Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC2B)
Report of the West Dupont Liquor License Moratorium Committee
Published for Public Comment on April 17, 2015
The Dupont Circle ANC will address the west dupont liquor license moratorium at its special meeting on Monday, April 27th at 7:00pm at the Johns Hopkins University building at 1740 Massachusetts avenue, Johns Hopkins Nitze Building, Kenney-Herter Auditorium. We encourage public participation at that meeting or to send comments to ANC Commissioners via email at [email protected].”
The working group encourages ANC 2B to recommend that the ABC Board not renew the West Dupont Circle Liquor License Moratorium. Instead the ANC should adopt a standing policy to protest new liquor license applications in the former moratorium zone until a settlement agreement can be reached with the application that will alleviate any possible concerns over peace, order, quiet and parking.
Read the full report here: West-Dupont-Moratorium-Working-Group-Recommendation (PDF)
“Dear PoPville,
Last evening I had an experience that I’m curious if others might be familiar with. My pregnant wife and I were walking our dog along Illinois Ave. at Farragut just about a block from our home and as we pass a house with two 50-something year old African-American guys out on the front porch, we hear one of the guys start muttering under his breath and then gradually raising his voice into a yell for the whole neighborhood to hear.
What was he saying? Well he was fairly accurately describing what WE were doing, albeit in a really racist way: “WHITE A$$ CRACKER MFer WALKIN HIS MFing DOG ALL PREGNANT ON THE SIDEWALK LIKE A WHITE A$$ CRACKER…. WHITE SUPREMACY…. WALK THAT DOG MFer… UP HERE ALL PREGNANT WITH THAT WHITE SUPREMACY… WALKIN THROUGH THIS MFing NEIGHBORHOOD MFer… WHITE A$$ CRACKER…”
This went on in various combinations of these phrases basically as long as we were in his view. The other guy on the front porch just chuckled.
So what am I supposed to do in this situation? We just assumed the guy was drunk so we just ignored it and kept walking, but it’s very disturbing and discouraging and bothered me the rest of the night. Do you call the cops? Do you say something to the guy?
Some might say casual racism is par for the course in a gentrifying neighborhood, but I don’t accept it.”