quality of life

Dear PoPville – Searching for our Good Samaritan

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user jennverr

“Dear PoPville,

We were woken at 4:30 this morning by knocking at our front door. A passerby noticed water spraying from below our porch and wanted to make sure we were aware of it. I ran down stairs and sure enough our basement was flooding.

In all the commotion we didn’t properly thank the fellow or get his name. I don’t know how long he was knocking, but it was several minutes at least in the freezing weather. I can’t even imagine the damage we would be dealing with if he hadn’t alerted us, but it would be substantial to say the least.

We would very much like to find our good samaritan to thank him and give him a gift card to Domku or DC Reynolds or something like that. He was walking on 7th between Upshur and Taylor around 4:30am. And he’s clearly a good egg. But that’s all we know, can you help us?”

Hopefully he is a reader!

Dear PoPville – My Painful Experience on Metro

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

“Dear PoPville,

I was riding the metro on my way to get my kid from school. After a long day of work I was tired and kind of falling asleep when the train arrived to a station and I heard someone banging on the window near where I was sitting. A group of loud teenagers got on the metro playing and cursing really bad. Oh well. One of them sat next to me, I was trying to not pay attention to what they were doing or saying, but then I started to realize that they were talking about me, “…because if you…(I didn’t understand what he was saying), I’m going to whoop your ass!” They repeated this several times.

I decided to not confront them, but at the same time I decided to not go away. I was the grown up there, and I was not going to be bullied in that way, and apparently they didn’t like it. At some point two of them stood up and pretend to be fighting in front of me. I knew what was coming, so I got prepared. One of them started pushing the other one to make him fall on top of me; all I did was to wait for him with my elbow out (I’m thin man so my elbow is kind of sharp), so every time the other one pushed him, he found my elbow in his back, it happened 4 or 5 times. The one that was pushing the other then had the audacity to ask if he could use my phone. I said “sure!” in a very sarcastic way. “I’ll let you dial the number” he said, and I replied “yeah, right”. After that, the same two started fighting until one of them got the cell phone of the other one. They kept being loud, and they finally got off the train at the U Street Station.

I feel sad for them, and hope someday they realize how wrong it is what they are doing. I had no time to file a report since my kid was waiting for me, and honestly, they are teens so nothing was really going to happen to them. I think I did the best I could given the circumstances, and just wanted to share this experience with fellow PoPville folks.”

Dear PoPville – Looking for Advice on Dealing with Rats in a Rental

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user DC@rt

“Dear PoPville,

My roommate and I are both new to rental properties in DC. We have little idea what we are obligated to do based on our lease (which ends in February).

We live in a basement apartment in Bloomingdale, and have been here for 10 months. We’ve heard scratching and gnawing noises in our walls and ceiling for the past few months, but extermination companies said they couldn’t do anything about that. The sounds have been so bad that my roommate and I have been repeatedly woken up during the night. Finally, last night, we saw a rat in the apartment. We tried killing it, but it got away before we could.

Here’s the kicker- our landlord has been dodging our calls and e-mails. In the lease, it states we are responsible for pest elimination- including rodents. However, the lease also states the landlord is responsible for structural damage, which we know has been going on for the past few months with the gnawing and scratching sounds. We also found a few holes we believe have given the rats access to our apartment.

What would you recommend? Suck it up until our lease is over, in February? Contact an exterminator and pay the services ourselves? Or keep trying to catch our landlord? Is there any way possible to terminate the lease early?”

Dear PoPville – Help Bring my Neighbor Ralph back to his Home in DC

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

I’ve been working on helping my elderly neighbor Ralph move home for about 3 years now. Having exhausted all options, I started a crowdfunding campaign. It’s a huge longshot and will take a modern day miracle, but I can’t just sit by and not try to help him. He has no family and the DC system has done nothing but throw up barriers.”

ralph

Bring Ralph Home:

“Meet Ralph. He is 80 years old, he’s a Navy veteran who served in the Korean war, he’s a widower, a homeowner and longtime resident of the District of Columbia. He never had children and has no remaining family. Until December 2010, he lived quite happily in his tiny, one room apartment in a small coop building in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.

In December 2010, Ralph became ill and was taken to the hospital, where he soon recovered. Rather than allowing him to return home, he was moved to a care facility where he has remained ever since. However, Ralph is healthy and has been cleared to return home. All Ralph wants is to go home. Unfortunately, Ralph has become tangled in the safety net and is now mired in a financial and legal mess. His story has become like a bad dream and he needs our help.”

Read more about the situation and make a donation to bring Ralph home here.

Dear PoPville – Walking While Black

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

Update with response from MPD Chief Cathy Lanier to the OP:

“The end of your email dictates exactly what I expect from my officers and what we have been training since I have been the Chief- building relationships. I am very sorry that you were subjected to what sounds like unprofessional behavior. Rest assured that we will handle this complaint appropriately and conduct an investigation into what occurred. I expect all of my members to treat everyone with dignity and respect all the time- every time. We will be in contact to get more information.”

“Dear PoPville,

I think I had my first experience of being stopped for Walking While Black. Mind you, I’m not black. I’m a 52-year-old white woman. Last night, I was walking from dinner down 14th St. near Spring Rd. with my sons, who are black. One was pointing out to me all the “J.O.s,” the undercover cops who “jump out” and demand see their ID. for no apparent reason, possibly frisk you, and do all other manner of constitutionally questionable behavior.

So after my son had just pointed out a particular J.O., lo and behold, a car pulls up, and out jump four or five officers confronting us and demanding to see our IDs. I ask if there is a problem and why are we being stopped. No answer, but they are becoming a little more aggressive and say they just want to see our IDs. They are obviously more interested in the boys, but want my ID as well. I ask why I need to show my ID. I introduce myself as the mother of these two young men and ask if we’re being stopped because my children are black (we’re used to be followed in the store, for example).

The officers—there are now about 10 or 11 of them surrounding us—become quite indignant and say how offended they are that I would say such a thing and accuse me of being ignorant, and say that I just accused them of being racist. I wasn’t accusing them of being racist. I was accusing them of racial profiling. (more…)

Others Experiencing Problems from Teenagers in Shaw/U Street?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

On Friday, I was leaving work and walking to my car, parked on V Street NW between 11th and 12th. Typical scene– dog walkers, middle schoolers heading home, and so on. I got into my car and as I leaned out to close the door, one of the middle school girls slammed my door. At first I thought she was trying to show off in front of her friends, but soon those friends started kicking my car and abruptly ran off. I unsuccessfully tried to follow them, and I didn’t get a look at their uniforms to identify what school they were coming from. There was no damage to the car, but I’d really love to know if others in the U Street/Shaw area are experiencing similar situations so that we can open up a discussion on how to address the issue of teenage violence towards adults.”

Reader Reports MPD Abuse of Power

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user afagen

“Dear PoPville,

My boyfriend and I left Nellie’s tonight [Friday] around 6pm and were walking back to our condo in Bloomingdale. We passed by the 9:30 Club and there was a ten year old BMW parked across the sidewalk. My boyfriend is a BMW-phile, so as a joke, I softly bumped him into the rear quarter panel and said something to the effect of “you’re going to buy this car for me?” We giggled and kept walking when suddenly this guy with a badge called us back to the car. He was an MPD officer and claimed we’d damaged his car somehow. He demanded our identification and threatened to arrest us.

He took my driver’s license and wrote down my information. I asked him to go look for actual damage on his car and he refused. My boyfriend initially refused to give him his name and our address, but as a lawyer I told him he should just cooperate with the cops, even when they’re being irrational d*cks. My boyfriend told him to go look for damage on his car, since he was detaining us, and again he refused. My boyfriend gave his information but then asked the cop if he was detaining us because we are gay, and the cop suddenly stammered and gave our licenses back and told us to be on our way. I asked him for a card and he told me to look at his badge to get his name, and refused to give us his badge number…so this is my chance to say that Officer, you cannot use your badge to “protect” your personal property, you homophobe.”

Ward One Rat Summit this Saturday in Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user DC@rt

From Council Member Jim Graham:

“I want to address a host of complaints I hear from neighbors of the increased activity of rats in Ward One. From Columbia Heights to U St. to Adams Morgan to Mt. Pleasant, the reports I receive span residential areas, commercial areas and especially where commercial establishments and homes are in close proximity. Doubtless all of the construction that is occurring throughout the Ward is unsettling rat burrows. The problem is acerbated by littering that provides a source of food to rodents. Clearly the warm winter last year did not help.

But this is not a problem that we can leave to Mother Nature alone. We need knowledge, city resources and working together to get in front of this increasing infestation. So please join us,

CM Jim Graham and the District Department of Health Invite You To

WARD ONE RAT SUMMIT

Saturday, November 9 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Columbia Heights Community Center
1480 Girard St., NW

This program will feature,

Dr. Robert Corrigan, published author on the subject of rodent control
William Howland, Director, District Department of Public Works
Nicholas Majett, Director, District Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
Gerard Brown, Program Manager, Department of Health”

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