ARealSidler writes:
“Saw this at 9 & M NW. Handwritten on back: [email protected]”
Another reader spots the sign above at the corner of 13th and Park in Columbia Heights.
And I spotted the one above in Shaw.
quality of life
Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80
As a huge fan of outdoor seating the following makes me very happy – from the Downtown BID:
The DowntownDC BID’s 2012 Inventory of Sidewalk Cafes shows there are now 147—more than an 8% increase compared to 2011. Although our reporting methodology changed this year—we were able to capture exact seat numbers as opposed to approximate capacities—the nearly 4,400 seats tallied represent about a 70% increase in available seats from the previous year.
According to this year’s survey, the fourth since 2009, the number of small, “intimate” cafes (with 1-20 seats) and mid-size ones (with 21-40 seats) have mushroomed, climbing about 59% and 105%, respectively, since 2009. Both make up about 77% of the available cafes within the DowntownDC BID area, which encompasses 138 blocks.
Valet Waste Intro flyer -Axiom
Dear PoPville,
My apartment building (Axiom at Capital Yards) was recently bought by a management company. Since taking over they’ve started initiating the most asinine policies I’ve seen in nearly a decade of DC apartment renting. This, however, takes the cake. How many 800 square foot apartments do you know with the extra space for a 13 gallon trash can? Also, how fantastically lazy do they think we are that carrying a trash bag 23 feet to the chute end of the hall is an inconceivably difficult task?
Oh, and I heard from a friend in the building whose lease is up for renewal and they’re instituting a monthly $25 trash convenience fee. Makes the decision to renew that much easier, so that’s positive.
Sorry, this is just so stupid I had to share:
Dear Valued Resident:
Axiom at Capitol Yards is pleased to announce a new time –saving service and trash management solution for you: door-to-door trash and recycling pickup 5 nights per week. You’ll no longer have to lug heavy bags of trash down the hallways.
We’ve partnered with Valet Waste to provide this service at our community beginning Sunday, August 5, 2012.
Valet Waste will pick up the trash and recycling 5 nights a week, Sunday through Thursday at 8pm sharp. All residents must put their trash in a grab handle or tied bags and place these bags outside their apartment doors in the containers provided by Valet Waste service no earlier than 6pm and no later than 8pm. All trash containers must be taken back in by 9am the following morning.
Photo by PoPville flickr user Nikoo’s Photos
Dear PoPville,
On Saturday, July 27, 2012, my partner and I decided to go to the Landmark E-Street Cinema in Washington, DC, on the Opening Day for the movie “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.” We bought tickets for the 5:30 PM showing.
The movie “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” is about Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and creator of the famous “Bird’s Nest” that was the focal point of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ai Weiwei has been under intense scrutiny by the Chinese government for how he uses his art to draw attention to the abuses of freedoms and human rights in China. For me personally, I believe the movie is incredibly well produced. I felt myself being drawn into the story to the point where I was beginning to experience Ai Weiwei’s living experience of being under constant surveillance by his own government. The movie is not only an excellent look inside the daily life of someone who dares to criticize the Chinese government, but on what it means to live in a society that does not value freedom of expression and speech.
About a hour into the movie, a woman came into our darkened theater, and went the opposite side of the room from the door, squatted down, and manipulated something in a large bag. She then stood up, placed the bag into an empty seat next to where we were sitting and quickly ran out of the theater. Then, a minute later, she re-entered the theater, retrieved the the bag again, went back to the side wall, manipulated something inside the bag again, and then replaced the bag again in the seat next to us. She then ran out of the theater for the second time.
Continues after the jump. (more…)
Dear PoPville,
I wanted to share a rather disturbing experience I had last Saturday (July 15) at the V Nail Salon on Park Rd, between 14th and 15th in Columbia Heights. I was there with about 25 other customers in the salon around 3 pm in the afternoon. A male entered the salon, clearly high as a kite on something, mumbling incoherently with only pants on. The owner of V nails, an older gentleman tried to ask the man to leave. At that point, the man escalated and became physically threatening to the owner, and began moving throughout the entire salon. He was clearly threatening to everyone in the place, we had no idea what he was on, if he had a weapon or what he could do to any one of us. I placed a call to 911 at 2:57 and provided a very detailed description (considering he was about 2 feet from me, that wasn’t exactly challening), along with at least one other customer and the shop owner. I put another call in at 3:03 when the man left the establishment and moved towards 16th street on Park Rd to alert police. The shop owner locked the door, and the man came back continuing to make threatening gestures through the window. Shockingly, considering the number of people in harms way, the police didn’t arrive until about 10 minutes after my first call. 4 uniformed officers came to the door of the salon and spoke with the owner. None came in and they split up, 2 going towards16th and 2 going towards 14th. No police officer ever returned to the salon. At about 3:20, I left and started walking towards 16th street. To my surprise, when I came towards to the corner of 16th and park, low and behold the man who had threatened 25 people was hanging out in the park across the catholic church (not exactly a shocking location for him to be found for anyone that knows the neighborhood in the slightest). I called 911 again at 3:25 and the dispatcher initially had a difficult time locating the original call, then explained that unless the shopkeeper filed charges, there was nothing the police could. I explained it was a bit difficult for the shop owner to file charges, when the police had clearly never apprehended the suspect since I was looking at him from across the street while talking to the dispatcher and there was no police presence. He stated he’d make a note about my concerns.
I then saw a police car driving down 16th street and flagged them down. The officers responded and called into dispatch to alert the officers assigned to the original call to let them know they had the suspect in sight. The dispatcher couldn’t find any record of any call about this incident (just to reiterate – I’m aware of at least 6 calls that occurred related to this incident), so the officer got into her vehicle and looked it up on her computer, where she learned that the call had been closed out and since it was closed out, they couldn’t find out who the assigned officers were. Furthermore, since the original complaint took place in the 3rd district and they were in the 4th district, they couldn’t take action. They explained that they had already been assigned a call and needed to clear that in their district, but afterwards would go back and check on the shopkeeper. I noted the absurdity of this when I was an eyewitness and had identified the man, they agreed but their hands were tied. I took their cards and returned to the shop. The shop owner confirmed that the police had never returned. I provided the business card of the police officers from district 4 and explained that they thought they would come back.
The whole thing was disturbing on so many levels. I don’t know if this is the level of police response we can expect in our neighborhood these days – but I find it incredibly disturbing at the various levels of inaction and incompetence. It certainly does not make this long time Mt Pleasant resident feel confident about any police response in the future in an emergency situation.
Dear PoPville,
Every morning, I drive down 9th Street to work downtown. For months, I’ve accepted the traffic delays from the construction sites at O Street (City Market), L Street (new hotel) and K-H Street (City Center), since ultimately the projects will make the area so much better.
But there’s something that drives me crazy. These construction sites each have workers equipped with stop signs who stop traffic whenever they want so they can move their construction vehicles in and out at will. An official traffic officer would take into account the flow of traffic and the needs of all drivers, pedestrians and construction crew in determining how often or when to stop traffic. These unofficial traffic directors just do it whenever they feel like it. Especially in the thick of rush hour, this can cause total chaos.
You’ll see the light is red when the picture was taken (see above), but the “traffic officer” kept cars held up through the green light so that construction trucks could zip in and out. This was at the hotel site on L Street. Holding traffic through a green light cycle causes gridlock and backup for several blocks.
My question — is this actually legal? I’m all for construction getting completed quickly, but if these construction companies need to work through rush hour, I think they should be more respectful of residents and commuters.
Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist
Dear PoPville,
I currently live in a group house in Columbia Heights but at the end of my lease this fall, I am planning to move in with my girlfriend. We have a small dog which makes apartment shopping a bit more difficult (and expensive) and we don’t have gads of cash to spend on a penthouse in Dupont. We recently found a gorgeous apartment with all sorts of frills in the NoMa neighborhood (it’s on the metro sign now… time to give in) that is within our price range. We love the place and understand that NoMa is getting lots of attention from developers and the like, but it is currently no Columbia Heights. How do people feel about this neighborhood? It would be convenient in terms of transportation for us, and we like the idea of being able to walk down to H street to go out, but we will certainly miss the days of the 11th street stretch in CoHi. Apartment amenities of the new place are also a huge draw (pool, gym, dog park) as we have never lived in a place that had these things. Our only concern is that the area is less walk-able and a bit higher crime. Do people like living in NoMa?
I actually recommend NoMa to folks all the time. As you noted there is tons of development coming but what I love most about it is the location. It’s like in the center of it all. You’re super close to H Street but also not terribly far from U Street (especially if you get a bike). It’s the best of both worlds. Because there is so much newer development I don’t think you’ll get that 11th St feeling that you had in Columbia Heights but I wouldn’t hesitate to move there if you found a nice apartment. I also don’t think the crime is higher there at all. I think you should go for it!
For the folks that live in NoMa – where do you find you hang out most – H Street? If so – do you walk there? Bike? Any advice for someone thinking of moving to the neighborhood?
Dear PoPville,
I just had to bang on my neighbor’s door at 12:30 because he was doing construction, hammering on the party wall, table saws, the whole bit.
I said “Come on, you can’t do construction after midnight” but he said he had an after hours permit. And that they were finished.
I’ll talk to him tomorrow when I’m less exhausted and less angry, but does an after hours permit really trump noise regulations and allow you to do make that much noise after midnight?
I couldn’t find anything on the dcra website.
A readers sends in this great find:
“This isn’t quite a garden, but it’s an adorable tree box in NE Capitol Hill near Lincoln Park. Who can’t adore little kids and pumpkins? I hope it makes you smile as much as it makes me.”
Photo by PoPville flickr user johnmcochran2012
Dear PoPville,
We live in a small building (about 20 units) between Adams Morgan and U Street. The landlord was very nice to us when we moved in and takes real pride in his units, which are being 100% renovated as tenants move out (ours is completely brand new). Our rent is very reasonable for the area, space, and amenities (brand new appliances, working wood fireplace, etc.) and we like living there.
However, our landlord does not allow bikes in the building (he says they have damaged walls/hallway fixtures in the past and is tired of dealing with it) and recently posted a sign saying that all apartments would be subject to routine inspection tomorrow. Someone will enter our apartment from 9:30-12:30. There is no reason listed on the sign for the inspection.
We have read our lease and there is a clause the the landlord can enter units during an emergency to do inspection and can do regular inspections when giving notice. This seems standard for a lease, but I suppose that we’ve never actually seen this acted upon outside of situations that call for it–broken pipes, etc. What could he hope to gain other than making all of his residents feel like residents of a live-in prison?