A reader writes:
“Thought it was really cool how we, complete strangers, came together and stopped traffic to help a momma duck and her ducklings cross Pennsylvania Ave.”
Awesome!
|
quality of life
|
Dear PoPville,
I live in a great neighborhood here in DC. All my neighbors are phenomenal except for one. The guy who lives next to me is friendly enough on the surface, but has the disgusting habit of pissing off his front porch, mostly in the dead of night. Sometimes it’s directly into my yard, sometimes the yard on the other side of him. Sometimes he’s “courteous” enough to keep it on his lawn. The guy clearly has some issues and I feel bad for him, but this has got to stop.
At first, we ignored it. Then, I tried talking about it with him without actually referring to what it was he’s doing. I’ve also learned to immediately walk out to my front porch whenever he heads out at night (this usually makes him scurry inside). Finally, the other night I was smoking a cigarette out on the front porch and he just walked out and quietly pissed into my yard with me sitting there. I lost it, yelled at him and then called the cops. By the time they got there he had gone back inside and they couldn’t do anything based solely on my word.
What the hell do I do now?
Dear PoPville,
Now that spring is upon us, restaurants throughout DC are opening up their sidewalk seating. I’m all for outdoor eating (and seating), but it has to be set up in a rational way.
Presumably the restaurants have obtained permits to use X square feet of sidewalk space for outdoor seating. But i have a feeling these outdoor seating areas quickly become larger than authorized, or are configured in ways that block the entire sidewalk. For me, it’s a minor inconvenience to have to slow my pace and squeeze through a single file line to get through the sliver of open sidewalk that remains, along with other pedestrians. But for someone in a wheelchair, the scenario in the attached pic would mean crossing the street to continue. What is the cleaning lady pushing the rolling cart going to do? In fact, the guy in the blue shirt is actually just a pedestrian, not a restaurant customer. He walked straight through this table config at America Eats Tavern.What’s the best way to officially voice concern about some of these out of control outdoor seating areas?
Photo by PoPville flickr user Lauren PM
Thanks to all the folks who sent emails about this event. The march will meet in front of IHOP at 7pm tonight.
From the organizer’s Facebook page:
Welcome to the Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence. We are gathering to bring awareness to an alarming rash of violent attacks upon members of our community.
We are marching in silence to allow our UNITY to be our voice. This march is not intended to be political, but rather one of compassion, and to honor our brothers and sisters who have been attacked. Our hopes are that politicians, activists, the media, and the police will ask themselves why these attacks have gone unresolved and what tools they have at their disposal to address and rectify these unsolved crimes.
Many in the GBLT community are wanting to voice our fear, our outrage, and our anger. This march has not been organized for that purpose. This march has been organized as a commitment to a safer city. We are here to let everyone know that we stand arm in arm, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand. For those that wish to express their anger vocally, we respectfully ask that you recognize that we will be there to amplify your voices at the place, time and forum of your choosing. We know that you will stand with us as we silently express our own hopes for this march.
In addition we are asking for the participants to place DUCT TAPE over their mouth to show the UNITY of this march. Duct tape will be provided if you choose to participate.
For those attending the Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence we ask that you gather in front of the IHOP located 3100 14th Street , NW in observance of the gunshot victim who was attacked on March 11th. We will then continue in a silent and orderly fashion, south on Irving Street to Georgia Avenue. We will be stopping for a brief statement recalling the details of the second attack which happened at that location on March 12th , which, as of this date, has gone unsolved. We will continue our march to Florida and make a right turn, continuing up U street to 14th. We will walk down 14th St. and make a right turn on to R st. We will end at Cobalt on 17th and R St.
To those participating in the Silent March for Victims of GLBT Violence , we ask that you wear a solid colored T-shirt of your choice in recognition of the Rainbow flag. If you wish to carry a sign or write on your T-shirt, we ask that you simply put one word such as Sister, Brother, Son, Daughter, Neighbor, Husband, Wife, Boyfriend, Girlfriend , etc. to let everyone know exactly who is being attacked.
Again, thank you to all who wish to march and participate and what has already become an overwhelming response from the GLBT community, the media, and respected authorities. It shows that we are indeed being heard.
|
Click to enlarge
A reader writes:
“There are 3 or 4 of these signs along 17th st north of U. As a dog owner in the neighborhood, yes, there has been an increase of unscooped poop lately, but I’m not sure a hostile anonymous note is the solution.”
We’ll have to add this to the list of those pushed over the edge. I always suspected it would get political at some point…
Dear PoPville,
I had a pretty nasty experience with a Zipcar driver and I’m wondering if anyone else has had this happen.
I was biking down Kansas past Georgia and suddenly a car came right up behind me and laid on the horn. There’s no bike lane on Kansas, and I was already pretty far over to the right, but I pulled over to the curb. Then I saw a small red zip car pull out into oncoming traffic at the stop sign at Taylor (by the SED Center pre-school), run the stop sign, and speed down Kansas toward 13th Street. He blew through the next couple stop signs as well and then turned onto 13th Street, where I lost sight of him.
I got the tag number and later in the day when I got home, I called Zipcar and told them what had happened, and that the guy was really driving aggressively and dangerously. The lady at Zipcar took the info but didn’t ask what time or where this happened. She then told me it was probably somebody racing to get their car back in time!!!
I then told her that if that’s how people drive when they need to turn their cars back in, then Zipcar should be considered a hazard on the road. I finally got her to look up whether the car had been taken out multiple times that day, and if that was the case, maybe she could figure out who it was that needed to race down Kansas at 45-50 mph to return the vehicle. As it turned out, the car had been taken out earlier that morning and the guy still had it.
Anyways, I will definitely steer clear of Zipcar drivers when I’m on my bike, but I was pretty shocked at the company’s total lack of accountability on this.
Thoughts? Anything else I could have done?
Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99
It’s been a rough week with crime and accidents so I need a fun Friday Question of the Day. Not to mention the weather was so unbelievably beautiful yesterday. So it got me thinking about what I’m most looking forward to with the coming warm weather:
Cherry blossoms and other flowers blooming around town. (Park Service announced peek cherry blossom blooms for between March 24 and March 31)
Outdoor/roof deck dining and drinking. (It’s great to have Standard back at 14th and S St, NW)
And, finally, I can’t wait to go hit the beach!
For today’s FQotD – what are you most looking forward to doing with the coming warm weather?
|
Photo by PoPville flickr user McGhee Street Photography
This has been a rough week with numerous reports of muggings around town. But something else I read from the MPD-5D listserv really got me thinking about our quality of life. Here’s an excerpt:
Counting the stolen plants, stolen stepping stones, destroyed planter pots, bashed in garage door, and 3 occurrences of spray-painted graffiti, this is the 12th time our Eckington [Ed. Note: specific address removed and this situation could apply to many of the neighborhoods we live in.] property has been vandalized or robbed in the two years and three months since we moved into it. Each incident on its own may seem somewhat insignificant and maybe we should just be happy that we haven’t been mugged at gunpoint yet, but when you look at the combined losses and expenses it is very troublesome. It makes me angry, as well as discouraged.
I know we all have different philosophies/thresholds but I’m curious what would you do if you faced this exact situation. Assuming you are renting or are could sell your property without much of a loss – would you move? Would you set an arbitrary time frame, like, “if it doesn’t stop or get better in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years etc. I’m moving”?
Would your calculations change if you were mugged at gunpoint?
Like I said, we all have different ways of reacting and we may not know how we would react unless we actually experienced them but for today’s Friday Question of the Day – what would you/do you think you would do if you were in the same situation as the OP? Would you ever move to a different neighborhood/city if your quality of life degraded or didn’t improve like you thought it would?
|
