quality of life

Photo by PoPville flickr user Flicker Clicker

“Dear PoPville,

I’ve got a bit of a dilemma and I really don’t know how to handle it. I live in a row house with a tiny yard and have a small dog that I walk around the neighborhood. There’s an apartment building directly across the street from my house and a woman has been harassing me for walking my dog – she can see me and yells profanity at me, but I can’t see her. It’s unnerving, especially since she’ll be yelling at me as I walk into my front door, so she knows where I live. I’m a responsible pet owner – I clean up after my dog. Not to mention there’s no yard to her apartment building – just grass between the sidewalk and the street which is public space.

This evening I watched an older man walk two large dogs walk right by the building but as I walked by she started yelling at me about my f*** dog, and how would I like it if she let her dog s*** and p*** in my d*** yard. My husband has told her to shove it, I’ve responded that I picked up the poop and have a right to walk the dog along the street. I’ve now started to ignore it but it continues. What do I do to get this to stop? I’m pretty sure this is anti-gentrification blowback. Maybe I should just stop scooping the poop so at least her yelling is valid…”

I def. feel your frustration but I don’t think this situation is “anti-gentrification blowback”. I think it is more likely that the neighbor could be mentally ill. Or the neighbor may have simply been pushed over the edge by others not scooping that she is venting her anger on you. Though the fact she yells only at you and not others with dogs is of great concern. It sounds like a rational discussion is not gonna work here. How would you guys deal with this situation – alert the authorities or try to ignore it? Something else?

A reader sends the above photo from Sherman Ave, NW. It says:

“You are taking up 2 car spaces! Don’t be an Ass****! Learn how to park in this city – or don’t park here!”

I’m gonna be honest after regularly experiencing a similar situation where a car regularly takes up 2 spots, I can now better understand this frustration. Though, I don’t know if calling someone an ass**** is going to help correct their behavior.

Do you guys think leaving a note (a more polite one) will help change someone’s parking behavior?

Photo by PoPville flickr user [email protected]

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to pass on an unpleasant experience that happened on my bike ride to work this morning at about 8:15. I was biking west on Florida between 13th and 14th Streets NW, right next to Booker T Washington Public Charter School. The light at 14th and Florida turned red, and as there was no room for me to bike between the stopped traffic and parked cars on the right, I waited in line behind the stopped cars on Florida for the light to turn green.

The driver behind me, in a light-gold newish Cadillac, laid on his horn and waved his hands at me from inside the car. I gave a shrug to say “what do you want me to do?” There was no room to pass the stopped traffic on the right, and I wasn’t going to dart out against traffic in the eastbound lane of Florida just to save a few seconds. The driver got out of his car, and we had the following conversation:

Driver: “Get your cracker-ass off the road, I’m trying to get my kids to school!”

Me: “Give me a *ucking break, there’s a red light, where do you want me to go?”

Driver: “On the *ucking sidewalk, you’re lucky my kids are here, or I’d beat your ass.”

The driver was ready to continue this conversation, but at this point, the light had turned green and I was on my way. This exchange left a particularly sour taste in my mouth. Yes, I realize I did not respond in a way to diffuse the situation—that’s just what came out at the moment. I’ve been mulling this over though, trying to figure out what it’s about. Did the 4 feet of space of Florida Ave that me and my bike take up seriously delay this guy from dropping his kids off at school?

Was it really necessary to resort to a nasty racial slur (and in front of his kids)? I try to play nice with cars, and was surprised that in this case, a biker following traffic laws and avoiding unpredictable behavior actually resulted in this confrontation. I’ve biked in DC for about two years, but this is the first time I’ve encountered anything like this. I’d be curious to hear whether other readers have encountered similar instances of verbal assault from drivers, and how they have handled them.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99

Every afternoon when we look at rental options, I and others are often struck by how expensive prices have become. A reader sends in a link to a story from Bloomberg news perhaps explaining in part the reason:

“Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show.

The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046.”