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Well, normally I feel much more comfortable bitching and complaining from a comfortable chair. I am, however, psyched when other people do things to improve the community. Well, I’m going to do my small part. Please join me in this gesture in what I am calling the war against garbage in Petworth or WAGIP. If you make an acronym you know it is serious. At any rate I have decided to carry an empty plastic bag with me on my walks to the metro every morning. I have gotten tired of carrying trash in my arms just from picking it up in front of my house. So it hit me, why not carry an empty plastic bag, from safeway or whatever, and fill it up on my walk to the metro. The beautiful thing is that it doesn’t take a lot of effort. So if some of you loyal readers can do the same on your walks to work or metro or bus or wherever we can make Petworth shine like it should.

Be hip and participate in WAGIP. (Ed note: that rhymes but is so awful I just punched myself, but participate anyway.)

Colbert I. King, Washington Post columnist plans to anoint 6 competitive Ward 4 council candidates. From his column on Saturday:

“Of the 17 candidates at the Ward 4 forum, six were quite competitive. Stay tuned.”

Who will the lucky 6 be? Any guesses? Does he have the right to anoint 6 as competitive? Stay tuned…that’s my line!

I peruse the craigslist Petworth housing classifieds from time to time to see what’s going on. I understand it may appear that I have way too much free time on my hands, I’d like to reassure you that…alright I have too much free time but I’ve been sick and haven’t been able to go out so cut me some slack. Sorry. Below you’ll find the progression of someone on Longfellow trying to rent a room.

Feb-26 $800 AU Grad Student looking to share home (16th Street Heights/Brightwood)
Feb-27 $800 Young professional looking for roommate/s (16th Street Heights/Brightwood)
Feb-28 $1000 Young professional looking for a roommate (16th Street Heights/Brightwood) pic
Mar- 1 $1000 Young professional looking for roommate/s (16th Street Heights/Petworth) pic

Actually from the pictures the house looks pretty awesome. Notice she first calls it 16th Heights/Brightwood until Mar-1 when she changes it to 16th Street Heights/Petworth. Oh yeah, if you can’t rent your house in Brightwood try Petworth. But wait a second isn’t 9th and Longfellow in Petworth anyway? Remember when the realtors used to say “located in the hot Petworth neighborhood”? Do they still do that? Why does she raise her asking price from $800 to $1000? So if 9th and Longfellow is 16th Street Heights/Brightwood/Petworth then I live in Petworth/Columbia Heights/U Street. Sweet!

Remember those unarmed delivery men that were shot by the Prince George’s police officer while they were just doing their job? Read the horrifying update from Marc Fisher.

Now is your chance to tell the Metropolitan Police Department if they are doing a good job. The Washington Post has a small article on the survey and you can take it here. The survey asks you to agree or disagree with 20 statements. By far my favorite statement is:

16. The Police Keep Their Vehicles Clean

Closely followed by:

13. The Police dress appropriately while on Duty.

Anyway, take the survey to let them know how you think they are serving Petworth.

once said the great Homer Simpson. Well the Post gives us an update for Ward 4 on the sales of single beers in its district briefing:

“A bill that would ban the sale of single cans and bottles of beer in parts of Northwest Washington got new life yesterday.”

Apparently a federal appellate panel ruled in favor of the DC government against two businesses wishing to sell single beers. The bill was passed by the councilman Fenty in 2004 but never took effect because of the court case, reports Elissa Silverman of the Washington Post.

The ban should affect 73 liquor stores in Ward 4. It is not clear to me when it will be applied. I say the sooner the better!

The envelopes have arrived. Is it good news or bad news? Well the Prince of Petworth has the homestead deduction so it doesn’t really change things too much. That’s right, the 2008 property assesments are in! And they went up although not as insanely as in past years. According to the Washington Post today District assessments for Petworth went up 16.72% from 2007. I thought the market has cooled, no? At least we are not Brentwood which saw a 46.60% increase from 2007. So how did everyone make out?

I sometimes live vicariously through Columbia Heights. Columbia Heights News reports they are getting an upscale wine shop and a fed ex/kinkos. I found this out reading the great food blog metrocurean. The wine store will be called d’vines and will feature over 1000 varieties. Sweet. You can pick up some wine on your way to the bed and breakfast in Petworth! My prediction was pretty damn close.

Good luck. Although it used to be a lot worse. I remember some years ago when I would get into a cab in Adams Morgan and tell them that I was going to Petworth and they would actually laugh at me. Things have gotten much better now. There was a time when cab drivers were terrified of Petworth. Even if they hadn’t driven there before, they told me that Petworth was a “wild west” and they wouldn’t go there. I would usually curl into the fetal position and refuse to exit the cab until they took me. I was stunned at the time and it was quite a pain in the ass having to beg cab drivers for a ride home. I have to say it has gotten a lot better today. Not only do cab drivers not laugh anymore they usually know exactly how to get to my house without any directions. Progress, slowly, slowly but progress indeed.

Now if we could just catch a cab from Petworth…

[Ed. note: disclaimer, I realize not all cab drivers behaved this way, I realize I am generalizing, but for the most part based on my personal experiences it used to be a real pain in the ass catching a cab to Petworth and it is nearly impossible to catch one from Petworth.]

I’m sorry to write about films for just a second but I feel obligated. The Departed was an entertaining film but it reminded me of a film from the late 80s early 90s called “State of Grace” starring Sean Penn. Also a a neighborhood gangster flic about the gangsters being infiltrated by undercover cop of their own. So check out State of Grace. One of the greatest films of this genre of all time. I can’t believe none of the movie buffs have made this comparison before. Kudos to Scorcese but State of Grace is far superior.