These are in the lawn at the new Petworth Commons pop up on New Hampshire Ave. Some sorta recycling bin maybe? But it seems too small – anyone know their purpose?
What the Helen of Troy is This
On Friday @mikedeliso tweeted us the photo above and asks:
“@PoPville you have any idea what this balloon is? Shot from 20th and q at the DuPont north exit.”
And last night @chatelainedc tweets with an even eerier photo:
“I really want to know what the white circular thing w/ a suspended light floating in the sky over Dupont is. Anyone?”
We first started spotting these balloons back in 2009 and learned they were from Air Photos Live, a “Digital Design & Imaging Service”. Then last May we noticed more balloons over and around the arboretum. At that time we learned from the DC Office of Planning:
PoPville: The balloon was launched by Digital Design and Imaging Inc. to take aerial photos of the District’s skyline as part of the joint Height Master Plan the DC Office of Planning and the National Capital Planning Commission are conducting in response to a Congressional request. The Mayor issued a press release yesterday announcing the consultant teams working with the District on this study. DDIS is one of our consultants for the Height Master Plan modeling analysis. For more information on the study, please visit http://www.ncpc.gov/heightstudy. The Mayor’s press release about the consultants is here: http://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-vincent-c-gray-announces-districts-consultant-teams-study-citys-building-heights
–Tanya Stern, Chief of Staff, DC Office of Planning
This morning @chatelainedc updates us with the latest from Digital Design and Imaging Inc.
“email I got from DDI “It was a unmanned aerostat balloon, shooting L’Enfants layout of streets in the crisp wintery air”
So it’s not the aliens, for now…
|
I’m super intrigued by this – I was going to start a new series, which I think I still will, about neon signs around the District. Anyway, as I was admiring Velvet Lounge’s on U Street – I noticed this brick these block letters:
Wild – anyone happen to know the story?
915 U Street, NW
A reader sends this interesting hodgepodge from Takoma:
“A huge dumpster appeared recently and crews have filled it to the brim. A few odds and ends have remained in the yard for the taking, I guess!!”
Some of it looks like it could’ve been used in a Caribbean day parade?
“Dear PoPville,
A couple times a year I see these golf ball to softball sized yellow/green things on the grounds….any idea what they are or where they come from? Thanks!”
Is it supposed to repel mosquitos or something like that? What’s the theory again?
This is from a couple blocks south of U Street.
“Dear PoPville,
I noticed for the first time two vintage buses parked on the empty lot at the corner of Florida & R NW, right around the corner from Big Bear. It looks like the kind of thing someone would do if they were going to rehab the buses & open some sort of eating/drinking place. Any thoughts on what’s going on?”
|
Anyone ever see grass planted like this before? From Shaw.
Dear PoPville,
Spotted on corner of 19th & T St, NW. Portable speed or stop sign camera? Camera is pinted in same direction of traffic. I’ve never seen one of these before, anyone know what it is?
“Dear PoPville,
On R NW between 18th and 19th…appears to be some kind of massive weight? It’s HUGE.”
Ah this one comes up every year. It is wild. From Falmouth Massachusetts. Readers have speculated:
“Definitely a weight of some kind used offshore.”
“a lobster trap-flag-buoy-marker.”
“It’s a lobster net anchor.”