Thanks to Barbara for sending from Georgetown: “Check out those talons and his gorgeous coloring.”
If you spot a hawk or any interesting wildlife around town, lunching or otherwise, and get a good photo please send in an email where you spotted it to [email protected] and I’ll add it to the queue. Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.
Photo by Hannah Fischer
“Dear PoPville,
I fully understand there are a lot more important things going on these days, though I would be very grateful if anyone has had a similar experience and would be willing to share advice. I live in a large apartment building that is managed by a well-known company. The building is not rent-controlled. My year-long lease is up in July, and I’ve gotten the new rent terms from the leasing office. I have indicated that I will be rolling over to month-to-month at the end of my current lease rather than signing a new year-long lease. The leasing office is saying that I need to sign a new lease without an end date “to ensure all of the lease terms are followed” in order to go month-to-month. (more…)
904 H Street, NE
Thanks to Laura for passing on the sad DIO Wine Bar news:
Heartbreaking note from the owner: (more…)
You’ve probably never read your building’s property management contract all the way through. Most board members haven’t either. If you did, you’d find a carefully defined scope of work — vendors coordinated, maintenance dispatched, assessments collected, reports generated.
What you wouldn’t find: anything about fiduciary duties. Reserve funding strategy. Compliance tracking. Case documentation. Institutional memory. The legal obligations that make your board personally accountable to unit owners.
That’s not an oversight in the contract. It’s the contract. Property management was never designed to cover governance. And yet most boards — paying $10,000 to $18,000 a year for the service — assume it does.
Operations and governance are different jobs. One has a contract. The other has a fiduciary duty.
Beyond the management fee, most property management companies mark up vendor invoices — the plumber, the landscaper, the elevator contractor — by 10 to 15 percent before passing the bill to the association. It’s legal. It’s common. And boards have almost no visibility into it. (more…)
Photo by Morgan Martinez
Thanks to Morgan for sending: “Not sure if Mr. Rat in Eckington was a pet or just a wild friend. But, glad he got a proper burial on 3rd ST NE.”
Photo by Clif Burns
“Dear PoPville,
I received this email from my apartment building’s management. The stuff about amenities is not new, but the thing that jumped out at me is that they are threatening to evict residents if they don’t wear masks in common areas or if they have guests over. Besides that there’s nothing I can see in the lease that allows this, evictions are illegal right now (for 60 days until the end of the public health emergency). Management has not laid out an exceptions for people who have difficulty putting on masks due to a disability, or for children, and haven’t laid out exceptions for people with essential guests (caretakers and the like). This is a Bozzuto building; it would be interesting to know if other Bozzuto residents have gotten notices like this?
Dear Valued Residents, (more…)
Profs and Pints DC presents: “Artemis II and Beyond,” on how the recent space mission fits into long-term plans for the Moon, with Michael J. Neufeld, retired senior curator for the Space History Department of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
NASA’s recent, spectacular Artemis II mission is a sign that the United States is serious about sending humans to the Moon again.
Photo by Joseph F
From Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Office:
“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) was briefed by a member of the D.C. National Guard who was on duty last Monday evening when federal police pushed aside peaceful demonstrators to allow President Trump and his staff to go to St. John’s Church for a photo op. What follows is an eyewitness account given to Norton by a National Guard member who was on duty.
Three warnings were given, but the peaceful crowd was too large for most to hear the warnings. The sudden use of smoke and pepper balls caused pandemonium. (more…)
Thanks to all who sent photos of Jack Evans taking down his campaign signs. Fin (for now?) (more…)
14th and Q Street, NW
Thanks to John for sending. Check out a before photo here: (more…)
Thanks to G for sending from H Street, NE this morning. My goodness. (more…)
5th and E Street, NW “entrance to the testing site is at Fifth and F NW”
Thanks to Doug for sending: “Photo [above] taken today at 1045. It’s open m-f 10-2
When I came last week the 2nd day it was open it took me 8 mins start to finish but now post protest lots more folks interested
75 folks in line now, about a 45 minute wait”
More free testing sites at firehouses from the Mayor’s Office: (more…)