Animal Fix

If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say the name of your pet and your neighborhood.  If you love the animal fix and want to ensure PoPville’s long term viability please consider donating to our Patreon here.

“Nemo (2 year old lab mix, Navy Yard) taking his stuffed animal friend Buddy (5 year old stuffed golden retriever, also of Navy Yard) for a mid-day walk.”

“Yuzu basking in the sun on this beautiful sunny sunday morning! Hi PoP community!”


Dear PoPville

“Dear PoPville,

Free Tutoring: We Want to Give Back

We are DC twins who are juniors in high school. We know that schooling is an issue right now, and since we have some extra time, we’re volunteering to tutor DMV area kids and/or provide homework assistance. Of course, we won’t be able to help every child, but we want to do our part during these crazy times. (more…)


Sponsored

The reality

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.

What your building is paying — and what it’s getting.

What the contract covers. What it doesn’t.

The markup problem most boards don’t know about.

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…)


Dear PoPville


Photo by PoPville flickr user angela n.

“Dear PoPville,

It is hard staying grounded and positive as we all remain hunkered down during this pandemic. What are you doing to keep your sanity? I’m reading good fiction, getting fresh air every day (while socially distancing), and listening to comforting music. Thought it would be a good idea to crowdsource strategies to get through this!”


Retail

“Dear PoPville,

I am very concerned to see that places are boarding up on 14th street [I live a block off and am starting to feel unsafe for the first time in my 12 yrs on the block — first seems only to be large /natl chains, but now local spots too — Taqueria Nacional and Bresca.”

Another reader writes in noting The Line hotel in Adams Morgan has boarding up their lower level too: (more…)


Dear PoPville

“Dear PoPville,

A week ago, we received an e-mail from the building administration informing us that there was a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the building; they explained that the person was staying in their apartment. No info about who or which floor the person lived. A couple days ago, I noticed that someone was leaving groceries outside the apartment 2 doors down. A day later, someone did it again, but this time yelling to the person inside that the groceries were there. By then we knew this is where the sick person was.

The last two days, we’ve been awaken by the loud coughing (we could hear it even though there’s an apartment between us). I was about to email the building back asking them to help this person go to the hospital. This morning we saw paramedics outside the apartment and a fully dressed and masked person too. We think the person was evacuated. It is possible that this person was walking around the building for 2 weeks without knowing about their condition.

I just wanted to share this with your audience, this is a real thing and we all have to be careful.”

Another reader writes:

“Dear PoPville,

We live with a few hundred other people in a Dupont Circle apartment building and so far we’re blissfully unaware if any immediate neighbors have been ordered to quarantine.

A quarantined person in a house can limit their exposure to others. But a quarantined person in my building will share the trash room, lobby, laundry room, hallways, stairways and elevators with everyone else because there’s no way not to.

Is the Department of Health supposed to notify people living at the same address as people testing positive for COVID-19? (more…)


Retail


Current Boutique available online

Let’s Do This!! Abigail asks:

“Do you have a list of DC local businesses with online platforms? Would love to support them! #StayHomeShopLocal”

Nick writes: “I was wondering if you considered making a posting about local businesses that are currently open for virtual business/consultations during the crisis? For example my parents business Just Paper and Tea is a small stationery shop in Georgetown that does wedding invitations. They have posted on their website that they’re open for virtual zoom meetings.”

If anyone knows of other local businesses open please let us know!


Mount Pleasant

Thanks to Alex for sending:

“Like others I’ve been stuck inside but also trying to support my local establishments and service workers as much as I can. I stopped into Purple Patch in Mount Pleasant (3155 Mt Pleasant St, NW) this morning to pick up some carryout and was pleasantly surprised to find they’ve turned the restaurant into a makeshift market with spirits, wine, beer, coffee to go, their restaurant shrub, and little packages of desserts, appetizers, etc. (more…)


Dear PoPville

“Dear PoPville,

We received our first delivery (Amazon Fresh) over the weekend and wondered how folks are thinking about tipping for deliveries right now. Seems right to increase where we’re intentionally shifting risk by having things delivered. But how much? Anyone making deliveries want to chime in? Thanks!”


Downtown


1527 14th Street, NW

“Dear PoPville,

My husband and I have tried ordering from Great Wall Szechuan House twice this weekend and no one is picking up the phone. I know there were reports last month about them possibly closing, but we just ordered maybe 2 weeks ago without a problem. Have you heard anything about whether or not they’re still open?”


1120 19th Street, NW

Stacie asks: “has anyone checked on Kostas and Greek Deli? Office is in Foggy Bottom, but working from home in NoVa and fretting about not being able to support them right now.”

UPDATE on Greek Deli! “Greek Deli is still open! 11am-2pm for pickup, not sure if they’re doing delivery.” (more…)