Community activism

So I went to another community meeting last night, this one our neighborhood association's. Mayor Fenty was supposed to be there but there was this other little event a few blocks away. Perhaps you've heard of it? Something called the State of the Union.
Because Fenty was supposed to be there it was standing room only, apparently not a common occurence. and I volunteered S and me to do some work for them.

So it was deputy mayor Dan Tangherlini. He's got a great dry wit, and apparently did a terrific job as DC transportation director and then Metro director. Basically the focus of the meeting was traffic issues. I asked the obligatory question about the vacant police building in our area. The city has some sort of plans. Actually I wanted to ask about maintenance, which is on the slow side. leaves piled up, snow is never shoveled, that kind of thing. I never really got to clarify since everyone else had the traffic issues.

It is true, cars barrel down Maryland Avenue. And pedestrians seem to be prey, despite DC's status as one of the most walkable cities in the country. Deputy Mayor Dan (who lives in the 'hood) promises to bring it up to Chief Lanier and see if we can get enforcement. I'll be curious to see that. I have yet to see a patrol issue tickets.

Everyone seemed happy that the issue was traffic, not crime. I have to say, the apartment building nearby worries me. I've seen this one guy hang out, even in brutal cold, and hop in random cars, go around the block and walk back. Seems suspicious, but not suspicious enough to report it. We don't know what to do.

Community Activism

So I joined in as a homeowner for the first time in my life.

I attended the ANC6A alcohol committee meeting tonight. The committee held a public hearing on possibly establishing a moratorium on bars and nightclubs on H St.

It's way, way too soon to consider such a thing. H street is still more vacant buildings than anything else right now. A two block stretch that is only starting to thrive is just that -- only starting to thrive.

People kept mentioning Adams Morgan. That's a different situation. For one thing, as I pointed out when I said my piece, the problem there is bars exploiting loopholes to get a restaurant liquor license when they're really bars. I think everyone in the H Street corridor will bow down and worship the first real sitdown restaurant we get in these parts.

That's what just about everyone said at the hearing: it's way too soon. Maybe we should look at some other successful corridors in the city (U st, Barracks Row, Chinatown) and see how many bars it took before restaurants and retail showed up.

W00t.