A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.

Garden of Evil: “I have been trying for years and years to get a plot. But, in reading comments from people involved in ‘running’ the gardens, I am shocked at how unkind and mean-spirited everyone sounds. I thought working a garden should be enjoyable and have a calming effect, but this list seems to be overrun by even more offensive comments than our dear own AdamsMorgan list! Why is there so much anger and hatred on this list?” writes a member of the Adams Morgan email list. This prompts a second member to issue this screed: “Last year, I had also hoped to be put on the list for the garden plot lottery, but was told that signs would be posted to notify us of the schedule.  Much to my chagrin, around the time I had been told to ‘look for signs,’ I finally walked up to the garden gate and noticed a small 3″x5″ card on the garden gate announcing the event, which had taken place the week before.   While a number of things ran through my mind, I suppose I have to take responsibility for not checking the actual gate on a weekly basis.  My fault for assuming that signs(s) might be posted in a location where I would see them more readily.” The saga continues! “This year, I submitted my name  to the garden coordinator(s) via email and recently heard back that the lottery would take place this weekend.  As I will be out of town, I immediately sent an email to the garden coordinator address asking if I could have a friend attend on my behalf.  This was one week ago and I’ve received no response, even though the lottery is to take place in three days.  I followed up this morning and my email bounced back, as the domain appears to have expired.  Finally, I am aware of three others who attempted to sign up for the lottery in the past week, and to my knowledge, not one of them has received any kind of response.”

Avenue of Errors: New Columbia Heights calls the new street signs appearing across the city ‘really crappy looking (and incorrect),’ and posts photos demonstrating just how badly the new signage has been executed. “Check out the sign to the right for new Hampshire Ave and the one below for Georgia Ave. The New Hampshire sign uses three different sizes: the ‘ew; in New is bigger than ‘ampshire’ in Hampshire. It shouldn’t be that way, and it looks terrible,” writes the blog. “Aside from that, more things are wrong. Compare the ‘G’ in the sign for Georgia Ave to the sign below in Michigan using the font: they’re not the same. And the lower case letters in the DC signs are way smaller than they should be: ‘eorgia’ and ‘ampshire’ are less than half as large as the upper case letters, while in the Michigan sign, they’re more than 2/3 the size of the upper case letters. (In typeface lingo, upper case letters are called majuscule, and lower case are miniscule.) Furthermore, the quadrant is written as Nw, when it should be NW.”

Never Enough Starbucks: On the Shepherd Park email list, an ANC commissioner posts this notice: “Royces Video at 7445 Georgia Avenue NW has closed. If you are interested or know anyone who might be interested in this space please contact” the realty company holding the property. This prompts a member to ask, “Has Ledo Pizza closed?” Another member confirms that Ledo Pizza is indeed open (“Ledo Pizza is at 7435 Georgia and OPEN for business!”), while a third suggests, “There never seem to be enough Starbucks [or Cosi] around and they appear to be underrepresented on Georgia Ave and many of their locations have limited space, like Royce’s. That would be my vote. Rita’s ice cream would be my second choice.”

Chevy Chase Problems: On the Chevy Chase email list, a member inquires (in a thread titled, “best place to buy euros in bulk?”), “I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who has recently researched which of the various currency exchange options in DC is likely to give me the best exchange rate for buying a significant number of Euros.”