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

Taylor’d II: After several members of the U Street News email list suggest that a neighbor troubled by Taylor Gourmet’s trash situation reach out to the business’ owners, the offended party writes, “I sent this to a public forum because I had heard, from a neighbor, that they were NOT cooperative. I believe they spoke to an owner or at least a manager and were lied to. Hence the reason, I look to the U STREET NEWS [email list]!” And that member has got some supporters: Another claims, “The problem is that we just replaced a very low waste producing business in Ruff & Ready, with a much higher waste producing business in Taylor Gourmet, without requiring a plan to manage these functions legally. Placing commercial waste bins in public space is not legal. 100’s if not 1000’s of businesses in the city do this all the time illegally, because they are 100% lot occupancy or because they are corner locked buildings that have no rear egress and yet the city gave them a certificate of occupancy anyway, or in most cases that’s how they have always operated.” “If they are such great guys and responsive owners and overall community-minded dudes (as pointed out by their friends and supporters on this [email list]) why didn’t they figure out a solution to this problem BEFORE opening on 14th Street? And why should a neighbor have to confront these great guys who are so community minded about the problem? People who are ‘community-minded’ don’t create problems in their neighborhood—they solve them.”

Watery Logic: In a message titled “mysterious water!” a member of the Tenleytown email list writes, “I have a washer in the basement that is about 1 yr old. It is working fine and I’ve checked the hoses and there is no water leaking from them and they seem securely attached. After I get up each A.M. and shower I go down to the basement and I see water coming from somewhere??? behind the washer running from there— across basement floor to the central drain on basement floor. The master bathroom is one floor right above where the washing machine sits.  All I am able to Guess is that the shower/tub area has a leak…but… I’m not seeing water running down the walls…This is a mystery to me and don’t like not knowing the source of the water leak before I call the plumber…The real weird part is I shower daily and have been checking this and there were a few mornings when there was no water on the basement floor. This all has nothing to do with whether it is raining—all the times I’ve noticed the water on the concrete basement floor have been when there has been no rain for days…” Another member offers this anecdote: “Hi. We had a strange leak about 10 years ago.  Have you had any other construction work done recently? Our leak was caused by  a hole accidentally cut into a drain pipe during some minor kitchen work.  Whenever we used the dishwasher we’d have a basement leak.”

Light the Candles: JDLand notes that the blog is entering its ninth year of existence: “Uh oh, the old bat is bringing out the photo albums….Yup, it’s time for me once again to mention that it was on January 19, 2003 when I made my husband drive me around that neighborhood south of the freeway, which we rarely ventured into, so that I could take some pictures (without getting out of the car, of course), since I’d heard there were some plans to revitalize the public housing and also the areas right along the Anacostia River. (Yeah, right, that’ll be the day, we said to each other.) I had no grand plans to launch an all-consuming project that would document what might be coming—I just felt like getting some photos.”

Cleveland Park, ISO: Members of the Cleveland Park email list are seeking “an individual who might be able to come in to our house for one-two hours each day, check on my dad, possibly prepare lunch, etc. Any recommendations would be appreciated”; a double bass (“Does anyone have a 3/4 size double bass in decent condition they would like to sell? We’re tired of renting and aren’t quite ready to buy one new”); “green glue noise suppression experience” (We’re looking to insulate our bedroom floor from furnace noise below us. Has anybody had experience with green glue? Does it work?”); “emergency dryer repair for Kenmore dryer”; and a walker (“I am recovering from a shattered ankle and need an additional walker to use for about two months. Nothing fancy—just something I can hop around with in my house. I will return it with gratitude when I can walk again!”).