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

What’s the Word?: Members of the Petworth email list used social media Tuesday morning to get information after being stuck underground after what they thought were explosions on the orange and blue metro lines. “I am stuck underground after explosions/fire/smoke on Orange & Blue line trains to Virginia. We have been stranded in the tunnel outside L’Enfant Plaza for some time. Any word on what is happening above ground?” Other members who were above ground promptly responded to let them know that it wasn’t the apocalypse, but a track obstruction sending them links from the metro website.

Ticketed: A resident of Bloomingdale has written into the blog calling foul play on tickets they have received. “I recently received a parking ticket although my car was legally parked (I have photos). While talking to a friend, I learned she too had received several parking tickets when she was legally parked. I plan to contest my ticket, but was curious if others had experienced a similar problem. This appears to me to be a systemic abuse of authority that can`t continue.” Another user who has been ticket due to signage problems believes it to be the work of a prankster, “I have been erroneously ticketed on multiple occassions. I was far parked behind a sign for a bus stop, directly out front of my house. The next day I walked outside to find a ticket and a “No Standing Any Time” sign like the one pictured above. What I discovered was that the arrows on the sign were actually a sticker, and the sticker hadn’t been there the day before, when I parked. I suspect that the neighborhood’s problem is two-fold. I think a prankster is affixing stickers to the signs. If a one sign says the parking is legit, why would another sign suggest that you can never park there?”

Mellow Yellow: New Columbia Heights has seen one yellow phone book too many around their neighborhood. “Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that tons and tons of phone books have been delivered to houses in the area. Many are still sitting outside the houses where they were delivered, and many more (like mine) are just sitting inside our foyer, never to be used.” When the writer attempted to stop the delivery by going on the city D.C. was listed as an option. A reader had experienced an overload of books themselves, “My apartment building delivered all 200-some books to everyone’s door. It’s the only time, to my knowledge, that they’ve ever let a third party vendor blanket the building like that. It was eerie to see hallways suddenly populated by dozens of those cheery little yellow slabs. I almost expected them to start growing along the walls like weeds.” A green living commenter suggested keeping the books in case you run low on toiletries, “According to certain survivalist resources on the interwebs, you can use pages from these books as toilet paper when in a pinch.”

Tree’d Off: Members of the Chevy Chase email list were discussing the validity of a tree bill that makes it illegal for any person to cut down, remove, girdle, break, top, or destroy any Special Tree without a permit. “The issue for some of us is not how easy or difficult it is to get a tree permit. Any bureaucratic process requires time. The issue is that a permit is required at all. This is private property. If a tree drops acorns on a car, perhaps leaving both dents and acid, most people would probably try trimming. If that didn’t work, why should they be prevented from taking down their tree on their property.” Another member said getting a permit isn’t as hard as it seems, “I had previously WALKED my permit application into the right DC government office — on M St. SW near the stadium. It was entered in the system within 24 hours and I got an application #. My arborist wanted to know that I had followed the process and that I wouldn’t compromise his standing either. I liked that.”