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

Reefer Madness: A reader of the Bloomingdale blog added a bit of snark to the conversation on the redistricting of  the neighborhood in a letter to ANC Commissioner Hugh Youngblood.  The self-proclaimed “senior member” of the community proposed an alternate use for the McMillan Reservoir Sand Filtration site that would generate a pot full of money for the city: “Soon we will have poor little marijuana plants growing inside nasty warehouses under artificial light all over Ward 5. If we can convert McMillan to a farm, these plants can grow in the environment nature intended: fresh air, clean soil and direct sunlight—in a word, organic and free range.”  The commenter goes on to mention all the benefits that could come from this new medical marijuana site, including work for tobacco farmers, decreasing drug smuggling across borders, and—of course!—a gift shop to sell paraphernalia to tourists. “You can imagine the constituent jealousy of D.C. residents not having to pay any taxes as a result of the McMillan income. No problem, we`ll just trade a piece of the action for statehood, and finally we will be able to vote—thanks to McMillan. Our boring city flag can be replaced by one sporting a brightly colored marijuana plant and we can shed the old name (District of Columbia) and call ourselves the Marijuana Republic. Yes, there is a bright future for this useless piece of real estate which is no longer in Bloomingdale.”

To Insure Promptness: A scam artist attempted to trick members of the Cleveland Park email list by inserting envelopes addressed to the Washington Post and the New York Times into papers—hopes of getting a holiday tip. The next week one of the members received an official envelope from the post  and was confused, “I called the Post distributor. Sure enough, the first envelope was somehow inserted into our copy of the Post by an enterprising scam artist. This is the first time we’ve run into this but the distributor said it happens every year.”

Banned Books: Barnes & Nobles may have lost a customer after The Anacostia Diaries says they were discriminated against for the third—and last—time.  Apparently, they and a group of friends were kicked out for “taking up space” at the store on 12th and E streets NW.  The blog claims that on two other occasions, they had less then satisfactory customer service from the store, and refuses to return: “I’d rather freeze to death, get kicked out of a library and get arrested for pissing on the street than deal with Barnes and Noble. They will no longer have my business. In fact, they’re struggling. The only thing that is keeping them alive is their Nook tablet and Amazon.com’s Kindle got them beat. Their bookstore in Georgetown is closing because they lost their lease!”

Sheltered: Congress Heights on the Rise updates on the homeless shelter that may soon open in Anacostia: “This shelter would be two doors down from the Anacostia Gateway on one side and two doors down from a day care center on the other side. A methadone clinic (with its own type of suspect street traffic) is only 100 yards away. The new shelter will also be right across the street from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development. I guess that makes sense since we will need DHCD to work overtime to try and overcome the challenges of persuading business owners to invest in the two vacant buildings next door to the proposed shelter.” Some residents of Anacostia were supposedly not made aware of this change until August, when they received a press release from Council Chairmen Kwame Brown. “I think it is a travesty that this shelter and the politicians involved don’t think it is necessary to include the community in what we feel is best for our community, ” ANC 8A04 Commissioner Charles Wilson tells the blog. “We feel like it is a total disrespect to not involve us in this discussion. We are being ignored.”