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

Maybe He Was Playing Words With Friends: A member of the New Hill East email list posts goes long on an unpleasant encounter with neighborhood police officers. “Over the past two weeks I’ve observed that my “old” dealers…have returned in force,” they begin. “Nightly, there’s a guy sitting on the steps of 1620 C Street, SE with a little pot-smoking entourage. Last night, MPD had a handy bright light shining on Speilberg Park and the entire time, the dealer was conducting brisk business less than 1/2 block away from the cops on patrol. I even walked down to the burly police twosome ‘watching’ Speilberg Park (while playing on iPhones and reading some sort of hunting magazine), and told them about the deals that were going down RIGHT BEHIND THEM, and their effective response was ‘uh – we’ll tell vice.’ The member isn’t alone. Another writes, “Funny enough, I had the same experience when asking one of the two officers assigned to watch Spielberg Park the other night. I approached his car, and asked him if there was any activity in the Park that we should be aware of. “I don’t know, we are just lighting it up” was the response. He didn’t look up from his iPhone.”

No Students in My Backyard Neighborhood: The Tenleytown email list is awash in suggestions of how neighborhood residents can tamp down the noise and activity that is inherent to living adjacent to a university. One poster offers, “We had such a house on our block that had 4 Georgetown law students who were going for their PHD’s. All were foreign nationals. After one particularly loud and late party where I was shoved at about 1 AM and the residents tossed threats around, we simply called the dean of the law school. Also called the owner at 3 AM and let him listen to the crowd. Needless to say, the call to the dean took care of the problem once and for all (I am sure that the word visa was mentioned) and the renters traipsed around the block making apologies after their session with the dean. Never another peep out of them.” Another member of the list relays that after they voiced their issues with the student renters, the property owner, called the police, and reached out to American University’s student relations director, they upped the ante: “On February 5 of this year, I actually walked across the street in my pajamas with a video camera rolling after a police visit had zero impact. I have since learned through a “source” that taking videos and pictures DOES worry the students.”

Closing Time: U Street Girl reports that Mid City Caffe will cease to exist on Oct. 1: “While a victim in part of its location – on a second floor and away from the kind of office-based foot traffic that supports a bustling coffee shop five of seven days a week – the owner and management still made the difficult decision to close rather than relocate when faced with a lease expiring and ambiguous future for the building they occupy (a situation which, unfortunately, may also impact the street-level tenant, vintage shop Miss Pixie’s in the coming months.)” We Love DC reports that the shop’s head barista will work to open a new coffee shop in the renovated AKA White House hotel later this fall.

Fantastic Plaster: In a thread titled, “fastening pictures, mirrors, etc. on plaster party wall,” a member of the Takoma DC email list asks, “Can anyone advise me about what hardware is most effective for hanging artwork, ceramics, full-length mirror and other items of various weights and sizes on these walls? Do I need a special drill bit for this hardware?” Another member replies, simply, “There are special hangers that you can get from Michael’s for plaster walls. They work great.” Servicey!