A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
What’s in a Name? “Looks like we may be seeing fewer graffiti tags around the neighborhood. DCist and the Washington Post report that MPD and the US Marshalls have arrested members of the KGB graffiti crew, which stands for Krazy Graf Brothers. Taggers arrested include Che, Aera KAE, Huf, Gator and G8R,” writes New Columbia Heights. The blog claims to enjoy some types of graffiti, like sponsored murals, but goes on to say, “Basically they just write their names over and over everywhere. I don’t really the see the point: great, there’s that guy’s name all over everything. OK? Maybe this person is actually talented but I wouldn’t know, because it’s just a name.” When a commenter writes, “I ask this everytime a graffiti post is made…does ANYONE know what “syce” is? I see it everywhere on Kenyon and Irving b/w 14th and Sherman,” New Columbia Heights responds, “I’m guessing it’s another tagger, like Che, etc.”
Standards: “Can anyone recommend a latte machine that will make a latte as good as Starbucks?” inquires a member of the Chevy Chase email list. She details further, “It should make both the espresso and steam the milk. Hopefully, there are some good options for much less than a thousand dollars for the premium Italian machines! Can you please also recommend who sells the machine locally?” Surprisingly, no coffee snobs have retorted to question the original poster’s standards for latte quality.
Georgetown Can Get Musty Sometimes: A member of the Georgetown email list sends this dismayed message: “In the process of redecorating our study I’ve discovered we have a problem with mold. I went to re-hang a painting and noticed a large patch of mold on the wall behind it. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m particularly concerned because we have an infant in the house. I’d like to know how serious the problem is and what needs to be done to fix it.” Another member responds, “First, with the area well ventilated and closed off from your infant, buy Clorox or plain bleach and spray it (use an empty windex bottle) and let dry. This will kill the mold. But the underlying problem may be that the wall itself has some leakage issues.” Servicey!
Cleveland Park Problems: Last weekend, a member of the Cleveland Park email list wrote, “A car alarm keeps going on and off. The car is near 3020 Porter Street,” and identified the offending vehicle as “a red Honda civic, two door.” Since then, members have written the list to express their consternation over the incessant alarm. “After a sleepless night I…saw the woman who owns the Honda,” says one. “I got her attention and informed her that her car alarm had been going off all day and all night. She responded to me with a simple, ‘It’s never gone off before,’ to which I replied, ‘Well you should have been here all night because it went off almost every 30 minutes’ She mumbled something into her phone and then said, ‘Sorry,’ as if I had ruined her day. Ten minutes later the alarm went off again. No sign of the woman.” That poster also claims, “numerous neighbors were out all night trying to solve the alarm problem,” believes the woman she saw doesn’t live in the neighborhood, and professes to be “bleary-eyed, to say the least.”