A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
That’s The Breaks: A Metro Police Department officer dispenses tips for avoiding car break-ins on the MPD-1D list, writing, “Thieves generally won’t waste their time breaking into autos that don’t have valuables in plain sight.” One respondent disagrees: “I believe at least some of the posts about broken car windows indicated that there was nothing in sight in the cars, that it was just malicious breaking of windows. After gaining entry to the cars gloveboxes were examined.”
Boom Boom Pow: New Columbia Heights heard a “big boom” on Wednesday night. He writes, “I went onto Twitter and saw lots of other people heard it — some folks said they were woken up and others said car alarms were set off in Bloomingdale and Shaw. It seemed awfully loud and long for thunder, and I was pretty disconcerted. Anybody else hear it? Any idea what it was? To me it sounded like it came from the west, but that might just be due to my windows.” One commenter responds, “That was clearly thunder! It was just right overhead.”
Historic Preservation vs. Parking vs. Capitalism II: The Adams Morgan email list continues to wrangle with the fate of the oldest home in Lanier Heights. “I would LOVE to see empty houses demolished and replaced with apartment buildings! Housing in the area is unaffordable for many people, and the best way to bring costs down is to increase the supply,” writes one member. Another disagrees: “I would LOVE to see historic old houses renovated and the character and history of the neighborhood preserved, without the addition of new, cheap, cheaply built and cheap-looking apartment buildings.” The conversation has spawned judgement of just what it means to be historic. “Its not historical and has no tradition outside of being upright. This puts it in the old junk category,” claims one. Another agrees, writing, “Exactly. Except I am not a house. But if I were, I would expect to be evaluated in terms of my actual value.” A third list member dissents, however: “It has actual value as the first house in lanier heights, and along with it all the history the house contains, time-wise and architectural-wise, not to mention the green yard, which no doubt will be filled in by cinder block and sheet rock. It’s not like the house represents Cabrini Green. I just hope you don’t work for the Smithsonian.”
Come On-A My House: The Bloomingdale Civic Association is holding its third home tour on Saturday, Oct. 15. This year’s tour is titled “Fresh, Fierce, and Fabulous,” and tickets are available online and at Big Bear Cafe and Windows Cafe for $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the tour.