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

Can We Help You, Councilmember? Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham is a fairly active member of the neighborhood email lists that fall within his jurisdiction; usually, he’ll respond to those with trash, parking, or crime inquiries. But from his email address came a question recently, rather than a follow-up on neighborhood services, inquiring “Does anyone out there know someone who restores old photos? Please reply.” Given the colloquial tone, the message presumably isn’t spam. An email from the address of ANC 1B03 Commissioner Sedrick Muhammed recommended Preservation & Framing Services on Wisconsin Avenue NW.

Whatever D.C. Does, It’s Never Enough: A nearly literal interpretation of New York pizza is coming to Georgetown, the Georgetown Metropolitan reports. Apparently, the pizza will be made with “NYinized water,” for supremely accurate taste: “Yes, that’s right ‘NYinized’ water. Tony later explained that this is water whose pH balance is adjusted to match NYC’s, which according to him is why you can’t get genuine NY-style pizza outside of NY. GM’s pretty skeptical, but at least one other restaurant uses the same technique/gimmick. We’ll see if the pizza turns out to be more authentic than the restaurant’s name…GM thinks there are other reasons besides the pH balance of our water to explain this. The first is that historically Italian immigrants didn’t come to DC. Secondly, GM guesses zoning has a bit to do with it too. When people talk about the NY-style pizza, they are mostly imagining the tiny parlor in the first floor of an apartment building. That sort of small space geared towards take-out is simply not that common in DC.” One commenter adds historical context, recalling, “Georgetown hasn’t had a real NY-style pizzeria since the late 80′s when Alfredo and Miriam’s on M Street closed after its owners were arrested for trafficking heroin. I think Alfredo’s nickname in mob circles was ‘The Butcher.’ I personally saw him hit a customer and throw him on to M Street in some dispute. But if you want really authentic NY pizza (John’s, Lombardi’s) you need a coal oven. Good luck getting approval for that.”

Email Lists: A Lot Like Twitter: A Takoma resident posted to the neighborhood email list, “Does anyone know anything about the huge tractor-trailer that’s been parked on Butternut at the corner of 5th NW for the past few days? It’s from Oklahoma and does not have any apparent parking permit, which is surprising given that it’s taking up 3-4 spaces in a 2-hour zone. Is it ever legal to leave such mammoths for such a long time in a residential zone?” About three minutes later, another member with a city government email address said, “Good morning I am alerting DPW.” Seven or so minutes after that, a member identified as a Metropolitan Police Department official added, “I will check it out and if it is illegally parked, I will ticket it. Thanks.” The thread ended about 10 minutes later, when the latter address sent a message saying, “A ticket has been placed on the vehicle for commercial vehicle parked in residential neighborhood. Thanks.” How’s that for service?

At Least They’re Not Talking About Redistricting: The Cleveland Park email list has been particularly needy this week. After a bevy of messages tagged “ISO” earlier in the week, residents of the neighborhood still have requests for just about everything imaginable. Over the past two days, Cleveland Park dwellers have requested no less than “recommendations for group tennis lessons,” “Wooden Adirondack chairs,” an “Aeron chair,” “recommendations for siding, fence, and brick repair,” an “endocrinologist who takes CareFirst,” a “jewelry repair person,” “summer little league or other baseball for 7-yr-old,” a “Maryland lawyer with speciality in employment law and benefits,” an “orthodonist,” a “roofing contractor,” and a “driving nanny.” But in return, there are offers of “free Russian books” and “pink and white dishes,” should you be in need.