Rhythm & Beans Coffee

Ok, I went in to check this place out on Sunday and I was impressed. The shop occupies the first floor (divided into two rooms), and they are thinking about expanding into the second floor. The place was comfortable looking with a variety of table sizes, and couple of upolstered chairs (you can also sit at the bar). I saw plenty of electrical outlets, so laptops should be no problem). The had a jazz station (not WPFW) playing while I was there, but (thankfully) it wasn't smooth jazz. I ordered a latte, which tasted pretty good, but they also has juices and IBC Rootbeer. I saw a few baked goods, but didn't try any of those. In my opinion, this is just the kind place H Street needs. Now we just need to get out there and support it.

1359 H Street NE
[Wi-Fi Hot Spot]
Sunday 9-5
Closed Monday
Tuesday & Wednesday 11-7
Thursday-Saturday 9-9

Drunk/Stupid People as Obstacle to H St. Improvement (& major pain in the ass)

H Street can now boast a farmers' market, a couple of sit-down restaurants, 2 decent bars, a sweet coffee shop, and 2 theater related spaces. Yet the street continues to suffer the same old very basic problems. To be specific, I'm talking about trash and the issues related to public drunkeness. Yes H Street needs more businesses (with responsible owners who take an interest in the street's potential), but business owners don't want to move into an area where they fear customers won't want to venture. So it all comes back to the trash and the drunkeness. Also, these issues are all the more aggravating because they result from daily voluntary acts by their perpetrators. I have watched a mother wipe ice cream off her son's face only to toss the napkin onto the sidewalk (instead of aiming for the trash can 15 feet away). sometimes people just don't care. You can't do much when people refuse to respect their surroundings. H Street has a lot of traffic moving through it every day, so I like to think that much of the trash comes from outsiders moving through the neighborhood. But I know this isn't always true. Sure, much of the larger scale dumping is not local, but plenty of the street trash is clearly locally produced. This a good neighborhood, full of good people, but irresponsible behavior like this brings us all down. Then I come across this report in the Post:

Drunk Man Goads Rottweiler

EIGHTH AND H STREETS NE, Jan. 13. Police asked animal control to help with a Rottweiler that a drunk man was encouraging to attack pedestrians. When an officer arrived, police said that the man did not own the dog and that they had told him to go home. The animal was held at the D.C. shelter pending contact by an owner.

I swear...not surprising at all.

Time to Recycle Those Recycling Bins?

DCist drew my attention to an announcement by DC's Department of Public Works that the District is going city wide with a new recycling program that will replace those awful bins with spiffy blue mini super cans. As DPW puts it:

The new program will also introduce more residents to single stream recycling, which means that all recyclables will go into the same container. Once the blue carts have been delivered, customers will no longer have to keep paper and other recyclables separated, nor will they have to lift heavy bins.

I look forward to the blue container as I sense it means the end of searching my alley (post collection) for the bin with address (I have actually found it as far as 1/3 of a block away). Anyway, three cheers for the new cans, and I'd like to propose a promotional slogan: "New Recycling Cans...little, blue, different."

Rhythm & Beans Coffee Shop Opens on H St.

How many times have you lamented H Street's lack of a coffee shop? In some circles this seems to be a frequent refrain. Yet the void persisted...until now. R&B coffee, the long planned venture, has finally opened its doors. The shop will be located in the 1300 block of H Street. Surrounding businesses include (among others) the Salvation Army Store, Rose's Dream Bar, Sanctuary, H Street Playhouse, & The Atlas (which is scheduled to open phase 1 next month). Here are the vitals:

Address: 1359 H Street NE
Phone: 202-397-4357
Hours: Sun, Tues, & Wed 9-5;
Thurs-Sat 9-9
closed Mon

Creative Neighborhooditis in Chicago

So, face it, this is NOT Capitol Hill. Still, if you say Trinidad...who the hell knows where that is. if I advertise a room, I'll sure as hell call it Capitol Hill North in the tag line. still, I'm not as bad as some realtors who insist on calling properties Capitol Hill all the way up to New York Avenue NE. But, not surprisingly, this is no local problem. Here is a response to the issue in Chicago.

Cat Scares New Mother

Quick! Where's my copy of The Witch Hammer??

NEW YORK AVE. NE, 1200 block, Jan. 4. A woman who said she had
recently given birth took her cat to the D.C. shelter, saying she feared the cat would "suck the baby's breath away." Shelter staff members told her that wouldn't happen, but she said she was afraid nonetheless. The woman left the cat at the shelter, and it was transferred to a foster home.

From the Washington Post's Animal Watch

When A Crime Isn't A Crime

The latest version of the DC Watch's mail mentioned an article from the St. Louis Dispatch about the way some police departments manipulate numbers to artificially deflate the crime rate. DC Watch's Imhoff writes briefly about past allegations of similar stunts in DC.

Rent Control in DC

There is an interesting article in today's Post about the future of rent control in DC. From the article:

Couch's organization recently released a study that showed a tenant would have to earn $20.10 an hour to afford a rent of $1,045, the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in the District. She said a resident would have to work 122 hours a week at the District's minimum wage of $6.60 an hour to afford such an apartment.

One note, the article states that rent control affects most rental units in DC. Lots of people who rent rowhouses (or portions of them) do so unofficially (even if they have written leases), so they are not included in this count.

New Focus on the Neighborhoods?

I just received an email directing me to The Barras Report where I found an article suggestin that Mayor Williams is likely to appoint Stanley Jackson for Deputy Mayor for Economic Development. Here is a sampling of the article:

Jackson’s expected appointment signals that the administration intends to shift its focus more to neighborhoods. During the past few years, Williams has been accused of catering to the needs of downtown and big business, while ignoring the little people and blighted community commercial corridors like those in Ward 7 and Ward 8. While the mayor made some progress during Price’s tenure—the reopening of the Tivoli Theater and the promise of a Target in Columbia Heights; opening of a Home Depot in Ward 5; and plans for a retail-housing complex on the old Camp Simms site in Ward 8—the administration’s record has been uneven. With Jackson at the helm, Williams hopes to smooth out his administration’s rough edges and answer the hew and cry for more affordable housing while
improving overall relations with District residents.

All of the information (except links) above comes from The Barras Report.

And By Steps...I Mean a Mile

After my last post on misleading advertising I checked Craig's List again and saw a listing for a house locatred in the heart of Trinidad advertised as being "[s]teps away from [the] NY Ave Metro." Actually, the house is a MILE from the New York Ave stop. The house is WALKABLE to the metro, but unless you are the Collossal Man, it is not steps from the metro.

You Want HOW MUCH For That Room?

I found the funniest post on Craig's List today. The ad concerns two rooms open in a three bedroom house located just north of H Street NE. According to the ad, you can secure a room in the house for the bargain price of $750 a month (plus a $500 deposit & 1/3 of utilities). The house currently features a full bath upstairs, and a half bath on the first floor. The landlord notes that he will be adding a shower to the halfbath (which, if you are familiar with the layout of most rowhouses around here, you will know probably means walking through the kitchen to get to the shower). The house also boast a "conveniant" location (near a homeless men's shelter) with easy access to buses (true), grocery (I think he means Murry's, which is excellect if you want to stock up on generic ketchup or neon colored faux fruit drink), restaurants (this could refer to Citi Pizza (delivery only), or one of numerous takeout places that can always boast a lively dice game), and bars -I am puzzled by this reference to bars since the only bars around are on people's windows (though I suppose you could always just swill your brew with the gang outside Family Liquor). I don't mean to pick on this author in particular. The thing is that I see more and more ads/posts/emails just like this, and I can't let the truth stretching/price inflating pass without at least a little commentary.

News Flash on New H Street Bars

The Hillscape portion of The Hill reports that The Olympic (the sports bar) will start pouring beers sometime this summer. The vaudeville/circus themed Show Bar is set to open in fall. Here is the article.

The Big Search Last Night

I was a little tired last night, so I headed to bed early. Around 11:30pm I heard some noises and looked out the window to the alley between Florida and Morse. I saw about six police cars in the alley with more arriving quickly. I could see more police activity on Montello. I watched as the arriving officers left their cars and huddled in the middle. I saw flashlights switch on and start searching under cars and around backyards. An officer who walked into the alley from Morse shouted "ARMED! POSSIBLY ARMED!" There was at least one helicopter assisting. They searched all around for maybe 45 minutes. During this time additional police cars came and went as the search area expanded. So what was it? A drug bust gone wrong? A homicide? Nothing in the paper. Nothing on any local news websites. No news at all.

Truxton Circle Website

I found this website mentioned on another blog and was really impressed. This is what I wish the H Street Main Street website could look like. Truxtoncircle.org is attractive, easy to navigate, and functional (tons of great info). For reference, Truxton Circle is the neighborhood just on the other side of North Capitol Street. Maybe one day we will get our act together and create a site this good.

Another Stab at Juvenile Justice in DC

Today's Post features this article on Mayor Williams' pick to head the new Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. Here is a link to the website of The Justice Policy Institute, where Schiraldi currently serves as Executive Director. Sounds promising.

Little Help Here?

I just received an email reminding me that you can submit online service requests here to the District government. This a very handy service as it handles everything from abandoned cars to street light repair to illegal dumping clean-up. Basically this is the online version of the Mayor's Call Center (202-727-1000). I have not yet had occasion to use the online reports, but I have telephoned the call center many a time. The results have been mixed. I had particular issues trying to get a vacant lot cleaned up. The city's failure to clean the lot presented a problem not only because I had to look out my window and see trash everyday, but also because once one person dumped trash out there others would see it and follow suit. So pretty soon you would have like ten separate dumps on one property. There was all this broken glass out there where kid would play. There were pressurized cans in a lot that had, on more than one occasion, been set on fire by local youth. I envisioned one of these cans exploding on some 12 year old playing with matches. We were lucky not to have rats. The city cleaned it up after more than three months of phone calls. Ten days later someone else dumped more stuff there.

Thou Shalt Know Thy PSA

psa_newmap, originally uploaded by inked78.

This is the new (as of last May) PSA map for DC. I'm mostly concerned with PSAs 102, 103 & 504. That line dividing the 5th district & the 1st district is Florida Avenue. Follow this link to find out your neighborhood, neighborhood cluster, ANC & ward.