Friday, October 23, 2009

Make a Difference Day

TNA MADD flier

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the idea,this gives you the opportunity to meet your neighbors
and help keep the neighborhood free of all the extra trash.

Liz said...

Sorry to be off topic, but does anyone know a real estate agent experienced in selling in the H St/Atlas area? Someone mentioned an agent in the comments on this blog awhile ago, but I can't find it for the life of me.

Thanks.

Civil Servant said...

How exactly does beautifying the stretch of road adacent to a univerisity with an 8 foot high iron fence contribute to the neighborhood? I'm assuming (perhaps erroneously) that the intent is to plant stuff and pick up trash on the shoulder of West Virginia on the Galludet side?

Four hours for a "community" to clean up a stretch of road roughly five blocks long where there's not even a sidewalk? Sounds more like , "Hey, that side of our property looks like crap - let's get the neighborhood to clean it up for us and call it a community event! And we'll get credit as a contributor to bettering the neighborhood by sponsoring it!"

Here's an idea, why not host an event that gathers everyone along that stretch of road, and have them form a line and walk towards Bladensburg down the perpendicular streets - picking up trash and "beautifying" the neighborhood. It irritates me when I see these piss-poor, half-measure, feel-good events that get a lot of buzz and some media attention. Two days later there'll be trash along West Virgina Avenue and no change to the neighborhood whatsoever.

And seriously, planting flow bulbs in LATE OCTOBER? I'm no horticulturalist but are the flowers supposed to hibernate through the winter and give us a breathtaking floral panorama come April?

Keren said...

@ Civil Servant, if you have ever organized a community event you know that the first year you start small to raise awareness and interst. Then next year you do more and the year after that even more. And anything is better then nothing, even if "Two days later there'll be trash along West Virgina Avenue and no change to the neighborhood whatsoever"

Also, yes. the bulbs are supposed to hibernate all winter and then bloom in the spring. thats why you see tulips, crocuses, etc blooming in march/april/ may.

inked said...

Civil Servant,
this event is a partnership mainly organized by the Trinidad Neighborhood Association and Gallaudet University. They won't just been cleaning up the University side (sort of an odd conclusion to draw). The University is providing a large number of volunteers.

And yeah, this is the perfect time to plant bulbs in DC.

Maybe you should try helping out with such a project, rather than just griping about it online. It sounds like you might learn something and have fun at the same time.

Derek said...

This is a great idea and I will be there to help out however I can. To let yo know what i recently was involved in and did some design work for was the DCBIA 17th annual Community Improvement Day. It was a great time and more than 550 people were involved that day.

http://www.dcbia.org/event_community.html

Various students need to fulfill community service hours and these events are a great opportunity to get them. The DCBIA event is all volunteer and donated funds. this includes materials in kind and officials making sure this happens. Also, Nov. 14th Casey Trees will plant a number of trees they have donated for the event. They will plant more in Spring.

I have a good feeling that those who will mock this event won't bother to show up and get their hands dirty.

Anonymous said...

With the exception of those who mock it that have perhaps already volunteered in ways that are far grander and require greater sacrifice than such an event.

Anonymous said...

Liz,
I think that you may be referring to JT Powell. He's been in the H street corridor for quite a while, he's been a huge booster.
Nope, I don't work for him, already owned my home, not selling my home, not a personal friend... nothing to personally gain by putting his name out there.

inked said...

Liz,
I have a friend who works as a Real Estate Agent in this neighborhood. She is also an attorney who I worked with several years ago. Her name is Kim Webb. Here is her email:
skaw1[at]yahoo.com. I would recommend her. She doesn't live over here anymore, but she lived at 9th and Maryland for years, and has recently handled listings in and around Trinidad.

Anonymous said...

JT is awesome. He's with Coldwell Banker, and has a web page at www.jtpowell.com. I have a lot of neighbors who bought or sold houses with him (including me).

H Street Great Street said...

Nice piece in today's WP on the neighborhood, our homes, etc. Good quotes, Inked! It is going to be an exciting few years around here with the new stuff coming up and down H.

Derek said...

Just an FYI. I got this email and will be there for it.

Join Greater DC Cares, an affiliate of the HandsOn Network, who is working with Disney Destinations to makeover Ludlow Taylor Elementary School in the heart of Capitol Hill!
On Saturday, November 7th, you could:

* Paint Classrooms, hallways, and lockers
* Clean and landscape the school grounds
* Decorate the playground
* And more!

Roll up your sleeves, have fun, and
meet some special Disney guests!

When: Saturday, November 7th
9am-1pm

Where: Ludlow Taylor Elementary School
659 G St, NE
Union Station Metro

Click here to register: http://disneygdcc.eventbrite.com/

Sign up no later than 5pm on Tuesday, October 27th!

Questions? Email Billy Fettweis at wfettweis@greaterdccares.org

trinidamn said...

Did this happen? I drove by on Sat afternoon and there was still trash and no new plants did I notice.

inked said...

Trinidamn,
it did happen. The rain shut things down slightly early, so people weren't able to clean up the entire multi-block stretch. I wouldn't expect you to notice new plants since they were planting bulbs. You'll see them in the spring.

raychelle said...

Sorry for jumping in late -

Civil Servant -

This may be off the point, but... I work at Gallaudet, and the last 3-4 years the students and staff have been asking the university to take down the 8-foot iron fence. The current provost, Dr. Weiner, is calling for the university to take down the fence around campus and making it more open for anyone to walk through the campus from, say, WVa ave to 6th street... we're facing some opposition from parents and certain groups, but we're getting there. We want a community, and of course the fence does not contribute to that sense of community.

Inked, do you know who from Gallaudet collaborated with the Trinidad community for this event? I advise Green Gallaudet (a student organization focused on the environment, on campus and off), and the students including myself were surprised to see this flyer - we didn't know Gallaudet was involved in something like this. We'd love to help out and pitch in, and would like to find out the Gallaudet contact for this event, and help with the next one. Hope you can help us out!

triniadamn said...

Thanks Inked.

Are there ever any other trash clean-ups in Trinidad? I would definitely like to help if so. I clean up the sidewalks on my corner once a week or it gets pretty bad. Trash everywhere on our blocks.

inked said...

triniadamn,
I'm not aware of any regularly scheduled trash pickups. But you can do it yourself, or organize with neighbors. There is an upcoming Trinidad wide callbox painting project coming up on Saturday. Perhaps you can help out with that. I'll post info soon. Please join the TrinidadDC listserv if you are not already a member.

inked said...

Raychelle,
is there a good way to reach you?

raychelle said...

Raychelleh at gmail