the letter writing to councilman thomas with regards to windows cafe seems to be working, because i got this response from him a few minutes ago from him:
This issue is of great concern to me. Ms. Chase in my office went by and we are moving aggressively to ensure that we protect and make certain that we have high police presents [sic] in the area we are trying to treat this as a hot spot and will coordinate with 5d.
i stopped into both today. first time at big bear, and i didn't have a chance to really introduce myself to the owners, since i had a classmate along, and we had a lot of arabic to get through! it was nice there, though. very spartan inside, almost empty. we had the last pastries they had left, and the last of the tea as well. once traffic settles into a pattern there, i'm sure they'll be able to figure out how much of each item they need each day. i'm happy to be able to say that bloomingdale is starting to have an axis of hang-out joints. now, if we can just get one in between the two of them. maybe at seaton and first...
when i moved into the city from my small town of only 1000 people in michigan, one of the things i was confronted with that i never dealt with before was panhandling. no one had ever asked me for money on the street back home. we didn't have a lot of poverty, and those who were poor simply didn't ask for money from people they didn't know. now, in DC, i get asked for money on a nearly daily basis. it's a tough thing to deal with for me, because i'm a pretty shy person, and talking to random people whom i don't know on the street is just uncomfortable for me regardless. if they want something from me, it just makes me that much more uncomfortable. now, typing this out on the internet, and talking to potentially many, many people whom i don't know isn't a problem. the whole face to face thing makes a BIG difference, doesn't it?
anyway, i was outside enjoying the cool air tonight, and a guy walked up and asked if he could clean the truck in front of my place for some money. i told him it wasn't my truck (it's not, it belongs to someone a couple doors down), but i don't think he believed me. he finally said he was just hungry, and wanted some food. now, if someone asks me for money (see this), i'm apt to say no, and that's that. but i was raised to be a good christian, and to look out for those less fortunate than me. i'm not rich by anyone's definition of the word, but i'm not starving either, and that's what this guy told me he was (starving). so, i walked with him up to the chinese place next to windows cafe and bought him what he wanted (seven chicken wings with fried rice).
i've been out with my friend frank when he's bought dinner for someone in need, and i've seen people's eyes light up when someone takes the time to help them. i'd like to think i've done the same, but here's my problem. i still feel so uncomfortable dealing with someone asking for money. how do you say no to someone without feeling a touch guilty. i'm still not going to give someone cash so they can just go off and spend it on something destructive. but i don't want to be eaten up by guilt for being selfish either. am i being selfish/stingy for not helping people out, or am i being taken advantage of when i do? all questions that i think about....
i woke up at 2 a.m. to what i thought was gunfire. sounded like seven shots, and it sounded like they were right underneath my window. did anyone else in the area of 1st and seaton hear what i did?
i read in the daily bloomingdalian email this morning that windows cafe was robbed AGAIN yesterday. here's the email from the MPD:
I'm sending you this email to let you know what's been happening in Scout 5012's area. On today's [june 6] date at approximately, 10:02 AM the Windows Cafe / Store at 101 Rhode Island Avenue, N. W. was robbed. The suspect was armed with a silver colored hand gun. He is in his late 20's , 6 feet in height and approximately 185 pounds he was wearing a red hoody and blue jeans. He pointed the gun at the owner's head and threaten to kill her if she didn't give him money. There was a patron in the store that was also robbed. The suspect made the owner the patron and an employee get face down on the floor as he made his escape This establishment has been robbed by this suspect before. Please inform everyone in the area of this offense.
ok, time for a bullet list of issues out there that i just feel like commenting on:
Yes, there are rats, but "there are issues with that all over D.C. All I know is, I'm glad I'm out here in Virginia."read that again. what an ass. basically, here's the translation:
i'm glad i'm not poor like those suckers at temple courts. screw 'em though, 'cause i'm living it up out here in virginny! yeeeehaw!i hope the man gets the vermin infestation from hell in his house and he's forced to stay there. or better yet, clear out temple courts and make mr. viola stay there under solitary confinement for a week. maybe he'll think again about just being so tart about the living conditions of the poor in this city.
really, i love the unit block of t street nw, there are very pretty houses there. but here's the thing. i live on the 100 block of seaton nw, and my girlfriend lives on the unit block of todd ne, so i walk the unit block of t street nw often. for some reason though, they have a really difficult keeping trash off the street and sidewalk up there. i see people picking stuff up on my block, even if it's not in front of their own house. on t street though, it just seems like stuff piles up. i mean, someone's picking it up eventually, because they don't have mounds of garbage there, but it just seems like there's always more than a few empty liquor bottles and the like up there compared to other blocks in bloomingdale.
c'mon t street unit block, let's see some block pride!
it was a non-traditional memorial day for me. i spent most of it inside studying up on arabic, but by the time i got outside, there was really no humidity. i think it was actually more humid inside the apartment (with the a/c on) than it was outside.
went to eat at matchbox. (first time there, it was nice....good pizza and a nice building they have there too. it's much bigger on the inside than on the outside.) then we went to go see once at e street. it's a great movie, starring glen hansard, the lead singer of the frames. it was so funny to see songs performed a few feet away from me on the screen that i'd see a couple weeks ago at coachella.
afterwards, we grabbed some ice cream next door at giffords. the roasted coconut is quite good, and the 72% chocolate is just what you'd think it is.
the best part of the evening, though, was what always happens when i'm downtown somewhere after dark. meeting a character. and this time it was black rainman. that's how the guy is marketing himself. if you run into him, he'll ask you to name (at least) 20 countries, and he'll give you the capital and some background information on the country. like rwanda ("one man dies, and the blood of a million are shed"). quite impressive, really. and he got the rest of our good pizza (and a little change as well)...
i always park on seaton in front of my place. on tuesday, when i went to move my car for street cleaning, there were no open spaces, so i moved over to s street. unfortunately, the days that the street is cleaned there are switched, so i got myself a parking ticket. of course, i didn't realize that until just an hour ago. of course, there was a note on the ticket requesting to have my car towed, and the city apparently never got around to that, so i guess part of the joke is on them....
....i've got to take something positive away from this!
i just got back from the open house for the new condos that are on the northeast corner of 3rd and florida.
pretty decent on the inside, and the 3rd floor is much nicer than the 2nd floor (ceilings are about 3 feet higher, i believe). i asked the realtor there about the retail on the first floor, and she said that there will be a coffee shop in the larger space, with an outdoor patio on the s street side of the building (in the little fenced-in area there). she said that there is nothing going into the smaller retail space just yet.
now, if we can just convince someone to move into the space at 1st and seaton...
