tonight's bloomingdale civic association meeting—notes

here are some rough-and-tumble notes from tonight's bloomindale civic association meeting (which was attended by nearly 50 people!):

• there will be no august meeting, the next one is in september
• cassandra costley handed out information about the selective service, where she works. her job entails finding jobs for conscientious objectors (like mennonites or quakers) if there was a draft.
• massie ritsch, a neighborhood resident who lives on the 200 block of rhode island and is the deputy assistant secretary for external affairs & outreach at the department of education, gave a short talk about goals for the department in the coming years. he specifically mentioned that either the secretary (arne duncan) or an assistant secretary would hold a 'listening session' in the district in the fall to hear from DC parents about schools. he took a couple questions from the audience, which focused on charter schools.
  
• aakash thakar of eya gave a quick presentation of where things stand with the mcmillan project. basically, they are still working to have something approved by the council at the end of the year, finalizing the deal that will allow them to go forward with the project. it was noted that clint jackson from the mayor's office was invited but did not show. i thought it was notable that this was the first time that i heard any of the principals from the development groups mentioning light rail or circulator buses as a transit option for the area.
  
• in what was (i believe) the most interesting news of the evening, barbara wilson, who lives at 2203 1st street nw, gave an update on the status of neighbor's complaints regarding the 'boxer girl' mural at 73 w street nw. apparently, the money for a mural was initially meant to paint something at 1st and rhode island (here?), but due to challenges, that didn't happen. the owner of 73 w then gave permission to have her house painted instead. alice thompson, from the mayor's office of community relations & services, stated that the mayor's office had contacted the muralist and asked them to "change" the artwork. the muralist has not been back in touch with the mayor's office...
• leah lemoine from the district department of the environment gave a quick presentation about the river smart homes program. dc residents can sign up for grants of up to $1200 towards rain barrels, landscaping, pervious paving, and other means to help keep water from running off your property. this is especially important in bloomingdale given the propensity for basement flooding in the neighborhood after moderate rainfall.
• cassandra costley talked about feral cat colonies in the neighborhood. efforts continue to trap and release cats to keep them from reproducing. residents are reminded to contact the humane society, who will come to the neighborhood to do the work necessary to trap cats, give them the necessary medical attention, and safely return them to the neighborhood. she reminded us not to leave food out for cats for a long period of time, as it attracts rats. a thomas street resident let us all know that his 1.5 year old english bulldog died as a result of eating rat poison-laced peanut butter that a neighbor left in the alley to bait cats. everyone was reminded not to try this, as it's illegal (ed.-besides being pretty damn immoral)
• vicki leonard from harry thomas' office spoke, mentioning some of the councilmember's recent activity.
• john salatti wanted to let people who live around crispus attucks park know that he'd be sending letters to people regarding animal issues around the park. the department of health has been looking at the situation there, and homeowners who are not maintaining their property will receive tickets for creating situations conducive for harboring pests. john also asked everyone to remember to water street trees. in addition, he is working with the city to identify up to a dozen new parking spaces in the neighborhood, is happy to help people get speed humps on their blocks (everyone seems to like them), is looking to get a new backboard for the basketball courts at 2nd and w, and is having block meetings with individual blocks in his SMD. there will be a neighborhood safety walk this friday.
• alice thompson announced that there has been a lot of clean-up activity in the neighborhood lately, and that photos of new crosswalk striping will be coming to this blog in short order.
• gerry clark from north capitol main street announced the "1st on 1st" art program (this will get its own post soon) which will be taking place on august 1st from noon to 4 pm.
• bertha holliday announced that planning is underway for the fall bloomingdale house tour. the theme will be "the victorian secrets," and will take place on october 24th. tickets will be $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the event, with between 15 and 20 houses participating.
• the civic association's beautification committee is looking for more members.
• the north capitol collaborative announced that, on august 12th, they would be taking 63 neighborhood families to cameron run park for a back-to-school event. they are headquartered at 113 q street nw.