More of Columbia Heights on the Internets

Sometimes all it takes is a simple message on the Columbia Heights listserv that leads to a 60-minute internet surfing and searching extravaganza. The fruits of my time well-spent:

The Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers have a new website - http://malcolmxdrummersanddancers.weebly.com/index.html - and be sure to stop by Meridian Hill Park on Sundays after 3 pm for the weekly drum circle.

The Circulator has a YouTube channel with profiles of cool neighborhood businesses and people.





Since we have been posting about local history recently, check out this video: “Columbia Heights: The Legacy of Public Development in DC”

All Around the Neighborhood: Pancakes, Crime and Love

Pancakes! Maybe... Prince of Petworth is reporting some "scuttlebutt" that IHOP is considering coming to DCUSA. The big question, says ArtBart, is how late it would stay open. The Heights Life has long supported a 24 hour restaurant to save us from 2AM CVS mac and cheese purposes. And hey... pancakes! Did we mention the many kinds of syrup?

Crime! It's warm out, which means more people on the streets and an inevitable crime spike. The Heights Life witnessed a good amount of police activity around the neighborhood this weekend. Yesterday evening, three police cars raced up 14th at ridiculous speeds. And the CH Yahoo Group has two disturbing reports. One person asked about shots fired in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon. Another says there is a groper in the neighborhood.

Love! The CH News Forums are notoriously nasty. Last year a group of forum posters held a happy hour to try to engender a little forum love, but DCDireWorlf and broNat continue to battle with CH Kool Aid and New2CH. Alas, one friendly forumite has decided to seek some common ground based on universal support for escalators at the Metro and universal hate for zombies. As of this update, nobody has joined in the attempt at forum community building.

Help Find Sparky, 11th Street Dognapping - UPDATED

UPDATE from Inspector Delgado:

I am happy to report that SPARKY is back home and in good health. A good citizen saw some children that do not own a dog playing with it. SPARKY was taken and returned. I want to thank the community for the overwhelming support for SPARKY and it's owner.

ORIGINAL POST: A local dog was dognapped, leaving a 92 year old man from Columbia Heights puppy-less. Please help find him, and let us know if the story has a happy ending.

From the forums/email list:

This is a very sad, tragic story. Apparently two teenage boys stole a black shitzu right off the porch of a house on 11th Street. The owner - a 92-year old man - saw the boys take him. NBC 4 and the police are tracking this story and trying to find the dog named Sparky. They are handing out photos of the man and his dog -- the man is apparently understandably very distraught. Those of you in the neighborhood probably have seen him walking Sparky regularly. I know that a photo is posted on a tree in front of Red Rocks. Please check it out and keep your eye out for the little pup so he can be reunited with his owner.

CH Email List Fight! Tivoli North! Columbia Heights! Adams Morgan East!

The CH Yahoo! Group is aghast at an old proposal that has resurfaced to name the northern section of Columbia Heights, "Tivoli North."

William Jordan posted some documents. To read the ongoing exchange, check out the Yahoo! Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/columbia_heights/.

Some explanation from William Jordan, ANC Commissioner for Ward 1A05:

While most Columbia Heights residents and other stakeholders did not know about the effort to rebrand/rename a portion of Columbia Heights to Tivoli North the CM and city officials did as they funded the plan to do so. Residents did not know because the city did not follow its own process for transparency and community involvement. I've attached the 2007 plan which should have had full public vetting but did not which started this process. DCUSA TIF/DHCD CDBG funds are likely paying for this process.

And an interesting email excerpt from a concerned citizen:

Back in the old days - pre-subway - few would even admit to living in Columbia Heights so Real Estate agents called the 14 to 16 hundred blocks of Columbia Heights "Mt. Pleasant East" or "Adams Morgan East", for instance.

Then comes the subway and these Balkanization attempts begin - North, South, East, West (and who knows what else) Columbia Heights.

And now "Tivoli North"?? Many of us fought long and hard to try to have the Tivoli Theater restored to its former glory. We failed. The City catered to special interests and gutted the Tivoli and replaced the former soaring space into a dinky little modern theater and offices.

CH Listserve Snowball Fight!

The other day there was an all out listserv BRAWL over ice and alleys.

Initial Post:

Hello Neighbors,

When you shovel and salt your front porches/steps to remove the snow and ice, please also shovel and salt the alley behind your home. It is extremely helpful to those who use the alley to access parking. Thanks.

Response:

Excuse me - you want me to shovel the alley so you can park your car? I think your expectations are extreme and slightly self centered.

First off, I do not think any DC code even suggests that the alley behind my house is my responsibility to shovel. The sidewalk in front is another matter - all you mention is porches and steps - and I notice on my block that the people who park their cars in their yards from the alley in general do not bother with shoveling the sidewalk in front of their houses - which IS required by DC code within 8 hours of the end of the snowfall - please correct me if I am wrong.

My attitude is if you want a shoveled alley - do it yourself and spare me your helpful attitude.

Let us all take sides now - to the comments section!

Listserv post of the day

This is courtesy of the Ward One listserv:

Cat Holiday Photo Event

Thursday, December 4th from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

This is WHS's first Home for the Holiday's themed Meow Mixer and
Cat Holiday photo event. You just might find your "purrfect"
match while enjoying hors d'oeuvres, refreshments and holiday photo fun
with your kitty, and meeting WHS cats and kittens available for
adoption.

The food is sponsored by Dos Gringos and the cat toys are compliments of
The Big Bad Woof.

A $15 donation to WHS is required for a holiday photo of your cat with
Santa Claus.

The event will take place at the new WHS Behavior & Learning Center,
7315 Georgia Avenue, NW. For more information please contact
202-723-5730 (ext. 150) or dfoley@washhumane.org.

Listserv Post of the Day

Ah, the there-are-no-good-bagels-in-DC rant takes another form. From today's Columbia Heights Digest:

My Potbelly Review - Two thumbs Down
Posted by: aisha_mills
Fri May 2, 2008 9:01 am (PDT)

Anyone know where I can get a decent breakfast sandwich to-go in the Columbia Heights/U Street area? I just had an awful experience at Potbelly… Disclaimer: Sure, I admit it. I’m biased. I’ve never liked Potbelly anyway—I’ve found their sandwiches to be small, sub-par, and expensive... Yep, you guessed it, I’m a Booeymonger snob…

Nonetheless, I just stopped in to the new Columbia Heights Potbelly today for the first time to get a breakfast bagel. The service was extremely slow—although there was only one couple in line in front of us, my girlfriend and I waited 15 minutes for 2 skinny bagel sandwiches with egg and cheese. I should have known I’d be disappointed when I had to instruct the employee on how to actually “skinny” my bagel sandwich, despite the big fat sign on the wall advertising—go figure—“skinny sandwiches”.

I ended up with a burnt bagel chip “sandwich” that had two sad tablespoon size egg beaters in the middle. The staff at the register was so embarrassed that they had another one made for me which ended up being a bit better, but still unappetizing. Come to find out, they don’t even use real bagels, but some spongy “skinny” wheat product with a whole in the middle. Yuck (I’m also an adopted New Yorker, so I want REAL bagels damn it!). So much for having real food for breakfast. BTW, this took another 10 minutes even though I was now the only person in the place.

My review of Potbelly’s offerings for what its worth: If you’re into gourmet fast food, stick with Chipotle, and if you want a good deli sandwich, walk up to Subway or treat yourself and go across town to Booeymongers. If your thing is yuppy ambiance, just go to Busboys… If you want to sit and have a cup of “Starbucks coffee”, a cookie, and read the paper, then just go across the street to Starbucks—or avoid the corporate-cash-cow-scene all together and have your latté and sweets at Mayorga or Sticky Fingers… And if you want a decent breakfast sandwich, you’re better off making one at home.

Speaking of Booeymonger, wouldn't it be great to have one in the neighborhood?

CH Listserv Post of the Day: On Target Muggings

Sent to the Columbia Heights listserv from "Janet" on Wednesday, April 30:

Your suggestion that an earlier post concerning a mugging at the CH mall parking lot was an "urban myth" is remarkable and offensive. I think if you were the victim of this type of physical violence, you wouldn't take such a smug attitude. Anyone paying attention KNOWS that this type of incident is an every day occurence in Columbia Heights. Why would we think a parking garage in a new shopping center would be immune to the damaged kids that haunt this part of the city?

And to the DC police and CM's office that might happen to read this post, ANSWER the god damn question about this mugging!

This post was responded to on the listserv, though Janet's question wasn't answered (yet). This blog, however, hears from our own tipsters that the Target parking garage mugging was, in fact, a myth.