It’s all about the neighborhood
With snow finally coming to DC, be aware of the new law about shoveling your sidewalk and public areas near your home or business. If you don't, you might get a fine. The Department of Public Works is now empowered to fine residents and businesses who don't shovel their sidewalks.
Read MoreDC is looking for way to make the city safer for residents -- or at least, quicker to catch criminals. The Mayor just signed new legislation into law that provides a rebate for residents or businesses who purchase exterior security cameras and make the footage available to MPD if requested. See the details of the program.
Last week I asked readers to send me their thoughts on what makes Petworth unique for an upcoming article by the Curbed DC website, after Petworth won the Best Neighborhood of DC for 2015. And I got some great responses!
Curbed DC has published their article about Petworth, with the hyperbolic title "Here Is Everything You Should Know About Petworth, According to Resident/Blogger Drew Schneider" -- and it's a nice, quick look at what makes Petworth a great neighborhood.
Read MoreCurbed DC, a local website that watches neighborhood trends, just completed its "Curbed Cup" competition to pick the best neighborhood of 2015. It was a close contest with thousands (millions?) of votes. And...
Read More4:30pm Update: Petworth wins the semifinal round... next up, it's the final round against Brookland. We got this, Petworth!
Curbed DC, a website that follows neighborhood trends in real estate and lifestyle, is holding a fictitious competition called the Curbed Cup to determine the best neighborhood of the year. In the last round, Petworth crushed Columbia Heights to move in the semi-finals. Now, in the second to final round, Petworth is up against Bloomingdale and it's a tight competition.
So head over to Curbed DC and vote for Petworth as the best neighborhood! Vote now >
There was a meeting on Thursday, December 17th at Powell Elementary to discuss possible traffic solutions along the 1300 block of Upshur Street. Attending were about 20 community members and representatives from DDOT, DPW, MPD, the Mayor’s office and Councilmember Brandon Todd, who spoke briefly at the beginning to reiterate his support for enhancements and changes to increase safety.
Read MoreThis will likely make a lot of people happy: DDOT has decided to move forward with creating a bus-only lane on 16th Street to speed up bus service on the main thoroughfare, reducing backups, bunching and increase safety. That's the plan, anyway.
Read MoreBesides staying up late to write blog posts, I also stay up way too late to read. For me, being in a bookstore, surrounded by books of all shapes, colors and sizes is a favorite past-time. I even managed a bookstore back in college for a few years. That’s why I was an early Kickstarter supporter of our first, very excellent neighborhood bookstore, Upshur Street Books. And it’s why I’m really interested and excited about the new Park View bookstore opening in January, Walls of Books.
Read MoreIt's a nervous world out there, so reports that MPD has shut down multiple roads due to a "barricade" gets people's interest right away.
According to MPD, there is a "barricade situation" at 14th and Oglethorpe, with the 1400 blocks of Oglethorpe and Nicholson Streets NW closed, as well as 14th Street between Military Road and Montague Street NW.
Read MoreUpshur and Taylor Streets between 13th and 14th Streets surrounding Powell Elementary are a mess in the mornings and afternoons when children are being dropped off and picked up by parents. The problems on both streets come from cars driving too fast and parents double-parking. This ends up with side-swipped cars, broken side mirrors and the very real potential for a tragedy. According to residents, it's been an ongoing issue for years.
Read MoreIt's #GivingTuesday, and DC SCORES is asking for your support. This worthy non-profit teaches middle-school DC students physical and emotional strength through soccer and poetry. May sound like an odd combo, but soccer teaches teamwork and leadership, while poetry helps students understand who they are, and learn to express themselves.
This year, you can help the only middle-school soccer league in DC by donating to DC SCORES.
Read MoreUpshur Street Books got its most prominent customers today around 1pm when President Obama and his two daughters stopped by the local bookstore to shop for books on Small Business Saturday.
Read MoreWhen you have guests staying for more than two hours, you can do them a solid and let them use a visitor parking pass to avoid parking tickets in your RPP area (residential parking permit). Passes are free, one per households with existing RPP.
Read more about visitor parking passes and how to register, after the break:
Read MoreWalk around Petworth and you'll see houses being renovated on block after block, dumpsters parked on the street with duct-taped "no parking" signs on the trees. Inside you'll hear tools and men's voices as walls go up, floors are redone, new landscaping put in.
Walk around Petworth, and you'll see many examples of houses that are sitting untouched and empty, slowly falling apart with trash strewn yards and a construction permit on the window -- with no signs of construction.
Neighbors are fed up with developers buying properties and leaving them to rot while waiting for housing prices to rise. The city loses out on taxes, and everyone loses out when those properties attract rats and illegal activity.
But KSDA and ANC 4D Commissioner David Sheon are working to fix it.
Read more about the plan to fix the problem of vacant and blighted properties >
Read MorePetworth News, a neighborhood blog on local news, information & events about the Petworth area in Washington DC.
Petworth News is a news site about Petworth area neighborhoods in Washington DC, written by Drew Schneider and other amazing contributing writers. It features facts and objective reporting, as well as an occasional subjective point of view and opinion.
Volunteer with the Friends of the Soldier's Home!
