Guest post: "Clean to the curb" can keep Petworth beautiful

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Guest post: "Clean to the curb" can keep Petworth beautiful

Local Petworth neighbor Carrie Johnson-Clark contacted me recently about “Clean to the Curb,” an initiative that encourages people to keep the area around their houses clean. Carrie asked if I’d publish something to get the word out. I offered one better — I offered to publish an article that she wrote. And here it is. I’m happy to offer an article from a Petworth neighbor who cares about how we can all do our part, even a little bit, to help keep the community looking beautiful. 

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DC Treasure preview party & gumbo contest

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DC Treasure preview party & gumbo contest

DC Treasure store owner Noah David is having an early "preview" party for the store on Monday, Oct 12th. The new antique store at 205 Upshur St NW is next to the Slash Run restaurant and was previously the Louisiana Gumbo Express restaurant

Read more about the preview party >

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Fighting to clean up vacant properties, one house at a time

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Fighting to clean up vacant properties, one house at a time

Walk 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 >

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Pepco Exelon merger one step closer to reality

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Pepco Exelon merger one step closer to reality

It looks like Exelon is one step closer in its bid to merge with Pepco and take over the DC energy market. This has been a topic that has been frustrating many local residents who are opposed to the merger. Multiple ANCs have offered their opposition to the plans, yet it looks like the Office of the People's Counsel (OPC) have come to an agreement regarding the merger.

Read more about the settlement agreement >

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Draft agenda for ANC 4C October meeting

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Draft agenda for ANC 4C October meeting

The agenda for the October meeting of ANC 4C is below. It looks like a rather short meeting, compared to previous. Of interesting note, the ANC is hoping to establish a committee of residents and commissioners to address zoning variance issues in 4C.

See full agenda after the break:

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Sherman Circle Social tomorrow, October 7

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The next Sherman Circle Social is this Wednesday, October 7th, from 5:30 to 6:30 at Sherman Circle. From organizer Pam Brown:

"Join your neighbors in celebrating the fall with some apple cider and friendly cheer. For those who have come to past socials, please spread the word and bring at least one new person with you to the social this month.  This may be a spouse, a neighbor, your kid, your pet, anyone. Please spread the word amongst those who may not be on email or listserv, and we hope to see you on Wednesday!"

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Drew

Hyperlocal community journalist in Petworth, Washington DC.



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Slim's Diner getting closer to opening

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Slim's Diner getting closer to opening

You'd think there wasn't a plethora of restaurants on the west end of Upshur Street (there is a plethora), nevertheless, I'm stoked about the upcoming opening of Slim's Diner in the Murrell Building.

Read more to see pics of the new booths...

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Petworth residents find success with sardonic JadedAid card game

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Petworth residents find success with sardonic JadedAid card game

Petworth resident Wayan Vota, a fan of Cards Against Humanity, teamed up with friends Jessica Heinzelman and Teddy Ruge to create a new card game specific to their careers in international aid and development. They brainstormed on ideas and partnered with another Petworth resident, Maria Mandle, who runs CreativeCouch Designs, to create the card deck and branding. They then reached out to aid workers around the world for ideas. The result is JadedAid, a card game to save humanitarians… from themselves. Read more about JadedAid and see the HuffPost interview, after the break:

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Meet ioby, a non-profit that wants to kickstart DC community projects

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Meet ioby, a non-profit that wants to kickstart DC community projects

Neighborhood change comes from active neighbors — clean ups, community gardens, block parties and socials. Some of these events are easy to do and don’t cost much, if anything. However, other projects do have a cost, and often the question is how best to organize and fund them?

Enter ioby. ioby is a non-profit organization that helps communities crowd-source money to fund local-based projects...

Read more about ioby, their upcoming fundraiser on October 8th and see a video:

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Rain spoils Oktoberfest at AFRH, event canceled

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Rain spoils Oktoberfest at AFRH, event canceled

Regen, Regen, geh weg! Komm an einem anderen Tag zurück!

Thanks to Hurricane Joaquin and lots of rain, Oktoberfest at the Armed Forces Retirement Home has been canceled. Feel free to wear your lederhosen at home though (if you do, send pics!).

Read the full article after the break:

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Grant Circle gets its stripes

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Grant Circle gets its stripes

I spent way too much time sitting at Grant Circle in the past two weeks watching cars navigate the new traffic patterns set up by the new painted lines. But apparently, it was to good effect...

Read more about the latest efforts at increasing safety at Grant Circle:

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Goodbye Riyad, hello Ruta del Vino

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Goodbye Riyad, hello Ruta del Vino

Riyad Market, the inconvenience store at 800 Upshur St busted for selling synthetic drugs, is supposed to close by November 13th, according to the Office of the Attorney General. To replace it? A new Latin-inspired wine bar and restaurant

Read more about the new wine bar after the break:

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Photo gallery: Season finale of Petworth Jazz & Dance Projects (huge)

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Photo gallery: Season finale of Petworth Jazz & Dance Projects (huge)

The final Petworth Jazz Project of the 2015 season was Saturday, September 26th. This time it was a combo event with the Petworth Dance Project, giving Petworth's newest cultural program some much needed exposure. 

As I've said before, these two shows are really stand-out events that help make Petworth a wonderful neighborhood.  See the full (and quite large) photo gallery, after the break.

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Photo Gallery: Clean up at the park with Friends of Grant Circle

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Photo Gallery: Clean up at the park with Friends of Grant Circle

This morning twelve residents and members of the National Park Service worked at Grant Circle to clean up the park, pick up litter, pull weeds and ivy and even pull out a small honeysuckle tree that was quickly taking over its little corner. (I totally dug up that tree... with the expert help of Doug Rowley from NPS. For every shovel full of dirt I "dug up," he had twice as much ground moved and the tree ready to come out. Experience matters!) See a photo gallery from the clean up after the break >

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