Another update here on how to help out the people displaced by the fire at 3145 Mount Pleasant Street.

Mt. Pleasant Main Street is hosting a Wine Tasting/Fire Victims Benefit on Tuesday, March 18 from 7 to 9 p.m. at MARX Cafe (3203 Mt Pleasant St).

From the release:

Come out try some great wine and light appetizers, meet your neighbors, support our neighbors that are suffering from the apt fire, and find out more about Mt Pleasant Main Street! Suggested donation $15 for tasting. Please Bring food and clothing for the fire victims as well as your cash donations! RSVP to karen@mtpmainstreet.org

To those grousing about this morning’s helicopters hovering over Mount Pleasant: 1) Give it up; 2) You live in a city, remember?; 3) Hundreds of people lost their homes, ya know?

There was enough whining on the Shepherd Park listserv that WJLA’s Managing Editor Dan Patrick had to respond. He wrote:

WJLA-TV and NewsChannel 8 has been getting complaints about “our helicopter” hovering over the scene of the Mount Pleasant fire this morning after a posting on a email group. I can assure you, due to flight restrictions post 9/11, our helicopter can come no closer than the northern portion of the Beltway in Montgomery County. We were not over the scene this morning, causing the noise issues for these residents. The only helicopters that would be allowed in the that airspace would be MPD’s helicopter or the United State’s Park Police helicopter.

And the response from a swell Shepherd Park citizen:

My sincere apologies to WJLA Channel 8. The helicopter hovering above Shepherd Park this morning was indeed a news helicopter, not military or police, but what looked like an ‘8′ was revealed to be a ‘6′ after the helicopter passed closer to my home. There is no Channel 6 in the DC area, but whoever they were need to be grounded, fined, and jailed.

Priceless.

Within hours of this morning’s fire in Mount Pleasant, various non-profits and government agencies hit the scene. And it looks like the hundreds of people displaced by the fire will not have to spend the night inside a rec center. They are being put up in hotels, reports Jason Yuckenberg, Councilmember Jim Graham’s spokesperson.

Also,Yuckenberg notes, a number of property owners have called Graham’s office to offer help. “We have many, many individuals coming forward offering rooms to rent at low cost or for free,” he says.

But these are temporary fixes.

As for the new Target possibly helping…

“I gave Target a call earlier today,” Yuckenberg reports. “They’ve always really come through.” But he adds: “I have not been able to reach our contact today.”

By now people know about the Mount Pleasant fire. The blaze took hold just before midnight. Sirens could be heard as far away as 16th and U Streets NW. Hundreds may have lost their homes.

This morning, Mount Pleasant Street is still shut down. Yellow tape cut off intersections and roped off businesses. Fire hoses take up Irving Street. Tired fire fighters gather around a truck serving coffee, rested at tables, and on apartment stoops.

Hundreds of people crowded near the 7-Eleven to watch as fire fighters continue to spray water on the four-story apartment building that is now gutted, that is mainly now just a scarred facade. People are quiet and respectful, snapping pictures with digital cameras, talking to neighbors, generally staying out of the way. It is eerie to see this busy street turn so silent. It’s now a possible crime scene.

According to the Post, Fire Department Spokesperson Alan Etter estimated that 200 firefighters and 80 pieces of equipment were used to combat the five-alarm fire: “The city had not had a five-alarm fire since a warehouse burned in the late 1970s, Etter said.”

Just behind the apartment, the fire had spread to Meridian Hill Baptist Church. Its stained-glass window are broken. Its roof is nearly collapsing. Inside, burnt debris is everywhere–down the pews and up at the pulpit. It looks like a total loss.

More pictures of the scene this morning, after the jump.

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Residents of Mount Pleasant are engaged in a death match over the future of their neighborhood strip. Should it be a quiet strip of restaurants or a more lively, perhaps boisterous, cluster of joints that offer live tunes and dancing?

The people who want more tunes have apparently worked up “individualized sound management plans to make sure neighbors won’t be adversely affected.”

The people who want quiet say that many families in the area are wary of “restaurants morphing into bars and nightclubs.”

For more on this fight, here’s a little pro and con.

“I have rented a UHaul to facilitate my move from Mt. Pleasant to LeDroit Park,” my friend informed me on Saturday, February 9, 2008. “Can you you help me move my dresser from my mother’s house to my new apartment?”

“Unfortunately,” I replied, “I cannot immediately accompany you to your mother’s house to facilitate your move. Hillary Clinton supporters are gathering in downtown Mt. Pleasant’s Lamont Park. I plan to observe this gathering.”

“Well,” my friend murmured. “Perhaps you can help me move after the gathering.”

“Of course,” I replied. A few minutes later, I took leave of my friend and walked to Lamont Park. The day was sunny, and unseasonably warm. When I arrived at the Lamont Park gathering, I found few Hillary Clinton enthusiasts in attendance. However, one woman who had declared herself “pro-Hillary” smiled at my approach.

“Go Hillary!” the lonely Hillary enthusiast exclaimed. Signs she carried reflected her pro-Hillary sentiment.

“Hello,” I replied. Few seem interested in this Hillary enthusiast’s cause, I thought.

“Super Tuesday was less than a week ago, but you publicly support Hillary’s cause in this neighborhood,” I continued. “Why has no one shown up to support Obama?”

“Obama’s people are too slow,” the woman replied.

“Too slow,” I repeated. I photographed the lonely woman, recording her lonely image for all posterity, and left to help my friend move. In the future, I thought, I will regard this photograph as proof that Mt. Pleasant did not support Hillary Clinton for President. But how can the political temperature of Mt. Pleasant be taken from a mere photograph? Perhaps 100 people were here rallying in support of Hillary before I arrived. Or, perhaps 100 people will show up to support Hillary five minutes after I leave. The day drew colder, and the sun hid itself behind a cloud. Either way, I concluded, my friend’s dresser will be heavy.

Against the sound of mariachi music, members of the pro-live entertainment group Hear Mount Pleasant rallied outside the Mt. Pleasant Library last night where members of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance (MPNA) were meeting. The crowd, which lined the library steps and spilled out onto the sidewalk, waved signs saying “MPNA No Habla Por Nostras,” and “Dancing is Not a Crime.”

Hear Mount Pleasant and the MPNA are at odds over longstanding voluntary agreements that forbid live entertainment at three area restaurants (Don Jaime, Don Juan Restaurant and Carryout, and Haydee’s). Mayor Adrian Fenty and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham attended the meeting and told protesters they looked forward to bringing the two sides together to discuss the issue.

It was a busy day for Hear Mount Pleasant. In addition to the nighttime rally, they staged a sit-in yesterday morning at Don Juan’s trash area to prevent District Department of Transportation (DDOT) officials from carrying out an inspection there. “We were there for about two hours,” says Hear Mount Pleasant member Amber Gallup. Some people sat on top of the structure while others gathered around it, she says.

According to spokesperson Erik Linden, DDOT was conducting a “routine inspection” to determine whether Don Juan’s trash structure was on public space. But group members say the structure has been there for 20-plus years, and if the owner, Alberto Ferrufino, brought his trash indoors, he would risk a health-code violation. Ultimately, the sit-in appeared to be successful. “We left without levying any enforcement,” Linden says. “We will be coordinating any further enforcement with the community.”

Walking in Mount Pleasant recently, I noticed a few jack–o’–lanterns still out in front of some homes. By now, of course, some look like they’ve started to decay.

What a great idea, I thought. Think about it: With Halloween’s preoccupation with skeletons, ghosts, tombstones, and so on, what good does a bright, shiny, healthy-looking orange pumpkin do? For my money, a scary face staring out at you from a pumpkin that looks gangrenous cuts a lot closer to the spirit of the holiday.

So if you carve pumpkins for Halloween next year, be proactive. Do it a few weeks earlier. Let ‘em rot for the trick-or-treaters.

Cynthia Pratt guesses at least 200 cars had to be moved from two blocks of Hobart Street NW in Mount Pleasant for tree trimming early this month. But as usual, some residents disregarded the no-parking signs. In the past, parking scofflaws were ticketed, and trimmers worked around the cars, says Pratt, who has lived on the street for more than 30 years. Not this time.

When the trimmers arrived, they saw the cars and left without starting their saws, Pratt says. But not before calling parking enforcement, which doled out $50 parking tickets. “They didn’t even try to do any work,” says Pratt, whose husband had taken their Toyota to work. “They could have done so much, but they just didn’t.”

When Pratt called the Urban Forestry Administration, she was told the contractor didn’t trim the trees because the contract said he had to cut them all at once. “We talked for a long time about what’s practical in the city,” Pratt says.

Erik Linden, a spokesman for District Department of Transportation, says the agency is looking into what happened on Hobart Street. “It appears that the job was not done, but that we were not necessarily informed that the job was not done,” Linden says, adding that DDOT sent the contactor a letter of warning.

Linden says the trimmers will be back to Hobart Street. Pratt hopes it will be soon. During winter storms, she says, falling branches from the 60-foot oaks will “make a mess out of somebody’s car.”

The latest scuttlebutt around my Mount Pleasant group house is that there may be not just a rat presence in the patio area out back, but a raccoon and possum presence as well.

Maybe it’s just part of the cost of living close to Rock Creek Park. What’s the fauna report in your neighborhood?

There were maybe three of them. I’m not sure exactly what they were, but they looked like drawers from a metal desk, minus the desk. They were lying out in front of a Mount Pleasant residence with a sign indicating that they were free for the taking.

I’ve lived in Mount Pleasant for a while, and I’ve benefited from similar acts of largesse by my neighbors—a stereo, and if memory serves, furniture and some books. And probably some other miscellaneous things. (Hey, who doesn’t like free stuff?) I appreciate the generosity, but I’m not sure how I can use unattached desk drawers (assumming that’s what they were).

But if you’re interested, they might still be there. I think it was the 1700 block of Kilbourne NW.

Editor’s Note: Earlier this year, Justin wrote Iceland, a blog about his band’s American tour. Justin isn’t on tour anymore, but Iceland continues, twice a week, on City Desk.

“I fear I have a hardware-related problem,” I explained to the owner of my local hardware store. “Subcategory: plumbing.”

“Yes,” replied the hardware-store owner.

“My house is equipped with a, ahem, main, ahem, hot water, ahem, delivery line,” I continued. “My terminology is incorrect, but you understand my meaning?”

“Yes,” replied the hardware-store owner.

“And the small, ahem, wheel that turns this, ahem, delivery line on and off has gone missing,” I explained.

“Yes,” replied the hardware-store owner.

“Because this wheel is gone, I fear that, in the event of a water emergency, I will not be able to, ahem, turn off the water that flows to this, ahem, main water-delivery valve,” I explained. “My terminology is incorrect, but you understand my meaning?”

“Yes,” replied the hardware-store owner.

“So, my question to you, sir: Do you sell the replacement, ahem, wheels that, ahem, turn this water-delivery line on and off?” I paused. “Do you understand?” The hardware-store owner nodded and walked to the back of the store. I followed.

“You know, Justin,” the hardware-store owner began. I blinked—I was not aware that this local businessperson knew my name. “I sense that you are reluctant to call a plumber to complete a small job like this one. After all, such a job may be difficult to do on one’s own, but not so extensive as to require an expensive contractor.”

“Correct,” I replied.

“However, you should know that you are part of a community,” the hardware-store owner explained. “This store is founded on this community principle. Thus, I have the names and numbers of many handypersons who would be happy to complete small jobs like this one at a fraction of what a professional plumber would charge. I do not give these numbers out willy-nilly. However, we know you and are here to help you. Would you like one of these numbers?”

“I am speechless,” I replied. I considered the hardware-store owner’s generous offer. I have become an insider at this hardware store, I thought. Thus, I am privy to insider information. But what of the anonymous householder/tenant in need of home repair? Where does this invisible man turn for advice? No specialized list of handyperson numbers awaits this tragic figure. He or she is God’s lonely man or woman. He or she must go it alone. Such is the problem of community—communities are islands and must remain exclusive to remain viable. By definition, as the community walks, it rolls up its red carpet behind itself. Will our society ever escape this ubiquitous, vicious, inescapable game of who-knows-who?

“Do you want one of the numbers?” the hardware-store owner repeated.

“Thank you,” I replied. “I think I will take one of those numbers.”