It’s apparently part of a citywide move to install 1,150 solar-powered single-space meters in areas that are picked for their high-turnover (read: revenue generating) potential — although the Taylor Street spots are not highlighted on the PDF map attached to DDOT’s announcement.

The DDOT, as announced on their sporadically updated blog, had to walk back a recent meter installation in Anacostia because the community wasn’t given notice. We checked with former ANC chairman Joe Martin, and he couldn’t recall DDOT presenting this to the commission.  Nor were we able to locate any written notice of this move on the Petworth listserv or in any constituent mailings from Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, but we’ll keep checking.

The new meters mean anyone running in to the Yes! will have to pay to park during their errand if they park on the street. As Adam Mazmanian writes, this is in the wake of a kerfuffle in Anacostia over (busted-looking) meters being installed along Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue with no notice. DDOT apologized and removed the meters within 24 hours.

On the Petworth email list, a number of residents are unhappy, though Ward 4 councilmember Muriel Bowser writes:

As I recall, we had two meetings on Petworth parking where this was discussed, including the residents of 4100 Georgia Avenue and Yes and other businesses in the immediate area.  The changes are meant to turn over parking in commercial areas, but also addressed ensuring nearby free and unrestricted parking. We had similar discussions around the area near the Metro station. Implementation of the plan was to occur with Great Streets.  I can't remember if the DDOT presented to the ANC, but ANC members were included in the meetings. We'll ask DDot to post to the website.

DDOT spokesperson John Lisle says "at some point there were meters there" and that reinstalling meters doesn't require an advance announcement.

While the agency isn't sure exactly when the meters were there, they suspect the machines were removed when the building housing the Yes! Organic Market was built. Still, Lisle says, "we do like to give people notice." And, Lisle adds, in the neighborhood, more parking meters are coming—though in areas that haven't had them before, residents will be notified.

Photo by Wayan Vota via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

As a resident of Park View, I read your November 15th Q&A featuring the creators of “Petworthies” with interest. Sadly, after reading the interview and examining their blog, I have come to the conclusion that their endeavor can only do harm to the (greater) Petworth area. Through their actions and writings, they have identified themselves as the epitome of the down side of gentrification—uncaring, detached newcomers for whom change cannot come fast enough regardless of the casualties.

With little apparent regard for the deep roots our Georgia Avenue neighborhoods have, or the shared problems, successes, and challenges those of us constructively active in our communities face, newer Petworth residents Tom Anderson (2010) and Adam Mazmanian (2008) have chosen to civically engage through ridicule and “puerile and undergraduate” humor.

Their hilarity, apparently more humorous to the authors than their readers, takes the form of inside jokes and insults. With tongue in cheek, they desire to annex Park View, label Brightwood the enemy, bemoan the lack of a civic association, and criticize the Petworth Market for only being open for four hours one day a week. Enmeshed in their snarkiness, they hide from public scrutiny and comment by posting on their blog without giving their readers the ability to post feedback.

Their views are socially naive and divisive. They make it clear that Anderson and Mazmanian have not taken the time or made the effort to make the community connections necessary to build the great neighborhood they feign to desire. It is also clear that they fail to recognize Petworth, Park View, and Brightwood as the great neighborhoods they currently are.

Great communities, like those along Georgia Avenue, grow and develop when their residents come together with mutual respect and understanding to work toward common goals. This is not the approach the Petworthies have chosen to take. Instead they have decided to engage as irresponsible newcomers who hide behind humor to berate community achievements and mock those making a difference.

I encourage them to rethink their approach. It is possible to be socially responsible in a light-hearted and constructive manner beneficial to all. For them to participate in making Petworth a better place they will need to find this path.

Kent C. Boese

Commissioner, ANC 1A08

Blogger, Park View DC

Petworth has a snarky new blog: Petworthies. We chatted with the writers Tom Anderson (a Washington City Paper contributor) and Adam Mazmanian about their vision, their imaginary mascot, the "dull boosterism" of some other local blogs, and what nearby neighborhoods Petworth should lay claim to.

Q: Why did you decide to start a neighborhood blog?

Tom: I'm living in a three-month exile in Cambridge, Mass., that ends Dec. 10. I miss my neighborhood. During a frustrated IM conversation with Adam in October, I suggested we create a blog about Petworth. I didn't think he would take me seriously. He started it and now I'm stuck.

Adam: I bet Tom that there was no way in a million years that Mike Shanahan would start John Beck as quarterback. I lost, and was forced into a life of hyperlocal blogging to pay my debt. I curse the day I met Tom Anderson.

Q: Do you both live in Petworth, and how long have you lived there?

Tom: I’ve been a Petworthy since May 2010. Before that, I lived on Capitol Hill for nearly six years. I enjoy Petworth, but think it has an inferiority complex. We have no neighborhood association, my ANC's website is in shambles and our farmer's market is only open for four hours on Fridays during the summer and fall. Petworth can do better.

Adam: My wife and I bought our home in Petworth in early summer 2008. I think Petworth was doing quite well without a smart-ass blog to redraw its borders and rile its merchants. Nevertheless...

Q: How would you describe the content of Petworthies?

Tom: We are just two guys with a Tumblr account. I like reading Petworth coverage in most D.C. media, but I think they rely too often on the standard crime and gentrification tropes. I feel like Petworthies can bring something to the marketplace. Or at least some old-timey, passive-aggressive humor to counter the dull boosterism of most hyperlocal outlets.

Adam: Not entirely by design, the content of Petworthies tends toward the puerile and undergraduate. We're planning on doing some more conventional journalism covering the 4th Ward council race, which promises to be very exciting. Also, I'm interested in the residential real estate market and business development in the Georgia Avenue corridor. Confidential to Tom: What's a trope?

Q: What are the borders of Petworth?

Tom: I will defer to Adam on the proper borders of Greater Petworth because he has a GPS and a sextant. Ideally, I want Petworth to be large enough in size and reputation that I don't have to explain to people from Maryland and Virginia where I live.

Adam: Petworth proper is defined by Georgia Avenue, Rock Creek Church Road, Rock Creek Church Cemetery and Kennedy Street. However, I think Petworth rightly has claim to the neighborhood around Warder St. stretching down at least as far as Princeton Place to the south, and to the area bounded by Spring Road, Kansas Avenue, Georgia Avenue and a little sliver of 13th Street on the west. This is what I refer to as "Greater Petworth".

Q: What's up with Col. Lucius Petworth?

Tom: Petworth needs a champion and Col. Lucius Petworth is that self-appointed champion. I'm a recovering comic-book nerd. So, to me, Col. Petworth is like the 1980's DC Comics character Firestorm, a combination of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Martin Stein and hapless high school student Ronnie Raymond. In this analogy, Adam is Stein and I'm Raymond, but I digress. Col. Petworth is the blunt editorial voice of Petworthies. Some have suggested our shtick is too precious, but the colonel is not done with D.C. yet.

Adam: This is by far the best answer of all the inane answers Tom has given to this question so far. I will say that I am a serial abuser of fictitious 19th-century personas, so I was drawn to the idea.

Q: How hard of a line do you draw between new and old neighborhoods? Can Truxton Circle exist without a circle? Is NoMa a real thing?

Tom: Petworth is expanding. I say the new southern border is Park Street. Park View can have the rest ... for now. Truxton Circle cannot exist without a circle and NoMa is a useful fiction.

Adam: Truxton Circle needs to be a circle again, because the 90 and 92 buses go way, way too fast. They need a traffic circle with about 3 or 4 lights to slow it down. Also, what's NoMa?

Q: Anything else you'd like readers to know?

Tom: Can someone please start a Petworth Community Association? I will sign that petition and then make fun of its efforts thereafter. Seriously, Brightwood is showing us up. And for the record, I support illegal fireworks displays and the expansion of the 62, 63 bus route, AKA the Petworth Limo Service.

Adam: I remember the day I learned that the 62 bus was being extended downtown as the 63 during morning and evening rush hours. That's when I knew Petworth was my home.

Upshur Street NW, September 9

By April, they'd intercepted 104 kilograms of khat supposedly headed to Shuremu from the U.K. in the mail. Cops got a search warrant and raided Shuremu's business, where they say they found 36 more kilograms of khat. Shuremu was arrested without incident. MPD referred to him as a "a major drug traffic dealer." They said his arrest had taken $95,000 worth of khat off the streets. But on July 19, after prosecutors requested the action, Shuremu's case was dismissed without prejudice. Prosecutors can refile, but a month later, there's no sign they will.
A bitter tasting leaf popular among East Africans, fresh khat delivers a buzz that makes people euphoric and talkative after chewing it. Though no one is quite sure if khat does anything more dangerous than stain teeth, it was outlawed in the United States in the 1990s. Reportedly, that hasn't stopped it from being popular among D.C. cab drivers.

So why, after all the hubbub MPD made, is Shuremu walking free? Shuremu's lawyer and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment on the matter, and an official inquiry to MPD has so far gone unanswered. But a police source close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity because he didn't have permission to discuss the investigation, says it's simple: No one knows crap about khat.

"They couldn't find an expert to testify at the trial," he says. In drug trafficking cases, a law enforcement expert  usually testifies about the drug in question and how criminals distribute it. According to the source, MPD doesn't have a local khat expert. In such a situation, the Drug Enforcement Agency's Washington Field Office is sometimes tapped, but DEA spokesperson Melissa Bell says khat use isn't a "broad-based" problem ("It's more a cultural thing," she says) so the DEA doesn't have an expert on hand either.

That would seem to be good news for any burgeoning khat cartels. Quick, start selling—before the authorities figure out what's up.

Photo by cliff1066™ via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 Generic

Here's a few unedited minutes of what it sounded like from my porch last night, my annual tribute to the glorious lawlessness that takes over my neighborhood on my country's birthday.

Explosions coming in such high volume make for some wonderful white noise.

2900 Block Georgia Ave, NW, June 15th.    © 2011 Matt Dunn

Government Shutdown, the Old-Fashioned Way: Forget budget standoffs or terrorist attacks; the surest way to close the federal government, apparently, is to run offices on electricity provided by Pepco. A power outage that started yesterday continued today, affecting nine District agencies and several federal ones, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Prediction: New regulations coming soon for utilities. -3

Bike This Way: Alexandria and Arlington left the District to return to Virginia in 1847. Is Capital Bikeshare the way to reunite them? The popular bike service may expand to Alexandria; it already operates in D.C. and Arlington. The city would get 54 bikes at six stations, which users could borrow to ride to the other stations in the other jurisdictions. Just let us know when you want to play, too, Fairfax County. +2

No Exit: We've all been there—you're tired, you're ready to get home, you're frustrated by the commute, and you can't wait to get out of the Metro station. Apparently someone found a shortcut; D.C. fire officials report that a person fled the Georgia Avenue-Petworth stop on the Green and Yellow lines through a ventilation shaft leading up to New Hampshire Avenue NW. Predictably enough, they didn't make it all the way to the street and had to be rescued. Moral of the story: Just wait for the escalator. -1

Weather Or Not: You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, as Bob Dylan sang. But if you do need a weatherman to tell you much else, and you're used to calling 936-1212 to get the information, you are officially out of luck. As promised, Verizon has pulled the plug on the weather and time services it used to provide callers. As a public service, Washington City Paper can inform you that the weather today is damn hot. -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 61 Today's score: -3 Today's Needle rating: 58

The space behind Qualia Coffee used to be a drab passageway to an alley running parallel to Georgia Avenue NW. So it made sense that the Petworth coffee shop began hosting The Bike House's weekly bicycle clinics—what else were people going to do in the back yard?

But Qualia opened a new patio behind the shop three weeks ago. Which, in the Hollywood story of the plucky bike repair co-op, might have been bad news. (Though for a movie, some big corporate chain would have to be involved, instead of an independent neighborhood coffee shop.)

Not to worry, though—Qualia owner  Joel Finkelstein confirms that The Bike House’s clinic, on Saturdays between noon and 3 p.m., is here to stay. The new outdoor space won’t push the repair clinic out.

“As far as I am concerned, they will continue to be welcome as long as they want to use the space,” he says by email. “We put the patio together in such a way as to give us flexibility and to accommodate the clinic's needs.”

Bike House spokesman Dan Crawford says one volunteer now arrives early to help move the new tables and chairs. Other than that, the clinic at Qualia is operating normally every Saturday.

"As the Bike House continues to grow and take on more projects, like classes, mobile clinics and other events, we're always on the lookout for a permanent space that would allow us to do even more," Crawford says. "But Joel and the whole crew at Qualia have been a great partner, and we're planning to continue operating there for the foreseeable future."

The Bike House suggests a $5 donation for each visit to its repair clinic.

Photo by Ethan Woods via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license

Historically Accurate: Everyone's talking about Swampoodle—the neighborhood and the play co-produced by Ireland's The Performance Corporation and D.C.'s Solas Nua at the Uline Arena. Frozen Tropics has put up several posts on the subject, and recently linked to DCist's review (you can find City Paper's own here, if you're so inclined.) The Hill is Home wrote a few words, and the NoMa blog has a charming little history of the neighborhood as it relates to the play. (Bonus! There's a scan of someone's old diary.)

Not Molly: From a highly concerned member of the ANC 6A email list came this broadcast on Tuesday morning: "The cutest little dog is at the Kentucky Avenue Safeway right now. She's clearly lost, and wet from the rain last night. She keeps trying to get in the store and they keep shooing her out. She is a small terrier type dog, salt and pepper fur, faded pink collar and a faded striped flea collar too. She is very affectionate and immediately came to me when I called. She tried to get in my car and if I didn't have to go into the office today, I'd bring her home! I hope someone claims her soon. I think the security guard is probably going to call the shelter." There's been no word on whether the dog made it to a good home.

Pour One Out: In a roundup of neighborhood updates, coverage, and events in Near Southeast, JDLand included notice of a "community cookout" to be held by Harry's Reserve Wine and Spirits, which will include "free 'high-end' beverage tastings in addition to grilled offerings. The owners also want to pass along that they're getting fresh shipments of a variety of cheeses this week, and that they now have 800 beers in stock." One commenter takes offense to the use of "high-end," squawking, "For the love of all that is holy, will you stop referring to these beverage tastings as 'high-end?' What else are they gonna be? Low-end servings of Colt 45? It's like you and the liquor store are deathly afraid of being accused of contributing to the return of the unwanted folk. Just stop it already." But JD steps in with an important grammatical clarification: "It's in quotes. I am quoting what they're calling it, and in fact put in quote marks to specifically make clear that that's *not* what I'm calling it. But I'd be happy to buy you a Colt 45 if it would lessen the stress and strain you're obviously feeling."

Send a Signal: From the Petworth email list comes this friendly request: "Dear neighbors, I'm conducting a survey of the bat population of Petworth.  Have any of you had problems with a bat roost in your house?  Have any of you noticed bats living in the neighborhood?  If so, I'd like to talk to you."

It Was Much Better Than Cats: Look around long enough in almost any alley in the District, and chances are you'll find a cat. To most people, that's not real cause for concern; authorities say that for Nico Dauphine, a National Zoo researcher who specializes in bird conservation, alley cats represented a veritable feline menace. Police charged Dauphine with attempted cruelty to animals for allegedly poisoning food left for stray cats in Malcolm X Park. Her lawyer disputes the charges, but we suspect if the case goes to trial, the jury will hear about "Apocalypse Meow: Free-Ranging Cats and the Destruction of American Wildlife," the title of a lecture Dauphine gave at the University of Georgia in 2009. Meanwhile, others are sterilizing alley cats, then returning them to alleys—which the cats probably prefer to the poison approach. -3

Petworth Makes, the World Takes: Growing food in the backyard isn't just a hobby; with the U.S. government possibly poised to default on its bonds this summer, it's practically a survival skill. Apparently someone in Petworth has figured out an ancillary skill: plundering gardens. Massive herb plants were pulled up from a house in the neighborhood, the gardener, Deborah Bennett, writes on a local email list. The haul: Sage, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, and oregano. No parsley, at least, which means police probably don't need to question Paul Simon when he's in town for a concert this week. -2

Photo Alarm: And now, time for another in a disturbing series of incidents in which a security guard incorrectly tells someone they're not allowed to take photographs in public. Today's installment: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms headquarters near Florida and New York avenues NE, where a guard informed The District Curmudgeon that it was illegal to shoot pictures of federal buildings. Which it isn't. This time, at least, there's a happy ending—the guard apologized when told he was wrong, and drove off. -1

Fit But You Know It: Bike lanes and farmers markets may be tough for politicians to figure out how to handle, but apparently they're good for arbitrary rankings. Which is why the D.C. region ranked as the second-fittest area in the country in a new list compiled by the American College of Sports Medicine. Minneapolis/St. Paul ranked first. The scores each region got, which are evidently so scientific they need a decimal point to report (D.C. got 76.8, the Twin Cities a 77.2), were based on obesity rates, smoking rates, availability of exercise trails and farmers markets, and other factors. Last year, D.C. won; if we want to take the title next year, apparently, we'll all have to act more Minnesotan. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 60 Today's score: -5 Today's Needle rating: 55

Columbia Heights: Not a Bean Field: A New Columbia Heights reader sent in notice of an utterly incorrect portrayal of the neighborhood by the TV show Bones: "FYI:  On Thursday's episode, lead FBI agent Booth says, 'A white man in Columbia Heights? He’d stand out like an onion in a bean field!' The characters then review CH ATM footage and zero in on the five white males. What?????!!!!   So silly that the writers of a show supposedly set in DC have never set foot in DC." New Columbia Heights writes, "True that, as anybody who has ever walked around here will tell you. Or just look at the Census data, where the white population has grown by up to 300% since 2000 in some parts of the neighborhood." Commenters agree that Bones is totally incorrect, and on more accounts than just demographics: "Bones and NCIS might be the worst offenders... on Bones, at least they sometimes reference real streets, but it's clear that none of them have ever been to DC before in their lives. (The episode where a key scene takes place on a subway car—which (a) references fake stops, and (b) is a New York subway car—is a particularly egregious offender.) On NCIS they're smart enough to avoid geographic markers for the most part (except the obvious military ones like the Navy Yard and Quantico), but they seem to think there are a lot of used car lots in DC that have slightly smog-obscured mountains in the background. (Hint to NCIS writers: None of them do.) I'm thinking of hiring myself out as a story consultant for DC-based shows, to tell them (a) when they're completely and totally wrong about something DC-related, or (b) which exterior locations in LA actually look like they could be in DC."

Blame WalMart: On the Petworth email list, one member asks, "There is a rumor circulating along Georgia Ave. that this year's Caribbean day  parade has been canceled because of construction issues. I hope this isn't the case, but would welcome some clarity. Does anyone know whether these rumors are true?" Another, who identifies as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, answers, "For all you Wal-Mart fans, thanks for the reminder. We just completed an economic impact study on the proposed W4 Wal-Mart and forgot to reinsert the Festival's information in our final report to ANC Comm. 4B. Our report has to include a WM effect on the longstanding festival activities which start at —– you guessed it, GA & MO!!! Now what????" But this one might not be Sam Walton's fault, despite the coincidental appearance. A third member adds, "I read a couple of weeks ago that the parade route was shortened because the financially- strapped city is charging the Carnival a little more for its services. The Carnival simply does not have enough funds to support the full route this year. Blame the economy. This one is not Wal-Mart's fault."

When the Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Disappear'd, UPDATE: The Cleveland Park email list's focus on the neighborhood "lilac thief" has died down in recent weeks. But there's a revived campaign to catch the offender: "Several recent Listserv postings alerted us about a neighborhood flower thief and provided a description of a possible suspect – a short, white male, about 60 years old with wavy salt and pepper hair. Someone, perhaps the same individual, made his/her annual visit to the Newark Street Community Garden in the past two days, stealing some 50 peony stems from several garden plots, stripping bushes clean of all stems with flowers and or buds. It is difficult to understand how this person goes unnoticed, walking thru the gardens located between the 2nd District Police Station and the Newark Street dog park, a children's playground, and across the street from the McLean Gardens condos, where people are out and about at all hours, especially early in the morning walking their dogs — which is when we suspect the thief appears. One McLean Gardens resident has seen a man fitting the given description leaving the community garden, arms loaded with flowers. The previous Listserv postings sited the same man in various neighborhood locations including the Glover Park trail behind McLean Gardens, walking with armloads of unwrapped flowers in the early morning hours, and even cutting hydrangeas from people's home gardens, then quickly walking away.  Let's protect our properties and catch this thief. If you see someone fitting this description who looks suspicious e.g. walking with an armload of unwrapped flowers, especially in the early morning hours in or near the Community Garden, please call 911 and take a picture of the suspect if you can." Armed with that extensive description, Cleveland Park lilac aficionados may now go forth in pursuit.

Takoma, ISO: "An artist friend who is doing a series of military portraits of the WW II generation is going to start working in public regularly at Arlington Cemetery. He told me he was going to buy a wooden easel that  would be easier to transport and use onsite than his usual metal easel," writes one member of the Takoma email list. Before he does I thought I'd ask first if anyone would like to pass along a wooden standard-sized easel that is not being used. I used to have one. They tend to get in the way or take up space in the closet."

While D.C. might be pondering more recent dog shootings, one that occurred in 2009 left a 12-year-old Petworth boy and his dog injured, and has inspired an $8 million lawsuit against the District. The lawsuit has been quietly chugging along since 2010, and names the Metropolitan Police Department and an officer named Ricardo Leiva as defendants.

Filed by Lashwan English, the boy's mother, the suit alleges that on the afternoon of May 4, 2009, Leiva ordered the child to the ground and shot his pet. A bullet fragment from the gunshot hit the youth in the head, and he had to go to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

English's lawyer Kenneth Trombly says that right before the incident, the youngster was running down an alley behind his house because his dog, Boss, escaped the yard. The juvenile happened to be carrying a toy gun. That's what might have prompted Leiva to command him to get on the ground when he spotted him. The cop claimed he shot the dog because it lunged at him, but Trombly says he can produce an eyewitness at trial who will testify that's not true. The dog was "docile," he says. Boss survived the shooting.

A call placed to a city lawyer tasked with defending against the suit wasn't returned, and it's not clear whether Leiva is still with MPD. English's son is now 14, and doing well. Trombly says that "very fortunately," there was no brain injury: "He's a pretty together kid, and he was always a good student, and continues to be." But that doesn't mean he's completely O.K., Trombly notes. He still has the traumatic memories to deal with.

"The District from the beginning has denied any responsibility," says Trombly of why his client decided to pursue justice through civil court. Trombly explains that $8 million in damages is just a figure he and his client came up with due to the fact that they're required to list an amount in the case. He says a jury will never see that figure, and would decide how much English is owed for themselves. According to court records, the case has a mediation session scheduled for May 4.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Sources told News 4 last week that "friends" of 20-year-old Eric Foreman, who's been arrested for allegedly shooting Godleski, suspected Okorie had "snitched" to cops. According to an arrest warrant for Raymond Roseboro, Roseboro and several others approached Okorie at about 4:30 p.m. in the 800 block of Delafield Place NW on Nov. 30. But it was Roseboro who cops say pulled the trigger.

Okorie, a Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services (DYRS) ward, had been placed at a home just a mile away from his old neighborhood—which, it can be assumed, put him in danger. Roseboro himself was in and out of the juvenile system. If he's guilty of murder, that experience doesn't seem to have done him much good. Ongoing reporting by Washington City Paper's Jason Cherkis points out that DYRS has a lot to answer for regarding its approach to helping juvenile offenders in the District. But Okorie's death is about more than the failure of a single city department.

The District has a habit of ignoring the struggles of its youth until blood is spilled. In the interim, life in the city is all about new development projects, tighter noise ordinances, and increased police foot patrols in up-and-coming neighborhoods. As Washingtonians examine and address the problem of juvenile violence, one wonders what would happen if we could harness the awesome power of D.C.'s self-regard.

Roseboro has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec 21.