Brown Banner goes mobile, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

I was greeted this morning at the metro by a giant Michael Brown banner. Personally, I prefer to have my coffee before I am greeted by gigantic Ward 4 Council candidates.

From CraigsList. I don’t know if this is the best way to rent a room but it sure is funny. Perhaps the funniest part is how he signs off “Love Perseus”. It would be like signing a cover letter “love the Prince of Petworth”. Good stuff.

Do not miss this oportunity….. The house is located in the Petworth
area, the closest metro station is Fort totten ( Red line ), most of
neighbors are young marrigments or old people, and always you can find
a parking spot on the street.
Love Perseus.

You can read the full post here.

According to this CityPaper post some do. What do you think?

HOD Mt. Pleasant, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

I have always loved this house. Vibrant colors. And you got to love the tricycle climbing up the house.

Ah, that was a nice idea. It was such a lovely thought. The police were going to be walking the beat saying hello to the neighbors, getting to know folks, etc. etc. Yeah, well it hasn’t happened in Petworth as far as I am concerned. Now you all have to understand, I am not a normal fellow. I walk for hours and hours just to walk. I walk all around Petworth, Columbia Heights and U Street. I observe, I look at cool houses, I look at cool flowers, I talk to cool people. And you know how many cops I have seen “walking the beat”? Two! And that is two who were walking together, not two separate occasions. So I ask you, Chief Lanier, Mayor Fenty, what gives? Where are these foot patrols and community policing initatives you promised us? I believe I’m going to have call bullshit on this one.

Fellow Petworthians and residents of the District, is it just me? Have you seen foot patrols? If they send an officer to an ANC meeting I don’t exactly call that community policing.

Petworth in Bloom, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Petworth is blooming literally and figuratively.

Paul Schwartzman writes in a small piece in the Post that a North Carolina based builder has been chosen to develop 77 acres of the Old Soldiers Home. It plans to build a small hotel, a supermarket, condominiums, market rate rental apartments and 300 units of affordable housing.

Pretty exciting stuff although I hope it isn’t too congested a la certain areas of Columbia Heights. But a new supermarket should make people happy. Dare I say Whole Foods may be on its way?

New Petworth Signs, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Thanks to a tip from a reader I was alerted to all the new blue Petworth signs around town. They are awesome, a good sign that we haven’t been forgotten from the powers that be. The signs show where the Old Soldier’s home is located, the metro etc. Good stuff.

Sunset, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

I know the car is in the way, but it is New Hampshire Ave, there always cars there so cut me some slack. I think it adds nice depth.

There is an enthusiastic discussion going on here, on gentrification in Petworth. Ah the inevitable gentrification discussion.

I’ll just throw in my two cents on their discussion: some of them are idiots. I feel as though most of those people have never even visited Petworth let alone live here. They describe Petworth like it is some kind of crime infested slum. Ha! They couldn’t be further from the truth. We have a beautiful community filled with hard working mostly middle class good people. Most folks don’t realize that the majority of homes in Petworth are owner occupied. That means people have a vested interest in their community. Petworth is a gem. Sure there are some flaws, which I even discuss from time to time. But the fact that people talk about Petworth like it is a dangerous slum is simply ridiculous. We are very lucky to live here. All of us, old timers, new comers, immigrants, citizens…it is this combination of folks who love their community, which makes it such a special place to live. But I think my thoughts are pretty clear on this matter.

It arrived. For those who enjoy reading about real estate, like myself, we look forward to the Washington Post real estate chats every other Friday. We also look forward to the Sat. Post real estate section. Well, once a year the Post releases a “Mega” real estate section. This to me, is like when I was kid waiting fot the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Edition to arrive. God I’ve really turned into a loser but we’ve already covered that. At any rate, according to the Post in 2006 Zip Code 20011 had 645 home sales (the most of any zip code in the city) with a median purchase price of $404,000. This is an increase of $29,000 from last year which is an 8% increase.

Reporter Julia Feldmeier wrote the overview of DC in the special section and in the last paragraph she focuses on Petworth:

“You can get a lot more house in Petworth than you can almost anywhere else in the city, except across the river,” said Eileen Garner, a Coldwell Banker agent. “So you have some people cashing in their condos down in Dupont and buying out here where they have a very low mortgage because of what they earned on their condo. You also have first-time buyers that can actually get a house with three or four bedrooms in the low $400,000 range.”

Worst grafitti ever?, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Um, who the hell is walking down the street and stops and says I’m going to spray paint some grafitti here? Then he says, I wonder what I’ll write, maybe – gang letters, or a sports team I like, or a girl I dig, no I think I’ll write Pear.

Well who doesn’t like pears? I just would love to know the thought process that went into this graffiti. Anyway, I’m going to eat a pear now – so maybe we can see it like a public service announcement…

Hipster, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Signs that lead me to believe I spotted a hipster at the Petworth metro:
Red shoes with white socks;
Vintage leather jacket;
Stylish eyeglasses.

Ed note: I do not use hipster as a pejorative simply a description. I actually think hipsters are great for the neighborhood and I hope to see many more.

Sponsored by Ward 4 candidate RT Milligan. There will be an alley clean up tomorrow March 24, from 10:00 to 11:00 am.

From the announcement:
“Please gather at 125 Webster Street, NW at 9:45am for donuts, coffee, juice and assignments. Cleanup will occur in the north side alleys between 100 and 200 Webster Street.”

We’ve touched on the housing situation in Petworth but what about the condo situation. As we all know the awesome condos being built above the metro will probably be finished in a year or so bringing our eagerly anticipated Mocha Hut… Will the condo market be able to support this addition? Will the condos sell with all those condos being built in Columbia Heights and U Street as well? I’d imagine the developer must be sweating a little bit. Thoughts?