From an email:

“Our third community meeting to discuss the improvements for the park at 11th and Monroe Streets park is a week away. Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, March 31, 7:00 pm, Mount Rona Church. We hope to use the feedback from this meeting to refine our design before putting the project out to bid.

Visit DPR’s website here for this project for information about prior meetings.”

The former school is located at Georgia Ave between Columbia Rd. and Irving Street, NW. We learned there would not be a parking lot on the site here. From an email:

“The Bruce Monroe Site Interim Use Subcommittee of the Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force will meet with Councilman Graham, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and the DC Office of Planning to disclose and discuss the community’s suggestions for use of the Bruce Monroe site. Please see the information below for the time, location and date of the meeting. Bring your neighbors with you.

What: Bruce Monroe Interim Use Plans
Where: Emergence Community Arts Collective, 733 Euclid Street, NW
When: Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Who Should be There: Community Members, Businesses, Parents and Youth”

Photo from PoPville flickr user ewilfong

“Dear PoP,

I live up in Montgomery County, and would love to move into DC this summer. But, so many of the rental options I see listed on your site and on Craigslist etc. are way out of my price range. Can you or your readers recommend any buildings or neighborhoods close to Metro where one can find clean, safe studios for under $1000? Can’t be picky when you’re on a budget, but the first step is to find any options at all!”

If you don’t mind living in a basement, I’d say this one bedroom in Mt. Pleasant for $950 could be a good deal.

But what do you guys think, what neighborhoods would you recommend for a single woman looking to spend under $1000?

Photo from PoPville flickr user Bogotron

“Dear PoP,

Whatever happened with those internal digital metro ads between metro center and gallery place and union station? The screens are still there, but they don’t run them anymore. Any info?”

When I first noticed these ads I thought I was hallucinating. This is the first I’m hearing that they’ve come down. If I can get a response from WMATA I’ll be sure to update.

In the meantime I’m curious what you guys think – did you like these ads, find them annoying, or were indifferent to them?

Great shot(s) of the former First Lady from a nameless yeast.

Super cool red tailed hawk at the kite festival by Mr. T in DC. I wonder if s/he is related to this killer hawk from Shaw.

Great shot of flowes in “Spring Light” by District Shots.

Submit your photos via email or to the PoPville flickr pool here. Follow PoPville on twitter here.

This home is located at 1705 Vermont Ave, NW:

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The flier says:

“Great Condo Alternative. Last house on block under contract in 3 days. Hurry and see this charming 1BR/BA row house. Updated and Move in ready. Great backyard too. MUST SEE!”

You can find more info and photos here.

Wild! I’ve enjoyed showing “minihouses” before but those have always been 2 bed/2 bath. This is the first 1 bed/1bath Row House I’ve ever seen. Does $479,900 sound reasonable?

Photo from PoPville flickr user Tyrannous

From Local NBC News:

“The fire and public safety radio system went down about 7:15 p.m., according to D.C. fire. The fire department operated on backup systems, including portable and mobile radios and sub channels from Montgomery and Arlington counties.”

I’m really curious to know what happened here. I mean sometimes shit just happens. But the potential for disaster here seems pretty high. I will update as more info becomes available.

Jam Doung is located at 1726 N Capitol Street, NW and frequently gets mentioned when I talk about “hidden” restaurants in the city. Reviewers from Yelp seem to agree giving high marks to this Jamaican spot. My question – how’s the jerk chicken? Do they deliver or is the take out only pick up?

David Garber is a DC neighborhood blogger and real estate entrepreneur. His mission: help bring back DC’s neighborhoods, one rotting house at a time. You can read David’s previous posts here.

U Street in January. Hint: stucco is best applied in the warmer months.

As much as I like to keep up the appearance as someone who 100% knows what he’s doing in all renovation matters and has done this and that with houses a thousand times before – this is actually one of the very first times I’ve done this scale of project. Over the past 5 months I’ve been managing about five renovations, and every day at each job I learn about two or three new lessons about who to hire, how to communicate, and which steps to follow to make sure that the final outcome comes fastest and with the most satisfying result. Might sound easy, but the learning part is typically paired with the worst kind of president-going-gray-in-his-first-year frustration. And yet somehow I still love my job.

the Big Blue Bubble, which gave the exterior work some much-needed momentum

Over the past four months the U Street House has evolved into something a lot more livable and likeable than the mess it began as. The snowstorms contributed about a month of downtime due to our forced timeline: the exterior had to be sealed and stuccoed before most of the interior work could begin, and the exterior could only be worked on in temperatures above 40 degrees. Enter the big blue bubble, above, which added a touch of whimsy, but also enough warmth to allow the stucco to dry in sub-par conditions. Post continues after the jump. (more…)

Photographer and blogger Kim Baker is taking a photo a day in March.  The photo below is from March 29th.  Join the LOOKDC group on Flickr.

© Kim Baker 2010

“Dear PoP,

You have featured the Ethiopian Orthodox Church located at 4100 Illinois Ave on a couple occasions on your site and my issue is related to it. Every Sunday, from around 8am to 1pm, services are offered at this Church. During these services, a pickup truck with a variety of placards parks directly in front or across the Street from this Church. Along with the placards the trucks emits very loud music as well as political slogans. I can’t be certain of what the slogans translate to, as I’m not familiar with the language, however I can only assume that they echo the slogans on the placards… Things like “Election Fraud in Ethiopia” or “Don’t Let American Moral Value Die” or “Ethiopia Leadership is Dictatorship with Blood Stained Hands.”

Now, I’m all for all types of religion and freedom of speech, but the music/slogans are incredibly loud and can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood not to mention in all parts of my house. I tried to speak with the person in the truck but we had a language barrier and when i motioned to turn down the loudspeaker, he said no with a smile. Fine. So I called 4D and inquired about the legality of this…Mind you, I have no deep knowledge in law (i have seen how this community has lambasted fellow posters when assuming application of law) but I thought perhaps this would fall under disturbing the peace or at least not having a proper permit for protesting.

Let me be clear that I really don’t mind, in fact I enjoy, when the Church has celebrations occasionally in honor of religious holidays and weddings. However, these protests are a weekly occurrence and have reached my nerves.  I’m sure other members of my street will complain about the foot traffic, litter, the fact that the truck blocks one lane of traffic, and lack of parking when the church has services – me I just want my peace and quiet.

So, as i was saying, I called 4D and was told by Officer Grant that because the protest was in front of a Church, they didn’t need a permit. When I re-iterated that it was in a residential neighborhood and in front of my house he again told me that they didn’t need a permit. When I asked if there was anything the constituents could do to address this issue, he flatly said “no, sorry.”

So, would be interested in the community’s thoughts on this…any advice? Am I being ridiculous? Also would be interested if people think this affects property value?”

Hmm, very interesting question. If I lived next door I think it would drive me crazy. I do live fairly close but fortunately don’t recall hearing the truck (though I have seen it before). What would you guys do if you lived on this block? Do you think it should be legal for this truck to blast slogans every Sunday? Does this city have no power in enforcing a reasonable decibel level?

“Dear PoP,

Do you know what’s going on with Chatman’s D’Vine Bakery on 9th street by the Convention Center? It seems to be pretty much always closed recently, except for a few rare and random times when I’ve seen someone in there behind the counter. Are they going out of business?”

I’m happy to report that I had a delicious grilled cheese sandwich on Saturday afternoon. Though in hindsight I probably should have taken advantage of the breakfast all day on Saturday:

I asked the guy working the counter if they were reducing hours at all and he looked at me like I was crazy. According to him they are business as usual with regular hours. Has anyone else noticed if their hours have been irregular?

And perhaps more importantly, do they have the best sweet potato pie?

“Dear PoP,

Can you get any dirt as to what happened at the JJ/XX show last night at 6th and I Synagogue? I was at the 8pm show, and JJ is a two person band, but only one girl got up on stage, pushed play on her CD, and sang on top of it/over it. It was really weird karaoke style. Then the guy got up on stage and interrupted her song with a bear hug, then picked up a guitar and played 2 chords, and then they both walked off the stage. The performers were totally cracked out and it was the lousiest performance ever, but I can’t figure out how they get away with this. The audience (myself included) were literally cracking up in laughter at how ridiculous it was. She also set up a slideshow pointed at the side of her head so no one could see it. It sounds too ludicrous to be true but…

Anyway, XX was awesome, but I think the entire audience left wondering if it was all a big joke rather than a legitimate band.”

Bizarre. I’ve emailed the promoters from 6th and I but I think they have the day off for Passover. So did any other readers attend this show Sunday night? What’s the scoop?

I’ve always done a double take when I pass this big orange house at 415 M Street, NW. Despite the fact that there is a big Trail marker out front, for some reason I never checked out the story. Wow, it has a great history! And in honor of my people’s escape from bondage allow me to share the history of this house:

Hag Sameach and Happy Passover. A bit more history from the Heritage trail after the jump. (more…)

“Dear PoP,

Spotted at the Scottish Rite Temple at 16th and Columbia NW. Huh.”

Well we’ve admired this door before but I don’t know if we’ve addressed the palm trees. Anyone know what the story is? Does the Scottish Rite Temple just like palm trees or is there a deeper meaning?

As someone who has dealt with some painful water issues in my basement please learn from my mistakes and check your gutters. It will save you much money and misery in the future. And as far as this building in Shaw is concerned – it’s not good enough to just have a gutter, it has to actually be connected to something sweet gutter: