If you have any fun or interesting animal/pet photos or news please shoot me an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say what neighborhood you’re from or upload to the PoPville flickr pool. I can’t guarantee I’ll get them all posted but I’ll do my best.  I’m aware not everyone loves pets.  But they bring me (and others) a lot of pleasure.  It’s cool, hold tight, a new post is coming in a half hour, you can make it!

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

“Ziggy (dark) and Hildy (light)”

This rental is located at 2610 Garfield St. NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“Dapper Studio. One block from Woodley Park Red Line Metro. Fully furnished. Available Dec. 26. All utilities, high-speed cable modem, cable TV, premium movies included in rent. Private entrance (front and rear), private washer/dryer, queen bed, galley kitchen, microwave, garbage disposal. No smoking, no pets.”

Does $1295 sound reasonable for this dapper studio?

“Dear PoP,

I live in one of those lovely big non-refurbished homes in Park View. You know the ones. Where the same nice old lady lived since 1953? Still has the old push-button light switches and modern amenities were added, piecemeal, over the decades? I love everything about my house.

Except the fact that it might burst into flames at any moment…

We’ve lived there happily for a while, but we are now making the place ready for renters as we move overseas. Clearly, the electricity issue must be dealt with before we go. We’ve called a couple of folks, here and there, for smaller jobs, but have not found anyone who seems both competent and trustworthy.

Does anyone out in PoPVille have a strong love for their electrician?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mylar Bono

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

Photo by PoPville flickr user mosley.brian

I’ve always thought this house at 1715 11th St, NW had the potential to be seriously sweet. I was psyched to see a permit had finally been placed on the door to start renovations. I’ll be sure to follow up with photos as progress takes place. It’ll be fun to look at before and after photos.

And of course I’ll be sure to post if it goes on the market so we can see how the inside turns out.

This home is located at 1307 S St, NW:

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The flier says:

“$100K Price Drop! A Real Duplex! Front 2Br/1Ba bilevel unit has great income stream. Rear owner’s 1BR/1.5BA unit is a bit of New Orleans with side entrance, wonderful garden, almost new Kit w/ exotic granite, s/s appls Upper master ste has almost new double vanity sink with marble top and porcelain undomount sink, tiled shower. Expanded yr round sunrm on main and enclosed porch up”

You can find more info here and photos here.

This is certainly an interesting set up. You think it would be ridiculously expensive to combine the units into one home? I’m def. digging the garden. Does $889,000 sound reasonable or is it gonna need another price drop?

“Dear PoP,

My husband and I were wondering if there is a program in the area where you could purchase Thanksgiving Meals for local families (rather than the traditional canned good donation boxes)?”

I’m guessing this means purchasing the turkey and fixings and delivering it to the family’s home? Anyone familiar with a program like this?

We spoke about some other Thanksgiving volunteer opportunities here.

And we looked at some recommendations for where to get delicious turkeys here.

Cafe Istanbul is located at 2001 L St NW. Their Web site says:

Our fascination with the cuisine and experience stems from Urfa Turkey. The cuisine is typical of the south-east; bread and meat are at the center either kebab, doner; particularly its distinctive mezes and kebabs.

But, our vision of the perfect restaurant has extended far beyond the actual menu. The atmosphere and décor play just as important of a part as the cooking; therefore, we wanted to provide a feeling of warmth and hospitality. We succeeded by creating dining areas that are as lively as they are sophisticated. A highly-trained and dedicated wait staff is another key to perfection, especially in providing diners with professional service and personal attention.

You can see their menus here. Could be a good late night spot as they are open until 4am on Sat. and Sun.? Any fans?

Thanks to all who’ve sent in photos of the zoning permit for a Chipotle coming to the old Pizza Hut spot at 2338 Wisconsin Ave, NW across from the Whole Foods.

Anyone know why they’d need a zoning permit? Expanding into another store front or adding some other sort of addition?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

From Ron Holzer, office of public relations, WMATA:

Starting January 1, 2010, SmartBenefits commuters could lose up to $1,300 per year in transit benefits because of two changes being made by the Federal government:

· The maximum monthly transit benefit allowed by federal law will decrease from $230 to $120; and

· Commuters will no longer be able to use their transit and parking benefits interchangeably as Metro begins to phase in an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) mandate that requires a separation of the parking and transit accounts for commuters.

In the National Capital region, 285,000 employees currently receive transit benefits. And at least 90,000 of these Metro commuters currently receive more than $120 per month.

On top of that, there is an IRS mandate to separate parking and transit benefits. Metro is currently taking steps to comply with an IRS mandate that requires transit and parking benefits be separated into two different accounts. Riders will be prevented from using transit benefits from parking (and vice versa).

More than 220,000 Metro customers will ultimately be impacted by this change, which will be phased through the spring as Metro makes needed programming change to its faregates and fareboxes in order to comply with the IRS regulations.

Obviously I think he means, Jan. 1, 2011. Do you guys receive monthly benefits over $120 a month?

It was clear after reading the comments on yesterday’s post about the alleged ‘military scammer’ on metro that this was a very active scammer. Fortunately PoP readers kick ass. The photo is a bit blurry but you can see the alleged scammer in the khakis talking with police.

The reader writes:

So a few months ago, I was a victim of this guy’s scam on the Orange line. At the time, I actually felt good about myself and was proud to be helping out someone in need, especially someone who was serving our country. I felt it was the least I could do. He had documentation and everything. After initially ignoring him, the metro stalled for 20-30 minutes, so I eventually agreed to visit an ATM and give him the money he was asking for in order to get back to base.

A few months later, I saw him aimlessly wandering around Chinatown. I recognized him and he asked to use the calculator on my phone. That’s when I figured out if he was who he had originally claimed to be, the likelihood of him being back in DC was small and something did not add up.

I saw him a third time in late summer walking on Pennsylvania Ave a few blocks East of the White House. He was spewing his lies to a couple. I told them he was a liar and I instructed them not to give him any money.

Then this morning my friend (to whom I had told these stories) sent me a link to your recent blog post. I commented on the post and read just how many other people he had been negatively affecting.

Tonight, coincidentally enough, I was walking around the Chinatown area coming home from a work dinner when I spotted him. I planned on taking a close-up of his face, but before I could, he had entered the Mehak Indian Restaurant. I saw him go upstairs, so after a few minutes I decided to follow him. I walked up the stairs only to discover there was no one in sight. Baffled, I walked back down the stairs and outside to the street.

I hung around for a few minutes contemplating what to do, when finally I saw a police car driving around. I hailed it down and started explaining my story to the officers. After starting to unsuccessfully describe his physical characteristics, I saw him exit the restaurant, and said, “actually, thats him right there.”

Two policemen started questioning him, asking, “are you a marine?” to which he responded, “yes.” Thats when I snapped the picture in question.

I finished telling a third officer my story around the block while the other two officers continued to question him. I then left.

I guess we’ll see what happens.

Photo of ‘Georgia and Missouri Avenue NW Washington DC, 1988′ by flickr user Kinorama More about Mr. Horsley’s photos here.

Thanks to all who’ve written about the huge Walmart news that has come out over the last couple of days. Most have sent this Post article:

“The four stores would be built in D.C. neighborhoods where retail options are relatively scarce: on the site of a former car dealership on Georgia Avenue NW; at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road NE; as part of a new mixed-use development on New Jersey Avenue NW; and at East Capitol and 58th streets SE.”

One reader asks – “What exactly does that do to a neighborhood?”

The Post adds:

“Its four D.C. stores will vary from 80,000 to 120,000 square feet, a typical size for the chain. The company is also considering additional stores for the District, including a new pilot format of fewer than 30,000 square feet, according to spokesman Steven Restivo.”

How do you think that will impact these four locations? Do you think these are good locations for a Walmart?

This is some old school dirty scuttlebutt. This is the type of scuttlebutt that pisses off a lot of people. So let me be blunt – I have zero confirmation on this, it is pure hearsay and I will only give it 50/50 odds of it being true. Nevertheless, there are a couple of reasons why I wanted to share. Firstly, I’ve got a ton of emails from folks asking about Gillian Clark’s project above the Petworth metro (pictured above). They referenced an Examiner post (via Washingtonian) saying that Clark’s Georgia Avenue Meeting House was slated to open at 3730 Georgia Ave., NW in early 2011. Then City Paper’s Tim Carman also reported after talking with Clark that her Petworth spot should open around March 2011.

It was in Dec. ’08 that I first shared Clark’s Petworth plans. And don’t get me wrong. I really hope the Petworth project is gonna happen but I heard some scuttlebutt from a person very familiar/involved with DC’s restaurant scene. And I just can’t dismiss it because the person who I heard it from is really plugged in. They heard that Clark had signed a lease in one of the new NoMa spaces around 1st St, NE.

So it leaves me with one nagging question – if the scuttlebutt is true – will it affect the Petworth plans?

Of course there is an equally good chance that this scuttlebutt is just scuttlebutt and the NoMa project was never gonna happen. Or even if it does, perhaps NoMa and Petworth will both get new Clark restaurants? In which case I’ve got all worked up over nothing. That’s another thing I’ve learned after 4 years of blogging. That happens too. I promise to update as more info becomes available. I tend to find alcohol application permits (while not perfect) a very good indicator if a restaurant is actually coming or not. All that is to say, stay tuned.

Back in August we heard some Scuttlebutt that an H Mart was interested in coming to the old Secret Safeway space at 1800 20th St, NW in Dupont. Sadly, new permits that have gone up don’t indicate an H Mart. Or any grocery store. It says the proposed use is offices:

Oh well. More as info becomes available…

It was the mother lode of seeds in Mt. Pleasant last weekend.