Mayor Fenty's Conservation Corps Makes Its Own Work

Leaving the house this morning to walk my dog in my Columbia Heights neighborhood I find this door-hanger flyer lying on my front steps, near the sidewalk. In case you can't read this, it says:

"The Mayor's Conservation Corps -- We're here to help clean and green your neighborhood! "

Apparently their first act of conservation was to conserve the energy it would have taken to walk all the way up to my door to actually hang the flyer. Clearly they set a good example for the Pizza Mart guy who, impressed with their energy saving maneuver, saved his own energy and placed his flyer thoughtfully on top of Conservation one.

And it wasn't that my stairs are overly steep. I found the Conservation Corps "We're here to green your neighborhood" flyer on the sidewalk, in a neighbor's fenced-in yard, on other front stair steps and the street gutter. I guess when they said they would "green" the neighborhood what they meant was littering it with green flyers.
















Hopefully their second act will be to walk back through the neighborhood and pick them up.

And while we're on the subject of conservation -- perhaps the cash-strapped District could have conserved a few dollars and not printed the green litter brochures in the first place. There are abundant community blogs and listserves they could have spread the word to at no cost and without the trashy residue.

My Neighborhood -- Rising to New Heights

I live in the Columbia Heights area of DC. It's about two miles north of the White House, to the East of Adams Morgan.

It's a scrappy mix of African-Americans and with an influx of Hispanic and white newcomers. Shortly before the LTR and I took a risk and bought an oh-my-god-how-are-we-ever-gonna-fix-this-place-up-house, a new Metro stop went in, surrounded by several empty fields. The whole neighborhood had deteriorated after the riots that took place in the city in the wake of Dr. King's assassination.

Today those empty fields have been replaced by new condos, subsidized housing for those with low-incomes, a Target, Best Buy, Bed, Bath and Beyond, a Washington Sports Club and Starbucks (of course!) and more.

Target opens tomorrow. The Washington Post has pictures.

Crime is still a problem. My neighbors have experienced break-ins and there is, oh, you know, the occasional random shooting. I'll never forget the night shots rang out and I dived off the bed and hit the deck. The LTR calmly rolled over and said, "We're on the third floor, they're not shooting in the air." Still, I wasn't taking any chances.

Several years ago there was a rash of break-ins in our garages. A bunch of us were meeting the police in the alley behind our houses. Their advice to us homeowners: Buy guns. Ironic, given the gun violence in a city with some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation.

Then there was the night I was chased down the street by six or seven young hoodlums freelance opportunists. I was on my bike pedaling uphill. I managed to get away.

Still, it's a great place to live and it just got better. Not to mention the fact that my property value has tripled.

It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood.