JULY ANC3E MEETING
From: "Polly King" <pking@lldhhome.org>
Thursday, July 12, 2001, 7:30 PM,  St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic
Church,  42nd & Fessenden Streets, NW

AGENDA
   1.Announcements
   2.ANC Business
   3.Open Forum - opportunity for members of the community to raise
issues of concern or importance to the 3E neighborhood.
   4.Presentation by 2nd District Police
   5.Discussion of ANC Re-districting.
   6. Discussion of proposed changes to "no turn on right" regulations
at various  intersections in ANC3E.
   7.Update from Madison Retail Corporation regarding the old Hechinger
site.
  FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CALL (202) 244-0800,  www.anc3e.org
 

(I'll be out of town that day and would really appreciate it if someone
who is at the meeting can tell me what was said about the Hechinger
site. Thank you. Kathy Smith)
 
 

CRIME IN THE 'HOOD
From: Kehannon@aol.com
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001
Did you hear that the Amoco at Ellicott and Wisconsin was robbed at
gunpoint yesterday  afternoon? There were cops all over the place around
Ellicott and Wisconsin combing the
alleys.

FROM JUNE 1 TO JUNE 30:
ROBBERY
-- 4500 Wisconsin, knife, 6/28, 0213, carport
-- 4200 Fessenden, F&V, 6/6, 0929, alley  (closed)
ASSAULT
-- 4200 Wisconsin, 6/16, 1700, hospital
-- 4400 Fessenden, 6/23, 0155, house (closed)
-- 4200 Wisconsin, 6/22, 2330, apartment (closed)
-- 5000 Wisconsin, knife, 6/5, 1130, sidewalk
BURGLARY
-- 4300 Chesapeake, 6/20, 2200, house
-- 4400 Sedg wick, 6/11, 0900, house
-- 4600 Alton, 6/7, 1930, garage
THEFT -- 30
THEFT FROM AUTO -- 14
STOLEN AUTO
-- 4500 Van Ness, street
-- 3900 Warren, street
-- 5200 Wisconsin, business
-- 5400 42nd St, street
-- 5000 Western, parking lot
-- 3900 Jenifer, attempt, street
SIMPLE ASSAULT
-- 5400 41st St, 6/10, 1950, automobile (closed)
THREAT
-- 4400 Sedg wick, house
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
-- 4000 Fessenden, alley
-- 4400 Brandywine, garage
FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE WARRANT ARREST - 4000 Albemarle, bus station

TOTAL - 64
 
 

HEORES, INC.
From: HEROEStm@aol.com
Mrs. Linda Derrick forwarded an email to us regarding questions you had
pertaining to HEROES Inc.  Attached, please find information regarding
our  organization. Our mailing address is:
HEROES, Inc.
666 11th Street, N.W.
Suite #300
Washington, D.C. 20001
I have also included a link to our website:  HEROES Inc. r Home Page
(http://www.HEROES-Inc.org)
Should you have any questions please feel free to contact me at
202-638-2770.
Thank you,
Kristine Wanner
 
 

USING THE TAX REFUND

**** From: "Ellis, Susan" <sellis@pd.state.gov>
I fully agree with the idea of donating our tax  refund to a charity.  I
have already decided to use part of it for the children's camp mentioned
(I'll send the check early, of course) and to several
animal groups as well as Martha's Table, DC Kitchen and other local
charities.
 
 

POSSIBLE PLACE FOR USED COMPUTERS
From: Hahagerty@aol.com (Herb Hagerty )
The National Cristina Foundation of 42 Hillcrest Drive, Pelham Manor, NY
10803 (tel: 1914-738-7494) operates a service for people with your
problem (or at least did so several years ago when they helped me
dispose of  a first generation computer I had replaced.)  The Foundation
maintains a registry which keeps track of charitable institutions
seeking secondhand computers. Write or phone them to register to record
what it is you have, and they will provide the name of a needy charity
in your locality (in my case it was the George Mason University computer
lab) and, through their aegis, the piece of paper that substantiates to
IRS the appropriate tax deduction you can take.
 
 

MORE ABOUT THE OTHER KATHY SMITH AND MURDOCK MILL
**** From: FJHDCME@aol.com ( Frank Haendler)
For a number of years she was President and the guiding force of the
Washington Historical Society.  She is also the author of a wonderful
book (coffee table size) "Washington at Home, An Illustrated History of
the Neighborhoods in the Nation's Capital."  It was written in 1988.
For anyone interested in the history and development of  Washington this
is truly a worthwhile source.  The text is illuminating; the pictures
are incredible. It is really fun to devour. There is a generous section
on Tenleytown.  It is well worth looking for.

**** From: WeLiveInDC@aol.com
On the Capital Crescent Trail, south of the Mass. Ave. overpass, on the
east side, is an historical marker for a mill - I believe Murdock Mill.
Perhaps a regular trail user can confirm this. (It has been too long
since I have been on the trail!) A civil war-period map of mine shows a
mill on about that spot. What Mr. Yingling and his friends called the
Devil's Bathtub cartographers call Little Falls Branch. The creek is
more readily appreciated from the quieter, twisting, paved trail that
roughly parallels the Crescent Trail south of Mass. Ave. down to the
reservoir. The trail can be picked up at the southern end of Little
Falls Parkway, just east of where Mass. runs under the Crescent Trail.
It comes out on MacArthur Blvd.
 
 

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

**** From: ESMCAC@aol.com
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
To teach senior citizens basic computer skills. Friendship Terrace, at
4201 Butterworth Place, is looking for neighbors who would like to help
us get our residents online. Please contact Courtney at ESMCAC@aol.com

**** From: "JULIE SLATTERY" <JSLATTERY@bloomberg.net
Looking for babysitters for 1 year old baby boy-- Our son Mac is looking
for babysitters to keep him company on the occasion his parents go out--
high school students acceptable.  If interested pls email me julie
slattery at jslattery@bloomberg.net. thanks

**** From: "Bachman, Janet" <jbachman@aiadc.org>
Masonry Contractor:  I've had a lot of brick work done over the years,
and always used Virnel Allen.  He does great work, though he's not
cheap.  He's also a grumpy old man, but the quality of his work makes up
for it.  Mr. Allen's phone is (202) 429-0324.

**** From: "Ronald J. Lefrancois" <Ronald_J._Lefrancois@newyorklife.com>
FREE to a good home: Several doors from a 60-year-old house.  Solid
wood, good shape.  Two exterior doors: one is 4 glass panes over 3 wood
panels; other is 12 panes over one panel.  Two interior doors: one is
6-panel; other is a double louvered door.  Also, 4 doors from a built-in
corner cabinet: two have 8 panes; two are single panel wood.  May be
picked up in middle of alley of 4300 block of Verplanck Place, NW,
between Van Ness Street and Verplanck.
 
 

MORE ON THE COMPUTER CLINIC CENTER
From:  look4me@earthlink.net (Vicki Lambert)
I was interested to see the entry about the Computer Clinic Center on
Wisconsin Avenue. I spent a fair amount of wasted money there a few
years ago and when I went for the umptieth time to try to get them to
straighten things out. There were lots of other people trying to do
same.  One of them got pointed about his grievance and the guy behind
the counter leapt over and decked him.  Another customer called the
police.  All of us were appalled and figured this to be a rare and
regrettable occurrence but the police told us they are called there
often.  Why is this place still open?  It's really a racket.  I, for
one, did not consider my ill-advised expenditures worth my life to
recover.  At least I had my computer back.  They were refusing to hand
over the one the customer who cracked had brought in. The Better
Business Bureau doesn't know the half of it.
 
 

REGARDING HISTORIC PRESERVATION ISSUES

**** From: Ann Loikow <johnl@erols.com>
Go to: http://www.dchistoric.org/ for information on the District's
historic preservation program.  It is fairly comprehensive on the issues
raised in your questions.

**** From: "Llewellyn Bensfield" <LWB@worldnet.att.net>
DC Historic Preservation Review Board has a pamphlet designed to answer
many of the questions you asked. Call their office on North Capitol
Street for a copy.

****  From: Joe Pinder
This discussion of Historic Preservation as if it is a curse troubles
me. For starters, the discussion of the firehouse is settled, and has
been settled by none other than the fire chief who told Ms. Bauer and
everyone else who was at the meeting that the final plan is better than
the  teardown/rebuild scheme she favors. At the end of the day, all
respect and thanks due to the firemen who work there, they have one job,
which is fighting fires, and he has one, which is resource management,
and he believes the final plan is the best. Any rate, the issue is
closed and it doesn't help the discussion of historic preservation to
bring it up again.

As to re-building existing municipal buildings such as Janney and Deal,
some of  the best expertise in the country at rebuilding such facilities
is local -- the Rouse Co., in Columbia -- who have an immense and
impressive track record showing quite clearly that the historic
character of a building can be retained while providing for modern
power, plumbing, elevator, etc. facilities allowing perfectly useful
buildings to continue their life. This  actually works pretty well in a)
New York, b) Boston and c) all of Europe so it ought to be able to work
in upper Northwest unless there is some aspect of this city of which
I've not been informed.

The aspect of all citizens having ultimate control over their property
is a powerful and appealing argument until the downstream ramifications
become evident. If  my next-door neighbor, for example, were to want to
build out the rest of the lot in an unpainted cinder-block building
three stories tall, by this reasoning I'd have no cause to object, nor
way to halt that sort of intrusion onto my property values. We have had
quite  a bit of discussion in the neighborhood recently about the lack
of adequate zoning to prevent the building of the antenna that some feel
is a health hazard, some feel is a public-safety hazard and some feel
is  an aesthetic problem, or all three. If anything, DC has a paucity of
such controls, and checks and balances. It oughtn't be impossible, but
it oughtn't be absurdly easy to alter properties in ways that affect
others.

There's a middle ground here, and it can be found to the satisfaction of
everyone who is willing to work and compromise, the way things are
supposed to work in democratic societies. There is for example some tax
advantage to historic overlays, or even to house-by-house historic
designations, that ought to be aired at the same time this discussion is
taking place.

My point is, finally, that all the hyperventilating isn't productive.
Take a trip to Richmond, where there appears to have been no real effort
to maintain a historic veneer downtown. There are ugly gaping holes,
mostly parking lots, where fine buildings stood. And there aren't any
businesses, or few, in the remaining buildings. Richmond has a vital
economy for a municipality, but it's all at the edges of the city. In
DC, we are renovating and celebrating the historic fabric of our
downtown, and it's good for the city, good for our neighborhood. Why in
the world isn't it worth considering that the same concept might be
useful to us, up here?
------
There is a tax advantage to owners of historically designated houses.
That ought to be part of your discussion.

****  From:  "Figuli, Samuel" <sfiguli@hgl.com>
My comments on historical designation: It seems like we should think
first in terms of the two extremes that we don't want.
1) We don't want some local board to dictate whether or we not
can/cannot paint or renovate our homes.
2) We don't want people/developers coming in and leveling properties and
making our neighborhood look like the faceless McMansion neighborhoods
that we all tried to get away from by moving here.

Has anyone looked into incentives for historical preservation?  Has
anyone contacted the National Trust for Historical Preservation
http://www.nthp.org/ to see if they know other communities that have
gone through this process and know of any that have come up with a
workable and acceptable solution?

**** From:  "The Wolfsons" <thewolfsons@snafu.de> (Tom Wolfson)
If your questions are still hanging fire, of course they need answers
now.  An AU park homeowner, currently living in Germany, I can't attend
the community association meeting.  But what roars out of the comments
below is outrage against overbearing zealotry.  If that reflects what's
actually happening, the zealots need to take a deep breath, slow down,
and think, along with the rest of the folks who have opinions on the
issue.  Certainly, the firehouse matter didn't turn out well. The old
place is cute, but cute is not what anybody needs in fire protection.

****  From: Burchard.Robert@epamail.epa.gov
Thanks for the information about the River Road house.  I talked with
Tad DiBiase a couple of months ago, and was disappointed to hear that he
supported historic designation for the house.  I am glad to see that the
ANC as a whole didn't support historic designation, however.

Overall, I am fearful that the historic preservation busybodies are
going to try to get individual houses designated as "historic", whether
or not the owners want such a designation.  It's too bad they were
granted funding for their campaign.  And, I am worried about the
implications of a historic designation for Tenleytown.  Keep up the good
work of  informing the neighborhood about what's going on!!

**** From: look4me@earthlink.net (Vicki Lambert)
I continue to be appalled at the Historical Preservation people's
intrusions into what should be private matters.  Where they get the
nerve and the authority to put themselves in a position of managing
property not theirs mystifies me.  I can think of  (and you have
demonstrated so can lots of us) many, many reasons that argue against
such pompous intrusion.  Have you heard any viable defense of it?  I do
not consider claims about the authenticity of an old property as excuse
for an outside group's controlling it.  What is supposed to be the
benefit to a community not better arrived at through mutually agreed
upon (we call that voting) zoning laws?  I don't recall any of us having
been given a ballot on this issue.

**** From: Tom Hebert <thebert@capitolink.com>
Thanks so much for asking the Historic Preservation questions with such
clarity and for pushing to get clear, definitive answers.  This is an
important matter to us, and I really appreciate your providing the
community this service.

**** From: "Caroline Long" <carolynlong@earthlink.net>
I can across this wonderful quote in Preservation in Print, the
newsletter of the New Orleans Preservation Recourse Center, of which I'm
a member. Perhaps you could include it in your next issue of communit-e
to answer those who see no value in preservation: "It's the perpetual
American pastime: throwing away our history, then reclaiming it. First
we assimilate into the mainstream, then search for lost roots. We toss
out our grandmother's furniture, then haunt antique shops looking for
replicas. In the name of progress, we trash. Then out of nostalgia, we
restore." If only we would care for our old houses in the first place we
would not have to try to replicate them with "Nouveau Victorians."

-END-