HECHINGER/SEARS UPDATE
From: Tad DiBiase - TwoDeacons@aol.com
As you probably know the Home Depot deal fell through but the owners of
the old Hechinger's property are currently considering four options with
the last one being their (and my) favorite.  Option one would be a car
dealership which would not require any modifications to the building.
Option two would be retail on the street level, probably 2 to 4 stores,
and a data center housing computer hardware on the ground floor.  One of
the problems with this option is that the data center would want to pick
the retailers, something the owners do not favor.  Option three is a
large discount chain, the name of which they are not revealing.  Because
even the owners are not sure this would be a good fit for the
neighborhood, my sense is this chain is more likely to be
Wal-Mart-like than Target-like.  Finally, option four would be 3 to 4
additional stories of residences added on to the roof (about 160-180
units total), retail on the ground level (again 2-4 stores, like
high-end home furnishings, maybe hardware??) and parking remaining in
the basement and on the existing roof.  Parking would be reconfigured,
however, to provide about 370 additional space in the building and 100
more across the street. Because of the historic designation on the
building, this plan would require approval of the Historic Preservation
Review Board.

Since it's been closed, I've received two types of complaints about the
site: homeless men and litter around the area.  Friendship Place
continues to work with the homeless on the site and has had some success
with getting at least one man involuntarily committed.  If you are
harassed by any of the homeless there, and while most are not aggressive
a few are, you should immediately call the Metropolitan Police or inform
Metro kiosk personnel about the situation.  I have had conversations
with both Commander Newsham at the Second District and the Metro Captain
responsible for the site and they're well aware of the occasional
problems.  Obviously the situation here will never fully improve until
the building is up and running again.  For litter problems you can call
Louise at (301) 524-0016.  She's the person in charge of the site, and
I've found her to be very responsive.
Tad DiBiase, ANC 3E03 representative
 
 

AND SPEAKING OF HOMELESS AND MENTALLY ILL ON THE STREETS...
The second (or possibly third) meeting in a series of meetings on this
topic will be conducted on August 13 at 2D at 3320 Idaho Avenue. This is
part of an ongoing problem-solving joint effort between the MPD
Partnership for Problem Solving and PSA 206 of Georgetown. They are a
group of residents, business owners, police, outreach specialists,  and
other specialists in the homeless/mental illness area.  I  attended a
meeting this past Tuesday and was very impressed with the level of
expertise and professionalism involved in this project. I would urge a
few of you who are particularly interested in this problem to attend the
August 13 meeting. Unfortunately, I will be out of town and unable to do
so. I have already left a message with Susan Calloway at Friendship
Place, urging someone from Friendship Place to attend the next meeting.
As of Tuesday, the time had not been determined, but that can be
learned  from Charlene Graves, the Community Prosecution Outreach
Specialist at 282-0584 or from Sgt. Ray Danieli at 727- 8753.

One of the participants was John Stanley, an attorney with the National
Treatment Advocacy Center, a group interested in promoting involuntary
outpatient commitment. He spoke about New York's recently enacted
Kendra's Law that forces such types of involuntary commitment. Another
speaker was Gunther Stern, from the Georgetown Ministry Center.

The main theme for next week's meeting is drunks and violence. To get
some background on this whole project, you might want to contact Sgt.
Danieli, Charlene Graves, or Ray Kukulski - President of the Georgetown
Citizens Association. He can be reached at raykukulski@cagtown.org.

A word of caution: This is not a vehicle for complaining about the
situation. If you attend, you must agree to their ground rules.

One excellent suggestion from this group and from Chief Ramsey is: Don't
give money directly to a homeless person; give it to a homeless
organization to give to them so that it will be used correctly -- "Not
Loose Change But Lasting Change".  Or, if you want to give directly to a
person, get coupons at McDonalds for food  and give them a coupon.

It is expected that this problem solving project in PSA 206 will
continue for some weeks or months to come.
 
 

HEAD'S UP!
A sizable number of people are about to be released from prison and
there are not enough half- way houses in the city for them.
Neighborhoods who already have a number of such half-way houses don't
want any more.  They have proven to be lousy neighbors in the past.  The
Poobahs in the city government are making noises about placing half-way
houses in 'Hoods where they are not now situated.  Personally, I think
these parolees should be placed in the neighborhoods where they lived
when they went to prison, and where they plan to live again. I am
definitely not in favor of  bringing them into other neighborhoods
where  crime is low precisely because they are not in those 'Hoods.
There was an article about this in last Saturday's Washington Post, and
again today in the Metro Section.
 
 
 

DEMONSTRATIONS ARE GETTING EXPENSIVE
Because of the size and increasing violence of the anti-IMF and World
Bank demonstrations, the police have drawn up a budget for $36 million
just for the demonstrations that are expected in late September/early
October, when the IMF and World Bank meetings will be held in DC. They
are expecting these to be the largest demonstrations since the Viet Nam
War and will be bringing in law enforcement from other areas to help
deal with it.
 
 

NEW POLICE/FIRE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
MPD Communications has moved to a new and vastly enlarged and improved
communications building near the McMillan Reservoir.  MPD Communications
had been on the 6th floor at Police Headquarters.

In order to get the police to come to your home or business, you need to
call 911 if it's an emergency; 311 if it is not an emergency.  911 is
also the number to call for a fire emergency.

If you have a problem during the call  and cannot solve it with the
person who answers your call, the supervisor numbers are: Police -
671-2872; Fire/Ambulance - 462-1762.
 
 

RESPONSES TO SECOND LETTER FROM AUPCA PRESIDENT
Charles Ruttenberg can be reached at <RuttenbC@arentfox.com>.

**** From: Philip Johnson <p-johnson@starpower.net>
It would seem to me to be in order to provide an accounting. To whom are
these legal fees paid? For what? Is there any pro bono work involved?
Who else is sharing in this (other community groups)? Perhaps I missed
an earlier report to this effect. If so, I apologize, but could you
re-publish this, with the current appeal? Thank you.

**** From: "Lois Schiffer" <LoisSchiffer@msn.com>
I do not agree with your position.

**** From:  Ann Eichenberger <aeichenberger@mindspring.com>
 Has anyone given him feedback on why  his letter is so ineffective?  If
not, someone should.
 
 

HISTORICAL ITEMS
****  From: "Pinder, Joe" <Joe.Pinder@mail.house.gov>
Downtown Richmond was entirely rebuilt after the Civil War and torn down
again in the great Urban Renewal efforts that swept out of Washington
(starting with construction of the SE-SW Freeway, then the demolition of
Southwest) in the 1950s.

**** From: Lorie Leavy <LLEAVY@email.usps.gov>
I've always been curious--what's the proper pronunciation for
"Loughborough"?  Is it LUFF-borough? LOCK-borough?  Or something else?
 
 

RODENTS IN THE 'HOOD
From: "Ken Giles & Davida Perry" <kenanddavida@starpower.net>
About the "rodent alert" in this newsletter - the student house referred
to (between Burlington and Brandywine, 45th and 46th) is the one that
has been causing such misery for my street for several years. The
occupants are AU students.  There are MANY of them. They are not
fastidious. The owner is Mr. Dias, who lives at 4828 46th Street,
244-7249.

Complain to AU as well:  Faith Leonard, Dean of  Students, 885-3300 and
David Taylor, exec asst to President Ladner and AU's neighborhood
liaison, 885-2121, or taylor@american.edu.

Because the house has more than 4 unrelated adults it's a boarding
house, not a rental house, but Mr. Diaz does not have a permit for a
boarding house.  I haven't been able to find the DC office to report
this to.  A call from that office might make Mr. Diaz pay attention.
Anyone have that information?

And of course tell Chris McNamara, the ANC rep, 237-9096 or
mcnamrus@aol.com and Kathleen Patterson, our City Council rep, 724-8062
or patterson@dccouncil.washington.dc.us.  One of these should be able to
get the number for rodent control, too.

The person who reported the rats can print this information for
neighbors who might not be online or know about this newsletter.
Davida Perry
 
 

GETTING COMPUTERS FIXED
From:  "David W. Schmucker" <david@dataovertheweb.com>
After reading numerous complaints about the Computer Clinic, an
alternative is to call my one person, home office company here in AUP.
I've been teaching and developing software applications since 1980.  I
don't fix hardware but feel free to call for a "sanity check." I can
answer most calls at no charge but will bill by the hour if more is
needed.
David Schmucker
DataOverTheWeb
4424 Windom Pl. NW
(202) 276-5100
 
 

NEW TYPE OF VIRUS PROBLEM
From: Charles Pfleeger <Charles.Pfleeger@exodus.net>
Kathy,  You asked me one time whether just viewing a web page or opening
an email message, not an attachment, can cause harm.  I gave an
equivocal  "perhaps" answer, on the order of  "not now but I wouldn't
rule out the  possibility."  Well, I was not being coy, but no surprise
to me, that  exploit has just been accomplished.  Read the following:

Analysis:  Attackers able to socially engineer a target into visiting a
malicious website or opening an HTML-formatted e-mail will be  able to
read, modify or delete e-mail messages, calendar items, etc. In
addition, he or she may be able to execute code on the host. The
privilege  level with which the code would run is not known.

Detection: The faulty ActiveX control was installed as a part of the
[Microsoft] Outlook 2000 Team Folder Kit and is currently shipped as a
part of Outlook  2002, which is included in Office XP.

Workaround: Microsoft is working on a patch to mitigate the issue. The
patch should be available on July 13, 2001, or shortly thereafter. Until
then, five workarounds are currently available:
1.) Install the Outlook E-mail Security Update from
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2000/Out2ksec.aspx
2.) Ensure that Outlook is using the Restricted Sites Zone for its
security. This can be confirmed by determining whether the following
registry keys are installed:
 * For Outlook 2002,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Options\General
 "Security Zone"=dword:00000004
 * For Outlook 2000,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Options\General
 "Security Zone"=dword:00000004
 3.) Ensure that "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" is set to
"Disabled."
 4.) Remove or rename the affected control. It can be found in the
"\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office" directory. Since it is not
covered by  Windows File Protection, it will not automatically be
restored.
5.) In Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002 environments, establish a client
rule  to automatically handle files with script in them. Look for
keywords such  as script, vbscript, object, etc., and quarantine or
delete them.
 
 

DISTRIBUTION OF MARIJUANA AMENDMENT
From: "Graves, Charlene" <Charlene.T.Graves@usdoj.gov>
On June 8, 2001, the Distribution of Marijuana Amendment Act of 2000
went into effect.  This act amends the District of Columbia Uniform
Controlled Substances Act of 1981 which treated marijuana trafficking as
a minor offense. The purpose of this legislation  is to reduce
trafficking in marijuana and the violence that is associated with it.
It will also bring the District of Columbia into line with laws in all
fifty states which make distribution of at least some, if not all,
quantities of marijuana a felony. The essential provisions of the
Distribution of Marijuana Amendment Act are:

Under the new law, the penalties for trafficking in marijuana depend on
a person's record, the quantity of marijuana, and whether the person was
armed.  Thus,

1. If a person:
 a.  has not previously been convicted of manufacturing, distributing,
or possessing with intent
to distribute a controlled substance or of attempting to manufacture,
distribute, or possess with intent to distribute any controlled
substance and
b.  manufactures, distributes or possesses with intent to distribute ½
pound or less of marijuana he or she may be imprisoned for up to 180
days or fined up to $1,000, or both. See  D.C. Code § 33-541(a)(2)(B).

2. If a person has a prior conviction for trafficking in any controlled
substance or traffics in more than ½ pound of marijuana, he or she may
be imprisoned for up to 5 years or fined up to $50,000, or both.

3. If a person traffics in any quantity of marijuana while armed, he or
she may be imprisoned for up to 30 years,  including mandatory minimum
penalties if he or she is  armed with a firearm or is a repeat armed
offender.  See D.C. Code § 22-3201 et seq. This means that first-time
traffickers in a small quantity of marijuana (½ pound or less) are
subject to misdemeanor penalties and their trials will be
non-jury-demandable.  Those who traffic in  larger quantities, are
repeat offenders, and/or are armed are subject to felony penalties and
their trials will continue to be jury-demandable.   Pre-trial detention
will be available for felony marijuana offenses;  and enhanced penalties
for distributing marijuana to minors, enlisting minors to distribute
marijuana, or trafficking in drug-free zones will be significantly
higher.  See D.C. Code §§ 33-546 through 548.
 
 

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

**** From: Andrea Dean <aodean@erols.com>
Our excellent cleaning woman is looking for additional houses to clean,
Tuesdays and Thursdays, for a start. She is a very pleasant, decent, and
reliable human being; she cleans thoroughly and intelligently. Her name
is Irmalinda Chavez and can be reached at 301-728-3185.

****  From: Joanregina@aol.com
I was lucky to win a Star Wars Episode Racer (Limited Edition Set)
included N64 Controller Game Pak.  It is Nintendo64.  Value $125 - Sale
price - $50.00  Never used, brand new. Call 202/686-1207.

****  From: Robin --  Petirrojo@aol.com
Looking for:
-- very good contractor type who can install/replace old windows in my
home
including broken sashes new and various other ventures.  Must be
professional, reliable, and most of all do excellent work.
-- high school student or other(s) to clean out/weed back area of my
house--a relatively small area, but I'd like to pull out all weed roots,
etc.
-- free to whoever wants it and who can move it himself/herself (VERY
heavy)--high powered old window air conditioner, presently
installed--not sure if it works fully--it had once been turned on with
the outside cover on it and turns on intermittently.  Cooled home of
person I received it from for 15 years to freezing temps!

**** From: Blecherm@aol.com
For sale: Thermador electric range, drop-in type, 5 burners. Excellent
condition. Its a
spare range used once a year  (Thanksgiving turkey). We need the space.
Best offer. U-haul. Mel Blecher,Tel: 202-363-3338

**** From: equiknox@juno.com
REWARD FOR FINDING MY CAT:  small, shy, grey Persian with yellow eyes
missing from 3600 block of Rittenhouse Street since Monday evening July
23rd. His name is Gibson and he is much loved. Reward: $300.  Please
response to Fatima Garawai at 202-352-7315.

**** From: "JANICE FITZGERALD" <janfitz@starpower.net>
I read about the buried mustard gas containers in Spring Valley.  Has
Tenleytown come into question?  Does anyone know of a company that can
test the soil just as a precaution?
 
 

AD HOC COMMITTEE ON TREE AND SLOPE PROTECTION
From:  "Robert V. Maudlin" <maudlin@alum.mit.edu>
Mr. David Murphy of the National Park Service spoke at June 18, ANC3F
meeting on the protection provided by tree and slope overlays which are
provided for in the zoning regulations.

ANC3F on July 9, 2001 established an Ad Hoc Committee on Tree and Slope
Overlays to study the pros and cons of overlays in the ANC3F area.

If you would like to serve on the Committee please send your name to:
TSP@anc3f.org

The following description of tree and slope protection overlay districts
is from the DC Zoning Regulations.
 
 The Tree and Slope Protection (TSP) Overlay District is established to
preserve and enhance the park-like setting of designated neighborhoods
adjacent to streams or parks, by regulating alteration or disturbance of
terrain, destruction of trees, and ground coverage of permitted
buildings and other impervious surfaces.

 The purposes of the TSP Overlay District shall be as follows:

 (a) To preserve the natural topography and mature trees to the maximum
extent feasible in a residential neighborhood;

 (b) To prevent significant adverse impact on adjacent open space,
parkland, stream beds, or other environmentally sensitive natural areas;
and

 (c) To limit permitted ground coverage of new and expanded buildings
and other construction, so as to encourage a general compatibility
between the siting of new buildings and the existing neighborhood.

 The TSP Overlay District is designed for residential neighborhoods that
have a significant quantity of steep slopes, have stands of mature
trees, are located at the edge of stream beds or public open spaces, and
have undeveloped lots and parcels subject to potential terrain
alteration and tree removal. It is not suitable for mapping in
neighborhoods where nearly all lots are already developed on a
rectangular grid system and where the existing mature trees are either
yard trees or street trees.
 

ANC3F MEETING JULY 30, 2001
From:  "Robert V. Maudlin" <maudlin@alum.mit.edu>
Monday, July 30 at 7:30 pm a Washington Home, 3720 Upton Street
-- Certificate of Needs Application for four additional hospice beds at
Washington Home
-- Proposed enhancements and alterations to Forest Hill Playground on
Chesapeake Street.
-- Options for ANC and SMD redistricting.