Support Shepherd Parkway

The Shepherd Parkway Community Clean Up started a petition to ask for more help from DC and National Park Service to maintain the beautiful park we have in our neighborhood. They are looking for 50 signatures but only have four! Let's make this happen!

To sign the MoveOn petition, click here.

From the petition:

•We call on the National Park Service to dramatically increase the number of staff dedicated to the maintenance, improvement, and interpretation of Shepherd Parkway.

• We call on the U.S. Park Police and Metropolitan Police to increase patrols and enforcement in the picnic area near the corner of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Avenues SE, which is a frequent site of public drunkenness, drug use, drugs sales, and fights. The park should be a safe and welcoming space for everyone.

• We support for the construction of a network of hiking trails to make the natural beauty of Shepherd Parkway safely accessible for residents and visitors

Congress Heights getting cleaner?

I totally share the disgust for all the trash in our neighborhood. In response to one of the Advoc8te's articles on neighborhood revitalization, a Congress Heights neighbor said she loved the houses in the neighborhood and bought a beautiful, renovated house, but she can't stand the trash. I have the exact same problem, and I'm starting to think that all the litter in the neighborhood is my biggest pet peeve about Congress Heights.

Having said that, I think Congress Heights has gotten cleaner as of late! I think it's improving. I've seen more street sweeping trucks in the past couple of months than I've seen my two years living here. The trash that was illegally dumped a block or two away from my house was picked up by DC only two days after I called 311! Shepherd Parkway, one of my favorite places in the neighborhood (I'm being serious!), has also been much cleaner recently. There was even someone there this morning picking up litter from the city when I went to go play there with my baby. Usually I do that while my baby plays! I was thrilled.

We live in such a beautiful neighborhood. When the neighborhood is clean, it looks fantastic. And it's been looking fantastic more and more often. I don't know if there's been a change at the federal, city, neighborhood or individual level, maybe all of the above? I hope it keeps keeping on.

I want to start a community trash pick up. Maybe next week. I know Shepherd Parkway group picks up trash in the park, but we don't have a community group to pick up trash in the neighborhood. Anyone up for picking up trash with me?

*******

UPDATE: Maybe I spoke too soon.  Yesterday there was a whole team of Congress Heights DLSBD street cleaners on MLK. At least one was cleaning the playground and the rest of the park the day before. However, when I went to the park with my baby today, it was completely trashed again. What a shame and a waste of resources!

What I don't get is how people feel comfortable throwing their trash on the ground. You are standing in pools of trash. You might as well be standing in a landfill. How does that not disgust people? And how is that seen as acceptable?

SE Staycation continues: Anacostia Library, Food Trucks, Martha's Outfitters and more

I don't always have the time to enjoy the loveliness that is EOTR during the workweek. So I am happy to say that I had more success hanging out in the neighborhood yesterday and today.

Today I scored a four dollar Ann Taylor suit at Martha's Outfitter after having a late breakfast at Nurish! Nice. I came home and prepared a picnic for later this evening with the family. We're going to the Yards waterfront concert that starts at 6:30pm. My favorite. 

Yesterday, I visited the Anacostia Library for the first time. I walked there with my baby, but that was a mistake! I'm a walker, and yesterday was good walking weather, but, dang, that library was a good ways away. It took us three buses to get back home! That's how far away we were. Lol. There's probably a shorter way back. We just caught the first bus that came because my feet were killing me. Otherwise, I liked the library. It's new and airy and has a little corner for children to play and read books in.

Oh, I also went to the food truck event that takes place, I'm guessing, 11am to 1pm-ish on every Thursday at Gateway Pavilion, for the first time. I was surprised to see a good number of people purchasing/having lunch there. I bought a bag full of produce--peaches, blueberries, fresh raisin walnut bread and more--for super cheap, $13 bucks! I'm sure the peaches would have cost me that much at Whole Foods by themselves. Thanks EOTR!

SE Staycation!: Day 1

I could be going to see dinosaurs on staycation, but I'm not! :)

I took a couple days off work with plans to go the beach with my husband and baby. Unfortunately, it didn't work out with my husband's schedule! So I'm spending the next couple of days hanging out at home. Best decision ever.

I told my coworkers of my plans:  cleaning the house, sleeping in, still dropping the baby off at daycare to get stuff done. One of my coworkers, who also has kids, told me not to let things get out of hand. Lol.

I am happy to report that I had a successful first day on staycation. By that I mean, I took a four-hour nap. In addition to sleeping the hot summer afternoon away. I also managed to read my favorite blogs, clean the first floor of the house and do some laundry in the morning.

I always brag about my big, beautiful and affordable house. However, the downside of having such a big, beautiful home, is that there is always something to clean. I cleaned four of ten rooms in our house today, so I think I put in a pretty big dent on the to-do list. I had planned to cook something delicious for dinner, but I ran out of time! After my nap, it was time to go pick up my sugar lump at school.

Tomorrow I plan on cleaning the second floor of the house, and on Friday, I want to do some deep cleaning, like cleaning out the fridge. I'm actually not the type of person, who likes cleaning, but, once in a while, it's kind of nice to just turn on the radio, do a little manual labor, and not think about anything at all.

Excellent Children's Health Center on MLK

Unfortunately my poor baby was sick last week, and we had to take him to the doctor. Usually we go to my baby's pediatrician downtown, who is really great (but downtown). It was traffic hour and hot outside, and besides my doctor wasn't taking sick patients anymore. So I decided to try out the neighborhood children's health clinic close to home on MLK. I LOVED it.

I'm not going to lie. Before going, I was concerned that the neighborhood clinic might be a repository for dud doctors and inferior services. But that was definitely not the case there.

The receptionist told us they couldn't take us the same day because we weren't their patients, but they could sign us up for the next day. The nurse stopped by to speak with us in the meantime and told us we would really like it there.

We went back the next day. (Did I mention we walked to the clinic? It is one block south of Sheppard Park.)  Had a short wait. The waiting room was clean, bright and airy. It is a Children's National Hospital neighborhood outreach clinic, and the pediatrician we saw was excellent. She was thorough in my baby's examination. Heard my baby's heart murmur, which only every other doctor seems to hear. Told us what my baby had (ear infection, again!) and even took the time to chat with us. We did not feel rushed at all. It was a very positive experience, and I signed my baby up to have his regular well child visits there.

PLUS, the sick child visit was free! Our previous pediatrician used to charge us a 25 dollar copayment for every sick child visit. I don't know if everyone does that, but I was pleasantly surprised to not have to pay for the visit.

Another reason I love Congress Heights:  We have our own excellent walkable children's clinic. Who knew? Now all we need is a place for brunch on Sundays other than the packed IHOP. :)

New Bicycle Lane on Malcolm X St?

Good news: We have a new bicycle lane in Congress Heights!
Not so good news: It's pretty short and doesn't connect you to anywhere... yet.

My husband noticed on his morning commute that a bicycle lane was recently painted onto Malcolm X St. It goes all the way up to the intersection with South Capitol. That would take you from Sheppard Parkway, everyone's favorite park on MLK and Malcolm X, almost right up to JBAB.

That's a good start, but I truly hope there is a plan to continue.  Because for those of us who want to continue up South Capitol to downtown DC, there's no good way to do so. I cringe every time I see some poor brave soul biking up or down South Capitol. I've thought about doing it before, but it scares me to bike on what is, for all intensive purposes, a highway. There's limited visibility under the overpass. Any driver could hit a bicyclist sharing the road there, and there's no shoulder of the road/sidewalk for the bicyclist to ride on.

As Nikki on Congress Heights on the Rise noted, contrary to popular belief, Ward 8 bikes a lot. I know I, among others, would use it to bike to work and for recreation. We need a safe and direct way to get to the other side of the river.

I hope this is the beginning of more bicycle lanes east of the river.

Top Three Reasons I Love Congress Heights

1. Proximity to EVERYTHING. We live 5 minutes away from the Capitol. Cross the Douglass bridge and we're there. Also, my commute to work takes me 15 minutes... WALKING.

2. Beautiful Housing Stock. We bought our dream house:  a beautiful brick single family home with curved arches in the entryway, four bedrooms, two baths, large living room, kitchen, dining room, etc. It was love at first sight.

3. Affordable Mortgage. My beautiful house costs me $500 less monthly than what I was paying to rent a one bedroom apartment in Navy Yard. Unbelievable.

3. And last but not least... Lovely Neighbors! My neighbors are really nice. Up for conversation, barbeques, and birthday parties. I've been meaning to go Christmas caroling, can't wait!


Explanation:  You might have noticed there's two #3 reasons. I couldn't keep the list to three, but saying top four didn't sound as compelling. :)

King Elementary Principal: Come Visit Me!

After reading this Washington Post article, I got excited about the possibility of the principal of King Elementary School coming out to pay us a visit. I don't think DCPS has us on their enrollment list yet, but I hope they stop by by accident. :)

I think principals and teachers reaching out and establishing a relationship with the parents of prospective students early on will go a long way in improving public schools. Parents will be more willing to take neighborhood schools into consideration, if they personally see the principal's commitment to the school and its students.

Parents initiate this type of dialog with schools all the time, and I've been meaning to... But the problem is a lot of people don't prioritize their neighborhood school in their list of options or often times reject the neighborhood school as a option outright. This sort of outreach will help bring neighborhood schools back into the discussion.

You can read the whole article here.

Under pressure, D.C. school system gets more aggressive about selling itself

 

 

By Emma Brown July 1  

The District’s traditional public school system is sending principals out to knock on doors in a campaign to sell itself to city families, an aggressive move to boost enrollment and maintain market share after years of ceding ground to charter schools.

The move is a sign of the tremendous pressure on the District’s traditional public schools. Charter schools, which appeared less than two decades ago, now enroll nearly half the city’s public school students, and they continue to gain popularity. It is a trend that many believe threatens the long-term survival of the traditional school system.

To train principals in old-fashioned door-to-door canvassing, school officials have hired political campaign experts who helped Barack Obama win the presidency. These experts are also adapting data-analytic methods used to target voters in 2008 and 2012 to help identify those students most likely to bolt the school system and, therefore, most in need of personal attention.

“I’ve got to keep my school open and growing,” said Principal Kennard Branch of Southeast Washington’s Garfield Elementary, one of about 30 principals who left recent student-recruitment training sessions with plans to knock on hundreds of doors during the first weeks of summer.
In the waning days of the school year, these experienced educators found themselves assembling teams of volunteer door-knockers and tinkering with fliers meant to encourage parents to consider their schools. They also refined the sales pitch for those parents who had decided to send their children elsewhere.... Read the rest of the article here.