Snow, Ice and Sidewalks

Please remember that it is your responsibility to clear the sidewalks around your house! Also, think about your neighbors that might not be able to clear theirs - out of town, elderly, disabled, etc. - and help them out as well. I tend to clear at least half if not my whole side of the block while I am out there. I already did it this morning and will be back out there again if we get more tonight. It's good exercise and I know that I and my neighbors can then walk safely down our block.

Emergency Public Safety Meeting For North Capitol Street Area

Emergency Public Safety Meeting For North Capitol Street Area

Councilmember Thomas, in partnership with the Fifth Police District and North Capitol Main Street, Inc. (NCMS), will hold an emergency public safety meeting at 7 pm on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at the offices of NCMS. The meeting is in response to the shooting death of Bill Mitchell, Jr. on Wednesday, January 19th. A vigil at the site of the shooting will be held at 6 pm, prior to the community meeting.

Details are summarized below.

VIGIL...

Where:

Park at Florida Avenue and
North Capitol Street, NW

When:
Tuesday, January 25th
6:00 pm to 6:50 pm


EMERGENCY COMMUNITY
MEETING...

WHERE:
North Capitol Main Street Office,
1703 North Capitol Street, NE

WHEN:
Immediately Following Vigil
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Edgewood Civic Association Meeting Tonight

The Edgewood Civic Association (ECA) will hold its monthly meeting on Monday, January 24, 2011 from 7pm-9pm. The meeting will be held at the Summit at St. Martins 116 T Street NE.

ANC5C Meeting Tuesday

The first ANC5C meeting of the new year is next week.

Tuesday January 18
Trinity University
125 Michigan Avenue NE
7 PM

Home Save program for District Residents

Home Save program for District Residents

The Housing Finance Agency(HFA) received $20 million from the Treasury (left over TARP Bank bailout funds) and created a program that will pay 100% of the qualified homeowner's mortgage. This new program, which launches in Wards 5,7 and 8 on January 18, 2011 and citywide on April 12, 2011 and projected to end in 2015 will provide:

1) a one-time payment of up to three months for residents that are mortgage delinquent

2) Pay up to 15 months of mortgage payment including PITI, home owner dues

3) a one-time payment of up to six months of mortgage delinquency in order to allow the homeowner to catch up on their mortgage.

The funds will be paid directly to the mortgage service provider and not given to the homeowner.

The borrower must be a District resident on the deed and mortgage. If two people are on the deed and mortgage and one is unemployed, the family still qualifies for the program. The borrower must either be receiving unemployment through DOES or have recently drawn unemployment through DOES. The unemployment can be from DC, MD, VA or other states. The borrower must also be actively seeking employment. Currently unemployment is for 99 weeks and the payment from this program will assist during that period. If the unemployment benefits end during the 15 month period, the mortgage payments will continue. However, the homeowner cannot be in foreclosure or actively in bankruptcy.

The loan will be non-recourse and forgiven over five years. The loan amount will be reduced over the five year period at 20% per year. If during the five year period the property is either sold or refinanced, the loan must be repaid.

In order to apply, homeowners must go through one of five pre-selected housing counseling agencies that are funded through HFA. Please visit the HFA Website for further questions and more details.

For internal communication submissions, contact:

Turnesha Cook, Communications Specialist
(202)671-3491
Turnesha.Cook@dc.gov
ddotlife.com

Good New, Bad News

I am sure that many of you like me were not happy to see the Edgewood shooting on DC Alerts yesterday. However, I was happy to see the email this morning that an arrest was made the same day! The email from MPD is copied below:

On January 13, 2011, at approximately 2pm a 16 year old male subject was approached by another male subject in the 600 block of Edgewood Street NE. During their interaction the suspect produced a gun firing several times striking the victim twice. The victim sustained non-life threatening injuries and currently is in stable condition. Officers were able to respond directly to the scene and obtain critical information.

Detectives immediately began to follow up on the leads associated with this case and were able to close this case with an arrest within 10 hours of the incident!
Commander Lamar D. Greene

Big, Ugly Empty Lot on 4th Street NE

Last year I wrote about the development of the Rhode Island Avenue Shopping Center and its future. While writing that piece I was informed that the big, ugly fenced off empty lot on 4th Street is not part of the shopping center. I thought that was great news because the shopping center will not be redeveloped for 8-10 more years due to leases. Here is a large empty lot close to the metro station on 4th Street NE near Rhode Island Ave that is just waiting for a transformation.

From there I have spent many hours trying to figure out who owns the lot and what they are going to be doing with it. Finding out who owns it was easy with a few google searches and looking in the DC property database I had more than enough information. From the property database I learned that the address is 2321 4th Street NE and it is owned by the H Street Community Development Corporation. I thought that was weird since all their projects are in the H Street area and Edgewood is a bit out of their range. Also, when I first looked at their website the land was listed, but now it is not. Then if you look at the property record the sales price is not listed and the recordation date is 2/10/2004. The group has owned the land for almost seven years now and if you look at the amount of taxes paid each year it is an extremely different number from a couple thousand to a couple hundred thousand. I am not an expert on these matters so anyone who can help me make sense of it please do!

Now getting the property owners to talk to me was another issue. I was told that they would only talk to the ANC. So, I waited out the election and contacted the new ANC for that area, Jioni Palmer. He had to contact them multiple times before getting a response. He was told by the director that they are considering the site for ground floor retail and either offices or residences above them, but they have been having a hard time getting financing. He promised to send a formal letter to Jioni. Jioni stated that he will be setting up meeting about the property with the owner after he receives the letter. I am hoping with our new Edgewood ANC and the new attention the community gives to this empty lot we can fill it with something great for the community.