Reminder: Edgewood Run/Bike/Walk Group Tonight

I hope that everyone is having a great week so far. I wanted to send a reminder about tonight's meeting of the Edgewood walk/bike/run group to get fit, meet neighbors, safety in numbers, and use the new section of the Met Branch Trail.

We will meet at the Edgewood Recreation Center (3rd and Evarts Street NE) on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. and head out from there to the Met Branch Trail. Bring your dog, kids, friends, bikes, running strollers, neighbors and we will have a large enough group that we can match up all paces and methods of exercise. Who knows you may even meet someone new that could become your exercise partner for the rest of the week.

Hope to see you there!

Schools in Edgewood

Since I published the post about the volunteering at DCPS I have been thinking about the number of schools in the Edgewood neighborhood of DC. I decided to post a list of the ones that I can find here and please feel free to let me know if I missed any. I did find it interesting that we have 2 (okay only part of one) colleges in Edgewood, but only one DCPS school. That said I know that we are close to many other schools in different neighborhoods.

Colleges

Trinity University

Catholic University

DCPS

Shaed Elementary

Charter Schools/ Private Schools

Good Community Public Charter School

DC Prep

Calvary Christian Academy

Edgewood Walking/Running/Biking Group‏

Please see the following emails about the Edgewood Walking/Running/Biking Group‏ that is starting tonight and every week on Tuesdays.



Hi - Wanted to remind everyone about the first weekly Edgewood Walking/Running/Biking Group meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Edgewood Recreation Center. Hope to see you there and do not forget to bring some water!


Hi,

I hope that everyone is having a great week so far. I thought it would be great to start an Edgewood walk/bike/run group to get fit, meet neighbors, safety in numbers, and use the new section of the Met Branch Trail.

We will meet at the Edgewood Recreation Center (3rd and Evarts Street NE) on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. and head out from there to the Met Branch Trail. Bring your dog, kids, friends, bikes, running strollers, neighbors and we will have a large enough group that we can match up all paces and methods of exercise. Who knows you may even meet someone new that could become your exercise partner for the rest of the week.

Free Neighborhood Beautification for Seniors

Apply for Free Beautification Services in Your Neighborhood

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's Conservation Corps (MCC) will provide District seniors with free landscape beautification services in their neighborhoods from June through August.

Here is a link to the website to apply - if you know a senior in your area that would like help with their yard work please let them know about this free service.

Ward 5 Community Forum on Public Safety

So, if you have not noticed I decided to join Twitter and you are welcome to follow me @lifeontheedgewd. I live tweeted from the meeting last night and will do it from all the meetings that I attend. I'm not going to the ANC5C meeting tonight because I am intrigued by the Solar Co-op group presenting at the Brookland meeting.

I wanted to write up a summary of what I learned at the Ward 5 Community Forum on Public Safety meeting that I attended last night. I was hoping for a more interactive meeting that resulted in more community involvement in public safety, but that was not how this meeting turned out. It started with presentations from the 5D and 4D police commanders about the crime trends in the different PSAs. Edgewood is in PSA501 and we seem to have a big decrease in most crimes. That being said there are still plenty of crimes happening. After that the police chief spoke, Metro PD spoke, and Harry Thomas used electronic surveys that were informative, but not what I would call useful.

Here are the useful bits of information that I learned:

1) Join the listserve!! I joined this morning and already found out about a potential incident on the Metropolitan Branch Trail and what is being done to stop any further incidents. (all you have to do is email MPD-5D-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or look at the website http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MPD-5D)

2) Speak up if you see something suspicious - you can call 911, email the listserve or text to 50411. You can remain anonymous thru the text tip!!

3) Come to your PSA meeting. The PSA501 meeting is tomorrow at the Edgewood Recreation center.

4) Consider submitting a Community Impact Statement for sentencing considerations

5) Be smart - "buddy system", don't use expensive electronics on metro near doors or while walking alone, look out for your neighbors, don't leave valuables in your car, use your alarm system if you have one, lock your doors and windows

While, I did get some good information from the meeting here are things that I would like to see more of and what I would consider community public safety:

1) Safety walks

2) Neighborhood watches

3) Social with neighborhood police (actually suggested by one of the officers at the meeting)

4) Self defense classes at community rec centers

Anyone else have some ideas on what they would like to see started in the neighborhood? I am going to offer up my suggestions at the PSA501 meeting tomorrow and see what happens.

Wind Power

I am not sure if anyone else signed up last year for the 100% wind power electricity supplied by Washington Gas Energy Services or if people even knew it is an option in our neighborhood. I just received my notice that my year of 100% wind energy is up and I can renew for a year or two. I have been impressed with the whole process as all I had to do was sign up and they are added to my Pepco bill. If you did not sign up last year you can do it now and pick from 50% to 100% wind energy. I think it may be slightly more expensive, but a great way to promote and use renewable resources.

Here is the link to enroll:

https://www.wges.com/portal/select.php

Sidewalks!!!

I have to thank DDOT for following thru on the new sidewalks within the month as I previously posted. One side of Ascot Place NE was done today and the other side will be done tomorrow.

Reminder: Tomorrow is second Edgewood Arts Market

If you missed it last week please remember to stop by and visit the Edgewood Arts Market at the Edgewood Mural near the entrance to the Metropolitan Branch Trail. This market will be open on Saturdays in June from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The market sells original, handcrafted, locally produced arts and good, and antiques. I saw some really cute things there last week!

Ward 5 Community Forum on Public Safety

The email below is about a meeting on Monday for discussing community policing strategies and I am going to try and attend. I really hope this meeting comes up with some things that we can DO in our neighborhood to keep it safe instead of just talking we have some ACTIONS. I tend to get frustrated when all I hear is talk and no action; I was raised to take action about problems instead of complaining about them and I am always looking for new ways to accomplish this in my life.

Hope to see you there!!


Mark Your Calendar to Attend the Ward 5 Community Forum on Public Safety on Monday, June 14, 2010


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Join Councilmember Thomas, 5D Commander Greene, 4D Commander Chisely-Missouri, your neighbors, and community leaders in this important community opportunity to develop community policing strategies for public safety.

The forum is sponsored by Councilmember Thomas in partnership with the 5DCAC and the 4DCAC. Councilmember Thomas will use interactive polling to get instant data and feedback from residents on public safety concerns, your evaluation of MPD, and your assessment of the court system. Event details are as follows:

WHO:
Councilmember Thomas, 5D Commander Greene,
4D Commander Chisely-Missouri, and
5D and 4D CAC Leaders

WHAT:
Ward 5 Community Forum on Public Safety

WHEN:
Monday, June 14, 2010, 6:30 pm

WHERE:
Luke C. Moore Academy,
10th and Monroe Streets, NE

Volunteering in Edgewood

Here is an email I received that I am passing along as a great opportunity to help our local public school (I believe Shaed Elementary is the only DCPS in Edgewood) and meet some of your neighbors.

SAVE THE DATE!

District of Columbia Public Schools
Annual Beautification Day

Saturday, August 21, 2010
8 a.m.- 1 p.m.

Volunteers are needed to beautify our schools!

Help us paint doors, plant flowers and pick up trash before the first day of school.
Online registration for volunteers begins June 21st at www.dcps.dc.gov

DCPS Beautification Day was established in 2005 as the official day for a city-wide "spruce up" of all DC public school buildings and grounds in preparation for the opening of schools

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To reply to this e-newsletter, send an email to Shereen Williams at shereen.williams@dc.gov

Was this email forwarded to you? Add your email address to receive e-news from DCPS.

District of Columbia Public Schools
Office of Family and Public Engagement
1200 First Street NE, 12th floor
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 442-5885

Busy Weekend in Edgewood!

This past weekend was a busy one for Edgewood and I am sorry about not updating beforehand and hope everyone made it out to some of the activities - many of them will be repeated. I was on holiday for almost three weeks and since then have been catching up with work, community and social obligations. I am back now and promise to keep up with the blog better!!

This past Saturday was the Edgewood Monthly Neighborhood Cleanup and it was expanded to plant flowers and a community garden at the Edgewood Rec Center. There were many volunteers, young and old, throughout the course of the day and I had a great time working with everyone! The above picture is just some of the group that was there.

Also on Saturday was the Meet the Met celebration for the Metropolitan Branch trail and while I was only there early in the morning I was very impressed. There were booths from many of the community organizations and corporate sponsors, they planted a community garden along the trail, there were bikes to rent and prizes being given away, music, and a community arts and crafts sale that I believe will be going on every Saturday in June!