Tuesday, August 28, 2012

My Lovely Speed Humps


One day last week I was again disturbed by the sound of a very loud dirt-bike speeding up and down my street.  I had just made up my mind that I would call 3-1-1 and report the disturbance when I noticed the flashing red lights outside of my window.  The speeder had been headed office by a police car.  Unfortunately, when the officer cut him off the suspect crashed into my neighbor's parked car, damaging the door, then fled on foot.  I decided right then and there to request, no, DEMAND! speed humps on our street.  

Ok, it turns out the process is a bit more involved that I thought, but I decided to go for it anyway.  After some research, I found out that I would have to have a petition signed by 75% of the households on my block to start the request process.  For instance if you lived on residential street with intersections you would have to get 75% of the households on each block, ex. 3300, 3400, etc.

 All the information can be found in the DDOT Speed Hump Request Procedures and Engineering Guidelines document (PDF) at the city's site.  After I downloaded the petition I set out to get signatures.  All of my neighbors were happy to sign the petition. I was told that they tried a few years ago but nothing came of it.  

As of now, I have a few more signatures to obtain and based on what I was told in the past I've decided to do a few things to hopefully improve our chances of success:
  • We have a few apartment buildings on the block, so I would like to get the residents to sign as well as the builing management.
  • We have serveral vacant properties, so I will submit a list of those so that they are not counted against our total.
  • Lastly, I'll make a copy of the petition before I submit it, that way we have a record and paper trail to work with as we go through the imminent bureaucracy
I'm hoping to submit the petition by early next week so I'll post updates of the process and our progress! 

This Saturday! The Essential Theatre Presents “Before I Die: The War Against Tupac Shakur,” an original play by Michael Oatman.  



Scheduled for Saturday, September 1st at 4 PM, the presentation will take place in the center’s south atrium foyer, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566.  Admission is free and seating is first come-first served.  The presentation contains adult language, sexual content and is recommended for audience members aged 18 years and over.  “Before I Die: The War Against Tupac Shakur,” is A fictional account dramatizing the last days before hip hop icon Tupac Shakur was killed preceded by a self arranged meeting between him and his industry rival Christopher (Biggie Smalls.) Wallace.  For more info contact 202.467.4600, kennedy-center.org, 202.328.0569, press@theessentialtheatre.org, www.theessentialtheatre.org, www.youtube.com/theessentialtheatre.