Yesterday, Mayor Bowser held a press conference in which she announced that vaccinations would become required for all people working around children, such as all teachers, childcare workers, bus drivers, food service etc., was a welcome announcement. At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson shared a letter she wrote at the end of August pushing for this very action, which you can read here. In the press conference, it was also announced that student athletes 12 and older are required to be fully vaccinated in order to participate in sports. Capitol Hill Corner has a good summary of the mayoral press conference.
A metric featured in the press conference that really caught my eye is in this still below. The positivity rate went from 0.4% to 0.6% and jumped to 1.0% in the first two weeks of school. Yikes:
The Friends of Southeast Library (FOSEL), a non-profit and all-volunteer association that organizes book sales to benefit their library branch, is circulating a petition to be allowed 175 square feet of space in the upcoming library renovation– the amount they currently count on. Unfortunately, as it stands, the Friends will only get 80 sq ft.– a reduction that will not allow them to properly store and set up the books that, in turn, will benefit the library. If you’d like to support the Friends, consider signing this petition.
There have been many tire and wheel thefts around the neighborhood in recent weeks. Several readers via Instagram have been sharing photos of cars mounted on what appear to be milk crates, missing all four tires. One neighbor in particular, Bisher, recently moved from Chicago and has had his wheels stolen twice– an unfortunate incident that’s set him back $8000 so far. If you’d like to help Bisher feel a little more welcome in the neighborhood, he and his roomies have set up a GoFundMe to help him get an alarm.
Speaking of parking woes, last night’s 6A Transportation Meeting took place and Loren from the Daily Rider live-tweeted the whole thing. You can read the whole unrolled thread here. There is much neighborhood animosity when it comes to possibly turning the 1300 block of North Carolina into a one-way street, and many have been upset with the plan, turning their frustration into a site called neighbors4ncave.com. As you may recall, North Carolina Avenue was left out of the C Street NE plan, which recently broke ground, and there have been efforts to try and make the one-block stretch fit in with the overall plan in an afterthought sort of way. At the meeting last night, many voiced their concerns (again, link is here).
But not everyone is upset. Friend of the blog Mark Sussman did some research of his own this week:
Reader Kate Davey sent along some anti-Semitic, anti-vaccination pamphlets she and her neighbors received in the area around Seward Square yesterday (north of the square, not south as noted in the original tweet). This is not the first time such pamphlets resurface– Kate remembered that there were some that appeared around Passover of 2020.
A few readers chimed in reporting that this is a common occurrence and that the Metropolitan Police doesn’t seem to take these letters and flyers seriously. It’s frankly appalling that things have to escalate to seeing people getting hurt for the police to take things seriously.
If you missed the H Street Festival, here is a small photo peek. The Hill is Home
If you miss Wisdom, well… it’s not coming back. But the owners of Sloppy Mama’s and Republic Cantina are banding together to make some magic in the former gin joint’s space. At least you know the barbecue they don’t plan on serving will be nice. Sniff. Eater
Don’t forget about our amazing partnership with DC Music Live! Click here and catch some live music this week!
Looking for a place to volunteer? Want to make Lincoln Park even more beautiful? Then sign up here to volunteer this Saturday, September 25 with the Friends of Lincoln Park and celebrate National Lands Day.
Finally, it’s Oktoberfest, and Eater has rounded up some great places to celebrate with Oompah and bier– and some of our favorites around the area made the grade, like Cafe Berlin, Wunder Garten, Dacha, and Atlas Brew Works at Half Street. Prost!