ANC Round Up

GM normally tries to draw out some sort of a theme or thread of ANC meetings, but some just refuse to comply. Thus it is with tonight’s ANC meeting, so GM will dispense with the thematic jokes and dive right in to the highlights after the jump:

Better than Free:

DC ambulances have developed a pretty bad reputation. Turns out that a good portion of Georgetowners have a better option: the Georgetown University Emergency Response Medical Service (known as “GERMS”) offers free, that’s right, free emergency ambulance service to the West Village. How do they measure up to the pros? DC EMS has an average of 16 minute response time. GERMS is 4.5 minutes. So GERMS is faster and completely free. That’s not a tough choice. Shocking as it sounds, if you need an ambulance don’t call 911, call GERMS at 202-687-HELP (4357). (If you’re an East Villager, try the number anyway. The GERMS rep made it sound like they’ll smudge the boundaries a little bit if called just beyond their jurisdiction).

Sarah’s Dry-Cleaners:

Sarah’s Market is applying to add a dry-cleaning drop-off and pick-up service. Approximately 1/5 of the market will be turned over to this service, although no cleaning will be done on-site. Andy Johnson stated that they probably wouldn’t even have one of those dry cleaner conveyor-belts. Drop-offs and pick-ups will take place from 7:00 AM till 7:00 PM. After a strong showing of support from the community and the East Village commissioners, a motion in support of the application passed unanimously.

Wow, Were they Serious?

GM took a couple stabs at what exactly Neyla was proposing to add as a mural to the building next door. The thing is, the three ridiculous designs that GM proposed probably would have had a better shot than the actual proposal. It was a photorealistic Rome-themed pastiche of a dog statue, columns, 80’s era computer graphics, and tulips. This is a rough depiction of what it looked like:

Needless to say, it wasn’t approved.

Quote of the Night:

“I hate to complicate it, but this is a complicated neighborhood” – Commissioner Birch (a quote-of-the-night machine)

Odds and Ends:

• Neighbors are up in arms about towing companies illegally parking around the Luk Oil station at Pennsylvania and 28th. Have you seen these scofflaws at work?
• After one citizen heroically photographed and ranked all the street-lights to identify the 50 worst so that they could be repaired, DDOT now has decided to simply fix them all.
• Rare lack of unanimity: Two commissioners dissented from the refusal to allow Vivvy’s Nails to put up a sign above the Subway.