Why Gentrify?!

I was victim to the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) bogus assessment of my home as a vacant property, resulting in me receiving a horrendous property tax bill of 3 times what I really owed.  The situation was corrected, but it involved a lot of hassles on my part.  The worst part is that my stupid mortgage company went ahead and paid the crazy bill, even after I had called them and notified them of the problem AND they claimed that they would research the matter.  But, that too is fixed, and my escrow account is happy again.  I was happy to put all of this behind me, but I came across a City Paper article that talks about DC residents who had the same drama that I did when their properties were wrongly listed as vacant.  Thank God I didn’t have quite the mortgage company drama the people in the story had, such as their monthly payments increasing.

So, it’s come down to Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, or Duke Ellington to be on DC’s quarter. The “Taxation without Representation” motto was rejected by the U.S. Mint because it sounds snarky and bitter (am I allowed to use that word these days without being elitist?). The new motto is “Justice for All,” which sounds nice, but is a little less punchy. It’s all good. Apparently “Justice for All” comes from the District’s original Latin motto, “Justitia Omnibus,” who knew? The above pictures of the quarter designs come from the Washington Post. To read the narratives about the designs and the awesome men on them, read here.

I think Frederick Douglass fits best with the “Justice for All” motto. But, then again, Duke Ellington is “the man” (not the bad, The Man) around U Street. Even still, Benjamin Banneker is cool and not as well “remembered,” but he’s a major reason we even have the District. I’m torn, I love them all. What say you, though? I can’t believe they passed on Marion Barry, sheesh!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Snitches get stitches, so I’ve heard. But, I’m deliberating over whether I should start snitchin’ about the vacant properties I see on my block. Recently, I wrote about how the DC Office of Tax and Revenue sent me a heinous property tax bill for triple what it should be, due to the madness of DC’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs listing my very much inhabited, lived-in house as vacant. I’m still ticked! Even though the people at either office were rude and unhelpful, I’ve been led to believe that the situation has been corrected. That didn’t prevent me from firing off some e-mails and letters, including to Mayor Adrian Fenty (it was cathartic). But, what really, REALLY irked me is that there are about three or four shabby vacant properties on the block, and if you looked them up in the DC property database, they are listed as residential and receiving the homestead deduction. But, my newly painted home, with a neat yard, etc. is the vacant one?! No no, it is not going to work like that, my friends. All I can say is that the assessor who came around and determined that mine was the vacant property is a fool.

With the irony that I’ve been hearing that District is supposed to be getting strict about vacant properties and taxing them at the much higher rate of $5 per every $100 of its assessed value, I headed to the DCRA website and printed out enough forms to report the known vacant properties on my block. I have been kind of gung-ho about this, seeing as I hate shabby homes. Vacant properties attract litter, crime, possible squatters, and, yes, they lower property values. One of the owners is very absentee. I’ve seen him only a couple of times since I moved here, and I do not care for him. The other chap capitalized on the neighborhood’s war zone MLK riot aftermath and bought up several properties in the area; I admire his foresight, but you can’t paint your houses or trim the bushes? I wish they had sold during the real estate boom years, what they were holding on to those houses for, I don’t know, other than uninformed greed perhaps. Shoot, they missed their chances to make top dollar.

Anyway, I got cold feet about reporting them. The man with the multiple properties is annoying, but he’s kind of nice…sometimes. And, I honestly, don’t want to see anyone pay an arm and a leg in property taxes. I really just want them to fix up their properties, so they won’t look, um, vacant. Slap some paint on those suckers. Fix the mail box (empty the boxes, too). Pick up the trash. If that is too much to ask, be humble and sell your homes to people who will value them more and take care of them.

I’m undecided. Any suggestions? What would you do? I don’t have as much of a problem reporting the totally absent, unfriendly guy. Or, should I be naive enough to believe that they’ll both register as vacant property owners? Sheesh, I just want this block to get to where it could be, and these jokers are holding it back (them and the rowdy bunch in another house). Well, I’ll keep on deliberating. For more info on vacant properties in DC, click below: (more…)

Cameras, cameras, everywhere!  When I first saw this on the WardOneDC listserve, I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke, except that the story was published on April 2.  Anyway, it turns out that it was written about in the Washington Times (so it must be true!).  So, apparently the DC Council unanimously passed legislation, which was introduced by Mayor Adrian Fenty, to rig our beloved street sweeping machines with cameras that can scan license plates and photograph illegally parked vehicles in a street-sweeping zone.  The bill still must pass a final vote of approval next month.  If approved, these street sweeping cameras will join the 74 surveillance cameras found in some neighborhoods in DC.  Geez, where else can we attach cameras?  On our trash cans?  In the cherry blossom trees?  I don’t know about this one.  I was one the fence about the neighborhood surveillance cameras, but this is getting to be too much.  Does any of this ever amount to much good?  One sure thing, it will amount to added revenue for the DC government after you receive your parking ticket! If you are caught illegally parked in a street sweeping zone, you will receive a $30 ticket.

I took a well-needed day off from work today. It seemed like a wise choice with the gloomy weather outside and all. But, before you envy me, you should know that I spent much of my sacred day on the phone with the DC Office of Tax and Revenue and the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) attempting to straighten out the mess that they created when they sent me a horrendously incorrect property tax bill (I do not have $20K to send them!). We had received a property tax bill for 6 times what we really owe and were listed as a vacant property. Sibling dealt with them on Friday and gave me the heads up that they were not apologetic, repentant, or caring. It was indeed our problem.

So, I took notes from Sibling on Sunday night about the information they required, the forms that needed to be filled out, etc. I called DCRA first to confirm some things. Naturally, I was immediately placed on hold after being on hold for a while. Then, someone barked a fax number to me and hung up before I dared inquire of anything else. Of course, when I sent the information to them by fax, it suddenly wasn’t good sufficient (hey–make your instructions clearer!). Thankfully, we have copies of all of our utility records and whatnot to hopefully prove that the fact that we’ve been sleeping in this house every night for months now means that we do indeed live here and that the house is not vacant (they should see our clutter!). After being told to call the Tax office by DCRA and DCRA by the Tax office several times, I eventually and hopefully faxed our property deed, some forms, and our utility bills off to someone who will hopefully care. I was talked down to and hung up on a few times, the buck was passed many times, and I never really spoke to anyone who cared that they were the ones who messed up, but we’ll see how they resolve things. Because our bill was mailed late, we have until April 25 to make a payment, so things better be straight by then if they have any shred of competence and integrity! Pray for us and the miserable souls of these lovely people who work for the residents of the District of Columbia.

I cannot really type words that will express the horror, rage, and shock that I felt when I opened my property tax bill today when I arrived home from boring day at work. Sibling and I just received out new property tax bill from DC’s Office of Tax and Revenue. Rather than putting it aside, especially since I did not anticipate any problems, I decided to actually read it right away. And, boy, was it hideous. The bill said our annual tax was well over $20,000, and that we must pay over $10,000 by April 25! This is about 6 times what I really owe them!! I could not believe my eyes. I just knew it had to be wrong, of course it was wrong. Turns out they erroneously have our property, which is our primary and sole residence, listed as a Class 003 vacant property. Well, that sure is something! Especially since vacant properties are taxed at a rate of $5 per $100 of the property assessment value, compared with $0.85 when it is a primary residence. Just wait till they receive my call and letters! It’s bad enough they let their employees pilfer DC of millions of dollars. Do they want to make up for their loss by pilfering its property owners with hideously wrong tax bills?! Get your acts together morons! I hope nobody else received a disturbing bill like we did.