I know personally of one PQ building within earshot/eyeshot of a company who was in violation of their permit’s operating hours. The residents of that building got VERY tired of the noise, collaborated, and sent their own representative over to file their grievance. Needless to say, the problem was solved the very next day. (And before someone comments that this was a problem that should have been brought to the attention of the bldg mgmt first, it was–and the response was, What do you want ME to do about it?).

One of the big competitive advantages of downtown DC is the pedestrian experience. We need to continue to maximize that as lord knows we can’t compete on ease of parking. This ARRA stimulus money was tagged for streetscape improvements. I’m grateful district officials determined that our area was a priority to complete.

The point was, and remains, that we are suffering maximum discomfort (noisy dawn construction on the weekends) for minimal gain. A new building (or plumbing, etc.) dramatically enhances the value of the area and is worth the noise: new lights and tree boxes are not. We are only asking for the distractions to match the gains. This means, for instance, the workers start at 10:00 am, not 7:0O on Saturday morning.

And if I joined the neighborhood board and studied byzantine municipal websites only to find myself across the street from planned construction for 2 years, I would seriously reconsider the value of my time investment, among other things.

YOU LIVE IN A CITY where these and other plans are announced, published and available for you to research. Are you active in your neighborhood associations? Do you read the the city’s web sites? Its not like this project just materialized — it was planned ages ago.

City living is noisy and not for everyone. If its not for you, then you have an alternative which involves a truck and new mortgage. Those that remain will love the area even more without the naysayers.