Bloomingdale residents have long relied on Scott Roberts’s excellent neighborhood news and information email list (email scott (at) scott-roberts.net or apply to the Google Group to get it). Today’s email was no exception, even if it revealed an alarming trend. Behold these two separate, and hopefully unrelated postings:

+ See this note from a resident on the 1700 block of 2nd Street NW: “Someone keeps defecating directly in front of my garage. I believe it is happening overnight. It was happening pretty consistently but then it stopped when the weather became cold. I was reluctant to believe that a human could be doing this. I had hoped that perhaps it was the fault of some inconsiderate person not picking up after their dog or that there may be a stray dog but today my morning surprise was topped off with tissue paper so I’m pretty sure a human is doing this. Does anyone have any suggestions of how I might deter this behavior? Has anyone else encountered this issue? Please help.” Installing a camera or a motion-detecting light have been suggested.

+ See this 2/8/2009 message from a resident on Adams Street NW, 100 block: “I would like to ask (no plea) with the dog-owning neighbors in the area of the 100 block of Adams Street NW to please pick up after your dog. Someone or a set of pet owners have decided that my yard is free for their dogs to poop in daily without bothering to pick it up. Today it was particularly revolting. Along with this, does anyone have any suggestions on how to deter dogs from yards? I read about sprinkling red pepper on the lawn. I don’t want to hurt the dog. It’s the owners that I would like to strangle.”

Now, requests for people to do a better job picking up after their dogs is nothing new—it’s practically the raison d’être of neighborhood email lists in the first place. But human feces is another story. Perhaps poop-scooping and human defecation prevention should be the first item on Bloomingdale (for now)’s neighborhood “broken windows” list?

And if you’re ever unsure about what kind of shit you’re dealing with, make sure to consult the Washington City Paper’s greatest piece of service journalism ever.

Photo by Pak Gwei