Two years ago, my morning get-out-of-bed routine looked like this: A one-man jackhammer would cut through the earth and my sleep. In a drowsy haze, I’d lift the pillow from my head to stare outside my window. For an instant, I’d forget that my ears as well as the neighborhood were under construction. Every morning, it was the city telling me, “hello” to Tivoli Condominium Town Homes and “goodbye” to the community garden that took up most of that block until the fall of 2002.

[This article published first in DC North. Support Community Papers. www.capitalcommunitynews.com]