UT Reader Asks: Unwelcome on the Porch

• July 16th 2012

by UrbanTurf Staff

In this installment of UrbanTurf Reader Asks, a new resident in a Columbia Heights group house is wondering how to politely ask some unwanted loiterers to leave her porch.

My friends and I recently rented a group row house in Columbia Heights. The day we moved in, a couple guys were hanging out on the porch of the house, and they actually helped us move stuff and were very friendly and welcoming. But since then, this same pair of guys hangs out on our porch every morning, drinking. We don't know where they live exactly or why they've chosen our porch as their morning watering hole, but they are clearly guys from the neighborhood. They don't really bother us, they don't make too much noise, and they don't threaten us at all -- although one of them sports an electronic tracking ankle bracelet, so evidently he's on probation of some kind.

My roommates and I are wondering what to do about the situation. We fear that by telling them they can't come around anymore, we'll invite trouble. And since they don't actually cause any trouble now, we also wonder if we should care at all.

What would UT readers suggest?

Post your thoughts in the comments section. If you would like to submit a question for UrbanTurf Reader Asks, send an email to editor2012@urbanturf.com.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ut_reader_asks_unwelcome_on_the_porch/5771.