THE MAYOR OF 10TH STREET NE HAS DIED
THE LINCOLN PARK NEWSLETTER: We remember Rick Hamecs -- and his controversial hobby. RIP Rick.
RICK HAMECS, CURMUDGEON, NEIGHBORHOOD NOODGE AND FRIEND
Rick enjoying a night out.
RICK’S DEATH STUNS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
By The Lincoln Park Newsletter
Rick Hamecs, the Mayor of 10th Street NE, died early Monday. Best known in recent years as the neighbor who organized the 10th Street alley parties and dinners, Rick was an ornery curmudgeon whose steely facade masked a heart of gold.
He was 72 and died just days short of his birthday, June 9.
Rick most recently missed the spring alley party, but urged neighbors to proceed without him. “Please 'party on' on my behalf!” Rick exclaimed from his hospital bed.
Rick could frequently be seen walking his beloved dog, Ralphie, while seated on his scooter, which he relied upon because of a chronic disease that he largely kept to himself. During those scooter walks, he often spotted neighborhood problems, leaky faucets, faulty parallel parkers and didn’t hesitate to notify authorities to seek remedies.
“Rick was truly the best of us,” Mark Ugoretz said. “He was an old school neighbor, keeping track of who was new, who was leaving, who was doing what, and welcoming all. He kept the neighbors together, organizing the annual alley and progressive dinner parties and made sure we all knew each other.”
Helen Betts agreed. “I always enjoyed running into Rick in the alley, catching up on neighborhood news and visiting with their sweet dog Ralphie,” Helen said. Jackie Krieger also enjoyed Rick when he walked by, saying he “always had something interesting and funny to share.”
Rick was a close friend of Mary Arrighi, his neighbor on 10th Street, and helped her organize the listserv, community watch and social events. When Mary died in 2017, Rick stepped up to take on the lead role. He was pivotal in the renaming of Al Arrighi Way to add Mary’s name to make it Al and Mary Arrighi Way.
Mary Arrighi, left, and Councilmember Sharon Ambrose, center, at the dedication of the Al Arrighi Alley.
CHELLIE THANKS NEIGHBORS
“It is with unbearable sorrow that I'm letting you know that my husband, Rick Hamecs, the ‘Mayor of 10th Street NE’ and the love of my life passed away at around 4:00 am this morning, June 3, 2024,” his wife, Chellie Hamecs said in an email to friends and neighbors.
“Thank you all for the love and support of me and Ralphie during this difficult time. I'll let you know about a funeral and other arrangements once I figure them out,” Chellie said. “Please say prayer for Rick. May he Rest in Peace.”
A retired Housing and Urban Development employee and representative of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Rick attended Penn State (‘72, BS, urban development), a home state university, after graduating from St. Gabriel’s High School in his hometown of Hazelton, Pa. He then attended American University (MPA, urban affairs) and the University of Delaware (urban economics.)
In his quiet but relentless way, Rick put that urban planning education to good use. Rick was instrumental in getting the stop signs on 10th & Massachusetts and Constitution NE. “To get the stop signs on Massachusetts, he drove from the stadium all the way into far NW to map and prove that 10th & Mass. NE was the only intersection that was not controlled,” Mark said.
Halloween was a big holiday for RIck.
‘VERY, VERY SAD’
Neighbors reacted with profound sadness.
Rick was known on 10th Street for his Halloween carving parties for the kids and he believed his chili could not be surpassed.
“Rick was the ideal neighbor, generous with his tools, his time and his chili,” said Rich Rubin, who lived across the street and whom Rick deeply admired for his skilled examination and surveillance of the Internal Revenue Service for The Wall Street Journal.
“He helped make 10th Street a real community and kept his eyes on the block for all of us -- sometimes literally, with gently acerbic parallel-parking critiques,” Rich said. “We'll miss him terribly.”
Ram Uppuluri said Rick represented what makes the neighborhood special. “He was always generous and nice to the kids on the block from the time they were little - that’s the kind of thing Capitol Hill is great for - the steady presence of neighbors,” Ram said.
Paula Conru said that she and Kip Conru had barely unpacked their bags when Rick dragooned them to the annual holiday progressive dinner. “He was so kind, and I left that dinner thinking how lucky we were to have found this great neighborhood and community after our big move,” Paula said.
“Very, very sad. A major loss,” said Aaron Lorenzo, a resident on Constitution Avenue.
“We will greatly miss Rick, a wonderful neighbor who invited us to our first alley party before we even moved onto the block while our house renovation was still under way,” Aaron said. “This sad loss leaves a major void, given what a fixture Rick has been in the neighborhood, from organizing the community gatherings to so much more. We–the Lorenzo family–extend our deepest condolences to Chellie.”
Rick, on scooter, and Chellie.
COMBATTING PORCH PIRATES
Kate and Rob Winthrop said that it was hard to put into words the sense of loss they feel.
“Rick was a wonderful neighbor. He knew every kid on the block and everyone else,” the Winthrops said. ”He was the go-to guy for what was happening in the ‘hood,’ and I think felt a certain sense of responsibility for those of us right on his street.”
Rick often accepted packages and the UPS guy knew to drop them off at Rick’s. One year many neighbors were away before Christmas.
“When we returned home, we had a note from Rick asking us to please pick up our stuff,” Kate and Rob said. “He had 25 packages clogging up in his basement!’
“We weren’t the only ones to lean on ‘Mr. Rick.’”
Rick, with Chellie, celebrating his 70th bithday.
ARCHED EYEBROWS
Kip Conru, who has spent decades and decades and decades tinkering with a vintage sports car in his garage across the alley from Rick, said he often was the recipient of critiques.
“Inevitably, I would be under my British two seater with grease up to my elbows and Rick would saunter by with Ralphie,” Kip said. “With his trademark wit and arched eyebrow he would remind me he had never seen the car running properly. I repeatedly protested that indeed I had just been driving it but that it needed a few tweaks. Secure in his observation, he would continue on his walk.”
Kip expects the tweaks to continue, along with the memories. ”I will always think of Rick while turning wrenches,” Kip said.
A Pennsylvania native, Rick became a big Nats fan.
PANDEMIC PAL
Ted Mann, who moved into the Arrighi home two doors down from the Hamecs, said he couldn’t imagine better neighbors.
“In those first early days of the pandemic lockdown, as my son napped, I stepped out onto our little patio, aimless, and tossed a succession of wild shots in the direction of the little plastic basketball hoop,” Ted recalled. “I was happy for a minute in the solitude until a voice boomed over — across the Jacksons’ yard, from behind the big grill: ‘Are you ever going to make one?’”
“Rick loved to play the curmudgeon but his kindness always gave away the game,” Ted said. “He was warm and generous to us, playful and sardonic and helpful.”
An adopted Washingtonian and Nationals fan, Rick insisted that Ted eschew his pathetic Phillies regalia when he gave Ted and Caleb tickets to Nats games.
“I will always be grateful for the baseball games I saw with Caleb, because of Rick and Chellie’s generosity. (They did make us wear Nats gear; fair is fair.)”
ARRIGHI ALLEY IS NUTS!
In 2023, Rick was at the center of a major neighborhood scandal.
On the listserv that May, an 11th Street neighbor posted a complaint: “I've been finding peanut shells in my backyard again. I clean them up and find more the next day. Anyone else having this issue? I never see the critter bringing them. I'm hoping it's squirrels.”
The missive triggered a nutty avalanche.
“I have many peanut shells in my backyard, on my fence and numerous peanuts buried in my garden in the yard and also in the pots on my patio,” another 11th Street resident emailed. “I am assuming it is the squirrels digging up my plants and not other critters.”
For months, as neighbors kibitzed about peanuts, the culprit kept quiet.
“I would like to ask whoever is putting out peanuts to please stop! All rodents love nuts, not just squirrels,” one irritated neighbor demanded.
THE CONFESSION
Finally, at 4:03 p.m. on July 26, 2023, an email was sent to the list. Subject: “Confession.” It was from Rick.
“Time to admit that I am the culprit and source of the peanut shells,” Rick began.
“The giant English walnut tree in our backyard has been the home of at least three squirrel groups for 25 plus years,” Rick confessed. “Every year or so, a new batch of pups are born. Some stay in the area. Some find a burrow in tree to call home. Others leave.”
Rick explained that he routinely spread peanuts on his deck – each morning.
“Seems, some of those peanuts have found their way around the neighborhood,” Rick wrote. “Apologize for the bad behavior of my gray furry friends.”
Then, Rick deployed an aggressive rat-abatement plan that he funded, including a dozen poison bait stations.
But Rick didn’t give up his squirrel-feeding hobby.
Rick by the squirrel picnic table he made during the pandemic. Photo by Chellie.
“And going forward,” he said, “I will reduce the number of peanuts spread each morning. Sorry for spreading the shells.”
Paula Conru in her remembrance, noted this nutty legacy. “Whenever I see a peanut shell in our backyard, I’ll think of Rick and know that he’s still here in the neighborhood.”
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Milton Williams Archives
PHOTOS FROM THE DEDICATION OF THE BETHUNE STATUE
In the picture above, the National Park Service unveils the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) Mary McLeod Bethune memorial statue in Lincoln Park.
“I climbed up some Park Service scaffolding to get this shot. The workers looked the other way—they knew I wasn’t supposed to be up there. I got the best photos that day,” said photographer Milton Williams, in “Moments in Time,” 1973-1993 (Nashville: James C. Winston Publishing Co., 1996), 51.
NPS/National Capital Region Public Affairs Collection
Eighteen thousand people were on hand to witness Dr. Dorothy Irene Height and the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. dedicate the memorial in Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C. on July 10, 1974.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1VAZgfCet1HjsOZBS8_WRa9vYzJILYqlRLcaXCnOL7Lw/edit?usp=sharing
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