Bike Handle
Originally uploaded by In Shaw.

This was first seen in the 2005 entry "Bike Handle on Richardson." Yes, people of Richardson Place, your street used to look like crap, with that mix of broken concrete and brick.

One of the great things about the neighborhood in the early days was it was a good place to get around without owning a car. Still is, but back in 2005, you had to own your own bike. None of this fancy schmancy CaBi stuff. I had a little series of posts called "Living in Shaw with no car" one of those was in regards to bikes. Looking back on that post there have been some changes. Chain Reaction is no longer there. It was a cool bike shop, where Red Toque currently sits, operated by the now defunct Shaw Eco-Village non-profit. It had young men, teenagers, fixing bikes at a nice price. Now I use Bicycle Space, which is a bit further from the house.  Also from that post I see that bike lanes were appearing on R but between 7th and 14th. Love that in the following years the lanes expanded. I really wish they'd expand more to have something between 7th and North Cap that gets you past NY Ave and Downtown. There is so much more around here to walk and bike to it is wonderful.

2007 was the first year of the market, per a quick look of my old posts. That was the same year as the opening of Big Bear, and as we know from experience, the two go together. I'm quite sure if I searched  I could find a post mentioning a previously failed market in Bloomingdale that sat around on Joe Mamo's lot. A farmer's market outside of the coffee shop just works, so it would be best to keep it where it is.

As  a resident and blogger I have enjoyed the market. I seem to have mentioned the market each year it has been open. It is not as big as other DC markets but it is great in its smallness. Neighbors can meet up with each other, kids can get introduced to unprocessed food, and people can talk to farmers.

I look forward to Sunday.

Is my block diverse? Is my neighborhood diverse? There was a question of diversity at the most recent BACA meeting directed towards the Mundo Verde representative. It seems that 7% of the staff of this very sought after charter school, is African-American. An attendee asked if that was enough diversity, so at the same time I can wonder does our neighborhood have enough diversity. But then what kind of diversity? Looking at the census tract that covers Truxton Circle, tract 46, we went from 92% black in 2000 to 65% black in 2010. This can be seen as a good thing because it means the neighborhood is no longer a segregated black neighborhood.  I've been glancing at academic papers about segregation, and they seem to agree that segregation is bad. However the authors of these things seem to want to desegregate white neighborhoods, with an influx of up and coming (they say poor, but let's be hopeful and positive) African Americans in order for the black newcomers to take advantage of job opportunities, better housing, better schools, and lower crime. No one seems to advocate for it going the other way around, whites desegregating a poorer black neighborhood to bring (eventually) job opportunities, better housing and lower crime. When it happens in the other direction, we call it gentrification.

It's diverse enough. It isn't Georgetown, nor does it look like the neighborhoods west of the Park. As long as there is the Co-op, and multi-generation families who bought their houses in the bad old 80s (or before) there will be some level of economic and racial diversity. Mom or grandma might own the house free and clear and may be in good health to live long enough to out last the young new couple who moved in. Then she may pass the property on to the kids or grandkids who live with her, and they might have 5 or more years of living there before deciding to cash out or getting moved out due to taxes or foreclosure or seizure by a non-resident relative who was smart enough to get mom to sign a will leaving it to them (it has been done!). When the bank or the IRS or the City or the smarter relative sells, as none seem interested in landlording, it won't be to a poor person.

Even landlords seem to have lost interest in Section 8s and renting to the poor. The evil landlord on my block lost interest in renting to crackheads a few years ago. Seriously you'd think she was advertizing on the back side of crack baggies. She does not invest in her property, but she has fixed it up juuuuust enough to rent to young people enjoying their crummy group house in the hood experience, as opposed to crack heads who don't seem to care about crap. Another landlord, who isn't evil, also decided to go with market rate over Section 8, because the Section 8 tenants were rough on the structure and tore the place up. Both landlords are black, renting to non-blacks.

I've digressed on the topic of diversity.

Crime, is better than it was before, but I still fear jinxing that so, no more on that topic.

In 2003 I wrote, "As far as businesses go, I dream of fewer liquor stores. A few places where I can walk to in 15-20 minutes from the house and grab a pastry, or sit down and eat, or buy a book." Well, books come in the mail or on-line in digital form, so scratch that. There are almost as many liquor stores as last time, just fewer places to buy 40 oz beer and MD 20/20 to go. Now in 2013, I can walk 10 minutes and get a pastry or baked good or cookies. In 2013, there are several places in walking distance to sit down and eat some food, with wait service. Well that part of the dream came true, and I also got things I didn't even dream about that I wanted, like the Bloomingdale Farmer's Market .

I could say to my 10 years younger self that the neighborhood becomes more attractive and less segregated and it will be a great place to live, sorry it is taking so long.

Blog Issues-I haven't been posting anything lately because of the flashing warning signal from my host saying how much space I was running out of, so I deleted a bunch of stuff, including, the old "This meeting never happened" entries. It pains me but I'm going to have to start deleting more material at inshaw.com/blog, now that most of it is at http://dcinshaw.blogspot.com/. Little extras, like the meeting notes hidden behind a password are gone. Well, gone from the public website. I have a copy. I created it after an incident where a speaker who came to a BACA meeting did not like how Google (not my fault, blame Google, but I'm easier to yell at than Google) summarized my notes. I wrote that I was buzzed and he was loud, but the way Google had it, he was drunk and loud. Apparently his co-workers were small minded speed reading non-click through bitties that caused him trouble. Anyway....

I'll probably start deleting chunks of the old Inshaw Site starting with 2010 and working down to 2003. The goal is to reclaim 2 Gigs to have more space to put things on TruxtonCircle.org.

House on Street 4 Sale- In my last post I mentioned neighbors were going to put their house on the market. Well, it is on the market for $649K.  There was an open house Sunday, but I saw people with the sheets of paper where the map location in the top corner looking at the house Friday. Those MRIS print out sheets haven't changed much since I bought my house, except now they are in color. It will be interesting to see what will be the final price.

????- The picture, I have no clue but it was something new at the corner of Rhode Island and New Jersey. Sign seems to say it will be like that till the end of the month.

Yes, the firehouse that seemed to have been doomed to a circle of neighborhood development Hell.

 I found a post that was written by my short term co-writer Truxonian from 2006 announcing that a restaurant was coming. [Mari looks at wrist] It's 2013, seven years now. Boundary Stone wasn't even a sparkle in anyone's eye then and Big Bear wasn't going to open until later that year. There was lots of hope and promise and sh*t in the air.

Well the new thing is the Firehouse has a facebook page. Which I think is the requirement for all new hip ventures opening in Bloomingdale. In the past 24 hours, the owners of the page have posted a photo of an upstairs bar...... Hey how's that ABRA license thing going? Is Steve May still in charge of this project? Sorry, but I am seriously friggin jaded. I've had 7 years to get this way and Mr. May's 2011 hissy fit letter didn't help.

Scott Robert's seems to be more hopeful.

Part of me wants to say it started with Windows, they were there first, and pointed to as a signal of change in the neighborhood. This was in 2005. The next year Big Bear, the coffee shop, opened after much, much waiting and hoping and a few get to know the neighbors events. Then it became the tie for the Bloomingdale Farmers Market in 2007, and real estate ads began citing it as an amenity. Now the coffee shop is all fancy and stuff and popular.

In early 2008, Kim Wee opened Timor, now Field to City. Back then it was just a few shelves and some fresh milk in glass jars. Back then, if you wanted milk in glass jars you had to go all the way to the Logan Circle Whole Foods. Back then it was also quirky, as Kim would adjust and change things, like making the side door the entrance after he was robbed.

Two years later there was a hint of the Boundary Stone coming to Rhode Island Avenue. I'm doing this decade in review to check the copy of the old blog, so by the time the Boundary Stone opened in 2011, I'd moved from inshaw.com/blog to blog.inshaw.com. A bit before Boundary Stone's opening, Rustik opened in the fall of 2010. 

It seems each year after that Bloomingdale gets something new, some new place or thing that helps define the commerical part of the neighborhood, making the place more and more attractive. These changes did not come quickly, as nothing seemed quick about them as we waited for construction, and licenses, and stuff before we could start enjoying these places and taking friends to them. I predict Red Hen won't be the last new great thing in Bloomingdale, as there is something about the neighborhood. When we figure out what "it" is, maybe Truxton Circle can get some.

Note: I also found in my old blog posts EC-12 dating back to 2006, there is probably some 2005. EC-12 is the firehouse on North Capitol that was supposed to become a restaurant. In 2006, that's pitiful.

In 2007 the city finally took care of a dead tree. A tree I had complained about had been dead for a few years and I had alerted the city to it, but the city, for reasons beyond my understanding, did nothing. A complaint that we had in the hood was that we did not receive city services, simple city services and enforcement, like other well to do neighborhoods.

Before it would require effort to get the city to enforce parking rules (church parking issues excepted) and deal with suspected stolen cars. But in 2008 when I saw a big orange boot on a car on my street, a sign that the city was being proactive (ie not requiring residents to constantly complain) about parking.

Why the change? One theory in the comments was that the city figured it was a way to get more revenue and greater chance of ticketing someone who'd actually pay up. I have another theory, the departure of Vincent Orange from Ward 5. Vinny was our (useless) Ward councilman from 1999-2007. When he was replaced by Harry Thomas Jr., who dispite stealing money from children, was pretty in tuned to residents needs and aiding with city services.