Recently in Gentrification Category

I keep looking at my old 2003 post "My Dream of Shaw" trying to figure out what I could say to the person who wrote that entry ten years ago.

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.

I honestly don't know what to make of some of my early posts where I named some folks and well gave names to some, one being Drama Momma, whose actual name I have forgotten. Then there was a nickname I may have mentioned but I don't see it in a search, Cindy [insert title here]. Because I believe Cindy has changed and I see her everyso often, I feel no desire to dig up her dark past.

Dramma Momma, is another story. I see her rarely. I know she's around. But I don't think she has changed much, so I don't feel that I'm damaging any recovery. DM, or Dramma Momma was a neighbor that I (and others) had on again off again issues with. I first mentioned her in 2003. And I mentioned her off and on after that. She was a troublesome neighbor and a broken soul. She was a single mother with a very angry son. She'd be on the wagon and fall off. Some days she'd curse me out on the street, others invite me over for a bite. She was loud. She'd blast her music for hours.

I would be lying if I said I missed her. I'm very happy that her landlord was forced to sell most of his properties (probably because he was overextended), which resulted in a nice fellow from Maryland buying the house she rented. This nice fellow fixed up the house a bit, moved in, then moved out to follow his dreams. Now rent there is a nice couple who are musicians who make waaaaay less noise than DM. Heck I never hear them.

Gentrification-wise, her move was another African American renter being replaced by whites. Neighborwise, it was a switch out from one problematic neighbor where the drug dealers would comfortably stand in front of or in her yard, to new neighbors who don't assist the criminals and work to improve their yard and the street. Yes the story of gentrification has the sweet old lady who'd been there for years, suddenly tossed out by evil white people. This is not that case here. I'm sure I wasn't the only one breathing a sigh of relief to see her go. She was the sign of a bad neighborhood, with chaos reigning all about her, spilling into the sidewalks and seeping through the party walls. The party putting her out was a black landlord who had his own problems and had to sell the house DM rented and another house on the block. I suspect he had financial issues of his own, forcing the sale. So even the idea of white landords don't work with the usual gentrification line here. Was it gentrification that put her out? Don't know, don't care. She's gone and it is peaceful.

Let's start the new year with a little excerise, but this doesn't involve going to the gym or putting on track shoes. Not this is an observational excerise. Name or picture in your mind at least 5 spots in Shaw that have non-market rate housing. Shaw is a pretty large neighborhood when you include the areas of Logan Circle and U Street, so 5 should be very, very, insanely easy.

The ones I'm thinking of are the Ashbury Dwellings, both the Northwest Co-ops, the Phillis Wheatley YWCA, Lincoln-Westmoreland, and Foster House. With the exception of the YWCA they also have parking lots, as a common feature. They serve different housing needs, such as women, and seniors and many take Section 8. None of them are claimed by DC Public Housing as properties.

The point of the excerise is awareness. It is easy to forget with the cranes and contruction of the pretty new market rate condos and apartments that such housing exists. Shaw is a diverse community and the non-market rate housing keeps a level of diversity in various aspects of Shaw life.

And this might just be me, but non-market rate housing is not a problem. Too much of it may be since concentrated poverty is bad. But I notice lately, problem places, that used to be big problems (ex. Lincoln-Westmoreland) are less so as the neighborhood as a whole has improved. Maybe this is the trick of having gentrification work for different kinds of people. If the affordable places can manage to remain, then the residents can have their quality of life improve because there are now more middle/upper income folks in their neighborhood demanding better policing, city services, etc. Yes, everyone in the District deserves better policing and city services, but I've learned it doesn't come without lots of demanding.

Is it a right?

A privilege?

Though there wasn't much business at last night's BACA meeting there was some between the cookies and sandwiches. I also noticed a sizable Bloomingdale contingent. I mention the Bloomingdale, other side of Florida Avenue contingent because of a citizen comment when Sgt. Lee of MPD had the floor.

The female citizen, who lived on a SoRi (South of Rhode Island) Bloomingdale street, complained about a parking ticket she got in the wee hours. She said she gets home late and by that time there are no legal parking spots so she had to park near a stop sign, thus parking illegally. Because it was in the wee hours, it was more than likely MPD and not DPW that issued the ticket. Her justification for parking illegally and desiring exemption, was fear of crime, including sexual assault. BACA prez. Geovani Bonilla offered a long term solution of residental parking and extending the hours.

Parking is a problem of sucess and/or gentrification. When many of the houses on your block used to house people to poor to own cars, or biking singles or vacant houses, the pressure for parking on your block is low. But as vacant houses get fixed up and split into condos, section 8 turns to market rate, and the biking singles get married, stay and grow families needing cars or minivans with carseat space, there are fewer available parking spots. New restaurants in the area, just add to the pressure. As time goes on an unacknowledged amenity, lots of street parking/ or the ability to use your backyard for something else other than a car port, goes away as the neighborhood improves. When it goes away residents accustomed to having it, react.

While waiting for the bus I noticed two fliers taped to the bus shelter and took a picture for you here. Looking at them I'm going to guess they come from One DC, the same folks who brought you the pre-Occupy occupation camp on that very square back in 2010.

They are worried that the invisible black folk who live on Square 42 will be displaced. Yes, I know they don't think that, but they are concerned about "displacement" but something or someone has got to be there to be displaced in the first place. The last people who were there were protesters who after sometime annoyed the mostly black residents and business living in the UHOP owned/ Reatig designed building next door. They weren't paying any rent no how anyways, so the protesters were 'displaced'.

The second flier throws out some numbers. You can see a close up here. It says the white population increased by 31.5% and the African American population decreased by 31%. There are non-sinister reasons, if you consider Logan Circle a part of Shaw... which I do. Since the 2000 census, the 14th Street got a lot of multi-unit condos, which filled with young non-black people. Other parts of Shaw also had a few big new condos and little condos smashed into townhouses. Condos are meant to be sold. One DC's target population aren't buying squat. Black people can buy condos and houses, as we are not all on the public dole, but not so much in Shaw, in large numbers. And those of us who are black homeowners, we can and do get agitated when there is talk about putting in "work force" or "low income" rental housing near us.

Besides, if you haven't noticed... there is still a lot of affordable housing in Shaw. Check out the area along 7th Street, down near M, N, O Streets, also along 5th St. It is not as if we are devoid of low income housing. There is lots of new stuff coming in and I'd rather it be things that make the neighborhood attractive and vibrant and lively in a good way. Shaw has/had been lively in a bad way too long.

DC Less Dangerous- Forbes credits gentrification among other things. DC may no longer be Chocolate City or Dodge City due to demographic changes. I'm just paraphrasing, read it for yourself. Also Baltimore is the 7th most dangerous city. But don't let it go to your head, still be aware of your surroundings and call 911.

History-Gentrification-WP Root- The Root has an interesting article about the whole 'neighborhood history' thing in the face of gentrification/ demographic change.

Halloween on Thomas- It is looking like the event is going to be big or at least very entertaining. According to a handout the organizer has booked stilt walkers, a juggler, a magician, an aerialist, and the obligitory face painter. They are looking for donations of $50-100 and I gather one would contact eve dot hambach at afp dot com for more info.

Informed Voter- For many reasons I have sworn off voting for anyone in DC whose last name is a color. No Blacks, or Browns. No Grays or Whites. No Rosas or Verdes. No Gelbs, or Brauns. No Rouges or Gris. The City government is colorful enough with just Barry, and I've noticed the colorfully named (and two not colorfully named) are no good for the city.

Garden- Just this week I finally got a real sized tomato.

Favorite Dishes Game- This weekend's Washington Post Magazine featured Tom Sietsema's Top 40 restaurants. The Help and I read aloud certain sections and talked about dining out which led us to a little game. Name a dish that you really, really, liked and name which restaurant you've eaten it at. It was a little harder than it sounds so food trucks were added to "restaurants". The other thing is it also had to be a place that still exists.  It became obvious that the Help likes eateries because of their atmosphere. For me was that a lot of dishes that have impressed me and I've wanted to recreate, came from the now shuttered Cafe Atlantico. My other problem was I also have liked dishes from restaurants where the menu changes based on season or the chef's whims, meaning I'd see those only once. A few of my favorites are, a side of green beans, and a turnip gratin from Corduroy. Tofu pad thai from Beau Thai, particularly if I can get some lime slices. The nopalitos (salty baby cactus salad) and the grilled shrimp and zucchini/yellow squash sandwich from Oyamel. Pan con tomate and whatever small animal cooked in dried fruits (sometimes it's rabbit, sometimes it's quail) at Jaleo. The Banana milkshake from Goodie's Frozen Custard, that was sunshine and happiness in a cup. Anyway you get the idea.

- Langston Hughes

In the past as part of my vaction plans I would do a "gentrification tour".  In 2008 I went to Chicago after reading a bunch of Sudhir Venkatesh books about Chicago. Before that in 2006, after reading and marking up the book London Calling: The middle classes and the remaking of inner London, I ventured over to the UK and blogged about that.

This week I found myself on Sugar Hill in Harlem. Well according to Apple's map app I was staying on Sugar Hill. I've a read a few books about Harlem and the demographic changes there, but it has been a while. We found ourselves there because it was where we could find comparatively cheap lodgings on Manhattan for a meeting the Help had down near 30 Rock.

Since NYC is just a cheap bus ride away I might be able to throw in one more gentrification tour before the end of this blog next year. 

A thought ocurred to me while reading something from a neighborhood email list. The topic was neighborhood change or gentrification. There was a polite request that newcomers respect the ones who came before and acknowledge the residents who came before. There are also calls that the next generation of residents preserve and celebrate a particular slice of neighborhood history. So I wondered, did the residents who we are to remember do the same for the ones they replaced?

The DC Humanities Council, the same organization sponsoring a part of my Truxton Circle project, is putting on a "Humanitini" talking about gentrification. I'm keeping my distance on that, 'cause I'm still working on ye olde project, and I want to get another grant for another project.
Anyway, via the Bloomingdale blog I've learned that the latest "Humanitini" was covered by the Washington City Paper in ""It's Been Invaded": Newcomers and Native Washingtonians Clash at Gentrification Panel" which gives a description that it's the old black old timers vs non-black
(white mostly) newbies.
Ya know, the old timers vs new comers in DC thing is as old as dirt. I'm thinking back to some books on Black Washington be it about the black upper class or domestics, oldtimers don't like newbies. Now, we get to add color to the mix. Old timers didn't like it when all these countrified folk came up from Nowhere'sville, NC or SC or wherever from the rural South, in the early 20th century. Old timers had a system and new comers would screw it up. Old timers grew up in the city, new comers were too rural. But I guess no one gave a flip when it was black old timers vs black newbies, sort of like black on black crime.
Also no one defines what exactly is a newbie. I've been here 11 years and have some grumpy old timer views. But for some it doesn't matter because I'm not a native Washingtonian. I guess you can't have a natives vs non-native, because then you don't get to talk about race the way you can when you talk about gentrification in DC. Believe it or not there are plenty of white DC natives in the DC metro area, most of the ones I know are either under 10 or over 40. With gentrification it doesn't matter if the Afro-Amer person priced out is native or not, if they are replaced by a non-black renter, it's gentrification. Doesn't matter if it is the general flow of cities, with groups replacing each other (immigrants, yuppies, gay dudes, etc) as it happens in cities, change for some equals injustice.

I guess eveyone by now interested in the topic has read Garance Franke-Ruta's Atlantic article "The Politics of the Urban Comeback: Gentrification and Culture in D.C." which mentions Stephen Crockett's accusations of "swagger jacking". Franke-Ruta points out that the building that houses the Brixton, one of the businesses of Crockett's ire, was an eyesore for a long time. She also mentions that the cries of 'gentrification' in DC may be "past its prime." 

Until we get shiny new hot spots, sit down restaurants, and modern furniture showrooms to complain about, we have to live with years of boarded up shells, carry outs with scratched up plexiglass and junky thrift shops, and complain about those. I don't miss hearing gun fire most every night. I don't miss trying to convince DPW to ticket a car that had been sitting in the same spot for weeks that I believe was stolen. I don't miss Dan's, the smelly fried fish carry out that Beau Thai replaced.

In urban settings, like Shaw, people move. They aren't like the trees. There may be a few households that are immobile, but most people move around. I hope once the TruxtonCircle.org project is all done, I can see if our perceptions about the neighborhood matches the facts. I suspect, but we'll see if it is true, that this small section of Shaw got at least half of its African American population from the Carolinas and other Southern states. I belive those folks who would have in the past settled in DC, replenshing the numbers, bypassed the city all together and headed directly for the burbs. Franke-Ruta highlighted more recent census data to show that the percentage of African Americans had been dropping long before the Brixton, Marvin, and the other swanky cool places showed up.

In the comments to the Crockett article, Crockett wrote that it, "isn't just about gentrification or the building of well run businesses, but more a look at how the businesses are using an African American ethos in a city that is now losing a huge part of its uniqueness as being an African American city." Brixton is not African American. Afro-Brit? I have no idea what people of West Indian and African descent call themselves over there. There was no large black British population here. The other places reference a period in certain notables' lives. Busboys and Poets is named for Langston Hughes, specifically his time as a waiter in DC. Marvin, I recently found out is apparently for Marvin Gaye's period in Belgium. Must the memory individuals of a particular group be kept in segregation?

 A couple of miles south in "Chinatown" (really China Block, but that's another story) there are all sorts of references to a people who have now settled in Fairfax County and shop at the H-mart. If non-Chinese opened up a Panda Express, staffed by Latinos along H or 7th Streets, I don't think anyone would bat an eye. I'm guessing the point of making Hooters, Legal Seafoods and Bed, Bath and Beyond have chinese characters on their signs is to preserve the Chinese character of Chinatown. Well we see how well that worked. You need people. Not a fancy gate. People. For Chinatown, Chinese people. To get back to the uniquiness of being an African American city, ya' gonna need more African Americans. And for some reason, like the Chinese, they keep moving to the burbs.