Truxton Is In Shaw

Look what I found in my paper.
The long and short of it is that gentrification is not part of any great super plan by the Man. The author described how some folks lost their home because one place was mortgaged to the gills and had to be sold and another was lost because the owner did not pay his taxes. On my own block, several of the houses were investments for landlords, and let me remind people that landlords are not, I repeat not, non-profit social services. Landlords are landlords to make money and if a property gets to a point where it is more profitable to fix it up (or give the impression that it is fixed up) and sell it than rent it, what do you think they are going to do? Wait, I’m digressing a bit….
On my block, the instances that black residents were replaced by white residents:
1- Sold because they could get better housing for their family in the burbs
2- Sold because taxes were too high
3- Sold because house was too big of a burden and beyond owner’s means
4- Sold because property was a rental (investor)
5- Sold because of job/ significant other in another place
Basically the owners sold their property. Those who got really screwed were the renters. But still no solo Man with a plan. However, if you do find the Man, tell him to do something about North Capitol and if he could cut down on crime that would be good too.
Update: Fixed bad link

The dinner went longer than I expected and creeped into my bedtime. Bad when you are the designated driver and being sleepy is as bad as drinking. Anyway, Truxton Circle was there representin’ and making our own fun.
Despite what the program said the mayor wasn’t there, neither was Linda Cropp, but Vincent Orange did show. Mr. Orange visited our table and spoke on matters that now escape me. I thought I saw Marie Johns, another person running for mayor, with that damned cell phone thingy in her ear.
At some point Mr. Orange left the dinner, which I can’t blame him if he wanted to get to bed at a reasonable hour. I know this not because I saw him walk out the door, but because the keynote speaker former chief Judge Eugene N. Hamilton mentioned it at least twice that Orange was not there. It just seemed like the judge was making a negative swipe to me. (note to TC table: Yeah and we were being all “positive”.)
Reading the Eckington listserv Orange apparently made a comment that, well, man should just quit the mayor thing now. Wednesday was it? There was a crime meeting and Orange showed up like a good council person should and reportedly made some comment that non-blacks should ask for more police as though black voices clamoring for more police on the streets would go unheard. Am I offended? Not really, as he might have been acknowledging a belief that white citizens carry more weight when complaining than black citizens. But being a public official and not only acknowledging that kind of thinking but giving it some weight, well that’s kinda offensive. Man, and it isn’t even 2006 yet.
But the thing that tells me Orange should just save his money and not run….. yard signs. I’m seeing the battle between Cropp and Fenty signs in folks yards. I have yet to see one Orange sign in someone’s yard. I don’t doubt that someone, somewhere has an Orange sign in their yard or window but I haven’t seen one.

Oh, it’s now open but this week on a preview reservations only basis. Fine by me as taking Nora for her birthday and then live theater and dinner with Bc broke the bank. I’m swearing off eating out until the coffers fill up.
But visit the site, and look around. Salads look good and the chocolate torte. If you go tell me about it.

I’m still enjoying my 2 year break from doing anything with the house. The break is here because, A)- I’m still trying to pay off the 2nd mortgage and B)- my job ends next year and I don’t want to start a large project without knowing where or how small my next paycheck will be.
But the house needs some serious fixin’.
The floors aren’t level
The house needs insulation
The windows need squaring and replacing
The stairs need strengthening
The basement walls need replacing
Something needs to be done about the periodic flooding
The furnace needs to get off the floor
None of it will be cheap.
Anyway, found a good entry about the toll that taking up a fixer upper takes on your life. It is not just financial, it eats into the rest of your life. It’s not just weekends that are lost but connections with friends because you are so busy painting or stripping or what have you. I’ve witnessed it with M&K who lived in their house as they were fixing it up. During the fix up period you are just a tired dusty person. However the sweat equity you put into the house emotionally binds you to the place, when the painted walls and the tiled tub are products of your labor. How can anyone say you don’t belong in a place when you have sacrificed part of your life and sanity, with a side of blood, sweat, tears and profane words thrown at a fixture that won’t install easy, on the altar of homeownership in the hood?

From Jim Graham’s office
Dear Friends,

This is a good time for tenant rights! As you know, all but one of my colleagues joined me last Tuesday in support of the first major strengthening of rent control in decades. Now, we need to hear from you.

Please mark your calendars for an important hearing on tenant rights issues to be held on Wednesday, October 26 at 10 a.m. in the Council Chamber at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. The hearing will be televised life at that time. The Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, which I chair, will hear testimony on five bills.

One of these is the Rental Control Reform Amendment Act of 2005, which has the support of 12 Councilmembers. This bill would abolish two provisions in the current law — the “vacancy” provisions — that have caused rent ceilings to escalate far beyond what is reasonable or rational. It replaces those provisions with a vacancy formula that is fair to both landlords and tenants. Upon a vacancy, the landlord could raise the rent ceiling by 1% for every year since the last vacancy.

The bill would also limit the amount of any adjustment in rent charged on an occupied unit to 10% of the current rent charged. Finally, instead of the biannual rent increases now allowed, landlords could only increase the rent once per year.

We will also consider the Right of Tenants to Organize Amendment Act of 2005, which spells out the basic right of tenants and tenant associations to organize without interference from landlords.

Two other bills would give tenants access to much more information about how rent increases are calculated. Finally, the Committee will consider legislation to allow a hearing examiner to consider a tenant’s challenges to rent increases taken before the Act’s 3-year statute of limitations period, so long as any damage award is limited to that 3-year period.

Your testimony is needed. Please call John Adams at 724-8198 if you wish to testify.

Bests, Councilmember Jim Graham

I typically answer emails before 9 AM on weekdays. If you email me after that, it is likely that you will hear from me the next weekday. If there is a need to communicate prior to that, you may wish to call me.

Jim Graham, Councilmember, Ward One, 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #105,
Washington, DC 20004. 202-724-8181; 202-724-8109 (fax).

Chairman, Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Main Committee
Number: 202-724-8198. 1350 Pa. Ave., NW, #112, Washington, DC 20004.

Website: www.grahamwone.com

There is an article in the Post I just couldn’t resist commenting on, Sursum Corda. It’s not in the TC (Truxton Circle) but just across the street and close enough.
As I read it the city has an interest in the outcome of the Sursum Corda deals. And I’m also reading into it that the city wants, the mayor wants, there to be some affordable housing to remain.
Another thing I’m picking up in reading these stories about Sursum Corda is a slight irritation with people patronizing (second definition, to talk down to) residents considering both deals. “We can make our own deal,” Rooker said. “We can care for ourselves.” Okay, whatever they chose it is all on them. If it turns out to be a bad deal, it’s all on them. They are grown folks, but as they are poor, there is the assumption that they are ignorant and can’t do for themselves. Well……that’s another can of worms I’ll just set aside.
But there are some things, minor details I wonder about. Regardless of what deal residents choose, and if they decide to put the money towards a unit in the new development, how will they be able to remain? As I understand it, and please correct me if I’m wrong, both deals give residents the option to move back, either buying a unit or getting a unit as part of the deal. Well after the checks and titles have been exchanged, who’s gonna pay the condo fee? The taxes? Insurance? Those things can add up to well over $500-$1000 a month. Other residents mentioned in an another article worry about those other bills, like utilities, that would be a problem. Maybe that will be remedied by the HUD Homeownership vouchers. Some may take the money and run to cheaper homes in PG, some may stick it out in DC. Whatever they do, let it be an informed decision.
On a completely selfish note, may the decision help make the neighborhood and surrounding areas like the TC a less crime/drug ridden, better serviced, “nicer” place for all.

I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy almost.
So I’m in a cab heading to Georgetown with a cabbie who has been around long enough to remember when parts of Georgetown was ghetto, and we get talking about the mayor’s race. I say Fenty is young and cute. “Well, I don’t know about that,” he responds. He prefers Cropp, believes she’s knowledgeable and is on the right track. He thought Evans was running. He was vaguely aware of Johns and Brown. When I mentioned Orange, he said, “Orange is running for mayor?” Total surprise to him. I mentioned that Orange started running early and he did remember the cheap gas stunts that got Orange in the Post, but the whole running for mayor, new to him.

From another blog in NC, a bit about the bus and city living sometime ago. but the thing I took away from it was people used to live in a style that was less car dependent. Of course I used to live in a style that was less car dependent growing up, even though my town didn’t have any public transit. My schools, up until high school, were within walking distance. Also within walking distance was a fish market, gas station, a few corner stores (not the highest in produce quality but good for milk), fast food joints, several relatives and some daycare. Within biking distance, crossing several roads of death, was the supermarket, fruit stand, office supply store, the crappy dying downtown, the best bakery evah in the crappy downtown (later it closed) and the court house. I really miss that fruit stand.
Our family did have a car, and several trucks used for dad’s business. But car trips were for big purchases, business related errands, and trips to the mall way out near the city lines. It also helped that mom hated driving, so if I couldn’t walk to it, I just stayed home. Staying home forces you to hang out with people in your neighborhood.
Yet to have a car-less life one needs an environment where it all works. For one it helps to have things you need to get to so close that it doesn’t justify getting into a car or reliable public transit. Key word is ‘reliable’. Second, I think it helps to live a bit modestly, hunting down the ‘best’ and ‘premium’ products and services takes time and a lot of gas. Lastly, one should have the option to get a hold of a car or truck when needed. Before Flexcar (or zipcar) I would rent a truck or car for a day or weekend and make the most of it as there are just some things you can’t do or cart around without wheels.

Hi,

Sorry for the last minute notice. The PSA meeting scheduled for Thursday October the 13th is being relocated.

The PSA 501 meeting will not be held at the Mt. Calvary Greater Mt. Calvary Family Life Center.

The new location is:

St Martin’s Catholic Church
Community Room
1908 North Capitol St NW
7-9pm

I will post signs on the doors at Mt. Calvary in case someone misses the change notice.

Thanks,

Tom Usselman

Once upon a time Shaw, and I’m talking my end, was affordable. You could by a 2 bedroom tiny closet shoe box for the low $100K range. Then nothing was promised except a 10 minute walk to the metro. The neighborhood was worse than what it is like now, and was even worse before I arrived nearly 5 years ago. So some of the old timers tell me.
So don’t assume those of us who are “new” bought at the height of the market. If I had to buy my house at what it would go for now, I couldn’t afford it. Actually, if I go by the DC tax assement values, I think I stopped being able to afford my house 3 years ago.
People told me I should have bought 5 years ago. Well that statement never helps anyone, particularly due to the lack of working time machines. But 5 years ago, there was this window, this time when a semidetached 2 level home on NJ Ave went for $99K. There was this other house, also on NJ with a garage that could (and later was) have been converted into a mother-in-law apartment going for about $89K. Then there was this small house on 5th Street that was $79K. About 4 years ago, as an estate sale, a small stucco frame house (the white one) on 6th was up for sale at sixty-some odd thousand.
Absent a fleet of time machines, this is useless info. As I write this I think of my best friend who is just now thinking that he should buy property. And 5 years ago I did encourage hime to buy, but no, he wanted certain things in his life to happen. Now, those things still haven’t happened and the market is beyond him. I really wish he’d bought 5 years ago.