Day: September 23, 2005

Okay, so you’re two badass guys from the burbs and you want to come in the city to do some slumming. Well, don’t get off at the Shaw/Howard station ’cause there’s nothing here. Really.
Last night after coming from a late lecture downtown I spotted two white males, mid twenties, long khaki shorts, flip flops, baseball caps, t-shirts, and ‘tude. They were spoiling my quiet metro ride by yakking. Anyway, they convince themselves to get off at the Shaw station, R St side. As I headed back home I noticed they seemed a little lost going through the crowd of teens that hang out near 8th and R and then wandering over to the 7-11. Yup, that’s it. Not much to see here, go home.
Or get off at another stop. You see if they got off at Mt. Vernon Square, they could have gone to Warehouse. There are a bunch of other clubs around there but, they wouldn’t have gotten in the way they were dressed. Then there is U Street, lots to do on U Street, restaurants, some with bars, if you want something edgier looking (are they edgy? I don’t know) I guess you could wander down to the Velvet Lounge or DC9. But really, R Street exit of Shaw metro….. 7-11 is the hottest thing going. Pick up a Pepsi, some chips and hang out in the parking lot.
East of 8th Street, there isn’t alot in the whole entertainment section on this end of Shaw. If you want to walk around Shaw to be all bad and do some slumming, you’re going to have to get off somewhere else.

For all who are interested yesterday there was an article in the Post about Sursum Corda and the plans for the area to save it from foreclosure and rebuild mixed income residences. The resident’s will get $50K (per household) which they can use to purchase units, or whatever, and they also will have the right to rent there. This does bring up some other questions, but since I’m not a resident of that complex or area, I’m not going to ask them.
Sursum Corda is a bit odd, it is a cooperative, as is Truxton Circle’s Northwest Cooperative that sits in the 200 block of Q and R Streets. I’m going to take an educated guess here and say that if it is a co-op then there are people who “own” shares in the apartment complex and “rent” their unit. They are a condo alternative and there are tons of them in New York City, a few here in the District. Once I tried renting a unit in a SW co-op, the people sub-leasing the unit were fine with me, but I made too little money for the co-op board and they said no. But I digress. I’m a bit confused though of how it all works with HUD funds and Section 8 vouchers. Can you be a co-op shareholder and a Section 8 recipient? Is everyone living in the co-op owners of the co-op? I don’t know. Probably would help if I asked somebody.
Like Sursum Corda, the Northwest Cooperative in Truxton (there is another NW Co-op on 400 block O & N) is affordable housing. And as far as non-market rate complexes go, it seems to be fairly maintained. If the walk though during the Flower Power walk proved anything, some residents there do try to make their area nice. Investing a little fertilizer and a little water here and there does go a long way.