Day: July 15, 2010

Debit and city leaders

Just to remark on this DCist post about city council members and their debit. Not to excuse Councilman Thomas and his $16K of alleged unpaid student loan debit, but he’s not the only one. I’ve experienced having to deal with schools and banks hounding roommates for not paying their student loans. But apparently in the case of Thomas, he says it is a misunderstanding. I guess I’m sympathetic in that looking at my own credit report it isn’t clear that I paid off my numerous student loans as they all shifted around different parts of Sallie Mae/Citibank, consolidated, and listed as transferred or sold.
Now Kwame Brown knows he has a problem. Hopefully he knows the solution starts with a pair of scissors and living on a budget. $50K is a lot. Off the top of my head I think the highest I let my credit cards go is $7K. At $50K I’d be freaking out.
Anyway if you want to check your credit report for possible forgotten student loans check out the FTC’s free (not like the fake free sites) Annual Credit Report Dot Com. If you Google Annual Credit Report, but do not go to the sponsored link for Annual Credit Report.Com, that’s a fake.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 15, 2010 10:58 PM.

A real legacy gets past 2 generations

I heard something recently along the lines that it is sad if the only thing you know about your great grandfather is his name. I am a little lucky and not so lucky. I was young when my great grandfather on my dad’s side was alive. I remember him as a brown and skinny man. His name, James, I think. I remember where he lived, and that he lived with great-grandma across the street from my uncle, which was next door to grandma.
My great grandpa Kelly on the other hand, had a farm and the white man took it away. He was also a thin brown man, and his picture is on my downstairs wall. He had a couple of sons, one being my grandfather, the other my late great uncle who moved to DC. He also was an accomplished gardener and aided the family by keeping food on the table (what food could be grown in NC). I know nothing of his wife, she apparently died early as when I found him in the 1910 or 1920 census she was nowhere around.

This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 15, 2010 10:45 PM.

More thoughts on the Camp Protest

Protest bannerThis morning I awoke to an NPR report on the OneDC protest at 7th and R/ RI Ave. Or at least I thought I heard a story as I can’t find a link on either the NPR site nor the WAMU site about it. Anyway, the Shaw area does not lack affordable housing. Now I say that as in there are buildings that take up square footage and whole blocks in Shaw that were built as affordable housing, take government money to subsidize rents, are public housing, and/or are subsidized senior housing. If you are going by market rates, then it all depends on how much you’re willing to spend and what living conditions you can deal with. Playing around with DC Housing Search I see there are individual landlords and other entities that rent out individual rooms, individual houses, and small typically 4 unit apartment buildings. So when a group is protesting for more non-market rate housing, I’m thinking how much more affordable housing in this neighborhood do we need? And concentrating poverty isn’t doing anyone any favors. The protesters are nicely caged up on the lot and so far aren’t a nuisance so I have no problem with their protest. I just disagree with their demands. I am part of the Shaw community as I live here, I shop here, I vote here, and what the city or other powers that be plop down has an impact on my quality of life. Concentrating dis-empowerment and dependency near a transportation hub will continue to hamper the neighborhood’s ability to succeed.