Washington-Area Gentrification,

a Panel Discussion with Mayor Williams


Wednesday, October 15th, 6:30-8:30pm

The City Museum, 801 K Street, NW (Mount Vernon Square)

Gentrification – the influx of high-income individuals into

previously poor neighborhoods – is one of the most important

phenomena shaping 21st-century Washington.

Yet rarely is gentrification discussed with much respect for the

complex group of forces that it represents. This panel discussion,

with experts from the fields of government, development and community

activism, aims to promote a responsible and informative public

dialogue on this contentious issue.

Panelists:

· Anthony A. Williams, Mayor of the District of Columbia

· Al Eisenberg, former chair of the Arlington County Board,

current Vice

President for Government relations at the Washington Board of Trade

and

candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates

· Jim Abdo, president of Abdo Development, a builder of luxury

urban homes in

Washington’s Dupont, Logan Circle and Capitol Hill neighborhoods

· Maria Maldonado, Director of Housing Programs at Casa of

Maryland, an activist

organization for Maryland’s Latino communities

Erik Wemple, editor-in-chief of Washington City Paper and frequent

guest on

WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, will moderate the discussion.

The event is hosted by the City Museum; The Next American City (a new

magazine

of urban affairs); the Loeb Fellowship of Harvard; and the Washington

City

Paper. It is free with museum admission: $3 adults, $2 students and

seniors.

About the City Museum of Washington, D.C.

Located in the historic Carnegie Library building, the City Museum of

Washington, D.C. is the only museum dedicated solely to the history

of the nation’s capital. The City Museum features a groundbreaking

multimedia show entitled, “Washington Stories;” changing exhibits

currently featuring: “Sandlots to Stadiums: A History of Sports in

Washington, D.C.,” and “Taking a Closer Look: Images from the Albert

Small Collection;” an archaeology lab (opening October 2003); and a

D.C. visitor information center. It is managed by the Historical

Society of Washington, D.C. The City Museum is located at 801 K

Street, NW. For more information call (202) 383-1800 or visit

www.citymuseumdc.org.

About The Next American City

This new national magazine asks, “Where will we go from here?” In a

rapidly changing urban landscape, how can businesses and developers

thrive? How can cities and suburbs expand their economies? And how

can our society successfully address social and environmental

challenges? The Next American City answers these questions with

clear and accessible stories on issues central to how our cities and

suburbs are changing — including but not limited to architecture,

planning and development, transportation, urban economies, housing,

environmental issues, labor issues and workforce development,

education, crime, and religion. The result: a thought-provoking

national magazine that engages not just the planner, architect,

developer, or policy analyst but also the

businessperson, school board member, artist, and community activist.

It’s a conversation that The New York Times correctly dubs a “subtle

plan to change the world.” Find out more and subscribe at

www.americancity.org.

For more information, contact:

Josh Olsen

josh@americancity.org

The Next American City

209 W. 108th St., #11

New York, NY 10025

Late but…

BATES AREA MEETING

Invited Guests Include Representatives from the Following:

Third District, Metropolitan Police Department

The Assembly of Petworth

Smokefree DC

United Planning Organization

Monday, October 6, 2003

Mount Sinai Baptist Church

3rd and Q Streets, N.W.

Rooms 1 and 2

7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.

For more information regarding the meeting and/or the Association,

contact J. Berry at (202) 387-8520

Agency Offers Emergency Food Aid

The D.C. Department of Human Services has set up a one-week emergency

food

stamp program, totaling about $4 million in federal aid, for District

residents who lost food during Hurricane Isabel. Current food stamp

recipients will receive half of their monthly allotment to compensate

for

food lost during the storm, and those who lost income or had to buy

emergency goods can receive special assistance to purchase food. New

applicants for food stamps will also get one month of benefit

distributed

until Oct. 6 at seven service centers run by the Departments’ Income

Maintenance Administration: 508 Kennedy St. NW, 5 N St. NE, 645 H St.

NE;

3917 Minnesota Ave. NE; 3851 Alabama Ave. SE; 400 South Capitol St. NW;

and

2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. The agency’s food stamp customer

service hotline is 202-724-5506.

Public Notice of the 10/7/2003 and 10/21 Meetings of ANC 5C

GOVERNMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 5C

POST OFFICE BOX 77761

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20013

TELEPHONE: (202) 832-1965/1966

www.anc5c.org

PUBLIC MEETING NOTICES

Monthly Forum

Invited guests include representatives from the following:

Metropolitan Police Department

Office of the People’s Counsel

Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

re. a building that they plan to demolish and reconstruct on their

property.

Where: Archbishop Carroll High

School

4300 Harewood Road, N. E.

(Auditorium)

When: Tuesday, October 7, 2003

Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.

__________________________________________________________________

Monthly Meeting

Where: Paul Laurence Dunbar High

School

1301 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.

When: Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.

JAMES D. BERRY, JR. CHAIRPERSON

Gentrification and Me issue 2

Home sick today so updating things between things.

Dealing with Neighborhood Change: A Primer on Gentrification and Policy Choices

This is a Brookings Institute report in PDF file format that attempts to take a neutral stance on gentrification by just defining it, looking at what causes it, identifying stakeholders and possible solutions in trying to create equitable development. It’s about 80 pages so it is long. Washington, DC among other cities experiencing the change in demographics in particular neighborhoods are covered. DC and DC neighborhoods in particular, are covered in pages 54-60. They conclude that the causes for gentrification in DC are varied. Columbia Heights is given special attention. The footnotes and bibliography and all the facts packed into the report make it a good resource for anyone on either side of the gentrification arguement.



Chicago Matters: Inside Housing- Town Meetings


Although this is about Chicago, DC residents can feel the Chicago citizens in the town hall meeting in this audio report. As of today, the sponsoring radio station’s audio library is down, but do try again. The focus is Lincoln Square where older residents are being priced out of their neighborhood due to the rising cost of housing.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Not an update on the neighbor who failed to heed my advice. But concerns next door. I think they’ll be renting. My gut tells me the owner is in slumlord mode, so I won’t expect any high quality tenants. Regardless if they are high quality, or not, there are things that need to be done, that I wouldn’t expect any renter to do. For example, the bricks over the window look as if they are on the verge of falling out. A minor problem, which I can remedy. The owner had the house painted a color close to mine, before it had been a dark shade of purple red. Before the color of my house jumped out as it was a light house between two dark colored houses. Now, at night the colors blend together. That pissed me off. I took a good amount of thought in picking out the color. The last problem, which actually isn’t my problem as it is the other neighbor’s problem, overgrown weed trees.

Before I thought they were going to sell. But rumor had it he wanted $300K for the house. The house is not going to sell for $300K. The house with the basement and the big backyard on our block sold for $300K. This house has no basement and there’s a poor job done on the roof and he wasn’t going to put any top of the line appliances in. Although they did a decent job inside the house, it doesn’t look like a $300K house. Maybe a $220-$250K but not $300K. Heck the house across the street was listed at $400K and that DEFINITELY was not worth that much. Sunny worked on the house first. G-d in heaven only knows what mistakes still lurk in the walls, despite the other people brought in after him.

Gentrification and me issue 1

I have been collecting a bunch of websites that talk about gentrification. What I hope to do, since I know a few people besides myself look at this site is talk about what is covered. My own feelings are mixed. I am part of the gentrification process simply based on my income (now and future), education and home improvement status. However I do have some sympathy for groups threatened by the changes. As an African-American I do feel bad about the fact that I moved into a predominately black neighborhood that is becoming more of a white neighborhood.

First, my favorite I’m the Enemy a Salon article where the author aknowleges that she’s part of the San Francisco gentrification problem, but in away points out the problems of some of the people organizing against gentrification. Maybe I like it because I identify with the author. Although I am not a long term resident. For a while I was poor and (I am still) Black, the same type of folks who are being pushed out of gentrifying areas. The author works in the Arts field, where artists are known for being poor and starving. I work in the library/museum field, not known for being a high paying line of work. Like the author, I figured out how to cash in on my talents (okay a lot of it luck) and save up and buy a house before prices got insane. The author is describing and anti-gentrification meeting, one of several she has attended. The question become who is the “they” , the enemy, that is spoken of in the meetings? The “they” described seem a lot like her, despite the other attendee’s assurances that no, she’s different. Another problem the “poor people”. She describes how some minorities, as the anti-yuppie argument can get race based, have cashed in. A Salvadoran who bought when the prices were rock bottom sold for a nice profit. This is something that is hinted at, but which I thought about after reading this was the tendency of white anti-gentrifiers to turn the minority population, who are typically hurt by this, into their ‘noble savages’. Nobel savages are your Tontos, your Fridays, or other moral dark skinned character who is put down by white society but is good and uncorrupted by the bad white man’s ways. The author points out that given the chance, the Salvadoran in this case, lusts and chases after the same thing the big bad yuppie does and the noble savages, in this case the Salvadorians, given a chance will gladly move into the yuppie middle class. It is the white bohemians who have chosen a more imporverished lifestyle and who are seemingly trying to impose it on their non-white neighbors.

Gentrification: Gen….What?

Kim Tate is the author and teenager in this article about the changes in her neighborhood. In this her family is selling the house in a gentrifying neighborhood. She seems to be trying to make sense of what is going on around her. Her view of the changes are slightly negative. I say slightly because it lack some of the very angry rhetoric I’ve seen on other sites. To be any angrier might condemn her parents for even daring to sell their house. There is sadness, but also the same sort of sadness you might find from any teen reflecting on leaving their home. A good thing is at the end of the article there are resources for folks in the Atlanta metro region who are threatened by gentrification.

This old house

Maybe it’s shows like This Old House that give people the wrong idea. Or maybe it’s preserved historical houses. I don’t know but people believe that because my house is over 100 years old it’s all neat and historical with architectural details that only need to be uncovered.

No. It is not neat, or quaint, nor does it have any of those quaint neat details. My house has been rental housing for the black working class for the past 100 years. Rental housing, landlords don’t invest a lot in rental housing and it shows.

The floors. Might be hardwood. But for the time being are hidden under carpet. What I have seen so far under the carpet and on the other side of the floor is not a happy sight. Under the carpet there are shriveled up tiles of some sort (asbestos maybe?) and some dark gunk on top of dark colored wood. I know it is dark chocolate in color from looking at the underside in the basement. It is sawn rough. Even if it could get sanded smooth I don’t think I would want the color. The house doesn’t get enough light and it’s small, dark colors are bad, last thing I want to do is spend good money on a floor that will make the place look smaller and darker.

Walls. I hate the walls on the upper floors. One runs right into the window frame. All except the bathroom they have textured paint. As I later discovered this was slapped on to hide all the cracks in the plaster underneath. The renovator Sunny (evil evil) said it was to prevent stains on the walls that kids (what kids?) make. My only hope was to skim the walls with joint compund because our friend ‘asbestos’ could be in the paint. Don’t get me started on the lead paint.

The whole structure. My house, just my house is crooked in such an obvious way. Settling.

There is one good thing. Radiators. I love them. Now that it is getting cold, and hoping the boiler doesn’t explode, I can enjoy warm things I can put my bottom on, or warm robes draped over. Heaven.

Convention Center Area Strategic Development Plan

Planning Workshop #1

Project Review and Community Visioning

Tuesday October 14th, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Kennedy Recreation Center

7th and P Streets, NW (main gymnasium)

This study includes the area bounded by 11th Street, Vermont Avenue on the

west, U Street and Florida Avenue on the north, New Jersey Avenue on the

east, and Massacusetts Avenue and New York Avenue on the south. Join the

Office of Planning for the first of four planning workshops to discuss the

future of your neighborhood.

* Meet the team working on this planning initiative.

* Talk about how having the convention center in the community can help to

build stronger neighborhoods.

* Learn about housing and retail issues in your community.

* Find out about future meetings.

RSVP with Chris Shaheen

DC Office of Planning

202.442.7631

chris.shaheen@dc.gov

Chris Shaheen

Ward 2 – Neighborhood Planning Coordinator

801 N. Capitol Street, NE, Suite 4000

Washington, DC 20002

Disaster Recovery Center Will Go to Washington Neighborhoods

Disaster Recovery Center Will Go to Washington Neighborhoods

September 30, 2003

Disaster Recovery Center Will Go to Washington Neighborhoods

(Washington, DC) The DC Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the US

Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

will bring a Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) to the people in areas of the

District who were affected by Hurricane Isabel.

The Disaster Recovery Centers, which will operate from the EMA Mobile

Command Vans, will be available from 9 am to 6 pm at the following sites and

dates:

Date and Locations:

Wednesday and Thursday October 1 and 2

1) 3924 Minnesota Ave., NE Chartered Health Parking Lot

2) Lot 4 RFK Stadium

Friday and Saturday October 3 and 4

1) 2100 Martin Luther King Ave., SE

2) Alabama Ave and Good Hope Rd, SE Safeway Parking Lot

Monday and Tuesday October 6 and 7

1) 16th St. and Colorado Ave., NW Carter Barron Amphitheater

2) 4th St. and Rhode Island Ave., NE (old Ames)

Wednesday and Thursday October 8 and 9

1) 4450 Wisconsin Ave., NW Tenley-Friendship Library

2) 2200 Champlain St, NW Marie Reed Learning Center

Friday and Saturday October 10 and 11 (Tentative)

To be determined at a later date To be determined at a later date

Disaster Recovery Centers are designed to provide detailed program

information to those who have already applied for assistance under President

Bush’s September 20 disaster declaration for the District of Columbia.

Representatives of the District, federal, and voluntary agencies will be

present, including loan officers from the US Small Business Administration.

“The DRC will give residents an opportunity to meet one-on-one with District

and federal officials to discuss specific aspects of their damage claims and

get answers to any questions they may have,” said DCEMA Director Peter G.

LaPorte.”

Applicants are encouraged to apply by using the FEMA toll-free registration

number: 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362). The TTY number is 1 (800) 462-7585 for

those who are speech- or hearing-impaired. Recovery specialists are

available to take calls from 7 am to midnight, EDT, seven days a week until

further notice. To date, more than 700 District residents have called to

apply.

On March 1, 2003, FEMA became part of the US Department of Homeland

Security. FEMA’s continuing mission within the new department is to lead the

effort to prepare the nation for all hazards and effectively manage federal

response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also

initiates proactive mitigation activities, trains first responders, and

manages Citizen Corps, the National Flood Insurance Program and the US Fire

Administration.

Desi Deschaine

Community Outreach Coordinator

Executive Office of the Mayor

1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Suite 211

Washington, DC 20004