The Post, jumping on the notariety of Freakonomics, has a quick article about the “ugly” face of crime that highlights on how unattractive people tend to, more frequently, be criminals.
What does that mean for Shaw? I shudder to think. I can loosely accept the economists’ conclusions though… I’ve yet to see a prom queen pee in my street.
So next time you see a crime in Shaw just tell yourself, “It’s ok, they’re not a beautiful person. Like me.”
Via DC Blogs who got it via Petworth News, one Petworth blogger ponders values and change. It is a long piece asking by what right does one seek to change a neighborhood? I don’t believe I’ve ever really examined this question in terms of right. Mr. Don’t-talk-to-anyone-SUV guy changes the neighborhood just by living in it. Does he have a right to change the neighborhood, by adding to the small contigent of people who pretend to ignore you? Does he have the right to add one more SUV to the street? Yes, simply because he has a right to live here. And even if he doesn’t want to acknowledge it, he is part of the neighborhood.
There is active change in its small amounts. There is calling the cops for violations that in the past were tolerated. There is advocating for a business or challenging another. There is also changing a neighborhood simply by renting or buying or convincing someone to let you live with them in the hood. In the past 5-6 years, a lot of people with dogs, who walk their dogs (instead of just chaining them up in the backyard or letting them roam free on the streets), who moved into the neighborhood, in their own way changed the neighborhood. They added some sort of doggie element that wasn’t there before. Was it their right? It was their right to move in, and have a dog (provided their landlord/SO okay’d it). Doing right by their dog, they have to walk it and by walking the dog, they are bound to meet up with other dog owners. Somehow this all leads to doggie drama. But I digress.
My point is whatever it is that makes you, YOU, you bring when you come into a neighborhood, and thus change that neighborhood. If you happen to be white or Latino and you move in (which is your right since the Fair Housing Act) you add to the non-black population, and decrease the percentage of African Americans in the neighborhood, particularly if the number of blacks isn’t growing faster than that of the non-blacks. Same thing if you are gay, a non-car person, a dog owner, a college educated person, a vegetarian, a lawyer, a bitter barren spinster librarian, whatever, and there are enough folks like you, you add an element. If that element is different than was was there, then expect change. When there are enough citizens in a given geographic location united in thought and/or deed, change will occur.
I don’t see it as a matter of rights, and change is natural. The early 20th century censuses show that TC was a different neighborhood, with different people. The mix of people who lived here in 1910 don’t live here now. What was once a racially mixed neighborhood with black laborers*, white and European immigrant tradesmen, shopkeepers, and government clerks, became a predominately black neighborhood, which is changing into something else. Whomever happens to be here gets to make the rules and the values of the loudest, most active, most numerous citizens tend to carry the day.
*the overwhelming number of AfrAm TC residents who were laborers or servants in 1910 is really, really depressing.
via Jim
Neighbors,
Below please find a copy of the notice that is being circulated within the community regarding the next meeting of ANC 5C. Please take due notice of the date, time and location of this important meeting and also please make your best effort to attend.
Best,
Jim Berry
ANC 5C
GOVERNMENT OF THE 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 NOTICE
Monthly Meeting
Invited guests include representatives from the following:
Howard University’s Center for Urban Progress
Reference: Update on CUP’s Lead Poisoning Prevention Efforts
H Street Community Dev Corp Proposal
Reference: Update on Consolidated PUD on 4th Street NE Property
Metropolitan Police Department
Reference: Public Safety Report
Where: Harry Thomas Recreation Center
1743 Lincoln Road, N.E.
When: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.
I did hear “unscheduled leave” on the radio and I think I have the credit hours to use but I trudged into work despite some people not salting or melting their sidewalks. You know who isn’t home or who is a BAD, BAD homeowner (renters can claim stupidity) by the slick paths of ice in front of their houses. People, salt. You can take regular table salt and melt (or at least break up) the dangerous ice outside your house. If you have sand that’s good too so people can have traction. Property owners are responsible for the sidewalk in front of their homes. According to DC Code, 2001 Ed, 9-601 property owners must clear snow and ice from sidewalks 8 daylight hours after snowfall. There is a fine but I don’t think the District really enforces it. What one might be concerned with is the uptick in the ‘walking to work’ lawyer population round here.
Sunday I noticed the lack of a certain population filling up the streets between 10am and 1pm. Lack or decrease in the number of cars for church parking. I think it is really telling when a large number of your congregation lives so far that they can’t make it in. My own church has a bunch of folks who live within blocks, or decent walking distance, from the church had a decent number showing up. But the distance, it doesn’t make sense, particularly when there are things that need to be done and can’t be done when key personnel can’t make it in due to snow.
Speaking of population observations. Early in the morning there weren’t as many people milling about in the Logan and Dupont Circle areas as I normally would see. But later, after noon there were people out walking, shopping, and doing their normal thing. It wasn’t the sort of weather one would drive into the area for, so I’m going to guess that a large portion of the people up and about on the streets were locals who live in the area. Provided business could get their employees in, there were shoppers ready to plunk down the cash and plastic. Sunday showed how important locals are to the life of an area. I think business and other functions that depend too much on folks who have to drive in suffer.
Okay, I try to make these rare, so I’m burying it under today’s main post.
Four jobs I’ve had (no order):
1. Cashier
2. Library student temp
3. Teaching Assistant
4. Census taker
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Strictly Ballroom
3. Color Purple
4. Holiday Inn
Four places I’ve lived:
1. Gainesville, FL
2. Amherst, MA
3. London, UK
4. Hyattsville, MD
Four TV shows I love:
1. Law & Order (any)
2. CSI (any)
3. Simpsons
4. This Old House
Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. London
2. Cambridge, UK
3. Orlando, FL
4. France
Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Crab Cakes
2. Lamb chops
3. Mango Salmon roll
4. Chicken and rice
Four sites I visit daily:
1. yahoo.com
2. bloglines.com (keeping up with all the good blogs is so hard)
3. google.com
4. washingtonpost.com
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. London
2. Florida
3. Cafe Atlantico
4. National Archives downtown
Four books (or series) I love:
1. The Four Loves by CS Lewis
2. The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
3. BCP
4. Bible (NIV)
Four video games I can play over and over (this is as close as I get to video games):
1. Civilization I
2. Civilization II
3. Civilization III
4. Solitare
First I looked and decided I wasn’t going to bother going to church but if the buses are running them I have no excuse.
Snow today is light and fluffy. Easy to shovel or sweep off your step. It makes for lousy snowman making snow. I tried. But it is okay for snow balls once you melt a little of the snow on the surface of the ball.
As you see the buses, or at least the 96 bus to Capitol Heights and the bus I saw along Florida Ave chugging along, they are running. Cars on the roads, but not a whole lot. Side streets are okay, one lane passable ok.
Update: Well the snow melted. Most of it anyways, and now clumps of snow on trees and sign posts are randomly attacking people. On the bus, Logan Circle was very pretty. There were tons of people out around noonish taking pictures of the white scenery. Also on the bus I overheard (can’t help it when they are yelling to each other) some guys coming from Georgetown, heading towards Shaw, about how much they made that morning shoveling driveways. They did well ($80 one guy), and looked forward to going back home for a hot meal, and maybe some cocoa. The Farmer’s Market at Dupont was small and sad. Sad because the milk people and the yoghurt/cheese people were not there. *sigh*
The last portion of the BACA meeting was committee and membership talk. There were 3 minutes given to a fellow running for Ward 5 city council, Mr. Frank Wilds.
BACA is as inclusive as all out. You do not have to live in the Bates Area, nor do you have to live in Truxton Circle, or Shaw (but remember the focus will be Bates) to be a member of BACA, Mary Ann will take your $20 no matter where you live. We are a very welcoming group. I should also note that Mary Ann is also still accepting composition books and other school supplies for neighborhood children.
Art Slater is in charge of the Land Use, Planning Economic Development Committee. Art mentioned EC-12, which is the name of the proposed restaurant that is proposed to go into Firehouse#12 at 1626 North Capitol NW. Art passed out what I think are meeting minutes for his committee. Lots of bulletted things. The committee apparently is looking to get an inventory of what is in Truxton Circle and an idea of what’s going on in surrounding areas like Northwest One, NoMa, etc. This committee will have a meeting Wednesday Feb 15th at Mt. Sinai.
There were a lot of hand outs but I’m not going to retype them here. If you want more information, you just need to drag yourself to a meeting.
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.
That phrase came to my mind during the BACA meeting when Jim Berry was questioning Mr. Dugger of the North Capitol Collaborative. Jim asked if NCC’s services were still needed with the (demographic) changes that have been going on in the neighborhood. Mr. Dugger answered yes, there are still those who still need services.
Despite the changes, the crazed rise in property values, the chic hipster/yuppie stores on 14th, the new sit down restaurants and the exodus of many working (and non-working) poor, there will still be a few poor that will remain. There’s public housing in NW DC, even in gentrifying areas, there are also a few apartments that are affordable because of one program or deal or another. In Shaw alone there is the Foster House (801 Rhode Island Ave NW); the Northwest Cooperatives; Gibson Plaza (1301 7th St NW); Ashbury Dwellings (1616 Marion St NW); Lincoln Westmoreland I (1730 7th St NW) and Westmoreland II (1711 8th St NW); Immaculate Conception (1330 7th St NW); Kesley Gardens (700 Q St NW) and many more affordable housing units. Even if residents there have found some work stability they are still close to the edge and may need to have services available to them.
It is the individual houses, the townhomes, that are changing from poor to middle and upper middle class. The larger affordable housing apartment buildings that manage to stay “affordable” don’t change. I see a future Shaw that is primarily middle and upper middle class with small islands of working class and poor folk. So they will remain with us.
But there is a second part to this “and you can help them any time you want.” We have the power to ease their burden or make life very difficult. We can help ease the burden by supporting those agencies and non-profits that come in to help them. There are probably another dozen thing (that don’t come to mind now) that we can do to help the working poor in our community. But at the least we need to keep in mind that just because the neighborhood is changing, it has not become a economically homogeneous place.
For you loving veggie people:
Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Vegetate. We have a special event license for the
evening so in addition to a wonderful menu and great music, we will also serve
beer, wine and champagne. Also DJ Dredd will put together a mix of classic love
songs.Our menu for the evening is:
First Course
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup
with olive oil rosemary toast 8Frisee Salad
with pear, pecans and stilton cheese 8/10Second Course
Sweet Potato Tart
with black beans, collard greens
and corn grit crust 14Braised Mushroom and Tofu
over mashed celery root and potato
with swiss chard and pearl onions 16Dessert
Chocolate Cake Heart
with chocolate pudding and pistachio brittle 7Winter Fruit Salad
with Spicy Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookie 7Space is still available. Please call 202.232.4585 to make a reservation.
The Post has an article about the pending plans for Northwest One, aka Sursum Corda.
For residents of Eckington, this article may be particularly interesting as they can compare the plans for Northwest One with the housing proposed by St Martin’s and Catholic Community Services.
I thought the article was interesting because it lays out a lot of the services that they are planning on providing to residents in Northwest One. On paper it all sounds great. Only thing that concerns me is that Sursum Corda also sounded great on paper when it was proposed forty-odd years ago. I hope we’ve figured things out better now.
Regardless, it’s impressive to see that there’s a $558 million price tag on this effort. That’s an incredible amount of money and, hopefully, it signals to future residents– both low and high-income– that there’s substantial commitment to the project to make it work. The article mentions breaking ground this year if the DC Council approves the plans so we’ll see what this means for the area shortly.
