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.
BATES AREA MEETING THIS MONDAY Oct 6th
Mt. Sinai Church in basement 7PM Q St & 3rd ST NW.
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
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
The fan that will kill me
So I got a co-worker to install two fans in my house for the sum of $54. The fan in the first room is wonderful. The fan in my room, which I knew would be trouble, is still troubling. The problem with old houses is that you have old house hardware and quirks. The hardware the light, which was on the verge of killing me in my sleep, hung from what could have been an old gas lamp pipe. Heavens only knows.
The light was hanging loosely from the old fixture. I pulled the string to turn it off and on, the thing would wobble. It had a glass, a heavy glass piece that I took off once the whole piece started looking dodgy. Upon further inspection the lamp was hanging from some screws that had a minimal hold on the drywall in the ceiling.
I knew there would be trouble when the ceiling fan would replace the whole contraption. After 2 or so hours Mr. Grumpy Sunshine got it installed. He wasn’t too happy with the wobbling. He said the hardware up in the ceiling was loose.
The one big problem is the only way for me to turn the light on and off is to pull the cord. Which in turn pulls the fan, which pulls whatever loose hardware there is in the ceiling.
I’m now thinking, remote controlled fan. Thats the only way. The only was without doing some heavy recontruction.
Until then, I’m in danger of a 30lb fan hitting my bed in my sleep.
