You know you have problems when…

You know you have problems when you’re looking at some low budget African film and you’re getting design ideas from impoverished South African houses as seen in the movie.

Apparently Africans like strong bold colors. A dark navy blue with red pillars and a bright yellow door. Well crazy ideas have been coming into my head. I need to paint the rear of the house, as it is butt ugly. One, I would need to contact Popcorn who did a so-so job on the front of the house. Second, I’d have to buy a lot of paint. Third, I’d have to do it before it gets too cold to paint. I wonder if it is too cold now.

Crap on. Crap off. The Crapper

WARNING THIS IS REALLY GROSS. YOU MAY TOSS YOUR COOKIES.

Wednesday is take the dumpster to the curb day. When I took the dumpster from the back to the front I fugured I’d throw out the refuse that was up upon my fence.

Someone, an old guy. “Cleans” the alley every so often and tapes up “No Dumping” signs, that fall apart after the first rain. This cleaning is basically shifting whatever is in the alley up against the fences. So up against mine was a dirt encrusted sleeve, fallen leaves, concrete chunks, and some other stuff. All placed in the dumpster. One thing, which called for the rubber gloves was the pan. When Lem was putting in my fence he pointed out that someone had taken “a dump” near my fence. He pointed to a pan with some unknown brown/yellow liquid and debris in it. Lovely. Well I turned the pan over a few days after that and it was dry by Wednesday, ready for the dumpster, but still stinky. The alley had an odor. But at that time I thought it was a mixture of leftover stink from the pan and the puppy on the opposite side of the alley.

Yesterday, I’m out staining the back fence. When I move closer to the ground I smell something stinky. I blame the puppy. I take the dumpster thru the alley and back into the yard. Then I notice a pail in the alley. Same ugly colored liquid and refuse. I take a long pole, stand back, and dump it into the alley. Stink-E.

Great I knew the crack-heads urinated but leaving bowls and pails of their crap, oh-no!

History research and gentrification

Yes, we have gentrification on the brain.

Anywho. I’m doing some historical research on the neighborhood looking at housing and other demographic trends. Looking at the census, things I noticed from one census to another….. people move. There is a very good chance the people in a certain house won’t be there in the next 10 years. I’m not in the same place I was 10 years ago. 10 years ago I was in a dorm in Massachusetts. Gawd I’m old.

Anyway, taking the fact that people move, especially renters and gentrification. If neighborhood desirablity was the only factor a demographic shift would occur anyways, regardless of rise in rents. If every time a low income person moved, they were always replaced by a middle income person one may say it’s gentrification or something like it. Because over time as lower income folks move out and are not replaced by lower income people you’d have a great economic demographic change in say 10 years if the rate is say over 5%. Year one 100% Low income, Yr2 95%, Yr3 90%, Yr 5 80%, Yr 8 65%, in ten years there are only half of the low income people. Well, that’s using my math, and my math isn’t that good. Less than half may be there if the movement rate is taken just from the low income population. Possibly rates may change depending on the economy, unemployment in the area, lack of businesses and services, or what have you.

Yet even 10 years ago Shaw was not 100% low income. There were people who stuck through the riots and the crack years who were somewhere in the middle class sphere. Throw in high concentrations of middle class people in newly built condos, there is a major population shift right there.

Gentrification and Me issue 4

Am I on number 4 now?

PBS: POV Flag Wars: What is Gentrification

One site, just for definition of what I am talking about. The rest of the site in on the film Flag Wars, a battle for a neighborhood between two “historically oppressed groups” blacks and gays. In my own observations both groups can be downright unpleasant to the other, but luckily, not always…. at least not to the other’s face.

Maybe later I’ll do themes on gentrification: Gays and gentrification; Artists and gentrification; Buppie (Black yuppie) gentrification; Black flight and gentrification; Anti-gentrification groups; DC/Shaw and gentrification.

Someone, John, pointed out a talk that is going to be given at the City Museum October 15 at 6:30 on gentrification and the city. I predict there will be an angry discussion as the topic enflames passions. I plan to go but if it just turns into a yelling match at any point I’m leaving. If I want to see people yell, I’ll go to a civic association meeting with the peanut gallery.

Truxton Fantasy

Truxton Fantasy #1

I ask my best friend Mikey a lot of stupid questions like, if you had $10 million dollars… and such. But today I asked myself a stupid question, if I had the power to change the character and nature of Truxton Cirlce (Eastern Shaw) what would I change it to?

Transportation

1. I’d make it way easy to catch a cab on New Jersey or Rhode Island, regardless of the hailer’s color or destination. Cabbies are evil and at times hard to find.

2. I’d allow left handed turns on New York Avenue. Anyone who has gotten stuck on NY trying to turn left KNOWS what I’m talking about.

3. I’d put rumble strips on residential roads.

4. Mt. Sinai Baptist would build a parking garage, that residents can use M-F.

People/Residents

1. Diversity balance would be maintained. Meaning families, seniors, whites, blacks, latinos, asians, gays, straights, professionals, blue color workers, low income folks, college kids, teens, natives, immigrants, English-speaking, ESL folks, car people, metro people, joggers, walkers, cyclists, fat/cubby/chunky people, ana-looking women, athletic beautiful people all have a place in the neighborhood.

2. There would be a good critical mass of civic minded involved citizenry who would dedicate themselves to the improvement of the neighborhood. There are such people now, but not a critical mass of them.

3. Residents and guests would respect the people of the neighborhood by not dumping trash in the alleys and on the streets. Nor would they roll through with loud thumping bass. Nor would they honk their horns as an alternative to knocking on their intended’s door.

4. People would take pride in their homes and themselves.

Business/Commerical

1. There would be 2-3 decent sit down eateries, at least 1 table-cloth’ed restaurant (think Mimi’s not Subways) either in Truxton Circle or along 7th Street between S and P.

2. The commerical strip would be dotted with businesses that promote walking and provide an environment for neighbors and friends to run into one another.

3. There would be only a small handful of liquor stores and those stores would sell only decent quality beverages. Few 40s, few MD 20/20, few Wild Irish Rose. The bulk of their sales would not be from things that get you smashed real fast. They would have a good selection of red wines.

4. A bookstore would exist in my fantasy version of the hood. That or a Krispy Kreme. Actually, I can go downtown for books, give me a Krispy Kreme.

Okay, now I got KK on the brain. If you’ve had a fresh, hot Krispy Creme dougnut, you know what I mean.

drool.

Tree boxez in the hood

Pity the poor tree box. My tree box, which face it is pitiful. has a dying basil-something (not sweet basil, I could use sweet basil) and a couple of tansys and a lot of root fiber from what? The tree? Plants long since gone? The tansys?

I’m going to have to redo the whole darned thing. What I have done was use some timbers to make a box, fill it with dirt, throw in some plants, and put up some fencing in one corner. The neighborhood kids gave me a run for my money. I had to yell at them for walking into it and on top of it. The edge fencing, I had to replace plastic, that got broken with metal, of which one was broken. Then there were the adults getting out of cars. Lastly the tree itself, blokcing out all light, evil, evil tree.

I’m thinking I should pull out everything, dig up the root filled dirt, put in some barrier between the tree and the plants so the tree’s roots can’t invade the box, and try to build up the box by another level.

Next, cheap plants.

Got nothing but Love for my neighbors

Yesterday went over to Kelly’s and they said I could have their bricks so I can pave my perimeter. Just gives me a warm feeling.

Also another lovely feeling, yesterday we had a civic association meeting that did not suck. It was depressing as all out. Did you know DC is number #1 in getting 11 known cancers? The peanut gallery did not show, but we had one manageble nut.

Gentrification and Me, issue 3

Yuppie Scum save the neighborhood: ABC News
Actually titled “There Goes the Neighborhood?Gentrification May Be Good for Everyone, Some Experts Say,” by Oliver Libaw for ABC news.com. This April 2002 article’s focus is in Brooklyn, NY another gentrifying area on the east coast. The author says despite the opinions of gentrification and attitudes towards the young urban professional, gentrification is actually good for lower income residents. Why? They are less likely to move out and benefit from the improvements gentrification brings. He quotes from Frank Braconi, a co-author in a New York City gentrification study that examined gentrification and low income residents. They do acknowledge that displacement of the poor, one of the major problems of gentrification, does occur. However it must be placed also in the context of general movement of people, as this is a mobile society where people move around a lot.

Gentrification and Displacement, by Lance Freeman & Frank Braconi
A PDF file and article/report from the Citizens Housing and Planning Council’s The Urban Prospect publication volume 8, no. 1. This is a lovely 4 page report regarding the displacement of low income people in gentrifying areas of New York City.
First they get into, “define displacement”. Displacement, could be several things, it could be the government moving people by force (think highway project), it could be people looking for cheaper rent (Secondary Displacement), or it could be people moving out due to social forces (think moving ’cause they don’t wanna live near Puerto Ricans). There are several factors in secondary displacement, which people most associate with gentrification. The desire for lower rents could be pushed by rise of rents or loss of income.

To track displacement they used the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey to gather data. This allowed them to look at movement in the 1990s. Looking at a chart they provide, except for the period between 1991-1993 the rate of displacement was between 5%-6%, kind of small.

They challenge an assumption that “low income households [are] more likely to move out of gentrifying neighborhoods than other neighborhoods?” with “gentrification could encourage households to stay put.” Right now I’m thinking Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car where the goal is to get out of the lower income environment and “get a bigger house and live in the suburbs.” Well what happens when the nice neighborhood comes to you? Being one who has been poor, and talking with others who have lived in “the ghetto”, there is this goal to get the heck out of the ghetto to live a better life. So in this scenario, the better neighborhood comes to the ghetto in the form of gentrification. Well that’s my theory.

They state that lower income households are faced with a decision when gentrification comes to them. On one hand, stay and take advantage of the neighborhood improvements or move because of higher housing costs. What these families do, depends on which factor is more important. For the authors gentrification makes it less likely that a lower income household will move. They say “poor households residing in on of the seven gentrifying neighborhoods were still found to be 20% less likely to move than poor households residing elsewhere.”

The authors never say that displacement does not occur. Yet, we cannot ignore general mobility among people. They say it best in their concluding paragraph that as vacancies appear in gentrifying neighborhoods, they are filled by middle class households, coupled with loss of affordable housing, it takes an appearance that the middle class is driving out the poor.

The economic cleansing of San Francisco: Is San Francisco becoming the first fully gentrified city in America
Okay, I couldn’t end this without a story of evil gentrification kicking out the poor and defenseless. Despite the above reports of gentrifying being good for a neighborhood, we all know the mainline thinking that gentrification is evil, evil, evil because it forces families on the streets and the anti-gentrification forces have the examples to prove it. This is one such example from a 1998 San Francisco article about 3 poor elderly Latino women in danger of losing their home due to raising rents. Other Latino women are profiled too. Okay no one is kicked out in the story, but they are all endanger of not being able to keep up with the rents.

And for good measure ” Case Study in Displacement on Elizabeth Street Warning: Gentrification in Progress” by J.A. Lobbia in New York City. This covers a NYC building in the process of gentrifying. There are poor immigrants crammed in some units, while other units rehabbed & expanded for 1 or 2 people. The landlord is finding ways to kick out the poorer residents, such as suing them for lease infractions. The truly EVIL part of the landlord is that he sues his Chinese renters and buys off his Latino renters to get them out.

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