Lot of stuff I wanna cover … It is September and InShaw has entered semi-retirement, or an active retirement. It may be another way of saying I’ll post when I darned well feel like it, and post what moves me to post. So there may be several days when there is nothing, and periods of furious posting.
I’ve also changed the name slightly. So “(now with more gentrification)” has been dropped, in favor of what interests me, history. Gentrification still is in there but isn’t the focus. The mad real estate boom has passed and the gentrification it fueled, has calmed a bit. If that rooming house, crack house, liquor store, vacant building hasn’t been developed yet, it may be a while before it does. Maybe during the next wave of real estate fervor, maybe between now and then, and maybe never. In the meantime, there are other things to look at, like the past.
The past couple of years, the past couple of decades, whenever. I’m going with what a co-worker defined as history, anything that happened in the past. So anything between the Big Bang/Let-there-be-light and last week is up for grabs. But to be more DC focused I’ll start somewhere in the 18th Century.
Today I just want to talk about Sunday’s Washington Post.
Sorta under the title of ‘gentrification’ is Income Soaring in Egghead Capital. Where I see the DC metro area is where the nation’s well off African-American households live. Yet $55,547 is a pitiful amount compared to our Asian ($83,908) and Non-Hispanic White (94,290) colleagues. The data the Post provided kinda proved a belief that I had about the black middle class, they wanna get as far away from “Pookie” as their middle and upper-middle class white colleagues do. The highest median Black incomes $92,492 in Loudoun and $89,096 in Stafford, are far from the District ($34,484 and the highest percentage of population living below the poverty line).
Looking at my own middle class Black family, I and my blind great-aunt are the only ones in the District. The next closest relative tried to escape inner Beltway Prince George’s County because of all that’s going on around, but couldn’t due to a failure to sell the house. If the house did sell, outer-waaay past Upper Marlborough would have been the new address. Then everyone else is in Fairfax Co. and Howard Co. I’ve noticed when the relatives move up in house, they seem to move further out. They express a desire for more space, more amenities (planned communities w/ clubhouse) and less crap.
But back to gentrification…. So if high earning African-Americans are engaging in black flight from the city and inner-ring suburbs, that could mean that they are leaving a residential void. A void filled by poorer Blacks and middle-upper class non-Blacks. Add to that the great big gap in incomes ($91,631-white; $67,137-Asian; $43,484-Hispanic and $34,484-Black), housing prices, and you got a problem. And I wonder, even if District employers provide the higher paying job opportunities, what is there to say that African-Americans who fill those positions will be from the District or will stay in the District? Okay, now I’m rambling, next…
Back from Behind Bars has a graph, that shows Truxton Circle as one of the communities where 5.1 or more (per 1,000 residents) ex-cons return to after being released from the criminal justice system. The other parts of Shaw (except what looks like upper U Street) have a rate of 5 or less per 1,000. The articles goes in on how those released have trouble finding housing and employment, and staying away from the things that led to prison.
And something that has more of a history bent an opinion piece about Dunbar High School in its hey-day. It’s more about integration and colorism than the school itself, but the print version has a nice photograph of the school in 1931. The original school is no longer and it has been replaced by that prison-like building that dominates the TC skyline.
Tag: Gentrification
I don’t trust you
Well I finally finished reading and marking up E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the 21st Century by Robert Putnam, and yeah, I’m low on trust. According to his article, diverse communities like ours people are less likely to trust people different from them as well as people like them. Equal opportunity lack of trust. Well, that’s how I read it.
Putnam does recognize the good thing about diversity in that it does foster tolerance in the other. However tolerance is not love, or even like. There is ‘bridging’ between communities but little in the way of ‘bonding’.
One of the things I was worried about before reading the article was lack of city services and amenities due to a neighborhood’s diversity. That wasn’t so much an issue and what was all included in as an amenity was too wide of a net (religious institutions, day care facilities, schools, etc). Things like schools and churches could have been in an area long before the place got diverse and are just holding on. Anyway, Putnam writes “If anything, such community resources turn out to be positively correlated with ethnic diversity….” The negative is in the low trust people, who are withdrawn from actively participating in the surrounding community.
A few other negatives of a diverse community is that there is a higher turnover. Well that just describes Washington DC right there. Someone who is a close friend of mine is moving away to the Midwest because of her career and as far as friends go she’ll be irreplaceable. The specter of someone you’re close to up and moving away is always there in this town, and it does not inspire you to form those deep strong bonds, knowing that there is a chance that bond will have to be ripped apart. There is turnover in Shaw too, and I know that neighbors you grow close to may up and move with the next best career opportunity or when their kids get to a certain age.
Quick thought on housing and gentrification
There is someone moving into the neighborhood today, who in 5-10 years will complain that gentrification moved them out. This thought came to me after a quick conversation with an older woman (maybe not quite senior citizen) who was moving into a rental house. A house that has been ‘affordable’ since I’ve been in the neighborhood. And it has had a fair amount of turnover (but that’s because the landlady is horrible) so it remains a housing option.
There is little purity in the gentrification that happens in this neighborhood. All the poor people do not move out at the same time to be replaced by people with more money. Not all the landowners sell when the market is hot, some keep holding on, maybe through greed or apathy, and then the market cools. There is loss, there are fewer housing options for lower income groups, however there isn’t a 100% loss of affordable housing from the market.
I write this from what I’ve observed on my block. At least three houses (there might be more) in the six years I’ve been noticing appear to fall in the ‘affordable’ category and they though the crazy RE market and it’s current cooling have had some turnover with tenants and yet have had the same kind of tenant.
Fun with ProQuest: An obseravation
I’ve been taking quick peeks at the Washington Post articles on ProQuest and there is something about how I approach them. Being in 2007, I’m aware how things turn out in the end, yet the surprise is in the discovery of where stuff came from. The people of the 50s, 60s, & 70s they don’t know how things are going to turn out. So I read about this and that plan for the area and things don’t always provide the results desired, and in some cases, I can’t tell if it has worked out. Also, not surprising to me, there is the messiness of the past, the corruption, sloth, distrust, confusion, and lack of funding that make their appearances.
Anyway, an article I’ve yet to read in its entirety is “Urban Renewal: A Slow, Painful Process: SW Developers Made Mistakes The City Now Hopes to Avoid,” by George Day. Washington Post 6/2/1969 p.C1. In it one little caption “Northwest One includes housing for elderly (rear) and Sursam [sic] Corda Project”. Sursum Corda, wonder how that’s working out?
Strive for the harder story to tell
Well I’ll probably clean this post up and put in some links about the recent Post articles about H Street and Navy Yard, as well as the tried & true “Shaw is gentrifying/changing” themed articles. Once again the old themes and the stock characters in their typecasted roles. White newcomers are wealthy arrogant jerks who disrespect the downtrodden struggling black old timers, is the easy tale to tell.
I will admit I do see glimpses of the hard stories in the Post. Where there are issues of class, country of origin, education, gender, theology, sexual orientation and age play more a part of story than that great DC standby, race. Maybe to an editor they are less interesting.
The easy story starts with a peaceful middle class African American neighborhood. Ignore the Jews, the Irish, the Germans and those few Italians that everyone tells me were all over the neighborhood (but haven’t seen too much documentation on). Maybe a few hard questions center around the riots, who left and never came back, who stuck it out, who filled in the vacuum, and what did the city government do and where did the govt. fail & succeed?
Then I can ask what are the alternatives? Neighborhoods where the commercial sector has basically flat lined and you can barely even get businesses to even look at the area? Places where your dining options consists of KFC, Micky D’s, Popeyes or some other carry out? Residential sections where there are few buyers and renters have no interest in becoming homeowners?
Here’s the story I know about Shaw: Its been changing for over 100 years. People of different races, countries of origin and financial circumstances move in, and those people moved out and they got replaced by more people. Gentrification has been happening at least since the 80s in fits and starts (do a Proquest search, Washington Post 12/31/79-Present, search “Shaw” [or logan/ bates/ blagden] & “gentrification”). Business growth has been slow, for a variety of reasons, but it has been moving forward. So we tend to get excited when something new pops up. Long after the pages of these stories turn yellow and get stuck in the Post’s pay-to-see archives, people will move in and people will move out and the neighborhood will continue to change.
My condescending friends
Within an article on that dead horse of a subject… church parking, Washington Times reporter Tom Knott wrote:
And one other thing: Although it is fashionable in some circles to speak condescendingly of those who gentrify a neighborhood, the alternative is not exactly all that romantic. High-crime areas are not really cool places to live. Bars on the windows of homes and storefronts are not attractive features.
I get it from some coworkers, associates and several drive by commenters on this blog the condescending attitude about living here in Shaw. I know I do bring a little of it on myself with the subtitle “now with more gentrification”. However, we all have our own reasons for being here and I don’t think it was because we love living with bars on the window and displacing poor folks. The condescension does not make me feel guilty or less than. The headaches that come with this place, and enduring the inconveniences, do away with that and make me feel that I’ve earned my right to be here. That and the mortgage.
The Post might be a race baiting newspaper but I’m keeping my subscription
1. I’ve already set up automatic payments. I don’t look forward to trying undo that.
2. The Washington Times? Phooey. I spit on the Times.
3. Comics, sales papers & coupons.
4. Classified (Jobs, Houses for Sale, etc) section better than City Paper’s.
5. Paper handy for craft projects.
6. I really, really like the Style section.
7. Cheaper than a NYT or Wall Street Journal subscription.
8. Food section is good too.
9. I use it to clean windows.
10.Thursday District section has Animal Watch (aka Stupid Humans).
Okay, I sense a theme. [sarcasm]Middle class white people are evil. Well at least the ones who live outside their designated areas.[/sarcasm] Designated areas are neighborhoods west of the park, maybe west of 16th Street, small sections around Capitol Hill.
The Post gentrification stories pretty much harp on a certain theme as Truxtonian pointed out. Find two opposing sides, mix in race and stir. Over at Frozen Tropics there has been a flurry of comments about the Schwartzman article on H St. In it some residents were dismayed over comments in the article by Martini Lounge owner Clifford Humphrey, who (I guess- ID is so hard on these things) said he was misquoted. Personally, I’m willing to accept that was the case, not he’s the first person to be misquoted or have words taken out of context by the press. As I remember when there was an article about the corner of T & 14th that painted a picture of Mike Benson (owner of Bar Pillar & Saint X) in a certain light that didn’t really jive with the Benson I know. Heck, Jimbo pointed out to me in last week’s WP Express a quote taken from my blog, made me look like an anti-church anti-Christian. The words were mine, but cropped giving it another feel. And by the way my regulars know I’m a regular church going Episcopalian (except for Christmas and Easter). So I’m willing to cut Humphreys some slack.
The State of the In Shaw Blog
Looking back at last January’s entries I’m a little late posting the State of the Blog.
The blog is okay.
In 2004 I did a fair number of open house reviews. I did fewer as the year went on. Mainly because I noticed fewer open houses in Truxton Circle and I found that hanging out with Nathan’s family on a Sunday evening was more fun than open houses. But fear not, a Realtor approached me recently and I hope to get a report of some sort of real estate deals in the area.
There are a few things like this that may be new for 2006. So far you have seen or heard TC the InShaw podcast. I’m scribbling up a script/notes for February’s podcast. My webhost has expanded the amount of space and bandwidth I have so I’m going to make the best of it.
The state of the Truxton & Eastern Shaw neighborhood is improving even if at times it seems that it isn’t. Several steps forward and a couple of steps back. In March we got Thai X-ing. Well LeDroit Park got Thai Xing, but considering Taw is only a 5 minute leisurely stroll away from the house, I consider him ours too. Yeah, it’s a carry out but it is a good carry out. The steps back have been in the area of crime. A few neighbors have been mugged and then there is the crackhead/crackdealer problems. The good thing is the noticeable number of crack dealers and crackheads has been going down over the past two years. Some problem families moved away, such as Screaming Woman and I think my block’s resident crackhead left. Last year Scott and Matt officially launched TruxtonCircle.Org the better neighborhood site and a great way to link neighbors, which then launched the wonderful Truxton Circle Happy Hours. Scott and Matt also helped out with the 2005 garden tour, which Mary Anne was the head of, and that got the neighborhood some good press.
Personally, I haven’t improved that much. There is more grey hair on the head. This blog has brought a small bit of fame but it has yet to give me a nice trophy husband. I have noticed I got a bit more involved in some neighborhood causes. The ongoing struggle with Mondie being one. Will I have the energy to do more? I dunno, we’ll see.
Smells like gentrification…. hooyah!
otherwised titled “gad I dispise self rightous kids.”
I and a few others were out one tonight for a neighborhood cause and I spotted a gang of cyclists on the corner with bright flashy lights. As it was an auxillary drug dealing corner (not the main drug corner) and our drug dealers do use bikes I suspected they were dealers. But then I noticed the helmets. Drug dealers for one reason or another don’t seem to place great value on personal safety and forgo the whole helmet thing. Nor do dealers bother with other safety equipment like lights or reflective clothing. …or following traffic rules. As the gang broke up and biked down the street one said to my small group “smells like gentrification.” This made one member of my party believe that the gang was the “stop gentrification” taggers casing our hood.
Lovely.
Please don’t give me the “promoting awareness” crap. I think all the parties inovolved are aware.
Part of the gentrification problem
I want to thank John for leading me to this blog about gentrification in Baltimore City [corrected]. Funny, Baltimore is the place I point people to when the gentrified prices of DC are too high.
Which reminds me. TechBalt is not purposefully trying to displace people but move into a poorer neighborhood take over a block and reap a return on their investment.
Wandering around Techbalt’s website I wound up linking to the city of Baltimore’s crime map. It is so cool. Crime isn’t cool but a colorful map of what type of crime happens where is sooo totally cool (yes I grew up in the 80s).
edited to change County to City