Washington Post Staff Writer Paul Schwartzman has written articles about transitional neighborhoods before and my complaint was that it worked on a flawed template. The old template was old-timers black and good, newcomers white upper class and bad. I’m seeing improvement in Post articles, such as the one Mr. Schwartzman has in today’s paper, “Reality Checkpoint.“
I particularly liked the beginning quote (print version) from resident Lisa Oksala “The murders and the checkpoint aren’t the definition of my daily experience. It’s a neighborhood, and we have issues. But it’s a community, and we’re sticking.” And there are other comments from residents, and a variety at that, who illustrate a more hopeful and positive view in light of a dark view outsiders may have upon reading about the police checkpoints in the area. The villain in this story is crime and violence, which oppresses both the poor and middle class. The best quote is from day care owner Dorethea Richardson, “I know what a bad neighborhood is, and this is not it.”
There is only one thing I take issue with in the article are the words attributed to Peter Tatian of the Urabn Institute. Though not a quote, it is written that he
said that rising home prices across the city and low interest rates pushed a wave of middle and upper-income buyers into Trinidad and diversified a neighborhood that has long been almost entirely black.
Black is not a synonym for poor and that sentence gives me that impression. It would have been better if it read … a neighborhood that has long been almost entirely lower income (or poor or some other adjective) and black.
Addition
There is a mention & pix of ANC rep/Frozen Tropic’s blogger for the area.