A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Williams Buys Abdo Loft
The Lofts during construction The Post reports on former Mayor Anthony William's recent purchase of a loft in the former Children's Museum that is now know as the Landmark Lofts.
51 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Maybe even the bigger news here is: "Sheila Crump Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and believed to be the first African American woman to be worth $1 billion. Johnson recently signed a contract to buy the largest, highest-priced unit. She said she paid more than $2 million. Agents said it will be the highest price ever paid for a condominium near Capitol Hill."
People like Mayor Williams and Ms. Johnson don't make this kind of investment if they don't believe they will get a good return on it. I think this is major good news for H St. improvement. These people won't be going to Murry's for their groceries.
I thought this was great news! I think that this establishes that other areas of the city are "legitimate" places to live for educated, achieving professionals.
I like how they refer to the neighborhood as "still dicey." WTF does that even mean? Are they worried a sous chef will come after them with a Wustof cleaver and give them a good mince?
Please check out http://crimemap.dc.gov/presentation/query.asp
If you notice, there were only 18 incidences of crime near the Atlas district with only 1 violent criminal activity. While if you enter let's say an address in Columbia Heights there were about 18 violent crimes and 28 total. Which makes Columbia heights to be much less safer than NE. However, interesting is the way NE gets the "unsafe, dice" rap.
Thanks Justin. That's potentially positive news, but before I get too excited - what is the population density of the two areas? I think that would make a difference.
Good news indeed. Im glad abdo is pimping the celebrities out for some publicity, but did the post really have to take a swipe at our ``still dicey'' neighborhood? Then again this is the same paper that can't seem to get any addresses correct in their stories that are outside of NW.
C'mon people, I love our neighborhood, but it is still very dicey. It's improving every day, but let's pretend H St is Georgetown...at least not yet anyway.
it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL.
i've lived here 5 years and never had a problem. i go to the atm at all hours, etc. of course i look over my shoulder like i do in every other part of the city
i got robbed right off 14th st nw and saw a man with a butcher knife in his back walking up 14th st nw (columbia heights area). i also saw a fight that ended with someone getting knocked unconscious. haven't seen anything like that since i've lived off of h st.
columbia heights is much worse, to me.
oh yeah, when i just tried to park in columbia heights a year ago, this guy tried to get gangsta on me and said it was his sister's parking space. he was wearing a ski mask and everything. i didn't feel like fighting over a parking space so when his sister rolled up, i let her have it. i don't need the drama. the guy was kind of huge, that was a factor in my decision too. LOL.
Dicey comment not surprising considering they can’t even get their sources names correct: "It immediately brings more credibility to H Street," said Alan Kimler
That earlier chatter was bunch of BS. I can say in the past 3 years I've known atleast 15 upper income blacks that have moved into the area. Thats just the ones that I personally know of, so I'd imagine there are others that have that also moved into the hood sinc then.
I think H St. looks worse than it actually is. Its easy for the G-town/Upper NW crowd to do a drive-by of H St., see boarded up windows, and think "ghetto". I can just see the reporters driving by in their family trucksters telling their kids to roll up the windows when they hit H St.
Now that we have all this development coming, I think the real issue now is how do we not end up like Adams Morgan? H St. is starting to get on the map, but I'd hate to see all the redevelopment effort turn us into a destination spot for the beer-guzzling, Night At The Roxsberry crowd that seems to bring more trouble than benefit to Adams Morgan.
"it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL."
That's fairly ridiculous. The Post is still fairly liberal, and they cover 'poor black people' quite a bit. Witness, for instance, the giant series they just did on condo conversions.
But I will agree that crime in supposedly 'hip' areas of NW are way more than many people are willing to admit. So it's always funny for me to hear those folks trash talk H Street.
But the reality is none of these areas in DC are as safe as they could be. Many other US cities are far safer than we are, all in all. For instance, NYC.
Any chance we can get him to run for Mayor again? He is one of the main reasons DC has done so well in the past 10+ years a lot of that even before he became mayor. I had the pleasure of speaking with him a while ago and I was truly impressed.
If you are reading this welcome the neighborhood Mr. Mayor. We are glad to have you.
it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL."
That's fairly ridiculous. The Post is still fairly liberal, and they cover 'poor black people' quite a bit. Witness, for instance, the giant series they just did on condo conversions.
^ ^ ^
1) What on God's green earth does "fairly liberal" mean? by whose standard? a marxist? bill o'reilly? use terms that have substantive meaning.
2) what does "quite a bit" mean? that poor black people get at least 4 pages of coverage every day? LOL. poor black people are almost NEVER in the Post, in a city FULL of poor black people. How many lines of ink a week does the Post dedicate to covering Ward 7 and 8? Almost none. Why? Because those wards are filled with poor black people and Post coverage is skewed towards what they believe will interest suburban readers in the larger Metro area (i.e. who their advertisers want to reach). The condo conversion story was in the long Post tradition of presenting stories so the local DC government looks neglectful and/or inept (note the underlying theme of 'developers are evicting by neglect and the DC govt can't seem to stop it/DCRA is sprawling and ineffectual, etc', i.e. the line that suburban residents accept as the way the DC govt is *intrinsically*
"But the reality is none of these areas in DC are as safe as they could be."
no area on earth that isn't a police state is "as safe as (it) could be". I've never had a problem on H. Not one problem. I have never personally witnessed a crime take place on H Street. I have witnessed numerous crimes take place on 14th Street. That was the distinction I was making. I have walked both streets extensively.
"Many other US cities are far safer than we are, all in all. For instance, NYC."
Soul Searcher (or others), can you please explain to me why many poor people in subsidized housing don't seem to take basic care of their properties? For example why is it that the majority of the owner occupied housing around me is well maintained while the Sec. 8 housing is in disrepair? While the landlord has some responsibility for property management, I don't think it should be the responsibility of the landlord to pick up the tenants' trash. I mean, how hard is it for a tenant to pick up a broom? I think we need more laws around here to protect property owners and less protection for the squatters.
Quite frankly, I work very hard to maintain my $500,000 house and when my neighbor doesn't even bother to pick up the trash in her government susidized yard and has a bunch teen-age hoodlums hanging out in front, how am I suppose to have much sympathy for this person or her situation. I will be thankful when she gets evicted. Then hopefully someone will come along, repair all the damage she caused, and sell the house for $600,000.
Anonymous, poor you, I've been there. You ain't gonna be able to change their behavior. The best you can do is be neighborly and try to engage. My messy, loud, drug dealing Section 8 neighbors finally were evicted and the house sold. Honest to gosh, I missed them after they left (not everything about them of course). If you can somehow become friendly with them you'll be surprised all the stuff you can learn. I say "tight" all the time now. And "off the hinges". And "sick". Like, your 500 K house is probably pretty sick, and your neighbors probably have a tight hoopdie.
And some say, "These poor people. Where will they go after being evicted?" And the sadest thing is I don't care anymore. Its almost taken the last bit of compassion I have for these people only to say "As long as you don't care about yourself, then why should I spend any more energy caring for you or about you?" It then becomes "good riddence, good luck, and I wish the best to all you landlords out there." Its all enough to make one join the dark side and become a Republican.
Anon 2:20, I've been in the District a looooong time, along with many of my neighbors on our block and I can't tell you how many times we have echoed your thoughts lately. Sad, but true. What the city hath wrought goes beyond the capacity of many people's compassion anymore.
And I think that the biggest problem with the Post(I hate the Post) is that is continues to play on this skewed view without writing intelligent, in depth articles to help everyone move to a new level.
I'm glad I'm not alone out there with these sentiments. I think many readers here have been quick to point out "The Post is stiring up racisim" or "Many FT posters are racist because they don't have any neighborhood compassion or sense of the way it used to be." I get tired of all that b.s.
For those who need a helping hand, as long as you blame somebody else for creating your problems, then I'm afraid you're never going to pull yourself up.
One thing I'd like to add to Anon. 3:22 statement "What the city hath wrought goes beyond the capacity of many people's compassion anymore." Let's don't just blame the city, I think its also what many of the people hath wrought on themselves...."
And THIS is why I think its important for us to try and have a rational class/race discussion. I find it stimulating and potentially helpful.
This is 3:22 again. I'd like to suggest(as someone who has been here a long time) that it was virtually impossible to speak to any responsibility for many years because if one did you were immediately labeled. So one just watched the city become more and more inept and disfunctional. I think that Williams did a very good job of getting the city moving in a forward direction. But DC is very much behind the curve on many levels....competent city service agencies, whole swaths of the city abandoned and in ruins(but that is starting to change), no real retail in much of the city, access to hospitals, etc.
I'm not a Republican yet, but boy,(and I hate to admit this), I'm starting to understand their views.
Sweet Mother of Goodness.... we've stirred one up on this one.
My comments on the WP were to suggest that they are no longer reliably liberal. For instance, their coverage leading up to the Iraq war was reprehensibly servile.
But to suggest that they don't cover local issues dealing with blacks or poor people (those two are not interchangeable, incidentally) is simply not supportable.
As for race and economic issues, I share the sentiment someone else did....
I came to DC a bleeding heart liberal. A dozen years later, I'm not quite a Republican but I have to say my views on welfare, race and class issues, city 'culture', violence, and such have changed dramatically.
I guess that's what getting mugged and having a gun pointed at my genitals and being told I'll be having 'no little cracker babies' will do to you. Especially after you find out the sweet young men that did it are being supported by your tax dollars, in public housing less than a block away.
So I'm literally paying to have someone mug me.
Not exactly what Martin Luther King Jr had in mind.
DC has tried every liberal social program known to man, for 40 years, with very little emphasis on personal responsibility and very little emphasis on weaning people off the public trough.
I read those articles and I have to wonder what the city and people expect to have happen. Why would anyone buy a rental property in DC if the renters have the right to veto a sale and they get to cap what I can charge them in rent.
The reason that those places weren't maintained is that there was no economic incentive for them to do so. If they can't charge market level rents for a building, why would they spend good money on something that won't yield a return?
Go to Arlington County which is just across the river and look to see if there is any such substandard housing. Even the affordable housing there is in much better shape.
Smartest thing that DC could do is to get rid of rent control. Watch what happens with those buildings then.
The Washington Compost is a thoughtless enabler. As 5:51 ponted out: "DC has tried every liberal social program known to man, for 40 years, with very little emphasis on personal responsibility and very little emphasis on weaning people off the public trough. Has no one noticed it isn't working?"
How can the majority of people in DC know whether anything is working or not when their exposure to it is from stories in the the Post? From their perspective, business owners and landlords are evil and the poor are victims who can do no wrong.
It's OK to be liberal. It's stupid to be thoughtlessly liberal.
Bravo 6:28!!! I have often wondered what I just read about when I finish reading a story in the Post(if I make past the second paragraph). As I said before, I hate the Post. The Washington Compost....and they wonder why their readership is going down.
some of my neighbors have been in the hood a long time. much longer than me.
they lay claim to their heritage, the riots, etc.
i actually hung out with them once, during one of their parties, and they were totally cool with doing drugs, etc.
cuz... they are stable elements in the hood.
sort of lame.
especially since none of them have jobs.
they're great PEOPLE, but shitty neighbors, in the larger view of things.
they buy their sh*t from kids in the hood. yeah, they look out for all of us newcomers, but only if we leave them alone.
but hey, that's life in NEAR NORTHEAST, or NEAR NoMa, or NEAR THE COOL PART OF H, or whatever.
i'm still liberal, but i have to say, if you are a citizen in this country, and a resident of DC, get with the program or be marginalized.
which sucks, cuz they get pissed and crime increases..... due to a variety of factors. mostly because they revolt if you don't uphold their antiquated "standards".
be a decent citizen, with some respect for your community, of F*ck you.
i don't care what economic bracket, ethnicity, gender, color, etc. you are.
It's pretty lame that people can post such racist and intentionally provacative and ultimately unproductive comments as 'anonymous'. I don't think Inked means this blog to be an outlet for such talk. I post as myself and you all can reach me pretty easily...the people who are actually working to better the street all post as themselves, joe teddy, scott, frank, richard layman, alan kimber....granted they aren't throwing firebomb-type remarks when they post but they are laying themselves out there ...
And what specifically do you find racist in the Anonymous comments posted?
Granted, it's late and I can't say I've analyzed each and every word in each post, but to me they seem to be mostly commentary on social programs and mores in DC.
Do you believe that commentary in and of itself is racist?
I am curious also as to what is racist. I'd also add that several of my neighbors are long time African Americans....been on the block since the mid 70s. One is a lawyer, a doctor and one is Ivy League educated(policy or association work), all over 60. From comments in conversation with them....I think they would share many views expressed on this thread.
I think the conversation that has been taking place is one that is absolutley neccessary for the health of the city. But even more importantly the unintelligent information we get from the Post. Which, yes, does color the way the rest of the region thinks about us. And from what is in the Post, the way the Post thinks about us(on this side of town). I, for one, am sick of it.
And I don't believe that anyone who has posted is not a compassionate person or willing to help where and when needed.
Here's an interesting statistic from one of the links on the sidebar, under gentrification - The Next American City(it is from july 2004...so it may have changed abit) and it perains to the region(which I think you need to consider):
"the District contains 12% of the local population and over 55% of the public housing and 40% of the homeless"
Jen from the Atlas - it disappoints me greatly that you found many of the above comments as "racist" and not a healthy conversation of many of the class problems faced by home owners near H. St. Maybe you too should have posted anonymously on this one....
I'm Black and have to agree the comments about section 8 propeties. I don't care about them. In fact it makes me cringe every time I think about the section 8 neighors on my block. They are noisy, they sell drugs and take up the parking spots on the street with all of the people going in and out of the house. The police know aboout them and have watching the house. But they just lay low when they think the cops are watching. Oh yeah! I will be happy when they are gone. Good riddance!
I'm generally opposed to people posting as 'Anonymous' on any blog.
But in this case I may make an exception.
The reason we can't have an open discussion about issues like welfare, crime, public housing, etc., is because we are instantly branded racist.
The punishment for daring to buck the status quo (which has failed consistently for 40 years now) should not be automatically being called racist.
But that's how the sad game is played in DC.
The sad part is, the only casualty is free and open dialog.
The other casualty is the many decent people caught up in the never-ending spiral of a culture that discourages work and advancement, and instead encourages idleness, generational dependence on government programs, and breeds an entitlement mentality that quickly becomes the norm rather than the exception.
In fact, those very people shouting 'racist' at the drop of a hat are often doing far more harm to the poor in DC than the rest of us will ever do. How? They encourage and enable a failing status quo.
But I would say for ease of identification some sort of blog nickname is still highly useful. Even if it's just a number or a letter or something.
My issue with this push not to post as "Anonymous" is there's nothing to prevent me or anyone else from posting as "A" once, then as "B", then as "Hillman" then as "Poo", then as "Joe Englert" etc.
I still say we're all anonymous on here to some extent and being able to post anonymously is what makes the blog work. I admit that its nice to have some consistency with what "Hillman" says or what "Poo Poo" says, but even they can post as "Anonymous" anytime they want if they didn't want a comment to interfer with the "image" they want to shape for us.
I mean how do we know "Poo" is not Joe Englert or Inked doesn't have this fantasy of being a gay leather daddy and creates this alias called "Hillman". Or that I'm not Hillman - (but I'm not, because I'm really his number one fan and wonder who he REALLY is), but you get my drift.
Yeah, you got a point there, for example, I don't really believe "jen from the atlas" posted that comment on racism because that was whacked and she's definitely not whacked. But I don't think there's any other way to post.
51 comments:
Maybe even the bigger news here is: "Sheila Crump Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television and believed to be the first African American woman to be worth $1 billion. Johnson recently signed a contract to buy the largest, highest-priced unit. She said she paid more than $2 million. Agents said it will be the highest price ever paid for a condominium near Capitol Hill."
People like Mayor Williams and Ms. Johnson don't make this kind of investment if they don't believe they will get a good return on it. I think this is major good news for H St. improvement. These people won't be going to Murry's for their groceries.
Wow. This is major good news. Welcome to the hood!
I thought this was great news! I think that this establishes that other areas of the city are "legitimate" places to live for educated, achieving professionals.
I like how they refer to the neighborhood as "still dicey." WTF does that even mean? Are they worried a sous chef will come after them with a Wustof cleaver and give them a good mince?
Please check out
http://crimemap.dc.gov/presentation/query.asp
If you notice, there were only 18 incidences of crime near the Atlas district with only 1 violent criminal activity. While if you enter let's say an address in Columbia Heights there were about 18 violent crimes and 28 total. Which makes Columbia heights to be much less safer than NE. However, interesting is the way NE gets the "unsafe, dice" rap.
Thanks Justin. That's potentially positive news, but before I get too excited - what is the population density of the two areas? I think that would make a difference.
Good news indeed. Im glad abdo is pimping the celebrities out for some publicity, but did the post really have to take a swipe at our ``still dicey'' neighborhood? Then again this is the same paper that can't seem to get any addresses correct in their stories that are outside of NW.
C'mon people, I love our neighborhood, but it is still very dicey. It's improving every day, but let's pretend H St is Georgetown...at least not yet anyway.
it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL.
i've lived here 5 years and never had a problem. i go to the atm at all hours, etc. of course i look over my shoulder like i do in every other part of the city
i got robbed right off 14th st nw and saw a man with a butcher knife in his back walking up 14th st nw (columbia heights area). i also saw a fight that ended with someone getting knocked unconscious. haven't seen anything like that since i've lived off of h st.
columbia heights is much worse, to me.
oh yeah, when i just tried to park in columbia heights a year ago, this guy tried to get gangsta on me and said it was his sister's parking space. he was wearing a ski mask and everything. i didn't feel like fighting over a parking space so when his sister rolled up, i let her have it. i don't need the drama. the guy was kind of huge, that was a factor in my decision too. LOL.
Dicey comment not surprising considering they can’t even get their sources names correct:
"It immediately brings more credibility to H Street," said Alan Kimler
My only Mayor sighting when Williams was mayor was at Ben's Chili Bowl. Maybe next we'll trip over him at Sidamo... :-D
Does this run counter to suggestions in earlier postings that upper income blacks do not want to move into the H ST area?
That earlier chatter was bunch of BS. I can say in the past 3 years I've known atleast 15 upper income blacks that have moved into the area. Thats just the ones that I personally know of, so I'd imagine there are others that have that also moved into the hood sinc then.
signed
Trinidad home owner
You bring up good points Soul Searcher.
I think H St. looks worse than it actually is. Its easy for the G-town/Upper NW crowd to do a drive-by of H St., see boarded up windows, and think "ghetto". I can just see the reporters driving by in their family trucksters telling their kids to roll up the windows when they hit H St.
Now that we have all this development coming, I think the real issue now is how do we not end up like Adams Morgan? H St. is starting to get on the map, but I'd hate to see all the redevelopment effort turn us into a destination spot for the beer-guzzling, Night At The Roxsberry crowd that seems to bring more trouble than benefit to Adams Morgan.
lol, jj.
"what is love? baby don't hurt me...don't hurt me...no more..."
the butabi brothers are always welcome in my hood :)
If H ST turned into Adams Morgan, I'd move. Really, that's the last thing I would want.
BID or no BID - start with getting the street cleaned up and it would certainly APPEAR safer.
"it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL."
That's fairly ridiculous. The Post is still fairly liberal, and they cover 'poor black people' quite a bit. Witness, for instance, the giant series they just did on condo conversions.
But I will agree that crime in supposedly 'hip' areas of NW are way more than many people are willing to admit. So it's always funny for me to hear those folks trash talk H Street.
But the reality is none of these areas in DC are as safe as they could be. Many other US cities are far safer than we are, all in all. For instance, NYC.
Any chance we can get him to run for Mayor again? He is one of the main reasons DC has done so well in the past 10+ years a lot of that even before he became mayor. I had the pleasure of speaking with him a while ago and I was truly impressed.
If you are reading this welcome the neighborhood Mr. Mayor. We are glad to have you.
i thought they were converted to apartments for lease and not condos for sale? doesnt the sign say that?
I thought it was called Senate Square.
Senate Square is the adjacent development with a different developer. Senate Square is now going to be apartments.
the condos are in the "old buildling" in the center of new towering apartments, yes?
it's not 'dicey', the Post writers are just scared of poor black people. that's why they avoid coverage on them, if possible. LOL."
That's fairly ridiculous. The Post is still fairly liberal, and they cover 'poor black people' quite a bit. Witness, for instance, the giant series they just did on condo conversions.
^ ^ ^
1) What on God's green earth does "fairly liberal" mean? by whose standard? a marxist? bill o'reilly? use terms that have substantive meaning.
2) what does "quite a bit" mean? that poor black people get at least 4 pages of coverage every day? LOL. poor black people are almost NEVER in the Post, in a city FULL of poor black people. How many lines of ink a week does the Post dedicate to covering Ward 7 and 8? Almost none. Why? Because those wards are filled with poor black people and Post coverage is skewed towards what they believe will interest suburban readers in the larger Metro area (i.e. who their advertisers want to reach). The condo conversion story was in the long Post tradition of presenting stories so the local DC government looks neglectful and/or inept (note the underlying theme of 'developers are evicting by neglect and the DC govt can't seem to stop it/DCRA is sprawling and ineffectual, etc', i.e. the line that suburban residents accept as the way the DC govt is *intrinsically*
"But the reality is none of these areas in DC are as safe as they could be."
no area on earth that isn't a police state is "as safe as (it) could be". I've never had a problem on H. Not one problem. I have never personally witnessed a crime take place on H Street. I have witnessed numerous crimes take place on 14th Street. That was the distinction I was making. I have walked both streets extensively.
"Many other US cities are far safer than we are, all in all. For instance, NYC."
And many are more dangerous. What's your point?
Soul Searcher (or others), can you please explain to me why many poor people in subsidized housing don't seem to take basic care of their properties? For example why is it that the majority of the owner occupied housing around me is well maintained while the Sec. 8 housing is in disrepair? While the landlord has some responsibility for property management, I don't think it should be the responsibility of the landlord to pick up the tenants' trash. I mean, how hard is it for a tenant to pick up a broom? I think we need more laws around here to protect property owners and less protection for the squatters.
Quite frankly, I work very hard to maintain my $500,000 house and when my neighbor doesn't even bother to pick up the trash in her government susidized yard and has a bunch teen-age hoodlums hanging out in front, how am I suppose to have much sympathy for this person or her situation. I will be thankful when she gets evicted. Then hopefully someone will come along, repair all the damage she caused, and sell the house for $600,000.
Anonymous, poor you, I've been there. You ain't gonna be able to change their behavior. The best you can do is be neighborly and try to engage. My messy, loud, drug dealing Section 8 neighbors finally were evicted and the house sold. Honest to gosh, I missed them after they left (not everything about them of course). If you can somehow become friendly with them you'll be surprised all the stuff you can learn. I say "tight" all the time now. And "off the hinges". And "sick". Like, your 500 K house is probably pretty sick, and your neighbors probably have a tight hoopdie.
And some say, "These poor people. Where will they go after being evicted?" And the sadest thing is I don't care anymore. Its almost taken the last bit of compassion I have for these people only to say "As long as you don't care about yourself, then why should I spend any more energy caring for you or about you?" It then becomes "good riddence, good luck, and I wish the best to all you landlords out there." Its all enough to make one join the dark side and become a Republican.
How did we get here?
Anon 2:20, I've been in the District a looooong time, along with many of my neighbors on our block and I can't tell you how many times we have echoed your thoughts lately. Sad, but true. What the city hath wrought goes beyond the capacity of many people's compassion anymore.
And I think that the biggest problem with the Post(I hate the Post) is that is continues to play on this skewed view without writing intelligent, in depth articles to help everyone move to a new level.
This neighborhood made me a republican!
For what is worth, I think the post is a liberal rag.
I'm glad I'm not alone out there with these sentiments. I think many readers here have been quick to point out "The Post is stiring up racisim" or "Many FT posters are racist because they don't have any neighborhood compassion or sense of the way it used to be." I get tired of all that b.s.
For those who need a helping hand, as long as you blame somebody else for creating your problems, then I'm afraid you're never going to pull yourself up.
One thing I'd like to add to Anon. 3:22 statement "What the city hath wrought goes beyond the capacity of many people's compassion anymore." Let's don't just blame the city, I think its also what many of the people hath wrought on themselves...."
And THIS is why I think its important for us to try and have a rational class/race discussion. I find it stimulating and potentially helpful.
This is 3:22 again. I'd like to suggest(as someone who has been here a long time) that it was virtually impossible to speak to any responsibility for many years because if one did you were immediately labeled. So one just watched the city become more and more inept and disfunctional. I think that Williams did a very good job of getting the city moving in a forward direction. But DC is very much behind the curve on many levels....competent city service agencies, whole swaths of the city abandoned and in ruins(but that is starting to change), no real retail in much of the city, access to hospitals, etc.
I'm not a Republican yet, but boy,(and I hate to admit this), I'm starting to understand their views.
Liberal social worker here - getting tired of giving handouts. What does that tell you?
Sweet Mother of Goodness.... we've stirred one up on this one.
My comments on the WP were to suggest that they are no longer reliably liberal. For instance, their coverage leading up to the Iraq war was reprehensibly servile.
But to suggest that they don't cover local issues dealing with blacks or poor people (those two are not interchangeable, incidentally) is simply not supportable.
As for race and economic issues, I share the sentiment someone else did....
I came to DC a bleeding heart liberal. A dozen years later, I'm not quite a Republican but I have to say my views on welfare, race and class issues, city 'culture', violence, and such have changed dramatically.
I guess that's what getting mugged and having a gun pointed at my genitals and being told I'll be having 'no little cracker babies' will do to you. Especially after you find out the sweet young men that did it are being supported by your tax dollars, in public housing less than a block away.
So I'm literally paying to have someone mug me.
Not exactly what Martin Luther King Jr had in mind.
DC has tried every liberal social program known to man, for 40 years, with very little emphasis on personal responsibility and very little emphasis on weaning people off the public trough.
Has no one noticed it isn't working?
I read those articles and I have to wonder what the city and people expect to have happen. Why would anyone buy a rental property in DC if the renters have the right to veto a sale and they get to cap what I can charge them in rent.
The reason that those places weren't maintained is that there was no economic incentive for them to do so. If they can't charge market level rents for a building, why would they spend good money on something that won't yield a return?
Go to Arlington County which is just across the river and look to see if there is any such substandard housing. Even the affordable housing there is in much better shape.
Smartest thing that DC could do is to get rid of rent control. Watch what happens with those buildings then.
The Washington Compost is a thoughtless enabler.
As 5:51 ponted out:
"DC has tried every liberal social program known to man, for 40 years, with very little emphasis on personal responsibility and very little emphasis on weaning people off the public trough.
Has no one noticed it isn't working?"
How can the majority of people in DC know whether anything is working or not when their exposure to it is from stories in the the Post? From their perspective, business owners and landlords are evil and the poor are victims who can do no wrong.
It's OK to be liberal. It's stupid to be thoughtlessly liberal.
Bravo 6:28!!! I have often wondered what I just read about when I finish reading a story in the Post(if I make past the second paragraph). As I said before, I hate the Post. The Washington Compost....and they wonder why their readership is going down.
some of my neighbors have been in the hood a long time. much longer than me.
they lay claim to their heritage, the riots, etc.
i actually hung out with them once, during one of their parties, and they were totally cool with doing drugs, etc.
cuz... they are stable elements in the hood.
sort of lame.
especially since none of them have jobs.
they're great PEOPLE, but shitty neighbors, in the larger view of things.
they buy their sh*t from kids in the hood. yeah, they look out for all of us newcomers, but only if we leave them alone.
but hey, that's life in NEAR NORTHEAST, or NEAR NoMa, or NEAR THE COOL PART OF H, or whatever.
i'm still liberal, but i have to say, if you are a citizen in this country, and a resident of DC, get with the program or be marginalized.
which sucks, cuz they get pissed and crime increases..... due to a variety of factors. mostly because they revolt if you don't uphold their antiquated "standards".
be a decent citizen, with some respect for your community, of F*ck you.
i don't care what economic bracket, ethnicity, gender, color, etc. you are.
have some respect, YO!
It's pretty lame that people can post such racist and intentionally provacative and ultimately unproductive comments as 'anonymous'. I don't think Inked means this blog to be an outlet for such talk. I post as myself and you all can reach me pretty easily...the people who are actually working to better the street all post as themselves, joe teddy, scott, frank, richard layman, alan kimber....granted they aren't throwing firebomb-type remarks when they post but they are laying themselves out there ...
Jen:
I'm curious. What did you find racist about my post?
Please be specific, as a charge of racism is pretty serious.
Jen:
And what specifically do you find racist in the Anonymous comments posted?
Granted, it's late and I can't say I've analyzed each and every word in each post, but to me they seem to be mostly commentary on social programs and mores in DC.
Do you believe that commentary in and of itself is racist?
I am curious also as to what is racist. I'd also add that several of my neighbors are long time African Americans....been on the block since the mid 70s. One is a lawyer, a doctor and one is Ivy League educated(policy or association work), all over 60. From comments in conversation with them....I think they would share many views expressed on this thread.
I think the conversation that has been taking place is one that is absolutley neccessary for the health of the city. But even more importantly the unintelligent information we get from the Post. Which, yes, does color the way the rest of the region thinks about us. And from what is in the Post, the way the Post thinks about us(on this side of town). I, for one, am sick of it.
And I don't believe that anyone who has posted is not a compassionate person or willing to help where and when needed.
Here's an interesting statistic from one of the links on the sidebar, under gentrification - The Next American City(it is from july 2004...so it may have changed abit) and it perains to the region(which I think you need to consider):
"the District contains 12% of the local population and over 55% of the public housing and 40% of the homeless"
Jen from the Atlas - it disappoints me greatly that you found many of the above comments as "racist" and not a healthy conversation of many of the class problems faced by home owners near H. St. Maybe you too should have posted anonymously on this one....
I'm Black and have to agree the comments about section 8 propeties.
I don't care about them. In fact it makes me cringe every time I think about the section 8 neighors on my block. They are noisy, they sell drugs and take up the parking spots on the street with all of the people going in and out of the house. The police know aboout them and have watching the house. But they just lay low when they think the cops are watching. Oh yeah! I will be happy when they are gone. Good riddance!
Thank you Capricious for realizing that many of the above comments had nothing to do with race, but everything to do with being a good neighbor!
I'm generally opposed to people posting as 'Anonymous' on any blog.
But in this case I may make an exception.
The reason we can't have an open discussion about issues like welfare, crime, public housing, etc., is because we are instantly branded racist.
The punishment for daring to buck the status quo (which has failed consistently for 40 years now) should not be automatically being called racist.
But that's how the sad game is played in DC.
The sad part is, the only casualty is free and open dialog.
The other casualty is the many decent people caught up in the never-ending spiral of a culture that discourages work and advancement, and instead encourages idleness, generational dependence on government programs, and breeds an entitlement mentality that quickly becomes the norm rather than the exception.
In fact, those very people shouting 'racist' at the drop of a hat are often doing far more harm to the poor in DC than the rest of us will ever do. How? They encourage and enable a failing status quo.
But I would say for ease of identification some sort of blog nickname is still highly useful. Even if it's just a number or a letter or something.
Sorry. Typo above.
Should have read,
"The sad part is, the only casualty isn't free and open dialog. "
My issue with this push not to post as "Anonymous" is there's nothing to prevent me or anyone else from posting as "A" once, then as "B", then as "Hillman" then as "Poo", then as "Joe Englert" etc.
I still say we're all anonymous on here to some extent and being able to post anonymously is what makes the blog work. I admit that its nice to have some consistency with what "Hillman" says or what "Poo Poo" says, but even they can post as "Anonymous" anytime they want if they didn't want a comment to interfer with the "image" they want to shape for us.
I mean how do we know "Poo" is not Joe Englert or Inked doesn't have this fantasy of being a gay leather daddy and creates this alias called "Hillman". Or that I'm not Hillman - (but I'm not, because I'm really his number one fan and wonder who he REALLY is), but you get my drift.
Yeah, you got a point there, for example, I don't really believe "jen from the atlas" posted that comment on racism because that was whacked and she's definitely not whacked. But I don't think there's any other way to post.
Someone just vented, yet again, about the very issue that has been under discussion here on the Ward 5thread.
Hillman's points are spot on(as I touched on as Anon 4:28...just trying to be clear that about who I am).
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