I wanted to get this up earlier, but I felt compelled to just stare at my screen in disbelief for a while after I read the article. The article focuses on the struggles of small business owners along the H Street Corridor during construction. It also mentions that property taxes have risen on the Corridor. The author gets some quotes from business owners, and from Tommy Wells. She then jumbles that all together into what might just be the biggest ball of bullshit, racebaiting, crap I've seen published as an actual news item in a contemporary newspaper. Wow. Just wow. I'll probably write more soon, but go ahead and experience it for yourself.
There so many things wrong with this article and the author's argument that I find it difficult to even know where to start.
Let's start with history. According to the article the corridor bustled with a variety of successful businesses. But things reportedly changed in the late 1960s with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King: in the wake of rampant looting, arson and vandalism the area declined and many businesses closed and never reopened. Actually, H Street had already been in decline for more than a decade when the riots hit in 1968. It wasn't a night and day change, and that's pretty much what the author appears to imply.
The H Street Shuttle did not operate during the day. That is true. It's because most people are at work or school during the day. Running the shuttle only at night presented the best value.
On property taxes: She added that with property taxes having escalated, she wondered why minority businesses would have to pay as much in taxes as the new white-owned bars and clubs.
“So I see it as discrimination with the city providing selective assistance to certain types of businesses,” Johnson said.
What? For clarity's sake I'll say that the selective assistance thing refers to the H Street Shuttle. But the property taxes? Giving property owners on a street under construction a break on property taxes, or at least extra time to pay, makes sense. It makes a lot of sense (one could rightly say that articles like this one harm the argument because they bury it under a bunch of propaganda). But you do still have to pay them, and you don't get to pay less because you have been on the street longer, operated a particular business longer, or happen to be a certain race. If that sounds obvious, well...good. But the article seemed to me to suggest that Ms. Johnson disagreed with at least one (possibly) all of those points. I really hope she was misunderstood.
The rest of the article is heavily slanted, and that's obvious from the language, so I'll just leave it alone.
This whole annoys me because this could have been a decent article. It could have just been a piece on the trials and tribulations of business owners during construction (the Post wrote that one). It could have been a story on demographic changes on H Street (The City Paper wrote that one). Want a particular African American experience? Maybe profile a few longtime business owners, and talk to them about everything. Maybe research your history a little, and try to be a little bit accurate when you talk about it, or really about anything for that matter.
62 comments:
I'm not familiar with most of the business owners quoted in the article, but found it interesting that almost all of the folks who essentially held the view that "H Street was just fine the way it was in the 90s" live either in NW or out of town.
Seriously, if that's the case, you can go straight to Hell. The attitude is no different than any slumlord anywhere.
Don't even know what to make of this:
She added that with property taxes having escalated, she wondered why minority businesses would have to pay as much in taxes as the new white-owned bars and clubs.
“So I see it as discrimination with the city providing selective assistance to certain types of businesses,” Johnson said.
Race-baiting tripe is right.
It's always easier to make a big ruckus and scream 'discrimination' and 'racism' than to attempt to adapt to and evolve with the changing neighborhood. Did you really expect a commercial strip like this to remain stagnant, especially in the nation's capital? Embrace change, try to coexist..if unwilling or unable, move on.
People tend to forget that the largely African American landowners in the area are making a pretty penny should they decide to sell.
It's not like people are being forced out at gun point.
I commented on the article. Racebaiting is right. The Informer should be ashamed that it printed this article.
Anwar Saleem should be similarly ashamed for his comments, which default to white vs. black conspiracy theories. If he was misquoted or quoted out of context, he should say so.
The complaints about the shuttle are so ridiculous. The X2 isn't crowded during mid-day so there's no need for extra transportation options.
On a related note, I have never understood why so many H Street businesses are only open when I'm in the office - I remember one particularly dreadful morning around 9 a.m. searching high and low for an open store that might have an umbrella. I'm surprised there are enough people in the area with spending money but without 9-5 jobs to keep these stores in business.
I agree that the shuttle was a misuse of taxpayer dollars and just benefited night time proprietors. If you really want to go to H street at night you should take the bus or cab like you would to any other place that didn't have direct metro access.
While I don't agree with all the assertions in the article. People can't be surprised that older businesses feel left out of this "revitalization" much of the revitalization has been focused on the night scene. And while new businesses get tax break to come older business don't get tax breaks to stay. Many of you may or may not know that Ben's Chili Bowl had to apply for a special tax abatement to stay on the quickly gentrifying U street corridor. Most people could not imagine U street without Ben's. Anyway all I'm saying is business gentrification is real and that these store owners deserve a measure of compassion. I do wish the article was better written though and conveyed the owners struggles better. And contrary to it's by line, there was no evidence in the article that H street revitalization is slowing down.
wolf wolf wolf!
As a former Main Street Manager and Economic Development specialist...I understand in theory, the issues with the redevelopment of H Street. However, Saleem is wrong by calling this an issue of race, it's an issue of class and money.
I am not sure of his qualifications but will say that he was short-sighted in his vision for the community.
In areas like H Steet (filled with community serving but clearly marginal businesses), you have to be pro-active with the "existing" business community by providing technical assistance in areas of tax preparation, business and succession planning along with marketing and advertising.
Asking for a tax break, does very little for a business that is not bringing in any substantial revenue. It just delays the inevitable.
Anon 10:42:
Much of the revitalization has been focused on the night scene.
Could you expound on this; because it makes no sense to me.
Thanks for weighing in. The claims in the article are garbage. You blame the Informer, but to be fair Mr. Saleem, Ms. Johnson, & Mr. Diop made the same claims in a few places now, including in testimony to the DC Council on more than one occassion. If you are going to blame someone, blame Mr. Saleem for taking a taxpayer-funded salary to support H Street, not paying his own taxes for a couple years, finding others who didn't pay taxes, and then convincing them to run around town with him claiming racism and blaming the city for making the area nicer. This is the guy who is getting paid to help move H Street forward, but he can't be bothered to pay his taxes on either property he owns on H St., hasn't bothered to put a tenant in at 1005 since the gym left 2.5 years ago, and simultaneously claims credit for all the new businesses that have opened, but has failed to help really any of the older businesses find a way to take advantage of the increase in residents and visitors with expendable income to the corridor.
Mr. Saleem's claims are beyond outrageous. Does anyone know who Mr. Bachir Diop is or who Pam Johnson is? They both admit they don't live in the area. IIRC, Mr. Diop owns a vacant property and is the clown who told Council that it was the construction's fault that a restaurant didn't make it in his building on H St. I'm curious if Ms. Johnson is an actual business owner, a property owner, or just another one of the land speculators who bought in on H St several years ago for next to nothing and who doesn't want to cash out yet. I'm somewhat sympathetic to some business owners, but the guys who own vacant buildings and aren't paying their taxes have got to go.
The article's faults are obvious and collapse on their own, but I would implore everyone not descend to its level and feed into the negativity.
I agree that existing businesses that had been current on their taxes should have gotten some help/abatement during some portion of the 4-years+ construction. I have never heard an explanation for why the construction was not done in phases as were originally planned (i.e. the disruption would be shorter for each individual business).
Don't see any connection/evidence of a racist plot though. More than a few of the new businesses on H are black-owned, by the way.
Incidentally, the decline of H-street had already started long before the riots (I hate that over-simplification). It had something to do with the sad history of suburbanization, the highways, dis-investmet in cities, white flight, and the shut-down of the old streetcars beginning well more than a decade earlier. Now that inner cities finally get some much-needed investment, some people complain. Ah well.
Mr. Diop bought the building at 1413 H St 10 years ago for $68,000 and it's worth about $400,000. Rather than lease the space or sell for a 500% profit, he'd rather not pay his taxes and complain about it. Yes, by all means, please let DC residents pay your taxes for you, while you sit on top of a gold mine until you can sell it for more than a 500% profit.
Owner Name: AHMADOU B DIOP
Mailing Address: 1221 W ST NW; WASHINGTON DC20009-4460
Sale Price: $68,000
Recordation Date: 08/07/2000
https://www.taxpayerservicecenter.com/RP_Detail.jsp?ssl=1049 0027
The comments by Mr. Saleem, if accurate, are absolutley outrageous. Does H Street Main Street and Mr. Saleem receive any public funds? If this is his point of view, I don't want one nickel of my tax money supporting him or this organization.
I will not read or comment on this article.
However I do have a comment about property taxes.
According to the DC database, the 2012 assessment for 1238 H St. NE is $448,490. That is the location of Granville Moore's, one of the busiest businesses on the street. Look up the addresses of other establishments and you will find similar assessments - lower than many homes in the areas.
Maybe I'm missing something, but if these places are being taxed based on those assessments, that seems unfair to anyone who is taxed on the actual value of their property.
This article is complete rubbish. It concerns itself with H Street businesses, and then quotes a bunch of people who are "property owners" on H. why didn't the author talk to any actual business owners? I couldn't care less what a bunch of real estate speculators think about what's going on. IMO, pie-in-the-sky speculators who are holding vacant properties and not paying taxes are causing a real "snag".
As for Anwar Saleem, I think it's time for some answers. Who pays your salary? Who are you accountable to? I hear a lot about H Street Main Street but very little about what this organization is doing to bring about positive change. If this is an organization that truly represents H Street, we need to be sure it is representing ALL of H Street. Somebody needs to take a close look at HSMS and find out what's going on in that organization. Where are their annual reports? What do they actually do?
We know that one thing that HSMS does NOT do is keep its site updated.
This article is so absurd it's not even worth commenting on.
Corrections Dept. said...
Illustrative of the utter lack of research, fact-checking or even basic knowledge prevalent throughout this piece:
John Lisle is identified as the Director of DC Dept. of Transportation. Unless he very recently got a promotion, he is actually the Chief Public Information Officer.
I know this is somewhat minor (given all the inaccuracies throughout the piece), but it jumped out at me because I used to work with the guy.
You can look up te tax records for nonprofits on a federal website. Here is the record for H Street Main Street in 2008.
http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990_pdf_archive/412/412059305/412059305_200812_990.pdf
-Brendan
Anwar received 45k in compensation for 2008. Does anyone know who these board members are?
a ti
i Y
Anwar Saleem
---------------------
Exec Dir 40.00 X X X 45 , 480. 0. 0.
Derek Dyson _
----- -----------
President/Chair 2.00 X X 0. 0. 0.
Leon Robbins
---------------------
Vice President 1.00 X X 0. 0. 0.
Marc BorbleY
Secretar y 1.00 X X 0. 0. 0.
Joseph-Dickerson
--- -------------
Treasurer 1.00 X X 0. 0. 0.
CliffordHuTR!re)L _______
Board Member 1.00 X 0. 0. 0.
Bernard Gibson
---------------------
Board Member 1.00 X 0. 0. 0.
Delicia Gunn-Karem
---------------------
Board Member 1.00 X 0. 0. 0.
An ela Evans
Board Member 1.00 X 0. 0. 0.
Leon Robbins
---------------------
Board Member 1.00 X 0. 0. 0.
---------------------
I will say that if H St Main St was responsible for the H St festival last year, they did a great job.
Main Street organizations are required by DC law to print and distribute a copy of their annual reports every year. Barracks Row Main Street's are always at National Capital Bank, etc.and have been on their website.
Has anybody ever seen an annual report for HSMS?
How come the current board of directors isn't on the HSMS website?
Guess we could ask but no one answers the phone and the office is never open.
interesting to read this the same day i read the city paper cover story.
So what's the snag?
*Nobody* reads the Informer. You unduly dignify it with the link.
While there are some very successful main streets in DC, like there are successful BIDs, it seems like HSMS has a leadership problem.
Case in point, lets say some of the things being claimed are true. Wouldn't a leader who has the skill to combat those things in a meaningful way be more effective than a firebrand?
Would it not be the responsibility of a good leader to employ strategies that would accomplish positive changes through advocacy among the political, civil, and commercial communities (getting in front of issues vs complaining after the fact, shaping policy not just reacting to it... leading). And wouldn't a responsible board remove a leader that isn't?
I'll submit, I don't know where the news begins and the editorial ends in this article. I think the intent was to drum up outrage or make a large political/racial point, but what it's done is expose a failure of leadership at HSMS. It's a failure their board should take seriously. No matter what the issues are, the face of an organization needs to remain dignified and on message and not become a distraction.
This article and other actions seems to make HSMS seem as if it has two priorities: 1) Help shape the commercial development (revitalization) of H Street in an way that preserves its character and history. 2) Support the economic development of established black businesses on H Street.
Perhaps both have merit and there are minority business councils etc., but because those two priorities compete and conflict at times HSMS will need to pick one and stick with it. The purpose of a MS would seem to be more inline with #1.
So perhaps HSMS needs to decide is it a MS or some other advocacy group. If they are the latter then the leadership is probably fine, if there are a MS, then they may have a difficult decision before them.
BTW the article has been picked up a few places:
http://atlantapost.com/2011/03/17/h-street-revitalization-hits-a-snag/
http://www.myblacknews.net/h-street-revitalization-hits-a-snag-washington-informer/69059
Anwar, did you really say those things? I can't believe that you have such little regard for what is going to improve businesses.
I have lived in the corridor for a mere 11 years, but I don't think that there has been 30 businesses that have shut their doors at all least due to the streets being torn up. If they did shut, then they weren't going to survive anyway. Other businesses have opened and are doing fine, and older ones are still around.
Why would anyone not want to have new "blood" brought into an area. Be it black, white, green or stipped. Let the race card die people and as we are all of one race-the human one-let's act like intelligent people and not idiots.
This article was one of the more idiotic things I tried to read, it didn't make any sense. and it looks like the author may have taken items out of context and plugged them in to where she felt it would insite bull crap among the neighbors.
ENOUGH ALREADY...
According to Brendan's list of HSMS Board Members, Bernard Gibson (of Cluck U Chicken and XII) is the Treasurer! This explains a lot. DC really has some questionable characters running everything from the top down to H St. Anwar Saleem is one of the shadiest. Don't trust him and question everything he brings up in an ANC mtg.
a) As somebody mentioned earlier, there is no "snag". A snag would be like the installed all the rails incorrectly and they have to be dug up. So I was relieved to read a bunch of random words that made no sense at all.
b) The ship has sailed. The construction is mostly complete. Deal with it. The author is a couple years late and more than a couple cards short of a full deck
I know Marc Borberly (HSMS-VP) from past community activities and as a neighbor around the corner just down 13th street. He's a pretty good guy. If I bump into him on the corner, I fully intend to ask him what he thinks of this article and of his current associations with Mr. Saleem.
I am a business owner on H Street (a gay white man). Been here 5+ years. I do not own a restaraunt or a bar. I own a retail establishment and have certainly felt the impact of the trolly.
But i want to make a point for all the advocates for more "retail" establishments. As a business owner on H street as well as a resident, we have yet to achieve a demographic of customers to sustain our businesses between 9-5.
those of you who consider yourself the demographic, are the same ones who moved here in the last 5 years and work in NW (or wherever) during business hours, and by the time your done with after work activities and taking the X2 home, its after 7pm when you go to dinner.
Only in the last 2 years have "white" people even walked on H street, and mostly to patron the restaraunts (who also have had difficulty sustaing lunch hours) and bars.
So for all those who rant and rave, a good long look in the mirror as still being part of the problem and not the solution. When your home sick for 2 days is when it irks you the lack of business and fail to understand what it takes to operate one, especially in this economic climate and current state of years of construction.
To the gay white man who posted above,
Huh?
I'm scratching my head on the last comment because I know I've seen white people on H Street more than 2 years ago. Heck, I've even walked with them, rode the X2, and had a beer. White people hav introduced me to the thrift shops, Sidamo, family dollar, metro mutts, Fitness together, and parks hardware.
Perhaps if you want to be competitive, then you may need to change your business model. That's your call, race bating and b*tching will get you nowhere.
Alienating a potential customer base is just plain stupid.
Aren't Mr. Saleem and his outfit (supported with taxpayer dollars, if I'm not mistaken) the same folks that brought us the H St Connection and the Autozone and the office building at 6th and H?
Isn't that pretty much the sum of their 30 years of getting taxpayer funds for 'improvement' of H Street?
Aren't all three of those developments considered failures?
I once had a white friend.
Well, not really a friend. More like a guy I knew at work.
Well, not really knew. I passed him in the halls.
I tried to be cool.
Sometimes it was awkward.
Hillman,
You are thinking of H Street CDC, NOT H Street Main Street.
Also, I would need to look at the funding. HSMS gets a lot of grants.
Inked:
You are right.
Sometimes I get my useless and/or counterproductive taxpayer-funded groups mixed up.
Marc Borbeley left the H Street Main Street board several years ago.
Shouldn't there be available tax statements later than 2008? I know that a lot more people work on the H Street Festival than Anwar. Is there ever any accounting of the funds from that?
I don't subscribe to the race-baiting (fyi Anwar: gentrification is a class issue).
At some point someone needs to question the construction crew in charge of the "revitalization." They are the only ones making money at this point, by dragging on the work. I moved here from NYC and no street project took even a fraction of the time this construction crew is taking working on H Street. What's the deal? Its unbelievable! This is where everyone's anger (or at least some of the anger) should be directed.
I agree with robby 100 percent. Robby you da man!
@Anon 7:39 pm,
AFAIK, the street crews are on schedule. If they are dragging their feet it would be according to their approved schedule-- see the ANC6A website, which posts their weekly progress reports.
Everybody feels like the street construction is taking a long time, but they are doing a ton of work-- the sidewalks, utilities, access points, lights, streetcar line, etc. in addition to the new tarmac. It is just an enormous, enormous job, that they seem to be doing right-- creating a true 21st century street, rather than a facade the covers up outdated infrastructure.
Yep they are doing a ton of work but less than a month after they finish the job, one of the utility companies will be out there tearing up the new road.
Are they still saying the streetcars will begin running in about a year?
If so, what is going to happen at the west end of the street? Right now the tracks just stop cold with no way for the cars to switch tracks. At the pace they have been working it seems like it will take a lot longer than a year to get the tracks under the bridge.
I believe all the Main Street projects get both grants and actual DC budget funds.
That would include H St Main Street.
I do believe Mr. Saleem owes the community an explanation. If he was misquoted he needs to emphatically say so and call out the divisiveness and idiocy of this article. If not, he needs to step down and let someone less hateful and unnecessarily divisive take over.
The one fun part? Tommy Wells apparently called Mr. Saleem out a bit at this community meeting, where Saleem was claiming that H Street was being blighted by government policy but also that H St Main Sreet was personally responsible for bring over 100 new businesses to H Street.
100 new businesses aren't exactly signs of blight.
Unless of course you don't like the color of the skin of the new business owners and patrons.
I'd also like to point out that one reason some businesses on H don't do well is their hours. Not only do they close by 5 pm, but often they don't keep their posted hours. That may have been acceptable business practice years ago, but people are a little more demanding these days. Call me crazy, but if I schlep my fat butt to H Street to go to a store I expect it to be open to match the hours posted or the hours store employees have told me they are open.
Usually people from new york claim they have better pizza, now we are venturing into new territory where they claim their apples are better dc's oranges. Is there anything that can't be compared between the two cities
Great comments, Robby.
And, to the gay white male business owner: I don't know what demographic you are looking for, but quit your bitching and race-baiting if in fact you may just need to change your business model.
The race-baiting is so much better in NYC.
Actually, no. I think there's actually a lot more of it here in DC.
But let's call it what it is. It isn't just race-baiting.
It's racism. Pure and simple.
Just because this time around its from blacks aimed at whites doesn't make it any less offensive.
Don't be obtuse, people. Class issues in DC are ALWAYS race issues.
anon 10:31,
not really. but when black folk complain about gentrification in dc, they are almost nearly always complaining about white folk. and when white folk complain about crime and loitering and litter, they are almost always complaining about black people.
despite the fact that there are black gentrifiers, i never hear my neighbors complaining about them. its white folk that get blamed. and unless lots of rich latinos or asians start to totally change the fabric our our neighborhood, it will always be that.
until poor white kids grow up in this city with a loss of hope about their future, complaints about crime will always be about black kids/teenagers.
there are other class issues in this city though. look at georgetown university vs the neighborhood of georgetown.
look at crime in the black community vs the older middle class trying to fight it.
there are many issues to look at, so to say "always" is false.
We'll leave aside some of your grosser generalizations (only middle class, not the poor people are worried about crime -- stupid because poor people are WAY more likely to be victims; you not overhearing people talk about a certain topic means they don't talk about it) to show you prove my point.
Complaining about white people is complaining about gentrification because all white people in this neighborhood are gentrifiers (maybe excluding the deaf college kids).
Complaining about "litter" and loitering" is a way of complaining about poor people, who are ALWAYS black in this city -- there are NO poor white kids in DC. We know that middle class people litter and loiter, but when people on these comments complain about it, call them "uncivilized," etc., it's obvious who they are talking about.
Just because there are some black middle-class people doesn't make the rest of this untrue.
All white people in DC are gentrifiers?
Really? I can point you to countless white interns, low level workers, and others living paycheck to paycheck in DC. Shoved three to a room in a crappy group house. Eating Ramen Pride three times a day.
I can also point you to a fair number of retired white people on fixed incomes in DC. Living pretty modest lives.
it says "this neighborghood" hillman.
there are always exceptions -- i saw a white crackhead in Chinatown yesterday -- but to use these to deny what is patently obvious is "obtuse" (look it up!). you are using it to deny a clear demographic truth. you are covering up more than you are explaining, and you are using your exceptions to try to prevent people from making explanations that actually contain more truth than statements like "my black neighbors never call rich black people gentrifiers," which get a free pass from you because they support the side that advantages you, i.e. denies that structural racism and gentrification are linked.
interns are gentry too.. they come from the middle class, they went to college, they will be well-off in the immediate future. they have WAY MORE in common with white property owners than the working class black people of DC. to say otherwise is to, once again, obfuscate the issue.
blaming people for their class position is beside the point -- you have a nice staffer job (probably because you were an intern once, right?), you buy a house that will appreciate in value, who can blame you for using the advantages you were born with and accrued to benefit yourself? but when you deny the reality of history that you are a part of, that affects everything you do, that makes your property speculation, your nice job, your police protection possible, THAT is when you cross the line into divisive and immoral behavior.
i wish i saw more honest soul-searching about how to bridge these gaps and make a neighborhood that is fair and safe for everyone than privileged people finding new ways to wash their hands of these issues and claim "to the victor, the spoils." but feel free to tell everyone how you were born in a trailer and pulled yourself up by your bootstraps so of course no one should expect you to have any consideration for people who are really struggling from a bad economy, a lack of jobs, a failing social system, and YES overt racism. after all, it's about making you sleep better at night, right?
TheHillmanDC said...
"All white people in DC are gentrifiers?"
no one said this.
"only middle class, not the poor people are worried about crime"
no one said this either.
you guys just looking for a fight or something?
One thing I've learned from reading the comments on this blog for these few years: race issues are NEVER resolved through posting anonymously.
Personally, I'm disappointed that "socio-economic" wasn't used and instead it went to painting broader strokes with "class" and "race" being different and such. No bueno.
What needs to happen is that voices need to be raised. HSMS is governed by a board of directors. It's perhaps the time to throw down the gauntlet, and say enough is flat out enough. The pie can not expand if it's restricted by either race, class, gender or any other political red herrings.
In the end HSMS must be responsive to outside pressure, and frankly for the sake of the commercial and residential community we need to raise "Shell No" style hell and compel them to change the leadership of HSMS. Imagine what a true partnership would look like if HSMS was governed by a board and lead by a leader that was true to the Historic Main Street mission.
How much farther could this all be, how much for beautiful, how big could the pie be.
H Street can not continue to be straight jacketed by race.
"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." President Obama
Tell HSMS the time for change is now, call them, call the Council, call the Mayor's Office, call the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and call Congress.
Perhaps a picket line is in need of...
H Street doesn't stand for Hamstrung Street.
We need futurists not firebrands.
Hegel:
Why all the hostility toward me personally?
Is that helpful?
"interns are gentry too.. they come from the middle class, they went to college, they will be well-off in the immediate future. they have WAY MORE in common with white property owners than the working class black people of DC. to say otherwise is to, once again, obfuscate the issue."
Actually, I have been an intern.
And I was from the economic underclass.
My father literally picked up trash by the side of the road for the county to put food on the table.
Us kids took paper routes and helped neighbors with chores so that we could eat just a little bit better.
I'm not sure how many people would consider this the privileged class.
As for 'this neighborhood', call me simplistic but I consider all of DC to be my neighborhood.
When is the next "meeting" of this group??? Does anyone know??? If so, I say lets show up and find out what is going on..take names and then go from there
I think Frozen Tropic should host a quarterly "State of H Street" discussion. Charge $10 admission and allow us all to collectively gather to voice our concerns as well as making demands on our city government. This would also be a great way to get everyone involved..ps..do I need to say that I'm black since race is so important on here?" lol
if there was a meeting, people couldn't hide behind that anonymous tag. anybody happen to read the city paper article confessions of a black gentrifier?
tonyt
the pug
Anon 11:45
Are you kidding about the "charge $10 to attend" the meeting idea? Talk about a way to marginalize the less fortunate members of the community...
Post a Comment