Sociology in My Neighborhood: DC Ward Six

DC Historical Studies Conference honored

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:02:00 +0000

On Monday, the Annual Conference on DC Historical Studies was honored with a DC Historical Preservation Award. Mayor Gray and the DC Office of Planning's Historic Preservation Office honored this volunteer-led professional conference, of which I am happily a part, on its 40th anniversary! Our conference committee includes: Matthew Gilmore, chair (holding the award in the photo below); Brett Abrams, Johanna Bockman, Jeffrey Donahoe, Mark Greek, Stephen Hansen, Ida Jones, Chris Klemek, Jennifer Krafchik, Jane Freundel, Levey, Adam Lewis, Jenny Masur, John Muller, John Richardson, Gary Scott, Kimberly Springle, Mary Ternes, Ruth Trocolli, and Kim Zablud. The other awardees are listed here.

Here is the conference committee looking fabulous:

This year's conference will take part on November 14-17, 2013 here in DC. The theme for the 40th Annual Conference is “Marching on Washington,” covering a diverse range of anniversaries: the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, the 1973 initiation of modern Home Rule, the centennial of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, and the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. The panels will also cover a wide range of other DC Studies topics. Our keynote speaker will be Professor Kate Masur from Northwestern University's history department. She has written a great book on DC (that I reviewed) and numerous wonderfully controversial op-eds.

I really wanted to attend the awards ceremony, but that evening I had already planned a "Gentrification Observation" with the Cities & Globalization Working Group at Foggy Bottom. This observation involved not only seeing the gentrifying sites, but also visiting Lindy's Red Lion (a bar on the working-class-DC circuit and the student circuit) and District Commons. One member of the group suggested that our group should not longer provide business to gentrifying restaurants, even if the purpose is only to study them. An interesting point.

P.S. And here are the sponsors of these awards. Developers, bankers, and so on. What does this mean about the historic preservation awards? Might buildings be given higher priority than the people in and around those buildings?

Landmark Partner

Capstone Partners

Keystone Partners

Cornerstone Partners
Carr Properties
Hartman-Cox Architects
Quinn Evans Architects

Foundation Partners
The Christman Company
Holland & Knight LLP
Martin Ditto
Forest City Washington
SK&A Group
Wagner Roofing
Zuckerman Gravely

PeterBug Day Update

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:28:00 +0000

I have heard from a reliable source that PeterBug Day has been moved from May 18th to June 8th, 2013. I'll check to make certain about this and provide any further details later. Right now, we're at the end of the semester and we profs are overwhelmed with work, especially the glorious task of graduating our students.

(Re)Industrializing the City

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:49:00 +0000

Many people are thinking about how to create new jobs and inclusive cities around the world. Today, I received this call for papers for a conference and a book on re-industrializing cities. Yes, DC is not like other post-industrial cities like Pittsburgh or Detroit, but it did have industry and a working class. Now, DC has what might be called "boutique manufacturing," though this article on the local boutique ice company is probably unfair to other manufacturing in the area. Would re-industrialization help DC? Is boutique manufacturing the way to do this?

Call for Papers: [New Industrial] Revolution and the City:
The industrial revolution changed everything; our social structure, our culture and the economy. In many ways it created the world we live(d?) in. Industrialisation changed our cities. However, the current, post industrial model of Western cities, based on property and land speculation seems to be in crisis and looks as if its coming to an end. Cities in other part of the world – in Asia, Africa and South America are not (just) post-industrial they are still growing. What went wrong in Europe? Can we learn anything from the industrial city model? Can we learn from Asian, African and South American cities? Is urban re-industrialisation an answer for the crisis we face in Western cities? Could urban re-industrialisation be imagined as a progressive socio-political and economical project, aiming to create an inclusive and democratic society based on cooperation and symbiosis that goes way beyond the current model of a neoliberal city?

Ill Street Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 23:16:00 +0000

I just finished reading Rage is Back, which I greatly enjoyed. Its exploration of the graffiti/writing scene in New York has sent me off on my own exploration. Today, I went to the "Ill Street Blues" show at the Corcoran. I highly recommend seeing it before it closes tomorrow. Here are just a few images from the show:

Many of the images criticize greed, gentrification, and capitalism as a monstrous force, while people of various sorts hide away in the detritus (or the beauty) of the post-industrial city creating a whole other social world.

P.S. If the artists want me to take down the slideshow, just let me know.

Eyesores, Urine Smells, and Gentrification

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:53:00 +0000

It seems that whenever a high-end development is going in, the press has to repeat the developers' or the real estate agents' marketing materials. In the Post today, the Where We Live Blog reported on the redevelopment of the Edmonds School at 9th and D St, NE, on Capitol Hill. The totally conventional renovation technique of the past 40-50 years -- "exposed brick and high ceilings coupled with hardwood floors and such standard amenities as an in-unit washer and dryer" -- are described as "a 'creative confluence' of old and new" and "allows the historical elements to bleed through."

Most significantly, the Post has to legitimate the new development with its $1.8 million units by degrading a fake past: "The old school had become an eyesore in recent years with cars parked on the front lawn and cheap, not historically correct vinyl windows installed." I've walked by this building numerous times and never saw it as an eyesore.

As far as I remember, it also never had a front lawn, but rather had very clean cement that ran from the building's base to the sidewalk. In addition, it was the functioning corporate office of the DC Teachers Federal Credit Union. I took these photos today of credit union's information about loan rates, bizarrely covered with the Washington State Labor Laws, and a sign stating that the credit union's ATM was no longer available, presumably because the building had been sold.

How many neighbors were dismayed by the "cheap" windows on the building?

The Washington City Paper similarly legitimated the new Hawk and Dove by stating: "The original place was dark and rotting, the smell of urine persistent and legendary." The next week, I got my name in the paper for my comment: "I definitely don't remember any urine smell. I remember it as a great bar." My neighbor wrote, "It's the suburban mall-ification of the Hill! The place looks and feels like this guy's other restaurants in the neighborhood, only more corporate."

The press presents a past of ruin, rotting, and chaos. Maybe these tall tales come from the developers and real estate agents, I don't know. Yet, these myths do a disservice to everyone. Those living here before 2013 are seen as poor guardians of the city and our only hope comes from those who can afford $1.8 million homes and the developers who convert public property -- Edmonds was once a school -- into privatized space for them.

P.S. The Post also repeated the developer's words: the developer Martin Ditto "says that he thinks that the condos will draw a mix of people, from retired couples wanting to downsize to young professionals looking for a safe place to live on Capitol Hill" (my italics). Is this news? Is this objective reporting?

Tonight: an opportunity to visit Eliot-Hine

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:19:00 +0000

Eliot-Hine Middle School is the home of Eliot-Hine Radio. Tonight, Eliot-Hine Middle School Civics Club, with other organizations, is hosting the At-Large Council Candidate forum. It should be a very helpful evening. On Tuesday, April 23rd, we will vote on 1) one At-Large Council candidate and 2) the Budget Autonomy Charter Amendment (see text below). Here is info about tonight's event:

A reminder for the Schools, Education and Youth Issues candidate forum on Tuesday evening, 6:30 pm, at Eliot-Hine Middle School, 1830 Constitution Ave, NE. Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/458790684190213/

Our moderators will be Mark Segraves from NBC4 and Thomas Byrd from We Act Radio. They will be joined by a student representative from the Eliot-Hine Middle School student government association to ask a few questions that have been developed directly by the students. The questions and topics will be focused on education and youth issues. This is a non-partisan forum and all candidates have confirmed. The forum is being sponsored by the Eliot-Hine Middle School Civics Club, Stuart Hobson Middle School, Jefferson Academy, Defeat Poverty DC and the Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization. (from Charles Allen)

Here is what we are voting for or against on the Budget Autonomy Charter Amendment: "Currently, the Home Rule Act requires affirmative Congressional action with respect to the entire District budget (both federal and local funds). This Charter Amendment, if ratified, enacted and upheld, would permit the Council to adopt the annual local budget for the District of Columbia government; would permit the District to spend local funds in accordance with each Council approved budget act; and would permit the Council to establish the District’s fiscal year."

Get your shoes fixed at Peter Bug's

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:22:00 +0000

John "Peter Bug" Matthews is a fifth generation DC resident, an alumnus of Tyler Elementary School, a great community organizer, and the founder of the Peter Bug Shoe Repair Academy at E and 13th St SE (a block from Safeway). He teaches young people to repair shoes and, in general, how to run a business. Bring all your shoes there to be repaired.

Here are some positive reviews:

"Also wanted to thank you for sending me the info on Peter Bug's spot. Had a whole mess of old shoes repaired there and now they're good as new." (from my friend)

"One on the best things about living on the Hill. Great price, great work, and they are so friendly!! From someone who doesn't own a car and walks a lot - Peter Bugs Shoe repair makes my life a lot easier!!" (from Yelp)

Save the Date: Peter Bug Day will take place on Saturday, May 18th. Peter Bug Day is a great celebration: music, BBQ, kid's games and activities, and...the parade! From past experience, the parade begins at 10am at 19th and E Streets SE (in front of Congressional Cemetery) and ends at the Peter Bug Academy.

So, Peter Bug is a particularly great person to support in the neighborhood. In addition, Peter Bug is a fellow sociologist in Ward 6!

Homeless Youth

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:20:00 +0000

In "Why is there homelessness?," I wrote about how several waves of gentrification in DC has led to the large numbers of homeless here. This morning, the Washington Post reported, "Counselors at one of the city’s largest shelters for homeless youths have had to turn away more than 80 unaccompanied children — some as young as 12 or 13 — who came to them for help in the past six weeks after the city cut more than $700,000 from the shelter’s budget." Other shelters are having similar problems.

No kid should be turned away from a shelter. The DC Government is flush with money, so please sign my petition to Mayor Gray that the DC government provide a shelter bed for all DC homeless youth tonight. It is very quick and easy to sign the petition. Thanks!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/208/789/755/provide-a-shelter-bed-for-all-dc-homeless-youth-tonight/

A Surprising Finding regarding HOPE VI

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:44:00 +0000

By 1993, HUD implemented HOPE VI as a national program "to eradicate severely distressed public housing." The DC Housing Authority has since received seven HOPE VI grants totally $6 billion, which dismantled public housing projects (including Arthur Capper Dwellings, Capitol View Plaza, East Capitol Dwellings, Eastgate Gardens, Ellen Wilson, Frederick Douglass, Sheridan Terrace, Stanton Dwellings, Valley Green) and created mixed-income projects with the majority of the former public housing residents displaced. Interestingly, in 1994, the first permanent bonds issued by the National Capital Housing Authority (NCHA) were due, meaning that $48 million dollars plus interest had to be paid to investors.

The table below lists the long-term bonds sold by the NCHA to investors from 1954 to 1968. The sub-total shows the amount of long-term debt that would be due by 1994. By 2009, the NCHA would need to pay back the more than $124 million in long-term debt from the pre-1969 period. The information in the table comes from the DC Archives (DC Archives, National Capital Housing Authority, Legal Division, Minutes 1954-68 (Duplicate), 91-012 NCHP).

According to the official agreements with bondholders (Declaration of Trust), the NCHA could not sell this property during the 35-40 life of the bond. Did the NCHA bonds actually help protect public housing, at least for the 35-40 year period? In the 1990s, did the DCHA (the new NCHA) sell off parts of public housing to help pay for the over $48 million due to investors? Did the DCHA assume that, by paying off the bonds, the DCHA could then dismantle public housing, which displaced very low-income residents?

As a side point, by 1969, years before DC Home Rule, the NCHA had accumulated not only $124 million in debt but also debt in short-term bonds, and threatened to go into bankruptcy. In 1975, the new DC government inherited both this debt of over $124 million and public housing that had not been maintained, within the context of the fiscal crisis of the 1970s and 1980s experienced by urban areas worldwide.

Bond Issue	Year Issued	Maturity Date	Amount	Interest Rt
1st Issue	1954	1994	$11,420,000
2nd Issue	1955	1994	$7,020,000	2.500%
3rd Issue	1955	1994	$6,010,000
4th Issue	1958	1994	$10,505,000
5th Issue	1959	1994	$7,505,000	3.375%
6th Issue	1959	1994	$5,670,000	3.750%
Sub-Total			$48,130,000

7th Issue	1960	2000	$15,650,000	3.731%
8th Issue	1961	2001	$2,765,000	3.375%
9th Issue	1964	2004	$7,990,000	3.375%
10th Issue	1965	2005	$4,790,000	3.250%
11th Issue	1965	2005	$7,740,000	3.250%
12th Issue	1967	2007	$5,015,000
13th Issue	1967	2007	$5,250,000
14th Issue		2007	$10,075,000
15th Issue	1967	2008	$2,265,000	4.375%
16th Issue	1968	2008	$6,690,000
17th Issue		2008	$1,400,000
18th Issue		2008	$4,000,000
19th Issue		2009	$2,485,000
Grand Total			$124,245,000

DC Archives, National Capital Housing Authority, Legal Division, Minutes 1954-68 (Duplicate), 91-012 NCHP.

P.S. If I correctly understand the CPI Inflation Calculator, $124 million in 1968 would have the same buying power as $828 million today.

Murals and Gentrification

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:16:00 +0000

While having dinner out on 14th St, NW, our friend asked, why is African American history being commodified [to support gentrification] on 14th St? Why is there a mural of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike on the side of a soon-to-be opened new restaurant here? We walked up the street to the building of the planned Italian restaurant and took this photo. What function might this mural of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike be providing?

Of course, one could say: U and 14th Streets have been a center of African American life, and this photo just captures and celebrates that life. Yet, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his very last speech at the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," supporting economic equality, unions, jobs, and a reorganization of the economy (King Institute Encyclopedia). He would never have supported the gentrification and the displacement happening on 14th St (see previous post). The day after he made this speech to striking sanitation workers, Dr. King was assassinated. He and everyone knew that he was in grave danger for his ideas and actions. For example, in his speech, he said, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life--longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now… I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” During their two-month strike, the Memphis sanitation workers were also in grave danger. They had been attacked with mace and tear gas; the mayor had declared martial law. The people depicted in the 14th St. mural were marching within a world of violence.

One could then say: Isn't it great that this mural has made you remember this event and talk about it with others? Isn't it great that this mural has initiated a discussion?

Yet, the mural is functioning in several ways, not merely as a discussion piece. The artist of the mural, JR, is the winner of the $100,000 TED prize in 2011 for his pledge to “use art to turn the world inside out” (Washington Post). In contrast to Dr. King's and the sanitation workers' demands for significant economic change, JR's demands are for vague existence:

"This says it all, 'I am a man,'" said JR, referencing the signs the pickets are holding in the photo. "They created such a strong and powerful image that still resonates today, but in another context. Still people say, 'I am a man,' but they care less about the color [of their skin]. It’s 'we are humans, we are here, we want to exist.' And I like that, I think that’s pretty powerful." (Washington Post)

Is JR's work being used as part of gentrification's turning of "the world inside out"? What would it look like to really "turn the world inside out"? Turning the world inside out requires much more than showing us an image. Dr. King and many of today's community organizers know this. Unfortunately, even the most innovative artists can be drawn into "The Art of Gentrification."

What function is the mural providing? Is the mural helping to sell the U St area? Is it raising property values by providing history and authenticity, even though it isn't technically local history? Is it possible that the mural helps to assuage the guilt some have about displacing African Americans from the area? Maybe through a kind of "sanitized" celebration of general African American history by erasing the call for economic equality and against displacement and by replacing it with a vague embrace of humanity and existence? Or does the mural assuage this guilt because it suggests that the bad guys are racists in the South, in the past, and maybe in the suburbs, but not the people eating and shopping on 14th St.? Is the mural an extremely attractive tool in the current battle over who has a right to the city? Does it somehow give license for developers to make such signs declaring that luxury condo owners can now say, "This is My District"! Well, all of this could be true.

Photo is by Borderstan

Of course, the mural could be mobilized for a renewed call for economic equality, unions, jobs, and a reorganization of the economy. That would require much more than an image; it would require the decades of organizing work and skills that DC's community organizers have. Now, that might "turn the world inside out."

Research Guide on the CGA Pump Me Up Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:20:00 +0000

This is a great research guide! See in particular the section on DC Politics/Society in the 1980. A great resource!

This research guide gathers together information and resources from the collections of the Corcoran Library and elsewhere about the topics addressed in the exhibition Pump Me Up: D.C. Subculture of the 1980s, on view February 23, 2013 -- April 7, 2013. Each of the main topics of the exhibition has its own page of information, which you can access using the tabs above. Each page offers books, articles, videos, and links to the Corcoran's library databases about that specific topic.

Why is there homelessness?

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:01:00 +0000

In the Post last month, Colbert I. King asked, "Why can't D.C.'s homeless be helped?" King did not answer his question but rather discussed previous failed attempts by DC Government to eradicate homelessness. It seems to me that gentrification is one of the root causes of homelessness. It does not have to be so, but it just happens to be so here.

DC has had many waves of displacement caused by gentrification. As I discussed in "The Consequences of Displacement," an early form of gentrification occurred between 1950 and 1960 when 23,500 residents were moved out of SW DC to make way for new middle- and upper-income, as well as some public, housing. At the time, it was understood that impoverished "slums" were being replaced with a mixed-income community. Highway construction displaced many more. Only the very luckiest could move back into their neighborhood, in the few spots in public housing. There were many people automatically excluded from public housing, such as single people no matter how poor. By 1955, 5,000 families were on the waiting list for public housing with little hope of getting a place. Many of these people doubled up with relatives, including with those in public housing, but the District often did not know where people went. By 1968, the District had descended into a housing crisis.

Today, gentrification has raised rents and converted low-cost rentals into high-cost rentals or expensive condos, which takes away affordable housing and creates new homeless people. According to DC Fiscal Policy Institute, over the past decade, "DC has lost more than half of its low cost rental units and 72 percent of its low value homes." Today, DC residents require an income of $60,240 to afford a two-bedroom apartment ($1,506 at fair market rent). To afford this, a minimum wage worker earning an hourly wage of $8.25 "must work 140 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or a household must include 3.5 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round" (NLIHC, p. 41). Furthermore, new 'affordable' housing is, in fact, not affordable for the poor, as I discussed in a previous post.

Displacements have continued. On the same day as King's article on homelessness, Moira E. McLaughlin's Post article "Boutique condos to take place of Central Union Mission" appeared. Central Union Mission is moving from 14th St and R St, NW, to the Union Station area. The Central Union Mission's executive director David Treadwell mentioned that the new location would allow them to reach "poor and needy people who have been pushed out of the [Northwest] corridor, but still have great need for the services offered by Central Union Mission." Both very low-rent housing and homeless shelters are being taken over by more wealthy owners, those with many housing choices already. The original article in the Post showed only a clean, ahistorical image of the Central Union Mission (see top left image), while the building as it stands now calls out for empathy from the neighborhood; in the image above on the right, the sign on the right-hand side calls out "...Love Your Neighbor. CENTRAL UNION MISSION." The sign on the other side of the building says (image on lower left), "CENTRAL UNION MISSION Feeding and Caring for Washington DC's Poor and Hungry." In place of the homeless and those housed but very poor, 50 boutique condos with "a lot of character" will sell for $419,900 to $849,900, housing those with many housing choices already. Such displacements are happening across the District and can be seen as a root cause of homelessness.

P.S. The new owner of the building is thinking about calling the new building "The Mission." What is its mission? The building's interior designer also designed the 14th-Street restaurant and lounge Lost Society, "Designed to evoke an underground, Victorian atmosphere." Is the mission to help bring back the white, racist, upper-class Victorian society, displacing everyone else?

P.P.S. The owner of building says, "All of our retailers are of a certain ilk, and they're all local. We like dealing with local tenants...high-end without question...We have a tremendous amount of interest at this point." Are they high-end local chains, as discussed in "What's wrong with chains?"?

Buildings and People

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:36:00 +0000

Walking towards the DC Archives by the Convention Center, I came across this sign by Borf, along with photos organized by Ward 6's own Rosina Teri Memolo. These photos were taken by and of students at Lincoln Heights and Edgewood Terrace. Borf writes:

The bourgeoisie of the whole world, which looks complacently upon wholesale massacre, is convulsed by horror at the desecration of brick and mortar.

Are Ward 6 residents convulsed by horror at the potential desecration of buildings? Are they more concerned about the historic preservation of buildings than about the preservation of people? Are Ward 6 residents complacent about the displacement of our neighbors from Ward 6, which makes their lives worse off? Of course, it doesn't have to be an either/or, either buildings or people; but why does it so often end up this way?

You can see the original, impressive photo display here. Rosina and the students were working with Words Beats & Life, Inc.

Join us at the DC Historical Studies Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:05:00 +0000

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
40TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON D.C. HISTORICAL STUDIES
Washington, D.C., November 14-17, 2013
Submission Deadline: May 1, 2013

"Marching on Washington"

We invite you to take part in the 40th Annual Conference on D.C. Historical Studies. Submit your proposals for individual papers, panels, viewings of new films, walking tours, author talks on new books, and practical workshops on research or material preservation. All topics related to the history of metropolitan Washington, D.C., including nearby Maryland and Virginia, as well as the federal government, are welcome. Don't miss this opportunity to reach the conference audience of scholars, students, and interested members of the public eager for this lively consideration of all things D.C.

The theme for the 40th Annual Conference is "Marching on Washington," covering a diverse range of anniversaries: the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, 1973 initiation of modern Home Rule, the centennial of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, and the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Conference themes are not exclusive; the presentation of all new historical research about D.C. is welcome. Past presentations have considered art, archaeology, architecture, biography, D.C. governance, demography, geography, law, military, music, neighborhoods, race relations, schools, as well as oral history techniques and archival collection reviews.

The conference opens with the Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Lecture and reception, honoring the memory of this pioneering scholar of African American history. Kate Masur, an associate professor of history at Northwestern University and author of An Example for All the Land: Emancipation and the Struggle Over Equality in Washington, D.C., is the speaker.

You are also invited to take part in the Friday lunch-hour History Network, a forum where history-related organizations and vendors display materials explaining their activities and services.

For a flavor of past conferences, see the following programs from previous years; click: http://www.historydc.org/conference/archives.aspx

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS
The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2013. Please email proposals to the conference committee at dchistoricalstudies@gmail.com

Individual
Submit a 200-word abstract of your paper, including your professional title and institutional affiliation (if applicable), contact information (email), and audio-visual/IT equipment needs (please indicate PC or Mac and software versions).

Panel
Submit a brief description of the session with role of each panelist, professional titles and institutional affiliations (if applicable), a 200-word
abstract for each paper presenter, contact information for the panel organizer/primary contact, and audio-visual/IT equipment needs (please indicate PC or Mac and software versions).

Film
Submit a brief description of your film including topic, running time, ages of audiences for which it is suitable, whether it is a finished piece or work in progress, and whether you would like additional time for audience feedback and discussion.

Walking Tour
Submit a description of your tour's length (running time), location, start and stop points, and ages of audiences.

Author Talk
Submit a description of your published book including publication date and indicate whether you are able to sell books on site. Authors selling books are asked to supply a volunteer to handle transactions without assistance of conference staff.

Practical Workshop
Submit a description of your workshop including all IT/audio-visual requirements (please indicate PC or Mac and software versions) as well as
requirements for tables or other display areas.

HISTORY NETWORK PARTICIPATION
The History Network marketplace of ideas takes place on Friday, November 15th. Reserve your space now via email: dchistoricalstudies@gmail.com

About the Conference
The 40th Annual Conference on D.C. Historical Studies is co-sponsored by the Association of Oldest Inhabitants of D.C., the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives, Cultural Tourism DC, Friends of Washingtoniana Division, H-DC http://www.h-net.org/~dclist/, the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Rainbow History Project, and the Washingtoniana Division of the D.C. Public Library.

The organizing committee (Matthew Gilmore, chair; Brett Abrams, Johanna Bockman, Jeffrey Donahoe, Mark Greek, Stephen Hansen, Ida Jones, Chris Klemek, Jennifer Krafchik, Jane Freundel, Levey, Adam Lewis, Jenny Masur, John Muller, John Richardson, Gary Scott, Kimberly Springle, Mary Ternes, Ruth Trocolli, and Kim Zablud) welcomes the assistance of other volunteers on any of three subcommittees: program, logistics, or publicity. In addition, volunteers are always needed to help run the conference. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact: Matthew Gilmore at dchistoricalstudies@gmail.com

Warning: Save the Shelter and the People (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Yesterday, I sent out a warning ("Warning: Save the Shelter and the People") because signs had appeared of the impending displacement of homeless shelter residents analyzed in the social science literature. As I mentioned in my previous post, we have to be very careful that criticisms of the homeless shelter at the DC General Hospital site are not used to dismantle the shelter. On Wednesday, our Cities and Globalization Working Group had discussed three fascinating articles on similar displacements in very different cities. It was surprising that the authors independently found the same mechanisms and trends, but these are, in fact, global mechanisms and trends.

Negative images of slums, homeless shelters, public housing, and a variety of informal areas, as well as of the people living within them, can make it easy to seize land and displace people. This displacement is often done in the name of "helping" these people. In his article, D. Asher Ghertner, a geography professor at Rutgers University, examines recent court documents regarding slum areas in Delhi and finds that developers are very successful in court cases seeking to remove slums because the city accepts the developers' argument that their new projects are "world class," clean, and green. In contrast, slums -- or homeless shelters or public housing -- are presented as not only filthy, unruly, and polluted, but also as a public nuisance, an "offense to the sense of sight, smell, or hearing." Similarly, in his article, Oren Yiftachel, a geography professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel) studies his hometown Beer Sheva and finds that those living in slum areas (or homeless shelters or public housing) are in the "permanent temporariness" of "gray spaces" that are quietly tolerated but also viewed as "'contamination,' 'criminality,' and 'public danger' to the desired 'order of things.'" According to Ghertner, developers make their claims in court by showing photographs of the slums, which are then contrasted with the plans of the new developments. Private groups -- developers and nearby homeowners -- can have these slums and the people living in them declared a public nuisance and displaced to other gray spaces. Ghertner argues that cities are now being managed by this world-class aesthetic, "an idealized vision of the world-class city gleaned from refracted images and circulating models of other world-class cities," which can be used to take away shelter and resources needed for survival from residents.

Berkeley urban planning professor Ananya Roy shows in her article that the view of world-class, legal, and orderly city in opposition to the unruly, illegal, filthy areas of slums and other informal areas is a lie. They are all part of the same system. First, many "world-class" developments are, in fact, rather illegal, exceptions are regularly made to the zoning and other laws, which we see often in DC. Second, many gray spaces are also ruled by exception, not providing residents there with the resources or maintenance expected by more wealthy citizens. The law is withdrawn when it is convenient, enforced when it is desirable, and then made ambiguous so that land can be seized (or zoning laws may even be completely rewritten to ease this land seizure). Yiftachel notes that this "selective non-planning" is part of urban planning and is "a form of active or negligent exclusion," which merely manages "profound societal inequalities" and does not seek to reduce or end these inequalities.

Those living in gray spaces have some, possibly dystopian, forms of hope. According to Yiftachel, these residents may enter gray spaces in hopes of they will be chosen to move to a "whitened space" and receive "correction," social upgrading, and "blessed stabilization" of their lives. Those living in the homeless shelter might wish to be chosen to have their own apartment and the stabilization that this brings. In the meantime, living in gray spaces come with considerable dangers. Residents could be severely punished, "throwing the group into financial disaster, property loss, injury or even exile." If they can avoid these dangers, gray zone residents can gain some resources, according to Roy, "through various associational forms but where these associations also require obedience, tribute, contribution and can thus be a 'claustrophobic game.'" So, these hopes are not that utopian.

The global world-class city trend presents those living in gray spaces worldwide -- homeless shelters, slums, public housing, and likely all areas inhabited by the poor -- as in need of cleaning, correction, and "whitening," when, in fact, this means displacing them and possibly putting them in grave danger. How can DC instead provide every resident the "right to the city"?

Warning: Save the Shelter and the People

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:53:00 +0000

The Post has been running many great articles calling attention to the poor conditions of Ward 6's family homeless shelter. I want to emphasize: We have to be very careful that these criticisms are not used to dismantle the shelter. Many groups allied with the city's "growth machine" -- groups interested in economic growth over the needs of a wide variety residents --would like to displace these residents and redevelop the land, greatly profiting themselves and disregarding the life-saving "use value" that the shelter has for its homeless residents. Developers might advertise their humanitarian intentions by saying that people should not live this way and stating that they will find homes for these people, but this never happens or happens for only a small handful of people.

The Post articles call on us to help our neighbors. In the Post, Annie Gowen reports that the District’s shelter for homeless families at DC General Hospital is now housing "372 adults and nearly 600 children living in small, converted rooms, enough kids to populate an elementary school." Thankfully, the city has a legal requirement to help the homeless: "The city, by law, must house residents when the temperature drops below freezing and has to use hotels when regular shelters are full." Petula Dvorak introduces us to many of our neighbors at the family shelter. For example,

there’s Kevin Cruz, 29, who has been at D.C. General with his wife and baby since Thanksgiving. They’ve been homeless since July, when McDonald’s cut Cruz’s hours until he couldn’t afford his apartment and his wife’s part-time work at Wal-Mart didn’t provide benefits when she had their child.

She asks us to contact our Council members to demand help for "these 600 young souls," who are "precious" "assets." Courtland Milloy asks, "Where's the outrage over 600 homeless children?"

We should be very careful that these criticisms are not used to dismantle the shelter. The shelter is absolutely necessary. It is also very important that the shelter is close to the Metro, which allows residents to get to work, school, and social services. Moving these residents would make their lives even worse, unless they were being moved to their own apartments or houses, which is not happening anytime soon or might happen soon for only very very few people. Developers and residents around the DC General Hospital site are very interested in the redevelopment of that site and the broader Reservation 13. So, build affordable housing all over the city that is truly affordable for those working at minimum-wage jobs or those out of work AND improve the shelter. Our neighbors need all the help we can mobilize.

What's wrong with chains? (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:03:00 +0000

The Washington Post and the Washington City Paper have recently had many articles about the buying up of local businesses by corporations. I call this the "corporatization" of local businesses. Since the 1970s, for a variety of reasons, businesses have become increasingly concentrated in large corporations. This global consolidation has created very large corporations in finance (banks too big to fail), IT, retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, and even beer production. These large corporations seek to gain control of local markets, so they are investing in local businesses in a wide range of "global cities" like DC. What is wrong with this corporatization? Here I look at some of the recent newspaper articles and the concerns they voice:

Corporatization can drive up prices and drive out independent businesses. As discussed in Steven Pearlstein's excellent Post article yesterday, corporations like Anheuser-Busch InBev buy up a wide-range of beer brands -- including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Boddington's, Michelob -- while its competitor SAB Miller Brands buys up another bunch of beer brands -- such as Miller, Blue Moon, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell -- and they create a kind of oligopoly. The market looks competitive because there are so many brands out there, but it is not, and thus these corporations can easily raise prices. These large corporations can also drive out independent brands, which cannot compete because, as Pearlstein discusses, the oligopolists benefit from economies of scale, control of distributors, and even control of space on shelves in liquor stores and chain retailers. As a result, we see global concentration and fake competition among brands, which Pearlstein describes as: "the market nirvana that corporate executives have dreamed about forever -- the appearance of competition without any real competition."
Corporatization can reduce the quality of products and service. In his Post article on corporate wines, Dave McIntyre expresses the anxiety among many that corporatization will result in poorer quality wines, in the name of mass production and cost savings. In McIntyre's words, "Those of us who spend too much time thinking about and drinking wine still prefer the small-scale ideal of the winemaker toiling over the fermenting juice with purple-stained hands, wielding makeshift tools." He also gave examples where corporate ownership did not lower quality.
Corporatization can create standardized businesses with a shopping mall type feel. In her Washington City Paper article "Live and Let Dive: Does renovating a beloved bar mean quashing its charm?," Jenny Rogers also expresses this anxiety about losing dive bars, when they are cleaned up and their prices are jacked up. University of Maryland sociology professor George Ritzer has written about what he calls the "McDonaldization" of life: "the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world." These principles are efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through nonhuman technology, which undermines other principles. One person commenting on the article even called the new Hawk and Dove one of the "McRestaurants," while another wrote, "it has NO soul. It's the suburban mall-ification of the Hill."
Corporatization can remove the control and creativity from the workplace. This concern was voiced in an article about a new restaurant, which will go unnamed here because I have to find the article again. The owners of this restaurant almost gave up their plans because it was so difficult to rethink the restaurant's regional cuisine to fit investors' narrow perception of the preferences of the "creative classes." Speaking more about the general staff of restaurants, Ritzer writes, "The people who work in McDonaldized organizations are also controlled to a high degree, usually more blatantly and directly than customers. They are trained to do a limited number of things in precisely the way they are told to to do them."
The financial influence of corporations might outweigh other non-commercial values. In a Post article yesterday on whether governments will rename roads and overpasses after corporations that pay them, Ashley Halsey asked, "If you sat in traffic on the Burger King Capital Beltway, would that make you hungry for a Whopper?" Corporations could definitely outbid regular residents who wish to name various forms of infrastructure to highlight non-commercial values like democracy or community creativity.
Corporations may not be concerned with local issues like trash or community problems. This concern is expressed most by residents, such as those living near Barracks Row on Capitol Hill. In his book Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman wrote, "there is one and only one social responsibility of business -- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits...The corporation is an instrument of the stockholders who own it." According to Friedman, it is wrong for corporations to care about anything beside shareholder value, though they must work within the "rules of the game." We should thus be concerned about corporate interests in relation to the many different community interests.

Any other concerns? Corporations may take its profits out of the locality to a far-away headquarters and to their shareholders? Corporations may avoid risks and creativity, privileging proven profit makers or stability? Others?

P.S. See my previous post "What's wrong with chains?"

What wrong with chains?

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:16:00 +0000

I was walking with friends down Barracks Row, a retail district located on 8th St SE near Eastern Market Metro station. One said that he wished there was more than just restaurants on Barracks Row. Another agreed and said that the area had become "formulaic." There has been a good deal of discussion of these new restaurants and bars, which, in some bizarre way, look all the same. For example, see the Washington City Paper article on the new Hawk and Dove. In a previous post, I argued that the old Hawk and Dove was a cross-class institution. Such cross-class institutions are difficult to create because they must be affordable and open/comfortable to a broad range of people. What is lost when such cross-class and lower-revenue businesses close? How might we try to avoid commercial gentrification, which displaces lower-revenue businesses catering to a wide-range of income levels with higher-revenue businesses that have this surprising standardization?

As I discussed in my "Washington DC as Global City" post, places like Barracks Row seek to draw the "creative classes," who demand "unique," "authentic," "local" experiences. So, they would not desire a dinner at a McDonalds, Chili's, or other national-chain restaurants. On Barracks Row, there is a ban on new fast food restaurants, though national-chain fast-food restaurants have a customer base there, since local chains and local owners are not providing affordable food like Popeye's $3.49 chicken sandwich or Boli's $5 jumbo slice/drink. Contrast this with, for example, Matchbox's $12 chicken sandwich or Ted's Bulletin's $10.29 hamburger. The ban on new fast food restaurants on Barracks Row allows businesses to create a space oriented towards the higher-income creative class, which translates into higher rents, higher prices, and, for the city, more tax revenue. However, this does not mean that chains are gone. We shouldn't divide the world into either 1) national chains or 2) local, unique restaurants because the restaurant industry has figured out how to combine both of these, as we can see on and around Baracks Row:

National and international chains, such as nearby Le Pain Quotidian, cater not to the customer base of Popeye's but to the higher-income creative classes. The stores are very attractive and are chains.
Local chains on Barracks Row, like Matchbox pizza (with locations in Barracks Row, Chinatown, 14th Street, Rockville, Palm Springs, and soon Merrifield, VA), are growing into national chains. In line with the desires of the creative class, developers have had to create a new kind of shopping mall with unique stores, which have a proven track record. Early on, Bethesda Row brought in DC restaurants like Jaleo. In Merrifield, Matchbox is now joining other retailers we see in Ward 6 -- Cava, Dawn Price Baby, Le Pain Quotidian, Matchbox, Taylor Gourmet, and sweetgreen -- in the Mosaic District, which brands itself as "A curated mix of unique retail, restaurant and entertainment experiences" (upscale mall). Will the branch restaurants have to standardize to create the same experience as that in Ward 6?
New kinds of chains have appeared on Barracks Row. Around the world, a new business strategy is to create a restaurant group with some centralization (maybe centralized accounting, management, sourcing of supplies, training of staff, etc.) and major investors (maybe private equity, hedge funds, other forms of venture capital) organized around either a chef-owner or several chefs with some ownership stake. On Barracks Row, Ambar is part of Chef Richard Sandoval Restaurants with Masa 14 and other restaurants around the world, which also designs meals for American Airlines flights. Xavier Cervera has has considered selling his many DC restaurants, including Senart's and Cheasapeake Room on Barracks Row, to a Boston private equity firm. Does this lead to a certain amount of standardization?

My point here is not to criticize chains and label everything a chain. These restaurant groups can be very good for employees because chefs, waiters, and other staff can get training, move between restaurants and improve their work situations, and use these experiences for later career mobility. In addition, the corporate turn toward unique restaurants reflects a recognition that people have criticized overt commercialism and do not want to live amongst huge billboards and Golden Arches in their neighborhood.

We thus have a new commercialism that fuses chains, corporations, and a certain narrow interpretation of "authenticity." In the desire to compete globally and draw in the creative classes, does the city paradoxically create a new kind of homogeneous landscape? Are these landscapes of boutiques created because they are all catering to the same customers -- the creative classes -- and not to the broader population? The perception of restaurants as either national chains or local, unique restaurants also obscures the fact that the only affordable restaurants in many places are national fast-food chains. Can we have locally-owned affordable restaurants? Or will both national chains and upscale "chains" be the only businesses that can afford the constantly increasing rents?

P.S. See my next post "What wrong with chains? (II)"

Reporting from the SE Public Library

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:16:00 +0000

Today, I am working on the Arthur Capper Public Housing Oral History Project here at the Southeast Public Library. The library is exceeding pleasant, as usual. I am surprised by how bustling it is today. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote in the New Orleans Public Library downtown, which had very few visitors. The Southeast Public Library is a great place to work, especially with the free wifi and the good cheer. Thanks to the wonderful librarians for making this such an inclusive space!

During my research on website design, I happened upon an excellent website "Wide Enough for Our Ambition: D.C.'s Segregated African-American Schools (1807-1954)." The website contains photos and history of these schools in each ward. Ward 6 hosted the first private school for African-American children! The website starts:

Beginning in 1804 with the establishment of public schools exclusively for white children, free African-Americans were taxed at the same rates as whites to subsidize schools where their own children were banned. In response, the first private school for African-American children was established on Capitol Hill in 1807...Over fifty years later, when Congress mandated that D.C. finally open public schools for African-American children in 1862—also paid for my municipal taxes—those tax dollars were distributed unevenly. For the rest of the segregated school system's history, African-American schools would be underfunded and overcrowded in comparison to white schools. And yet these schools became a great source of local pride and a model for the rest of the nation. Washington, D.C. established the first high school in the country for African-American students in 1870. In the dual system's heyday, from approximately 1890 to 1930, D.C.'s Negro schools were considered the best in the United States.

Thanks to all those who make schools and libraries such wonderful institutions!

Updating Blog Links

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:35:00 +0000

Today I am just updating some of the links in the right-hand column.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:56:00 +0000

Today, Eliot-Hine Radio will be reporting live from the inauguration! Yes, students from Ward 6's Eliot-Hine Middle School will broadcast the Inauguration and Inaugural Parade live from John A Wilson Building overlooking Pennsylvania Ave, NW. The program will be carried live online at the following link: http://t.co/dtuRWsFj

Curious about the students' radio program or their take on this historic day? If you, or your kids, want to ask questions of the student DJs, tweet using the following hashtag #EliotHineRadio. The students will carry the Swearing-In and President Obama's Inaugural Address as a live broadcast, to be followed by interviews and coverage of the Inaugural Parade. Thanks for tuning in and supporting Eliot-Hine Middle School.

Walking the NW Boundary of Ward 6

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:09:00 +0000

In 2012, Ward 6 expanded to the northwest to include part of Shaw. Yesterday, I walked half of this new northwest boundary of Ward 6. Here is the current Ward 6 map, which is very well done. The blue line was my walking path, while the peachy line is the rest of the NW boundary that I have yet to walk:

View NW Boundary of Ward 6 in a larger map

I started out from Union Station heading NW on Massachusetts Ave, walking past the 395 freeway and the NPR building. At 7th St, before I got to the Carnegie Library, I turned right and headed north. With the Convention Center on my left, I walked up 7th Street, past the McCollough Paradise Garden Apartments on my right, affordable housing created by United House of Prayer in the 1960s. I turned on M St and into the alley (8th Court) between the McCollough Terrace Apartments and the convention center. Straight ahead of me at the end of the alley was Center City Public Charter School and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. I turned left on N St in front of these buildings and took a right on 9th St, NW.

On 9th St, I passed a non-profit, Reverend Griffin S. Smith Center/ Efforts from Ex-Convicts. Reverend Smith had finished a 10-year sentence for armed robbery and began this non-profit in 1966. Scripture Cathedral Church with its stained glass entrance appeared at O Street. Across O St on 9th is the huge construction site of the City Market development, with a residential complex and restaurant being built at 9th St at P St. Across 9th St on P St, I saw people pouring out of Shiloh Baptist Church, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary (see its history here). My walk continued along P St by the fields of Seaton Elementary School to 11th St. There I became distracted by Logan Circle and left the rest of the walk to another day.

Who is to Blame?: Canal Park, History, and Community

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:25:00 +0000

Way back at the end of November, the Washington City Paper published "Frontin': The Capitol Riverfront wasn't always shiny, new, and friendly to figure skaters." The article is about the opening of Canal Park along 2nd St, SE, between I and M St, which includes a skating rink, a restaurant, public art, and park space. It is part of the larger Capitol Riverfront development. Almost immediately in the article, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is quoted as saying, "For decades, this whole part of the District of Columbia was a God-forsaken part of the city." Then, Mayor Gray states, "It was just housing after housing after housing where people were living in depressed conditions. Look at the renaissance that's taken place here." The renaissance includes not only Canal Park but also new restaurants, etc. Somehow, the article seems to blame the former residents, such as those who lived in Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg public housing, for somehow delaying or stopping this renaissance. Once they were moved, the renaissance could begin. Why?

As in many media articles and public political discussions, the article sets up a dichotomy of an either/or with nothing in between, when in fact there are always a lot in between, it might actually be a both/and, etc. The article presents the choice as being either 1) you are for the bad past of crime, public housing projects falling apart, no parks, no restaurants, and no other amenities or 2) you are for the new present and future shaped by Richard Florida's creative class. Richard Florida, a business professor at University of Toronto, has been enormously influential, advising cities how to compete in a global economy. In his writing, he argues that cities must attract the creative class, which is about 30% of the U.S. workforce, including scientists, engineers, professors, poets, novelists, artists, architects, editors, opinion-makers, as well as those working in knowledge-intensive-industries (high-tech, financial, legal, healthcare, business management). The creative class prefers:

Not new and generic developments, not one size fits-all. Creativity, individuality, difference, meritocracy, tolerance, lifestyle options.
Authenticity/uniqueness, such as historic buildings or restaurants with a history (creatively invented or not).
Plug-and-play communities, in which technology and standard amenities (maybe in a quirky or historically accurate package) are easily available: “where anyone can fit in quickly.”
Not trapped in the past (don't try old modernist planning ideas like stadiums or planning for traditional families).
Edgy cities.
Active recreation.

The renaissance in Capitol Riverfront follows much of Florida's recommendations, even though they contradict each other (authenticity vs. plug-and-play), and created an area for the creative class.

While the area seeks historical authenticity, it also erases one past, the past of this "God-forsaken part of the city": "The skaters in Canal Park are simultaneously bringing back the area's distant past -- people are thought to have skated on the canal that ran through the area in the 19th century -- and helping it shake off its recent history." Since in the nineteenth century most amenities were racially segregated, a constructed white past shapes this park. The past to be demolished is the past of low-income African American residents of Ward 6. The former residents of the area made the area too "edgy" and thus had to be "shaken off." DC residents shaken off, like dust? If one sees the displacement of people this way, it is very easy to remove them.

According to the article, 114 households out of the original 707 households, 16%, from the former Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg public housing projects have moved back in. I would bet that the majority of those 114 moved into the senior building. When will the rest of the low-income units become available?: "The process was supposed to be completed at the end of 2013, but the recession froze up funding, and there's now no set date for completion."

In the article, only one former public housing resident was asked how she liked her new neighborhood: "I think it's all great." Of course, people would like new housing, new parks, and so on. In the comments printed the following week in the Washington City Paper, Angelina said that the Capitol Riverfront is "for a NEW CROWD!!!" and someone asked, "Angelina, are you saying that the OLD CROWD isn't interested in culture, outdoor recreation, and nicer things? And you speak for them? Because the article quotes a former resident that disagrees with you." Here, we have the restatement of the article's dichotomy: either you are for the good new or you are for the bad old. There are no other options.

For other options, we might look to the public housing residents themselves. They would likely have preferred redevelopment and letting them stay there to experience the benefits of the redeveloped area. In DC, for decades, public housing residents demanded repairs and renovation of their residences. For example, many families endured the winter without heat because the city did not repair the heating. What did Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton do to help this situation? Many elected officials chose not to invest in the Arthur Capper public housing project. Instead, they let it fall apart more and more, and demolished it over several years. So, while public housing residents might have loved a skating rink and a sit-down restaurant, they were displaced, and now we have a new form of urban renewal (see my previous post on this).

Jane Jacobs, another urban scholar (pictured on the left with urban-renewal-supporter Robert Moses) who has influenced so many here in DC and elsewhere, and many people in Ward 6, like the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, harshly criticized urban renewal. Jacobs called for gradual change in communities and gradual money, not what she called "cataclysmic money," invested in neighborhoods. She called for "unslumming," by integrating existing buildings and existing people with new buildings and people, not demolishing everything. A real mixed-income community. In contrast, the Capitol Riverfront was "master-planned from the beginning...built essentially from scratch." This destruction undermined the social capital of the former residents of the area. But community in itself is important for DC as a city. One of the former residents of Arthur Capper said:

[There was always something good happening at Arthur Capper, even though any community has a few problem people.] It was part of the District of Columbia…like a finger or an arm in the body of the District of Columbia…You just cannot destroy a community and expect the city to thrive and survive. You know, you might bring in a whole bunch of people and change things around here and there, but there’s a lot of people still who remember that community the way it is. Like my mother may have remembered her community back in the days when she used to live on 4th St, SW. You know what I mean, same same. The people. It’s the people and the good times.

His words suggest that another way was needed, moving away from the dichotomy suggested by the article of the bad past of low-income African Americans versus the good present of the creative class. The bad past was the creation of political leaders who chose not to invest in public housing and then blamed those living in public housing for the destroying the area.

So, why is the renaissance of Capitol Riverfront happening now? Did investors need to move out the public housing residents to obtain the investments in restaurants and buildings and to lure the creative class? Why?

Our Neighbor Terry Huff (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:03:00 +0000

As discussed in a previous post, Terry Huff began his musical career singing on the corner of 15th Street and Independence Avenue SE with his brothers. Here is the flyer for the concert in his honor, titled “Special Delivery for Terry Huff: His Life, His Love, His Legacy of Music.” The event will take place on Jan. 4 at the Hampton Conference Center in District Heights, MD. It promises to be a wonderful event.

Wikipedia and Community History: Potomac Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Johanna) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:04:00 +0000

Today, I took a look at the Wikipedia page for Potomac Gardens. I made some additions to the page, which has changed the nature of the page. Below, I have pasted in my recreation of the page as I saw it this morning. The existing page surprised me because it focused exclusively on 1) the potential replacement of the buildings either with Marine barracks or mixed-income housing and 2) crime in the area (under the only category of "Incidents"). There was no discussion of what life might be like in Potomac Gardens, as well as no mention of people important to the community, significant sites within the property, or important events or activities. There was also no discussion of how life in Potomac Gardens may have changed over time. In general, the page seemed to be written from the point of view of people unconnected with those living in Potomac Gardens. Yes, those living inside and outside Potomac Gardens have a great interest in the potential redevelopment plans, but the page does not capture much about Potomac Gardens. Without knowledge of the life within Potomac Gardens, it becomes very easy to argue that Potomac Gardens should be dismantled, since it appears to have no value or significance.

The current Potomac Gardens page reflects my changes. I hope that those with real knowledge of the history and life of Potomac Gardens can make the page truly reflect Potomac Gardens. Specifically, I added the "Social and Cultural Life" section and then put much of the discussion of the potential redevelopment in a separate section called "The Buildings." I moved the discussion of the fence out of the "Incidents" section because it was more about "The Buildings." Anyone can edit any page, which is the great gift of Wikipedia. So, I encourage everyone to edit such pages and create a living community history.

Potomac Gardens

[the Wiki page as I found it]

Potomac Gardens is a housing project on Capitol Hill in Southeast Washington, D.C., thirteen blocks Southeast of the U.S. Capitol Building. The property is owned by the D.C. Housing Authority. The project was constructed between 1957 and 1968 in a now outdated model of public housing design, the buildings are conspicuous and isolated from the neighborhood context.^[2]

The 2006 DC budget included funding for "A joint venture redevelopment between DCHA and a private developer to do a one-for-one replacement of 510 units of public housing located in the present Potomac Gardens and Hopkins Plaza developments. The proposed redevelopment will be a mixed income rental and home ownership containing 510 replacements units out of a total 1,230 units located on the two public housing sites and in the adjoining neighborhood." http://cfo.dc.gov/cfo/lib/cfo/budget/2006/pdf/capital_appendices/ca06_pdf.pdf

There has also been speculation that the housing project would be redeveloped using Hope IV funding to create mixed-income housing. A detailed plan by University of Pennsylvania School of Design was proposed in 2010 called Choice Neighborhoods Washington, DC.^[2] On June 7, 2012, DC Housing Authority issued a statement on potential redevelopment of the housing project, stating "We considered several sites for our HUD HOPE VI applications. We chose Capper/Carrollsburg, which was selected and received a HOPE VI grant for $34.9M. We do not have plans to redevelop Potomac Gardens at this time." http://sociologyinmyneighborhood.blogspot.com/2012/06/official-statement-from-dcha.html

Other speculation has circulated that Potomac Gardens was slated to be sold for use as additional Marine barracks, as the location is one of only a few locations meeting the criteria set forth by the Marines.^[5]

Jesse Jackson used the project as a backdrop for a press conference to announce he wouldn’t run for president in 1992, calling it “the urban crisis personified, the epitome of national neglect.”^[6]

Former White House aide Oliver North performed some of his court-ordered, 1,200 hours of community service there before his Iran-Contra conviction was overturned.^[6]

Incidents

In 1991, a fence was installed, requiring 45 police officers to quell a violent negative reaction. In 1995, Marion Barry’s administration hired the Nation of Islam on an emergency contract to restore order.^[7]

In June 2010, fifteen individuals were arrested, according to a joint press release issued in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s office, the MPD, the FBI and the U.S. Park Police, who all worked together on the arrests as part of a long-term a task force combating gangs, drugs and violence. The bust yielded heroin, cocaine, guns, scales and other drug trafficking paraphernalia and was described as significant by the MPD1 Commander David Kamperin.^[8]

In November 2011, a series of violent attacks in the area surrounding the project drew widespread media attention and a response from DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier.^[9]

References

[I couldn't reset the footnotes back to the original order.]
^ ^a ^b FINAL.BOOK.Choice.Neighborhoods.DC
[I couldn't reset the footnotes back to the original order.]
[I couldn't reset the footnotes back to the original order.]
^ Potomac Gardens Housing Project Again Draws Neighborhood Ire: DCist
^ ^a ^b One Avenue, Two Faces: White House, Crack House | Craig Crawford's Trail Mix
^ DePillis, Lydia (March 17, 2011). "Do Fence Me In: Capitol Hill's Potomac Gardens isn't as danger as it was, but its gates remain". The Washington City Paper.
^ Potomac Gardens Drug Bust Yields 15 Arrests
^ http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2010/11/1300-block-of-pennsylvania-ave-se-location-of-two-unprovoked-attacks-community-enraged-mpd-response-goes-all-the-way-to-the-top/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Additional sources

Washington Post: Potomac Gardens, Jan. 10, 1992 – “Police Seize AK-47 Rifle in Southeast Arrest; Man Also Had Pistol, 37 Bags of Cocaine”
Washington Post: Potomac Gardens, Sept. 20 1991 – “Man Slain in Complex in Southeast; Residents Witness Morning
Washington Post: Potomac Gardens, Jan. 19, 1991 – “Youth, 14, Charged in Hill Slaying. Lawyer Was Killed in Car at Light.”