Author Archives: Anna

DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi.

February 16, 2011 | 8:24 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Different Stroller War, OTC BCPs and No Money for Metro

Good morning, DCentric readers! Welcome to Wednesday.

Allow unfolded umbrella strollers on Metrobus "I can assure you that the struggles (parents) bear to get through the day on transit with toddlers is far greater than the inconvenience they place on others." (Greater Greater Washington)

Catania bill seeks to provide birth-control pills over the-counter Catania: "At this point, in this city, it's already a challenge for many women in underserved communities to get the appointments and then find a pharmacy," he said. "I think it's a way to expand access to contraception and to conserve valuable resources." (The Washington Post)

Amendment To Metro Funding Killed In House Oy. "According to Connolly, more than 40 percent of federal employees commute on Metro daily "and the federal government provides no subsidy to Metro other than this $150 million annual payment." (WUSA Washington, DC)

Two burglary suspects killed in shootout with D.C. police near Catholic University Suspects beat, robbed, threatened to kill students in the home they invaded: "The surviving suspect, identified as Steffan Fields, 21, of Gaithersburg, told investigators that he went to the house in the Brookland section of Northeast Washington to get marijuana from the "weed man,"…" (The Washington Post)

Corrections Director Steps Down, Replaced By IT Guy Department of Corrections Director Devon Brown is out: "Under Brown, the D.C. Jail also adopted a more progressive policy towards transgender inmates and established serious HIV testing among the incarcerated." (Washington City Paper)

Children Of Two Gray Advisers Land City Government Jobs To the victor…"According to a list of new hires by Mayor Vincent Gray's administration, the daughter of Gray Campaign Chair Lorraine Green and the son of Gray's chief of staff, Gerri Mason Hall, were hired last month to work for the District government." (wamu.org)

February 15, 2011 | 11:39 AM | By

Morning Edition Chokes on Chocolate City

During today’s Morning Edition, NPR played a story called “D.C., Long ‘Chocolate City,’ Becoming More Vanilla” by Alex Kellogg. The piece covered the demographic changes that everyone loves to discuss– namely how Chocolate City is going from Dark to Milk– and it did it in Anacostia! So not only did it hit DCentric’s sweet spot, it hit a few local bloggers’ sore spots. One of them was profiled in the story:

David Garber, 27, owns one home in Anacostia and is about to buy two more that are now boarded up. Garber, who is white, says people were happy when he moved to the neighborhood several years ago, because he rehabbed a home that was a haven for drug dealers and addicts.

He left the neighborhood after a 2009 incident where 15 friends were robbed at gunpoint at a Christmas party at his home. He insists that wasn’t the primary reason he moved, and he refuses to say the area is less safe than other parts of town — even though its violent crime rate is the highest in the city. He also insists the neighborhood is still affordable to anyone and everyone who wants to live there.

After the piece aired, Garber tweeted this:

NPR segment this morning about changes in Anacostia, in which they skew facts to tell a worn-out, sensationalist story: http://bit.ly/fDgWjR
February 15, 2011 10:03 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@DG_rad
David Garber

…which inspired me to reach out to him, to learn more about what was skewed and sensational. I love learning about the stories behind stories, don’t you? I’ll keep you posted, trust.

Update: I spoke to David Garber yesterday. Find that interview, here.

FILED UNDER: Media, Gentrification, NPR, Race and Class, Racial Divide
February 15, 2011 | 8:58 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Santeria and the City, Panera to DCUSA, Slave Life in Maryland

Good morning, DCentric readers! Happy after-Valent…yeah, wait. We’re over it, too.

5 Most Dangerous Places For Women Somewhat obvious. Compiled with help from local law enforcement: “#2 Public Transportation: Women waiting alone at bus stops and walking to and from Metro stations can be especially vulnerable.” (WUSA Washington, DC)

More Santería Evidence on D.C. Streets? Now I have Sublime stuck in my head: “The District is not a stranger to such practices…in 2007, there were the rumblings of “an escalating epic battle between two Latin voodoo priests” practicing santería in Adams Morgan, complete with decapitated doves on neighborhood streets.” (Washington City Paper)

Redskin, Friend May Have Instigated Stabbings Not at the “upscale club!” No! “Surveillance cameras appear to show Banks and his friend, Christopher Nixon, instigating a fight with 24-year-old Jason Shorter, who is accused of stabbing Banks and Nixon outside The Park at 14th nightclub at about 3 a.m. Saturday.” (NBC Washington)

Developer: Whole Foods deal near Nationals Park would require $8 million in tax breaks A city’s priorities: “Real estate developers have made more frequent requests for tax breaks from the District since the economic downturn, even as officials trimmed schools and welfare spending and furloughed city employees to balance its books.” (The Washington Post)
Continue reading →

February 14, 2011 | 3:22 PM | By

Miss Metro? Hire a Taxi or Sleep on the Street.

Flickr: Chris Dag

Fisheye view of the red line.

Last week, I posted about the debate surrounding Metro’s proposal to close earlier on the weekends for maintenance and monetary reasons– “Metro: It’s not just for drunks.“. This weekend, the Washington Post dispatched four reporters to spend “the wee hours of Saturday and Sunday mornings riding the trains to gauge reaction.” Most of the piece focused on party people, but one anecdote stood out:

After midnight, Metro is the domain of the young and intoxicated. In this atmosphere, it’s easy to pick out the night commuters, who stand out of the way like hungover club kids might in the morning rush.

On the Green Line, Aloh Che, 63, quietly reads a newspaper. His eyes look tired. A patch on his jacket explains why he is out at 1 a.m.: security. His job often ends at midnight.

“Once you miss the bus, then you miss the train, then your only alternative is hiring a taxi or sleeping on the street,” he says. He’s done that – slept on the street until Metro started up again. “Three or four times,” he says.

Che, a native of Cameroon, works in Bethesda and has worked two shifts this day. By the time he gets home to New Carrollton, the buses will have stopped running, so he will pay a taxi driver $10 to take him the rest of the way.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Immigrants, Metro, Race and Class, WMATA
February 14, 2011 | 11:29 AM | By

Chocolate City gets Wealthier and Whiter

Flickr: Oblivious Dude

The Georgetown Waterfront. Lazy and uncreative shorthand for "wealthy" and "white"? Perhaps, but it's such a pretty photograph!

Loyal DCentric reader @BelmontMedina used Twitter to point us to this WaPo story from V. Dion Haynes. Haynes says that jobs are “changing D.C.’s income and racial makeup”. Or, to be blunter, the people of D.C. are becoming richer and whiter.

From 2000 to 2009, the District gained 39,000 households with incomes of $75,000 and higher, according to a Brookings analysis of Census data. During that same period, the city lost 37,600 households with incomes of $50,000 or less.

At the same time, the city’s proportion of black residents dropped to 52.7 percent from 59.4 percent, while its share of white residents rose to 33.3 percent from 27.8 percent.

Why such a stark change?

The loss of middle- and low-income residents is likely related to a growing mismatch between the people who calls the District home and the jobs available. A large number of the city’s unemployed may not be qualified for the jobs that are being created — mainly in the federal government and in professional and business services. Some experts say they believe those factors are driving minorities into suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia…

The problem is particularly acute for black D.C. residents, whose unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2010 was 18.9 percent, compared with 2.5 percent for whites, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A large proportion of blacks in the District are undereducated and do not qualify for the jobs most in demand.

And now, two things I want to point out:

1) When the City Paper included this story in their Loose Lips Daily roundup, they noted that the “District is becoming richer and whiter, says new Brookings report—just not on election day!” Zing! One D.C. resident had this to say about that snark wit. I mean, tweet.

Is @wcp trying to provoke? "District is becoming richer and whiter... just not on election day!" http://t.co/8EyAc6T
February 14, 2011 12:11 pm via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite
@EricFidler
Eric Fidler

2) Speaking of tweets, please feel free to send similar tips or story ideas to us via Twitter. We’re @DCntrc and we are always grateful for the help.

FILED UNDER: The People, Gentrification, Money, Race and Class, Racial Divide
February 14, 2011 | 8:55 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Anacostia Hearts Uniontown, That Redskins Stabbing and V-Day Stories

Flickr: Jessica Wilson

Pink! Hearts! Candy! On a Monday? On a Monday.


Good morning, DCentric readers! Will you be our Valentine? No? Well, we love you, anyway!

Labor of love becomes gathering for community in Anacostia A new restaurant has Ward 8 excited: “For many old-timers and newcomers alike, it has become a symbol of their community’s potential to become a neighborhood with the same services and amenities found in more affluent areas of the city.” (The Washington Post)

Brandon Banks stabbed: Did the incident start with a joke? Even after you make it, your friends might get you in trouble. Over wearing white after Labor Day: “Banks’ agent James Gould said in a statement that the player was injured “while coming to the aid of a life-long friend, who was attacked by an assailant who was wielding a knife,” and that “Brandon was not involved in any wrongdoing and was not implicated in any way.” (tbd.com)

Rhee’s five big missteps A new book looks at them all: “Her actions at Hardy turned middle-class black families against her. She left the impression that she wanted them to stop driving their kids to Hardy from distant neighborhoods so there would be room for more white Georgetown families. That helped lose the election.” (The Washington Post)

Owning My S— | fly black chick The woman who blew up quondam Congressman Chris Lee’s spot is African-American…and under fire (cached version because her site keeps crashing): “Since all anonymity is lost, and I’m the “bad” guy, might as well say my piece on my own site. Sure, I received photos, yes I sent them to Gawker…no, I didn’t reach out to The Washington Post to “give” them my story.” (ebcache.googleusercontent.com)
Continue reading →

February 11, 2011 | 4:57 PM | By

Potter’s House: All Races, All Classes, All Good

DCentric

The Potter's House: food, books, more.

The Potter’s House has been in D.C. for over five decades. Have you heard of it? If you haven’t, you’re not alone. I’ve been here for 12 years and even when I lived on Columbia Road–where it is located– I wasn’t aware of its existence. I finally noticed it two weeks ago, when I was taking a walk. It looked like a small, specialty bookstore and that was intriguing enough. When I tried to check out its hours of operation, I saw something surprising in small letters, on a weathered sign. On Tuesdays, a group meets there to discuss “Racial Reconciliation” at 12:30 pm. What kind of bookstore was this? Well, it turns out– it’s a unique one:

Potter’s House Books offers several thousand titles focusing primarily on spirituality and social justice…In addition to the Bookstore, the Potter’s House also is a restaurant/coffeehouse, art gallery, worship space, and community meeting place. On Friday nights, it also is the venue for a concert series called “Sounds of Hope,” which features mainly local musicians performing for the benefit of community nonprofit groups.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Adams Morgan, Delightful City, Race and Class
February 11, 2011 | 12:46 PM | By

Did Michelle Rhee Lie About her Record?

Flickr: Shannan Muskopf

Standardized Test.

Michelle Rhee is a champion of standardized tests– but how did her own results as a Baltimore school teacher measure up? Guy Brandenberg, a now-retired D.C. teacher with three decades of experience published a blog post that accused Rhee of lying “in an effort to make gains in her class look more impressive than they were.” Via WaPo:

Rhee, who resigned last year as chancellor, denied fabricating anything about her record and said Brandenburg’s conclusion was unfounded. But she acknowledged this week that she could have described her accomplishments differently in 2007, when then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) selected her to be chancellor.

At issue is a line in Rhee’s resume from that year that described her record at Harlem Park Elementary School: “Over a two-year period, moved students scoring on average at the 13th percentile on national standardized tests to 90 percent of students scoring at the 90th percentile or higher.”

More:

Rhee addressed questions about her resume in 2007. At the time, she acknowledged that there was no documentation to back up the assertion of performance at the 90th percentile…Brandenburg, who retired in 2009 after teaching for more than 30 years, said the study presents “clear evidence of actual, knowing falsehood” by Rhee.

FILED UNDER: Education, Michelle Rhee, Schools
February 11, 2011 | 9:50 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Makeover in Shaw, the Big Bad Bag Tax and More on MD

Good morning, DCentric readers! Can you believe it’s already Friday?

Flickr: Mr. T in DC

Reusable bags save a nickle and clean up the river, too.

Construction Watch: Gibson Plaza Made Over, Inside and Out Yay: “Here’s the lesson of Gibson Plaza, the 10-story Shaw behemoth housing mostly Section 8 tenants: If you suffer through bad conditions long enough, you might just be there when a fantastic upgrade comes around.” (Washington City Paper)

Bag surcharge a detriment to D.C., study says This nickel story keeps coming back like a bad penny! “BHI’s researchers “apparently do not understand the bill very well,” Mr. Wells said. “The agreement is that, if [the tax] does raise money, the money goes to cleaning up the river. It has done that. We have opened a record number of grocery stores after the tax was passed.” (Washington Times)

Maryland ranks No. 1 in the nation for students passing Advanced Placement exams Just over the border: “Maryland also leads the nation in improvement for African American high school graduates who passed Advanced Placement exams, but the achievement gaps between black achievers and their peers remain vast.” (The Washington Post)

Town Hall Meeting Held To Explain Rules and Regulations of DC’s Medical Marijuana Program “Only people suffering from HIV, cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and glaucoma would qualify. If their doctor says it’s medically necessary, they could legally buy two ounces a month. Five distribution centers will be set up to distribute the drug.” (myfoxdc.com)

GU DMT Dealers Have Hearing Power of a good attorney: “Word is the students may not need to worry about doing hard time . According to a source close to the case, prosecutors have accepted a plea deal that, as long as the judge signs off on it, should equal probation for the errant chemists.” (Washington City Paper)

Minorities are on the move, and others’ ignorance follows them “The Germans and Irish and Italians and various Slavs all faced great hostility when they arrived here. They were said to cause crime, overpopulation and poverty, not to mention a dumbing-down in public schools. Then they got some work, settled in and blended in just fine.” (The Washington Post)