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.
November 24, 2010 | 8:31 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Enjoy some links before you start your busy day:
Why Does IHOP Qualify as a Small Business in D.C.? “Even with all that assistance, Jackson says he couldn’t have afforded market rate rents in DCUSA. Which raises the question: When a sure-fire franchise can qualify for a mandated “small business” set-aside, why would a developer ever go for an actual independent entrepreneur? Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham says he’s been trying to lure IHOP since 2002, when he proposed a location at 10th and U streets NW. He doesn’t see a substantive difference between a franchise like the Jacksons’ and something homegrown, and has been entirely sanguine about other chains opening on his turf.” (Washington City Paper)
Row houses in Georgetown.
The Story of How Georgetown Found it Grid “While the physical structures hadn’t filled in the street grid by the 1790s, Pierre L’Enfant nonetheless concluded that Georgetown was too developed with its own town plan to be incorporated into his Baroque plan for the city of Washington. This design independence has survived to the present day as Georgetown lacks the circles and radials of the rest of downtown Washington. What didn’t survive was the separate street naming scheme. With the exception of a few streets, Georgetown’s streets were renamed to be consistent with the Washington street naming scheme when it was merged with Washington city in 1872.” (georgetownmetropolitan.com)
Continue reading →
November 23, 2010 | 6:52 PM | By Anna
One of you asked about a post from last week which “disappeared”. It was about “Privilege Denying Dude”, a meme consisting of an image of a white man posing between lines of text which expressed things like “If racism still exists– how come the President is black?” and “Poor people are just lazy. My dad worked hard to pay for my college education.” Here’s what happened:
If you missed out on the short-lived but prolific Tumblr page of Privilege Denying Dude (PPD), you missed the beginning of a genius appropriation of a popular meme (or internet trend) that shoveled smarm back in the face of the privileged cluelessness that litters YouTube and social-justice blog comment threads alike (not to mention IRL). What started as a simple trend went viral, with thousands of submissions (all with their own unique manifestation of privilege!) coming in (see some classic examples on Jezebel.). But due to a terms of violation with the image used, Tumblr shut down the site last Friday. [link]
November 23, 2010 | 3:42 PM | By Anna
Mozul
Washingtonian has a great roundup of opportunities for giving back, this Thanksgiving. I’m doing the first event on the list, the Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger which benefits So Others Might Eat. It’s a 5K which supports “services for the homeless and hungry, including the thousand-plus meals served on Thanksgiving Day”. Here are three more ways to volunteer or make a donation:
Central Union Mission
We know that time is precious during the holidays—help Central Union Mission with the click of your mouse by sponsoring a table for only $1.98 per meal or $19.80 for a “table” of ten people. Click here to make a donation.
Capital Area Food Bank
Donate to Bringing in the Birds With Bucks, which provides Thanksgiving meals to low-income seniors. Each meal ($15) contains turkey, cornbread mix, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, green beans, and corn. The group hopes to serve 2,500 people this year. Click here to make a donation.
Martha’s Table
Martha’s Table is hosting a community Thanksgiving dinner Sunday, November 21. There’ll be turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh veggies, and more. Call 202-328-6608 to ask about volunteer opportunities. The next day is the annual Thanksgiving Basket Giveaway, where the Obamas put in some time last year. To learn more or to donate food, click here.
More information is here.
November 23, 2010 | 1:20 PM | By Anna
Obama-Biden Transition Project
The Obama family volunteering at a food pantry, Thanksgiving 2008.
Two days before a holiday which results in, if not celebrates overeating, I’m reading the Washington Post’s “5 Myths about hunger in America“. The dissonance I feel is like a bucket of ice water to the face:
The person most likely to be hungry is a single, working mother. Federal programs ensure that low-income children can get free meals at school, but their mothers – many of whom are single and work low-paying jobs in the service sector – often have to make tough choices between food, rent, gas for the car, health care or new shoes for their kids. Millions of American women who face this predicament will feed their children and go without meals themselves.
Another tragedy in America is the rapidly growing number of seniors who have to choose between food, medicine and utilities. Though few of our elders will admit to needing help, a 2007 study by Meals on Wheels indicated that as many as 6 million are going hungry. Meanwhile, that free food-delivery service has waiting lists in many cities. The 80 million baby boomers approaching retirement are expected to live longer than any previous generation, but not all have set aside enough resources for their final years. When that silver tsunami strikes, hunger will come with it.
November 23, 2010 | 11:06 AM | By Anna
This picture was taken at 9am this morning, when people were already in line for free pancakes from the new IHOP in DCUSA. There were jugglers, clowns, balloon artists and what looked like a giant, stuffed pancake strolling down Irving street, entertaining the crowd, who started chanting “Pancake, pancake!” during the opening ceremony, which featured members of the City Council and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Council Chair-elect Kwame Brown tweeted this amazing photograph of the Mayor, Council member Jim Graham and himself wearing blue IHOP cardigans. What a festive way to start the day, in Columbia Heights.
November 23, 2010 | 9:55 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! We’re experimenting with a different style of roundup today. If you have a preference between these sleek headlines and the dense, chunky paragraphs we usually serve as Tasty Morning Bytes, leave a comment and let us know!
Gray eyeing cuts of $230m to D.C. budget (Washington Examiner )
Black women rewriting the rules on hairstyles (Los Angeles Times)
First Look at a DC Walmart (dc.urbanturf.com)
No Waffling Here: IHOP to Give Away 1,500 Short Stacks – Young & Hungry – Washington City Paper (Washington City Paper)
Hit the Road (With 1 Million Close Friends) (NBC Washington)
D.C. Wire – Thomas defends nonprofit, pledges to turn over documents by deadline (voices.washingtonpost.com)
November 22, 2010 | 3:50 PM | By Anna
Photography by Jason Pier @ www.jasonpier.com
2009 National Equality March
Over at TBD, Amanda Hess looks at “How D.C. hate crimes compare to the nation’s“:
The District of Columbia is the rare jurisdiction where crimes based on sexual orientation dominate hate crime stats. According to the report, almost half of the nation’s hate crimes—48.8 percent—are committed based on the victim’s race. But in D.C., as many as 85 percent of hate crimes reported to federal law enforcement are based on the victim’s sexual orientation.
Further down in her piece, Hess reported that hate crimes in D.C. which target sexual orientation “most often involve black suspects” targeting victims of various races.
In 2008, the District reported 30 offenses based on sexual orientation, eight based on race, three based on ethnicity, one based on religion, and zero based on disability. Last year, D.C. again reported 30 based on sexual orientation, but noted a decline in other kinds of hate crimes—2009 recorded three incidents based on race, two based on ethnicity, and zero based on religion or disability…
November 22, 2010 | 12:50 PM | By Anna
missycaulk
The Washington Area Women’s Foundation’s Mariah Craven rightly reproves U.S. Representative-elect Allen West (R-FL), who, while answering a question about tax cuts posed by David Gregroy on Meet the Press, invalidated the very real economic hardship District citizens face. Here is what Congressman West said:
I come from a — an area down in South Florida where unemployment is at 13 percent, foreclosures are absolutely high. We are seeing closed upon closed storefronts. But yet, when you walk around here in Washington, D.C., you don’t see people getting laid off, you don’t see, you know, anyone suffering, you don’t see the foreclosures.
Here is Craven’s response:
So, the Congressman doesn’t see anyone suffering when he walks around D.C. I wonder how much he has walked around the District and where, exactly, he’s walking. Has he walked around Ward 8 where the unemployment rate is 26.5 percent? Has he walked past the new IHOP in Columbia Heights where 500 people – many of whom were overqualified – applied for jobs? When he’s walking, is he talking to any single women who are caring for their families on less than $29,900/year – the median income for this family type, according to our new report 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area?
Continue reading →
November 22, 2010 | 10:06 AM | By Anna
A quick programming note– look what’s airing today at noon, on The Kojo Nnamdi show: “Rethinking Welfare: We explore recent proposals to cap welfare benefits offered to poor residents in the District of Columbia.”
The District of Columbia has long offered generous welfare benefits to poor city residents. But this week, local lawmakers suggested that more needs to be done to break dependence on government assistance. We examine a proposal to put a lifetime cap on welfare benefits, and what it would mean for D.C. residents.
This has been an extra-hot topic since Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry discussed it on FOX last week (and then followed-up that buzzed-about appearance with an Op-Ed in the Post).
November 22, 2010 | 9:35 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Did you have a nice weekend?
Crime at 7 DC Locations: Which One is Safest? “Are you safer at 12th and U NW than at at Eastern Market at 7th and E SE? How does 17th and Q NW compare to Wisconsin and M NW in the heart of Georgetown? Is there more crime in Adams Morgan at 18th and Columbia Road NW than at 14th and Q NW? How does Columbia Heights compare to all the rest?” (Borderstan)
ICYMI: Graham on Ellwood Thompson’s: “Maybe there will be a miracle” Contradicts what ET told TBD: “From what I understand he’s in default. These are people I’m in regular contact with, the owners of DCUSA…unless they’re making something up. This happened months ago by the way, the clear indication of this deal falling through goes back to August. But I’ll call them and maybe some miraculous rebirth will occur here, maybe there will be a miracle. But what they’ve done is very upsetting.” (dcentric.wamu.org)
All Opinions Are Local – A needed conversation on welfare in D.C. “At present, the District is one of only a few jurisdictions in the country that spend local government funds to allow TANF aid to go on indefinitely. Unfortunately, this unsound provision in our local law has been coupled with a system that has failed our residents for years. The result has been to enslave residents in joblessness and dependency on the government rather than lifting them up and giving them an opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency through job training and employment.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)
