Around the City

Urban affairs, neighborhoods, subways and the people who are affected by them all.

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RECENT POSTS

February 2, 2011 | 12:42 PM | By

“Black people don’t like the cold.”

Flickr: DDOTDC

A Capital Bikeshare bike.

Now reading: “Biking While Black?“, Rend Smith’s take on a controversial Greater Greater Washington post, which theorized that one of the reasons why Capital Bikeshare wasn’t popular east of the Anacostia was because…”black people don’t like the cold.”

The African-American blogger who wrote the GGW piece, Veronica Davis, provided a list of seven reasons why the bike-sharing program wasn’t catching on, but most readers zeroed in on part of her final point: “Seasonal usage”.

“I was basically called racist,” Davis says…

The last reason on her list, “seasonal usage,” prompted Davis to write a sentence that eventually earned a strikethrough from GGW editors: “In general, African-Americans, which make up the large majority of the residents east of the river, are averse to colder temperatures.”

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FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, biking, Race and Ethnicity
February 2, 2011 | 10:01 AM | By

DCentric Conversation: Lisa LaFontaine on Pit bulls and More

Washington Humane Society

Lisa LaFontaine, President and CEO of the Washington Humane Society with her dog, Lila.

On Monday, I published the first part of a conversation I had with Lisa LaFontaine, the President and CEO of the Washington Humane Society (WHS). That post explored dog fighting in D.C., the high-profile theft of a puppy named Ivan and WHS’ efforts to educate the city about animal cruelty.

Today’s installment answers some of the questions I posed last week– my conversation with Lisa covered everything from breed confusion to whether there’s a “class” element to Pit bull ownership. We even discussed the history of pariah breeds in this country; a century ago, the “violent dog” du jour was not a Pit or even a terrier. After listening to Lisa and doing research for this piece, I’ll never look at Newfoundlands the same way, again.

All of that and more, after the jump.
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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Animals, Race and Class
February 1, 2011 | 3:49 PM | By

On Being Complicit, “Black Trash” and Reverse Racism

Flickr: xcode

Oh, *you* try and find an appropriate image for this post which won't anger someone.

I try to encourage commenting on DCentric because when readers share their perspectives, it can be edifying. For example, check out the comment Molly W. left under my last post, “Gray, Lanier and Thomas Tour North Capitol After Murders“. It deserves to be seen (emphasis mine):

In my own neighborhood (east of Capitol Hill), crime against white residents consistently seem to provoke an outcry that we just don’t hear when there are crimes against black residents.

However, it often comes across poorly to imply people are overreacting to a crime against a white person — it seems like an attempt to dismiss the white victim. Ideally, instead of making less fuss about white victims, we’d make just as much fuss about black victims. Sadly, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

I think a small part of it is access — I hear about many of these crimes on the neighborhood e-mail list, which seems to be whiter than the community at large (though that’s just my guess, I can’t say for sure).

More than that, I think it’s a lot easier for white residents to imagine that black victims of crime are somehow complicit — attacked b/c they’re in the drug trade or dating criminals or whatever. When a white person (or even someone who isn’t white, as long as s/he isn’t black) is attacked, there seems to be a much stronger, visceral sense of “that could’ve been *me*” among white neighbors.

(I’m white myself, don’t know if that makes a difference.)

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FILED UNDER: The People, DCentric, Gentrification, Privilege, Race and Class
February 1, 2011 | 12:33 PM | By

Gray, Lanier and Thomas Tour North Capitol After Murders

Flickr: CarfreeDC

Intersection of North Capitol and Florida.

A little more information on the video I included in my morning roundup, for those of you who can’t access such things, via TBD:

D.C. Mayor Vince Gray, Councilman Harry ‘Tommy’ Thomas and police Chief Cathy Lanier toured the troubled North Capitol Street neighborhood that has seen two shootings in the past two weeks…The intersection of two busy thoroughfares has historically been a spot for day and night drinking, drugs, and crime.

The mayor and other city officials pledged more police and better lighting.

One of those two shooting victims, William Mitchell, was trying to help a woman he saw being attacked when he was shot. Mitchell had planted trees in and helped clean the park where he was killed.

Police have not identified a suspect in Mitchell’s murder and fliers seeking the killer’s identity are posted around the area. The city’s response to the murder of a white man has sparked controversy in what some describe as a gentrifying neighborhood.

According to Northeast resident Pari Parker, “They just doing that because he was white. If it was a black person they wouldn’t have done none of that. How many black people die around here every day?”

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Crime, Gentrification, Race and Class
January 31, 2011 | 4:47 PM | By

DCentric Conversation: Lisa LaFontaine of the Washington Humane Society

Washington Humane Society

WHS President Lisa LaFontaine and her lovely dog, Lila.

On Friday, I mentioned that I had interviewed Lisa LaFontaine, the President and CEO of the Washington Humane Society (WHS). We discussed several topics, most notably the stigmatization of Pit Bulls, which is a compelling and divisive issue. If I were a gambler, I’d wager that the reason why my “teaser” of a post was shared 20 times on Facebook (not typical for DCentric, no matter how many eyelashes or shooting stars I wish on) has more to do with America’s scariest dog than humane education or your kind support of my dream job writing for WAMU.

Lisa was so generous, she spent twice the allotted time speaking with me and for that I am grateful. Because we covered so much information, I’m splitting the interview in to two posts; part two will be up Wednesday morning.

Some of you may be wondering, what do dogs have to do with race and class; interestingly enough, this weekend and earlier today, whenever I was speaking with people involved with animals, their immediate response was, “Everything”. A colleague added, “Unfortunately, the stereotype is that the only people who own Pit Bulls are either white rednecks or Black drug dealers.” After speaking to Lisa LaFontaine, I know that such assumptions are inaccurate– and dangerous for a breed which was once affectionately referred to as a “Nanny dog”.
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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Animals, Crime, Race and Class
January 31, 2011 | 12:31 PM | By

The Man Behind Duke’s on 14th Street

Flickr: Adam Gurri

After passing it for years, I’ve often wondered about the shoe shine/repair place with dramatically high ceilings across from Busboys and Poets on 14th Street, in the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs; I had no idea that it had been there for 75 years. TBD has a video featuring the 89-year old proprietor of the shop. Here’s how they describe it and him:

Irving “Duke” Johnson has been shining shoes in the heart of Washington, D.C. for the past 75 years. His shop, Duke’s Shoe Repair, is located at the intersection of 14th and U Streets. For this 89-year-old man working is a joy and a way of life. He says he has no plans of retiring.

The first comment on the piece is amusing:

God, I can’t believe he’s still there. He used to scare the crap out of me when I was in daycare there. I’m pretty sure he was old as dirt then, and that was 22 years ago.

Speaking of 20 years ago, in 1991, Mr. Johnson had this to say about Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas and the state of his people:
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FILED UNDER: The People, Small Business, U Street
January 28, 2011 | 3:09 PM | By

Next Week: Lisa LaFontaine of the WHS on Dogs, D.C. and More

Washington Humane Society

I just got off the phone with Lisa LaFontaine, the President & CEO of the Washington Humane Society.

We had an edifying discussion about “Pit Bulls” (though that’s not how the WHS refers to them) and the humane education programming the group does in D.C.; we also explored how a breed once known as “America’s Dog”, which enjoyed starring roles on classic television programs like the Li’l Rascals is now a pariah.

Interestingly enough, LaFontaine mentioned that frontier icon Laura Ingalls had a dog named Jack, who may have been a Bull Terrier– and when I looked for links, I found several which corroborated this bit of history– as well as a few which hotly disputed it, and termed it “pit bull propaganda”. That 15 minutes of web-surfing reinforced how much of an issue this controversial breed can be for some, but why?

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about “Pit Bulls”– even though most people can’t correctly identify them, when tested. Are people of a certain race more likely to own one? Is it a class thing– are they more likely to be in Ward 8 than Ward 2? And how prevalent is dog-fighting in Washington, D.C.?

The answers might surprise you– check back on Monday, for more.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Animals, Race and Class
January 27, 2011 | 5:25 PM | By

Spare the Rod, Spoil that Kid from Your Block

DCentric

The kid who was very interested in Metro's future train configurations.

Yesterday, before my 88-minute Metro ride turned in to both a near-brawl at Dupont and an almost-riot at Metro Center, I witnessed something so surprising, I had to share it. I’ve worked in customer service and retail, in soul-crushing jobs which require interacting with the general public, so I’m well aware of how people are far more likely to complain about a problem than to compliment great work; because of this, I try and do the latter as often as possible. I remember how wonderful it felt to hear kind words. I can’t be the only one who appreciates being appreciated.

Once we left Tenleytown, I found a seat near the doors and sat down with a great sense of relief. I had three bags with me and the two times I attempted to hail a cab, all I had accomplished was getting pelted, first with hail, then with snow. It was 4:30, and while I knew that the storm was worsening and trains would be crowded, I hoped the ride wouldn’t be too crazy. Two minutes after making that naive wish, a boisterous, incorrigible group of boys rushed inside the train.

They were loud, brash and within moments, they had sucked all the air out of the car. I noticed adults of all hues and classes eying them warily as they barreled past, taking the first free seats they found. The moment they sat down, they unpacked several bags from McDonald’s and proceeded to vacuum fries and McNuggets in that powerful, awe-inspiring way that only teen-aged boys are capable of. As the train lurched, so did their food and dipping sauces. That was bad enough, but the eye roll-inducing conversation they were shouting was worse. It was so loud, it even eclipsed the voices of the two inconsiderate pigs who were shouting “What? I can’t hear you! I’m on a train!” in to their cell phones.
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FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Children, Metro, WMATA
January 27, 2011 | 2:44 PM | By

Johanna’s Response to DCentric Commenters

Flickr: Kevin H.

Eastern Market, Ward 6.

Remember how I pointed you to a blog I was excited about, “Sociology in My Neighborhood: DC Ward Six“? I didn’t think I could get more excited about a hyper-local site exploring issues like race and class, but I was wrong; I am more excited. Blogger and GMU Sociology Professor Johanna noticed my post, read the comments to it and then was gracious enough to respond to them with a whole new post!

On DCentric, one commenter wrote, “This reporting seems biased. There are a large number of whites moving into mostly black neighborhoods here in DC. I think its more class than race in most cases. People who are educated and can afford it will move to be around other educated neighborhoods. If that excludes blacks, then whose fault is that?”

Great comment. The study I cited tested for class-based reasons and racist reasons and found that, even when the neighborhood described to the survey respondents (all whites) had all the qualities desired by middle-class people (high-quality schools, increasing property values, and a low crime rate, as well as a location near work), whites still stated that they would not buy a house in the neighborhood if there were more than 15% blacks. When thinking about potential black neighbors, race still mattered significantly no matter the class characteristics of the neighborhood.

Go here to read the entire thing.

FILED UNDER: The People, Race and Class, Racial Divide
January 26, 2011 | 12:33 PM | By

Safeway’s Craig Muckle on Petworth, Walmart and More

Flickr: M.V. Jantzen

The new-ish Safeway at City Vista.

Yesterday, in my “About that Petworth Safeway“-post, I promised that I would speak to someone at Safeway’s corporate offices to confirm and clarify information about their plans for one highly-anticipated renovation. I spoke to Craig Muckle; he’s their Manager of Public Affairs and Government Relations for this region and he was very helpful and informative.

First: DCentric reader Teke Wiggin was correct; Muckle confirms that the Social Safeway in Georgetown is the city’s largest at 71,000 square feet. The next largest location is at Hechinger Mall in Northeast, at 62,000 square feet. That means that the proposed renovation of the Petworth Safeway will put it in third place in terms of size, at 60,000 square feet. My final thought on all of these numbers is this: I don’t really care which neighborhood’s store is bigger, as long as the produce is fresh, the products are priced fairly and the service is good. I don’t shop at the large grocery store that is two blocks away from me because it fails on all three of those counts. If it were half-the size and twice as friendly, I’d be happy to go there, so I think square footage is interesting and useful– up to a point.

While some locals hope that an independent coffee seller like Qualia could be included in the new store design, Muckle confirmed that when it comes to in-store coffee at Safeway, “in the U.S. it’s Starbucks”. I usually don’t drink their coffee (Filter and Baked and Wired, holla!), but I also don’t notice that they are the chain in Safeway (or Target, for that matter); the only time I paid attention to their presence was when I realized that since the Safeway in Georgetown is open 24 hours a day, it would’ve made an odd, yet comforting place to pull all-nighters when I was in school. By the way, Muckle confirmed that the Petworth Safeway’s hours haven’t been established yet.
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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Access, Food, Gentrification, Petworth