Around the City

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

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November 30, 2010 | 4:20 PM | By

“Stigma kills people and spreads HIV”

Trygve.u/Armenian Red Cross Youth

In case you missed it, here’s a must-read interview from WAMU about how powerful the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS is. This story is heartbreaking:

Dr. Sohail Rana is a member of Howard University’s Department of Pediatrics. As Washington, D.C., tries to reduce the incidence of HIV, Rana asks, “Is the stigma associated with HIV now worse than the disease itself?”:

Angel died last Saturday. She was 18. I was her doctor since she was four.

She used to call me Dad.

Technically, Angel died of an AIDS-related illness. The truth is, Angel died from the stigma related to HIV.

Angel contracted the disease at birth from her mother. With today’s medicine, she could have lived a long, productive life.

But many people, including her family members, made her feel dirty because of HIV. She felt rejected.

In shame, she refused to take her medication. Consequently, her HIV progressed to AIDS. The untreated AIDS led to her death.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, HIV/AIDS, Public Health, WAMU
November 30, 2010 | 2:23 PM | By

Update on Body Found in Columbia Heights

The Washington Post has updates about the body of a teenager which was found in a Columbia Heights alley, after a resident saw tennis shoes sticking out of a trash can:

D.C. Police identified the woman whose body was found in a trash receptacle in Northwest Washington on Monday as an 18-year-old Prince George’s County woman.

The woman, who had been stabbed repeatedly, was identified Tuesday as Ebony Franklin, of the 4600 block of Pistachio Lane in Capitol Heights.

Franklin’s death was ruled a homicide by the D.C. medical examiner’s office.

One local blogger tweeted this information regarding the case:

CM Graham says the victim found in Columbia Heights Alley yesterday was “reported missing from her home in suburban Maryland.”

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Columbia Heights, Crime
November 30, 2010 | 1:31 PM | By

Beware, North Face-Wearers

Taekwonweirdo

One more reason to wear EMS, Marmot, L.L Bean, Old Navy, anything but…North Face. You don’t want to be a target, as you’re distractedly playing with your mesmerizing iPhone:

The DC MPD’s community outreach department has a release out stating that in the last day there’s been two separate robberies where North Face items were stolen. You might consider replacing your North Face items with stuff from the satirical South Butt company. [WeLoveDC]

If it makes you feel any better (or more likely to retire your gear), I saw entrepreneurial types selling knock-off North Face fleeces near DCUSA last week.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Crime
November 30, 2010 | 11:30 AM | By

Building a Playground in Southwest with Kaboom!

TalkMediaNews

The Kaboom! Van

Yay for playgrounds! By next year, there will be a new one in Southwest, but they need 80+ volunteers to help build it (in a single day). I learned about this via Southwest: The Little Quadrant That Could:

It looks like the effort to bring a centrally-located children’s playground to SW has paid off and one is now planned for the park space adjacent to the Southwest Branch Library at 3rd & I Streets. If you recall back in April, I caught some flack from commenters after expressing my opinion (which I rarely do on this blog) about one of the proposed locations for a playground – the District-owned northeast parcel of Waterfront Station. I’m glad the selected location for the park is not on this parcel, which will cause less angst (and unnecessary expense) when the District eventually decides to allow developers to build housing and ground-floor retail on the site, and a new location for the playground would need to be found…

According to the project website, there are currently 14 volunteer members (myself included) and $5,000 has been donated so far, which is 10% of the $50,000 needed to build the park. The goal is to build the park by this time next year – November 29, 2011.

The playground is being developed with the help of KaBoom!, a neat non-profit which is headquartered in D.C. More on the group, via Wiki:
Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Children, Non-profits
November 29, 2010 | 7:11 PM | By

Murdered Girl Found in Columbia Heights Trash Can

Terribly sad news in my neighborhood, this afternoon:

D.C. police say they have found “what appears to be a human body” in a trash receptacle in Columbia Heights.

The apparent female human remains were found Monday in an alley in the 1000 block of Fairmont Street NW.

D.C. police say the body appears to be that of a teenage girl, and that she appears to have been murdered.

Sources said the victim appeared to be 16 or 17 years old.

I was scouring local blogs and news sites for additional information, which I did not find…what I did find were comments attempting to link this with the fact that Gray won instead of Fenty:

Is it just me or has the shootings / bodies gone CRAZY since Vince won the primary? I swear I have heard more in that short time than I have in the 3 years I have lived in DC.

This situation is unfortunate enough, there’s no need.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Columbia Heights, Crime
November 29, 2010 | 1:58 PM | By

Stabbing at Petworth Metro Station on Sunday

Wayan Vota

This is so disturbing (via WAMU):

Metro Transit police are investigating the stabbing of a man at the Georgia Avenue-Petworth station. A Metro spokeswoman says a man was stabbed while exiting the station around 4:15 p.m. on Sunday.

The victim had passed through the fare gate when he was approached by another man who stabbed him in the neck.

The Georgia Avenue-Petworth station, located in Northwest D.C., services the Yellow and Green lines.

Metro says the victim was taken to an area hospital. His condition is unknown.

I hope the victim makes a full recovery, and that they catch whoever did this.

FILED UNDER: Public Transportation, Crime, Metro, WMATA
November 29, 2010 | 10:55 AM | By

A Drop in the Bucket

DCentric

Salvation Army Red Kettle, Social Safeway, Washington, D.C.

Last week, for the first time this holiday season, I put money in a Salvation Army red kettle– at a Safeway, not Giant. However, whatever I or my fellow shoppers have been dropping in that nostalgia-inducing red bucket isn’t enough to make up for Giant Food’s new policy which limits the charity’s access to its shoppers:

One of the Salvation Army’s most recognizable fundraisers — the Red Kettle campaign —isn’t performing well in its first week and representatives are pointing toward a new Giant Food policy as the reason.

The National Capital Area Salvation Army reported today that the campaign — where volunteers and paid personnel stand outside shopping centers during the holidays ringing a bell to draw attention to the large red bucket next to them — has seen a $74,000 drop in donations compared to the same week last year…Area Commander Major Steve Morris, reported today that “the economy’s tight hold on family budgets” and a new policy instituted by Giant Food account for the decrease. The grocer’s policy reduced the number of days the Salvation Army can be at the grocery stores to one week in November and one week in December for four hours each day.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Money, Non-profits
November 23, 2010 | 1:20 PM | By

17 Million American Families are Food Insecure

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.

FILED UNDER: The People, Food, Hunger, Poverty
November 23, 2010 | 11:06 AM | By

Lined up Behind IHOP’s Velvet Rope

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.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Columbia Heights, DCUSA, Food
November 22, 2010 | 3:50 PM | By

How D.C. is different: Hate Crimes-edition

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…

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Hate Crimes, LGBT, Racial Divide