October 1, 2010 | 12:45 PM | By Anna
nika2
WaPo Metro Columnist Petula Dvorak on “The grinding reality of growing up poor“:
The no of poverty in kids’ lives today means no new clothes, no bed, no sleeping past 5 a.m. or we won’t have time to take three buses to get to your school, no telling the guard at the Metro station that we’re sleeping there tonight, no after-school tutoring program designed just for you, because, the truth is, we can’t afford to get you there and back every day.
This is the daily reality for thousands of our children, especially African American children growing up in the District.
30% of D.C. kids are impoverished. Dvorak’s piece includes a glum story about a social worker who took her mentee to see “Karate Kid”; the teen loved the movie and the martial art so much, the social worker secured free lessons for her in two different neighborhoods– neither of which she could afford to travel to.
October 1, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were trying not to get soaked, we were looking for some light links for a flooded Friday.
Reasons why Pandas do not deserve your love “Tai Shan might bite you or bore you nearly to death, but he certainly won’t reciprocate your affections. Reasons why Tai Shan and his fellow giant pandas do not deserve your love…” (tbd.com)
Senate Votes to Shut Up Loud TV Commercials From the comments: “Here’s the funny thing, generally speaking, commercials actually are the same volume as the shows (technically, they have to be). The difference is that audio for commercials is mastered in such a way that the maximum punch is extracted out of the same dynamic range using compressors, limiters, maximizers, spectral enhancers and the like. So in this case, it really has to do with density of sound, not volume that creates the impression of “loudness”.” (gawker.com)
14th Street Streetscape: How Much Concept Does A Sidewalk Need? “Several residents were not particularly impressed….most of the head-scratching revolved around the alternative design — which features sidewalk designs which are based on some abstract ideas, like paying tribute to the fact that the corridor was the city’s “auto district” by using a wheel design at the P Street focus area. That’s right, a project with an emphasis on walking features a design which pays tribute to cars.” (DCist) Continue reading →
September 30, 2010 | 3:30 PM | By Anna
Justin Knol
SNAP cuts mean it would be hard to buy fresh fruit.
Annie Lowrey at The Washington Independent spoke to anti-Hunger activist Joel Berg about Congress’ attempt to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (i.e. food stamps). The cuts are being made to fund a Child Nutrition bill championed by Michelle Obama. The whole article (which includes a transcript of Lowrey and Berg’s conversation) is a sobering read. Of course, I excerpted the saddest bits for you below (emphasis mine):
TWI: And what will the impact be for kids?
Berg: This cut is taking something away from every other meal for children in low-income families, to help get them a better lunch. Someone in the White House last week, I saw, claimed that the child-nutrition bill will dramatically reduce child obesity.
That’s ridiculous. They are cutting the budget from kids at home to pay for kids in school. If kids eat in school every day, in a year, that’s still only 16 percent of their meals, because there are weekends, there are holidays, there are nights, there is summer. There is no way that marginally improving 16 percent of your meals is going to dramatically change your diet — especially not if you are taking away from the rest.
People want to claim victory. They want to make exaggerated claims that the child-nutrition bill will help. The most heartbreaking thing about it, for advocates, is that this is supposed to be our great champion bill that was going to solve everything! We thought it would dramatically decrease child hunger. But, the fact is, you have hunger advocates lobbying against its passage. Our emotions are ranging from outraged to heartbroken. I’m really just gobsmacked that this happened.
More:
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September 30, 2010 | 11:27 AM | By Anna
ANC Chair Bryan Weaver on U street shooting victim, Jamal Coates, who struggled to get away from the gang culture he had participated in, in his youth:
“You know somebody for 10 years, and you fight for them to move away from a certain lifestyle,” said Bryan Weaver, 40, a neighborhood activist who ran unsuccessfully this year for Ward 1′s seat on the D.C. Council.
He said Coates, who had an arrest record, belonged to the “1-7″ crew, based around 17th and Euclid streets NW in Adams Morgan. In the summer of 2009, he was among 30 young people who spent six weeks in Guatemala teaching basketball to local children with Hoops Sagrado, an organization Weaver founded that aims to encourage peaceful coexistence by exposing District youths to foreign culture.
“You have this kid by the neck, and you’re trying to wrestle him out of that lifestyle, and then suddenly something like this happens,” Weaver said.
September 30, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were out jumping in puddles, we were in, searching for interesting links!
High Speed Rail could get you to Boston in 3 hours, but it’s pricey “Trips from Washington to Boston would take only 3 hours. Amtrak rightly points out that there is almost no better candidate for true, “next-gen” HSR than the Northeast Corridor. But the density in the corridor would also make this easily the most expensive rail project ever undertaken in this country.” (Greater Greater Washington)
Lanier on Adams Morgan Day, CoHei Car Fires, her Future, More “Lanier also addressed the Adams Morgan Day incident in which a dog was killed by an officer who discharged his service weapon. She spoke about how MPD officers undergo training with Humane Society workers. “The investigation is under way…and so I don’t have results of that yet. The whole thing is sad all the way around,” said Lanier. “Officers don’t want to shoot dogs.” She also noted that the officer who shot Parrot at the festival has a dog of his own.” (DCist)
Why the Wizards can’t be the Bullets Check the screen shot above it: “This, in my opinion, is why you can never go back to the “Bullets” nickname, nostalgia be damned. And it made me instantly think of the statement Abe Pollin issued when he announced the team would change its name…” (voices.washingtonpost.com)
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September 29, 2010 | 10:15 PM | By Anna
Beware: these phones make you a target.
Two weeks ago, we alerted you to a disturbing rise in robberies of smart phones and mp3 players on Metro; people who were playing with their toys by the doors of trains were relieved of their iPhones and iPods as thieves jumped out of the closing train doors. If you felt safe as long as you avoided metro doors, I have bad news for you. People have been jumped for their phones in Georgetown, Dupont and Shaw. TBD has details, as well as this harrowing account from a LeDroit Park Listserve (I’m posting the whole version):
On Saturday evening at 7pm en route to Shaw metro north entrance, I was jumped from behind and wrestled to the ground by a teenage thief trying to steal my iphone. Rather than risk being stabbed, I let go of the iphone. What is disturbing is that this is a busy road with many pedestrians walking by, yet not one person stopped to help, including the shopkeepers stood on the doorsteps. When I asked for assistance, I was told to use the payphone on the corner of 7th and T which is where the gang of teenagers preying on their victims hang out in the evening – including the evening I was attacked. There were 10 or 12 on the corner of 7th and T and all fled after I was robbed. A good Samaritan let me use his cellphone to call the police who arrived in under two minutes. They said they are aware of the gang on 7th and T and have been monitoring them, yet the brazen robberies and attacks in broad daylight continue unabated.
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September 29, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some morning links?
D.C., region show disturbing rises in childhood poverty “The poverty rates in the District, where use of food stamps went up by about a third in two years, exceeded every other jurisdiction and even surpassed the rate in Mississippi. “Child care is very expensive,” said Jenny Reed, an analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which researches budget and tax issues in the District. “A lot of families in D.C. are in low-wage jobs, so even though they’re working, they’re not earning enough to live above poverty.”" (The Washington Post)
Share and Share Alike “I would like to propose that we have one rude-free transportation day in DC. And not just for the types of things that happen to me personally – the jostling, the nasty comments, the seat hoggers – but for everybody who has to get somewhere. I would like a rude-free day for every commuter, car driver, biker, walker, bus rider, and train rider alike. Even if we don’t like, surely we could all pretend to be nice, at least for one day?” (emilyhaha.wordpress.com)
Men like Bishop Eddie Long are fouling the legacy of the civil rights movement. “What concerns me isn’t even the laughable obviousness of his cupidity: the jewels and gold chains and limos and bodyguards. This is all a familiar part of the tawdry business of “Churchianity” now finding loopholes for the rich and venal at a well-upholstered religious establishment somewhere near you. No, what offends me is that Long was able to get four presidents of the United States to attend his opulent circus for the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006. What a steep and awful decline from the mule cart that carried her husband’s coffin in 1968.” (Slate)
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September 28, 2010 | 11:51 PM | By Anna
…and he was the man who died today on U Street, after the funeral of Ashley McRae. Bryan Weaver, who ran against Jim Graham for the Ward One City Council seat, knew Coates. This is what he told the Post:
“Unfortunately, it looks like a continuation of the crew violence,” said Bryan Weaver, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in the area who runs a nonprofit group, Hoops Sagrado, that helps at-risk young people…
Weaver said he knew Coates for more than 10 years. Last year, he said, Coates worked with him on community service projects in Guatemala, where he also studied Spanish and worked on conflict mediation issues.
After his return, Coates entered a GED program, held an internship with a city agency, and was working with the Shaw Family Collaborative, Weaver said.
Weaver said that he thought it “highly likely” that the shooting was connected to an ongoing crew war between groups from the Columbia Heights/Adams Morgan area and a group from the Petworth area of Northwest.
September 28, 2010 | 5:12 PM | By Anna
More sad information, about today’s shooting (via TBD):
Five uniformed police officers also attended the services, Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham said…
Graham said gang members from Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan were exchanging words during the funeral services and the taunting escalated to violence outside.
Council member Jim Graham told Mike DeBonis that in addition to the five uniformed cops, officers in plain-clothes were at the service, too. And this still happened.
September 28, 2010 | 3:29 PM | By Anna
I’ve had my head in my hands for most of the day, first because of frustrating WordPress issues, then because of the horrific shooting down the street from where I live (and write this blog). You’re probably already aware of the details, but if you aren’t, I’ll summarize what I’ve read at DCist, TBD and on various Twitter feeds:
- A funeral was held at Walker Memorial Baptist Church for 21-year old Ashley McRae, a Columbia Heights woman who was killed in SE last week after leaving Ibiza nightclub. Ashley worked at Commander Salamander in Georgetown and she was a student studying accounting.
- As the procession started down 13th street, a group of men opened fire on a vehicle, which crashed in to other cars and flipped upside down at 11th and U. An employee at Ben’s Chili Bowl said he saw the gunmen fleeing South.
- Some witnesses saw people fleeing the car, which was totaled.
- One person inside the car was killed, two others were shot, one of them is in critical condition.
All of this, at a funeral procession.
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