July 21, 2011 | 11:28 AM | By

D.C. Population Changes by Block

There’s nothing like a color coded map to help you understand D.C.’s demographic changes. The Washington Post‘s interactive Census map details the density of racial groups by blocks throughout D.C.-metro area. After zooming in on the District, it appears some of the most dramatic changes over the past 30 years occurred in Shaw, Columbia Heights and Petworth.

The blocks just north of the U Street corridor used to be 77 percent black and 5 percent white; now, they’re 15 percent black and 66 percent white. Columbia Heights blocks that once had a black majorities are now mostly Hispanic. Blocks between Georgia and Sherman avenues were majority black in 1990 and still are — although to a much lesser degree.

The maps below show which racial groups constitute the majority in a block area. Bolder colors represent higher percentages of that group:

1990

Screenshot / Washington Post

Population breakdown in Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Shaw and Petworth in 1990. (White = Pink; African Americans = Blue; Hispanics = Purple)

2010

Screenshot / Washington Post

Population breakdown in Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Shaw and Petworth in 2010. (White = Pink; African Americans = Blue; Hispanics = Purple)

FILED UNDER: Around the City, The People, Census, Demographics
July 21, 2011 | 9:00 AM | By

‘Our Technocratic Overlords, Cont.’

A continuation of a debate over whether longtime property owners should get tax breaks in gentrifying neighborhoods.


Progressives who believe in reform, should understand the hopes and fears of those who will be affected by their efforts. This is very different than saying progressives should make policy solely on those hopes and fears. But if, for instance, you’re going to talk about housing policy in cities with substantial black population, you need to understand that you’re talking about a constituency which, for much of the history of the modern American housing market, was discriminated as matter of national policy. They’re going to require a kind of convincing that goes beyond, “Your thoughts are highly conservative.”

— www.theatlantic.com

July 21, 2011 | 7:00 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes — Mosaic Marketing, Pricey Organics and H Street Development

Organic Foods Have Broad Appeal, But Costs Temper Demand Most people who don’t prefer organic produce say it’s because of — surprise — the high cost. (NPR)

Mosaic Marketing Takes a Fresh Look at Changing Society Traditional marketing aims messages at particular demographics groups. But one of the largest marketing agencies in the world is looking to market to an increasingly multicultural society. (The New York Times)

Ground Broken on New H Street Development The redevelopment of H Street NE marches on. This time, its 360º H Street, a mixed-use development with hundreds of luxury apartments. (DCist)

‘Homelessness doesn’t care’: A life on the streets A veteran who lost his well-paying job and possessions after he slipped into serious depression shares his tale of being homeless in D.C. “The worst part of homelessness is being ignored, he said. ” (WTOP)

Local African-Americans Mull Complex Role In Civil War Remembrance Civil War reenactment in Manassas didn’t include black reenactors– until now. (WAMU)

July 20, 2011 | 3:59 PM | By

Teen Curfews and Racial Undertones

William Warby / Flickr

A proposed curfew in Montgomery County would prevent teens under 18 from being out past midnight on weekends and 11 p.m. on weekdays.

On Wednesday’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, guests spoke about the merits of instituting a teen curfew in Montgomery County. And parts of the discussion centered around young people in nearby D.C. and Prince George’s County, the majority of whom are black.

Montgomery County’s curfew is intended to curtail crime, particularly gang violence. But guest Daniel Okonkwo, executive director of DC Lawyers for Youth, said after the broadcast that much of the debate is loaded with “coded language.” Some proponents want to keep D.C. and Prince George’s County youth from coming to Montgomery County because they believe they cause trouble.

“We want to keep our kids safe from those kids” is an underlying theme, says Okonkwo, an opponent of the curfew.

D.C.’s curfew, on the books since 1995, prohibits teens under 17 from being out past 11 p.m. during the week and midnight on weekends. There have been other efforts to crack down on teens congregating in neighborhoods like Chinatown — including blasting classical music in favorite hang-out spots and installing other noise repellents.

Business owners say rowdy teens hurt them by driving customers away, particularly when violence erupts. But as Washington Post‘s Courtland Milloy writes, many young black people feel they “are being treated like suspects because of a misbehaving few:”

“My friends and I got locked up two months ago for walking across the sidewalk,” Ke’Shayla Thorne, 17, a student at Spingarn High School in Northeast, told me. “The police said, ‘Come here, you’re under arrest.’ But other people walk like that all the time and they expect black kids to move off the sidewalk and let them pass. Nobody locks them up.”

You can listen to the entire Kojo Nnamdi segment here.

FILED UNDER: Government, The People, Race, Youth
July 20, 2011 | 12:39 PM | By

‘H Street Businesses to Receive Streetscape Relief’

Street improvements along the H Street NE corridor have hurt longtime businesses, some owners say. Here is one proposed solution.


“Businesses like George’s Place and Mason’s Barber Shop are long‐time businesses on H Street NE and institutions on this corridor. There’s no doubt the long construction schedule hurt their business and the extra time and relief fund are needed to assist these stores and protect the historic fabric that makes up the H St NE corridor.”

— www.thehillishome.com

July 20, 2011 | 7:00 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes — Yelp Fights, Freemasons Leave D.C. and Statehood Struggle

On The Rapid Gentrification of DC Tensions over gentrification and segregation in D.C. are evident even on Yelp reviews. (Racialicious)

Redevelopment Threatens Affordable Housing on the Pike There’s increased investment along Columbia Pike in nearby Northern Virginia. But a new report states that could cause the elimination of affordable rents. (ARLNow.com)

On 14th Street, gentrification hits the Freemasons The historically black Prince Hall branch of Freemasonry is moving from the 14th Street NW corridor after selling its building to make way for a new mixed-use development. The organization wants to stay in D.C., but some employees will likely be relocated to the suburbs. (Housing Complex)

At African American Civil War Museum Opening, Gray Makes Pitch For Statehood The reopening of the black Civil War museum provides another instance in which an elected D.C. official makes a connection between the black struggle for freedom and the District’s statehood fight. (WAMU)

Marion Barry’s son following in his addictive footsteps, tragically Many addicts had addict parents. And substance abuse is a problem that cuts across racial and socioeconomic lines. (The Washington Post)

July 19, 2011 | 4:37 PM | By

The Unemployed Cutting Corners in their Diets

pointnshoot / Flickr

Higher calorie foods tend to be cheaper, experts say.

Eating healthy can be a matter of having access to stores, but it’s also about having enough money to buy healthy food and having the time to cook it. And as the economy has worsened, more people are eating unhealthy foods this year than last.

Given those factors comes this article from Huffington Post’s Janell Ross about unhealthy eating and the disproportionately high rate of black unemployment. She writes that since housing costs tend to be fixed, many underemployed and unemployed people save money by eating cheaper and unhealthy foods. She speaks to a Michele Washington, a college-educated single mom originally from Atlanta, who moved into her sister’s Harlem apartment and holds a part-time job. Washington used to cook dinners for her son, Monty. Now, they frequent McDonald’s:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: The People, Black Unemployment, Food, Unemployment
July 19, 2011 | 11:52 AM | By

High Property Taxes and Changing Neighborhoods

Nic McPhee / Flickr

Pamela Johnson, who owns a storefront in the H Street NE neighborhood, says her property value has gone up so much that she can’t afford to pay her tax bill. Her story is included in The New York Times gentrification piece, which caused Matthew Yglesias to ask if property owners can ever be the victims of gentrification:

 

Normally you think of the gentrification problem as applying to renters. Objective conditions improve in a poor neighborhood, which is good. But the improved conditions lead to higher rents, so the poor people wind up not benefiting since they have to move out. It’s difficult for me to see how this kind of problem could afflict property owners, who regardless of race or class considerations ought to benefit from asset appreciation.

But as Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic points out, winning out financially isn’t always the only priority for owners:

I actually think it’s fairly easy to understand Johnson’s beef. She likes her neighborhood as it is. She may well be able to “sell high,” but the fact is she doesn’t want to sell at all. She probably would love to see her property values rise, but the neighborhood isn’t simply, for her, a financial instrument–it’s an emotional one.  In that sense, Johnson isn’t very different than millions of other humans who invest in neighborhoods.

Her contention that the city is “driving us out of here.” is very much debatable. But it’s worth noting that a class of owners with a commitment to something more than a naked financial return is a good thing. When Matt asserts that the city is trying to make H Street a “desirable place to live,” I am compelled to ask “desirable for whom?” I’m not being obtuse here–I understand, in the aggregate, his larger point. But very often people find a kind of value in their living condition that eludes socioeconomic data.

And although individual owners may make money by selling properties in increasingly pricey areas, what kind of overall effect do such sales have on neighborhoods? In Logan Circle, for instance, a group of low to moderate-income homeowners are contemplating selling their modest town homes to a developer for $800,000 each. If they decide to sell, they could walk away with a large return. But if they sell and leave the neighborhood, they take with them much of Logan’s remaining income diversity.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Gentrification, H Street NE, Housing, Logan Circle, Small Business
July 19, 2011 | 7:00 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes — Mumbo Sauce, Rising House Sales and Undocumented Boxing Champ

Mumbo sauce: The flavor of Washington ‘that isn’t the president and the politics’ Will the sauce of D.C. survive gentrification? Some ex-District residents are bottling and selling mumbo sauce. (The Washington Post)

I’m her mom, not the nanny! A Latina mom shares the trials and tribulations of how people assume she is the babysitter of her light-skinned daughter. “I’ve been mistaken for baby sitters all my life, or waitresses, sales clerks, even the occasional cleaning lady — but it’s a whole new experience to have it happen in front of my child.” (CNN)

Housing sales to rise 3% to 5% Freddie Mac predicts some growth in home sales this year, despite a poor jobs report. (Washington Business Journal)

Debate Boils Over African-American Abortions A series of anti-abortion billboards targeting the black community have come under fire. (NPR)

Former boxing champ held as US illegal alien A former Kiwi boxer, who holds the record for the fastest knock-out win, has been detained since April for remaining in the U.S. without a valid green card. He is fighting deportation to New Zealand. (Stuff.co.nz)

July 18, 2011 | 2:52 PM | By

In Your Words: New York Times Tackles D.C.’s Gentrification

Elvert Barnes / Flickr

The Grey Lady published a feature about gentrification around H Street NE and how the city is losing its black majority:

 

The shift is passing without much debate, but it is leaving ripples of resentment in neighborhoods across the city, pitting some of the city’s long-term residents, often African-American, against affluent newcomers, most of whom are white, over issues as mundane as church parking and chicken wings.

The story makes mention of the defeat of Adrian M. Fenty in the 2010 mayoral race and how some focused on used dog parks and bike lanes as symbols for affluent whites “re-arrang[ing] spending priorities to suit themselves.” Adam Serwer of The American Prospect argues the disparity in unemployment rates was the issue in the election; for whites, unemployment increased by 1 percent, while it increased by 5 percent for African Americans and doubled for Latinos:

What happened during Fenty’s term was that black people and Hispanic people lost their jobs while white people largely kept theirs. Blaming this on Fenty is unfair, but given that politicians are always evaluated in part by the jobs they help create (or lose) voting him out was an entirely rational decision. I’m not sure why, in a story about Washington DC’s internal racial divisions, the only mention of this is a throwaway line about unemployment in Ward 8. Alongside the city’s black exodus, the uneven impact of the economic crisis is the story.

The story touched off a Twitter debate among locals about the city’s changing face and how the media and the public talks about gentrification:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, The People, Gentrification, H Street NE, In Your Words, New York Times