May 13, 2011 | 8:55 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Fighting Truancy, Reaching New Heights and Wheelchair-accessible Taxis

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are your Friday links:

What happened to the "Huxtable Effect"? "Sixteen years after "The Cosby Show" went off the air, the Times noted that Obama was similarly billed in Cosby-esque "post-racial" terms, and may have been boosted in 2008 by a so-called "Huxtable Effect," which reminded white voters that many African-Americans public figures are perfectly capable of representing and connecting with people of all races, not just their own. It was Obama standing on the shoulders of Cosby — or so the oversimplified story went." (Salon)

DC officials tracking freshmen to fight truancy “‘Truancy is almost always symptomatic of deeper issues in the community or at home,’ Mayor Vincent Gray said on Wednesday as he announced the seven-agency effort with Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright. ‘By identifying the District’s most truant students, we are also identifying the families that are in needs of services, or families that are already receiving services but not receiving them in the most coordinated manner.’” (Washington Examiner )

Repairs to Shut Down DC Metro Escalators For Two Years “A Metro spokesman says time is needed because workers will have to rebuild the stairways. The spokesman says the work is part of the transit system’s $148 million, six-year repair plan for the escalators. Work on the Foggy Bottom escalators is expected to begin in January, while repairs are expected to begin soon at Dupont Circle.” (myfoxdc.com)
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May 12, 2011 | 3:30 PM | By

Eating Healthy is not Always an Option

Flickr: mswine

In “If You Haven’t Been On Food Stamps, Stop Trying to Influence Government Policy,” Latoya Peterson leads with a request to bloggers and journalists to “stop the madness” with regards to how we write about government assistance. Further down in her essay, she shares this haunting anecdote:

I have a memory, from long ago, where I am sitting in the parking lot of a McDonalds, with my mom, trying to count out 63 pennies from the floor around the car, the change jar, and the pavement around the car in order to purchase two hamburgers from McDonalds for our evening meal. Cheap food exists for a reason. 63 cents doesn’t go far in the grocery store if you want a hot meal, and have no where for food prep. (Something that people also conveniently forget about – a lot of eating well on a budget requires prep with at least a hot plate, running water, and basic utensils. If you don’t have these things, you have to eat ready made food. Needless to say, living out of a car doesn’t provide you with consistent access to these things.) But a whole hamburger meant a lot to a seven-year-old stomach that was going to go hungry…These are broke people choices.

I’m sure that if I shared this story on the NYT Health blog, there would be people berating my mother for buying me a hamburger and not, say, an apple or something. Or maybe some dried lentils we could have soaked overnight on the carburetor using a car fluid funnel and woken up to a wonderfully healthy and cheap pinch of beans.

Peterson also discusses food deserts, race and class and how unrealistic it is to expect “farmer’s markets to magically replace a missing food infrastructure.” Read the rest, here.

FILED UNDER: The People, Food, Privilege, Race and Class
May 12, 2011 | 2:42 PM | By

U.S. Population Growth Minority-Driven, But Not in D.C.

Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

Official U.S. Census form.

DCentric sister blog Multi-American directs our attention to the Pew Center’s Daily Number feature for today that shows the country’s population growth between 2000 and 2010 was almost exclusively driven by minorities:

Overall, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 91.7% of the nation’s population growth over the past 10 years.

The non-Hispanic white population has accounted for only the remaining 8.3% of the nation’s growth. Hispanics were responsible for 56% of the nation’s population growth over the past decade. There are now 50.5 million Latinos living in the U.S. according to the 2010 Census, up from 35.3 million in 2000, making Latinos the nation’s largest minority group and 16.3% of the total population. There are 196.8 million whites in the U.S. (accounting for 63.7% of the total population), 37.7 million blacks (12.2%) and 14.5 million Asians (4.7%). Six million non-Hispanics, or 1.9% of the U.S. population, checked more than one race.

That certainly isn’t the case here in D.C., where population growth was driven by non-Hispanic whites. Between 2000 and 2010, the black population declined and the Hispanic population rose from just 7.9 percent of the city’s population 9 percent.  But we can look to the surrounding suburban counties to see a more representative picture of what’s happening across the country.

FILED UNDER: The People, Census, Pew Center
May 12, 2011 | 11:59 AM | By

Report: Some D.C. Rents Could Increase by 10 Percent

Flickr: Joshua Davis Photography

Rents in D.C. are quite high, and they’re going to continue to rise: the District ranks as third among U.S. cities where rent is rising the most rapidly, according to a new U.S. News & World Report list.

Real estate research firm Reis, Inc. estimates American rents will increase by 3.6 percent in 2011 now that the economy is making a slow recovery. They also estimate that the annual rent increase in the District will be 5.4 percent citywide, but could be as high as 10 percent in some “hot areas” of the city.

This is how U.S. News & World Report describes D.C:

Average rent: $1,521; annual increase: 5.4 percent; unemployment rate: 5.8 percent.

There’s been no recession to speak of in the nation’s capital, where the federal government is a huge industry of its own. In addition to federal workers, D.C. is filled with contractors, lobbyists, and trade groups that feed off the government sector. That has kept demand for all kinds of housing strong.

That is a little misleading. To say there is “no recession to speak of” ignores the high unemployment rates in some parts of the city. Ward 7, for instance, has an estimated 20 percent unemployment rate.

And can rents really increase by 10 percent? Yes, they can. Many D.C. rentals are subject to some form or another of rent control, but when a unit is vacant, a landlord can increase rent by up to 10 percent higher than the previous tenant’s rate. All of that isn’t welcome news for renters, who represent 55 percent of the city’s population, and in particular the 68 percent of renters who already can’t afford rents.

Here is a list of the top 10 areas where rent is increasing the most rapidly:

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, Media, Housing, U.S. News and World Report
May 12, 2011 | 8:45 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Forgetting Black Foster Kids, Food Stamp Paternalism and Obama’s Immigration Speech

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are the links we’re perusing on this sunny Thursday:

After Foster Care: What Happens Next? “African-American children…despite accounting for 14 percent of the U.S. child population, make up 30 percent of foster-care youths…black children also stay in foster care longer than children of other races. Of the 30,000 foster-care youths who age out each year and suddenly find themselves on their own at age 18, most lack a high school diploma, and only 6 percent go on to earn college degrees. Unemployment and poverty-level wages are common, and an astounding 40 percent of young people aging out of foster care will at some point be homeless.” (The Root)

If You Haven’t Been On Food Stamps, Stop Trying to Influence Government Policy “There’s an area, on the DC/Maryland border, that is the home to a lot of immigrant communities. This means a lot targeted grocery stores. I went into one, in search of jicama, and marveled at the retailer who was selling dollar bags of produce. The produce in the bags was actively rotting. I’m not talking about bruising or discoloration, which gets things bounced off grocery store shelves. I’m talking about mold. Rot. Things that most people wouldn’t want to touch, but there is enough demand in that area for affordable produce that it’s bagged up and sold along with the other wares.” (Racialicious)

White House Condemns Some of Common’s Lyrics but Praises his Larger Body of Work “The White House Wednesday condemned some of the lyrics and prose of hip hop star Common, whose invitation to a White House poetry event this evening has brought criticism from some conservatives and police officers. “The president does not support and opposes the kind of lyrics that has been written about,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said when American Urban Radio’s April Ryan asked him about the controversy.” (Political Punch)

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May 11, 2011 | 4:29 PM | By

Taking Risks Can Be Expensive

Flickr: Ken Mayer

DCentric reader Martin Moulton left this comment on Elahe’s post about WABA’s attempts to encourage bicycle use east of the Anacostia River by hosting riding classes for adults:

Bravo WABA. In California, 40+ years ago, my mom cycle commuted daily to work well into her late 30s. You see a lot of African American men taking advantage of cycling as well as Latinos going to and from work downtown. But I think that minority women in DC are still [wisely] waiting for facilities and safety conditions to improve. Those who are sole heads of households can’t take hazardous risks every day when they have young or senior citizens who depend on them.

According to Elahe, the majority of the ten people who showed up for WABA’s class were women. Still, reading Martin’s last sentence reminded me that being able to try new things is a form of privilege. Biking in the city is already daunting for some people; single parents who work at jobs that don’t include health insurance or sick days may– with good reason– think twice about taking risks they cannot afford.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, biking, DCentric, Race and Class
May 11, 2011 | 3:03 PM | By

Farmers Markets Cheaper than Supermarkets?

Abdullah Pope/AFP/Getty Images

A customer examines heirloom tomatoes at a farmer's market near the White House.

Corner stores could be one solution to D.C.’s food deserts, but what about farmers markets? A new study of Vermont farmers markets found that many conventional grocery items were cheaper at farmers markets than at large supermarkets. And what’s more, organic items were 40 percent cheaper at farmers markets than supermarkets.

The exceptions included potatoes and eggs, but non-organic cantaloupes, cucumbers, lettuce and peas were cheaper at farmers markets than their supermarket counterparts.  Barry Estabrook at Politics of the Plate writes:

We’re all familiar with the accepted gospel: Only well-heeled food snobs can afford the exorbitant prices charged for those attractively displayed baby greens and heirloom tomatoes at [farmers] markets, while those who can’t afford such greener-than-thou food-purchasing decisions must paw through limp broccoli, wilted lettuce, and tennis-ball tomatoes at supermarket produce departments.

It seems that at least this study adds some doubt to that notion (and here in D.C., FRESHFARM Markets do accept food stamps). Organic foods, however, are still generally more expensive than non-organic items.

FILED UNDER: Around the City, Farmer's Market, Organic Food
May 11, 2011 | 1:32 PM | By

Tweet Of The Day, 05.11

Harry Jaffe says no people making over $200K live in Cleveland Park. A 25-yo couple w/2 lawyers makes over $200K. Lots in CP @TBDNewsTalk
May 11, 2011 10:36 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@ggwash
Grtr Grtr Washington

This is in response to Washington Examiner columnist Harry Jaffe’s appearance on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt.

FILED UNDER: Media, The People, Class, Harry Jaffe
May 11, 2011 | 9:00 AM | By

Tasty Morning Bytes – Tourism is Up, Defending Corner Markets, Whites Like Taxes

Good morning, DCentric readers! Welcome to your Wednesday links:

D.C. tourism rebounding from recession “In addition to lodging, visitor spending last year increased in all major categories, including food and entertainment. The spending from tourists accounts for more than half of the sales tax generated by the city annually and supports more than 70,000 jobs, making the hospitality industry the city’s second-largest employer after the federal government.” (Washington Examiner )

In Defense of the Corner Market “The argument about food deserts seems to be premised on the assumption that supermarkets — suburban-style, big-box, corporate chain stores with plenty o’ parking — are inherently superior to walkable, family owned food markets that serve low-income populations. The media portrays these corner markets as liquor stores or “discount” stores carrying little fresh produce and lots of Hostess cupcakes…many analyses have completely ignored the presence of small, family-owned food markets and their important role in feeding urban populations.” (Streetsblog DC)

D.C. Taxes: White Voters More Supportive of Mayor Vince Gray’s Plans than Black Voters, Poll Finds “Broken down by ward groups, respondents in largely white wards 2 and 3 were the most open to raising taxes on those making $200,000, with a whopping 91 percent saying they found Gray’s proposal acceptable. The mostly black wards 7 and 8, by contrast, had 82 percent of respondents finding the higher income tax rates okay.” (Washington City Paper)

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May 10, 2011 | 11:11 AM | By

‘Arts Are For The Wealthy?’

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Children's Chorus of Washington is one D.C.-based arts organization facing a possible 6 percent ticket tax.

The latest piece in the D.C. budget debate: whether art patrons will have to pay a 6 percent tax on ticket sales.

The current proposal, if approved, would tax arts and performance tickets in the District (except those put on by federal institutions). The Washington City Paper reports that among those who testified against the tax Monday was Linda Levy Grossman, president and CEO of the Helen Hayes Awards, who had this to say:

Grossman said the “inaccurate assumption” that arts patrons have the spare cash to pay more for a ticket “further perpetuates the erroneous assumption that arts are for the wealthy.”

Since this tax is a flat one, it is regressive, meaning it applies to all people the same regardless of income levels. And such a tax affects lower income people more than the rich.

Representatives of other arts organization, such as Step Afrika! director Brian Williams, said they already charge patrons less than what the tickets are worth, and they make up the difference by securing sponsorships.

FILED UNDER: Culture, Government, D.C. Budget, Helen Hayes Awards, Step Afrika!