DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Did you have a nice weekend?

Crime at 7 DC Locations: Which One is Safest? “Are you safer at 12th and U NW than at at Eastern Market at 7th and E SE? How does 17th and Q NW compare to Wisconsin and M NW in the heart of Georgetown? Is there more crime in Adams Morgan at 18th and Columbia Road NW than at 14th and Q NW? How does Columbia Heights compare to all the rest?” (Borderstan)

ICYMI: Graham on Ellwood Thompson’s: “Maybe there will be a miracle” Contradicts what ET told TBD: “From what I understand he’s in default. These are people I’m in regular contact with, the owners of DCUSA…unless they’re making something up. This happened months ago by the way, the clear indication of this deal falling through goes back to August. But I’ll call them and maybe some miraculous rebirth will occur here, maybe there will be a miracle. But what they’ve done is very upsetting.” (dcentric.wamu.org)

All Opinions Are Local – A needed conversation on welfare in D.C. “At present, the District is one of only a few jurisdictions in the country that spend local government funds to allow TANF aid to go on indefinitely. Unfortunately, this unsound provision in our local law has been coupled with a system that has failed our residents for years. The result has been to enslave residents in joblessness and dependency on the government rather than lifting them up and giving them an opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency through job training and employment.” (voices.washingtonpost.com)

St. Louis beats out Camden, NJ, to earn ranking as most dangerous US city (D.C. is 22nd!) “St. Louis overtook Camden, N.J., as the nation’s most dangerous city in 2009, according to a national study released Sunday. The study by CQ Press found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. That helped St. Louis beat out Camden, which topped last year’s list and was the most dangerous city for 2003 and 2004.
Detroit, Flint, Mich., and Oakland, Calif., rounded out the top five.” (Baltimore Sun)

Planners Versus Residents “Over the past century, vigilant protection by neighborhood activists has preserved many of the best things about the District of Columbia. In the early decades of the twentieth century, neighborhood associations and residential groups introduced and kept the height limitation that made DC a livable city of pleasant residential neighborhoods, rather than an overbuilt concrete jungle. (Yes, the height limitation was passed by Congress, but the impetus for it came from the city’s residents.) In the middle of the twentieth century, neighborhood activists fought the urban planners whose faddish expertise then called for crisscrossing the city with freeways that would cut up and divide neighborhoods.” (dcwatch.com)

Thanksgiving need at area food pantries reaches record levels “In Loudoun County – the nation’s wealthiest county measured by median income – the food pantry is distributing its first-ever Thanksgiving meal, giving food to 2,000 families. In Montgomery County, the Manna Food Center added some Saturday hours for the convenience of working families. And in Fairfax County, the nonprofit Our Daily Bread is facing the grim reality that, although it will feed 2,400 people, it may not be able to help as many 650 needy families at Thanksgiving.” (The Washington Post)