DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Cold enough for you? I haven’t gone outside since Saturday, so I’ll take your word for it. On to some tasty, toasty links!

Nervous Anacostia residents ask for help after crime spree “Our greatest concern right now is that the burglars are getting more aggressive and that someone will get hurt,” said Catherine V. Buell, 31, a lawyer who has been a chief organizer in pushing D.C. police to increase their presence in the neighborhood…Burglaries are up 11 percent across the city, D.C. police records show. But an undercurrent of the protest was that police have been slow to respond. “We’ve been very frustrated,” said Shareema Houston, 35, an engineer who owns a home on Pleasant Street. “It’s almost a feeling from the police like, ‘What do you expect? You live in Anacostia.’ It’s very dismissive.” (The Washington Post)

Region’s drop in home value among worst in nation “Wial noted, however, that his prediction doesn’t mean that every home in the region will decline in value as housing here is diverse. In the District alone, the median home value across the Anacostia River in Southeast is $240,000. In Northwest, the median value is $783,000…Wial said he couldn’t say whether only the more expensive homes were likely to fall in value over the next year. And good jobs aren’t necessarily a cure-all — Wial differs from some economists who say D.C.’s employment opportunities will keep the housing market from falling further.” (Washington Examiner )

Jaguar belonging to former D.C. Mayor, Marion Barry, stolen “A 2002 Jaguar belonging to D.C. Councilman Marion Barry was reported stolen Saturday, and police are looking for the suspect. Officer Hugh Carew, a D.C. police spokesman, confirms that police took a report Saturday from the former mayor who said he left his keys in the ignition of his silver 4-door 2002 Jaguar Type X.” (Examiner.com)

DC9 doesn’t re-open after all “A small army of local news reporters were camped outside the nightclub most of the evening, and at least three D.C. police officers could be seen posted at the corner of 9th and U streets NW at various points. But for such an anticipated opening, the street was remarkably quiet. Fewer than a dozen DC9 patrons had stopped by by about 10 p.m., and no organized group of protesters appeared. Almost 200 people, largely members of the city’s Ethiopian community, participated in a protest and march against the bar last month.” (tbd.com)

Washington’s Height Act: Scrap It and Let D.C.’s Buildings Grow “Finally, since opponents of raising height limits rest most of their arguments on aesthetics, let’s talk about that. From a structural standpoint, D.C.’s height limits have given rise to immense creativity. Our buildings have some of the deepest parking garages in America, for example, and quite a bit of engineering has gone into squishing heating and cooling systems into the smallest amount of space so that more floors can be packed under the height caps. And sure, it’s not impossible to build handsome short buildings.” (Washington City Paper)

Washington area is wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, census data show “In Washington, Frey found that the average white person lives in a neighborhood that is 63 percent white, the average black person lives in a neighborhood that is 79 percent African American and the average Hispanic person lives in a neighborhood in which one out of four neighbors is Hispanic. That represents a small but noticeable improvement since 2000. The District exhibited the most segregation overall under a measurement called the Index of Dissimilarity or, more commonly, the segregation index.” (The Washington Post)