DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Here are today’s links:

Another gay bashing recorded along D.C.’s gentrification corridors “Given the presence of “not in this neighborhood” threats in many of these crimes, I asked him for his thoughts on the relationship between gentrifying neighborhoods and hate crime reports in the District. “We don’t want to dismiss the role that race and class and gentrification can play, but it’s also a fact that crime in D.C. spikes during the summer months. People are out of school, temperatures are warmer, everyone is out on the street a lot later with not much going on,” Montoni told me. “We can’t tease out whether the source is mixed housing developments and gentrification, or if it’s just the seasonal spike we’ve typically seen.” (tbd.com)

Metro escalator brake, maintenance problems widespread “Metro may be the world’s largest owner of an outmoded and problematic type of escalator, one that has suffered brake failure accidents in other transit systems and is notorious among experts for requiring a high level of maintenance…The escalator involved is a Westinghouse Modular 100…making up 83 percent of Metro’s 588 escalators. “There is a ton of them out there, and no one is really happy with them,” said Ken Smith, an escalator consultant and a member of the escalator code committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In fact, the model was discontinued 30 years ago.” (The Washington Post)

Number of millionaires in D.C. area gets bigger – wtop.com “A millionaire household is defined as one with $1 million or more of investable liquid assets, excluding retirement plans and real estate. Simply owning a million dollar home doesn’t make you a millionaire. Virginia dropped two places from 2009. The Commonwealth ranks seventh on this year’s list with 180,638 millionaire households. That’s 5.94 percent of the state’s 3,043,091 households. The District rounds out the top 10 for the second year in a row. Just under 15,000 households have liquid assets of a million dollars or more, which is 5.53 percent of the District’s 262,976 homes.” (wtop.com)

Tommy Wells Tweets Response To New York Times “In yesterday’s edition, the New York Times editorial board took on Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells’ residency requirement for homeless services bill. The board called his proposal “inhumane” and suggested it was simply “very bad public policy.” The board also cited the CFO which stated that Wells’ bill wouldn’t save the city any money. Late yesterday, Wells responded via a series of tweets: “Overflow for homeless families is DC Gen. 135 fams now at capacity. Should DC provide unlimited capacity for other states. NY Times says yes” (Washington City Paper)

D.C. Says “First” to Digital Gay Weddings “History was made this week when Thomas Mark Reed and Dante Karl Walkup logged on to Skype and tied the knot, making them the first to participate in a “digital gay wedding” across state lines. Their “Skype” wedding, which took place in Dallas, Texas, was officiated via teleconference from Washington, D.C., where same-sex marriage is legal. The “e-marriage,” is traditionally held when one party can’t be physically present such as in the case where a spouse is in the military and stationed overseas. However, this digital ceremony was about creatively addressing same-sex marriage restrictions.” (NBC Washington)

Activists hold prayer vigil outside District Heights shop that sold guns later used to commit crimes “Jacqueline Scales nervously gripped the microphone in the center of a crowd of about 60 protesters gathered near gun dealer Realco in District Heights. It had been one month since the man who shot her son was convicted of his murder, and three weeks since the man was ruled criminally insane and not responsible for her son’s death…Nearly one in every three guns confiscated by authorities in the District and Prince George’s County was purchased at the dealer, The Post investigation found.” (The Washington Post)