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You can be "poor/working-class" without having to have a vindictive "ghetto" mindset, though, and as a white person I can say that there is most definitely plenty of hatred and disdain from blacks towards whites (probably more, actually). I've experienced it here, and I'm not rich---not by a long shot. I'm a working-class white and live in a rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood where Dodge Shadows and K-Cars have been making way for BMW SUVs and Jaguar sedans since I moved here in 2010. This doesn't mean I have to create a negative quality-of-life for my more affluent neighbors out of spite or resentment or to sabotage the neighborhood's improvements just because I didn't pursue my Master's Degree or Ph.D. like they did. Contrariwise I'm quite pleased that people with more money than I'll ever be blessed enough to have are buying and fixing up abandoned yet historic rowhouses before they have to be torn down by the city. If me being priced out in five years to a cheaper neighborhood makes way for my current neighborhood, which I've grown to love, to experience a rebirth that those who helped to build it 120 years ago would be proud of, then so be it. I'm not selfish enough to stand in the way of and/or resist progress.
Anyone who wants to see Anacostia's prized historic (yet vacant) housing stock meet the wrecking ball in order to "keep it real" instead of seeing those homes be restored by yuppies (OR buppies) is an enemy to the District of Columbia.
Interesting prospective.... One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.
Being that I'm from those boards, let me respond. When gauging what people want in those forums, you have to understand the history of where they live. Speaking specifically of PG county, the residents there have never had a quality of life comparable to middle class communities around DC. There are food deserts, lack of quality hospital care, lack of shopping amenities, lack of quality restaurants, etc.
No one is advocating the transformation of PGC into Bethesda, McLean, or Tyson's. What people are asking for is the basics of what those jurisdictions take for granted like quality grocers, ample shopping choices, nice places to eat. You don't have to be rich to enjoy those basic amenities.
Having dinner at the Cheesecake factory once a month is not going to break the bank for a majority of those in the county. Trader Joe's is no Dean & Deluca or Balducci's, and Yes! Organic is more expensive than Whole Foods. Yet, options like the Cheesecake Factory and Trader Joe's are missing for 99% of the county.
There are many parts of PGC with no more crime than Gaithersburg, Rockville, Alexandria, or Fairfax.
I think the residents of PGC deserve a little more amenities than what they have now, which by no means requires gentrification or any help from certain socioeconomic or ethnic groups. A majority of the county is solidly middle class and can support those middle-class amenities they lack.
1/2 the county is middle class the other half is working class or poor (esp with the current gentrification rampage in the district). I can understand food deserts but you know full well the way things are done these days its either gentrification or full blown neglect.......the way urban and community revitilization is done nowadays you cant build basic amenities in working class areas and the working class people actually benefit from it. You build it, greedy selfish gentrifiers show up and push out the people who needed it most....to another food desert.
You may not want PGC to become another NoVA but ive seen nuff posters on those boards that say something completely different....
There were at least four people shot in Anacostia on Sunday when I was working at the fire house. Nice weather = bloody day in NE and SE DC east of the river.
^ nah. dc will never be like manhattan, so chill with that noise.
dc doesn't even want to be like manhattan anyway, because you
can't even build up that high. Plus, you have too much going on
with the feds to be like any other city. you might as well stay
low-key like you've been doing for the last 142 years.
Manhattan is DC's height in the 6-14 story range for a majority of the island. I think that is what that poster was talking about.
Think 4th street in southeast is like 22nd most dangerous street in america, near Livingston terrace. Savage over there, used to go to my cousins house and slept over, shootings every night stabbings etc, don't know if its on the east doe.
This could be something that DC should discuss with WMATA as far as Anacostia and the rest of the Southside and Northeast neighborhoods East of the River are concerned. A lot of food deserts in that part of The City that could utilize something like this around the Metro stations.
I grew up in historic Anacostia and it was a working class neighborhood where most people were homeowners and everything within walking distance, and everyone knew everyone else. There was vagrancy at those famous corner stores and drug dealing. The only crime I ever had was burglary and theft, but that was from a family member who was addicted to street drugs. For 20 years I was never a victim of assault or shooting and walking down the street was pretty safe. I lived a block away from Cedar Hill where Frederick Douglass lived, and our neighborhood was quite charming.
Downtown Anacostia - Uniontown - was where a huge street party carnival was held every year called the Unifest, until it started to be polluted with criminals who made a family friendly festival into a jungle. I don't even know whether the Unifest still happens.
Our neighborhood was better than other neighborhoods in Anacostia such as Skyland, Buena Vista, Douglass and Woodland. Those are all areas with worse crime than Historic Anacostia, higher poverty and unemployment rates, and hardly any home ownership - they're packed with dense apartment complexes and unwalkable streets.
I still like Anacostia, and I'm a Ketcham alum. I still think Good Hope Carry-out has some of the best fast foods in town, especially their mambo sauce and cheeseburgers with those pickled peppers and shredded onions. I also think the new Skyland construction is going to be only beneficial to the community, and a good compliment to the gentrification plans happening slowly in Uniontown, the corridor along MLK Avenue near the world's biggest chair.
Is it still the world's biggest chair?
Looks like it probably still occurs during the first weekend of June.
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