I'm tired of transplants sayin the DC I grew up in was mostly abandoned, crumbling, boarded up, vacant, empty businesses (Washington: 2014, crime rate)
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Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,428 times
Reputation: 148
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I'm tired of transplants who are NOT from DC and who did NOT grow up in DC constantly coming on here saying the DC I grew up in was mostly abandoned, crumbling, boarded up, vacant, empty buildings & businesses. DC was not like that at all.
This is far from a comprehensive list.
There are dozens of big time local retailers from the past I purposely left off of here.
I'm not about to share everything with you guys.
I collect this kind of stuff.
This is not even a fraction of my entire collection.
I made sure to randomly include a few restaurants for good measure.
I also collect shopping bags from local businesses which have long since closed just to remind myself how interesting this city was before the CVS, Starbucks and Whole Foods invasion.
Obviously technology has rendered some of these businesses models obsolete but history does not lie.
Everything we currently have in DC we had back then.
In fact I could even argue that overall we had more.
Lots more.
Some posters come on here and talk about the DC of the 1920s and the 1930s or the DC they have only read about in books or on the internet but I prefer to talk about the DC I personally witnessed first hand through personal experience. In other words... I LIVED IT.
DC is a very complex city. (The past, the present, the people, the buildings, the streets, the music, the slang etc...)
There is more to DC than meets the eye.
There is no way a transplant who just moved here can have it all figured out in just a couple of years.
I'm fascinated but confused by your posts. What is the overall point that you're trying to make? I understand that you lament how African-Americans are leaving or being pushed out of the city and the city you grew up in is changing drastically, but do you think someone in particular is to blame or that the changes taking place can or should be stopped? For example, you keep talking about "gentrifiers." In your mind, who are they and why are they doing the things they're doing? Do you think someone white moves here from Buffalo, NY with the goal of displacing black people? If not, what responsibility does this person have?
I'm trying to understand what your ultimate point is.
Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,428 times
Reputation: 148
Quote:
Originally Posted by slavicamerican
Bullets,
I'm fascinated but confused by your posts. What is the overall point that you're trying to make? I understand that you lament how African-Americans are leaving or being pushed out of the city and the city you grew up in is changing drastically, but do you think someone in particular is to blame or that the changes taking place can or should be stopped? For example, you keep talking about "gentrifiers." In your mind, who are they and why are they doing the things they're doing? Do you think someone white moves here from Buffalo, NY with the goal of displacing black people? If not, what responsibility does this person have?
I'm trying to understand what your ultimate point is.
What do African Americans/Black people have to do with any of this?
There were plenty of Jews & white people in DC way before gentrification.
1995: 2,661.4 violent crimes per 100,000 people
2012: 1,177.9 violent crimes per 100,000 people
I'll take a lower risk of getting mugged and assaulted any day over more places to buy shoes and tires.
That's my opinion, at least.
Thats your opinion and I can respect that.
But in my experience growing up I encountered only a handful of what can be described as violent incidents.
I would go everywhere.
I would ride the subway all over DC, Maryland & Virginia.
I minded my own business. I did my own thing. Nobody really bothered me other than people constantly asking me for spare change.
There was way more than just places to buy shoes and tires.
Block after block there was something different.
I'm sure you remember the shops at Georgetown Park & National Place were filled to capacity as well.
Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,428 times
Reputation: 148
Quote:
Originally Posted by slavicamerican
Nevermind. You've answered my question.
You are assuming things about me again.
You probably also think I am black.
Did you know that many of the local DC stores were owned/operated by whites and Jews?
Now stop crying. DC will never be what it was in the past. If you can't accept the new DC for what it is, the door isn't locked. You can leave any time. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
You are assuming things about me again.
You probably also think I am black.
Did you know that many of the local DC stores were owned/operated by whites and Jews?
Location: YOU are NOT a Washingtonian. YOU are a GENTRIFIER from the CVS, Whole Foods, Starbucks & Condos era.
367 posts, read 642,428 times
Reputation: 148
Quote:
Originally Posted by Collateral
There is more to do in DC today than back then. WAY more.
Those pictures look terrible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Collateral
Nice sarcasm.
People longing for the old crime infested DC don't make any sense to me. They clearly don't want to live in a nice place. They want to live in a dangerous, dirty, 3rd world environment.
Now they are crying because they're being pushed out. But what did they offer of value when they were here? Some ethnic food and a few mom and pop pawn shops? Gets get serious.
^ Here are a few of this poster's comments about the old DC taken from another thread.
"Some ethnic food and a few mom and pop pawn shops"
This thread alone proves the old DC was filled with more than just "some ethnic food and a few mom and pop pawn shops"
It is obvious he has no idea what he is talking about.
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