It is likely that the City's consultants will attempt to sell us on high density development in exchange for neighborhood improvements.
But this begs the question why the City has invested its own funds in capital improvements for some neighborhoods but not in ours.
Case in point: undergrounding of utilities. The City is paying for long-term projects costing millions of dollars to underground utilities — not just in the Old & Historic District but also along Mt. Vernon Avenue in Del Ray and Arlandria.
As far as the Growler can tell, these programs are being paid for from the City's annual budget, not from developer contributions or special tax districts.
And the City's investments have not been limited to underground utilities, but have also involved streetscaping and other cosmetic improvements.
Since 1985, the City has spent over $2.5 million to underground utility wires and poles along Mt. Vernon Avenue and to implement streetscape improvements. ... As part of this project, the City will also continue the streetscape improvements by planting trees, repairing curbs and gutters, installing pavers, street furniture and signs.
Additionally, there have been improvements made to the crosswalks along Mt. Vernon Avenue between Uhler and Bellefonte Avenues in Del Ray and in front of George Washington Middle School. These improvements include stamped asphalt crosswalks and bulb-outs designed to make pedestrian crosswalks safer and slow down traffic. Along Braddock Road, between West Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue, the City proposes landscape improvements to the medians and adjacent rights of way. (Potomac West Small Area Plan, 1992, pp. 38 and 47)
So why do other neighborhoods take but only Parker-Gray has to give?
29 comments:
Most of us know the answer but the goody two shoe limousine liberals who read this blog wont like it....
Ummm? There is a new $15 million recreation center under construction. This must have slipped the Growler's notice.
"Ummm? There is a new $15 million recreation center under construction. This must have slipped the Growler's notice."
You've got to be kidding me. That rec center is not for the neighborhood. It's for the Bland residents. There's nothing planned for the neighborhood at large there, despite our asking. Just more boxing, subsidized day care, etc.
"Ummm? There is a new $15 million recreation center under construction. This must have slipped the Growler's notice."
You've got to be kidding me. That rec center is not for the neighborhood."
The neighborhood is burdened by a Mayor who argues diversity but favors the earlier convenience of segregation. If not race then wages are his marker. In the end the neighborhoods remain the same. Just look at the citizens who attend the city meetings. Commonwealth and Mount Vernon are the protected streets. What really amazes me is the selection of the BRT route from Potomac Yard to Braddock Metro. Why does it not go from Monroe Street to Mount Vernon Avenue to the King Street station? Where the hell are those townhouse people? BRT stupidly is scheduled to go from Route One to Fayette Street to Madision and West Streets. Anything that violates the integrity of the Braddock neighborhood is fine with Euille. All you have to read is recent Council's immigration statement to know the city is bracing for another influx of low income.
OK, Let's see. Huge new gymnasium, brand new pool, aerobics room, weight room, tons of public meeting space, computer lab, huge new seniors area. Nope, nothing for the neighborhood there! Get real. Other neighborhoods and other cities would kill for this kind of facility. Some Parker Gray residents just insist on seeing only the bad and never acknowledge when something good happens. Is it hard being so angry all the time?
"Ummm? There is a new $15 million recreation center under construction. This must have slipped the Growler's notice."
Umm...who exactly will use that center? Did you use the previous incarnation of Charles Houston? and how safe do u feel walking to the Center at night?
"Other neighborhoods and other cities would kill for this kind of facility."
Not when its in a crime-plagued neighborhood surrounded by public housing.
I am sure we will see you at the pool at 9 PM on a Friday. Did u ever even visit the old facility? Did u happen to notice the near nightly visist by the police for service calls?
"Did you use the previous incarnation of Charles Houston? and how safe do u feel walking to the Center at night?"
Yes. Perfectly.
"Is it hard being so angry all the time?"
Anger provides its own energy - and it's easy to be angry enough to fight elected council members - most of whom live in Del Ray - and spend my tax dollars improving their own neighborhood - while failing to keep what little promises they made to Us'ns on the East side.
Suspicious?? Borne of experience living in Alexandria, the heart of the segregated South.
"Umm...who exactly will use that center? Did you use the previous incarnation of Charles Houston? and how safe do u feel walking to the Center at night?"
I'm not afraid of walking to the rec center. I live in the 500 blk of N. Alfred St. How many times have I used it? Except for the public meetings I have attended there, pretty much never.
As I said, I've been in there for meetings and have seen what it had to offer. It is mainly for the children of ARHA. This is not a bad thing, it's just not a place where my 12 yoa daughter wants to go.
She says there is nothing for her their. I asked her once if she wanted to take a walk to the rec and look into some activities. She looked at me like I had 2 heads on my shoulder. I questioned her about the look and she pretty much just stated that she wouldn't fit in there.
She has many different friends of all nationalities in school and many of these friends she "chills out with" after school at their houses or at ours. She's a good kid and has never had a fight or any other problem is school so far.
I don't believe that she refuses to go there because of a race issue, but I do think it may have to do with a class issue. She is into tap dancing and field hockey, nothing that the Rec has ever offered.
Anyway, maybe it will change with the new Rec, but I doubt it, being that the area around it isn't changing.
New weight room sounds nice, maybe I'll check that out for myself when it's complete. The old one at the rec was a joke. It may beat the over priced membership I'm paying at the YMCA.
This is just one fathers opinion which I'm sure I will be labeled one way or the other in the next few postings.
BRT stupidly is scheduled to go from Route One to Fayette Street to Madision and West Streets.
So the City wants to make those stinky buses go on Madison St. from Fayette to West? Glad I don't live there!!
Can I ask why folks regard the programs offered at the Rec center is set in stone? I look forward to the new facility and hope that there will be things available for all sorts of people - including adults. How do we find out what is planned to be offered, and how would we be able to band together to actually make Charles Houston a COMMUNITY center, not just an afterschool center for kids interested in boxing?
"How do we find out what is planned to be offered, and how would we be able to band together to actually make Charles Houston a COMMUNITY center, not just an afterschool center for kids interested in boxing?"
The City did hold a series of meetings about this topic already. The neighbors who showed up did give input, asking for programs like aerobics, etc., not just late night boxing and elder care. It might be worth emailing the parks and recreation people and emphasizing our point that the rec center should serve all of us, not just the projects. But, the design of the rec center (i.e. the boxing ring, etc.) is of course already set in stone.
"OK, Let's see. Huge new gymnasium, brand new pool, aerobics room, weight room, tons of public meeting space, computer lab, huge new seniors area. Nope, nothing for the neighborhood there! Get real. Other neighborhoods and other cities would kill for this kind of facility."
I would never bring my kid to use any of these offerings. You want to know why? Easy, because diveristy isnt about exposing your kids to f-bombs and police sirens. We all know in PG that the area around the Center is not safe and absent changes in the area, that is not going to change. Will people use it? Sure. It sounds like we have a guy on here who thinks its great and alleges he would walk there at night and wouldnt mind using it.
But we all know that this is really a facility for the Bland and Adkins residents. Frankly, I find it more relevant to me that local community officers have been warning local residents around the Center that while the Center is "off-line" until 2009, the possibility of a spike in property and personal crimes can be "expected".
Waht does that say about Charles Houston when essentially the police are saying its being built to keep thugs from committing crimes?
""Is it hard being so angry all the time?"
"
Its rather easy to be angry when you deal with the daily problems that come from Adkins and Bland and "guests"
Growler - have you emailed a link to your blog to David Dixon? I think he might find the comments here useful in his preparation for the upcoming Braddock area negotiations.
Anyone get a load of the new "Braddock Bulletin"
http://alexandriava.gov/planningandzoning/pdf/braddock_bulletin_101107.pdf
Will this newsletter include thug activity and a daily litter report?
The most interesting part of that newsletter is the tidbit that ARHA is holding community meetings from 7-9pm at the Durant Center on 10/15 and 10/22, apparently for the purpose of discussing the Bland redevelopment. Gee, thanks for the advance notice!!
My understanding is that holding public meetings is a pre-req to submitting a Hope VI application. Anyone who cares had better be there to get your voice on the record...
"Anger provides its own energy - and it's easy to be angry enough to fight elected council members "
I am angry because I dont understand what the rec center specifically will do to "improve" the neighborhood. It doesnt seem like we need a new gymnasium or rec room in PG. That didnt seem to be in the Top 10 of everyones list.
Hmm - just a thought, perhaps an epiphany. Bill Euille grew up in the projects and became Mayor of the City. The City now talks of preserving the communities in the projects. Maybe the powers that be in the City just want the newcomers to get the hint and move out. Nevermind any clean sidewalks or quiet nights, the new people upset the status quo, the way it has been for generations, and these invaders should just leave.
Helen Miller, who used to say "If you don't like it the way it is, then leave!" was only voicing the attitude of the true City powers.
If this were not the case, then wouldn't PG have gotten some improvements by now?? Priority is community, not improvements.
...The most interesting part of that newsletter is the tidbit that ARHA is holding community meetings from 7-9pm at the Durant Center on 10/15 and 10/22, apparently for the purpose of discussing the Bland redevelopment. Gee, thanks for the advance notice!!
My understanding is that holding public meetings is a pre-req to submitting a Hope VI application. Anyone who cares had better be there to get your voice on the record...
Does anyone know if they will be providing childcare for these meetings? Just noticed that the Braddock meetings will now have childcare.
On the topic of the old center, we did try to use it a couple of times and were made, not by the center kids or adults, but by the staff, to feel very unwelcome and out of place. One time we were using the gym on a particularly muddy evening, we were the only ones in the place and staff asked us to leave because that time (in the gym) was reserved for teens? After some words we were "allowed" to stay but it was very upsetting to my neighbors' and my children.
I can only hope that the new center is vastly improved in its community profile. I want to use it and I want it to be used by all in our neighborhood, but I am also now very concerned that it may face steady delays given the city's other priorities and limited capital improvement budget. Its on the list, as are all the other projects, but if the capital isn't there the projects get delayed. The recent asbestos fiasco at the high school pushed the schools capital projects back with "promises" that they would get needed attention next year.
I will continue to pay my Y fees too and not hold my breath waiting for the new center to open.
"...The most interesting part of that newsletter is the tidbit that ARHA is holding community meetings from 7-9pm at the Durant Center on 10/15 and 10/22, apparently for the purpose of discussing the Bland redevelopment. Gee, thanks for the advance notice!!
My understanding is that holding public meetings is a pre-req to submitting a Hope VI application. Anyone who cares had better be there to get your voice on the record..."
These meetings may be just the place to stand up and state that this neighborhood wants this redevelopment of Bland to hold to the Fair Share concept in regard to public housing. If we think that "wouldn't it be great to have Chatham Square" and allow 130 some units to be rebuilt instead of a MUCH lower number, we will have lost the one opportunity to shrink the concentration of public housing in this neighborhood. Let the city and ARHA figure out where to place the one for one units.
Brick and mortar is a thing of the past.
It's time this city switch to vouchers.
Show up and voice your opinions. And then send an email to Planning and City Council stating the same. NO MORE CONCENTRATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN PARKER GRAY.
I know the Growler hates caps, but please try and remember this neighborhood use to be a neighborhood of the working class before it was filled with public housing. 50 years ago my father immigrated to this very neighborhood and lived with his uncle until he got on his feet and moved on. This neighborhood wasn't always filled with public housing and now may be the time to change it future, but only if we stand up and voice strongly our desires of a new vision for the future of Parker Gray.
Speaking of giving (the rest of the City its share of public housing) and taking (no more of the historically biased treatment of PG) - get a load of the "courtyard" at the Monarch which is now accessible. I hope THAT is not what future public space in our area is going to look like.
Perhaps one day we'll look at the fortress and see it as a symbol of how things used to be. When developers had to wall their properties off from the unpleasantness of the surrounding blocks in order to be marketable.
"If we think that "wouldn't it be great to have Chatham Square" and allow 130 some units to be rebuilt instead of a MUCH lower number, we will have lost the one opportunity to shrink the concentration of public housing in this neighborhood. "
Hear, Hear Sister!! (or brother). I couldn't have said it better. I've been emailing the City on this topic for years now. It's nice to hear that others out there agree with me. Thanks for speaking up!
"When developers had to wall their properties off from the unpleasantness of the surrounding blocks in order to be marketable"
thank god someone said it. That park looks like it does because the Monarch is trying to wall off the public area from the local neighorhood thugs who have loitering and troublemaking down to a science.
Would u buy a house where thugs were outside loitering all the time?
I grew up in alfred and montgomery, and I also grew up in charles Houston recreation center. You know the one surrounded by thugs and constant crime around it. Im glad that they are rebuilding the center... 15 million dollars if you ask me is nothing compared to how much this city has. The residents in the area deserve something new and nice. I get tired of going to Houston everyday and our basketball court is run down, and the game room are filled with table games that where there when the center first opened. How about the art room thats barely big enough for 10 people or the weight room that had 20 year equipment in it. And for the people who think the new recreation center isn't for neighborhood your wrong. It's not the bland residents fault that " White People" are scared to come and use the facility.
Does anyone know the status of the public housing in Parker Gray. I am thinking about purchasing a home there? Thanks for any updates.
of courts the city is paying for del ray that is where the mayor lives. All this talk of improvements. Has anyone tried to walk along Columbus around Madison St. lately. You wouldn't see that kind of activity around the mayor's or krupka's house. It is still a discrace to all of us living in Parker Gray. But the mayor could not having those folks living in Potomac Yards or near him or Krupka. They must keep their drug deals in Parker Gray.
Who will use the new rec center? You cannot walk down Madison Street because of the ARHA residents making remarks, hearing the F word everywhere, and drug deals. Is that who they are bulding it for? Lets move all the ARHA residents to the mayors neighborhood and the new Potomac Yards area. Let's be more diverse in other areas. I know it has nothing to do with race...it is people making choices not to work and we have to live with it.
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