|
|||
A recent report released from the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers suggests that the two — seemingly intractable poverty and the struggle for safe, affordable housing — are inextricably linked here in the District. Housing instability and the fear of homelessness are the greatest worries of our most vulnerable neighbors. . . . → Read More: Will the District’s Budget Recognize the Struggles of Low-Income Residents? 
As reported by the Washington Post, 35-year-old Robert Gross, resident of Virginia and the District, was shot to death by a Metro Transit Police officer during the evening of March 12, 2015. The incident took place in the tunnel near the Potomac Avenue metro station. A Blue Line train operator heading toward Virginia spotted Robert Gross in the tunnel and called Transit Police. Three officers went into the tunnel to investigate but Gross was confronted by only one officer who shot him multiple times. The officer in question, described only as a woman with at least ten years experience on the Metro Transit Police Force, has been put on paid administrative leave. Robert Gross is described as troubled. At the time of the shooting he was barefoot, wearing no pants and carrying a tree branch. While three paragraphs were used in the Washington Post article to describes Gross’ criminal history using records from 2008, only one paragraph was used to describe his family life. The following night, Friday, March 13, DC Ferguson met at Chinatown, got on the Metro, then got off at U st to block the intersection of 14th and U streets. The following video was provided by Luke reporting for the DC Independent Media Center.  One comment - (Comments are closed)  Justice System, Police Brutality  DC Ferguson, Metro Transit Police, police killing, Potomac Avenue Metro, Robert Gross, Washington Post 
Cross-Posted from the Washington Post written by Brigid Schulte At 6:30 a.m. on a Wednesday early this month, Andria Swanson, dressed in a bright-pink terry cloth jumpsuit, joined a line that was already snaking down South Capitol Street in Congress Heights. She nervously counted the people ahead of her. “I’m number 19,” she said. “That means I’ll get in today.” At number 20, she said, caseworkers close the doors and tell you to come back another day. Ahead of her in line, Joelle Flythe had been waiting, for the third day in a row, since 5 a.m. The first person in line had arrived at 3:45 a.m. This was Swanson’s second trip of the week to the Congress Heights Service Center, the only place run by the city where poor and working-poor parents can apply for a subsidy to help pay for child care. It will not be her last. Over the past two years, Swanson said, she has repeatedly waited in line at this office, once for more than nine hours as she missed work and college classes. She’s made multiple trips after caseworkers told her she needed more paperwork. At one point, she said, she missed so much work trying to get the child-care subsidy that she lost her job, landed in a shelter and went on welfare. Last month, Swanson began a job for the grass-roots advocacy nonprofit group Empower DC, tasked with helping improve the very subsidy process she has found so frustrating. So on this particular morning, she asked another mother to hold her place in line while she interviewed people about their experiences and asked them to sign a petition to improve the system. “This process is hell,” Swanson said. “H-E-L-L.” It’s never been easy for low-income parents in the District to secure high-quality child care. But now the stakes are very high. This fall, the District will begin limiting how long families can stay on welfare to five years. Liberals and conservatives agree that affordable child care is essential in moving people off welfare and into jobs and in helping them keep those jobs. But that goal is greatly complicated by the realities of the city’s child-care subsidy program — with its counterproductive system for receiving and renewing benefits, its inadequate funding for the subsidies themselves and the lack of child-care centers willing to accept the vouchers. City officials agree that the system is flawed. “The process needs a lot of fixing,” said David Berns, director of the Department of Human Services. As many as 25,000 people apply for child-care subsidies every year, he said, but the city has only seven caseworkers to determine eligibility. Berns said he has successfully lobbied for funding from the Division of Early Learning to increase staff at the Congress Heights Service Center by seven or eight. His department also hopes to begin streamlining the subsidy process next fall, he said. And in two years, he said, a new computer system should enable parents to apply for subsidies online. “We have a real sense of urgency,” said Deborah Carroll, director of DHS’s Economic Security Administration. “You can’t get a job if you can’t put your kid in child care. CLICK HERE to read the entire article at the WashingtonPost.com. I’ve reposted the comments that followed the above Washington Post article because they represent the kind of mentality that helps keep DC Government from fully funding the subsidized child care program. I hope they are not representative of all Washington Post readers. They’re actually difficult to find (I had to click on the photo gallery to get to them) which may explain why only seven people commented. I’m just using the abbreviations for those posters who used their real names. Baby Huey in the City wrote: STOP having babies, if you CAN’T take care of them! It’s that simple ABS wrote: She just stuck her foot in her mouth… How can she receive Unemployment, is currently employed, has an employed fiance AND receive public assistance–AND STILL COMPLAINING? Hummm…. cr1957ny wrote: I still do not understand how someone who is 22 or 23 years old and doesn’t have a pot to go in has 2-3 kids already. It just seems really irresponsible, and why should others have to support that irresponsibility? If you don’t have a job that pays well enough to support a child, stop having them! Get married. I mean, really. I feel bad for the kids, but this constant subculture thing about popping babies out with . . . → Read More: In D.C., parents miss work, lose jobs trying to get child-care subsidy Comments are closed Childcare, Social Services Andria Swanson, Brigid Schulte, child care, Empower DC, subsidized child care, Washington Post Cross-posted from the Washington Post By Jonathan O’Connell For all the difficulty and anguish of closing under-utilized public schools, the process is likely to prompt excitement from at least one constituency in the city: real estate developers. When Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced in 2007 that they would try to close 24 public schools, the interest from the commercial real estate industry was immediate, and for good reason. Some of the schools Fenty and Rhee proposed shuttering — and which ultimately closed — held high commercial value. Hine Jr. High School on Capitol Hill, across from Eastern Market, and Stevens Elementary School, in the West End, topped the list. Hine is on its way to becoming a mixed-use project led by EastBanc, and Akridge and Ivymount School plan to turn Stevens into an office building and special education center. What are the prospects for the 20 schools pegged for closure by Kaya Henderson, schools chancellor Mayor Vincent C. Gray? It is not clear. When Fenty and Rhee began closing schools, Neil O. Albert, then-deputy mayor for planning and economic development, did not take long to see empty school building as a redevelopment opportunity. Fenty and Rhee announced their plans to close the schools in November of 2007 and by December of 2008, Albert had analyzed the available properties and prepared 11 of them for commercial real estate developers to bid on (which they announced two days before Christmas). Henderson, on the other hand, said Tuesday that she wants to keep all of the schools within the school system’s control and has already announced plans to re-use many of them. Of the 20 schools (or 19 buildings), she suggests that 11 buildings be kept by DCPS, either to plan for future expansion of the school system or for expansion of other educational programs. These include: Francis-Stevens, Garrison, MacFarland, Marshall, Spingarn, Prospect, Shaw at Garnet-Patterson, Davis, Kenilworth, Ferebee-Hope and Johnson. For three other schools, Henderson says she has set aside for possible use by charters schools. Those are Sharpe Health School, Hamilton campus and Malcolm X. That leaves five listed as “to be determined” and Shaw at Garnet-Patterson as possibly “to be determined.” Jose Sousa, spokesman for Victor Hoskins, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said early Tuesday afternoon that he had not seen the list of proposed schools to close and declined comment. Regardless of whether Henderson succeeds in closing the schools but retaining control of the buildings, there is nothing on the current list of closures that approach Hine or Stevens in terms of commercial real estate value. Nine of the properties, for instance, are located east of the Anacostia River, which has not traditionally been a magnet for new development. But there are certainly properties that will attract commercial interest. Although Henderson has it pegged for expansion of a high school for School Without Walls, Francis-Stevens Education campus, at 2425 N St. NW, is sandwiched between Rock Creek Park and neighborhoods in the West End. It’s down the street from the Fairmont Hotel and the Park Hyatt. Garrison Elementary, at 1200 S St. NW, is just north of Logan Circle. Nearby, Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson, at 2001 10th Street NW, is just north of U Street, in an area in which the JBG Cos. is aggressively adding new apartments and retail. There are some potentially attractive properties in Northeast as well, near the booming H Street corridor. Prospect Learning Center, at 920 F Street NE, is between H Street and Capitol Hill. Spingarn High School, at 2500 Benning Road NE, is along the first streetcar route planned by the city and has been discussed as a property on which to store the new streetcars. Henderson plans for it to be turned into a career and technical education center. The education discussion comes first. But shortly thereafter, expect the real estate discussion to begin. Comments are closed DC School Closures, Education, Gentrification, Public Property DCPS, Jonathan O'Connell, school closings, school closures, Washington Post 
Cross-Posted from the Washington Post By Courtland Milloy, Published: December 11 Busses Parked Across the Street from Crummell School. Back in the 1970s, many low-income black D.C. residents began expressing fears that a nefarious scheme was afoot to push them out of the city. They called it “The Plan.” And they were all but laughed out of the city for sounding so paranoid. But, as the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. Take the case of Ivy City residents, whose legal battles with the D.C. government offer evidence that The Plan is not some figment of poor folks’ imagination. And, in many ways, it’s even more dastardly than they thought. In temporarily halting a District plan to put a bus depot in Ivy City, D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith N. Macaluso ruled Monday that Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s administration had “deliberately disregarded” laws requiring that residents be informed about how they would be affected by the move. Even worse, the judge found that developers had “evaded environmental screening by mischaracterizing the project” on city documents. The only difference between this plan and The Plan as low-income people envisioned it is that instead of being pushed out by whites returning to take over the city, they were being pushed out by black elected officials operating as if in the employ of developers. Union Station developers wanted a depot to keep buses that bring tourists to and from the station so merchants could sell fast food and souvenirs. Investors wanted to make a profit, city officials more tax dollars — for more bike lanes and dog parks, no doubt. And if a bunch of low-income residents would have to breathe air filled with carcinogenic diesel exhaust to make it happen, so be it. Kill two birds with one stone. You want to get rid of poor people? Raise their hopes by promising to renovate a historic African American landmark in their community, as Gray did to the people of Ivy City — but then turn around and break their hearts by trying to turn the site into a bus depot. Tell Ivy City residents that the former Alexander Crummell School, named for an abolitionist who devoted his life to the uplift of black people, will be turned into a community center worthy of its namesake. Then let them find out that instead of bringing new life to the neighborhood, you’ll be hastening the death of its residents — some of whom are children and elderly who suffer from asthma and other respiratory illnesses. According to the city’s own comprehensive “master plan,” Ivy City will be made “green” and have lots of amenities in the near future. The question has always been who will be there to enjoy it? If gentrification in other parts of the city is any guide, the answer will more likely be newcomers with money rather than the poor folks who live there now. Except that Ivy City, along New York Avenue about a dozen blocks east of North Capitol Street, is not like most other low-income neighborhoods. With their health and safety, actually their very lives, being threatened by the proposed bus depot, the residents fought back. They organized with help from a grass-roots group called Empower DC, held protest rallies and confronted city officials at public events. The fight was led by Andria Swanson, president of the Ivy City Neighborhood Association, along with Ivy City residents Sheba Alexander, Jeanette Carter and Vaughn Bennett, and Empower DC co-founder Parisa Norouzi, among others. D.C. lawyer Johnny Barnes represented them in court. After Macaluso’s ruling, Ivy City residents gathered for a celebration at the community’s Bethesda Baptist Church, where strategy meetings were often held. Among the happiest residents were the youngsters who live in Ivy City, still clinging to hope that the Crummell School grounds will one day have a recreation center and other community programs. “We like football, but there is no place to play except in the streets,” said De’Mar Williams, 15. Demarco Jones, 12, said: “Most of the money is being spent on bike lanes when we could use it over here for job training.” The ruling by Macaluso had been a significant win for Ivy City, but it was also confirmation of just how low the powers-that-be would go to keep them down. And out. “The public interest lies in compliance with the District’s environmental laws and regulations so that District residents are protected from avoidable . . . → Read More: For Ivy City, The Plan Isn’t Paranoia |
|||
|
Grassroots DC | 202-239-2949 | info@grassrootsdc.org Powered by WordPress & Atahualpa |
|||
