Homeless service advocates marching to the Wilson Building. (Photo by Roshan Ghimire).
On May 18th, around 100 homeless people and homeless advocates gathered at the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) shelter to participate in the “March to Save Homeless Services”. This event was organized to protest budget cuts that could lead to the loss of funding for a number of homeless services and the closing of city shelters next April. After marching along E street to the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, the group met with a “Reality Tour” event organized by Save Our Safety Net DC. The marchers joined with activists interested in restoring funding for all social service programs, and not just homeless services. Over 200 people crammed into the Wilson Building to protest budget cuts soon to be introduced by Mayor Vincent Gray’s city council. If these cuts go through, vital social services for some of DC’s most vulnerable residents will be lost.
Binnie and I spoke to Robert Warren, a formerly homeless advocate for the People’s Fairness Coalition, and Blair Rush, a current CCNV shelter resident, to get their views on the budget cuts and what it will mean to them. Robert has had problems with the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) which provides assistance with rent to individuals and families at risk of becoming homeless as well as those exiting homelessness. As federally funded programs like the HPRP fail to provide sustainable assistance to people facing homelessness, local cuts to homeless services in DC will only make things worse for residents.
Robert Warren inside the Wilson Building. (Photo by Hazal Yolga).
Blair Rush interviewed with her service dog Kelo inside the Wilson Building. (Photo by Hazal Yolga).
Blair faces having her Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) cut off. Initially, Mayor Gray’s proposed budget cuts sought to eliminate all funding for the Interim Disability Program. Although Chairman Kwame Brown’s as yet unfunded proposals would result in some funding being restored for IDA, there are still over three million dollars of cuts on the table. This will mean hundreds of people will lose their IDA income and over a thousand will remain on a long waiting list. IDA provides a lifeline for many DC residents and cutting it will have devastating results for over a thousand people who currently receive it.
The DC Fiscal Policy Institute notes that these budget cuts are coming at a time when a large number of low-income DC residents are still experiencing unemployment and are unable to provide for themselves and their families in the wake of the recession. Cuts to homeless and other safety net services in the District will only worsen the situation for homeless, unemployed, low-income and struggling residents.
Save our Safety Net DC is organizing an emergency action where activists will gather again at the Wilson Building at noon on Tuesday, May 24th. This will be the last chance to ask the city council to vote against 19 million dollars of budget cuts to social services. So far, Chairman Kwame Brown has refused to raise taxes at all for DC residents. Activists from Save our Safety Net DC and other DC residents and advocates for restoring funding for social services argue that these harmful budget cuts could be avoided through a small increase in income tax for those residents earning in excess of 100,000 dollars per year. This would be an alternative to what many claim is the balancing of the budget on the backs of the poor.
People crowd into the corridors of the Wilson building outside councilmembers' offices. (Photo by Roshan Ghimire).
Time is almost up. The city budget is scheduled for a vote May 25, 2011. There are still a couple of things you can do to keep the outrageous cuts to the social services from happening. Call, email, or visit the members of the council who remain against the proposal to increase taxes on DC’s wealthiest citizens by a mere .4 percent. There names and contact information follow:
Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans
202- 724-8058
jackevans@dccouncil.us
Council Chair Kwame Brown
202-724-8032
kbrown@dccouncil.us
At-Large Councilmember David Catania
202-724-7772
dcatania@dccouncil.us
Critical, Unified Fair Budget Action: Social Services Walking Tour
Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
May 18th, 11 a.m. -1 p.m.
Even if the budget passes with a slightly more progressive tax code, many cuts to social services will remain. DC’s progressive activists work hard for positive outcomes during budget season, but the low- and moderate-income residents who are most affected by these budget cuts must deal with them year round. We should be organizing year round. The following video, “How to Be an Affordable Housing Advocate,” suggests that we stay informed about legislation and that we hold our elected officials accountable however and whenever possible. Enjoy.
According to Wikipedia, Ivy City is a small Washington, DC neighborhood located on a triangular strip of land in the central part of DC’s Northeast quadrant. It’s bounded by New York Avenue to the northwest, West Virginia Avenue to the east, and Mt. Olivet Road to the south. The neighborhood is surrounded on all sides by significant landmarks: Gallaudet University (across Mt. Olivet Rd.), Mt. Olivet Cemetery (across West Virginia Ave.), and Amtrak’s Ivy City yard (across New York Ave.).
Better Days in Ivy City
I give you all this information because unlike Columbia Heights or Anacostia, Ivy City is not well-known. It has long been a tight-knit, working-class, African-American community with a proud history. But as the economy changed–the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad went away, warehouses closed down–what was once a thriving neighborhood became blighted.
This of course is not uncommon. Many of the District’s neighborhoods have their own histories of decline, but for some revitalization or outright gentrification has turned things around. While U Street, Georgia Avenue and even the long-neglected H Street corridor have seen major changes, revitalization projects in Ivy City have been proposed, promised and abandoned.
Those who look closely at revitalization in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights and Shaw may consider the residents of Ivy City fortunate. Relatively few native or even long-term residents have been able to remain in those other neighborhoods. Ivy City may not have the amenities that come with gentrification but it has not had the displacement either. Question is, will that last. The city is again planning projects that would promise revitalization, but will it come without displacement?
That is the question first time filmmaker Sean Furmage is preparing to answer in a documentary about Ivy City that he’s recently begun working on through the Grassroots Media Project. The project will be a part of his course work as a PhD candidate at American University. An introduction to the project is posted here. In it Furmage focuses on two recently proposed Ivy City redevelopment projects. The first, the Adaptive Reuse of Alexander Crummell School was scheduled to begin last summer, but it looks now like the city is trying to surplus the school instead. The other is the Ivy City Special Demonstration Project which will bring 58 units of “affordable” housing to the community, but it is unclear how many of those units will ultimately be awarded to current community members.
Furmage’s documentary will look at the struggles between local residents and the city council, developers and non-profits and their contrasting visions for the future of Ivy City. What’s posted here gives you a flavor of the finished documentary, which we hope will be complete by this fall.
Empower DC is currently seeking out residents of Ivy City to join the campaign to save the historic Alexander Crummell School from for-profit developers. As is clear from the video, Ivy City residents who have the time and inclination to be active want to keep Crummell as PUBLIC property, for use by the community and residents city-wide – to RESTORE the school for uses that benefit the community, serve community needs and preserve the history of the school and community. For more information, and particularly if you know anyone from Ivy City, join the Facebook campaign to save Crummell School.
The District’s mainstream media has not gone out of their way to cover Walmart and their current attempt to locate four stores within DC’s borders. There are a few media activists within the community who have been following the story. Here’s a brief survey.
Longtime DC activist and video journalist Luke regularly posts to DC’s Independent Media Center. All of the following articles include video:
On February 25, WPFW’s Spirit in Action program dedicated an entire hour to the issue of Walmart. Empower DC co-founder Parisa Norouzi’s arguments against Walmart coming to DC were pretty unshakeable. I am trying to get a copy of the program to post here. In the mean time, you can find it on WPFW’s Program Archives page. You’ll have to scroll down to Spirit in Action, 2/25/2011.
The Washington City Paper fancies itself alternative press. The jury is still out on that but they did cover our favorite rapper Head-Roc and his efforts to keep Walmart out of the District in their article Head-Roc’s Mouth: Keep D.C. Walmart Free.
Radio journalist Pete Tucker of Fightback Radio looks at the issue from the point of view of small business owner Gary Cha in the podcast Yes! Says No to Walmart.
Although the Washington Times is not alternative media, their article Alexander Aides on Wal-Mart Team about Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander’s ties to Walmart is relevant nonetheless.
Should you have the time and the inclination to get your information in a more sociable way, the group Walmart Free DC has been scheduling free community screenings of the film “The High Cost of Low Prices” in every ward in the city. The next screening will be in Ward 3:
Palisades Neighborhood Library
4901 V St. N.W. – PAL Large Meeting Room
Thursday, March 31, 2011
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Following that is a screening in Ward 5:
Woodridge Library
1801 Hamlin St. N.E.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
If you’d like to do more than just follow the story in the media, Walmart Free DC has begun meeting regularly on Saturdays at Empower DC, 1419 V Street NW. The best way to become involved and stay informed is by subscribing to their list serve. To do so, send an email to walmartfreedc@lists.riseup.net.
The groups No Ward 4 Walmart and Ward Four Thrives appear to be working in conjunction on this issue. If you’re a Ward 4 resident looking to get involved, they can be contacted via their website WardFourThrives.blogspot.com. Their blog has lots of information about Walmart in general and links to a bunch of articles that aren’t posted here. Enjoy!
Gentrification has a tendency to spread and as it spreads, communities turn over. Examples of racial and economic integration, which we all hope will be the result of urban development, are truly hard to find. In the 1940s & ’50s Anacostia was white and believe it or not, Georgetown was black. While it may be unlikely that Georgetown will ever be affordable enough to sustain a majority black population again, Anacostia may revert to it’s previous status. For much of the last decade many long-term residents of DC (black, white and Latino) who at one time lived in Northwest have sought more affordable homes east of the river. With the recession still in full force in Wards 7 & 8, a considerable number are heading even farther east, across the border into Maryland. Who will remain?
One black-owned DC business that will not be relocating to Ward 9 (Prince George’s County) is Stewart’s Funeral Home. In an exploration of gentrification and those who are able to survive it, Brenda Hayes and Be Steadwell produced the following audio report: A_Home_Away_From_Home. It’s clear that Stewart’s Funeral Home is part of a legacy within DC’s black communities of taking care of their own that stretches from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement. But will that tradition last now that the black majority of the District of Columbia is dwindling and will soon cease to exist?
Video producers Judith Hawkins and Valencia Rutledge of Valencia’s It Is What It Is Mobile Talk Show make the case that it is not only African-American business owners who have been established for decades that will survive. The tradition of fulfilling the needs of the community within the community remains, despite the neglect that accompanied the flight of the middle class after integration. Their report on gentrification features a businessman who sells his wares on the street. No, he doesn’t deal drugs, but if you can’t afford a brick and mortar store, then pounding the pavement and taking the product directly to the consumer is one way to go. It may not make him rich, but it will keep him in his Ward 8 home.
The stories featured in this post show the kind of tenacity that’s necessary if native Washingtonians or immigrants from other parts of the country or other parts of the world are to strengthen their roots here and survive gentrification. To rebuild a sense of financial security among the middle class, working class and even low-income residents of DC, we must push for real economic opportunities that extend not only to for-profit developers but also to residents whose investments in the community represents more than just the all mighty dollar but the true wealth of the District of Columbia.
