Posts tagged Race
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“Clybourne Park” raises gentrification’s tough questions
If you enjoy Greater Greater Washington, you should go see Clybourne Park, if for no other reason than it might be your only chance for a long time to see a play whose second act starts with a debate over the zoning definition of “frontage.” Fifty years separate the two acts of Clybourne Park, playing at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre until April 17th. The first, in 1959,… Keep reading…
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WMATA budget deep dive, part 5: Is the fare fair?
Do WMATA fare hike and service cut proposals put a disproportionate burden on low income and minority populations? WMATA General Manager John Catoe has proposed an FY11 budget that includes $89.2 million in fare increases and $33.7 million in rail and bus service reductions. In a 2007 survey, WMATA found that Metrorail passengers had a median income of $102,000,… Keep reading…
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Dinner links: Chronicles of hypocrisy
Another suicide?; Wah, the monorail wasn’t working; Libertarians against property rights; Hyland v. Keam on transportation; High-speed map of rail; Yet another transportation subsidy: general aviation airports; Keep those bus passengers away from our walkable town. Keep reading…
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When a “ghetto” is not a “ghetto”
The term “ghetto” is often an overused and stereotypical term used to describe urban culture and residential communities. Any avid reader of neighborhood blogs in DC has most likely noticed how commenters over use the term “ghetto” to describe communities they see as poor, crime ridden, undesirable, and Black. A recent post about a new mural in… Keep reading…
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Breakfast links: Things that stink
The “smelly fish under the table”: Purple Line supporters argue in the Post that the Purple Line will bring job access and development opportunity to poorer eastern Montgomery and Prince George’s, and that opposition stems at least in part from “elitism” and a desire to keep those brown people out of their areas. Keep reading…
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Yesterday’s suburbia tomorrow
Freakonomics’ latest quorum discusses everyone’s favorite topic in the era of high gas prices: the future of suburbs. After the predictable quotes from Kunstler (“The suburbs have three destinies… as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins”) comes Freehold, NJ administrator Thomas Antus, who thinks development will make taxes spiral out… Keep reading…
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Burtonsville residents debate mixed-use and “undesirables”
Just Up the Pike attended a recent charrette on improving the village center in Burtonsville. Located along Columbia Pike (Route 29) a little west of Laurel, Burtonsville saw its biggest draw, a farmer’s market, move to Laurel. The main crossroads at Routes 29 and 198 is a collection of low-density commercial buildings. Keep reading…
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Racial politics kept College Park Metro far from campus
It may be an urban myth that racism kept Metro out of Georgetown (while many residents did oppose a station, Metro planners hadn’t included the neighborhood in initial plans in the first place), but according to a graduate paper from 1994 that Rethink College Park found and put online, it played a significant role in the decision to locate College Park’s Green Line stop… Keep reading…
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Georgetown never blocked a Metro stop
Conventional wisdom says that the Washington DC Metro was supposed to go to Georgetown (after all, it barely misses it between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom), but NIMBY residents in the 1970s blocked the station. But it’s not true. Keep reading…