WashPo: Shattered windows, shattered dreams
All day The Advoc8te's inbox has been flooded from irate Ward 8 and River East residents reacting to this morning's Washington Post article on the Henson Ridge development in Ward 8. I'm going to try and limit my own commentary to allow for readers who feel so inclined to comment on this article; however, I will say that it was very disturbing (but unfortunetly not surprising) that after reading three pages of this article there was not one single mention of what neighborhood or even Ward (Ward 8 btw) that Henson Ridge is located - just repeated references to the buzzword of the century "Southeast". Also, knowing several people who have purchased in Henson Ridge (and seem to love it), I have my concerns that in doing research for this article that none of the WashPo writers could find a single Henson Ridge owner or tenant who had anything positive or constructive to say about the development, the residents or even the neighborhood. I get that this is an article about concerns about crime in the community (which sucks), but does it have to read like a cautionary tale on purchasing in "Southeast"? I am going to try and 'zip it' right now. The Advoc8te would really love to hear from some residents of Henson Ridge, the neighborhood or "Southeast" (which is really made up of three quaudrants) in general. Thanks!
Article Excerpt
Shattered windows, shattered dreams
Violence, lack of promised amenities anger owners of houses that replaced 2 SE projects
By Theola Labbé-DeBose and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 14, 2009
Janice Gore wanted a back yard to host family barbecues. Gary Jones wanted a lawn where he could toss the football with his son. And Chiquisha Robinson just wanted to put down roots in a community where her home purchase could make a difference.
Their dreams brought them and dozens of others to Henson Ridge, a new development of townhouses in one of the poorest areas of Southeast Washington. The neighborhood of manicured lawns and new siding is a phoenix among the ashes of carry-out food joints and check-cashing places on a stretch of Alabama Avenue SE. Conceived and constructed as an antidote to the surrounding urban blight, the planned community replaced razed public housing projects in 2003.
But then cars were stolen. Homes were burglarized. And when stray bullets crashed through windows and walls, residents could no longer deny that the neighborhood's violent past had resurfaced like a stubborn ghost.
"When you pay market rate, you expect certain things in return, and it's just not happening," said Robinson, whose $306,000, three-bedroom home was pierced by bullets last year.
The violence has been a jarring wake-up call for newcomers, whose first-home down payments were a deposit on a dream. And the fear and uncertainty are déja vu for the returning residents of the notorious former Frederick Douglass and Stanton Dwellings public housing projects.
"I'm afraid at night when they said they were breaking into these glass doors," said Gore, 56, referring to the double porch doors she loved because they gave her home a suburban feel. Gore, a grandmother, once lived in the housing projects and returned to the area in 2007, hoping to host barbecues for family, including the 12-year-old grandson she is helping to raise.
"It ain't no better [than the project days]. It seems like they put the same people back in here. I'm sorry I moved back in," she said.
Neighbors old and new are so fed up with the increasing crime that they wrote letters to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and solicited money for a Segway that they donated to the 7th Police District. Lanier formally accepted the donation at a ceremony in August and pledged more patrols, and Fenty praised the residents' organizing efforts.
But resources to fight crime were not in the plan when developers tore down the public housing, part of decades-old federal HOPE VI program that has transformed communities across the country.
Click HERE to continue reading.
To read the WashPo reader comments on this article go HERE.
For more Congress Heights and River East news visit The Congress Heights Examiner website, http://www.examiner.com/x-13507-Congress-Heights-Community-Examiner
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Article Excerpt
Shattered windows, shattered dreams
Violence, lack of promised amenities anger owners of houses that replaced 2 SE projects
By Theola Labbé-DeBose and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 14, 2009
Janice Gore wanted a back yard to host family barbecues. Gary Jones wanted a lawn where he could toss the football with his son. And Chiquisha Robinson just wanted to put down roots in a community where her home purchase could make a difference.
Their dreams brought them and dozens of others to Henson Ridge, a new development of townhouses in one of the poorest areas of Southeast Washington. The neighborhood of manicured lawns and new siding is a phoenix among the ashes of carry-out food joints and check-cashing places on a stretch of Alabama Avenue SE. Conceived and constructed as an antidote to the surrounding urban blight, the planned community replaced razed public housing projects in 2003.
But then cars were stolen. Homes were burglarized. And when stray bullets crashed through windows and walls, residents could no longer deny that the neighborhood's violent past had resurfaced like a stubborn ghost.
"When you pay market rate, you expect certain things in return, and it's just not happening," said Robinson, whose $306,000, three-bedroom home was pierced by bullets last year.
The violence has been a jarring wake-up call for newcomers, whose first-home down payments were a deposit on a dream. And the fear and uncertainty are déja vu for the returning residents of the notorious former Frederick Douglass and Stanton Dwellings public housing projects.
"I'm afraid at night when they said they were breaking into these glass doors," said Gore, 56, referring to the double porch doors she loved because they gave her home a suburban feel. Gore, a grandmother, once lived in the housing projects and returned to the area in 2007, hoping to host barbecues for family, including the 12-year-old grandson she is helping to raise.
"It ain't no better [than the project days]. It seems like they put the same people back in here. I'm sorry I moved back in," she said.
Neighbors old and new are so fed up with the increasing crime that they wrote letters to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and solicited money for a Segway that they donated to the 7th Police District. Lanier formally accepted the donation at a ceremony in August and pledged more patrols, and Fenty praised the residents' organizing efforts.
But resources to fight crime were not in the plan when developers tore down the public housing, part of decades-old federal HOPE VI program that has transformed communities across the country.
Click HERE to continue reading.
To read the WashPo reader comments on this article go HERE.
For more Congress Heights and River East news visit The Congress Heights Examiner website, http://www.examiner.com/x-13507-Congress-Heights-Community-Examiner
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