Dear Washingtonians:
On Saturday, Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., of the District of
Columbia District Court ruled against DC’s current gun laws. For
Reuters’ brief story on his decision, see
http://tinyurl.com/kn9vd9y The
key paragraph of the decision reads: “In light of Heller, McDonald,
and their progeny, there is no longer any basis on which this court can
conclude that the District of Columbia’s total ban on the public
carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional
under any level of scrutiny. Therefore, the court finds that the
District of Columbia’s complete ban on the carrying of handguns in
public is unconstitutional.” See also Emily Miller’s story on the
decision,
http://tinyurl.com/lwbme6w.
Alan Gura, the lawyer who won the Heller case and who brought
and won this case, Palmer v. DC, commented, “Obviously, the
carrying of handguns for self-defense can be regulated. Exactly how is a
topic of severe and serious debate, and courts should enforce
constitutional limitations on such regulation should the government opt
to regulate. But totally banning a right literally spelled out in the
Bill of Rights isn’t going to fly. My deepest thanks to the Second
Amendment Foundation for making this victory possible and to my clients
for hanging in there. Congratulations Americans, your capital is not a
constitution-free zone,”
http://alangura.com/2014/07/victory-in-palmer-v-d-c/.
DC’s political officials, however, don’t believe that people in DC
can be trusted with the full Constitutional rights that other Americans
enjoy, and have announced their continuing determination to deny Second
Amendment rights to citizens of the District. Mayor Gray and Attorney
General Nathan have announced that they are going to appeal the decision
(see Julie Zauzmer, Washington Post,
http://tinyurl.com/p6dflga),
and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, mayor-in-waiting Councilmember
Muriel Bowser, and Councilmember Tommy Wells, among others, have voiced
their support for protecting Washingtonians from the dangers of the Bill
of Rights.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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[Re Future Slums, themail, July 23] Amen! I can’t say I often agree
with you, but this is spot on. This [microapartments] is being floated
as an innovative affordable housing option that I expect will be mostly
exploited by the poor(er) but savvy end of the gentry spectrum (which I
don’t knock because I think recent grads, graduate students, and entry
level white collar workers should be able to have a nice place to live)
but will eventually be spun as an answer to the affordable housing
crisis for Section 8 residents. We know what happens when you
concentrate poor folks in one area and turn a blind eye to upkeep, as
we’ve seen it happen repeatedly with previous housing projects. The idea
isn’t bad, and truthfully, I think it’s a bit cool, but I don’t have
faith in the city to ensure the plan will be executed properly. And if
DC finds itself unexpectedly on the decline, we’ll have a lot of issues
on our hands. Though the federal government is a nice security blanket
that makes us relatively less impacted by recession and similar issues,
we’re not immune to the kind of flight that built the suburbs. For the
upwardly mobile, moving back and forth across state lines is no big
deal. Maybe they like DC now, then they’ll like Shirlington next week,
then maybe Rockville or Bethesda if they get a little money. Maybe
they’ll come back because they miss living in a real city, maybe they
won’t because they’re close enough and get a little more peace and
quiet. Who knows?
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Micro apartments are found, and have coexisted with larger units, in
NYC neighborhoods of Union Square/Gramercy, Madison Park, Hell’s
Kitchen, Chelsea, Flat Iron, etc. No slums there! You don’t know
NYC, for sure.
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Biking, Low Income Residents, and Commuting
Richard Layman,
rlaymandc@yahoo.com
There is nothing new in the research findings about “low income
commuters and cycling” (themail, July 16). Like any system of mobility,
people have to be trained to use it. We take that training for granted
as it relates to automobility. Lower income residents typically need
more assistance, not less, in order to adopt new behaviors and
technologies, especially when the use of such equipment involves
spending money. Another way to think about this is in terms of
innovation diffusion theory as outlined by Everett Rogers. Bicycling
uptake is still considered to be in the early adopter phase as it
relates to widespread use. Economic laggards typically are not at the
forefront of technological and social change.
Using ad hoc methods, it is almost impossible to counter
decades of promotion of automobile primacy as the primary way to get
around in the US for work and non-work trips. For a variety of reasons,
low income residents and African-Americans more generally lag “back to
the city” trends, which include cycling and sustainable transportation
promotion (e.g., look at resident opposition to streetcars as
expressed by Anacostia residents as another example). In our region,
this point is demonstrated by continued African-American outmigration
from Washington, DC, to Prince Georges County primarily and Charles
County secondarily.
In conversations with various people on this issue, trying to figure
out why this is, I have come to the conclusion that many later
generation “Washingtonians” see “the city” as “old and tired” and the
suburbs as the culmination of the American Dream, even though a variety
of counter-trends and perceptions exist. This is particularly pronounced
in my area of Ward 4, historically the center of the city’s black middle
class, where younger residents see our neighborhood as where their
relatives lived and as old and undesirable. Meanwhile, virtually every
house turnover brings new white or Hispanic or mixed-race couples to the
neighborhood, which is changing the demographics of the ward in
significant ways.
Not having read the report, just the article, it isn’t clear to me
that either or both a substantive literature review or a best practice
review was conducted. A high quality research study would have: 1)
addressed significant connection and topographical issues that make
biking from east of the river to the core of the city particularly
difficult, and 2) considered best practice initiatives such as in Boston
or Portland, Oregon. (The Community Cycling Center of Portland’s low
income commuter assistance program provides bicycles to low income
commuters or residents, and provides the training and assistance
necessary to adopt new behaviors.) The UK is also a great source for
studies on promoting cycling uptake in diverse communities,
http://tinyurl.com/kpdymfa.
Note that there are many such best practice examples, and to my
knowledge no adoption and implementation of any of the five to ten best
practices that come to mind has been initiated East of the river in DC,
other than Black Women Bike, a program created by Ward 7 resident
Veronica Davis. But with regard to cycling specifically, while WABA has
been doing trainings, and Veronica Davis created the Black Women Bike
group, there isn’t a bicycle shop east of the river in DC. There aren’t
any nonprofit initiatives fostering cycling, such as bike co-ops, based
there to my knowledge, even though programs located elsewhere in the
city do operate there. The DPR recreation centers aren’t utilized
systemically as a way to foster bicycle usage.
And there are many tough hills — e.g., try riding to the
Anacostia Community Museum some time, or up Stanton Road to Congress
Heights, or up Martin Luther King Avenue to St. Elizabeths, not to
mention limited ways to get across the Anacostia River — although the
new 11th Street “local” bridge is a far better means of doing so
compared to what existed previously.
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