Skip to main content

Marketplace Capicostia?

Penn Branch has some problems that won't wait, until 2012 [Movie poster for '2012', above].

I predicted trouble on the horizon for Penn Branch, just a few months back.

In spite of the fact that the good folk of Penn Branch are working very hard to feed their families and struggling to keep a roof over their heads, I fear a greater struggle may be ahead for us.

As Washington, D.C. descends further and further into the dark future of revenue-creating gateway communities rising, east of Anacostia, ..and the emergence of 'Business Improvement Districts' (or BIDs), west-of-River, I fear stable-but-static neighborhoods, like Penn Branch, will see the quality of their services (power, police, EMS) go down. Unlike Penn Branch, the BIDs, according to DC.gov's Business Resources page, "collect a 'self tax' from property owners to provide services and programs to the entire BID...cleanliness, maintenance, safety, promotion, economic development, and other collective business issues", ..and all those services and amenities will have to be taken from somewhere. Here's where the trouble begins.

What kind of priority will City Hall give Ward Seven's request for fourteen more police officers on our streets, if our neighbor, Capitol Riverfront, fully loaded with revenue-creating retail (movies, shops, etc), upscale condos that we don't presently have, wants to bring those police officers to their neighborhood?

I fear the problems on the horizon for Penn Branch will be so directly related to the BIDs (presently Navy Yard/Capitol Riverfront, No'Ma, Georgetown and others) and the civic resources they command that some of us will be tempted to move out, if our leaders do not soon address this issue.

That's not a criticism of Councilwoman Alexander; nor is it a criticism of the dedicated firemen and law enforcement professionals, presently working in our communities. However, ..without sufficient funding of resources and personnel, we know they can only do so much, and that leaves us on our own, in some respects.

So, watch yourself out there, Brangler.

Mel Dyer
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SEVENBEEISM...IT'S IN THE AIR!

 
Post a Comment
Read more

DC MAYOR BOWSER PROMOTES $20M IN GRANTS TO PROP UP VACANT, OVERPRICED DOWNTOWN

From W-JLA Channel 7 News "...At a time when D.C.'s office vacancy rate has soared and many businesses have either left or are struggling – especially downtown...D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Acting Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert...emphasized that $19.6 million in grants are available...$3 million available in grants to help businesses that want to open or expand in commercial space that has been vacant for at least six months downtown..." A patron saint for Downtown Washington's bloat, gouging, sharky office space developers? (Shark-R Salas/M Bowser-AP/C Brehman/Photomanip-Capicostia) From the Capicostia Desk... 'Bail out' may be a more fitful accounting of Mayor Muriel Bowser's valiant campaign to revitalize a Downtown Washington, underwater with vacant, overpriced office buildings and retail spaces, not accruing valuable revenue for the DC Treasury - more fitful than 'prop up', I think. The loss of revenue, being ...
Post a Comment
Read more

NEW YORK-BASED DEVELOPER AND PARTNERS TELL PENN BRANCH TO GET READY FOR GENTRIFICATION

  "... Jair Lynch  has set his sights on reviving the long-struggling Penn Branch Shopping Center in Southeast D.C., a site some nearby residents view as an important cog in the revitalization of the larger Pennsylvania Avenue retail corridor connecting downtown with the District’s East of the River communities...it could serve as a catalyst for a larger revitalization of the surrounding communities of Penn Branch, Hillcrest and Randle Highlands.... “We’re really trying to bring outside developers to the area to see if they have an interest in redeveloping or enhancing commercial properties in the corridor,” Robinson said. “We see ourselves as a mechanism, or in some cases even starting that conversation. There has to be somebody who takes these issues by the horns and has everybody sitting around the table to solve them.” Robinson, a planner for the town of Forest Heights in Prince George’s County, said an important factor will be getting buy-in from other Ward 7 residents. S...
Post a Comment
Read more