i want SOME of the businesses to stay (just like the neighbors in the forum...neighbors dont want ALL to stay. just some, ask around!. most of us are dying for new offerings... in the meantime, we are thrilled with CH.

for people attracted to what we have, well what can I say? be happy and enjoy. that is your prerrogative too. I have no problem with people that like whatever they like.

Finally you got my point: not that i would mobilize for anything... economics will make it happen on its own time, i just have to wait and see while in the meantime take my business elsewhere.

but yes, it is my right, and it is the right of RESIDENTS to bring about any change they want. if only you, people from outside the neighborhood would just let us be.:-)

I think you need to understand that the places you describe as "lousy" or "ugly" do not necessarily reflect the broad sentiments of your demographic. I know plenty of people of comfortable socioeconomic means who shop regularly at Bestway, eat frequently at the pupuserias, and enjoy getting cheap laundry detergent at the dollar store. I always go to Bestway for avocados, mint, cilantro, and limes. I frequently eat at Don Juan, Pollo Sabroso, Haydee's, and Don Jaimes. I still get my prescriptions at the Mt P pharmacy, videos at Lamont Video, and pedicures at Ramona's. I know plenty of people in the more middle to upper class socioeconomic demographic that frequent these places as well, and are less attracted to fancy, expensive environments. We actually like places that aren't too shiny and polished. That does not correlate, however, with being "filthy" or "downtrodden." If you visit the Mt Pleasant Forum, you will see that there are folks from all demographics that frequent many of the businesses there and want them to stay.

FYI, two of the latino groceries have closed: SuperSave and Mt Pleasant market. If you want more places like Tonic, Marx, and Radius, then I suggest you mobilize your like-minded neighbors to make that happen, because by all means that's your right. Just please don't insult everybody else in the process.

In the meantime, if anybody wants a laugh: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/51852

I live in MtP because i happen to rent a large apartment in a beautiful historic home, in a shady, tree-filled clean street that feels far away from the dirty mess that the commercial corridor and others part of the neighborhood are. That is why. to top it all, i enjoy city conveniences and the proximity to downtown that MtP affords.

Anything wrong with that?

Gentrification is not a bad word. Some win, some lose. Some of those who win are low income people who happened to own property in places that are now hot.

Those that cannot afford it now? well they move elsewhere or get affordable housing! i cannot afford Beverly Hills myself and cannot complain. i am just a young engineer. we are mostly responsible for our career choices and lives, ... the musician or social service or artist should have known that money will be an issue, and that while she might never be able to afford a beautiful home in MtP or Georgetown, she will have the satisfaction of doing what she wants. money is not in these careers but, didn't you know that??!

you are only right in this:
both
rich and poor
good taste people and people with low quality standards
silly activists and normal neighbors
latino and white and black and all other races
etc. etc.
SHOULD coexist and there SHOULD be space for EVERYBODY.

my point precisely is that the commercial strip DOES NOT CATER TO EVERYBODY. It DOES NOT cater NOW to some groups: the affluent one, the one with better taste (or means), the one that enjoys thai and indian and french, and (why not?) great cuisine in a place with loads of ambience, or the group that would enjoy a clean, less gritty, less filled with drunks, less filled with loiterers, less pissing men, less gum in the streets, with better signage, light, etc. etc. etc. There is currently little to no space in the commercial corridor for this group.

Change entirely?? No! I think DIVERSITY is good. But there is no diversity in three or four lousy "latino"(?) grocery stores, six or more lousy pupusa tex mex places, four or so overpriced ugly trinket and apparel stores, etc. etc. etc. The only places that stand out from the crowd of ugly and uninviting establihments are Marx, Tonic, Radius and Pfeiffer (I have never been to the Raven)-(all of the catering to the needs of the more affluent home remodeling crowd in the fancy houses).

"The RIGHT to ENTIRELY change a commercial corridor? Interesting.

From what i understand, Andrea, you do not even have the right to open your mouth when it comes to MtP topics, because you can not rent and much less own a piece of MtP. My voice here counts while yours does not.

I do not say that my voice counts more than the voice of any one else that lives here. All I am saying is that as it is today, the diversity is and is not there. IS there in the sense of a variety of services/goods offered and that is good. IS NOT THERE because:

- they are all establishments with a lousy quality/price ratio,
- and they cater to only one "side" of the neighborhood. (The other shops elsewhere)and that is very obtuse. It is very obtuse not to see that there is a huge market WITHIN MtP.

No, I do not want to change the commercial corridor ENTIRELY. I think i want to make it truly diverse. I think that there is room for a commercial corridor that caters to the needs of this group, that so far is served there, and that now just shops and eats elsewhere.

you want to keep it depressed? suit yourself. you hardly hurt people like me, who just walk to Columbia Heights or Woodley or Fresh Foods in Dupont while enjoying our beautiful historic homes. You hurt business owners by putting them at odds with the people that have an ability to pay for what they offer.

really, first for all, you should be asking for enforcement against quality of life crimes and that would help these small businesses... live music?? please... I am certain there is not one among yourselves with a business degree.

A final line: I like Heller's bagels. I do not want Hellers gone. I just want a CHOICE ): a nice option would be a nice bakery with real bread, real pastries (no food colors, please), and good service.

If you consider Mt Pleasant downtrodden and dirty, why did you choose to live there?

Are you at all concerned about the impact of gentrification on blue collar/low income folks, or musicians or artists or those who work in social services or nonprofits who earn small salaries? Shouldn't there be room for everyone? Middle and upper income folks can come to Mt Pleasant and buy the beautiful houses, but I don't think that gives them the right to entirely change the face of our commercial strip to serve their needs. You say Mt Pleasant needs a "quality" bakery -- well, Heller's is practically a Mt Pleasant institution, does great business, and is extremely popular - just check out the lines on Saturday and Sunday morning for proof. Ipersonally love their breakfast sandwiches and German chocolate cake. Just because the establishments don't meet your standards doesn't mean you should be given any more voice than the tons of folks that have lived in Mt Pleasant for many many years and are served well by the businesses on the main strip.

In fact, quality of life crimes are simply ignored in MtP. Look around: Despite laws against loitering, no one enforces this. Take a look at the sorry state of the 7-eleven corner, when any single weekend you will find 50 loiterers and 3 inebriated latinos sleeping it off on the sidewalk. laws against public urination?? You make me laugh. Anyone in Mtp knows that it is everywhere. Disgsuting! To WALK mtST feels far from hygienic!

MPNA is the only organization in the neighborhood with the mission of improving quality of life for residents. I do not think that it is heavy handed in the least to ask a business to sign a VA. By that standard, most city organizations would be heavy handed. Paranoid? that is an adjetive without any base and its use shows that you have no point to make but to attack the MPNA.

Heavy handed and paranoid are the tactics of people like you, who make a point of attacking the MPNA for no good reason or any base, my Hear Mtp friend.

I do not know who the "community" whose needs is being served is but i will say that none of the establishments you mention serves my needs or the needs of people like me, not rich, but with a somewhat discerning taste, and conscious of the fact that the ratio quality/price (in MtP establihments really sucks.

we are not served by this commercial corridor and neither are the owners of the million dollar townhomes. we have needs that go beyond Marx, Radius and Tonic (and the Raven?) (And THESE are ALL you can say is somewhat decent, ok, maybe add dos gringos). we need a decent grocery store, a decent coffee shop, a bookstore, quality foods that are not pupusas or Tex Mex, a quality gift shop, a quality bakery.

maybe the mtp you pine for is not the low/middle income place it once was. clearly the establishments there do not reflect the incomes of a large part of the neighborhood that can afford the exquisite homes that we can see to the west of mtp st.

Finally: I think the the MPNA spends most of its time doing great things for the neighborhood. until of course the ridiculous Hear MtP folks came, and forced them to put time and effort in stuff that is not that important: live music. You want latinos from outside the neighborhood to be served by this corridor? well, i rather have the neighbors themselves being served by these places. but like you said...the market will prevail...

now that the mpna vas are still in place, i hope that they can now continue doing the good work they have always done.

Latinos congregate and they do not need alcohol or live music to do so, let alone a bunch of white people who think that they understand more of latino culture and motivations than they themselves do. talk about paternalism...

finally: i see no conflict between having liberal politics and living well. your ideas are plain old fashioned, MtP alum. you must be really ancient.

unfortunately it is ideas like yours that keep MtP the downtrodden, dirty neighborhood it is (at least east of MtP street).

I

I don't see the conflict as Anglo/Latino. There are many affluent Latinos in the neighborhood, I am sure. The conflict is between the Alliance's vision of Mount Pleasant as a yuppie playground where immigrants serve to give the neighborhood a little flair and an alternative vision of a real neighborhood. I believe you can't stand in the way of market forces indefinitely so I have no doubt how this situation will play out economically. The people who support the Alliance will win the Battle of Mt. Pleasant Street. All that's left to argue over are the terms of surrender.

I see the Alliance's tactics as paranoid and heavy-handed. No one will argue against measures that improve quality of life. There are laws on the books against public urination, and there were citizen organized attempts to clean up Mt. Pleasant street and the Trolley Park when I lived there. The alliance wants you to believe that immigrants congregating for entertainment is the same as public drunkenness, litter, and public urination.

The retail reflected the economic resources of the residents. I shopped at Heller's bakery and Bestway, ate at Trolley's, Adams Fish, Little Giant, and Don Juan's, and used Leon's shoe repair, Lamont Dry Cleaners, Yoly's Variety, and the Jeweler's. I never considered any of these as "third rate" or "filthy." They served the needs of the community, myself included, so your assertion that I believe Latinos somehow deserve lower levels of service and cleanliness is off base. Most of these are now gone, replaced by upscale bars and cafes.

I am sure that as long as there is no Whole Foods or Banana Republic on Mt. Pleasant street, some will claim that they are being dictated two by the less affluent apartment dwellers.

When I lived in Mount Pleasant, the ethos was live and let live: Black/White, Gay/Straigth, Singles/Families, Students/Workers, Anglo/Latino. Differences were respected.

I know from working in several Democratic offices on the Hill that's it's more the rule than the exception for those professionals who are liberal in their political lives to be bourgeois in their personal lives, and in fact use their politics to justify or excuse their classism.

You seem to buy into the argument that because the Alliance supports the vague notion of improving the retail district physically, all will benefit. That's a noble goal, but what the alliance spends most of its time on is ensuring that immigrants are not allowed to congregate and socialize on Mt. Pleasant Street and that Mt. Pleasant does not become a nightlife draw for immigrants living outside of Mt. Pleasant.

And that's not the Mt. Pleasant I knew.

I am so happy though that Marx Cafe will finally be a place you can listen to music more than once a month. I'm a regular there, but only on Raggae night which is limited to once a month, lame.

Hear mtp, has only white steering commitee members: WHITE music producers, musicians, and renters (yeah, this group seems less affluent for sure...they cannot even afford $1000 to pay rent)

On the other hand the only latino neighbor involved to my knowledge is one very inteligent latina that writes convincingly against Hear MtP. in fact, after reading her stuff, i switced from "i dont care" to "down with hear mtp" :-).good stuff.

the rest of latinos do ..what is it?... DC politicking?...office of latino affairs, latino this and latino that...all the stuff that abounds in DC.

Walk mount pleasant st. and not one store caters to the $1 million home owner. like george says, there are mostly low quality establishments, all filthy. You could say that the affluent group is not having their say or their needs met by this commercial strip. In other words, i beg to differ with you because you see the group that is "having their say" is not the affluent group. it is clear that this group shops elsewhere and puts up pretty much quietly with the third rate establishments and hygiene conditions of that depressing commercial corridor.

man, i am not rich and even i shop elsewhere. MtP St is filthy and except of the couple of "white/affluent" establishments, it is just depressing, bad quality joints.

What must be happening is that salvadorean construction workers do not want cleanliness and peace and order. They just like to eat bad quality stuff prepared in scary looking kitchens. believe me, these places are not even THAT cheap!

Damn the elitist Alliance! they do not realize one and for all that latinos like their streets filthy and noisy and that they cnnot wait to see them filled with drunkards at night. :-)

Mt. Pleasant is now a highly sought after address and rightly so. Homeowners there like to tell their friends how progressive and open-minded they are and how they'd rather die than live in, say, Arlington. But what I see are a well organized group of mostly white (don't deny it) professionals using the machinery of government to regulate life to their liking on Mt. Pleasant Street. Let's face it, the needs -- and demands on public space -- of a single construction worker from El Salvador living in the apartments lining the main drag are a lot different from the needs of a homeowner in a $1 million townhouse.

Only one group of people, however, is having any say in how the community's main street is being used. And if you say you are just enforcing existing regulations, let me ask rhetorically whether the Alliance is snooping around all the renovations to townhouses being done to ensure that all regulations are being followed by homeowners.

Investing in real estate and making sure that investment appreciates is as American as apple pie. I'd just wish that the Alliance would be less hypocritical about its objectives. Basically your "diverse" neighbors are little more to you than props.

the issue is NOT VA Systems or music or your very narrow agenda of helping three low class dives to flourish...whatever...). the point is why would you...

-HAVE PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE THE NEIGHBOR DOING THINGS AND DRIVING AGENDAS THAT SOME NEIGHBORS OPPOSE TO?

WHEN...

-THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE MEDDLING!

THE FACT that YOU like them, or that YOU are "more than proud" of them, or that they push your agenda, has nothing to do with anything. george said it clearly, this is not about the two women, natalie or Andrea, or any of their friends (you included).

What they do is WRONG! THE ISSUE HERE IS THAT THEY HEAD A "NEIGHBORHOOD" ORGANIZATION WHILE THEY ARE NOT NEIGHBORS, OWN NO HOME OR HAVE NO BUSINESS IN MTP.

to endorse that is not a sign stubbiorness and even stupidity. why antagonize neighbors that do not have a problem with music but have a problem with outsiders meddling here?

and ....outsiders that have made a pretty public display of venom towards NEIGHBORS, as postings show as well.

THAT is the issue.

As a final note:
Read Anna.... your ugly type of activism brings about comments like Mdesus's. you all share responsiblity in tthe creation of an unpleasant Mount Pleasant, and anna nailed it.