I've said all along this discussion was probably the best thing that came out of this post.

Perhaps it’s being picky on our part to point this out, but I think what is prompting some of this uproar, goes to a much larger topic, the generalization or use of certain words, like “Anacostia”, which are often used to describe all neighborhoods east of the river—except in this post the generalization stems from the lack of definition of what the notorious neighborhoods in 6 & 7D actually are, (if you are in fact referencing specific neighborhoods). Residents of these areas (myself included) are often wrongly classified as being no-good, crack, smoking whores who run around and kill each other all day, just because we live in SE, ward 7, and/or ward 8—when in reality, we all know various demographics make up all communities (no matter what part of the city we’re talking about). I think the media (and the City overall for that matter) will continue to see this type of backlash against the over-generalization of the people who live east of the river as the trend of “Advoc8tes” continues to grow. Residents are attempting to re-invent the perceptions of their wards and/or their individual neighborhoods as these communities evolve. And whether people like it or not, they are going to continue to fight out loud, until everyone starts to listen.

Putting generalizations aside, if you were to release the list of “notorious neighborhoods”, there are going to be some people who will argue until they are blue in the face that their neighborhood is not what you say it is—and sometimes merely because they don’t want it to be perceived as such, regardless of crime statistics. And I think it comes down to people not wanting their neighborhoods to be known for one thing and one thing only, crime. I’m a homeowner (and blogger) in Barry Farm. When I first read this post, I didn’t have a problem with the word choice, because let’s face it, I live in probably the MOST notorious neighborhood in the District and assumed you were referencing Barry Farm as one of your “notorious neighborhoods”. But quite frankly, I prefer that Barry Farm not be thought of as a crime haven or some big, bad neighborhood. And I tend to be a pretty strong advocate for all the good things going on, but I’m not blind and I don’t live in a bubble. Regardless of how nice some of the houses are and how friendly my neighbors are, we do still in fact, have a crime problem. It may not be the same neighborhood as it was 20 years ago, so perhaps it’s not as “notorious” as some other areas, but it ain’t no Georgetown, so when I hear murder is down from last year in 7D, I’m happy, because it appears as though something “good” has occurred.

If anything, thanks for posting the numbers and for spawning a very interesting discussion via the comments.

I'm sorry, you have completly lost me. Can you explain?

"....I was reporting good news, murders are down even in perceived rough neighborhoods, neighborhoods with a history of violence."

It IS good news and it would have been perfect if you could have articulated it THAT way. Personaly, I would have been fine if we could have gotten a "percieved" in front of "notorious neighborhoods". Without that for the uniformed reader they COULD pull more negative (notorious) than positive (murders are down).

Perhaps on this point we can just agree to disagree but I hope that I was able to provide a perspective from those of us who read news reports from this side of the Anacostia. :)

I stand by the headline.

I'm taken a little aback by your last graph:
"Responsibility for all things that happen in Wards 7 and 8 is a heavy burden for people who live in Wards 7 and 8 to carry and it's not fair."

If you thought it wasn't fair or too much of a burden than you wouldn't be commenting on this post or publishing a blog.

We are all just lumped in under the overly broad heading of "Southeast". Entire communities of people have lost their neighborhood identity because it's more convienent to use "Southeast" or "East of the River" in a headline.

It was convienent but it has also been detrimental in the perception of Wards 7 and 8 by people who are do not have first hand experience in either or both words - either living or working here. I wouldn't be surprised if most people in DC didn't know that "Southeast" is composed of two diffent Wards (7 and 8) and two different police districts (6D and 7D).

There was no mention of the names of these "notorious neighborhoods" (which would be more acuratly described as blocks within a specific neighborhood)or even if they were in EOA but the reader sees your title and keys in on 'even East of the River" and is going to assume that all these notorious neighborhoods must be in East of the River (btw I've read that Columbia Heights has a higher crime rate than Congress Heights). It would have been more accurate for the headline to have read "Murders are down even in PSAs with historicaly higher levels of violence" if you wanted to go that route but you didn't.

No one is minimizing WCP's coverage of Ward 8 but should we just be so appreciative of any attention that Ward 8 gets that we should forgo the most accurate or balanced reporting? This Ward 8 resident thinks not.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here or accuse you of being in involved in some big conspiracy to make Ward 8 look bad all I am saying is that knowing how everyone (especally the media) is so quick to jump on the bandwagon that "all things horrible are in Southeast" that everyone takes care to be as accurate and specific when reporting on things in River East. Contrary to popular belief Ward 8 and Ward 7 are not identical,no more than neighborhoods in Ward 8 are indentical, no more than certain blocks in the same neighborhood are identical. They all have their own identity and their own challenges and strengths.

Again, no one is "freaking out" when someone writes that our neighorhood has a history of "violence and mayhem" but if that is all they write about then yes, we get a little annoyed and "freaked out". There are a lot of positive things to write about in River East, in Ward 8, in Congress Heights, etc. I know - I write about them every day and so do the other bloggers over here because we are tired of all the stories being so lopsided.

If a shoot out happens in Columbia Heights it is reported as happening in Columbia Heights. If a shooting happens in Congress Heights it's going to be reported as either a) Southeast b) East of the River or c) Anacostia (which is why most of the city thinks that the proper name for Ward 8 is Anacostia).

Responsibility for all things that happen in Wards 7 and 8 is a heavy burden for people who live in Wards 7 and 8 to carry and it's not fair.

WCP has devoted more time and more stories to Ward 8 than any other publication that I can think of....

1) Analysis of homicides at a hyper-local level is pointless. A change of 17 homicides to 16 (or 10, or 25) is not a trend. The numbers are too small. A single violent event in a year where 3 or 4 people are killed, or the lack of such an event in another year, can make an apparently huge difference in crime. But it doesn't mean anything. The numbers are too small.

2) Looking at just the number of crimes is also pointless. The crime rate (number of crimes per citizen) is what matters.

The population in Columbia Heights has dramatically increased in the last two years.

Given this, and that the actual number of crimes has remained about steady in two years, if you actually looked at the crime rate instead of the pure number of crimes, you would probably find it has decreased dramatically.

Of course, when talking about homicides, this still doesn't mean a lot given the small number of crimes involved. My point is, it's not even accurate to say "homicides have remained about steady" since the # of homicides per resident has likely decreased.

I don't think anyone is asking anyone to ignore crime in our communities I think what we are asking for here (and in general) is a more balanced take on our communities. For whatever reason historically media coverage of "East of the River" or "Southeast" generally entails one of three things crime/poverty/Barry. True those are part of the River East reality but they aren't the ONLY parts of our reality and it doesn't help when our reality is described in overly broad terms, geographically or otherwise.

We aren't trying to be picky or petty but we are trying to bring more awareness that just because things have been done a certain way doesn't exactly make them right - or relevant today. That is a big reason that you are seeing an explosion in the number of River East blogs. People who live in these communities want to educate and inform those outside of River East what is actaully happening in River East which doesn't always jive whith what is reported about River East. Living in Wards 7 and 8 is more than a headline or a blurb in the city's crime stats.

I hope you can understand where we are coming from. At the end of the day, I like to think that by even dialoguing about this is a step in the right direction. We don't always have to agree but neither should we always assume either.