This story will run in this week’s print edition of the Washington City Paper.

Update: Central Union Mission Still Pursuing the Gales School.

In September, representatives with the Central Union Mission went before community members from Petworth and Columbia Heights to explain plans for a big project on Georgia Avenue NW. The mission wants to launch a development with office space plus 37 units of affordable housing for people making between 50 and 80 percent of the area median income.

“Affordable housing” + community groups = jitters.

A rash of questions emerged about just what Central Union Mission had in mind. “The initial concern was that it was going to be low-income housing, basically,” says Columbia Heights ANC Commissioner Lisa Kralovic about one recent meeting. And that initial concern has some roots in local history.

Read More “Central Union Mission and Georgia Ave.’s Nimby Politics” »

Today, I received an announcement about an upcoming announcement. Those usually don’t fall into my “bloggable” category. But this one was intriguing.

Next Friday, the District will issue a request for proposals to redevelop six sites around the city into affordable housing.

In the Shaw/Logan Circle areas, the sites include:

922 French St., NW (Shaw)*

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Read More “City Redeveloping Random Houses/Lots Across the District into Affordable Housing” »

For 20 years, Damian Ford stood up for his Logan Circle neighbors. Now they’re the reason he wants out.

Twenty years ago, Damian Ford would hear pimps beating up prostitutes in the alley behind his N Street NW townhouse. He’d grab a baseball bat and scare them off. He was 20 or 30 pounds bigger then—an imposing guy in a neighborhood that was not defined, as it is now, by yoga studios and Whole Foods.

Ford saw himself as a protector of Logan Circle and the surrounding neighborhoods. He had insomnia, so he would walk the street at night with his dog, patrolling. He says he once caught a robber in the late ’80s trying to steal from a cabbie sleeping in his car near Thomas Circle.

He believed people appreciated him—and that they would return his favors.

In 2004, his building was converted into four condominiums. Contrary to most gentrification tales, he was not pushed out. Ford became the proud owner of the first-floor unit-which he estimates to be 1,500 to 1,600 square feet with lofty 16-foot ceilings.

In the beginning, he and the other residents had cordial relations. Then last year, they descended into a battle about a missed payment for some construction work. The fight eventually turned into a $5,000 suit filed against Ford in the Small Claims and Conciliation Branch of D.C. Superior Court.

“I’ve never been treated this way in my entire life,” says the 47-year-old Ford.

Read More “Nightmare On N Street” »