Baker on Being an Endangered Species

“I’m 76-years-old. I was born in this neighborhood and lived here all of my life. I’ve seen a lot of changes on H Street, some for the better and some for the worse. But, I have lived with them. I just go with the flow because I know I can’t do nothing about it.

“In my days, I’ve seen a lot of good changes, but a lot of wrong changes too, especially now. I’ve seen people forced out of their homes so others can move in. Since they rebuilt H Street, we basically lost our rights and now we have to fight for them. And why? We grew up here. Basically, everybody here is struggling, except the owners of those establishments on H Street.

“These clubs, restaurants, and places for carry out, they don’t help the neighborhood at all. They should have opened restaurants where anyone can enter, a place that fits the old and the new. But, it’s not like that, we can’t afford these places. You know what I’m saying?

“And, the police are coming around all of the time now that these places are here and harassing us. We ain’t doing nothing but hanging out, been doing that for 30-40 years with no problems. We around every day, some of us work and some of us don’t, but we don’t bother nobody.

“At night time, the streets are flooded with nothing but white people. I guess we get our time during the day and they get their time at night, except that we get harassed during the day by the police, too. At night, I go in the house and let them enjoy the street. If I am out here at night as a black man, I am like an endangered species. It don’t bother me, but that is the change that I see."

Read more about the development of H Street NE here.

Kate on Bringing Stooping Back to P Street

“I have lived in DC for 5 ½ years now. And, I love my apartment and my location, but I don’t love the neighborhood. You know, people have a real pride about living in a place like Mt. Pleasant. But, this specific neighborhood doesn’t even have a name, we don’t know if we’re Logan Circle or Dupont Circle. It is total Puggleville, people are out walking their puggle all of the time and no one makes eye contact. There is no neighborhood feel to it.

“I love to walk. I go walking every day for at least an hour, and I walk up around Mt. Pleasant and even in the back parts of Adams Morgan, and always right around dusk, especially in the summer, people are all out stooping. They’re all hanging out, pouring wine for each other and just being buddies with whoever is around. It is this whole feeling of community that is the reason why I love DC. DC is a place where 5 ½ years in, you can feel like you know so many people. I can’t walk outside without running into people. But, I don’t get that sense where I am living, it feels very non descript to me. There is not a real sense of identity for this area.

“So, I went back and forth for a while about whether I should move to Mt. Pleasant and then I realized that I could just be my own agent of change and I started stooping. I have friends over for dinner a lot and we started a stooping routine, just hang out on the stoop with a glass of wine. I started buying a pack of cigarettes in case people want to stoop out with that. And it's funny, it freaks a lot of people out, especially in the twilight hour. People are super confused about why two people would be sitting outside chatting. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone stoop on this street and look at my neighbors, they actually have a yard. But, I think that I am the only person in the building who knows my neighbor’s faces. You get to hear so many stories from hanging out here. I heard this great story about my neighbor interviewing Woody Allen the other day. But, It’s still just friends that come by, no strangers, that’s the goal. People are very focused here and they miss the opportunity to just chill out.

“People are down on DC because it is not New York, because it is not big enough and because it doesn’t have a lot going on, but I think that is what DC has going on. It gives you the opportunity to make it a small town for yourself. In such a transient, you need to set roots, that’s why I stoop.”

Read more about finding the right stoop and the games you can play on them, including stoopball, here.

This post is part of a weekly series of People's District stories on the Prince of Petworth, check it out here.

Roscoe on The Streets We All Walk On

“My father died last year at the age of 97. He helped build this city. I’m talking about putting down the streets. He was in construction and worked for the city. He even helped put the statue on top of the Capitol. There is probably not a street in this city that he didn't have his hands on. He was a great man and this was his town.

“I loved him to death and I miss him so much. He taught me to love DC. Even during the riots, he always loved this city. I feel great that my Dad played such an important role in this city and people should know about him, and people like him, who built the streets we all walk on.

"My Dad taught me the right thing do. He taught me how to say 'yes, sir' and 'no, ma'am.' I live by a lot of his principles. I have two kids, one in the Navy and the other one is in the Marines. I raised them the same way. They love DC, too. We wouldn’t live nowhere else. Now, I’ve got a little stand and I sell all kinds of stuff: Michael Jackson shirts, cologne, glasses, oils, watches, you name it. we got it. We trying to do good for this city."

See a map of important locations in DC's labor past and present here.

Kim on Venus Bike Trap

“Believe it or not, the DC area has one of the largest groups of female motorcycle riders that I’ve seen in my many years of riding. I rode with the Lady Hawks Motorcycle Club of DC, Maryland and Virginia. I held several posts there including Road Captain and Treasurer. But, there are a lot of other clubs in the area including the Road Divas and Phenomenal Ladies. These are clubs that have women who have been riding for 30-plus years from all walks of life: lawyers, doctors, teachers, you name it, they’re out there.

"I ride a Kawasaki 1500 Classic, it’s a Vulcan. Her name is Caldonia. My bike is named after my great aunt, who is the strongest woman I know. Her name comes from the great Blues song, Caldonia, where the lyrics ask, "Caldonia, what make your big head so hard?" That was just like my great aunt!

“I formed Venus Bike Trap about three and a half years ago. It is a female motorcycle accessory company based in DC. I sell women’s motorcycle apparel, boots, jackets, and clothing. I did this because after twenty years of riding, I had to buy men’s things and tailor them to fit my feminine body. We have colors like pink, as women have normally been relegated to black this and black that. I am trying to create a local company that is made for all women, sells safe equipment and allows a woman to maintain her sexy edge. And a sexy woman on a motorcycle, man that turns everybody’s head!

“I think that DC is a very interesting place. It is very electrified right now with our new president. It’s a melting pot of nationalities. People from across the world come here for political reasons and for the vast educational opportunities. You can find a whole lot of things here that you can’t find in other cities, including large groups of female riders. Because women are the fastest growing demographic in the motorcycle industry, we, as leaders in DC, want to provide women from all over the world with the opportunity to look sexy and be safe at the same time."

Read more about Venus Bike Trap here.

Kim, left, is pictured with Rita.

Mark on Blaming the Bike Couriers

"I’ve been a bike courier for 27 years, always in DC nonstop. We don’t make no money anymore, though, and the courier companies are hiring new people who don’t know what they’re doing. They are firing all of us veterans and taking on all of the rookies for cheap. Come on, man, these rookies don’t know the busines and they don’t have people’s respect.

"Most buildings want customer service. They want the courier to be polite, respectful, and to dress well when he comes inside the office. Now, these new couriers have no respect and because of that, none of us can go inside of offices because clients don’t want to see no raggedy looking rookie courier, someone who doesn’t take a bath or turn his radio down, come inside the office.

"Things also changed when the Capitol Hill police officers got shot and with the Anthrax scare, they didn’t want us in the buildings no more. Whenever anything goes wrong, they blame the couriers. Then, when the terrorists came in, that really blew it for us. We had enough problems dealing with the fax machine. Now, we got to deal with terrorism!

"Nowadays, the only people that’s making money is the security because every building you go in, you got to see a security guard. Back when I was doing work, there were no security guards. You could go in the building, drop off a package and leave. Today, you have security in the lobby and one on each floor. I think everyone is too paranoid.

"Now, I’m working in a guaranteed company that isn’t going nowhere, so, if I can maintain and keep coming to work everyday, I might be out here for another 15 or 20 years."

Read more about DC bike couriers here.

Michael on Living in a Bubble

“DC is a wonderful place if you want to advance your professional career. But, the problem is that it is like living in a bubble. I think that, you know, people that have either grown up or lived in the city for a long time because they felt it was the center of the universe, they haven’t expanded themselves so they aren’t, to me, open-minded. This is a very diverse place, but even in all of its cultural diversity, there is still a thread of ignorance. It is weird to describe.

"You would think that with all of these cultures here, there would be this great understanding. This great harmonious vibe. These social interactions that would lift up everybody, but it just doesn’t exist. We give the appearance of this solidarity, and it looks good, we are all walking in the same parks and talking, but as soon as the city shuts down and we go home to our separate lives in separate neighborhoods, we still harvest those same thoughts about everything and bring it back to work the next day.

“The ironic thing about DC is that you would think that there would be a huge change with each Administration, including this one. You know, a new President and new policy that would somehow then trickle down and impact all of us who are here, running around like rats feeding. But, that’s not true. It’s funny, the Administration changes, but the game stays the same. It’s politics as usual. K Street doesn’t change and the lobbying effort doesn’t change. The way people treat each other doesn’t change.

“Here, we are slaves to the rhythm. You get up everyday at 6 am, most of our lives in DC are based around working. You get up for the commute…I get up at 5 am and hustle and bustle to get dressed, I hop a car to the metro and then hop a metro to the job. I work and then I do the same routine to get home. Get home about 7 pm and then there is time to do a little bit for myself and then, I'm in bed.

"In the mid-West, life is just different. You leave work at 5pm. You have time to interact with your family. You have time to enjoy the things around you. Everything we do in Washington, DC, seems to be centered around a very urban, rushed kind of lifestyle. What keeps me in DC is work and money, that’s about it. It’s a great city, someplace I’d like to earn a living for a little while, but when I retire, I see myself living a more wholesome life. You get caught up into the politics here. We all get soiled by it a little. I just want to get away from that."

Jeff on Building a House of Washington

“I am a city planner trained as an architect. One principal characteristic that distinguishes Washington, DC, from most American cities, and most European cities, too, for that matter, is the rectilinear urban grid overlaid by diagonal streets creating all of these awkward, strange street corners. If you read the urban historians who discuss Washington, DC, they see it as a real disadvantage to the design of the city.

"What is interesting, though, if you look at what the urban planner Haussmann did in Paris and the outcome of his slashing avenues through the medieval street network of Paris, there are actually a lot weirder building lots in Paris than in Washington. But, the design mentality of post-Haussmann in the late-1800s, as opposed to the mentality when DC was designed in 1798, meant that people were more willing and interested in making weird-shaped buildings on weird-shaped lots. Thus, when DC was being designed, a lot of these lots sat empty.

"Now in design, there is a lot less admiration of pure forms. Symmetry is out. Why have a square building when you can have a rhombus or a parallelogram or something that is kind of funky? These weird leftover lots in DC give an architect the opportunity to do a building with an exciting shape without violating the shape of the lot.

“I wanted to make a house that was of Washington and couldn’t really exist anywhere else. I went looking for a very sharp triangle. My wife and I rented a Zipcar, mapped out the flatiron lots around town and visited every one. And, this was the one that seemed the most available, but it still took a year and a private detective to find the owner and another year to clear the title. Even though our house occupies the footprint of what was historically here and I just wanted to fill the same lot, it took three variances and nine months to do that. According to the zoning laws, I was also required to build a garage on site, but I didn’t have a car. Parking a car on site would have meant replacing a public good, street parking, for a private good, my own parking space, and I didn’t want to do that. I spent months fighting that too.

"The key issue in DC is that the current zoning code does not take into account strange lots. If you wanted to build a traditional urban row house on a lot in DC, you would not have a problem, which puts DC far ahead of most American cities. It is these weird left over blocks where you have the problems. I am no longer surprised when I see how long it takes to rehabilitate empty lots here because the tax burdens and title problems associated with a lot of them make it really difficult to actually do anything."

Learn more about what Jeff is doing in DC and around the world to promote smart growth and sustainable design here. See his house here.

Biz on Letting People Know about DC Hip Hop

“Hip hop in DC, you know what I’m saying, is at a crazy point. The Nation’s Capital still has yet to blow up on the scene. So, basically, there are a few undergound artists in the area and they are about to, you know, break out. I can feel DC is going to be the next major city to get on the map.

“DC hip hop comes a lot from Go Go, people like Backyard, Rare Essence, Chuck Brown, and what we grew up listening to. From my generation, I’m 24 right now, that is Tupac, Nas, Ghostface Killer, Outkast, people from all over the place, especially New York and down south. We right here in the middle so we get influences from everywhere…and it’s the Nation’s Capital so we speak for America because rappers around here have a national perspective on shit. Nationals, you see that on my hat? You know what I'm saying?

“Right now, besides my group Suspects, I basically listen to artists around the area that I know. I respect their craft and respect their talent so I’m fucking with Flex Mathews, I think he is one of the best battle rappers in DC, my man Ardamus, people like XO, Rock Mikey, and everything coming out of El Nino, Fuego, and Target Squad. There are definitely a lot of people who are making noise on the underground. The whole fucking world will pick up on DC if things are promoted the right way.

"You see, I am an artist, but at the same time my name is Biz and I handle my business and promote a few parties in the area that you may fuck with. I am trying to let people know what direction we headed with DC hip hop.”

Take a video walking tour of DC hip hop here.

Justine on DC's Less Exposed Side

"I’ve lived in a lot of different cities since I was 18: Marseille, Hamburg, Berlin, New York, Dakar and now, DC. I feel like with every city that you move to, it's like starting a new relationship; you have to figure out what the personality is of this new city you’re living in. So far, DC has been the most mysterious one to determine. DC has this great façade that it likes to put on of being a very governmental place where everything eventually goes back to the Administration. People are very tuned in to the 9-5 lifestyle and it manifests itself in so many different ways. Like the happy hours, people getting out of work at five and drinking until seven. And it plays out with the metro closing at midnight because who is going to be out past midnight when you have to be up at seven to be at work at nine?

"But, DC also has this subversive side to its personality that is a lot more difficult to find. It does have those people who have nothing to do with the government and maybe live outside of northwest…God forbid they don’t live in that one quarter that everyone is suppose to live in…and they have bartending jobs or they’re DJs or they work for advertising companies. That’s what I’ve found most interesting about being here.

"To be honest, I didn’t want to leave New York. When I first got here, I knew a few people and it was fine and all, but it was discovering that hidden side of the city that has been the most interesting. That’s where I think the personality really is. I feel like if you didn’t look for the things below the surface, DC would be a really boring city. Whereas in a lot of other places, it’s out there and pretty obvious. For example, you go to New York and just to be completely stereotypical, the hipsters live in Williamsburg and that is where you go to hear weird and obscure music and buy slightly strange clothing. It puts itself out there and shows what it is, but DC has been a more complicated place to figure out. Those things are here, though, you just have to find them."

Read more about DC's less exposed side on Brightest Young Things and Vice Magazine.

Ilir on Securing Full Democracy for DC

“I am the Executive Director of DC Vote. Washingtonians do not have voting representation in Congress. That is a result of a fluke in our Constitutional system during the founding of our country. Our mission is to secure voting representation in Congress for DC residents and to secure full democracy as well. Right now, we are trying to get the DC Voting Rights Act through Congress, which will give DC residents a vote in the House. We’re also trying to protect the District’s gun laws.

“We work with Members of Congress to make sure that they have the right information as they are doing mark ups and hearings. We work with a coalition of 85 organizations to educate their members around the country and to get them to write letters to Congress and to President Obama. That is the thrust of what we do, but we also work with students and give lectures at schools and engage folks as much as we can, in any way we can.

“We work with national organizations like the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and a number of Jewish, Unitarian, and Methodist organizations. A wide range of people support DC voting rights. The chief champion for Congress is the DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Nortan. We also have a collection of what we call unusual suspects, people like Joe Lieberman and Orrin Hatch and, of course, Barack Obama supports DC voting rights.

"The critical thing is to join us. We are as strong as our membership. Join us and demand a vote.”

Take action to bring a vote to DC here.

Pastor R. L. Stevenson on Gardening and Loving The Lord

“People always say to me, “You a Pastor? “I ain’t never seen no woman Pastor!” You know, I really just call myself Sister. I don’t like to be called Pastor, but they call me Pastor here, so I have to accept that. Titles don’t interest me, I just love the Lord enough to be in whatever place God puts me.

“We’ve had this little church ever since 1985. So, we just a family here. It’s not a big bunch of people, it’s just elders and children and whoever else will come. We feed people, we give people clothes, just whatever we can do to make the neighborhood better. We had some bad little kids around here for a while. Now, I don’t like to say bad, but they did things. We bought roses and lined them all around the church and it cost us quite a bit. But, the next morning when we came to church, the kids had pulled up one or two. The next week, the kids had maybe left one or two. That same week, they pulled them all up.

"It was sad for us because the money that the elders gathered up was not that much, mostly the little people received from social security, but it was a lot for us. So, I left the garden alone for a while, even though I love to plant flowers, and then a woman in the neighborhood came by and said that she would help us put up a fence to protect our flowers. The rest of the congregation chipped in too and that is what makes it so good around here. People are so lovely, they do whatever they can to help the church. And in return, we do our best to make people happy and keep a joyful neighborhood that looks nice. We sing our songs and we praise the Lord. Someone may read a scripture...to me, that is just heaven on earth.

“My prayer for DC is for God to bless every leader, to recognize that it is God who we have to look up to. I believe if they put God first, the District will rise from the situation it is in.”

Hear Pastor R. L. Stevenson preach the good word at the Trinity Holy Tabernacle Church on 9th and Ist NE on Sunday at 11:45 am or 7:30 pm, Wednesday at 8 pm and Friday at 8 pm.

Rob on Decent Food

"I work in a fine dining place in the Washington Hotel called the J & G Steak House. Food in DC is definitely a lot different than Kansas City, Chicago or New York. I would say that DC is a couple of years behind those cities. Overall, the restaurant scene here is pretty decent, but there is also a lot of sloppy food around this town. You have a lot of Congressmen and people who work for the government who are used to certain menu items and that is what the restaurants have to cater to. People want steak and potatoes and fish and chips and that is part of why, I think, it is a little behind.

"You have some regional stuff like crab cakes and scrapple, but other than that, I think people here prefer more familiar foods. However, there are lots of ways to be creative with those food styles. Crab cakes, for instance, don’t have to be a regular style Maryland crab cake with Old Bay and celery. You can take the crab cake and serve it with a ginger lime dressing and a horseradish aioli. So, you can put a new twist on older dishes, but it is kind of hit and miss with non-traditional food items. People in DC like home grown stuff. They like chefs from DC and are very closed off when it comes to celebrity chefs or chefs from other areas; they circle the wagons so to speak, when anyone from out of town comes in."

Rob’s favorite restaurants in the area (outside of his own) are Atlantico, Indaroma, and Bourbon Steak.

Elijah on Being The Next President

"I have lived in five provinces of Canada, 11 states of Mexico, and 44 States of the USA. I got to DC on Valentine’s Day of this year. The city is just a place for me to kick knowledge around with people from all over the world. I’m a philosopher and one who has found the key to comprehending life. For me to come to Lafayette Park and meet people from all over the world and share some of this information, well, that is just the life of Riley.

"Now that Bush is gone and people’s consciousnesses are actually opening up and they are seeing that something is wrong, people are looking for someone like me. And so, now I have a chance to share this understanding with them. Basically, the understanding is that life is all about reincarnation and karma. I got a website which highlights what I am demanding as a citizen.

"Remember, we, the American people, are the boss and the government is our servant. Therefore, we have the right to demand that our servants do what we ask. They represent us, so they must have our input when they are trying to get things done. Until we see a full law before it is passed, they are not representing us and they are in violation of their oath to the Constitution and I want them out.

"Everybody needs to go, except for the people who were elected to Congress last November and the last three appointed Justices. The rest of the politicians, including the President, need to sign a letter of resignation because that is an order from me, the people. Look, I don't want to be a politician, but it is my destiny to be a leader. When Obama says that he is stepping down based on my order, he has to nominate a person to replace him and it should be me. My first two acts as President would be to free Leonard Peltier and arrest Bush W. Bush for treason."

See Elijah Alfred "Nature Boy" Alexander, Jr. in the New York Times here.

Ben on Saving DC Hair from Ridicule

“So, as a stylist, I am trying to bring DC hair a little more edge for the men and a little more runway for the women. Not too much where it is, like ok, too drastic, but just enough for people to say, that’s nice. No more bobs, no more Hillary Clinton cuts. I mean, come on, can we see Hillary in a dress, too? Just something a little fashion forward, that’s my job.

"The Obamas are doing a great job, especially Michelle. She is bringing fashion forward for DC. She is a young first lady. I think she is able to pull off being fashionable and having great hair. I mean, she is representing and I commend her on that. I think that people here need to follow her lead and stop thinking in the fashion past and start thinking about the fashion future.

"Let’s get the city on the right path, at least in terms of hair. I’m doing my part to move this city forward because I believe in fashion. I am constantly reading fashion magazines from Europe. Let’s bring some of that to DC hair so people stop laughing at us."

Let Ben save your hair from ridicule. You can find him at the s/p/alon and see his reviews here. Read more about DC fashion from Lara.

Sara on Kicking It Up a Notch

“I work for a non-profit that advocates on behalf of older Americans. I used to do advocacy at the state level, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. For me, it was either move to Albany or to DC. In the end, I am glad that I picked DC.

“I am still figuring out the nuts and bolts of lobbying, but I am learning quickly as I am very much exposed to the process now, especially given what is going on with Health Care Reform. It is very intriguing for me to see how what happens out at the grassroots level around the country translates into policy in DC. Sometimes it is an effective means of getting this done, using the message from people on the street, but sometimes it is not as effective as it could be. I’ve also found that what is discussed in DC does not always resonate to what is playing out with regular people out in the country. I am still trying to figure out how best to bridge this gap and advocate for our members in a way that politically makes sense and will get their goals accomplished.

“Even if I wasn’t lobbying, I’d find another thing to do here because I love DC. People are very receptive to meeting new people and introducing you to their networks, at least that’s been my experience. I’ve always enjoyed politics and, for me, I love that in any conversation you have, regardless of what position the person holds, be it schoolteacher, janitor, lawyer, everyone is aware of what is going on politically. That is a thing that was missing when I was a securities lawyer in Manhattan. There it was all about the work...very insular.

“DC is a great city for those who love politics…and even for those who don’t like politics. When I came down here from New York, I was introduced to folks who were both Democrats and Republicans and regardless of their political affiliation, they were helpful in introducing me to people in their professional networks. As for politics, I like to get all sides of the spectrum. You can certainly disagree and I’m comfortable with you disagreeing, but it should be a constructive disagreement.”

To learn more about issues related to the elderly in DC, including organizations in need of volunteers, click here.