My motivation for the map was to simply put some facts behind the crazy rumors flying around. There’s plenty of vacant properties with all types of owners in DC, as I hope to make clear in a future map. I have also talked with church members that agree something should be done with the properties, so I’m not sure this is an “us” vs “them” issue …

Visitors may also be interested in this news story:
D.C. Church Dissenters Attempt to Oust Pastor

I’ve been gone from DC for a number of years, but Shaw will always be my home as my grandparents are still active members of that community. Even when I was growing up, I recall resenting the arrogance and “take-over attitude” of those who were just starting to move back into the city in the 90s. Instead of papering cars with negative flyers, why don’t you use more neighborly means to reach out to Shiloh. Instead of bad-mouthing a congregation of mostly good Christian people, why not try to work with them?

As I write this, I am trying to hold back certain emotions because you people are certainly doing all that you can to perpetuate the notion that white folks have a “great plan” to take over our beloved city. Don’t forget, people like my grandparents and their parents were Washingtonians before it was famous and even before Shaw was a fashionable place for you to live. They were there even when they did not have a choice of neighborhoods to live in.

As the previous poster said…Leave those people ALONE! You’re soooo damn typical!

Your attitude toward that esteemed instutition and its parishioners is insultingly condescending and paternalistic. You assume that Shiloh’s membership does not know where its tithes and offerings are going, and you have taken it upon yourselves to “enlighten” them. Like any Baptist church, Shiloh is self-governing and provides its members with periodic statements of account, so members are well aware of what their church is doing with their hard-earned money. I believe that now that Shaw is considered a “hot” property, you cannot stand that a black chuch has such valuable real estate lying fallow and you want to get your greedy, development-crazed hands on it.

Shiloh has done tremendouse work in Shaw and elsewhere over the years, about which I am sure your researchers have never bothered to learn. Shiloh and other black churches in the area cared about Shaw when no one else did, stayed there when no one else would and invested in Shaw when no one else was remotely interested.

Now Shiloh will, I’m sure, develop its property–in its own time and in its own way. If you want to effect real change, then JOIN SHILOH! Worship with them, fellowship with them, contribute your tithes and join its Board of Trustees. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place of worship right where you live? Join Shiloh and you will have a true understanding of what this faith-based institution is trying to accomplish for the poor, homeless, seniors, children, missionaries, widows and orphans you claim to be so concerned about. Once you join Shiloh’s membership, then, and only then, will you have a legitimate right to try to direct Shiloh’s path vis-a-vis the properties which are the source of so much irritation to you. I promise you your life will be richer, and less exclusionary, for the experience.

If you choose not to do this, then just leave Shiloh alone to continue its work! Although you appear to be doing your best to obtain the properties in question by unjust political means, at present these properties are NOT yours to develop, not under your dominion and control. So please adopt a more positive, progressive attitude (than condemnation) or just get over it and leave Shiloh alone!

http://dcbubble.blogspot.com/2007/05/trinity-of-church-owned-buildings.html

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From a LeDroit Park resident:

Any possibility you might post the list of notable nuisance properties in LeDroit? It would be a useful reference with respect to tracking progress by agencies tasked with curing the deficiencies. Also, what were the notable characteristics of actual “nuisance” in the compiled list? Who established those parameters?

Enforcement can sometimes prove stranger than fiction. I’d like to point out two side-by-side properties; 1826-1828 4th St. NW. One is regrettably vacant for years, a real mess, but tended. The other is caged to the rear with chain link, perpetually unkempt and shabby with usual abundance of trash, overgrowth and debris; a junked car the centerpiece for more than 8 years. Without a doubt both owners demonstrate careless disregard.

Question: Guess which property has been raided by Public Works on numerous occasions with costly, punitive clean-up and continuing enforcement?

Answer: The property that’s not overflowing with festering auto junk and rat-harboring garbage.

Our urban community is enhanced, if not perfected, by reasonable, even-handed enforcement of all basic sanitary codes. We’re talking about basic standards at the root of quality-of-life in ANY city. It’s not rocket-science.

Have you ever had the impression unwavering enforcement is directed toward owners who are deemed more able to pay the fines?