Thursday, August 05, 2004

Citizen empowerment

Confession time: I used to be a registered Republican. There are moments I feel that I have that are purely Republican moments in Shaw. Usually they are summed up as, taking matters in your own hands when you don't believe the gov'ment won't do it right/at all/ on time/ etc.

I have these feelings during community meetings when folks demand that DPW clean the alleys and the sidewalks and other littered areas and keep the bums off their property. With all due respect to the city government of the District and it's many departments, the City can be disappointing. Yet on the other hand, citizens really need to take some responsibility and take on some burdens to improve their environment and not wait for the government to do it for them.

Now, I am not advocating that people break the law, endanger their lives, or encroach on others rights and freedoms. There are things that only the state/govt has the right to do, such as arrest, tax, and transfer rights and freedoms. No citizen has that right or should. No. What I want people to do is salt their sidewalks when it snows. I want them to volunteer to clean the street gutters when the Weather Service says there might be flooding. I want them to take responsibility for their children and property. I want them to consider working together, neighbor to neighbor, on a one block level to tackle problems and concerns.

I love my block because people do things that others may believe is something for the government to deal with. We have alley cleaning man. Who is he? I dunno? But he takes it upon himself to sweep up the alley, post no dumping signs, and clean up the alley. B. cleans the sidewalks, whenever. Maybe once a week, a month, a quarter, but he helps keep the neighborhood nice. Lem, is the handyman who (possibly with marketing in mind) keeps an eye on repairs that need to be made on the block, helping with the upkeep. For a while the block had an informal Welcome Wagon to help orient new homeowners, providing community information. For my own part I patched a fence of a vacant property to keep out the illegal dumpers. With a neighbor we (I don't recommend it) confronted a crackhead about smoking in a backyard. Some deal with trees, planting and trimming, things that with the patience of Job, one could wait for the city to do. Some help with enforcement by gently reminding neighbors of infractions. In winter, B. and I shovel, salt and sand the sidewalks.

Now we don't take on large tasks by ourselves. Just small ones, that add to the livability of the block. So when I hear complaints from folks in other parts of Shaw complaining that the city should do this, or the city should do that when this and that are things a civicly minded citizen could tackle. Citizens should empower themselves, even if they just limit themselves to caring for their little section of the block, they have done a lot.

So if you can, maybe this weekend or next....
Clean out your treebox
Pick up some of the sidewalk litter
Tidy up the front yard
Secure your property
Talk to a neighbor
Check on the elderly down the block
Engage a conversation with some of the neighborhood youths
Try to find the owner of the vacant house on the block

Not the whole list. Pick one. And do it.

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2 Comments:

At 12/17/2004 12:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi, i really enjoy your blog/journal about your house and neighborhood. you talk about really interesting stuff that i also think about, although i just rent an apartment in a part of philly which had sort of gentrified just after i moved in there.

anyway, i also wanted to say that thinking people should pitch in to salt their sidewalks and clean their gutters and do some stuff to make their neighborhood a better, more liveable place, especially during crazy times is not an innately Republican trait. I lived in parts of Philly where we all had to do this, of course, and also had to shovel out the streets during big snowstorms to get around. I think what you're talking about is community spirit, or a type of activism which isn't political but more community/neighbor-based. Lots of other towns I've lived in also espoused similar beliefs. It's a part of being a good neighbor and citizen. Some of these places were even Democrat or independent or green party strongholds! Many of the anarchists and communists I know also enjoy pitching in and getting involved in making their hood a better place.

Anyway - I think that is more of a considerate/non-considerate thing you're talking about. If someone isn't involving themselves in that kind of activity, they are either ignorant/inconsiderate/prima donna snotty brat ... or perhaps they are too stretched with their resources and time to do it themselves, and probably don't have the cash to pay someone else to do it for them.

 
At 12/17/2004 7:32 AM, Blogger Mari said...

Thanks.
I think I posted this one after a fairly annoying civic association meeting where Kathleen was going on or maybe it was someone else, but they were going on about what the city should do, and I'm thinking... do it yourself.

 

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