Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The State of the In Shaw Blog

Looking back at last January's entries I'm a little late posting the State of the Blog.
The blog is okay.
In 2004 I did a fair number of open house reviews. I did fewer as the year went on. Mainly because I noticed fewer open houses in Truxton Circle and I found that hanging out with Nathan's family on a Sunday evening was more fun than open houses. But fear not, a Realtor approached me recently and I hope to get a report of some sort of real estate deals in the area.
There are a few things like this that may be new for 2006. So far you have seen or heard TC the InShaw podcast. I'm scribbling up a script/notes for February's podcast. My webhost has expanded the amount of space and bandwidth I have so I'm going to make the best of it.
The state of the Truxton & Eastern Shaw neighborhood is improving even if at times it seems that it isn't. Several steps forward and a couple of steps back. In March we got Thai X-ing. Well LeDroit Park got Thai Xing, but considering Taw is only a 5 minute leisurely stroll away from the house, I consider him ours too. Yeah, it's a carry out but it is a good carry out. The steps back have been in the area of crime. A few neighbors have been mugged and then there is the crackhead/crackdealer problems. The good thing is the noticeable number of crack dealers and crackheads has been going down over the past two years. Some problem families moved away, such as Screaming Woman and I think my block's resident crackhead left. Last year Scott and Matt officially launched TruxtonCircle.Org the better neighborhood site and a great way to link neighbors, which then launched the wonderful Truxton Circle Happy Hours. Scott and Matt also helped out with the 2005 garden tour, which Mary Anne was the head of, and that got the neighborhood some good press.
Personally, I haven't improved that much. There is more grey hair on the head. This blog has brought a small bit of fame but it has yet to give me a nice trophy husband. I have noticed I got a bit more involved in some neighborhood causes. The ongoing struggle with Mondie being one. Will I have the energy to do more? I dunno, we'll see.

1 Comments:

At 1/25/2006 9:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We disagree. We think the blog is great!

As soon to be new residents of Eastern Shaw, we just wanted to note that In Shaw has been a great preview of our new community, and we really appreciate it. It's also an invaluable resource in starting to understand the main issues, challenges, development and the impacts of the significant change going on here.

Personally too, In Shaw has helped to assuage general anxieties about moving into the inner city from the burbs. When grappling with questions like 'will we fit in?', 'will we feel safe?', and 'what do people in Shaw care about?' we've continually looked to the In Shaw blog entries and ensuing comment-conversations for insite.

So as you step back for your annual reflection of In Shaw, know that your work here is very much appreciated and valued.

We know we're over-stating the obvious and you probably know all this, but good work should be commended regularly.

Looking forward to being neighbors, and keep up the great work.

ps. really dig the podcasts!

 

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