Every rental property is a potential voucher property, because it’s illegal for any rental property to turn down a housing voucher applicant. Don’t believe me? Here’s our attorney general: “It is illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants for using housing vouchers. It is also illegal to discriminate against a voucher holder based on rental payment history prior to receiving the voucher. “ https://oag.dc.gov/release/ag-schwalb-files-first-lawsuit-enforcing-new-anti D.C. gives the vouchers to people. The people pick the property they want to rent, and it’s illegal for any apartment complex to turn them down. |
That doesn't mean the affordable housing at the Chevy Chase Community Center will be voucher based.
And...the assumption that everyone on vouchers causes problems is ridiculous as well. |
No one is saying it definitely will be or that all voucher recipients are terrible, but that apartment is a potential risk because it can end up with voucher residents, and the city’s complete lack of vetting has lead to the program causing serious problems for many neighborhoods. Even if you completely ignore what the people who live in the Connecticut Avenue apartments have been saying for years, the Post has done a few stories on this problem. Anyone who doesn’t know that it’s an issue hasn’t been paying attention. At this point, anyone saying “Why are people concerned with voucher applicants” are either completely ignorant of what’s happening in this city, or being completely disingenuous.
The worst part is, the city will do nothing to stop it if it starts going out of control. You already have people saying that Ward 3 should have less of a police presence because other parts of the city are safer, and that it’s wrong to give resources to Ward 3 while Ward 8 has even more crime. Even if there’s a 1 in 5 chance that voucher residents could cause problems in the new development, why would anyone take that chance? The mess that city leadership has made across the city gives people zero faith that any changes they make will be for the better. |
So Ward 3 should not have any of the issues the rest of the city has.
Got it. |
Wouldn't it be smarter -- and safer -- to move the bike lanes (and cyclists) to Reno Road, instead of diverting Connecticut Avenue to Reno? |
This has been suggested a million times. Please see the multi-hundred page thread on the topic: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1081657.page The answer to your question is in there about 50 times. |
The Smart Growth Urbanists apparently don't like the idea. |
DDOT didn't have a goddamn youtube video for freaking 14th street or 19th street or 15th street or I would have used that instead of the one I did. The youtube video was to show you what the bollards looked like. You people and your goddamn whataboutism. |
"You people" ? ![]() |
No, it would actually be neither of those things. Reno Road is a 2 lane road. Is the bike lane supposed to go in people's yards? There are times where Reno road has a center lane on parts of it - and that center lane is for turning so that the road doesn't back up very much. Are those center lanes supposed to go away for a bike lane? No that would create worse traffic. Reno Rd is freaking hilly AF while Conn ave is straight up downhill going downtown and a slight, slow positive grade climbing from Calvert to CC Circle - so its easier and more accessible to more cyclists than Reno is. Conn Ave has a ton of actual starts (apartments) and destinations (restaurants, retail) ON it, Reno Rd is wholly single family homes and a couple of schools. So no, its a stupid freaking idea to shift the bike lanes to Reno rd. There's actually a like 400 page thread on this forum where this has been discussed ad nausem. |
Give you a hint - they wear Yellow Shirts with grammatically incorrect slogans on them. |
This is all true. Every rental property is a potential voucher property (well, below a certain rental level - so I guess every "normally" constructed rental property is - the penthouse apt in Georgetown isn't gonna get knocked down enough for a voucher holder to afford). So the solution is either to build way more expensive apartments (no studios, all 2 bedrooms with fancy finishings and a high rent) - or, perhaps, we could fix the voucher program. It's not that voucher holders are bad people. It's not that the voucher program only produces bad results. I mean, we hardly ever hear about the voucher holder who lives quietly in a well-heeled Ward 3 building and whose kids are going to one of the local schools and they are doing well for themselves compared to where they would be if that didn't happen. But that is actually the rule. What we hear about instead is the exception - the small number of voucher holders who are trouble makers and who act in ways that are provocative or who engage in crime. Those are the exceptions. We shouldn't throw out the whole program - which does do a lot of good for a lot of people - just because of some small proportion of bad actors. We should try to and push for reforms that address the bad actors. Some type of penalty to suspend or remove the voucher if something bad occurs because of their behavior. |
Can’t DC then focus on the bad troublemakers among the voucher holders and evict them? Perhaps there’s free DC-provided housing for them that is more appropriate: it’s called prison! |
It isn't about smart growth urbanists. the retail is on the Avenue. That is where people want to go. Diverting cyclists to go up and down the hills in Cleveland Park to get from one commercial area to another is plain stupid. Add to it, are you taking 1.5 lanes from Reno to do this? How will that work? |
It'd work very easily. Just take away the turning lane down the middle. Of course it wouldn't be as prestigious but it would be more widely used. |