Reply to Dan Reed of JustUpthePike fame

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "Dan Reed of JustUpthePike fame"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There has been a strong movement to promote walkable, environmentally-friendly, transit-oriented cities and suburbs for some time. A lot of the conversation started after Richard Florida's 2002 [i]Rise of the Creative Class[/i] and the backlash to it. You may have seen journalism in the past couple of years around the "five minute city" concept, an idea to improve cities by making sure it us possible for people to have the retail and services they need within a five minute walk or bike ride of their homes. Locally, there are also advocacy and advisory groups like Coalition for Smarter Growth, Greater Greater Washington, Tysons Partnership, DC Sustainable Transportation, Action Committee for Transit, and others. Many of us know Dan because we have been affiliated with Greater Greater Washington in one way or another since its founding in 2008. A lot of local urbanists have, at one time or another, take a turn writing for Greater Greater and/or attending the organization's events.

As an urban planner and real estate agent, staying involved in urbanism is, quite literally, Dan's job. (Indeed, he has a degree in urban design from an Ivy League university.) Also, as someone who is a media personality, Dan is leveraging social media to bring additional attention to his Washingtonian column and occasional radio appearances (probably a better use of one's online time budget than the time it's taking me to post here). Surely those posting on this thread know many people who advocate passionately for their favorite causes, especially when those causes are adjacent to the paid work that they do --be it politics, racial justice, or fundraising for disease research. Surely you also know people who use social media to advance their personal brands and amplify the reach of their work. And when you're not interested in what those people have to say, you mute or block and move on.

Dan's Twitter followers are calling you b*tchy Karens because you are engaging in a lot of negativity without seeming to know anything about Dan's qualifications or his cause. It looks like seeking drama, gossiping, and putting someone else down --pettiness that is a bad look. (But these actions are  [i]really[/i] a bad look when you're coming after a gay, black man.) If you want to have a similar level of reach and influence, you too are welcome to put in the work earning a degree in a field that interests you, getting to know people in your community, attending meetings, and advocating for your beliefs. Should you ever run for planning board or other local office, maybe you too can experience the delight of petty backlash on DCUM.   
[/quote]

Not a single person has made any negative comments about him being gay, or black.  (And nor should being gay and black make him exempt from valid criticism of his posts, ideas, and tone)

Also the implication that one has to have a degree in urban planning to care or have an opinion about their living structure is... something. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics