The following is from a WaPo article on Temple Courts:
The brown-brick buildings of Temple Courts have failed federal housing inspections for years. Rats and bedbugs have taken up residence in some apartments, and the stairwells smell of urine.Temple Courts and Sursum Corda are located just east of the Triangle's New Jersey Ave border.
The building and its environs have been a magnet for crime. Temple Courts and Sursum Corda served as catalysts for the New Communities program, after 14-year-old Jahkema Princess Hansen was fatally shot at Sursum Corda in January 2004. Days earlier, she had witnessed a killing at Temple Courts.
Violence visited again 10 days ago, when a 10-year-old girl and two adults were shot outside Temple Courts on Memorial Day.
In its original form, New Communities included a "vital" principle known as "build first," which was designed to keep gentrification in check by keeping poor residents in place until multi-income housing was built around them.
The intended result: economically diverse neighborhoods where ghettos once stood.
For more press on Northwest One follow these links:
- Temple Courts: Symbol of the Pain and the Hope Facing the City (Tommy Wells blog, Jun 2007)
- Northwest One Unfolds (DCMud, Mar 2008)
- Northwest One Revival (DCMetrocentric, June 2008)
- Trouble for Northwest One? (DCMetrocentric, Oct 2008)
7 comments:
Has Sursum Corda been demolished yet? Need to get rid of that one too, asap.
I'm not entirely sure if it has. I'm hoping this abandoned Golden Rule supermarket on K Street will also be redeveloped into something.
Sursum Corda is still standing. I think there was some problem with the tenants not having enough notification time (but am not 100% sure on that).
culture watch ponders:
Whenever I read descriptions about the filthy deplorable un-police-able conditions at Temple Ct./Sursum; I get the impression some would pin this on the city(??)somehow? It's as if it's all to be blamed on some other alien life force?? God forbid anyoe blame or critique the lawless residents associated with the long-standing living hell??
Yet we continue to hear... ad nauseum....all the buzz and concern we must have some massive welfare warehouse to replace what's about to disappear?? What do we ever learn from these miserable billion-dollar mistakes???
Mixed economies are the answer; and a critical balance of market rate housing is a blessing. Brace yourselves; it might upset the tradition of vicious crime and urine soaked elevators and hallways, however.
Or is this some wonderful tradition we need to coddle and duplicate??
If we ignore REALLY bad behavior long enough...does it become rich DC culture???
Market rate housing and people who pay taxes have saved our formerly decrepit downtown district among other DC places.
Denying this is akin to crapping in one's own shiny loafers.
Somewhat off topic, but does anyone know what happened in front of Museum Square on K Street last night. Tons of police cars out there with their lights on at about 2 a.m.
@Anon 10:44
Don't know, but you could inquire on the MPD-1D listserv. MPD will often field questions of that nature.
Sorsum Corda has a different legal satus than Temple Courts- the tenants also have ownership rights. The owner's association has a choice to sell and leave or continue to own and have a right of return. They can't come to a consensus about what to do.
But I did drive by today and some them demolishing part of Temple Court.
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