Instead, he lives on Buena Vista Terrace SE, a grim stretch of low-rise apartments pushed up against the Maryland border. And on Buena Vista Terrace, just standing outside can get you in trouble. [...]
The law is meant to fight disorderly conduct, but some lawyers and the people arrested for the “crime” say it’s routinely used to harass people seen as undesirable: protesters, the homeless, and black men.
— washingtoncitypaper.com
8 Comments
It's about the body, it's always about the body. Ugh. I have lots more to say on this, but no time right now.
what a joke. another bs excuse to meet their monthly arrest quotas. these cops are out of control.
I agree with Donna, this is about the body and controlling it.
Also keep in mind it's not just the cops. It was a resident/neighbor/landlord/person who made a phone call and said the magic words, which were probably something like "there's a black guy out on the sidewalk in front of my building..."
When I was recently in Atlanta - in the tony downtown convention center district - I took a brief walk into the surrounding neighborhoods and made this post on FB after:
Just walked a two block stretch of Courtland Street in ATL that was possibly the *worst* section of "sidewalk" I've encountered in the U.S. Crumbling, old concrete and asphalt patches, sections heaved up and missing, curbs gone, and it was bracketed north and south by historic buildings close enough to ROW that the sidewalk was entirely nonexistent and some painted lines and trip-hazard traffic bumps had been installed on the asphalt instead. Is it a surprise that this section of the city was also populated by the most destitute, likely homeless, people I've seen so far in the city? Our civic infrastructure maintenance and care is markedly unfair and unequal. I'm not saying a pretty sidewalk would make these peoples' life circumstances better, but an ugly sidewalk definitely makes their lives that much worse.
We provide the worst of infrastructure to the poorest, then oppress event heir use of that, then complain that they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps or somesuch nonsense. How much physical ugliness and mistreatment do we expect people to bear? Why can't we provide a decent standard of living for everyone and celebrate that we have a shared community and built spaces to accommodate and enhance everyone's life?
this is about an unjust law giving cops the authority to harass people for standing outside their homes...not sure design can solve a problem like this. This reminds me of the 'stop and frisk' law...
There are three ways that design can address this (or should have):
1- Architecture should include the design of urban space. Far too often the discussion stops at the drip edge and the side walk is not seriously addressed, let alone any consideration of a porch or an equivalent.
2- With respect to "poor door," discussions months ago- imagine the impact of intentionally making entire streets like this. It's not just social segregation, it's also market exclusion, reducing the likelihood that certain groups with have the same level of access to services and goods. These are design decisions.
3- My "personal favorite" is the wall section used to construct subsidized housing. Quite often the walls were masonry construction without insulation. Given a hot day and thermal lag the smart move is to go outside after it has cooled off. And we're back to points 2 and 1.
Thank you, Lscapeisaverb. Excellent post and summation of how this *is* a design problem.
Crappy or lack of sidewalks also impede citizens' ability to use the public right-of-way unless they're in a car. In other words, not having a sidewalk on a stretch of road is incommoding the pedestrian. I'd be fine with arresting the public officials who allow this condition to be built using the same law as applied to those being arrested for standing still.
^ True...
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