Shaw, LeDroit Park Bloomingdale in Washington, D.C. by Shilpi Malinowski

Author:Shilpi Malinowski [Malinowski, Shilpi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, General
ISBN: 9781467149693
Google: QuZEEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2021-10-11T02:44:44+00:00

Christina Robbins, 2020. Shilpi Malinowski.

JUAN LASTER. Before, I’m not saying that the people weren’t interested in getting rid of them, but it does take a certain amount of courage to say, “Look, not here in my neighborhood.” It just does.

One time I saw Brent running across the street, and I thought, “What are you doing?” He saw these two boys running past him with a briefcase. And Brent ran after them in the alley. They ran faster and threw everything out of the way. But that’s what you need. You need someone to be vigilant and say: “We are not having that in the neighborhood.”

CHRISTINA ROBBINS. I think it’s more effective—not to say that the police aren’t wonderful and do a great job, but I think people’s first inclination is to call the police. If they see something that scares them, they call the police. But if it’s a kid, and if it’s something that could be totally harmless, an act of kindness could also dissolve it just as quickly and with less ramifications. I don’t want to put people in danger, but I’m not threatening them. I’m engaging and talking to them. I learn something, and they learn something, and it becomes not a dangerous situation. So, I think that can be effective.

JUAN LASTER. I think it’s very effective.

CHRISTINA ROBBINS. If you talk to people, they are less likely to be angry. If you scream at people, if you threaten people, if you are hostile toward them, it’s going to escalate. So, why escalate something that doesn’t need to be a problem?

Sometimes, back here, there were just kids being kids. When there were pop-ups [the creation of a fourth story on top of an existing row house] happening, and sometimes, the construction equipment wouldn’t be locked up, the kids would get their hands on them. One of them was driving a bulldozer, so I went out to talk to them.

JUAN LASTER. She said: “No, no, no. Don’t do that.”

CHRISTINA ROBBINS. Because they don’t realize they could knock down someone’s whole house!

JUAN LASTER. To them, it was fun, but she went zooming down the alley. I stood right there and watched. I thought, “Let’s see how this is going to turn out.” I didn’t budge; I let her do it.

CHRISTINA ROBBINS. These are kids. They are probably preteens. But they can’t take hammers and throw them at each other; they can’t take sharp objects and break windows. They are just being rambunctious. And it takes someone, any adult, going out and saying: “Alright, guys, let’s not do that.”

JUAN LASTER. People are more conscious of keeping everything clean and looking decent. Of course, I would see her sweeping out the alley and think, “That’s a good idea.” So, I started doing it.

CHRISTINA ROBBINS. I feel like you don’t see as much trash around as you used to. I used to go out there on Saturdays and pick up trash. There used to be gunshots. I would say I heard gunshots more than once.

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