That said, picking on the latte comment was a cheap shot.

In my opinion, events like Columbia Heights Day are very important toward the [re]creation of a community in that neighborhood. CH’s newer residents should also understand there is a fine line between community-building and paternalism. You don’t know everything about the neighborhood in which you’ve lived for the past 3 years and “getting rid of crime,” as one poster put it, fails to account for social inequality, discrimination, and, yes, racism, still present in one of the most liberal cities in the world.

And to all those folks jumping to PoP’s defense both in the Post comment section and the why.i.hate.dc blog – you really think he gives a wide-ranging and nuanced view of neighborhood living and racism and crime and gentrification? Puh-leeze!!! I enjoy coming to PoP daily for the GDON posts and other news on new businesses etc, but this blog and most its posters sure as hell aren’t proactive and educated front-runners on the much-needed discussion about all the ups and downs of development, urban renewal etc and all the socio-economic baggage that goes with it. I don’t come to, nor expect, PoP to fulfill that role and would hope that others don’t either.

I would respect the writer more of she lived here and actually took the time to talk to the wider community. Yes CH has its problems and conflicting values/priorities but I have never lived in such a community oriented neighborhood in my life. Props to everyone who is trying to make CH and the area a better place. Hipsters and homeless, minorities and yuppies – it’s what CH is and the tensions are real as in most urban centers. But its what we do with them that matters.

Irving, is that a pun???? Barrister> Barista?

In the meantime, I look forward to a another nice weekend in CH, surrounded by people, the vast majority of whom, new and old residents alike, are friendly, neighborly, fun-loving, hard-working folks, notwithstanding our occasional desire to indulge a frivolous taste (and I don’t even LIKE coffee and could give a damn about lattes, but I have plenty of equally or even more frivolous pastimes, and I make no apologies for them, nor should anyway else who decides to splurge with their hard-earned money on — gasp — a four buck cup of coffee or a seven dollar glass of wine. God forbid …). I REALLY wish the neighborhood marxist patrol could drop by VOR’s house to check for frivolous items bought with money that could have instead been donated to those less fortunate. But I guess only people who drink coffee or wine are subject to that type of scrutiny.

The sad thing is, of COURSE there are serious urban problems in CH, duh, you’d have to blind not to see them or heartless not to care. But articles like the WaPo article or posters like VOR and his ilk, rather than focusing on the root cause and potential solutions for those problems, rather than a serious, in depth analysis, only distract by trying to be too clever by half / alienating the very people in a position to potentially help / inspiring division rather than building community / scapegoating / trying to ignite a race or class war / just generally being insanely dumb and annoyingly self-important. The day I see VOR stop wasting his time doing nothing but alienate and berate good people like, I don’t know, REFUGEES WHO SPEND A LITTLE POCKET MONEY ON COFFEE, and uses that time to, I don’t know, actually help someone in the community instead, is the day I might start to listen. Personally, I follow those who lead via example, not via sanctimony.

My mind is stuck contemplating the dichotomy of nobility – the place between those who are not noble and those who are are the opposite of noble.

And my real confession – I don’t actually know exactly what a latte is – just a foamless cappuccino?

But mostly now deliciously awaiting a re-write of Dvorak’s original (dull, trite and lazy) piece.

“The latte complainer, a 30 something black male immigrant, a former refuge who lived in refugee camp as a teen, supported himself since he was 17, with a variety of service positions, including a job at a coffee shop, and has allegedly never murdered anyone.”