mike walters

I specialize in studying urban planning, particularly in my hometown, Washington D.C.

The City Paper’s Jason Cherkis writes and is one again out there getting stuff wrong.

And Cherkis couldn’t be more wrong here. Let’s do forget the bad crime rate, since crime in the Third Police District has trended in one direction only for most of the past decade. There are occasional flare-ups, but during the last year, homicides are down 26 percent from the year previous, assaults with deadly weapons are down 10 percent, Let’s not do comparisons with 2003 or 1998. I don’t want to make Cherkis look silly.

Let’s forget the bad property news, too, since Cherkis seems unable to do any rigorous analysis there. Single-family home prices have generally held steady in Columbia Heights. This is a surprise? Perhaps no one told Cherkis but there’s a credit crunch on.. I guess Jason Cherkis thinks it’s a damn shame that 14th and Park isn’t all quiet like it was when most of the surrounding blocks were empty.

And Cherkis, intellectual lightweight, sees an increase in median income and cries displacement, without bothering to read any research on the topic. Why should he want to educate his readers when he can infuriate them through tactical deployment of his boundless ignorance?

So, to sum up: Jason Cherkis has written something incredibly stupid.