Thursday, July 30, 2009

accident at MLK & Good Hope

this afternoon a truck drove straight into the billboarded and vacant corner of MLK / Good Hope. Word from the officers at the scene is that the driver had a diabetic episode while driving and lost control of the vehicle. Fortunately nobody else was injured and the driver is okay (again, word from the officers on the ground).







Contrary to various twitter and media reports, the property that the truck crashed through was not a building. At one point it was the site of the old People's Drug, but, it has been for many years just an empty, boarded-up lot behind which is a drop down to a basement level. This little strip of MLK / Good Hope is like Anacostia's own Shiloh Baptist issue, as it is owned by the pastor of Union Temple. The corner parcel was for sale this spring, but was either pulled from the market or sold.

4 comments:

The Advoc8te said...

This is going to sound wrong but bear with me. Glad the driver is okay. Perhaps a truck tearing down that wall was a good thing. Maybe now it can be updated with something better?!!! Like mayabe a community garden/park or a new building?

Just sayin - sometimes accidents are opportunities in disguise.

JayAre said...

Do not count on it The Adcoc8te, that particular church owns many direlect properties in that area. That particular pastor of that particular church is an ally of your Ward 8 CM. That corner will be boarded up again and become part of the scenery.

David Garber said...

to be fair, efforts Are being made by Reverend Wilson and crew from Union Temple to sell these properties. I hung out at this corner for over 2 hours last night with the rebuilders, and even though, yes, they were just re-boarding up the property, the community spirit was alive.

I certainly hope someone who cares about history, aesthetics, and scale buys this place and builds on it - but until then I am grateful for the current owners who stayed up till 1:30AM building and painting so we wouldn't have an exposed hole in the ground.

Brandon Green said...

Wow! Glad that the drive is doing well.