Ok,
So lets say you are bringing a very disruptive and expensive reality TV show into a residential neighborhood, and you want to get community buy in, maybe you want to just calm people's fears. The rational, logical course of action would be to bring together community activists, city officials and producers of the show so that everyone could talk through the pluses and minuses and hopefully a reasonable framework is developed that all sides can live with, because the show must go on (and all the real negotiations had already been done behind closed doors anyway).
Well that's exactly what the city decided to do tonight, with one minor detail: No reps from the Real World were present. Let me be crystal clear. I love our city. I like our Mayor, I respect our council for being able to manage a world-class metropolis with an influx of millions of commuters and tourists DAILY on the tax base of 600,000 residents. I TRUST these people to make good decisions. When they tell us everything is going to be ok, I tend to listen. Unfortunately, I don't trust MTV. They lost me years ago when they stopped playing music and became nothing more than a 24 hour commercial for bad products and destructive personal behavior.
The fact that the Real World didn't send a single rep down to attend the meeting and answer community questions isn't just a great big "Fuck you" to the community, it's a gigantic "Fuck you" to city officials. Essentially, MTV has told DC's government that they are on their own, there is no partnership here. God forbid anything bad were to happen, it would be our public officials who can expect all the blame because MTV doesn't give two shits.
And what exactly are we getting for that sort of treatment? Extra exposure so that a few of our bars and hang outs can get on national tv with the coveted 14-21 demographic? I mean I GUESS those kids are the drinkers of the future.
I want to remind my city officials that this is Washington, D.C. This is the most powerful city in the Western World and we don't need MTV's exposure. Our city is better than that...we deserve to be treated better than that. I mean come on Fenty, it's MTV not the fucking International Olympic Committee. For them I'd bend over and take it.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
ANC Meeting Happenings
So an update on what happened at the ANC meeting. Andrew Huff from the Mayor’s office was there to answer questions, although he couldn’t answer many of them.
Here’s what Mr. Huff did say. The cast is moving in in the summer and will be gone leave Thanksgiving. He couldn’t confirm location but let the intersection split. Over half the crew will be local residents (not a big surprise, but good news). The number of formerly-metered parking spots that the crew has 24/7 access to right now will be decreased from 12 spots to 6 or 4 spots. No music or TV in the house. Sounds like there will be 7 people and they can’t have more than 2 guests each … so a total of 21 people can be in the house at one time. The Mayor’s office will deal with traffic and noise violations – I’ll call the police instead thanks.
There was also a woman from the DC government office that deals with TV and movie crews that want to film in DC. She didn’t bring much to the table. But people at the ANC table did ask why the permits for the show weren’t discussed with the ANC before they were given out. ANC approves liquor licenses, building permits, etc but wasn’t even notified about this! Someone at the ANC table questioned them as to why the show isn’t using the parking lot across the street from the house and Mr. Huff and his sidekick didn’t have a good answer. Seems that DC government was willing to give the show almost anything they wanted. Makes you wonder what the show paid the Mayor’s office . . . more on this in upcoming blog posts.
Overall, the Mayor’s office talking points are, “this is fabulous for DC, will bring jobs/money to the area, etc.” This doesn’t surprise me – hasn’t the Mayor been focused on this before – Chinatown regentrification anyone?
In addition, the Lieutenant from the police department who will be covering the area the house is in was there and he seemed to have different talking points. The police seem to have a more realistic view of the noise, traffic, and drunken noisiness that comes along with a Real World cast. In addition, he corrected Mr. Huff and explained that if you are on public land the show can show your face on TV without you having to sign a release form. . . get ready for some great shots of me walking the dog after having just rolled out of bed in the morning – ugghh.
When I think about it, what really pisses me off is that the Mayor’s office STILL HASN’T NOTIFIED RESIDENTS! This issue wasn’t on the public agenda for the ANC meeting and we only knew about it from blogs. As a tax paying citizen of DC (who doesn’t have voting rights, but that’s another issue) I’m pissed that our elected officials didn’t notify us and work with us to hear our concerns, see what we needed, etc. – we pay their paychecks.
No representative from the Real World was there to address residents concerns. Shame on you Real World – if you really care about the neighborhood and our concerns someone would have been there.
On another interesting note, an anonymous source let us know that the cast is reading the blogs and now doesn’t want to come. ... we’ll see what happens on that front.
Here’s what Mr. Huff did say. The cast is moving in in the summer and will be gone leave Thanksgiving. He couldn’t confirm location but let the intersection split. Over half the crew will be local residents (not a big surprise, but good news). The number of formerly-metered parking spots that the crew has 24/7 access to right now will be decreased from 12 spots to 6 or 4 spots. No music or TV in the house. Sounds like there will be 7 people and they can’t have more than 2 guests each … so a total of 21 people can be in the house at one time. The Mayor’s office will deal with traffic and noise violations – I’ll call the police instead thanks.
There was also a woman from the DC government office that deals with TV and movie crews that want to film in DC. She didn’t bring much to the table. But people at the ANC table did ask why the permits for the show weren’t discussed with the ANC before they were given out. ANC approves liquor licenses, building permits, etc but wasn’t even notified about this! Someone at the ANC table questioned them as to why the show isn’t using the parking lot across the street from the house and Mr. Huff and his sidekick didn’t have a good answer. Seems that DC government was willing to give the show almost anything they wanted. Makes you wonder what the show paid the Mayor’s office . . . more on this in upcoming blog posts.
Overall, the Mayor’s office talking points are, “this is fabulous for DC, will bring jobs/money to the area, etc.” This doesn’t surprise me – hasn’t the Mayor been focused on this before – Chinatown regentrification anyone?
In addition, the Lieutenant from the police department who will be covering the area the house is in was there and he seemed to have different talking points. The police seem to have a more realistic view of the noise, traffic, and drunken noisiness that comes along with a Real World cast. In addition, he corrected Mr. Huff and explained that if you are on public land the show can show your face on TV without you having to sign a release form. . . get ready for some great shots of me walking the dog after having just rolled out of bed in the morning – ugghh.
When I think about it, what really pisses me off is that the Mayor’s office STILL HASN’T NOTIFIED RESIDENTS! This issue wasn’t on the public agenda for the ANC meeting and we only knew about it from blogs. As a tax paying citizen of DC (who doesn’t have voting rights, but that’s another issue) I’m pissed that our elected officials didn’t notify us and work with us to hear our concerns, see what we needed, etc. – we pay their paychecks.
No representative from the Real World was there to address residents concerns. Shame on you Real World – if you really care about the neighborhood and our concerns someone would have been there.
On another interesting note, an anonymous source let us know that the cast is reading the blogs and now doesn’t want to come. ... we’ll see what happens on that front.
Duh: MTV Confirms Real World Coming to DC
Via the DCist, we learned what we already knew:
Sounds like MTV is totally stoked, dude.
Also in the MTV news orbit? The sky is, in fact, still blue.
“The charged atmosphere of Washington D.C., the center of our country’s social and political change, will provide an electric setting for this next season of ‘The Real World,’ said Tony DiSanto, President of Programming, MTV. “We are thrilled to be filming our classic franchise in the heart of where history is being made…it adds a whole new dimension to the great characters and drama our viewers expect and love from ‘The Real World.’”
Sounds like MTV is totally stoked, dude.
Also in the MTV news orbit? The sky is, in fact, still blue.
Tonight at 7pm: The Anti-Fun Committee
Because you can't keep a good organizer down, a few of us from Anti-Real World DC will be attending the Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting tonight to see what our local electeds are going to say about our new neighbors. We're hoping many questions are answered, including:
- Who to call when a RW castmember vomits on Berg's stoop?
- Where to illegally park when the RW people congest an already crowded street-parking situation?
- Will Commissioner Michael Feldstein be the new Anti-Fun Czar?
- Will this agenda get any more dull?
(Eds. Note: Will discussion of gang violence get sidelined? Because that would actually piss me offi. I'm actually not being flippant here, as there has been an increase in gun violence in our neighborhood. The shrines where people died are sad and - even more upsetting - multiplying.)
Also nerdette, DCBadger, and cacowan will be livetweeting the meeting, starting at 7pm EDT.
Got questions you want asked? Let us know in the comments.
- Who to call when a RW castmember vomits on Berg's stoop?
- Where to illegally park when the RW people congest an already crowded street-parking situation?
- Will Commissioner Michael Feldstein be the new Anti-Fun Czar?
- Will this agenda get any more dull?
(Eds. Note: Will discussion of gang violence get sidelined? Because that would actually piss me offi. I'm actually not being flippant here, as there has been an increase in gun violence in our neighborhood. The shrines where people died are sad and - even more upsetting - multiplying.)
Also nerdette, DCBadger, and cacowan will be livetweeting the meeting, starting at 7pm EDT.
Got questions you want asked? Let us know in the comments.
Identity of One Future Castmate Revealed?
An anonymous tipster sent in the following juicy tidbit about one of the future Real World DCers:
Discuss.
[Got any tips, photos, rants or questions for us? Let us know: antirealworlddc [at] gmail [dot] com]
here's the scoop.Remember: Tipster's words, not mine. Anti-Real World DC suggests this character might be the "heavy drinking minor with no moral compass."
she's gorgeous
she drinks a lot
she goes out a lot
she's 19 or 20
she's going to be the... [ed. note. Infer what you will here.]
Discuss.
[Got any tips, photos, rants or questions for us? Let us know: antirealworlddc [at] gmail [dot] com]
Morning Photos
Here are some morning photos of workers getting the house ready, an electrical truck, and a parking permit for Fisher Design. It appears as those all the vehicles with these bright yellow permits surrounding the house get their parking tickets waived. I want a yellow permit since there will be no street parking once the Real Worlders move in!
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