Thursday, June 11, 2009

BREAKING: ANC Meeting to Discuss Real World DC, Real World Doesn't Bother to Show Up

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.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Seriously, what is the big deal? Why does anyone think this is going to be a huge disruption? And if it isn't, what does MTV "owe" us?

http://prorealworlddc.blogspot.com/

cbeec said...

You've got it wrong, kindalikepuck. If you want community/neighborhood buy-in on something, you have this meeting BEFORE the contracts are signed and the disruptions have begun, not after, and not only because word got out despite the city's best efforts to keep the location of the RW house under the radar.

The Fenty admin gave a middle finger to the neighborhood around the house as much as - if not more than - MTV did.

Chris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris said...

Do we even know for sure that MTV/the production company knew of this meeting or was invited?

DCBadger said...

Please reference previous post:

http://antirealworlddc.blogspot.com/2009/06/developments-re-rules-for-real-world.html

which is regarding the ANC meeting and ANC Commissioner Mike Feldstein's announcement.

In addition, if the Fenty Administration failed to drop the ball and not tell MTV, that is their fault. Though I highly doubt that MTV did not know. This is PR 101.

Anonymous said...

why do you think DC is any different from the 22 other cities the Real World filmed in? Please state how the Real World DC and the residents of Dupont and the sourounding areas are going to be affected any differently than residents of New York, Chicago, SanFran, LA, just to name a few.

Chris said...

@DCBadger, this would be the same meeting about which TracySherman wrote, "This issue wasn’t on the public agenda for the ANC meeting and we only knew about it from blogs." Feldstein sent that e-mail Monday, it's quite conceivable that may be a little short notice for someone who I would assume has a pretty busy schedule to plan to attend a meeting...

This may be PR 101, but you're sure doing a good job of damning everyone under the sun without having all the facts.

Brother Without Order said...

"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."
I agree. They have scraped the bottom of the barrell for many years in terms of people on the show. And to the poster who asked what is the big deal. The big deal is that a TV show thinks it has the right to come into peoples neighborhoods and disrupt them. No parking during the shoot!!! Some of us don't want our lives disrupted so a bunch of people can become famous for how skanky they are.

TB said...

Yeah, losing those four parking spaces will be rough. Thoughts and prayers.

cbeec said...

"Chris" - After reading a couple of your comments, I have the sneaking suspicion that you are somehow affiliated with the RWDC. But hey, I could be wrong!

In any case, you seem very determined to support and/or defend MTV and RWDC, so I suggest you check out another (unintentionally entertaining) blog that is (desperately) looking for contributors to express their deeply felt appreciation for the RWDC.

Chris said...

@cbeec, I'm sorry to disappoint, but alas, I've no affiliation with RWDC. I didn't even know it was going on until I started reading about it on DCist. I'm "extraspecial" on twitter should you wish to further quell your suspicion.

Honestly I'm not trying to stir things up, just giving the "devil's advocate" view of things. Franky, I don't watch the show, and couldn't give a rat's ass if the next one were here or in Bismark, ND. I just find the "proactive outrage" to be a bit amusing.

I think DC has a lot bigger problems than losing 4 parking spaces, and a handful of people who may (or may not, let's not be too quick to be prejudice, no?) be douchebags going to "our" bars.

Ujjayi_Pranayama said...

Amen Chris, Amen.

Listen people. Please keep an open mind and heart. Stop jumping to conclusions with every little thing the neighbors across the street are doing and don't forget to be the change you wish to see in the real world!