Business

#DontMuteDC Movement Coalesces Around Famous MetroPCS Store

WASHINGTON INFORMERS — For nearly a quarter-century, the MetroPCS store on the corner of Florida Avenue and 7th Street in Northwest kept residents and passersby alike jamming to the sounds of go-go, over time solidifying its status as a staple of authentic, homegrown culture, especially as gentrification displaced countless residents and businesses in the Shaw area.

Published

4 years ago

April 18, 2019

Sam P. K. Collins

By Sam P. K. Collins

For nearly a quarter-century, the MetroPCS store on the corner of Florida Avenue and 7th Street in Northwest kept residents and passersby alike jamming to the sounds of go-go, over time solidifying its status as a staple of authentic, homegrown culture, especially as gentrification displaced countless residents and businesses in the Shaw area.

That may no longer be the case, however, as T-Mobile’s corporate office recently told the local MetroPCS branch to cut off the music, allegedly in response to complaints from residents in nearby condos about the volume.

Upon hearing this news Monday, local activists, go-go aficionados and others rallied against what they considered the latest assault on their way of life.

“When I left school, I would fall asleep in my mother’s car and get woken up by the music at MetroPCS,” said Tyrell Brunson, a local producer and alumnus of the now-shuttered Gage-Eckington Elementary School.

Brunson counted among the more than 50 participants at a protest in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy across the street from MetroPCS on Monday evening.

Brunson, who said Backyard Band influenced his sound, said a Twitter post by award-winning producer Tone P spurred him into action Monday. He and several friends gathered in the parking lot and listened as Tone P, Kymone Freeman of We Act Radio, DJ D-Money, Swamp Guinee, Dusty of Tru Expressionz and countless other musicians and activists spoke on the microphone about the MetroPCS’ impact on their lives.

“I went to go-gos from the age of 14 until the city tried to eliminate it,” Brunson, 28, said. “This is a bigger issue than the music. They’re shutting down our culture. A lot of people are here. I understood the strength in numbers, and this won’t be the end of it.”

Donald Campbell, who owns the MetroPCS branch under Central Communications, reportedly received threats of a lawsuit from nearby residents about the music blasting from the store’s speakers. The orders from T-Mobile’s corporate office followed Campbell’s several successful appeals to the D.C. government to maintain the status quo.

#DontMuteDC creators and Howard University students Julien Broom eld and Asia Grant make their voices heard at the intersection of 7th Street and Florida Avenue in northwest D.C. (Photo by: Ja’Mon Jackson/WI Bridge)

On Monday, he politely denied a request for an interview, asking that The Informer instead email him a list of questions to be answered later.

By Tuesday morning, more than 29,000 people have signed an online petition circulated under the auspices of the #DontMuteDC movement.

Later that day, the Take Ova Band, also known as TOB, had been scheduled to perform in front of the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center in Northwest in a show of solidarity with the go-go community. Campbell hosted a press conference Wednesday morning, and Check-It Enterprises and We Act Radio scheduled a town hall discussion for the following day.

D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) also entered the fray, sending a letter Monday to Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile USA’s senior vice president of government affairs, asking that the corporation reverse its order and honor the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ determination that no noise violations had occurred.

Later that evening, Nadeau and fellow Councilman Robert White (D-At large), a fifth-generation Washingtonian, spoke words of support to their constituents.

“Go-go is something that we need to hang on to as MetroPCS keeps that alive,” Nadeau said. “I live just up Georgia Avenue and see people getting some music and jamming out. Ward 1 is vibrant and diverse and we love music.

“It’s not the government that shut this down,” she said. “Now we just have to figure out how to restore music in the corridor. We have to do more work in our communities and help people appreciate what we have.”

Since 1995, Campbell’s MetroPCS store has garnered a reputation as one of the largest retailer of cellphones in the D.C. area and a provider of go-go music. At one point, Campbell opened four locations, including one on 4th and R streets in Northeast next to a barbershop owned by the late Polo of go-go band TCB.

For Dusty, founder and frontman of the Tru Expressionz Band, 7th Street and Florida Avenue has a different level of significance for him as an entrepreneur and go-go fan. He reflected on what the current battle meant for go-go bands and the industry at large.

“The spot [across the street from the MetroPCS store] used to be the late-night spot with the photo booths,” Dusty said moments before addressing the demonstrators at Monday’s protest.

In recent years, Tru Expressionz, which Dusty started as a teenager, has kept bands grooving at Peace Lounge near Howard University and Fire Station 1 Restaurant & Bar in Silver Spring, Maryland.

“Even though you got new folks coming in, you got people who live and are from here,” Dusty said. “It’s about the store, but in general, this is one of the only sections of the city where we got street music. We can’t let that go.

“We just got to continue doing go-go shows on a bigger platform and push the music in a different way,” he said. “You got cover bands in different areas making money. So even if your band is doing radio covers or making original music, we can still push our genre. We can’t limit our music when we are so powerful.”

This is article originally appeared in the Washington Informer.

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Activism

Big Picture Living Day

Through their global network of nearly 300 schools, Big Picture Learning activates their core initiatives by encouraging 6 healthy habits of proper nutrition, movement, healthy relationships, managing stress, adequate sleep and avoiding substances of risks.

Published

11 hours ago

June 2, 2023

Oakland Post

By Carla Thomas

On Friday, June 2 Big Picture Lving Day will be celebrated with a series of virtual events designed to improve the life of participants. Through a virtual network of schools and organizations the event will feature speakers on health, wellness, mindfulness, exercise, and overcoming challenges.

Participants will practice Yoga & Mindfulness with Dawn M. Rivers.

Dr. Marsha-Gail Davis will discuss lifestyle medicine and healthy practices, and BPL alumni former advisor Chef Bree reunites with former principal Danique “Dr. DD” Dolly and a few of their former students will discuss health and lifestyle changes.

Big Picture Learning Day was created by

Big Picture Learning, an organization of progressive learning concepts centered around the belief that all students can and should live lives of their own design, supported by caring mentors and equitable opportunities to achieve their greatest potential.

Co-founded by Elliott Washor a veteran educational leader in Rhode Island, BPL grew out of a passion for students and improving the concept of learning.

“We just had this fierce desire to evolve our educational system to one that puts students at the center of their own learning with mentors, time immersed in the community and not evaluated solely on standardized tests,” said Washor.

“The entire Big Picture Learning experience is personalized to each student’s interests, talents and needs beyond mere academic work and involves looking at each student holistically.”

Former BPL principal, Danique Dolly says, “There are youth and adults in schools and organizations throughout the nation practicing the 6 healthy habits and speaking up on it. People have created rooms and spaces that focus on relaxation and meditation. Many adults and youth are taking steps towards wellness, a total lifestyle change and health and wellness are a part of students learning goals just as English and math are.”

“With BPLiving Day we invite all to get up, get out and get living and to do something around health and wellness,” said Dolly.

For students Jasmine Poirier and Angel Feliz and educator Andrew Coburn BPL has been life changing.

“Through collaborative physical movement, nutrition education and eating healthy together and various group activities for relaxation and mental health support, many are finding ways to live healthier and happier,” said Colburn. “For Big Picture Living Day we’re celebrating lifelong healthy habits for teens and the communities around them. BPL Day is a celebration of all the progress we have made.”

“Whether it is in my school campus or through a zoom call with people all across the world, BPLiving has an ability to bring people together to share wellness habits with each other,” said Feliz.

“Through spreading the principles of BPLiving into the everyday academic learning of my peers, I have seen them improve the quality of their lives physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Poirier. “By reestablishing sports culture with school-wide volleyball and capture the flag tournaments, students have been able to connect with each other across different grade levels, become more physically active and take a break from our everyday learning.”

In Oakland at MetWest, a BPL school in Oakland, the garden is run by parents and students. The garden serves as the foundation for nutritional learning and generational collaboration.

Today, Big Picture Learning network schools can be found in over 80 schools in 28 states, and hundreds more around the world.

For more information visit BigPicture.org

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

Published

13 hours ago

June 2, 2023

Oakland Post

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 31 = June 6, 2023

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Activism

Community Opposes High Rise Development That Threatens Geoffrey’s Inner Circle

City Council chambers were full for the May 17 Planning Commission hearing, and almost all the 40 speakers who had signed up to make presentations talked about the importance of the Inner Circle as part of Oakland and Geoffrey Pete as a stalwart community and business leader who has served the city for decades.

Published

4 days ago

May 30, 2023

Oakland Post

Geoffrey Pete went to City Hall to appeal the city Planning Commission’s approval of the high-rise development that threatens the closure of his 44-year historic cultural mecca. Photo by Jonathan ‘Fitness’ Jones.

By Ken Epstein

An outpouring of community supporters – young, old, jazz lovers, environmentalists and committed Oakland partisans – spoke out at a recent Planning Commission hearing to support Geoffrey Pete and his cultural center – The Inner Circle – an historic Oakland landmark whose future is threatened by a proposed skyscraper that out-of-town-developer Tidewater Capital wants to build in the midst of the city’s Black Arts Movement and Business District (BAMBD).

The speakers argued passionately and persuasively, winning the sympathy of the commissioners, but were ultimately unsuccessful as the Commission unanimously approved the high-rise to be built either as a residential building or office tower on Franklin Street directly behind Geoffrey’s building.

Mr. Pete has said he would appeal the decision to the City Council. He has 10 days after the hearing to file an appeal on the office building. His appeal on the residential tower has already been submitted.

Mr. Pete said the Planning Department still has not published the boundaries of the BAMBD. “Tidewater’s applications and subsequent applications should not be approved until the Planning Department fully acknowledges the existence of the BAMBD,” he said.

“This (proposed) building poses a grave danger to the historic (Inner Circle) building next to it, arguably Oakland’s most meaningful historic building,” Pete said.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s best for the African American district and community that has gotten no representation, no advocacy, as of yet,” he said. “The (commission) is guilty, the City of Oakland is guilty, and Tidewater is guilty.”

One of the first speakers was Gwendolyn Traylor, known as Lady SunRise, who directly addressed the developers.

“With all due to respect to your business, it’s not a need of this community. I would like to ask you to reconsider the location …What is being (promised) here does not add to the healing of this community,” she said.

Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance emphasized that Geoffrey’s Inner Circle is a treasure of Oakland’s history.

“Our first concern is the integrity of the historic district, in particular the former Athenian-Nile Club, now Mr. Pete’s equally historic venue, which has been the location of a great number of important community events,” she said. “It would not be OK with us if the integrity of the building were damaged in any way, no matter how much insurance (the developer bought) because it is very difficult to repair a historic building once it’s damaged.”

The Inner Circle was previously owned and operated by the Athenian-Nile Club, one of the Bay Area’s largest all-white-male exclusive private membership club, where politicians and power brokers closed back-room deals over handshakes and three martini lunches.

Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson pointed out that commissioners and the city’s Planning Department have “acknowledged that you went through the entire design review process without even knowing that the Black Arts Movement and Business District existed.”

The district was created in 2016 by City Council resolution. “At the heart of the opposition to this building is the desire to further the legacy of local Black entertainment and entrepreneurship exemplified by businesses like Mr. Pete’s … a historical landmark and venue (that serves) thousands of people who listen to jazz and other entertainment and hold weddings, receptions, and memorial services,” said Uncle Bobby.

This development is taking place within a context in which the “Black population in Oakland has decreased rapidly … because of the city’s concentration on building houses that are not affordable for people who currently live in Oakland,” he said.

John Dalrymple of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development said, “This project will result in significant air quality, public health, noise, and traffic impacts. He said the city has not adequately studied the (unmitigated) impacts of this project on the Black Arts Movement and Business District.

“This project is an example of what developers are being allowed to do when they don’t have to follow the law, and they don’t have to be sensitive to our city’s culture and values,” he said. The commission should “send a signal today that we will no longer be a feeding ground for the rich.”

Prominent Oakland businessman Ray Bobbitt told commissioners, “Any decision that you make is a contribution to the systemic process that creates a disproportionate impact on Black people. Please do yourself a favor, (and) rethink this scenario. Give Mr. Pete, who is a leader in our community, an opportunity to set the framework before you make any decision.”

Though the City Council created the BAMBD, the 2016 resolution was never implemented. The district was created to “highlight, celebrate, preserve and support the contributions of Oakland’s Black artists and business owners and the corridor as a place central historically and currently to Oakland’s Black artists and Black-owned businesses.”

The district was intended to promote Black arts, political movements, enterprises, and culture in the area, and to bring in resources through grants and other funding.