"And I will be damned if people outside my neighborhood come in and do something that affects my property value by worsening the parking situation,” says Laurie Collins, head of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance. (Because some in the pro-music group are renters. . .Collins considers them "outsiders.") (Post 4/12/07 ). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/04/11/AR2007041102268.html

"Laurie Collins, a 20-year Mount Pleasant resident and president of the MPNA, is skeptical about Hear Mount Pleasant’s commitment to the neighborhood, suggesting their membership is comprised of people who will likely move within a few years. "You have to consider who are Mount Pleasant residents," she says. http://www.capitalcommunitynews.com/publications/dcnorth/2007_March/html/Ward1.cfm

My family moved to Mt. Pleasant two years ago so I could become the executive director of a year-long service program related to the Lutheran church. My spouse teaches at a family literacy program housed at Bancroft Elementary. Our daughter is a 4th grader at Bancroft and is one of the school’s spokespeople. Our son attends a neighborhood preschool at which both my spouse and I volunteer. Our housemate is a DC librarian and a member of the neighborhood food co-op. And we are renters. Renters in Mt. Pleasant have been neighborhood business owners, school leaders, community safety leaders, religious leaders and environmental activists. Many of us have contributed significantly to this neighborhood as renters and homeowners.

We don’t all agree about live music in our neighborhood. However, Collin’s comments verge on xenophobia and are a severe detriment to community building. I can almost hear leaders of the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance saying, "But we’re not talking about you, Mike." Then who are they talking about? Without neighbors that rent like my family does, I’m pretty confident that Collins and the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance would be damned to a neighborhood much less vibrant and valuable than Mt. Pleasant currently is.

Rev. Michael D. Wilker is the Executive Director of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.

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