December 15, 2008
MPD, WJLA Adopt 'Borderstan' Moniker
WJLA has a story about a recent uptick in the number of residential burglaries in the Dupont neighborhood — there have been at least eight burglaries in the area in the last week, and police are warning residents about thieves entering their homes through skylights and upper-floor windows via rooftops.
That's definitely news, but we couldn't help but notice that this story marks the first time we've seen a local news outlet officially call the area east of Dupont "Borderstan" without any further explanation. Earlier this month WJLA ran a similar story about an increase in armed robberies in the same area, but didn't use the "Borderstan" moniker. Some residents in the area surrounded by 14th and 16th Streets NW and P and S Streets NW have been pushing to get more police presence in their neighborhood, which is split between PSAs 307 and 208, by referring to the neighborhood as "Borderstan," but it's a totally made up name associated with this crime awareness movement. In this story, WJLA uses the name as though it is a regular neighborhood name. We're guessing, though, that the reporter probably used the name because Sgt. John McDonald of PSA 208 did the same thing in a recent release to the public about the burglaries.
So if the police are using the name and the media are repeating it, does that mean this is an official neighborhood name now?
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Isn't 14th and P better known as Logan Circle?
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Nope. It's not official until the Real Estate companies start using the name to sell overpriced homes. And I'm no marketing genius, but "Borderstan" doesn't quite sound like an appealing neighborhood to move into.
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All I know is that I have an urge to watch Campbell Brown on CNN. Weeknights at 8pm. No bias. No Bull.
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What do you want to watch her do?
Please let it involve uncut cucumbers and lots of Ranch Dressing.
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From now on, Shaw shall be referred to as PenisPenisVagina.
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Three ads. One page. Kinda overkill, no? And I know my overkill.
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Borderstan? Pffft. They wouldn't last five minutes down here in "Hitlerville," aka Terra Cotta. Otherwise, it's lampshade time!
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I prefer Hampsterdam
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Good to know tee vee news reads blogs to get their neighborhood names.
Apparently Cambell Brown is having a clearance sale of some kind. She would sell more news if she would take that jacket off and show some skin. Follow Anderson Coopers lead.
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It'll always be Stabbington-on-Swann to me.
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I'm with stmove. I'm boycotting Cambell Brown until she starts showing more cleavage. Enough to shoplift a book in. This is why I stopped watching "60 Minutes."
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So why is it that borderstan only runs from P to S/T area? The PSA border they are so freaked about runs all the way down to L... or do they not want to be associated with Thomas Circle?
Speaking of which, why isn't the area just considered Thomas Circle?
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Sommer, all DC neighborhood names are "totally made up name(s)." Recent neighborhood that are "totally made up" include Penn Quarter (called "Murder Bay" a long time ago, I think), NoMa, SoFlo, Gallery Place, and Atlas District. I refuse to acknowledge most of the new names, which are created by real estate developers and agents in the interest of making money.
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Isn't "Shaw" the generic name for every 50-50 ghetto/gentrified neighborhood in Northwest on that side of the Park?
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Actually, Murder Bay is what Federal Triangle used to be called. It was pretty much DC's red light district:
The Federal Triangle - bordered by Pennsylvania Ave., Constitution Ave., and 15th St - used to be known as "Murder Bay," the most notorious neighborhood in DC. It was later called "Hooker's Division" after the Civil War general responsible for the area.
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You can bet Campbell Brown would never be caught in a place called "Murder Bay." Because that's just how she rolls.
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Everyone knows that Hampsterdamn is in Bodymore, Murderland, no more caffeine. (And I am waiting for my family to give me the Wire boxed set for Christmas, or somebody's gonna get got.)
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I think Campbell Brown is hitting on me.
Oh, and what kind of girl is named "Campbell"?
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Maybe her parents liked soup. Lots and lots of soup. After that first year of marriage, they probably had little to talk about except the soup. That's when she decided that she wanted a baby of her own. That was the only way she could save the marriage. A child. A child named Campbell. Now, look at her today, plastered all over dcist, three times per page. That soup sure has come a long way
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You have to feel sorry for her brother, Progresso. Nobody pays any attention to him.
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LOL @ gmail!!!! I'm sure that will do wonders for property values in that area.
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the thing is, we could have a lot of borderstans....one everywhere there is a PSA border...
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NoMas NoMa ... puro pinche Swampoodle!
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¡sí!
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Deesee: I believe you must refuse to acknowledge all place names at this point. After all, Washington was once known as "that swampy spot full if injuns and miscreants" until some landowners wanting to make some money started it calling it Washington. Which they named after the original real estate "upgrader", our first President, aka Mr. "I shall now call this worthless lot Mt. Vernon." (He wanted to call it NoPo, but Martha laughed). Without place names I suggest you start a socialist revolution by referring to places only by their GPS coordinates.
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w00t! 38.91424, -77.02176 in the house! Suck on those salty ones biatches!
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but where is Hipster City?
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Hipster city is out of town of course. Actually no less than 200 miles out of town in any direction.
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@stmove: Both you and Deesee might be a little extreme in your tones, but I'm gonna have to say that Deesee is right for the most part. And quite honestly, we should all acknowledge that DC isn't the only (or first) city that this has happened to. People in the real estate industry have been making up neighborhood names -- and changing existing ones -- for many, many years. New York, taking into account ALL boroughs, is the capitol of all such places. It's an unfortunate reality that we just gotta kinda shrug off. But for the most part, DC's core neighborhoods have managed to keep their names. At least that's a good thing, no?
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blittle: google maps actually has the temerity to call the point at those coordinates you gave "seventh street park". really? that empty, fenced off lot is a park now? since effin' when?
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IMgoph: Not just any park, but a thriving dog park! Great condo opportunity. Close now! Units moving fast. Call: 202-123-4567. See our listings at: www.ParkPlaceLuxuryon7th.com
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Oh man, that Borat guy is crazy. But I've always wanted to visit Borderstan ever since seeing his movie.
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stmove: actually, that place is supposed to be the home to radio one, someday.
given the market, and the amount of time it has taken to break ground on that project, my guess would be never.
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Monkey said:
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@IMGoph That's lamely inaccurate. I thought it was supposed to be a library. Wasn't there a ground digging ceremony there last week?
I picked that spot b/c it's the location of the Shaw/Howard Univ. metro stop. Represent! I used Multimap.com b/c they have easy to find longitude and latitude listings on the bottom right hand corner.
And they have this awesome flash ad with cleavage that made me miss the glory hole days of the American Apparel ads on DCist. I dunno what gets me more tsk'd off, the American Apparel ads, the Campbell Brown ads or the fact that I'm now thinking about what Campbell looks like in a gold lame unitard.
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@IMGoph My comment to you was directed to what you wrote at 3:38 PM. my bad about any confusion.
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Borderstan? Ewwww, no.
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I think the reason the neighborhood known as Logan Circle is not known as Thomas Circle is because Logan is residential, whereas Thomas is mostly not, and also, Logan is more in the center of the neighborhood, whereas Thomas is at the southern border of the neighborhood.
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We Fremen have a saying: "God created Borderstan to train the faithful." One cannot go against the word of God.
And by "God" I mean "Satan."