We’ve used the power of blogging to get potholes fixed, so why not use it to spur some local development? At least that’s what one blogger and Shaw resident is looking to do. The anonymous blogger behind Off Seventh — My Chronicles of Shaw is sick and tired of seeing properties in the fast-growing neighborhood boarded up and undeveloped, and he wants do something about it. He writes:

My wife and I were heading to Whole Foods this morning and I got to thinking. Walking past The Marion Street Flats and the new building on the corner of 10th and Rhode Island…there are ALOT of people who are working to fix some of the eyesores in the neighborhood. But there are some who sit in their Fairfax/Montgomery County homes McMansions and wait until they can make maximum dollars. I have NOTHING wrong with making cash off of your investment…but when you keep it as a slum I have a problem with you.

To that end, the blog has kicked of a new feature, “Slum of the Week,” that will highlight a property in the area whose owner has done little or nothing to fix the place up, leaving it instead as an abandoned eyesore. His first featured slum is located at 819 Q Street NW, and is apparently owned by a Georgetown businessman.

Not to sound like doubters — we do like this idea, after all — but we’re hoping that our Shaw-based blogger does his research. After all, not all abandoned properties in the neighborhood are owned by money-grubbing suburbanites looking for the quickest buck. Given the number of obstacles many property owners have to jump through before they put their investment to use — ANCs, zoning commission hearings, and any other number of bureaucratic hoops — it might be that converting that old townhouse into a sellable condo or useable business is a little tougher than expected. Then again, we continually hear rumors that some of the properties in the area are owned by powerful local churches (Shiloh Baptist Church keeps coming up), so we’re curious to see what our intrepid friend discovers.

He needs help, too, so if there’s one unused property in Shaw that really grinds your gears, let him know.

Picture snapped by OffSeventh