Nauck Institution Forced to Relocate
By Jamie Stockwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 26, 2005
After 40 years in the same space -- a weary, seven-room brick and siding house on South Kenmore Street in the Nauck community -- neighborhood activist John Robinson isn't sure how to say goodbye. He doesn't want to, he said, but he has no choice.
At the end of the month, Robinson and the others who volunteer at the nonprofit Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center will relocate to another spot in Nauck, a historically black neighborhood in South Arlington. The building, along with the charred and gutted shell of an auto body shop next door, soon will be sold to a developer.
"I don't know, they'll probably put in a skating rink or something," Robinson, 70, said last week while seated inside his office, a messy room with two paper-strewn desks and crowded bookshelves. "It makes me sad to leave and we've got so much work to do, packing and such. I'm just concerned about the future because the poorer people have fewer places to go."
An Arlington County spokeswoman said the building where the center has been housed will become part of a broad neighborhood revitalization plan passed last summer by the County Board. The property, she said, will be razed to make way for a town square, the focal point of the proposed Nauck Village Center.
"The owners are willing owners. They want to sell to the county," said Diana Sun, adding that details of the sale will be finalized over the next couple of months. The Nauck Village Center plan covers the area bordered by Glebe Road to the north, the Shirlington Road bend to the south, and about one block east and west of Shirlington Road, including the intersection of Shirlington and South 24th roads, near where the center now sits.
Sun said the county has worked hard to find a place for the center. She said a property offered by Macedonia Baptist Church is a viable option, although the terms of the transfer and move were not immediately known.
Robinson must vacate the property by the end of the month, he said last week. He was living at the center until recently, although not legally, county officials said, because the property is not in compliance with various housing codes. For example, there are no bathing facilities in the building, a requisite for any housing unit.
The owner of the property could not be located for comment.
Since its creation, the center has offered services to the neighborhood's poor and homeless, including hot meals, donated clothing, recreational activities for the children and weekly support-group meetings. Most recently, the house has been the base for neighborhood Narcotics Anonymous gatherings.
Robinson started the center 40 years ago, in the mid-1960s, after hearing the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak and after traveling to Tennessee with other civil rights activists. He had the backing of local churches and, over time, the county.
"Our doors have been open 24/7. I couldn't get any sleep because there was always someone knocking saying, 'Mr. Robinson, can I have two dollars for the bus,' or, 'Mr. Robinson, can you help me get to the courthouse,' " he said, shaking his head. "Always somebody, and I've always been happy to help. It's what I do. It's all I do."
Nauck has long been considered one of Arlington's most stable communities, with well-attended churches and several minority-owned restaurants and shops. Singer Roberta Flack grew up there, as did Arlington's first black judge and other county officials. But like many neighborhoods in the region, it is on the cusp of change.
The center's $1,300 monthly rent -- paid for with regular donations from Lomax AME Zion Church, Our Lady of the Queen of Peace Church and St. John the Baptist Church -- was a steal in comparison with other nearby properties. In recent years, real estate values across the county have skyrocketed, and Nauck has been no exception. The assessed value of the average single-family home in the community rose 23 percent from 2002 to 2003 -- from $215,436 to $264,325 -- according to county assessment records. In the past year, home assessments in the county as a whole rose 24 percent, with the average assessed value of a single-family residence, which includes condominiums, reaching $458,200.
The owner of the property that has housed Robinson's community center wants to cash in on the hot market, a decision Robinson says he understands.
Christian Dorsey, a housing advocate who runs the Bonder and Amanda Johnson Community Development Corp. in Arlington, said his group is committed to helping Robinson find a new base for the center.
"We're certainly trying to provide a long-term solution for him so that the services will remain nearby," Dorsey said of his organization, which seeks to ensure that low-income residents aren't left out of the county's redevelopment boom.
"We hope to do it soon so he doesn't have to suspend the center's services because he won't have a place to hold them."
Inside his cramped office last week, Robinson -- a tall man with a tuft of gray-and-white hair and clothed in brown slacks, white sneakers and a long-sleeve gray T-shirt -- reminisced about the center's earlier days, of driving teenage residents to Florida to visit Disney World in the late 1960s, New York City in the 1970s, the District's museums in the 1980s and many other places in between.
"We've had a great time and it's been fun. It's not over, but I just hope we're able to offer the same kinds of services. Everyone knows where we're at," he said, adding that the center has been a campaign stop for many of the state's politicians, including Charles S. Robb, the former governor and U.S. senator. Photographs of Robb, as well as other county and state politicians, are taped to poster-size cardboard and tacked to various walls in the center.
Robinson already has moved from the center, where he has lived for several years. The county, he said, found him an efficiency in a high-rise building down the street. It takes only a few minutes to walk to the center, which he does every day. The center's supplies will be stored at his apartment or with other volunteers until the move is finalized.
Seated in the lobby last week -- a small room with a desk, two chairs and a television -- were Richard Anderson, 53, and Thomas Bishop, 42, two longtime Nauck residents who volunteer at the center. After hauling trash, including beaten and ripped furniture, papers and other broken items, the men ate lunch and watched the afternoon news.
"John just does so much for the community," Anderson said. "He's known by everybody, and I don't want to see him have to leave this place."
Bishop nodded, and agreed. "All sorts of changes happening these days," Bishop said, shaking his head.
