A Population Changes, Uneasily: Mass Transit based Gentrification in DC?

[thelakelander]

DC streetcar tracks being laid in H Street.

I came across an interesting article concerning gentrification from mass transit related economic redevelopment in Washington, DC.  Here are a few quotes.

On H Street, Pamela Johnson, an African-American who owns a small storefront building, said her property tax bill had more than tripled in the three and a half years since the city began building a streetcar system that she said she never wanted.

“This process was imposed on us, and now it’s driving us out of here,” said Ms. Johnson, sitting in a Jamaican restaurant on H Street, which now has new sidewalks, stylized street lamps and shiny streetcar tracks. “We see this as the city’s way of gentrifying these corridors.”

Some of these poorer residents saw revitalization as code for efforts to drive them out, and the building of dog parks and bike and streetcar lanes as efforts by affluent whites to re-arrange spending priorities to suit themselves. That perception surfaced during the Democratic primary last year and was used â€" many say unfairly â€" as a criticism of Adrian M. Fenty, who was then the mayor.

“Fenty did things that were attractive to white people,” Marion Barry said in an interview.

Similar anxieties sprung up on H Street last fall, during a failed attempt by the area’s majority-white neighborhood council to ban the sale of chicken wings in a newly opened 7-Eleven (the bones attract rats and choke dogs, they argued). Other restrictions, like leaving hair salons off the list of businesses eligible for future development assistance, strike Ms. Johnson as attempts to erase the traditional character of the neighborhood.

Anwar Saleem, a former city bus mechanic who owns a women’s hair salon on H Street, said the streetcar offered the promise of future profits. He wants support for older businesses, but said he was already planning for the future, changing the name of his salon from Hair Rage International to Salon on H.

“Do you want to sell what you want, or do you want to sell what people want to buy?” he said. “If you change your attitude, guess what? It will change your pocket.”

full article: http://www.theledger.com/article/20110717/ZNYT02/107173013?p=1&tc=pg

[JeffreyS]

Interesting, I will be in DC tomorrow for a few days has there been much progress on the streetcar infrastructure.

[peestandingup]

I heard a lot of this crap while I lived in DC, esp living on U Street (predominately black neighborhood, or at least it was 5 years ago). Felt liked reverse racism to me & that I was always being judged just because I wasn't black. We honestly just liked the neighborhood, like jazz (big jazz district there) & that was that.

I know that happens everywhere in a lot of urban areas that are making comebacks, but still. It came up a lot in DC & there was always a tenseness in the actual district.

Anyways, that streetcar will make everyone's lives better & will pick up a lot of the slack in the city where the Metro doesn't go. You really couldn't go 100% all out without a car in most of DC, but I bet you can now after this is completed.

But leave it to the bellyachers to turn this into something its not. Like I said, this will help everyone.

[JeffreyS]

You see it when water front property is developed as well.  You raise property values and then some of the previous residents can't afford the taxes.  I can see both sides on this.  You need to hedge against running everyone out of their neighborhood and keep making progress at the same time.

[JaxNative68]

After Marion Barry's past, how is he still relevant in DC?  I guess indulging in crack and prostitutes has become a good political move for some.

[Ocklawaha]

Interesting, but I'm sure we'll hear from JTA about this discovery. Stupid reason number 4,956,874,373 for why JACKSONVILLE can't build a streetcar.

Its also important to note that on all of the possible routes of our streetcar as it stands right now, no more then a small handful of residences would even be effected. Also, DC is funding this like many other city's have with a special "streetcar district tax." This is something we should never need for construction since we have the mobility plan and frankly if we did kick in a special district with as few residences as their are along our route we could easily exempt private home owners.

OCKLAWAHA