WaPost:As gentrification transforms D.C., one storefront sign captures the tension

[Zguy28]

As gentrification transforms D.C., one storefront sign captures the tension

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gentrification-rent-increases-change-landscape-of-dc-neighborhoods/2015/04/12/4e3c5b88-df8f-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html

 

D.C. native Latosha Jackson-Martin wants the sign she posted outside her father’s 50-year-old hair salon in Bloomingdale to remind residents that the neighborhood they see today isn’t what it used to be.

“Due to ‘gentrification’ and mixed emotions Jak and Company Hairdressers will be closing,” reads the blunt message.

That controversial buzzword, gentrification, speaks to a tension pervading the city: How do longtime businesses survive when the neighborhoods they have long served are rapidly becoming wealthier, younger and whiter?

 

Rest at link

 

[Mursilis]

I don't get the anger against gentrification.  If an urban neighborhood isn't blighted, it's probably going to be expensive.  Lots of people want to live in the city, and that's going to drive up costs.  It's just basic economics.  Is Detroit-style urban blight somehow preferable? 

[Kosher Ham]

I don't really have a problem with it ( the sign ).

Nor do I have a problem with building nicer and safer communities in DC.

 

Want to read about Georgetown ? How about 14th St., China Town, how about the U St. and Adams Morgan area ?

[zoony]

I don't get the anger against gentrification.  If an urban neighborhood isn't blighted, it's probably going to be expensive.  Lots of people want to live in the city, and that's going to drive up costs.  It's just basic economics.  Is Detroit-style urban blight somehow preferable?

White guilt

Nothing more to it really

[twa]

I don't get the anger against gentrification.  If an urban neighborhood isn't blighted, it's probably going to be expensive.  Lots of people want to live in the city, and that's going to drive up costs.  It's just basic economics.  Is Detroit-style urban blight somehow preferable? 

 

being forced out from increases in rents or taxes or just a landords different vision for the future could suck.

 

People get comfortable and resist change, but adapt or leave is your option.

[Kosher Ham]

Everyone's situation is different. When I bought my condo in DC... I already knew about the Caps/Bullets arena being built, I knew about the convention center.  I stacked up. 

My mortgage was only 900 a month, including reserved underground parking, my girlfriend and I lived walking distance from both of our jobs.  Then I sold.

 

It was a wonderful investment.

[Zguy28]

When I talked to my mother about this topic, she was happy that the city is changing again. But she is white, and grew up in the 40's & 50's in Anacostia. She moved out in the 60's "white flight" to the suburbs. It's sort of like things are going in a cycle.

[heyholetsgogrant]

I live in Bloomingdale neighborhood and I agree with both sides on this issue.  But at the end of the day communities change over time, like Anacostia. However, the only people in the Bloomingdale neighborhood that speak with me are those who have been living there for 20 years plus. The newer residents pretend they don't see you, have their head down in their iphones, and think their **** doesn't stink. Having a general conversation with a neighbor is something I miss growing up in the suburbs. 

[Riggo#44]

When I talked to my mother about this topic, she was happy that the city is changing again. But she is white, and grew up in the 40's & 50's in Anacostia. She moved out in the 60's "white flight" to the suburbs. It's sort of like things are going in a cycle.

 

My mom used to tell stories about that. She grew up in the same area. I almost want to buy down close to Nats park, condos are going in for the low-to-mid 200's...

[No Excuses]

The alternative is that DC continues to have neighborhoods with low economic value.

Right now, people with a lot of money are increasing the tax revenue coming in and improving the city. It is what it is.

I think accessibility plays a large part in this. I work in DC and don't use a car. Now I'm relocating into the city this week from NoVA so I can walk to my research center. Sure the rent sucks, but I make much better use of my time when I dont have to sit in traffic for hours each day. And that is the case for a lot of yuppies moving in. People don't realize but most people in my age group are doing multiple things outside of work and have side projects etc. ain't nobody got the time to sit on I-66 and 395 after work.

[Kosher Ham]

Man, I remember going to the Stadium-Armory Metro station to see the circus or a game back in the day and it was sad. Even parking there...had to make sure I drove the beater. Crack heads, dealers, and cops. Hated that part of the game experience.

 

I haven't been around RFK in quite a while though.

Yeah Vishal, that and the taxes on cars in VA.

 

The only reason we had cars was to go other places, walked to work nearly every day and moved faster than traffic with an umbrella most days.

 

I hate traffic.

[No Excuses]

With uber on everyone's phone, it makes no sense to live in the city and own a car. where I'm moving everything is in walking distance. Plus with the metro extending to Tysons and Reston, the few times I'll have to enter the cluster**** that is Norther VA, I can take a quick 20 minute train ride. It takes about 20 minutes sometimes just to go a 1.5 miles on I66.

With more people with higher income moving into DC, it sucks for the people who've lived their forever, but DC is changing and no one can honestly say its for the worst.

[Duckus]

This was pretty big a few weeks ago. Someone put "Whites Only" stickers all over businesses on east side Austin as a commentary on gentrification. 

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/19/whites-only-stickers-austin_n_6904296.html

[Kosher Ham]

Absolutely.

 

Build up the neighborhoods.

Major cities...even sometimes in the burbs it just makes sense to use public transportation or walk.

 

Sometimes I would just call a cab when weather was really bad.

 

I love how the areas around 14th street and China Town have developed.

I get that people have lived there forever too. Yet I agree with twa as far as adapt or leave.

 

Know a guy that lived in an upscale part of town in a crappy apartment complex. They sold...he was forced to leave. Didn't need a car because he lived across the street from his job.  Transit system is not like a major city, I can not imagine living here without a car.

[RonArtest15]

Miss me with not having a car.  LOL.  To each his own, but as someone who grew up in NYC, I think it's a damn hassle NOT to have one.  Trust me, I relied on public transportation plenty, but for running errands, amongst other things, I wouldn't change a thing about living in a city and owning a car. 

 

*edit*

 

As far as the article, I think this goes hand-in-hand with the housing issues in PG county (There was an amazing 3 part WaPo story on PGs housing issues earlier this year).  A lot of people being forced out in DC due to gentrification and are relocating to PG.  Schools are getting worse and home values are plummeting. 

 

It's probably worth making into a thread, if it hasn't been already....but here are the links to the stories, if you're interested in reading:

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

[The Evil Genius]

The downside is that, from a city and/or transportation planner perspective, the lower income areas are really just being displaced. The people moving out aren't usually landowners so they aren't striking it rich when their properties double in price. Rather, they are moving farther and farther away from their jobs - meaning more and more trips.

 

And these are the people that you really want to get away from making trips since they often are the ones making single occupancy car trips. Especially if transit is primarily only located (or highly accessible) around the city they are having to move away from.

[ixcuincle]

Modernize everything up in this ****

Gentrification good

[Duckus]

I don't get the anger against gentrification.  If an urban neighborhood isn't blighted, it's probably going to be expensive.  Lots of people want to live in the city, and that's going to drive up costs.  It's just basic economics.  Is Detroit-style urban blight somehow preferable? 

 

 

White guilt

Nothing more to it really

 

Zoony - don't you live in rural TN? Not sure you are the expert on this specific topic.....

 

Gentrification is complicated. Its not all good. It is not all bad. Like most things it has a ton of grey areas.

 

I bought a house 4 years ago in a traditional black part of Austin - east Austin. It was actually the part of Austin that african americans were forced to live during segregation. My house is about 2 miles from the center of downtown. When Austin housing market exploded, my area was ground zero. My house has DOUBLED in value in those 4 years - from $250k to around 500k. When we moved it was diverse. My wife is now the only black person left on our street. 

 

Having middle class and upper class families move into a low income area and "improve it" can be positive. Everyone wants less crime and better neighborhoods. But they as want to preserve the history and culture of where they live. Many people in these "poor" areas have been there for multiple generations.

 

How many of you are adamant the Redskins should keep their name? Why? Because it is history. It means something to you. That is how some people feel about their neighborhood. Yea, It might have problems but it is what they love. When they see house after house torn down for a new duplex or condo priced way out of their range - it can anger folks and make them feel like they are losing something.

 

As values increase so do property taxes. Old residents on fixed incomes see their property taxes (or their rent) jump several thousand a year and it becomes impossible to stay. Small business suddenly see their rents double and are forced to close.  

 

When an area quickly gentrifies there is a LOT of money to be made. Again, that can be a positive. But a lot of times it gets ugly fast. Developers are like sharks and they prey on uneducated and poor families who live in these areas to quickly turn a profit.

 

I get an offer to sell my house daily. Sometimes aggressively. Poor and minority owners are heavily targeted by these folks. Constantly pressured to sell. Combine that pressure with rising property taxes and some people are "forced" to sell and just move somewhere else. 

 

This story got national attention - but last month a pinata store in a hispanic part of town that is rapidly gentrifying was torn down overnight. It is kind of the poster child for how aggressive gentrification can be.

 

http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/demolished-east-austin-pi%C3%B1ata-shop-new-center-austins-gentrification-debate

 

 

For the past eight years, Jumpolin owners Monica and Sergio Lejarazu have been selling piñatas and other party supplies from their shop on Cesar Chavez.

Tuesday morning, Sergio Lejarazu drove by and saw the crews tearing down the business—with everything still inside.

“I don’t know what happened because we don’t receive any information about the demolition,” Monica Lejarazu said.

The building that houses Jumpolin had been sold to new owners in October 2014. Although the store had two years left on its lease, investors in East Austin typically don’t buy the increasingly expensive property there in order to keep low-margin piñata shops alive. So it seemed almost inevitable that the new owners would at some point bulldoze the longstanding business in order to flip the property into something that would make them a lot more money. 

The optics of this reality, however, look terrible, and news of the piñata shop’s destruction quickly resonated throughout Austin and beyond. 

 

The owner who bulldozed the store then followed up with this gem....

 

“Say you have a house that was infested by roaches,” French described it. “You have to clean that up.”

 

[Mad Mike]

White guilt

Nothing more to it really

 

Well there is the part about life getting more difficult for the poor people who are forced out of their neighborhoods.

 

This is one of those cases where I respect both sides of the issue.

[Major Harris]

This happens in some way or another everywhere. Where I live, our close proximity to DMV and low housing costs mean people move here, build much larger homes and the market has increased to where many who grew up here can't afford it anymore. Adapt or move

[China]

ain't nobody got the time to sit on I-66 and 395 after work.

 

Except for the 10s of thousands of people that do it each day.

[Xameil]

I feel bad for the people that live there and don't want to move...isn't that why NYC has rent controlled buildings?

Businesses I have less sympathy for. If the area around you is changing, then tweek your business. The article itself says that one of the other businesses did that and they aren't having to close.

This happens to businesses all the time. If your business is going to close because the "white people" don't want their hair cut there, then find a way to make it appealing for ALL people to want to go there.

[Kilmer17]

It seems like the sign is complaining that gentrification is making them close.  That's not accurate.  Market forces are making them close.  Gentrification is what will happen after the market sets the prices.  If the hair salon was losing clients because their target demographic moved away, THAT would be gentrification.  But that's not what the article is saying at all.

 

It's a buzz word.  But not really applicable here.

[Riggo-toni]

So in short...

White folks were a bunch whiney racist vaginal cavities for fleeing urban areas for the suburbs and leaving the cities with little or no tax revenue.

And now, white people are a bunch of selfish anal orifices for moving back and bringing all that money back into the cities. Damn them all....damn them all to hell!

[CrypticVillain]

I think of out of all the people who regularly post here in The Tailgate, I'm probably one of the people who can tell you the impact that gentrification is having in the city... 

 

Some of you may know I live a stones throw away from Nats Park; in James Creek Dwellings. If you've been to a game, you might have accidently rolled through there. It's honestly not that bad of a neighborhood. I mean yeah, there are shootings, drugs, etc., but with it being so close to not only Nationals Park, but also the First District Police station, it's not as bad of one of the more notorious neighborhoods. For 22 years I was on Half St SW, last year I moved around the corner so I am sort of deeper in the development, but it's still okay.

 

I don't know how much longer James Creek, and the other surrounding area's have left. We just got a paper from the rental office saying that DCHA is losing money and they don't have the money to make repairs, or something like that. And not only that, the dwelling is sitting on some very lucrative land man. I can't even imagine what developers would do if they can get that land.

 

As far as a lot of people moving in the area with higher income, I can respect that. Look, DC is full of opportunity for a lot of people. If they want to live here, and make it a better place, I don't see why not.

 

Now, that's easy for me to say because I have a good job and, by myself, even right now, I'm hovering around the average American income. To quote our beloved Clinton Portis, my pockets are straight. And I do feel sorry for those who aren't as fortunate as I am. I would hate to see my neighbor have to find somewhere else to live after living in The Creek for 50 years. But that's just how it's going to go down.

 

This will probably be the harshest thing I've ever said on ES, but it's at the point that you either will have to parish or adapt. It's very sad, but it's the honest truth.