Congress Heights, in Washington D.C., has suffered decades of neglect. Now, city planners and activists want to transform it into a mixed-use, mixed-income success story. What if it doesn't work? What if it works too well?
"...as D.C. invests millions in new developments like the events pavilion and tech center at St. Elizabeths East, as Millennials begin to look east of the river for inexpensive housing, should we also be worried about the negative effects of growth?" asks Rachel Kaufman in a post for Elevation DC.
"Congress Heights isn't going to turn into 14th Street overnight. But everyone's watching to see what it will turn into."
"It's the same story that's played out all over the city. Neighborhoods scarred by rioting in the 1960s--neighborhoods where dealers sold crack in broad daylight--are unrecognizable now. 14th Street, once a hotbed of drugs and prostitution, got a Whole Foods 14 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history. Formerly sleepy 'streetcar suburbs' like Petworth and Brookland are now heaven for house flippers. In other words, as everyone knows, you take the good with the bad. The decline in crime and drugs accompanies rising rents and home prices. Increased amenities--a better grocery store, a neighborhood bar or restaurant, nicer bus routes--threaten small businesses and affordable housing. It's a balancing act, and one that not many cities, D.C. included, are particularly good at."
"And in Congress Heights? 'There's huge concern [about gentrification] within the residents of the area, definitely,' says Evelyn Kasongo, Ward 8 Neighborhood Planning Coordinator for the Office of Planning."
FULL STORY: The past, present and future of Congress Heights
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