Exploring H. Street Corridor’s Gentrification

https://live.staticflickr.com/5145/5621185795_eb0e8cdc0f_b.jpg

SNEHA PURI: In H. Street Corridor—a neighbourhood in Northeast Washington, DC—lay the crumbled remains of a two-storey family health centre, the remnants of a historic strip mall constructed to keep shoppers safe during a period of high crime rates and a hip taqueria that had pushed out a tiny, blue-and-white carryout restaurant.

In 2003, Mayor Anthony A. Williams said he wanted to revitalize the H. Street Corridor and announced, among other projects, the establishment of a streetcar to connect the area with the rest of the city. This led to a surge in retail outlets in anticipation of increased traffic in the neighbourhood. Such redevelopment plans often lead to gentrification, as wealthier people move in while housing is still affordable, predicting property rates would increase. These areas then attract new businesses and better housing, which contributes to a surge in cost of living for the locals and the gradual disappearance of longstanding businesses.

Rechristened as the Atlas District during this period of revitalization, the H. Street Corridor used to be a predominantly black area and one of the city’s most popular commercial hubs, lined with high-grossing retail stores and popular diners in the mid-1900s. However, violent confrontations between the locals and the police during the 1968 civil rights movement devastated the neighbourhood. What followed was decades of disinvestment that led to high crime rates, increased drug usage and underdevelopment.

Jake Palley, a Caucasian man, has been living in the area for almost three years. His partner, Sebastian Grajales, who is Latino, moved in with him a couple of months ago. They both believe that gentrification, particularly in this neighbourhood, is a double-edged sword. While crime rates and drug infestation have reduced, locals who have been living in this area are being displaced as they can no longer afford their rent or property taxes.

“From what I have heard from neighbours walking by, they are really happy about the change. They told me that before, it was an open-air drug market and now, it feels safer to them,” Palley explained, “I feel very safe where I am.”

The difference in the layout of older and newer restaurants in the neighbourhood is also an indication of the improvement in crime rates. Comparing Tony’s breakfast, carryout restaurant established in the late 20th century, to Bullfrog Bagels, another breakfast chain that opened in 2014, Grajales explained that newer diners are more likely to have seating on the premises, while older chains were typically takeout because it used to be unsafe to have seating available inside the restaurants due to altercations between owners and the unruly customers.

Grajales also spoke about the negative stigma associated with those who consume drugs in the area, highlighting that it does not correspond to crime or violence.

Referring to Starburst Plaza, a common place in the locality for drug usage and selling, Grajales said “there is a part of my street where usually people go have drugs, and as a so-called outsider, I used to think that's unsafe. But a couple of weeks ago, we were walking past them, and we said ‘hi’, and they replied ‘hey, have a good day.’”

 “Now, even when I see people consuming drugs while I am walking across the neighbourhood, I greet them and they are super nice to me. The stigma is stronger than the reality,” Grajales said, “these people usually gather there because that's just their space that they have had for decades. It does not make them criminals.”

The main downside of gentrification, Palley and Grajales said, is that property rates have risen dramatically over the past few decades.

As neighbourhoods become safer, cleaner and more developed, lower-income residents who have been living there for decades and built a community can no longer afford to live there anymore, which begs the question of who benefits and who suffers from these changes.

“I don’t like it,” said Edward Hackney, an African American man who lives in the neighbourhood, “because what does it mean for people living here?” He currently has temporary housing arrangements as he figures out an affordable place to move to. “They are moving us out, and the place that we are going to, is it good for us as Black folks?”

Eddie Brack, a black man who frequently shops at the Safeway in the popular Hechinger mall in Atlas, further described how such displacement “means that they are further away from their jobs.” He urged that “the city needs to do more for people that are displaced because it was their home before outsiders came in.”

Granted, the city has introduced schemes to mitigate the negative impact on locals. Palley gave the example of the Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) Program, which requires new residential developments to include some affordable housing units. Though not nearly enough to meet the demand, it is a step in the direction of assisting locals who are disadvantaged by gentrification.

The mass arrival of new eateries and businesses has also led to the closure of local, black-owned businesses and facilities in the neighbourhood.

“We had a childcare facility two weeks ago. Now, it is completely demolished,” Grajales said, referring to the very recently bulldozed Developing Families Centre.

Kashawna, a black woman who lives in the neighbourhood, explained, “that’s where I used to go to my doctor’s. They have moved up the street now because the owner has sold the property,” She said she preferred the old location due to its easy accessibility for all residents in the area. but now everyone has to travel further away for the same facilities. As of this moment, it is not clear what new development is coming in its place, but Palley suspects there would be luxury apartments built there too.

Referring to this closure, Grajales expressed that if he were a local he would “feel bad because day-by-day, you see more people coming who push you out.” However, he maintained that this is part of the process of development; in big cities with rapid development, neighbourhoods frequently witness locals being displaced.

“One day, we would be moved out of this neighbourhood too.”

Sneha Puri is a staff writer for On the Record, focusing on American politics, policies, and elections. Currently a first-year Master of Public Policy student, she is originally from Hong Kong and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.