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Is there anyway we can create a timeline of the gentrification process in DC by neighborhood?
The purpose of this thread is not to discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of gentrification, which has been discussed ad nauseum in this forum.
Where and when did it start? Where is it now? Where is it going?
georgetown, the 1940s. Prior to that the affluent were moving OUT from the center. Thats the first return to the center that I know of (leaving aside "improvements" that may have displaced folks, but wouldnt I think have been recognizable as "gentrification" in the modern sense)
Is there anyway we can create a timeline of the gentrification process in DC by neighborhood?
The purpose of this thread is not to discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of gentrification, which has been discussed ad nauseum in this forum.
Where and when did it start? Where is it now? Where is it going?
Like others have pointed out Georgetown use to be a very blue collar, industrial, shipping port area but really started to change it's image in the 1940's or so. Other areas like Mt. Pleasant use to be predominately populated by upper middle class whites about 150 years ago but as the neighborhood transformed it became more populated with other ethnicities and people with less money. Today that neighborhood is reverting back to a wealthier population once again. Same thing is happening around the H St. corridor.. To answer your questions:
Where and when did it start? It has been around as long as DC has existed
Where is it now? Geographically I'd say NE DC
Where is it going? My prediction is East of the Anacostia. Gentrification is like a living organism that has always existed and will always continue to exist but just transforming itself into different areas. People on both sides of the fence love to say "How dare THOSE people move into OUR neighborhood" but usually they are just short sighted and don't look back far enough to realize THIER neighborhood didn't always belong to THEM. I suppose if people want to look at it that way we are all Gentrifiers on Native American land but hell I bet they even had disputes between tribes about whose area was whose.
My hope is that"gentrifying" neighborhoods do more to benefit the less wealthy who already inhabit these areas through programs like establishing rent controlled housing and so fourth to help spread the wealth. To oppose gentrification is to promote a separation of the classes and I don't think that is healthy.
gentrification is nothing but cheap rich people buying
up and bidding out poorer neighborhoods because
they have economic power over them. instead of
helping the people from these areas, they're evicting
them from the neighborhood. nothing good can come
from that in the long run. it's just a matter of how long
the run will last.
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