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I was the person who started the above thread. For the past two weeks or so, I've been extensively browsing CL and I think I've found two good leads. Both in Columbia Heights - or close to there.
OPTION 1:
- $1,230
- row house with two roommates
- Lower Irving Street
OPTION 2:
- $1350, all utilities included
- 1 roommate, own bathroom
- 14th street and clifton
The last neighborhood-specific post about the area was in 2008 according to a quick search, so I thought I would start a new one.
The area has a great walkability score (which is great for car-less former New Yorker like me). I'm just curious about the area as a whole these days. Someone told me that depending on the block it was not the safest option.
DC is not particularly safe. Areas like CH - which are gentrifying but still have a lot of poverty - probably have similar crime rates to Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and areas like that in Brooklyn. Also, unlike in NYC, the crime is much more likely to affect the gentrifier demographic. Muggings and random street beatdowns are much more common in DC - even in the wealthier parts - than in most of NYC.
Personally, when it comes to safety I've always felt the situation is rather better in Mt. Pleasant than in Columbia Heights. Still, the more-or-less safeish zone in CH has moved steadily eastward in recent years at a pretty fast clip.
Btw, 14th St between roughly Florida and Irving has always been rougher than 14th St below or above that point. There's a lot of public housing in the area and the attendant crime that goes with it. Unless things have changed drastically in the past year or so (since I was last in the area visiting friends) I'd steer clear of those blocks.
I'm not sure what you mean by "Lower" Irving - down towards North Capitol?
The Clinton address is a tough one. That is generally in the zone between U Street and Columbia Heights that I would avoid. But, development has been pushing up 14th, so it is far better than 5 years ago. Right now there is nothing big U/C in that area, so it probably won't change dramatically in then next 2 years though. At night I wouldn't recommend walking up north to Columbia Heights. It is not as heavily trafficked and there is little retail and lots of garden style public housing. But, it is probably OK to walk south, once you go a block or two down to Florida Ave you should be fine. I would be cautious on the side streets, but 14TH street south of Florida has enough people around that the chance or being jumped a pretty minimal.
It would be helpful to know where you lived in NYC? As was pointed out above, this is like living in Bed-Stuy or Bushwick. Maybe even worse if this website is to be believed. Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed. You chance of being murdered are pretty much nada, but people will be getting shot/stabbed in the area on a somewhat regular basis and muggings and robberies will be more of a concern than they would be in probably 95% of US neighborhoods.
I am going to go against some points of the above posters, but agree on others.
1. Being a gentrifier does not put one at greater risk, it puts one at less risk. The overwhelming super-majority of crime victims in DC happen to be poor. This includes muggings and assualts. It is non-violent crimes which are more impacted, ie car break ins do happen. But those happen in multiple places. In general gentrifiers are avoided because they are more likely to report and testify for crimes. Basically it is guaranteed prison sentence. The gentry do not go by a no-snitching rule, just the opposite and as such they tend to be avoided save for petty theft and pick pocketing (the ladder of which is not pervasive). This is going by crime stats of who victims are, and for what crimes.
2. Columbia heights is actually very gentrified at this point, though more so north of the metro than immediately south.
3. BUT it's also a central meeting place for the entire city in every race and class, so it has far more foot traffic which drives the higher crime stats.
4. It's relatively safe considering what it is.
5. But it is relatively block dependent. I will agree there is an area north of U st and south of the Columbia Heights that is a little more sketchy.
6. There are places outside of Columbia heights with high walk scores which are both cheaper and safer. Walkable neighborhoods are common in the DC area. Columbia heights is kind of a headache beyond the crime thing.
Columbia heights is a central commercial district in DC and it's highest density neighborhood. I think there are better areas of DC to live in, at the same time I know others who love it.
1. Being a gentrifier does not put one at greater risk, it puts one at less risk. The overwhelming super-majority of crime victims in DC happen to be poor. This includes muggings and assualts.
That isn't what I was trying to say. I mean that, assuming one falls into the "gentrifier" demographic, your chances of being attacked in DC are orders of magnitude greater than your chances as part of the same demographic in NYC. There is a *lot* more random street crime in DC than in NYC.
Just anecdotally, I know several people who have been held up at gunpoint in Foggy Bottom, downtown DC, places like that... and that's leaving places like CH, Shaw, Petworth out of the equation entirely. A female grad school friend was sucker-punched by kids in Capitol Hill in the middle of the afternoon - they didn't try to steal anything from her, just wanted to beat up a white person. In NYC, I don't know a single person who's been the victim of a violent crime in the past decade - and I know lots of people who live in semi-sketchy Brooklyn.
For what is worth, there was a shooting last night at the corner of 14th and V. Last week there was a stabbing on that same corner. This is on the better part of 14th street south of Florida. So yeah, that just gives you some flavor of what it will be like in that area. There are far worst neighborhoods out there, but 14th between U and Columbia Heights isn't exactly the safest.
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