THREAD/ Since 'Columbia Heights' is uh, trending nationally, this seems like a good time to talk about Columbia Heights the neighborhood - its history, and how it's situated in the context of neighborhood change and gentrification in DC
Columbia Heights has a tendency to confound typical frameworks around gentrification. One example in microcosm: from the outside this building right by the metro looks like any other nouveau-yuppie fare - it's actually 100% permanent supportive housing for the formerly homeless.
It's maybe too generous to call Columbia Heights "stably integrated," but unlike many adjacent neighborhoods, every major racial and ethnic group in DC comprises at least 10% of the population there, and none of them constitute a majority. That's far rarer than it should be.
Though there are definitely 'sectors' of Columbia Heights where different socioeconomic groups tend to cluster, you also see totally gonzo-expensive condos next to public housing. This extends to commerce, too - Bad Saint and IHOP are only 3ish blocks from each other
The '68 uprising left a lot of Columbia Heights in ruins. Racism & disinvestment caused that uprising and continued disinvestment let the area stay that way. In the decades after, local residents - many of which were associated w/ SNCC - came up with plans for revitalization.
If we went into the full history this thread would be 1000 tweets long. But plans actually mostly came to be - the Metro was rerouted a few blocks west to be closer to the area affected by the fires, DCUSA became a thing, and a bunch of affordable housing was built or maintained.
Units are at risk of losing subsidy, and displacement of residents and businesses still occurred. But to put Columbia Heights and, say, Navy Yard in the same sentence does a disservice to that grassroots work & the residents of affordable housing that still very much live there.
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