My OperaRedistricting. Again.
Friday, June 10, 2011 2:35:58 PM
The editor dropped over to OneCup yesterday to get a Breakfast BLT. (The "Breakfast" means egg as well.) The DC Midcity was there. It's free. Done by the same people who do the Hill Rag and a couple of other free weeklies.
There was a column in it called "the Nose" entitled "Redistricting, It's a White Wash!" It had the usual drivel about how Evans is a racist and is picking on everyone. In it the editor learned that there are census "tracks". Perhaps like the Mommy and fast tracks. The editor found the logic intractable.
Something has happened over the twenty years or so, with emphasis on the last ten: The central city is getting built out. It added thousands of people while the rest of DC was relatively stable, although Ward 6 is obviously getting seriously built up with high rises too. If one looks at the condos and coops on Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues and side streets, one can see where Ward 3 did the "built out" thing in the 90's. Hence, the ceding of 2 precincts to Ward 4 at the top and Georgetown to Ward 2 before that.
The gentrification of Logan Circle began in the 70's and the gentrification of the Blagden Alley and Naylor Court environs began in earnest in the early 80's. That doesn't mean population increase, but the renovation of (often abandoned) housing. With the accompanying decline in drug dealing and murder in the territory, it became safe to build the available zoning envelope. That is, a lot of condos and multi-unit rentals. That's the population spike relative to the rest of DC. That's mostly over.
One of the reasons for the initial gentrification is that renovation-possible housing was cheap and close to the core of the town. That housing is no longer cheap. Ward 6 is no longer cheap. That leaves Ward 5. The gentrifiers over there are paving the way for a possible spike a la Ward 2 in the 00's. It's getting safer. It's close. Who knows, in 10 years Truxton Circle may be in Ward 4.
The editor should not make development predictions, however. In the late 70's, when he was on the Foggy Bottom ANC (Chair two years, Treasurer two years, future wife, same thing) he was involved in serious development issues with a major player called George Washington University. At one of the meetings, their lead zoning lawyer Norman Glasgow (Sr) carefully explained to the young semi-politician that serious building had to occur in the GWU area since no development would ever occur east of Sixteenth Street. Glasgow was a straight shooter, and that is what he really believed. Look at where we all are now.
There was a column in it called "the Nose" entitled "Redistricting, It's a White Wash!" It had the usual drivel about how Evans is a racist and is picking on everyone. In it the editor learned that there are census "tracks". Perhaps like the Mommy and fast tracks. The editor found the logic intractable.
Something has happened over the twenty years or so, with emphasis on the last ten: The central city is getting built out. It added thousands of people while the rest of DC was relatively stable, although Ward 6 is obviously getting seriously built up with high rises too. If one looks at the condos and coops on Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues and side streets, one can see where Ward 3 did the "built out" thing in the 90's. Hence, the ceding of 2 precincts to Ward 4 at the top and Georgetown to Ward 2 before that.
The gentrification of Logan Circle began in the 70's and the gentrification of the Blagden Alley and Naylor Court environs began in earnest in the early 80's. That doesn't mean population increase, but the renovation of (often abandoned) housing. With the accompanying decline in drug dealing and murder in the territory, it became safe to build the available zoning envelope. That is, a lot of condos and multi-unit rentals. That's the population spike relative to the rest of DC. That's mostly over.
One of the reasons for the initial gentrification is that renovation-possible housing was cheap and close to the core of the town. That housing is no longer cheap. Ward 6 is no longer cheap. That leaves Ward 5. The gentrifiers over there are paving the way for a possible spike a la Ward 2 in the 00's. It's getting safer. It's close. Who knows, in 10 years Truxton Circle may be in Ward 4.
The editor should not make development predictions, however. In the late 70's, when he was on the Foggy Bottom ANC (Chair two years, Treasurer two years, future wife, same thing) he was involved in serious development issues with a major player called George Washington University. At one of the meetings, their lead zoning lawyer Norman Glasgow (Sr) carefully explained to the young semi-politician that serious building had to occur in the GWU area since no development would ever occur east of Sixteenth Street. Glasgow was a straight shooter, and that is what he really believed. Look at where we all are now.
Unregistered user # Tuesday, June 14, 2011 7:34:57 PM