Help me understand Columbia Heights

[Anonymous]

Today I was in Columbia Heights near the Metro station. A quick Trulia search tells me that small condos are listed in the 400's and the prices just go up from there. A home in the vicinity is 600, 700, or even 900K. Yet, the area seems to have a high economically disadvantaged population. I found the number of seemingly down on their luck men outside the Potbelly to be heartbreaking. There was a man sleeping on the sidewalk. Why are there both high real estate prices and poverty so concentrated together in this area?

[Anonymous]

There has been a lot of development that went along with the Target shopping center being built.

Prior to that, the area was a lot lower income.

[Anonymous]

gentrification isn't complete

[Anonymous]

Same downtown. Same in NYC. Poor people are in the cities as are rich.

Did the turnip truck just drop you off?

[Anonymous]

Columbia Heights used to be a very poor neighborhood with very high crime and basically no white people. In the 80s and 90s it was primarily a Latino neighborhood. In the 2000s, white people started moving in gentrify. But some of the old-timers are still around.

[Anonymous]

I don't really understand the appeal of Columbia Heights either. You've got incredible traffic, so that if you drive anywhere it takes forever, little greenspace, the stores are all cookie cutter chains, as are many of the restaurants, and the crime is high. I wouldn't want to live there if I didn't have kids, and when you add kids into the mix, you've got the fact that the IB schools are lousy, and the affluent kids end up segregating themselves in charter, OOB, or private school. The two populations in the neighborhood are so distinct

I absolutely understand the appeal of a neighborhood like Brookland, or Brightwood, or Petworth, with beautiful family friendly neighborhoods, and lots of diversity in all dimensions, and schools that are developing so that they reflect the diversity of the neighborhoods, or Capitol Hill, or Mount Pleasant, or Adams Morgan with lots of culture and interesting stores and restaurants (as opposed to Target, Giant, IHOP and Panda Express) But Columbia Heights leaves me scratching my head.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Columbia Heights before I got married. (Harvard Street, right near All Souls.) Absolutely loved the area. But it was dangerous. My now husband's tires were slashed outside my house.

I wish I had bought back then. I would live there in a heartbeat if I could afford private for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived in Columbia Heights before I got married. (Harvard Street, right near All Souls.) Absolutely loved the area. But it was dangerous. My now husband's tires were slashed outside my house.

I wish I had bought back then. I would live there in a heartbeat if I could afford private for kids.

I'm the PP above you, and I'm perfectly happy to have my mind changed. Can you explain to me the appeal of Columbia Heights, especially with kids?

[Anonymous]

CH resident for 15 years, mom of 2 kids in ES.

I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly fine for us. Why?
--I can walk 3 blocks and have a choice about where to eat or get a cup of coffee. Among the choices are chain restaurants AND a whole slew of locally owned restaurants all along 11th Street. I have never been to IHOP or Panda Express. I love Cava, The Coupe. Room 11 on Sundays and Red Rocks with my kids. I stop at Starbucks sometimes in the morning after the gym.
--I can walk to my gym.
--Target has saved us many times when we need a gift, a prescription, something for school, food, you name it.
--I'm a block from the metro.
--My kids have friends they play with in the alley. We watch out for each other's houses.
--There's a farmer's market on Saturdays.
--If I need to go downtown, I can jump on a bus and get there pretty quickly.
--My kids have a yard to play in.
--No one in my family has ever been mugged. Our cars have never been broken into except for one time when we forgot to lock it and someone took some change. My son's bike was stolen off our porch a few years ago.
--I know and like my neighbors.
--My kids are know how to move around in the city. It's nothing for us to jump on the metro or bus or walk to hear music or attend a festival.

What I don't like:
--The traffic when I'm driving home. Sometimes the last 10 minutes are a pain. But then it's over, and I'm home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are there both high real estate prices and poverty so concentrated together in this area?

Two words: public housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia Heights used to be a very poor neighborhood with very high crime and basically no white people. In the 80s and 90s it was primarily a Latino neighborhood. In the 2000s, white people started moving in gentrify. But some of the old-timers are still around.

Uh, no. It was primarily black with some Latino in the 80s and 90s. I'm guessing you were in grade school in Ohio at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CH resident for 15 years, mom of 2 kids in ES.

I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly fine for us. Why?
--I can walk 3 blocks and have a choice about where to eat or get a cup of coffee. Among the choices are chain restaurants AND a whole slew of locally owned restaurants all along 11th Street. I have never been to IHOP or Panda Express. I love Cava, The Coupe. Room 11 on Sundays and Red Rocks with my kids. I stop at Starbucks sometimes in the morning after the gym.
--I can walk to my gym.
--Target has saved us many times when we need a gift, a prescription, something for school, food, you name it.
--I'm a block from the metro.
--My kids have friends they play with in the alley. We watch out for each other's houses.
--There's a farmer's market on Saturdays.
--If I need to go downtown, I can jump on a bus and get there pretty quickly.
--My kids have a yard to play in.
--No one in my family has ever been mugged. Our cars have never been broken into except for one time when we forgot to lock it and someone took some change. My son's bike was stolen off our porch a few years ago.
--I know and like my neighbors.
--My kids are know how to move around in the city. It's nothing for us to jump on the metro or bus or walk to hear music or attend a festival.

What I don't like:
--The traffic when I'm driving home. Sometimes the last 10 minutes are a pain. But then it's over, and I'm home.

What kind of idiot would spurn an IHOP?

CH is a good neighborhood if you are the type of self-absorbed yuppie who is good at pretending that your poor, resentful neighbors don't exist or as excited about an overpriced restaurant as you are. Otherwise it's just a very awkward, odd, somewhat dangerous place to co-inhabit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CH resident for 15 years, mom of 2 kids in ES.

I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly fine for us. Why?
--I can walk 3 blocks and have a choice about where to eat or get a cup of coffee. Among the choices are chain restaurants AND a whole slew of locally owned restaurants all along 11th Street. I have never been to IHOP or Panda Express. I love Cava, The Coupe. Room 11 on Sundays and Red Rocks with my kids. I stop at Starbucks sometimes in the morning after the gym.
--I can walk to my gym.
--Target has saved us many times when we need a gift, a prescription, something for school, food, you name it.
--I'm a block from the metro.
--My kids have friends they play with in the alley. We watch out for each other's houses.
--There's a farmer's market on Saturdays.
--If I need to go downtown, I can jump on a bus and get there pretty quickly.
--My kids have a yard to play in.
--No one in my family has ever been mugged. Our cars have never been broken into except for one time when we forgot to lock it and someone took some change. My son's bike was stolen off our porch a few years ago.
--I know and like my neighbors.
--My kids are know how to move around in the city. It's nothing for us to jump on the metro or bus or walk to hear music or attend a festival.

What I don't like:
--The traffic when I'm driving home. Sometimes the last 10 minutes are a pain. But then it's over, and I'm home.

What kind of idiot would spurn an IHOP?

CH is a good neighborhood if you are the type of self-absorbed yuppie who is good at pretending that your poor, resentful neighbors don't exist or as excited about an overpriced restaurant as you are. Otherwise it's just a very awkward, odd, somewhat dangerous place to co-inhabit.

There was a murder at that IHOP shortly after it opened. That would turn me off for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CH resident for 15 years, mom of 2 kids in ES.

I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly fine for us. Why?
--I can walk 3 blocks and have a choice about where to eat or get a cup of coffee. Among the choices are chain restaurants AND a whole slew of locally owned restaurants all along 11th Street. I have never been to IHOP or Panda Express. I love Cava, The Coupe. Room 11 on Sundays and Red Rocks with my kids. I stop at Starbucks sometimes in the morning after the gym.
--I can walk to my gym.
--Target has saved us many times when we need a gift, a prescription, something for school, food, you name it.
--I'm a block from the metro.
--My kids have friends they play with in the alley. We watch out for each other's houses.
--There's a farmer's market on Saturdays.
--If I need to go downtown, I can jump on a bus and get there pretty quickly.
--My kids have a yard to play in.
--No one in my family has ever been mugged. Our cars have never been broken into except for one time when we forgot to lock it and someone took some change. My son's bike was stolen off our porch a few years ago.
--I know and like my neighbors.
--My kids are know how to move around in the city. It's nothing for us to jump on the metro or bus or walk to hear music or attend a festival.

What I don't like:
--The traffic when I'm driving home. Sometimes the last 10 minutes are a pain. But then it's over, and I'm home.

What kind of idiot would spurn an IHOP?

CH is a good neighborhood if you are the type of self-absorbed yuppie who is good at pretending that your poor, resentful neighbors don't exist or as excited about an overpriced restaurant as you are. Otherwise it's just a very awkward, odd, somewhat dangerous place to co-inhabit.

Well bless your heart PP!
--CH mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CH resident for 15 years, mom of 2 kids in ES.

I love it here. It's not perfect, but it's perfectly fine for us. Why?
--I can walk 3 blocks and have a choice about where to eat or get a cup of coffee. Among the choices are chain restaurants AND a whole slew of locally owned restaurants all along 11th Street. I have never been to IHOP or Panda Express. I love Cava, The Coupe. Room 11 on Sundays and Red Rocks with my kids. I stop at Starbucks sometimes in the morning after the gym.
--I can walk to my gym.
--Target has saved us many times when we need a gift, a prescription, something for school, food, you name it.
--I'm a block from the metro.
--My kids have friends they play with in the alley. We watch out for each other's houses.
--There's a farmer's market on Saturdays.
--If I need to go downtown, I can jump on a bus and get there pretty quickly.
--My kids have a yard to play in.
--No one in my family has ever been mugged. Our cars have never been broken into except for one time when we forgot to lock it and someone took some change. My son's bike was stolen off our porch a few years ago.
--I know and like my neighbors.
--My kids are know how to move around in the city. It's nothing for us to jump on the metro or bus or walk to hear music or attend a festival.

What I don't like:
--The traffic when I'm driving home. Sometimes the last 10 minutes are a pain. But then it's over, and I'm home.

What kind of idiot would spurn an IHOP?

CH is a good neighborhood if you are the type of self-absorbed yuppie who is good at pretending that your poor, resentful neighbors don't exist or as excited about an overpriced restaurant as you are. Otherwise it's just a very awkward, odd, somewhat dangerous place to co-inhabit.

There was a murder at that IHOP shortly after it opened. That would turn me off for a while.

I believe you are confused. The person lived. Not saying what happened okay. Just that it was not murder.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/crime-scene/post/arrest-in-march-11-columbia-heights-ihop-shooting/2012/03/26/gIQAkPMjcS_blog.html