Reply to WaPo: H Street birth to death

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I live near H Street and have for the last 12 years.

It is still much better than it was when I first moved here, but the trend of the last two years is very concerning. I hate seeing longtime businesses like Biergarten Haus closing, I hate all the broken windows. There is a lot of vagrancy and it has an edge to it that it didn't have pre-Covid. There are serious mental health and substance abuse issues. I do find myself uneasy in the area more than I used to a few years ago. Probably still a lot less than I did a decade ago, when a lot of the development on H Street didn't exist. I'd still rather walk past some panhandlers outside Whole Foods than walk down several blocks of shuttered businesses, the old crappy grocery store that used to be there, and a giant storage facility. It is still much better now.

I actually think something good can come from that article though. I don't think H Street has backslid so much it can't be saved, but we need to DO something about it. I'm encouraged by the people in the article organizing to start neighborhood groups and improve the situation. There are many people who own expensive homes along the corridor who have a vested interest in making it a better place to live.

I think it's a bit strange how few public officials were interviewed for that article. Most glaringly, Charles Allen doesn't make any appearance, and only one ANC rep is mentioned. It is unusual for an article like that to appear in WaPo without the council rep for the Ward interviewed. I get Allen doesn't control crime, but it is his ward and the article actually focuses on the impact all of this has on businesses and residents, which is very much within his oversight. He can also be doing liaison work with DCPD. But... crickets.[/quote]

Biergarten Haus is closing? Probably a combo of rents and crime
It is more profitable in DC for large landlords to have empty property apparently. DC needs to look at this! So tired of empty store storefronts.
High rents and crime, winning combo Bowser and Council![/quote]

+1 I never understood how the Argonaut landlord dispute ended up better for the landlord to have that property just sit empty for so long (now a liquor store). So many empty store fronts, how are the owners unwilling to budge on dropping rates? Why is Sala Thai the only thing to have opened at the new development in Hill East thus far?[/quote]

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