I’m just wondering out loud here, but I was thinking, when do you stop being transitional and just be? Shaw, by far, is not the first DC neighborhood to experience gentrification. Georgetown, that horribly expensive neighborhood with the obnoxiously expensive stores, used to be black and more economicly diverse. So was the West End which is Foggy Bottom. Now these are expensive, non-transitional neighborhoods, and so not diverse (Euro-trash of any shade does not count).
Then there are neighborhoods that seem to be continuously transitioning and have been transitioning for a forever and a half. Capitol Hill comes to mind. Of course the borders of Capitol Hill keeps changing and will include the parking lot of RFK, and the gates of Gallaudet University at this rate. And apparently, and I could be wrong, Adams Morgan has been transitioning for over 20 years.
So what will Shaw be? Well the borders are set by what was the Shaw Middle School district as it was in the 60s, and butts up to North Capitol a big dividing line, so it won’t be like Cap Hill. But even comparing the core of Cap Hill, we don’t have the same architecture, the same historical district pressures, or tourist pressures (thank G-d). It could be like Adams Morgan where the lower classes and fixed income folks are constantly in peril, in danger of losing their homes as the middle and upper classes improve the homes and define the commercial strips. Or will we be like Georgetown and Dupont, where the working class has been kicked to the curb?
Oh well, the only way to find out is to stick around.
