I am happy our neighborhood in Washington DC is thriving. Before we moved here, it used to be too dangerous to walk here, even during the day. It is now a happening place, with all sorts of restaurants, theaters, and places to hear live music. Fortunately, it remains ethnically and socio-economically diverse. It's still edgy (there is too much crime), but I like it.
Nonetheless, development brings costs, as well all know. I have had friends in the neighborhood who have had to move out because the rents have risen. And some of the funkier businesses have gone away. I had thought about this mostly in the abstract until the other day when I drove over to 14th St to get a tire fixed only to find my neighborhood garage closed. One of the managers was there packing things away. When I asked him why he was leaving, he said:
$40,000 per month? You must be joking," I replied.
"We might have been able to pay a bit more, but not triple. There was no way."
Wow. $40,000 per month. That puts some numbers around the whole phenomenon, doesn't it?
