Thanks for publishing my photographs, @CityObs, in this full and enriching piece by Alex Baca (@AlexBaca).
The piece is a detailed response to this question in the annual Washington City Paper Answer’s issue (written in all caps):
WHEN WILL GENTRIFICATION END?The Answers Issue 2018
This is a topic I am working to understand every day, in this, the learning lab of society (as I call it), Washington, DC.
It would be inappropriate, and absolutely not in the Answers issue’s spirit, to send—as I would have to a writer—this question back to its asker with a crude markup demanding clarity. We can also reasonably infer what they meant, anyway: “When will gentrification stop?” is as much a plea as an inquiry: When will rents stop rising? When will fancy restaurants, which I don’t want to go to, stop opening? When will D.C. stop the process of becoming something that doesn’t feel like home to me?Gentrification isn’t ending. We must rise to meet that challenge. | City Observatory
To avoid having this blog post be longer than the piece it references, I’ll comment on the photos. They were taken just before the brand new WharfDC development opened. These things (developments) are opening every second here, and while it’s easy to take photographs of the new, my inner voice reminds me that people tend to not photograph the parts of the city that are not being redeveloped.
Enjoy the photos, thank you for the excellent piece – because it has so many layers (in a good way), I’ll be thanking for the publication of additional photographs in successive blog posts. I am appreciative to be a part of this scholarship, in my ❤️ of DC and working to help the world learn to love better.
The City Observatory is a study of modern-day cities and urban development practices.
Source: Gentrification isn’t ending. We must rise to meet that challenge. | City Observatory