Vanderbilt Political Review Fall 2013 | Page 23

FALL 2013 DOMESTIC In Defense of Gentrification A look at the socioeconomic polarization of the nation’s capital S caffolds hang in the air at almost every street corner. New restaurants and luxury apartment buildings pop up all over D.C.’s K Street. Landscaped and planned to perfection, the area looks as expensive as it is. A one-bedroom condo on K Street will cost a buyer anywhere between $369,000 and $429,000. But at 4th and K Street, in the midst of this development, is a small corner unit; here, K Street reveals its origins. A few years ago, these high rises did not exist. Instead, drug dealers and thugs plagued the corner. Where new buildings rise, complexes’ needs lay abandoned, left to decay or serve as shelter for the homeless. Painting a stark con- GarberDC by CAYLYN PERRY ‘16 trast between the past and the present, 424 K Street has bars on its windows and a security system worthy of a military facility. Yet when the building was purchased in 2002, the bars and security were crucial to any business in the area. When the owner of the unit purchased the K Street property, people thought he was crazy. But today, the joke is on them: the property is now worth over one million dollars. Take a short metro ride to Anacostia Station in Southeast D.C. and the same bars mar the faces of buildings, but unlike in the case of 424 K Street, they are commonplace. Here the streets and sidewalks lack the freshly-paved look K Street boasts. A cursory glance proves that the wealth that has benefited K Street has not extended to this quadrant. But in just eleven years, how did two different worlds emerge within one city? Enter former Mayor Anthony Williams. When Williams took office in 1999, he had already served as the city’s Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for rejuvenating the city’s economy. His constituents expected him to do much of the same as mayor. During his eight-year tenure, Williams brought in millions in revenue and oversaw a rapidly falling crime rate. But D.C. was already primed for this transformation before Williams entered office due to former President Bill Clinton’s 1997 Taxpayer Relief Act. The legislation enticed first-time buyers and incoming businesses with attractive tax incentives that specifically appealed to single homeowners. The bill, which expired at the end of 2011, was linked in 2005 by a Fannie Mae study to the city’s increase in former suburban residents and boosted urban home values. Between the Taxpayer Relief Act giving financial incentives for businesses to set their roots in D.C. and Williams steamrolling their path, many parts of the city once associated with violence and drug use now look like K Street. At the same time, Williams’ policies condemned an already struggling lower-class constituency. Instead of spreadin ??????????????????????????]???????d???????????????????????????????)?????????????????M???????? ????)?????e??????????????Q??????????????)?????????????????????????????]?????????????????????????????????((??((