DCentric

Scott is sympathetic to neighbors’ concerns. He serves as an ANC commissioner himself in a nearby neighborhood, Columbia Heights, which is also in the midst of a dramatic socioeconomic shift. “One thing you always hear is that ‘we don’t want this to become the next Adams Morgan,’” he says, referring to the bar-heavy strip as a sort of Vegas on the Potomac. “That’s a neighborhood that is more invested in serving people outside the neighborhood than the people who live there.” Scott suspects that one reason U Street residents haven’t pushed back is that the neighborhood’s change has been less by bars than by restaurants, albeit ones that serve alcohol up to last call. The mix feels more like a place that’s geared to residents, both longtime ones and newcomers. If others take the Metro in to visit, well, that’s just the cherry on top.

It’s easy to assume that a neighborhood dependent on bars for growth would stay young. People might move to such a place in their 20s and live with roommates before settling down elsewhere to start a family. But that’s not the case. Even in Williamsburg, where the unappealing housing stock makes a certain amount of transience and turnover inevitable, some of the first wave have decided to stick around and raise kids. U Street appears to be headed for a mature sort of neighborhood change, as well. Where there’s a parenting Listserv, there are people in it for the long run—and U Street Tots has been active for more than five years.

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