Mount Pleasant DC

Mount Pleasant History Trail sign.

Paul Schwartzman has a nice piece in today's Post, "Trapped by Change, Economy: Mount Pleasant Businesses Struggle to Adjust as Fortunes Sag," about the difficulties being currently experienced in the Mount Pleasant commercial district in Ward 1. Located between Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, the retail has traditionally (over the past 20-30 years) been focused on serving Latino customer segments.

A guy with many many axes to grind in Ward 1, and recently elected to his ANC, wrote about this on the Columbia_Heights e-list, taking out this quote from the article:

"We're not hurt by Columbia Heights' development. But it's lost opportunity. "Alejandro Yepes, of Mount Pleasant Mainstreet.

and agreeing with it and going on with a screed about thiefdom in Ward 1. (Note that I know a number of the people involved in the Mount Pleasant Main Street program including Alejandro, who I think is great.)

SO I wrote this:

I think they're wrong. DC/USA--especially Target--significantly changed the retail market dynamic, at least as far as the low income/Hispanic segment goes, which has shifted to 14th Street from Mount Pleasant, partly to Target and the stores there (have you done visual assessments of the customer demographics at Target, which would show this) , and also up the street to the "Hispanic commercial district" that is centered around PanAm (food) Market and even extends beyond Spring Street, including Latin restaurants (a bakery is coming) and many service businesses, including even an Alcoholics Anonymous (so much for anonymous) location for Hispanohablantes. (And a banner promoting a particular party in the El Salvadoran elections.) Note that PanAm will even drive people home after they've purchased groceries.

That part of 14th Street is a much more vibrant lower income Hispanic commercial district now, compared to Mount Pleasant Street. (There's also more traffic on 14th Street, which probably helps as well, plus the immediate access to the subway station.)

Mt. Pleasant needed to do a retail repositioning in advance of the opening of DC/USA, and do a SWOT analysis to figure things out. Now is the shakeout as it shifts to a new competitive position (more places like Tonic, fewer places like the old supermarkets? ).

But I don't know about thiefdom [this was part of the screed] etc., then again I don't live in Ward 1, but up the street in Ward 4. It's basic retail, basic economics. You can put lots of mumbo jumbo around it, but the real issue comes down to investing heavily in Columbia Heights, particularly in DC/USA, WITHOUT MAKING SIMULTANEOUS INVESTMENTS IN OTHER NEARBY COMMERCIAL DISTRICTS, in order to ensure continued and simultaneous success.
There didn't need to be the same amount or type of investment (i.e., big new buildings and massive chain retail), but focused retail development, planning, and attraction-recruitment programs were necessary.

Just like they were for 9th and 7th Streets around the Convention Center. It didn't happen, and those areas still languish despite the "positive" adjacency of the Convention Center.

There are other examples as well.

Trickle down government investment takes a long time to spur revitalization unless other linkages-programs are put into place at the same time. Often, government investment in one area of the city (or Ward) may come at the cost of reducing the economic vitality of other areas.

P.S. They should have built housing on top of DC/USA also.

This is a fake magazine cover I made a few years ago. Looks like I was wrong about the future of Mount Pleasant.