Will Columbia Heights inevitably subdivide?

Public Spaces

Will Columbia Heights inevitably subdivide?

by David Alpert • April 17, 2009 2:31 pm

Last week, Columbia Heights residents and the ANC objected to proposed banners that seemed to be rebranding a segment of 14th Street, from Irving to Shepherd, as "Tivoli North." Many argued that Columbia Heights is just beginning to develop a citywide reputation as a desirable place to go, and didn't like the impression that businesses were shying away from the name. That's all true, but I suspect Columbia Heights will eventually become more than one neighborhood whether local leaders like it or not.

One neighborhood, indivisible?

Many maps show "Shaw" encompassing a wide swath from 16th and U to Georgia and Florida down to 14th and M and New Jersey and M. Today, most people call the northern portion of that area the "U Street" neighborhood and the southwestern portion "Logan Circle." Likewise, Sherman and Euclid is very far from 14th and Randolph. They're not in the same ward, and are each as close or closer to other Metro stations than the Columbia Heights station.

The neighborhoods to the east and west, like Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Park View, and Pleasant Plains, are all smaller. Columbia Heights spans a much larger area than "Dupont Circle," which by some measures reaches the southwest corner of 14th and U due to the ANC boundaries. As the blocks in the area develop even more citywide appeal, people will naturally want to explain to their friends where they live, and "Columbia Heights" may simply not be specific enough.

Sure, Chevy Chase DC is even larger in area, but it's also relatively sparsely populated compared to Columbia Heights, has fewer stores, and is much more auto-dependent. When in a car, distances feel smaller, and Chevy Chase can feel like one neighborhood because the typical resident can cross it in five minutes. The typical person in Columbia Heights is on foot, and it takes a lot longer to get from Clifton to Shepherd. Also, there's less inside the boundaries of Chevy Chase to fit into one mental box than in Columbia Heights.

In general, fancier neighborhoods seem to have more names for areas than less affluent ones. The Benning-Minnesota crossroads is often termed "Downtown Ward 7," while only one resident of Georgetown ever calls the area "Ward 2." (Though people do talk about "Ward 3.") Some of this stems from realtors trying to shed the poorer connotations of areas. That's probably why we have "Kalorama Triangle" and "Lanier Heights." Still, there's also a natural desire to better identify one's area.

A friend lived for a short while on Spring Road, and was never sure what to call the area. Is it Petworth? (That's mostly east of Georgia). Sixteenth Street Heights? (The large, fancy houses on 16th are a world away from the row houses near 14th, and separated by a parkway). Does Columbia Heights extend up to Taylor Street, as some tax databases claim? What about people at 15th and Chapin? Is that "Meridian Hill"? "BUCo" (Between U and Columbia Heights)? Or just southern Columbia Heights?

Evenutally, some names are going to stick for the northern and southern portions of this neighborhood. It could be as simple as "Northern Columbia Heights" or (to follow San Francisco's model) "Upper Columbia Heights". Or, they could earn their own monikers. But as more people move to the area and even more people start to have friends in the area, nonresidents' collective mental picture of the area will become more nuanced. People will start to recognize the difference between the part between the area near Howard, the area near DC USA, and the area near Arkansas Avenue. And they'll naturally want language to describe those areas.

21 comments

Tags: Columbia Heights, DC, language, neighborhood names, signs, U Street

Identity matters: Columbia Heights residents object to "Tivoli North" (Apr 10, 2009)
Giving Upper Northwest a bad (neighborhood) name (Feb 25, 2010)
Chevy Chase won't be a historic district (Oct 21, 2008)
This year, let's have a great Summer Streets (Mar 25, 2010)
Al fresco dining and parks vs. gangs in Columbia Heights (Mar 16, 2010)

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.

Comments
Add a comment »

I live on 13th below Spring, formally in Columbia Heights, and I will continue to think of it that way for as long as most of my shopping happens there: because I come and go from the center of Col Hgts, I think of that as my neighborhood. I'm just about as close to Petworth, but business basically never takes me there, so I am just not attached to that neighborhood.

If the area up around 14th & Spring ever does become my primary commercial district, I might orient my thinking more towards that area. For that reason it makes sense that this "tivoli north" dustup was kicked off by a Business Association.

by mark on Apr 17, 2009 3:12 pm • link • report

Agreed again. I would honestly call it "14th Street Heights." This would distinguish it from 16th Street Heights, and more importantly, the neighborhood is already called 14th Street Heights by some.

A commenter on PoP suggested that it be called "the GaP" because it's a gap neighborhood and is also the acronym for "Georgia Avenue Petworth" for the metro that it's closest to.

by SG on Apr 17, 2009 3:18 pm • link • report

People in River East generally say they live in "Ward 7" or "Ward 8"

I have never heard anyone ever say that I usually hear I live near or off East Capitol, Suitland Pkwy, Minnesota Ave, Benning Road, Alabama Ave, Branch Ave, MLK Ave or Barry Farms, Anacostia, Benning Hgts, Shipley Terrace, Naylor Gardens, Wheeler Creek, Garfield, Eastover etc. but never ward 7 or 8

Why not North Columbia Hgts and South Columbia Hgts is the east to remember or just keep it the way it is; if it goes any other way than that it will becoming confusing for the fact that some will use the new name some will use the old name and no one will know where the hell your talking about.

by kk on Apr 17, 2009 3:26 pm • link • report

funny, you didn't list "menopause manor" - connecticut north of nebraska.

by AJ on Apr 17, 2009 3:38 pm • link • report

at least U Street is no longer called "Lower Cardozo" which sounded like an intestinal disease.

by Tom on Apr 17, 2009 3:42 pm • link • report

and the "Shaw" designation you speak of is the boundries of the "Shaw School Urban Renewal District" that was put up in the 1950's. Newbies came in, saw that and assumed the entire area was "Shaw". It's taken a while for us to get back to the original names, much less invent new ones.

by Tom on Apr 17, 2009 4:14 pm • link • report

Northern/North Columbia Heights and South/Southern Columbia Heights would be a good start. It's a bit more specific and would make sense to anyone who knows where Columbia Heights is. It also would make sense since Columbia Heights is longer north to south than from east to west.

by Cavan on Apr 17, 2009 4:49 pm • link • report

Kalorama Triangle predates Adams Morgan, and was built much earlier than Washington Heights, Lanier Heights, or the other Adams Morgan components. That doesn't make it "better" or anything, but these different areas have a different character, different architecture, and different levels of density.

by RS on Apr 17, 2009 5:02 pm • link • report

Meridian Hill Neighborhood Association has been around for a number of years, and many of us refer to the area around Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park as the "Meridian Hill Neighborhood, basically U St. on the south, 16th St. on the west, Chapin on the north and 13th St. on the east.

by Mike on Apr 17, 2009 5:17 pm • link • report

Yeah! Let's get into a fight over the name of our four blocks vs the name of your three blocks! Everybody their own name!

Come on folks. Don't we have better uses for our time?

* Like pressure WMATA and other transit systems to get a vision and get some transit going? or

* Get some serious biking action going or

* Get some walkable streets

So, please, let's not waste our time on debate the name of a neighborhood. Really, it doesn't matter to anybody outside of those neighborhoods.

by Jasper on Apr 17, 2009 9:49 pm • link • report

Oddly, this obession with renaming Columbia Heights does have alot to do with, WMATA,transit vision, biking, walkable streets and etc. One Columbia Heights forces planning and design around these issue, because the question has to be ask how do we connect and service this neighborhood and surrounding ones. Columbia Heights is basically the District's only TOD neighborhood with any serious diversity. As such should be one of the key centers for transportation and development policy and modeling. And is quickly returning to the status as one of the Ditrict's economic engines. The obession and neeed by some to see Columbia Heights renamed has to do with petty politics and preservation of the some social mythologies which underlie some factions of New Urbanism.

One of the first battles Columbia Heights faced was an attempt lead by its Council Member after the 2000 census to have the section of Columbia Heights North of Monroe St. redistricted into Ward 4. No coincidence, he would sign off on an effort to rebrand that area "Tivoli North".

Many New Urbanist are also jealous that Columbia Heights is headed toward being a model community but it was not developed, planned and conceived from their hands and heads. Renaming is a way to lay claim to the work of others without giving credit. Or to be able infleunce policy and theory without the inconvenient "check" of reality or having to really do homework.

The best thing that can happen to this city, transportation, development, social and community development policy is a unified Columbia Heights.

by W Jordan on Apr 18, 2009 8:35 am • link • report

W Jordan: isn't it a little optimistic to call CH a model community? It's cheaper than any other revitalised part of NW, and has a lot of twenty-somethings... I'm not sure one can call it ideal or a model.

The problems w/ DCUSA, the parking garage, and the streetscape on 14th are because "New Urbanists" weren't involved enough...

As for unified planning, the DC office of planning already looks at zoning and transport from a cohesive perspective; these names just offer people a way to be precise, and to develop a community identity appropriate to their portion of the larger whole, rather than having a compromise concept that reflects disparate needs and disparate wishes, and is a good fit for none within its boundaries.

We all pay the same taxes, are governed by the same Mayor and City Council. Let people have smaller neighbourhood boundaries if they prefer; it only means more and different neighbourhood cultures and enriches all of us with that diversity.

by RS on Apr 18, 2009 9:13 am • link • report

@ Jordan: Honestly, I think CH has very little to do with the best things that can happen to this city.

Case and point: How many people in the metro area do you think would be able to point out CH on a blind map?

Speaking of better things that can happen to this region:

How about you get normal citizens as politicians?

(in stead of coke snorting, Donald Duck-supported types)

How about we get a regional government NY style

(without secessions, let's leave that to TX)

How about we get at least four or five more metro lines?

(so don't compare to Kiev anymore)

How about we fund our transit properly?

by Jasper on Apr 18, 2009 10:23 am • link • report

kk: I have heard a lot more "Ward 7" and "Ward 8" from River East folks than I ever hear "Ward 1", but you're right that they also frequently use neighborhood names. I've taken that part out since it wasn't sufficiently clear.

Jasper: It seems to me that outside of Ward 8 and the DC press corps, most people don't really pay much attention to Marion Barry. At least, newer and/or younger residents of DC seem to really not care that much, and certainly don't still see Barry as a symbol of the DC government. We've moved far beyond that. We have some great people as politicians. The typical DC politician is working hard to make DC better and has nothing to do with coke.

by David Alpert on Apr 18, 2009 11:08 am • link • report

Jasper: I don't think a neighborhood's success has anything to do with it fame or trendiness.

Ideally all 83 metro stops and a few other mass transit hubs should be developed somewhat equally as residential centers without some being over used and others lying barren. Europeans cities are much better planned this way and "spread the wealth" has somewhat been the policy of DC.

Otherwise developers with their understandable desire for maximum profit will continue to force the plans for the trendiest dozen neighborhoods to be continually revised upward while others don't get redeveloped. That's not planning, that's just laissez-faire.

by Tom on Apr 18, 2009 12:07 pm • link • report

It's hard to respond when folk have not really done much homework. First when determining whether something is a model or not you have to decide what the standard it that is being modeled. Design in CH is/was solid, implementation as been a challenge in part because many New Urbanist are more about ideas and currying political favor for their ideas than the hard work it takes to get things done on the ground. At refuse to take the political risk of supporting a community willing to implement many of these ideas.

DCUSA Garage is more a case of political scuttle butt and mismanagement than poor design. First no DC neighborhood is going to allow the building of a 550K sqft retail center without parking. As well parking was dropped from over 2400 spaces to 1000 because of a willingness to shift from a car centric approach.

We are facing nothing short of the gross mismanagement of transportation resources and the New Urbanist community is remaining silent in exchange for a few token projects.

What does someone being able to point to CH on a map have to do with anything? I would challenge that some homework be done, before really challenging the importance of CH to the city and the region. It always find it interesting that when challenged about their ideas, some run and hide behind Marion Barry rather than defend their ideas and view points. Pure cop out.

by W Jordan on Apr 18, 2009 3:06 pm • link • report

Aren't Capitol Hill and Georgetown about the size of Columbia Heights

by kk on Apr 18, 2009 4:17 pm • link • report

kk- no, people in Burleigh feel very strongly about their separate identity from Georgetown as do the people in Palisades along the river.

"Capitol Hill" is actually Capitol Hill proper and several attached neighborhoods.

It's not important except when you unknowingly step on toes by referring to someone's neighborhood by the broad name. Then they let you know in no uncertain terms the historic name of their neighborhood. It's a commendable pride in a historic name which shows identity of place.

by Tom on Apr 18, 2009 5:00 pm • link • report

@ David Alpert: I was not only referring to Barry. Did you forget Mayor Williams was kicked out of the democratic primary for having signatures from Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse? Pathetic, yes. But also indicative of more problems. There's a reason why neither MD nor VA want anything to do with DC in their jurisdiction.

Furthermore, you have paid attention to MB when he extorted money from WMATA for some accident.

But it's besides the point. My point is that the naming of a neighborhood is utterly irrelevant. In fact, paying attention to this subject makes Washington less great.

by Jasper on Apr 18, 2009 5:43 pm • link • report

If the point is that naming alone is not that important when compared to good policy, design and implementation, I would agree. But to say, "naming of a neigborhood is utterly irrelevant" is not reality, naming is tightly connected to boundaries and is connected to politics and service delivery and opportunity, just ask any real estate agent.

The Williams Admin and CM Graham adopted a policy of shearing off the portion of Columbia Heights below Euclid and making apart of "U Street" or now "Logon/Dupont". The result is almost no investment connect CH below Euclid to Mid and Northern parts of the neighborhood. The result has been a waste of millions in DDOT and WMATA resources.

The DCUSA Garage unnecessarily may suck up $2M in NIF funds primarily because there has been political will and management time spent to make the resource work. Why,because inorder to make this resource work the focus would have to be on planning around serving Columbia Heights as a connected neighborhood. The unwritten and even written rule is that any work in this are must be Mt. Pleasant-centric. Even now one block in Mt. Pleasant is drawing more priority, time and energy from the Columbia Heights Streetscape project than 7 blocks in Columbia Heights combined. Names matter because names are important to politicians and most of the issues discussed here are more political than technical.

Even the new Circulator Bus route is designed more to achieve political purposes than transportation and good urban design purposes. This suboptimal route is moving forward instead of a well designed one, because Columbia Heights is not seen and treated as a unified neighborhood. This obession with the renaming of Columbia Heights is at least partily responsible for suboptimal urban and transportation policy, implementation and wasted tax dollars.

So many New Urbanist are pacified with the more "twittery" aspects policy, while remaining silent while transportation policy in a key neighborhood is being rendered unsustainable. Failing to realize that this name debate is really one of the most important urban policy debates of our time.

by W Jordan on Apr 19, 2009 10:33 am • link • report

My community (Kingman Park) which is in Ward 7 is west of the river! (only part of 7 that is this way) Crazy! We were in Ward 6- 10 years ago. It would be nice if our community could return to Ward 6 because most of our community issues are related to Ward 6 and not Ward 7!

Kingman Park need to go back to Ward 6!

by asilerod on Apr 25, 2011 12:13 pm • link • report