New Vision For D.C. Avenue Down On Its Luck

"Plans to revitalize Washington's longest commercial corridor -- tattered by time, drugs and neglect -- have been thrown away like the unlucky lottery tickets that litter the street each day. Back in 1992, President Bill Clinton moseyed along the avenue, sampling fried scallops and greeting beauticians, and residents and business owners saw even that as the beginning of a renaissance...It never came."

Now, plans are finally in the works to upgrade "The Avenue."

"Over the next decade, the District and private developers will spend millions to pump new life into the historic section between downtown Silver Spring and downtown Washington. For its part, the city is contributing funds from the $100 million Great Streets Initiative and other programs to redevelop neglected corridors, a legacy of former mayor Anthony A. Williams."

Now residents must struggle to balance their desire for new stores and housing with worries about a process that could push many long time residents and business owners out.

"Nothing in the plans shows how the mom-and-pop and family-owned businesses fit in -- the ones that stayed through the 1968 riots, the '70s heroin scourge and the '80s crack epidemic."