Are Older Residents Being Excluded from D.C.'s Revitalization?

There seems to be one common thread linking Washington D.C.'s new bars, restaurants, boutiques, and homes: they're all oriented to appeal to younger residents. Tara Bahrampour looks at D.C.'s struggles to build a multi-generational city.

1 minute read

November 19, 2013, 8:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"[A]mid the loud buzz of development that has resounded through the Washington area in recent years, attracting young people in droves, older people such as [80-year-old Jackie] Parham say their voices are increasingly drowned out."

"New condominium units are marketed to young people. New boutiques carry clothing in tiny sizes and hipster styles. New bike lanes share space with car lanes. And new restaurants keep their inside lights frustratingly dim and the music deafeningly loud," writes Bahrampour.

“These two generations see the world differently,” said Herb Caudill, a 43-year-old resident with two young children who is lobbying the District Department of Transportation to close a service road and widen a sidewalk. “They have an affection, an emotional attachment, to the automobile that the younger generation does not have. They eat out less. . . . They are less likely to embrace an urban lifestyle, a walkable lifestyle.”

Saturday, November 16, 2013 in The Washington Post

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