Bernardo Tapia Garcia guides a steel beam while working on the City CenterDC complex in April. The District’s transformation began slowly downtown in the 1980s and 1990s and, in more recent years, has accelerated, raising property values and rents. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
The Washington Post quotes John Betancur, former GCI scholar and professor of urban planning and policy, on a poll showing that African Americans in Washington do not feel that urban redevelopment benefits them. Betancur, an expert on gentrification, said that redevelopment and improved city services soon lead to higher rents and property values, displacing African Americans.
“When redevelopment comes, police follow, and there’s more safety in the neighborhoods and people think that’s great,” said John Bentancur, an urban studies professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “But they do not enjoy that very long. Soon those services make those neighborhoods candidates for gentrification, and the people celebrating the benefits are displaced.”
