Political Blogs Try to Talk About Living in D.C.
It's rare that any of the well-read political blogs based here in Washington take on issues that fit within DCist's mandate to stick mainly to local issues, but when they do, boy howdy, they can really make a mess of things for themselves. The American Prospect's Ezra Klein has already issued a mea culpa for a post he put up late last night on his personal blog, which wondered why there aren't more amenities for wealthy young white people in D.C. like there are in cities such as Portland and Seattle -- but not before receiving harsh rebukes from his peers for basically not knowing what he was talking about.
The whole thing starts off with Klein linking to a new study debunking a Cato Institute study that claimed Portland's efforts at applying New Urbanism in its city planning were ruining the town. Klein then goes on to assert that D.C. is less attractive to educated, young, white people than Portland or Seattle in terms of density of coffee shops, book stores and the like, and to surmise that the reason is that the city government has fewer incentives to attract those sorts of people because of their status as a minority in black-majority Washington.
Moreover, the white people [in D.C.] basically have to be there. You don't move to DC because it's awesome, you move because it's where your work is. So there's little need to construct an affirmative agenda to attract residents.
Photo by IntangibleArts
As you might imagine, this kind of argument has earned Klein some well-deserved bewilderment. In a post titled "Lord Have Mercy," DCist Columnist Ryan Avent wonders on his own blog:
What in the holy name of Jason Campbell is he talking about? Never mind that the percentage of whites in much of Northwest differs substantially from the percentage of whites in the city as a whole. Never mind that whites can vote for the Mayor and D.C. Council and have a government quite concerned with their well-being (if you talk to black residents of the city, you’ll often find they believe the city government is a tad too concerned with the well-being of white people). Is he saying that black people don’t like coffee shops and bookstores? What would they prefer?
Garance Franke Ruta gives Klein a history lesson, and Matt Yglesias and Megan McCardle at the Atlantic blogs chime in, too, retorting that the facts of D.C.'s rapidly changing demographics as a result of the city government's strident efforts to clean up its act are already helping to create the market demands that these sorts of businesses need to thrive -- which is why you're starting to see more and more of them opening up. Alex Massie reaffirms that not only does Klein misunderstand the role of government in attracting these sorts of residents and the businesses they cater to, but that even to the extent that it does play a role, that is exactly what the city has been doing for the last ten years.
Now, keep in mind, Klein has pretty much already apologized in a separate post for most of these incorrect assumptions -- really, he says, he's just wondering about what Brian Beutler asks:
I cannot possibly fathom why D.C. lacks the number of book stores, record stores, coffee shops, night clubs, 24-hour restaurants, etc., etc. that you'd expect based on it's relatively large population of wealthy, single young people. I love my D.C., but I've also found that San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, and Chicago all have way, way more urban perks than Washington does.Ryan already has a new post up pondering this problem, positing that perhaps Beutler and Klein don't often leave the Northwest neighborhoods near where they live, and that relatively low residential density in those neighborhoods, though it's on the rise, could be another likely culprit.
The arguments above obviously only skim the surface of what's really going on, so take this post for what it is -- a round-up of the meme so far. We'd also add one more wrinkle to think about: at least in terms of opening certain kinds of new businesses in those neighborhoods where population density is still low but slowly rising, there exists both a real and perceived sentiment among potential entrepreneurs that the obstacles one must be willing to contend with are still piled rather high. To stick with coffee shops, there are a handful of pioneering places that have opened recently, like Azi's, Sidamo, and Big Bear Cafe, which are doing well but still face an unusually high risk of break-ins and robberies for businesses of that kind. You have to be really committed to contributing to some of these changing neighborhoods, and the fact that there are people here willing to do that only speaks directly to the dynamism that exists within D.C.'s culture.