There’s a simple reason Kojo Nnamdi is on radio — something about his voice is soothing, reassuring and disarming. Whether testing microphones or querying his guests or the audience, Kojo speaks in a steady, curious tone, rarely betraying his opinion on any matter. But enough about Kojo — we don’t want you to think this is a review of a Scott Stapp show or something.

Yesterday Kojo took his daily WAMU show on the road, kicking off this year’s “Kojo In Your Community” series. Standing before a packed house at the All Souls Unitarian Church in Columbia Heights, Kojo, two guests, and a lively and diverse audience politely discussed the issue of the District’s changing neighborhoods.

Nothing has torn more at the city’s social and political fabric than the issue of the region’s fast-growing economy and red hot housing market. As the District and its surrounding environs have gotten more expensive, once rundown and primarily African-American neighborhoods have given way to condos, specialty coffee shops, and single white homeowners. Along with the changing demographics has come serious questions as to how to best preserve the history and diversity of areas such as Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Shaw, and other parts of the city. And it is here where tensions emerge between the races, between the economic classes, between those that see value in preserving existing neighborhoods and those that want in on the District’s hottest new spots.