The District has become expert at approaching public issues with an ambivalence approaching schizophrenia. We want and don’t want development, fear and don’t fear gentrification, and embrace and disdain our suburbs. Perhaps nothing encapsulates our status as capital of the love-hate relationship more than our approach toward big-box retail.
Many of us looked on with approval at Annapolis’ decision to require more health care spending from Wal-Mart, and residents of Northeast D.C. waged an all-out campaign to prevent the bouncing smiley from putting down roots in the District. At the same time, D.C. officials are proud to note how they were able to bring Target to Columbia Heights, and Vincent Orange never hesitates to trumpet his role in attracting the Brentwood Home Depot, which remains a bustling success despite its near mythic status as an urban planning abomination, a metro-side behemoth presiding over a massive parking lot. And hardly a coffeeshop conversation goes by in the city when retail wishlists fail to appear. Costco? Wegman’s? We anxiously await new options.
