Like most new members of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, needed a place in the District to live while conducting her legislative duties. But unlike any other member of Congress we can think of (aside from those whose decisions involve pay-for-play or other corruption), the progressive New Yorker’s choice for a second residence has been obsessively catalogued and criticized by observers.

Ocasio-Cortez is renting an apartment in one of Navy Yard’s many luxury apartment buildings, as the Washington Free Beacon first reported last week. The waterfront neighborhood is a close walk to the U.S. Capitol and sits on the banks of the Anacostia River. In recent years, the area has been entirely remade by development, including the debut of Nationals Park.  While Navy Yard was primarily comprised of industrial and military outposts beforehand, low-income families were pushed out of the Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg housing projects to make way for a mixed-income development in 2002, as documented in the film Chocolate City.

Right on cue, conservative outlets sought to list the many amenities her building offers. An only-from-the-Daily Mail story looks at how the “posh Navy Yard neighborhood” includes a Whole Foods and “the city is building a soccer stadium in the area” (hint to the Daily Mail: Audi Field opened last summer). The argument seems to be in large part that, because she voiced concerns about securing a place in one of the country’s most expensive rental markets before she started earning her Congressional salary, she shouldn’t live in a place with a Steinway & Sons piano now that she is paid an annual salary of $174,000? I think?

But it’s not just conservatives pissed about Ocasio-Cortez landing in a neighborhood that Politico characterized over the summer as one where “young Trump staffers mix largely with each other and enjoy the view from their rooftop pools, where they can feel far away from the District’s locals and the rest of its political class.” Left-leaning outlet Splinter dismissed the Daily Mail’s complaints, but added that “Navy Yard does suck. It sucks hard. It is soulless trash, full of bougie restaurants that are the same as all the other bougie restaurants that offer small plates with one too many ingredients—stop ruining things by putting burnt celeriac or anchovy on everything, I beg you—and yoga studios,” characterizing Ocasio-Cortez’s choice as “the first thing I’ve learned about her that makes me question her personal taste.”

In the congresswoman’s first public mention of her new digs, on Desus & Mero Thursday night, she too expressed some hesitation about the location (though no one mentions the words “Navy Yard”). When asked about her new neighborhood, she says, “Since we’re always working, I got a place within walking distance. But … am I a gentrifier?” Co-hosts Desus Nice and The Kid Mero insist she isn’t. “No!”, says The Kid Mero. “You moved from the Bronx to D.C. You’re like, the anti-gentrifier.” Nice chimes in, “It’s not like you’re just living there, wearing Lululemons and riding a Peloton.” (Is this how gentrification works?)

At least the current and former councilmembers representing Ward 6, which includes Navy Yard, seem pleased with the neighborhood’s newest resident, who backs legislation that would make D.C. the 51st state.

https://twitter.com/TommyWells/status/1098592263024844808

But now, it’s time for you to chime in.

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