Letter from Washington (I)

This semester my wife Jane and I are living in Washington, D.C., thanks to a generous sabbatical leave granted by my employer, Coe College. I am teaching one course for the Capitol Hill Internship Program, but mainly doing my own research and writing, most of which will land first in this electronic space. My top priority will be the urban immersion, experiential research into life in a major urban area. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but I've never lived in a city proper larger than Cedar Rapids (pop. 131,127), so being here (pop. 693,972) for more than a few days will be a new experience for me.

Houses tend to be of older construction, though not 180 years in most cases

We've been here a week. We're living in the basement apartment of a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, three blocks east of the Supreme Court building. I like it a lot so far, although it's not quite real life: I don't have full-time employment obligations, and while the rent is certainly extremely impressive by Iowa standards, I've got it covered for the spring, so I don't really have a good sense of how this situation would work financially if I were going to be here for the rest of time. So my positive reactions are not entirely grounded in practical day-to-day concerns.

Our block

With that disclaimer out of the way, the most impressive aspects of this neighborhood are the walkability--Walk Score is 91--and the neighborliness. Most of this area consists of older row housing, and there seem to be any number of basement apartments like ours. The density supports most major services within an easy walk: grocery stores (both full service and corner stores), pharmacies, cleaners, hardware stores, schools, parks, an indoor pool, two branch libraries, and nine or ten churches. Streets are narrow with frequent stops, and crosswalks highlighted. We're half a mile from two rapid transit stops. As a result, people walk. Any time I'm out, there are parents walking with small children, older children on their own, people walking dogs, people going to work or running errands. A lot of people walk because for most errands it's the easiest option. My phone has a step counter which I now check daily because I almost always get 12,000 or more steps (though not even half that Sunday when it was pouring rain most of the time).

I meet a lot of people as I walk, and most exchange greetings. I am not used to this--I'm used to the few people I encounter avoiding eye contact--but I like it. Driving, at least in this neighborhood, tends not to be aggressive, and drivers seem willing to yield to pedestrians crossing the street. I attribute this to the expectation that people will be walking or biking, a perception which requires some critical mass to develop.

But watch out for bicycles. In contrast to the neighborhood auto drivers there is more aggressive cycling than I'm used to. I reject stereotyping, or any overbroad claim that says "All X are Y," but it's happened often enough that I've come to anticipate it.

Brick sidewalks are generously wide but spawn hazards

There is, unquestionably, a lot of money in this neighborhood. I heard cited today the figure $103,000 for median family income in Capitol Hill, which would be almost double the national figure. I wonder how much the residents of the basement apartments might keep that figure from going even higher? But there's a lot of money in a lot of neighborhoods in the United States. What's notable about this bunch is they've chosen to live in close proximity to each other, to support public facilities and places, and to treat each other well. It's a good place to be.