The D of C!

This place has changed. I don't get back to D.C. too often, usually three times a year for about two days each time tops. I know the city has really gotten a makeover the last decade, but this is the first time I really noticed how much.

It started with the cab from Union Station. Yeah, yeah, normally I would take the Metro (it's what DC people call the subway) but I didn't, I wanted to enjoy the ride. Cabbie took E Street instead of Mass. Ave and E Street has gone upscale. I mean, I know it's been 25 years since 14th Street in downtown was a porn district, but it is amazing to see how dramatically different these neighborhoods are now. It's changed so much here that I've used italics twice just to hammer that point.

The good thing is because of the zoning laws, buildings can only be so high so even though there is lots of new development, the buildings all fit into the neighborhood unlike those two hideous behemoths sprouting up on Broadway and 100th.

Of course, there are still some desolate areas not far from Union Station and I'm glad for that too. I need my urban blight. I did some walking down there and the gentrification and corporification (my new word) hasn't hit those parts. Also, a big chunk of U Street may be on the upswing, but I was hanging at 14th and V and lets just say I stood out.

Still, DC is charming me again. It is a beautiful city. Even the crappy areas have great old brownstones that just need some love. The people are, generally speaking, more polite here although you can forget about good pizza.

The living is better too. I visited a friend who has a nice big two bedroom and he pays only a little more than what I'm paying for my fourth floor walk-up tiny one bedroom in NYC. It gets tempting. I could find a job here, get a better apartment. I have family here. Heck I have family here that I see a lot more than than family I see in NYC that lives only a few blocks from me (and you already read how often I get down here, so what does that tell you?).

However, even with all that, I have spent the bulk of the past 25 years in NYC. Something must keep me there. As I get older though, my desire for a little space to breathe grows and sometimes even I want to be a little closer to my family here.

I don't know. It's just something to keep in the back of my mind.