For these of us who’ve known as D.C. residence for a decade or extra, it generally feels as if we’re dwelling in a completely new metropolis.
The leafy Southwest quadrant used to really feel off the grid to many Washingtonians, prized by members of Congress and a few Supreme Courtroom justices who needed to remain out of the highlight. Right now the neighborhood is residence to Enviornment Stage’s cutting-edge structure and a mini city-within-a-city alongside the waterfront at The Wharf.
And take a look at Ivy Metropolis. The world off New York Avenue in Northeast has morphed from an industrial zone to the house of a number of Michelin-recognized eating places.
Why it issues: The transformation of our cityscape has actually modified how we reside, work, and socialize.
How did this occur? Low-density zoning legal guidelines and D.C.’s NIMBY tradition.
A big portion of D.C. is completely zoned for single-family housing. Most heaps in Tenleytown, Woodley Park, and Cleveland Park, as an illustration, don’t even permit rowhouses, not to mention high-rises or multi-family housing, senior Brookings Metro fellow Jenny Schuetz tells Axios.
A lot of the District, she says, is “off-limits for brand spanking new improvement.”
In the meantime, persistent NIMBY-ism on the a part of longtime residents with political capital has stored this type of restrictive zoning intact.
“There’s comparatively robust opposition to new improvement,” says Brookings Metro fellow Tracy Hadden Loh. “One of many methods to take care of that opposition is to only channel the entire new improvement into locations the place only a few folks reside, or locations the place folks with little or no energy (reside).”
Between the strains: Even when Washingtonians lose the battle towards new developments, they’re usually in a position to stall development for years.
Since 2018, Dupont Circle residents have fought plans for an residence constructing behind a historic Masonic Temple in Northwest.
In Ward 3, residents spent years utilizing a lawsuit and attraction to cease plans for a homeless shelter deliberate for the realm.
Zoom out: D.C. desperately wants housing – the mayor set a aim to construct 36,000 new items by 2025. Newly developed areas in Southwest, for instance, have introduced in hundreds of items over the previous few years.
And moreover housing, new neighborhoods stimulate tourism and financial progress.
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As soon as it’s accomplished, The Wharf is projected to herald $75 million in annual tax income.
Sure, however: The expansion routinely displaces present residents who can’t afford the brand new sky-high rents and housing prices.
On the identical time, locations with restrictive zoning like Cleveland Park are stagnating by means of ageing and declining populations, which negatively impacts industrial corridors, Schuetz explains.
“The present residents have primarily chosen to protect the neighborhoods as they’re with the fee that it’s simply going to turn into a dying neighborhood in some sense,” she says.
The underside line: D.C.’s distinctive improvement local weather has meant that “new” neighborhoods can solely be in-built sure areas with out there land and versatile zoning. Enter locations like Navy Yard and Union Market.
Here is a crash course on D.C.’s latest neighborhoods.
Navy Yard: A metropolis on the water
Historical past: The Southeast neighborhood has housed the Navy’s oldest shore institution since 1799.
Within the ‘70s, the realm was residence to plenty of LGBTQ bars.
Turning level: In 2004 the Nationals introduced they have been transferring in, triggering an eventual improvement growth. However some argue that the realm was already destined for large modifications after the town demolished the Ellen Wilson public housing and pushed its residents to different elements of D.C.
Who lives there: It was a protected house for millennial Trumpers in the course of the former president’s administration. And it’s nonetheless a preferred hangout for younger, conservative Washingtonians.
Clutch amenity: The water characteristic at Yards Park is a swell spot for meditating or studying within the off-hours. In the summertime months, it’s a go-to splash pad for the toddler-and-up set.
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Gripe: Sport day site visitors.
1 newish factor: As soon as often known as the Blue Fort, the previous automobile barn that repaired the District’s streetcars is now Capital Turnaround, an occasion venue.
Noma/Union Market: Wholesale to excessive finish
Historical past: Whereas it’s been the house of Gallaudet College since 1864, a lot of the realm was largely industrial and residential to an enormous market that equipped eating places.
Turning level: XM Satellite tv for pc Radio and ATF transferring to the neighborhood sparked improvement, and the 2012 opening of Union Market turbocharged that improvement.
Mainstay commerce: A. Litteri, slightly Italy underneath one roof.
Declare to fame: The world is a culinary mecca, with two meals halls (Union Market and La Cosecha), a Stephen Starr restaurant (St. Anselm), and a distillery (Cotton & Reed).
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Sure, however: “All the pieces is fancy … generally you need one thing common,” says ANC commissioner Sebrena Rhodes.
Gripe: Dave Thomas Circle. The town has plans in place to revamp the headache of an intersection.
At all times altering: The murals, the artwork.
Ivy Metropolis: Don’t dump on me
Historical past: Within the Sixties the town threatened to construct a freeway via the Northeast neighborhood and lots of residents moved away, which led to a rise in deserted buildings.
Within the following many years, Ivy Metropolis grew to become often known as a high-crime industrial dumping floor with low-cost land.
Turning level: Close by Union Market’s completion plus Douglas Jemal’s redevelopment of the Hecht’s Co. warehouse in 2016 sparked most of the latest modifications.
New neighborhood staples: Goal, Metropolis Vineyard, and Ivy Metropolis Smokehouse, a Michelin Bib Gourmand winner.
Millennial magnets: The Lane (an indoor play house for teenagers and adults, with a ball pit and a bar) and Kick Axe – a brand new neighborhood staple.
Gripes: Longtime residents have many, however they haven’t misplaced their neighborhood delight, says Rhodes.
Reasonably priced housing is a matter.
Folks nonetheless are available and illegally dump trash.
A chemical plant within the space can also be an enormous concern for residents.
Coming quickly: Plans are within the works to redevelop the long-empty, historic Crummell Faculty, which closed within the ’70s.
The Wharf: All the pieces’s new
Historical past: The previous industrial shipyard remains to be residence to the oldest repeatedly working open-air fish market within the nation.
How we bought right here: The Wharf is the results of many years of planning, a number of acts of Congress, and a whole bunch of neighborhood conferences. Builders labored with the town to create the mini-city on the water whereas preserving its longtime fish market. The primary part opened in 2017. Part 2 is opening quickly.
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New neighborhood landmark: The Anthem. The I.M.P. music venue has housed big-name performances from Meek Mill to the Foo Fighters. Builders reportedly spent $300,000 soundproofing the house.
Neighborhood obsession: The fish market.
Gripe: The high-traffic space is fairly dear. For outsiders, parking is a colossal ache.
Transportation: Metro, smetro. The best approach to entry the neighborhood is by water taxi.
What’s subsequent: Celeb chef Gordon Ramsay has two eating places coming to the Southwest waterfront: Hell’s Kitchen is coming this fall and Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips’ opening is across the identical time.
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Buzzard Level: Neighborhood goooaaaaaaals
Historical past: It was as soon as the positioning of an arms producer, the hanging of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, and a manufacturing facility that boiled animal carcasses for fertilizer.
Turning level: Curiosity in growing waterfront property spilled over from different new neighborhoods. However the true catalyst for growing the Southwest neighborhood was its choice in 2013 as the house for D.C. United’s soccer stadium, Audi Area.
The draw for potential residents: Views, views, views.
There’s little commerce in the intervening time, past the waterfront restaurant The Level.
Gripes: There’s no Metro. And site visitors points balloon on recreation days.
Additionally, just like different quickly growing areas, there are few household and inclusionary housing choices.
Shaw/Blagden Alley: Previous made new
Historical past: Shaw was recognized for being residence to plenty of Black companies and notable Black Washingtonians, together with Carter G. Woodson.
Civil unrest following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 led to widespread destruction that required a years-long rebuilding effort.
Turning level: A discount in crime within the ’90s and early 2000s led to elevated improvement and a rise in new folks transferring to the realm who shortly priced out Shaw’s longtime residents. An inflow of recent jobs after the 2008 recession led to white millennials transferring to the realm “in droves,” Washington Metropolis Paper stories.
Improvement on 14th Avenue additionally spilled over into Shaw, ANC Commissioner Amanda Farnan says.
Gripe: Strict zoning and historic preservation legal guidelines could make it troublesome to construct the reasonably priced housing essential to retain and get again residents who’ve been pushed away from the realm, Farnan provides.
Enjoyable reality: The world was first known as Shaw due to its proximity to Shaw Junior Excessive, which was named after Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, who led the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the course of the Civil Battle.
One factor to see: The DC Alley Museum. Exploring the out of doors assortment of painted storage doorways in Blagden Alley is an effective way to assist the neighborhood, they usually make for incredible photograph ops.
The Trump Organization is engaged in preliminary discussions to reclaim the lease on its former hotel in Washington, D.C., reports the Wall Street Journal.
The hotel is currently operating as a Waldorf Astoria.
The Wall Street Journal said Trump Organization executive vice president Eric Trump met with an executive from BDT & MSD Partners at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week to discuss purchasing the lease rights to the former Trump International Hotel Washington D.C.
BDT & MSD Partners currently controls the property’s lease, following a 2023 default and subsequent foreclosure by previous leaseholder CGI Merchant Group. The Trump Organization sold the hotel’s lease to CGI in 2022, and the hotel was reflagged as a Waldorf Astoria.
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The 263-room hotel, which occupies the Old Post Office building, opened as a Trump hotel in 2016.
During President Donald Trump’s first presidency, the hotel was a prominent gathering spot for Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and others with business involving the administration. The property came under intense scrutiny because of ethical and legal concerns.
The hotel has some of the largest guestrooms in the city. Top-tier accommodations include the 4,000-square-foot Presidential One Bedroom Suite and 6,300-square-foot Waldorf Townhouse Two Bedroom Bi-Level Suite.
The hotel is home to restaurants The Bazaar by Jose Andres and the Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa, plus 38,000 square feet of event space and a 10,000-square-foot Waldorf Astoria Spa.
‘Pizzagate’ gunman killed by police in North Carolina
Edgar Maddison Welch, the ‘Pizzagate’ suspect who stormed Comet Pizza in D.C. in 2016, was shot and killed by police in North Carolina last week.
Fox – 5 DC
The man who stormed into a Washington D.C. restaurant with loaded weapons during an incident widely known as “Pizzagate” is now dead after North Carolina police shot him during a traffic stop.
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Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, was shot just after 10 p.m. last Saturday, Kannapolis Fire and Police wrote in a news release this week.
Welch is the same Salisbury, North Carolina man who in December 2016, showed up to Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington DC., with loaded weapons to investigate “unfounded rumors concerning a child sex-trafficking ring” that was allegedly operating out of the restaurant, federal prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty in March 2017 to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, as well as a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Three months later, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
More news: It was a dispute over a $2.50 bus fare. Now a bus driver is dead and 3 teens are charged.
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What is ‘Pizzagate’? What happened at Comet Ping Pong?
Welch’s initial reason for making headlines in 2016 stemmed from rumors of a child sex trafficking ring allegedly operating out of the pizza restaurant he stormed into, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.
Rumors began circulating online that the restaurant was part of a trafficking ring operated by then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton – a fake news campaign targeting Clinton during the general election.
Welch allegedly tried to recruit people to participate in the storming of the restaurant leading up to Dec. 4. He’d texted someone saying he was “raiding a pedo ring” and sacrificing “the lives of a few for the lives of many.”
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Prosecutors said Welch traveled from North Carolina to Washington D.C. with three loaded firearms, including a 9mm AR-15 assault rifle loaded with 29 rounds of ammunition, a fully-loaded, six-shot, .38-caliber revolver and a loaded shotgun with additional shotgun shells.
Welch parked his car and around 3 p.m., walked into the restaurant, where multiple employees and customers were present, including children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia said in a news release.
“He was carrying the AR-15 openly, with one hand on the pistol grip, and the other hand on the hand guard around the barrel, such that anyone with an unobstructed view could see the gun,” the office wrote in the news release.
Once customers and employees saw Welch, they fled the building. Welch was also accused of trying to get into a locked room by forcing the door open, first with a butter knife and then shooting his assault rifle multiple times into the door.
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Shortly after he walked into the restaurant, an employee who had no idea what was going on walked in carrying pizza dough, federal prosecutors said. When Welch saw the employee, he turned toward the worker with the assault rifle, which made the employee think he was going to shoot them. The employee then ran out, leaving Welch alone in the restaurant.
Welch spent more than 20 minutes inside the restaurant, then walked out, leaving his firearms inside. Officials then arrested him.
When Welch was sentenced to four years in prison, he was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, during which he’d have to get a mental health assessment.
He was also ordered to stay away from the Comet Ping Pong restaurant while released and to pay $5,744 in restitution for property damage.
What happened leading up to the Welch’s death?
The deadly traffic stop happened the night of Jan. 4, said Kannapolis Chief of Police Terry L. Spry in a news release.
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Around 10 p.m., a Kannapolis Police Officer patrolling North Cannon Boulevard spotted a gray 2001 GMC Yukon. The officer recognized the vehicle because he’d previously arrested someone who frequently drove the vehicle, Welch. He also knew Welch had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, police said.
The officer stopped the vehicle and recognized the front seat passenger as Welch, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for felony probation violation, police said. While the officer was speaking with Welch, two additional officers showed up to help.
As the officer who made the traffic stop approached the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the front passenger door to arrest the individual, the passenger pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer.
The initial officer and a second officer who was standing at the rear passenger side of the Yukon ordered the man to drop the gun. After the passenger failed to lower his gun, both officers fired at him, hitting him.
Officials called for medical assistance for Welch who was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was later taken to another hospital, where he died from his injuries two days after the shooting.
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None of the officers at the traffic stop were hurt and neither were the driver and back seat passenger in the vehicle with Welch.
The officers involved who fired their weapons were Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate. The third officer at the scene did not fire his weapon, police said.
District Attorney will decide next steps in traffic stop shooting death
An outside law enforcement agency has been requested to investigate the shooting.
“This practice ensures there is no bias during the investigation and the findings of the investigation are presented to the District Attorney without any influence by a member of the department,” the police chief wrote in the news release.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the shooting and the two officers who fired their weapons are on administrative leave, which the police said is standard protocol.
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Cabarrus County District Attorney Ashlie Shanley will decide what the next steps are, police said.
Contributing: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
Viewers and media industry professionals alike are sharing tributes to Derrick Ward, a longtime Washington, D.C., television journalist who died Tuesday at age 62.
Ward’s death followed complications from a recent cardiac arrest and was confirmed Wednesday by NBC 4 Washington (WRC-TV), where he’d been employed since 2006.
“Derrick has been an inspiration and cherished member of our family and his hometown community,” Ward’s family told the outlet in a statement that was shared during Wednesday’s broadcast. “As a distinguished journalist, Derrick’s storytelling, prolific writing, warmth and humor touched countless lives. Our children and our entire family will miss him dearly.”
As of Thursday afternoon, news of Ward’s passing had drawn an outpouring of condolences online.
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“Stunned to hear of his passing. Watched that great man for over two decades tell some riveting stories all with class, respect, and precision,” podcaster Lee Sanders wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Well diverse and extremely talented man. Thoughts to his friends, family and colleagues. Not a good start to 2025.”
Watch an NBC 4 report on Derrick Ward’s death below.
Fox 5 DC journalist Tom Fitzgerald felt similarly, describing Ward as “one of the most pleasant people I’ve ever spent time with.”
“I’ll miss the graciousness, professionalism, kindness and glowing smile of this true gentleman,” he wrote on X. “Peace to his family, friends & NBC 4 colleagues.”
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A Washington, D.C., native, Ward began his journalism career in radio, where he covered the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the D.C. sniper shootings of 2003, among other major stories. He then transitioned to television reporting when he landed a gig at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York.
Appearing on the “Architecture Is Political” podcast in 2020, Ward recalled how his love of storytelling inspired him to pursue a career in journalism.
“I want to tell the stories of this town that I grew up in,” he said. “I like doing things that can resonate with somebody ― if you can say something or write something somewhere and it just gets someone’s attention or whatever point you’re trying to make gets off and they can say, ‘Hmmm’ or ‘Uh huh.’ It’s the same reason that people do music and other things, I guess, is to look for that resonance.”
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In addition to his professional background, Ward was known as an avid golfer and guitar player. He is survived by his three children: Derrick Jr., Ian and Marisa.