It is a far cry from the neighborhood that Virginia Johnson, 77, remembers moving into in 1960. Back then, every house on the 100 block of Thomas Street was full of children, she recalled yesterday. "You could go to bed and leave your windows and doors open, and nothing bad would happen."
Now, all but three of Johnson's longtime neighbors have moved, selling their homes for many times what they paid for them. Johnson, confined to a wheelchair and nearly blind, said speculators frequently knock on her door and offer her $275,000 for her rowhouse, which she bought for $20,000.
The Windows Cafe and Market, opened last year at Rhode Island Avenue and First Street NW, is one sign of the neighborhood's upward movement.
(Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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The modest structure is valued at $278,050. But the amount on which her tax is calculated is much lower, because of caps, exemptions for people who live on their property and a 50 percent credit offered to senior citizens.
Johnson said she is not interested in selling her house, which is paid in full and just a half-block from her beloved Mount Bethel Baptist Church. "I been here this long. I just like the city," she said, adding that with the help of her family and her God, if necessary, her taxes get paid.
But people at her socioeconomic level -- she worked as an aide for the D.C. public schools -- have long stopped being able to secure a foothold in this neighborhood.
Scott Roberts bought his house in Bloomingdale in 1992. Back then, he said, people of lesser means could still buy in Eckington, just across North Capitol Street. Now, homes there cost almost as much as in LeDroit Park and Bloomingdale. Teachers, clerical workers and other relatively low-wage earners must look elsewhere.
"They're going over to Woodridge, Trinidad and then Wards 7 and 8," Roberts said, ticking off more affordable parts of the city where, nevertheless, prices are also on the rise.
Yolanda Murphy grew up in Bloomingdale until her family fled to Maryland to escape rising crime. Three years ago, she took over a dry-cleaning business at Rhode Island Avenue and First and T streets NW. At first, her customers brought in jeans and jerseys for cleaning. Now, she gets more dress shirts, suits and dresses.
"I watched it go down, and now I'm seeing it rebuilt again," Murphy said of her old neighborhood. She said she is pleased to see senior citizens walking the streets again and to wave to folks on the stoop.
Someday, Murphy said, she, too, would like to buy a house here. But she doubts that will be possible.
"I couldn't afford it," Murphy said.
Staff writer Eric M. Weiss contributed to this report.
