For Williams, a Contested Legacy

In dozens of interviews across town yesterday, residents expressed a deep ambivalence about the changes Williams has wrought. They praised the mayor for improving basic services, making sure their garbage is collected and their potholes get filled. But they worried about paying skyrocketing property taxes and about seeing their children priced out of the neighborhoods where they were born.

Along Seventh Street NW, where upscale boutiques, restaurants and art galleries have replaced abandoned buildings and parking lots littered with trash, Edward Fisher leaned against a concrete wall at the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro station and complained about soaring property values.

"In another two years, taxes are going to be so high that black folks can't live here," said Fisher, 53, a city trash truck driver on leave with an injury. "I'm glad to see certain things happen in the city. But the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and a lot of people get displaced."

That tension was also evident along H Street NE, where chic new restaurants are starting to appear alongside faded discount marts and liquor stores. At Smokey's Barber Shop and Oldies near H and 14th streets, men who have gone there for fades and shaves for nearly 30 years ranted about Williams between tirades about the Redskins and the Nationals.

"I said, 'Good! Go! And take his bow tie with him,' " said Kenneth Moore, 60, who lived in the District for 27 years before moving to Prince George's County. "It's time for a change. He was for the big business but not for the small people."

Across the street, Phish Tea Cafe opened a year ago with colorful banners, eggplant walls and a Jamaican lunch buffet. "I think Williams has done some good for the city. We're getting better services. Overall, the image of the city is better," said owner Andrew Harris, 42.

Another new cafe, the R&B Coffeehouse, opened seven months ago. Kim Jones, 37, sat at the elegant, tiled bar surrounded by latte-colored walls and wondered about the District's future.

"I think the city has been revitalized in a lot of ways. I think it's great in a lot of ways," she said. "But more than ever, people are struggling, hustling to make ends meet. People who have good jobs, good salaries, they're barely making it now. This city is almost as expensive as Manhattan."

Williams heard no complaints yesterday at the community center. When he strode into the gym, more than 300 staff members and supporters leapt to their feet, filling the room with cheers and applause. They chanted his name and, when he took the stage, a group in back started shouting, "Four more years!"

The event was more celebration than farewell. Williams was smiling and loose. When a bee forced his allergic wife to jump out of her seat onstage, Williams joked that he had hoped she was "really getting into my speech."

Williams declined to say what he plans to do next, advising his supporters to "stay tuned." But the Los Angeles native does plan to buy a house in the District after years of living in a rented Foggy Bottom apartment. Once you serve as mayor someplace, he said, "you really are part of that city forever."

As they mourned Williams's decision, his supporters had trouble conjuring a clear image of the city's future without him.

"The next mayor is going to have a tough job," said Dan Wedderburn, a member of the Democratic State Committee who lives in Ward 2. "We need to now focus on the less privileged and our public schools, which continue to be a major impediment to continued progress of the city. That's not going to be easy."

Staff writers Karlyn Barker, D'Vera Cohn, Petula Dvorak, V. Dion Haynes, Hamil R. Harris, Nia-Malika Henderson and Yolanda Woodlee and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.