Ward 2 In Profile

City's Heart Gets Stronger

By Sari Horwitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 7, 1998; Page J01

This is the first in a series of ward profiles.

From the rooftop of her downtown Washington condominium, Virginia Heitmann looks out at the gleaming white dome of the U.S. Capitol. The Supreme Court. The wide stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue leading to the house where Bill and Hillary live. The Smithsonian.

Heitmann and her husband came here from the Midwest five years ago, moving in as others were moving out. It was supposed to be a temporary stay while they, too, scoured the suburbs for a permanent home. But after a few months in the downtown Pennsylvania Quarter, Heitmann decided not to budge. She can walk to world-famous museums, trendy restaurants and now the MCI Center.

Ward 2: A Statistical Profile The ward occupies major parts of two quadrants of the city -- Northwest and Southwest -- and contains a large part of Washington's Potomac River waterfront. The ward has more historic landmarks and historic districts than any other in the city and 40 percent of its taxable land is devoted to retail trade, offices, hotels and various service businesses. Population • Estimated 1997 population: 75,364 • Population lost since 1990: 4% Population breakdown White:  37,150 (49%) Black:  23,635 (31%) Hispanic:  8,116 (11%) Asian:  6,109 (8%) American Indian:  183 Supermarkets: 4 Median household income (1997) Ward 2:  $41,500 Citywide:  $39,792 Median income increase since 1989: 31% Age Under 18:  12% 18 to 64:  76% 65 or older:  12% Political affiliation Democrats:  28,045 Independents:  7,551 Republicans:  5,110 Children • In the ward, half of the households with children are married-couple households. • Citywide, the majority of households with children are headed by single parents. Government employment • In the ward, one in four employed residents has a government job. • Citywide, one in three residents has a government job. Private school attendance • In the ward, nearly one in five children in attends private school. • Citywide, one in six children attends private school. College attendance • In the ward, 69 percent of the adult residents have attended college. • Citywide, 52 percent of adult residents have attended college. Rental housing • In the ward, more than two-thirds of the housing units are rental units. • Citywide, 60 percent of the housing units are rental units. 1994 Mayoral Election • Primary election voter turnout:  Ward 2: 41%  Citywide: 49% • General election turnout:  Ward 2: 47%  Citywide: 51% Primary vote by candidate, Ward 2: • John Ray (D): 6,743 • Marion Barry (D): 4,050 • Sharon Pratt Kelly (D): 1,814 General election vote by candidate, Ward 2: • Carol Schwartz (R): 13,252 • Marion Barry (D): 6,402 SOURCES: 1990 Census, Claritas, D.C. Office of Planning

Now, Heitmann and her friends worry that there isn't enough suitable housing to attract more people like them to the city. They fear that city officials aren't focusing on the need to provide housing to support the explosion of new shops and restaurants as downtown experiences a rebirth.

In this election year, Heitmann and many others who live in a large swath of the city called Ward 2, are optimistic about the District's future but say they worry about their neighborhoods. Some focus on the need for housing, others on the lack of parking, and for some, concerns are more basic -- they need jobs.

"People say they want a thriving downtown," said Heitmann, who lives in one of three luxury buildings, all new since 1990. "But if everyone goes home at night, it will just be a ghost town. It's so frustrating. We just get a lot of lip service."

The growth and development of downtown -- and its growing pains -- are the big story in Ward 2, one of eight wards drawn up 30 years ago. Home to 75,364 Washingtonians, Ward 2 is set in the heart of the city. Stretching 4,025 acres from the Southwest Waterfront on the east to Georgetown on the west, it reaches north to Chinatown, Logan Circle and historic Shaw, and south to the Mall. In between are most of Washington's historic landmarks.

Chock-full of hotels and restaurants, Ward 2 leads the city in commercial development, has the highest number of condominiums and holds the promise of a new, vibrant downtown. Including portions of two of the four quadrants -- Southwest and Northwest -- the 15 neighborhoods of Ward 2 reflect Washington's best: presidential monuments, wide expanses of green parks, foreign embassies, three universities, headquarters of international organizations and the mansions of Dupont Circle and Georgetown.

Ward 2 also contains more public housing than any other ward, neighborhoods with very high unemployment and many of the District's troubled public schools.

The ward is the city's most economically and racially diverse. Almost every issue that reaches city hall is an issue in Ward 2, which is 49 percent white, 31 percent African American and 11 percent Hispanic. It is the place where blacks, whites and Latinos, rich and poor, rub elbows.

Lawyer Sturgis Warner, who drew the city's boundaries 30 years ago, once said his goal was to make the population roughly equal in each ward. He did not take race, economics or future voting blocks into account, and he drew Ward 2 first because it contained the White House. ("I just messed around with it," the lawyer, who has since died, told a reporter.)

Despite the boom in some neighborhoods, the ward's population dropped in the last decade -- 4 percent, according to the D.C. planning office; 15 percent by demographer George Grier's calculations -- as part of a citywide flight to the suburbs. Grier said the decline in Ward 2 also may be partly attributable to boundary adjustments made after the 1990 Census to equalize ward sizes.

But in Heitmann's downtown neighborhood, the population is growing.

"The difference between now and five years ago is like night and day," she said. "It's like someone plugged us in. This neighborhood is blossoming."

Follow the aroma of sizzling stir-fry chicken into Hunan Chinatown and glance above the stairway, beyond the photographs of President Clinton who stopped by for dinner.

A large silver shovel and white hard hat are mounted on a plaque next to two dates: Oct. 18, 1995, and Dec. 2, 1997. Those are the dates of the groundbreaking for the $200 million MCI Center and its opening. Abe Pollin presented the memento to owner Linda Lee.

"It represents the light at the end of the tunnel," said a beaming Lee, whose family has been in Chinatown for more than 50 years.

"People say they want a thriving downtown," said Virginia Heitmann, "but if everyone goes home at night, it will just be a ghost town." (Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post)

During the first half of the century, Chinatown and the rest of downtown was a thriving business district. But the area fell on hard times after residents abandoned the neighborhood in the 1950s. The 1968 riots occurred nearby after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In the aftermath, crime began to soar.

The old department stores that used to attract shoppers by the droves, especially the black middle class, lost their customers to suburban shopping malls.

"The last eight years have been so bad for retail that we were thinking about getting out," said Lee, who bought a home in the suburbs. "It was deserted like a remote town in Montana."

Walk Chinatown with Lee now and there are signs of a city coming back, mixing Chinese culture with urban grit.

There's Fado, a recently opened Irish pub; the next storefront is occupied by Starbucks at the neighborhood's crossroads, Seventh and H streets; around the corner is the Capital Q Texan Barbecue -- all with facades graced by Chinese characters.

Down the street, on four floors of the huge MCI sports and entertainment arena, is a $20 million museum-like Discovery Channel Store, steps from the Gallery Place Metro station, which has been used by more than twice as many riders since the arena opened. There is talk that if the current convention center is replaced by a new one located elsewhere, the old center may be converted into an entertainment and retail complex. And the old Woodward & Lothrop department store may be turned into a $200 million opera house.