It’s a good thing that the media bemoaning the Adams Morgan Streetscape Project on 18th Street weren’t around when Rome was built. That great city might never have risen under their relentless and misguided criticism. After more than six years of planning — including scores of meetings, hearings and compromises among countless business owners, residents, civic associations and government agencies — renovation work began this year on the central commercial strip of Adams Morgan.
You’ve probably noticed the activity and the construction workers in hard hats. It’s a massive undertaking both aboveground and below, where new utility lines are being installed.
The old lines would’ve soon required replacement anyway, but it’s been timed to coincide with the aboveground improvements to minimize the inconvenience of construction.
We’re now some six months from completion and ahead of schedule. Wider sidewalks, improved pedestrian crossing tools, less congestion, new street lights and road surfaces, and better-suited trees (instead of the old ginkgos and their foul-smelling seeds) — all of it and more will help showcase one of our city’s premiere neighborhoods.
The District Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the Adams Morgan work, transformed the 14th Street corridor of Columbia Heights into a booming commercial district and — while different in character from what we’ve envisioned for Adams Morgan — helped launch a renaissance there.
“It’s been said that the project is like a root canal,” said the DDOT’s Thomas Pipkin. “No one likes to go through it, but when it’s over everyone is happy.”
And yet the media has focused on misinformation and finger pointing instead of appreciating the huge investment in Adams Morgan being made for the benefit of us all. These critics claim to want improvements and change, but refuse to tolerate even a modicum of the work necessary to realize them.
Without this project, Adams Morgan risks losing business to countless other areas that have made the investments necessary to attract visitors and entrepreneurs alike.
“It’s not just about competing with other neighborhoods,” said Bill Thomas, an owner of the recently opened and much-praised Jack Rose Dining Saloon on 18th Street. “It’s about pride in Adams Morgan. We want a better infrastructure for our community, and it was so desperately needed.”
The fact that the federal government is picking up 80 percent of the $6.5 million tab, and the District the remaining 20 percent, seems lost to those who only want everything, immediately.
Also overlooked is the fact that the District is offering zero-interest loans to businesses to help with any potential loss in revenue — loans that would be repaid in five years.
Despite the din and dust of the revitalization project, large and small businesses alike see the huge potential in the remade 18th Street corridor through the heart of Adams Morgan.
In just the last few months, a new Smoothie King, Mellow Mushroom pizzeria, and Jamaican Joe’s have opened right on 18th Street — amid the construction. They’ve seen the future, and they’ve decided it’s one well worth their investments.
Just off of 18th Street, a GameStop and Kalorama Cleaners have opened new stores, to name just two. More new businesses have already begun the process of moving into Adams Morgan.
They see the promise and potential even as a handful of vocal critics persist in kicking up storm clouds of rhetorical dust.
If I could, like some sitcom genie, twitch my nose and make everything perfect in a flash, I would. But in the real world, infrastructure projects take a little time and can sometimes be a bit inconvenient.
But we can’t get to Adams Morgan’s bright future without doing a little work and, frankly, working together.
Adams Morgan won’t be made better in a day, but it’s on its way to being vastly improved for our businesses, our residents and the visitors we need to keep our community thriving.
Krista Barden is executive director of the Adams Morgan Business Improvement District.
