Saturday, June 22, 2013

Student Loans and Urbanism

Buried in a Post piece on the "echo boomers" living in DC and Arlington is this observation:
“What you’re seeing in Arlington and Washington is that you can live here without a car,” said Harriet Tregoning, director of the District’s Office of Planning. She says that is a boon for people who owe a lot of money on college loans: “If you don’t have a car, you can pay off your college debt quickly. As long as it’s expensive to go to college, we have a competitive advantage.”
It makes sense to me.  Of course I've also heard that the average/median (not sure which) rent in DC is around $2,100.  That's a bunch.  Of course if you're young you can squeeze up.  And there appears to be a new phenomenon.  Back in the day I lived just south of Logan Circle.  And for the next 25 years there were alternating stories in the Post--problems with prostitution and other urban ills in the area and people renovating old houses amidst the crime. 

In this century it seems to me the renovation and crime story is much less common, the more common one is the influx of young, mostly white inhabitants.  I don't know whether crime is less, there's a more rapid flow of new people, the newspaper mindset is different, or what's going on, but I think there's a big differenc.e

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