The Woodridge neighborhood is bounded by Michigan Avenue NE to the north, Eastern Avenue to the east, Bladensburg Road to the south, and 18th Street NE to the west. Rhode Island Avenue NE runs through the center of the neighborhood. Woodridge began as farmland which was transformed by the introduction of streetcars along Rhode Island Avenue in 1897. The “Maryland Line,” as the streetcar was known, ran from Eastern Avenue to 4th Street NE, where it turned south. Rhode Island Avenue is now being called a “Diamond of the District” for its largely un-mined, yet valuable investment opportunity.
The D.C.’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, presented their (2012) plan for the district which conveyed a wide range of investment opportunities and outlined objectives for the appropriate redevelopment of underutilized, commercial properties along the Rhode Island Avenue. The plan sought to shape attitudes about the kinds of preferred investments which will strengthen the corridor’s identity locally and regionally, which has long been “compromised by an auto-dominated development pattern which continues to this day… The number of used car lots, auto repair shops, vacant structures and cross-town trucks has long been sources of neighborhood frustration” (p. 5). The plan, organized by four subareas along the corridor, which will later be known as “The Avenue”, includes over $1.2 billion in new investments in housing, retail, office and public art. Woodridge is located in Sub-Area 3: 17th Street NE to Kearny Street NE. and consists of six sites on the docket for redevelopment that include thousands of unused building area with the potential to yield numerous mixed income housing units and parking. The plan for these areas are based on variety of prospects which include:
Retail – The District loses over $1 billion annually in retail sales taxes to surrounding counties in suburban Maryland and Virginia. The District’s policy is to capture this lost revenue within the city’s many neighborhoods, including on Rhode Island Avenue NE. To achieve this, the plan recommends that new licenses for storefront churches, check cashing services, addiction treatment facilities, halfway houses, and group residential facilities are extremely limited or prohibited and that new apparel, organic, furnishings, pet stores, and many others are encouraged.
Housing & Affordability – the development community is “encouraged” to take advantage of available financial assistance throughout the varied housing financing agencies in the District and Federal Government to produce units which are affordable to individuals, couples and families at tiered levels of the Washington area and neighborhood median income levels.
Expansion of Transit Options – the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) (2010) “DC Transit Future System Plan” currently indicates that a Rhode Island Avenue streetcar will be completed by 2018.
Parking & Demand Management – the District should support shared parking arrangements that include creative pricing strategies, shared parking, public parking, shuttle and transit programs, flex cars and others.
Small Business Development – Main Streets is a partnership between the District government through the Department of Small and Local Business Development (DSL
BD) and not-for-profit organizations comprised of immediate area stakeholders. Those organizations work with individual property owners to attract preferred retail uses to vacant storefronts and with business owners to individually or collectively re-position their businesses with storefront improvements, technology upgrades, interior improvements, smart business practices, business planning, loan readiness and other services. Here is a link to Rhode Island Avenue Main Street.
Jobs & Apprenticeships – the District government has a mandatory apprenticeship law that requires all prime contractors and subcontractors, who perform new construction and renovation work with District financial assistance in excess of $500,000 in a single contract or cumulative contracts within a twelve month period, register an apprenticeship program with the D.C. Apprenticeship Council.
Public Realm and Crime & Safety – A large part of why some crimes happen on the Avenue now is the perception that “no one is watching” or that “no one is home.” The introduction of new residents and businesses to the corridor will increase.
Economic Development Policies
Additionally, the District is promoting several economic development policies to engage investors, such as:
- Tax Increment Financing (TIF) – a tax increment district or project site from which incremental revenues are collected and within which tax increment dollars can be spent to support redevelopment. These incremental taxes are directed to a designated TIF revenue fund separate from the District’s General Fund. The District can then spend those dollars on approved revitalization efforts within the TIF district or pledge the future revenues to repay revenue bonds or notes issued to finance redevelopment projects.
- Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) – CDBG funds can be used for a variety of purposes, including real property acquisition, relocation, demolition, rehabilitation, construction of public facilities and infrastructure improvements, and others. These funds can also be used in low-income neighborhoods to maintain historic properties. Generally, priorities are to create affordable housing and to expand economic development efforts in low to moderate income communities.
- Supermarket Exemption Act – in accordance with the Supermarket Exemption Act of 2000, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development may work with eligible owners of a qualified supermarket in a “priority development area” to receive an exemption from sales taxes on the purchase of building materials and equipment for construction or substantial rehabilitation of a qualified supermarket as well as exempt the qualified supermarket from the payment of license fees and personal property taxes levied on the supermarket for 10 years.
Schools as Assets
Despite the population growth in the District, many of the public schools are under-enrolled. Thus, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) developed a (2013) consolidation and reorganization plan, which sought to reduce costs on maintaining small schools and invest in quality programming for students. According to the plan, 64% percent of DCPS elementary schools have fewer than 350 students. The DC population of four – to 17-year-olds declined by 15,245 between 2000 and 2010, while the charter school enrollment increased. However, the city is projected to have up to 30,000 more four – to 17-year-olds by 2022. 
DCPS anticipates saving approximately $19.5 million because of consolidating schools. Of these savings, $11 million will be re-invested in receiving schools. The remaining $8.5 million, plus additional savings from reductions to central office, will support transition costs and robust programming in all schools. Two schools in Ward 5 were directly impacted by the consolidation:
Thurgood Marshall Elementary School closed and was consolidated into Langdon Education Campus with transportation made available to students from Marshall ES to Langdon EC. DCPS will retain the Marshall ES building in the inventory should they need to re-open it, with a savings of $1,456,429,
Spingarn High School closed and students were reassign to neighborhood high schools. The facility will be used to expand career and technical education programming with a special focus on transportation to better prepare our students for college and careers, with a savings of $795,295.
School feeder patterns affected by the plan in school year 2017-2018 results in five elementary schools, which feed into Brookland Middle School, and McKinley Technology Education Campus, and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
The District’s Office of Planning, produced a development summary in January 2015, which provided updates on several planning initiatives, selected capital investments and major project developments in Ward 5. Highlights from their summary include: a beautification program; transportation and commercial revitalization plans; a reuse of industrial land study, and public space improvements. Additional investments included the renovation of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and the construction of the Woodridge neighborhood library.
Hoods, Schools, and People 