Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Purple Line for Social Justice?

The Washington Post wrote an interesting piece on Latino immigrants and the housing market in Langley Park. Buried in it was an interesting nugget on the potential impact of the Purple Line on working-class immigrants--a key sector of the populations that proponents hope will be served by the new link:

William Hanna, an urban-planning professor at the University of Maryland, has studied the neighborhood for 12 years. He sends out a bilingual e-mail newsletter to 700 residents every two weeks and helps to organize an annual street festival, which this year will be held May 4.

He said he's alarmed by how expensive housing has gotten in the neighborhood: He hears that one-bedroom apartments now cost $825, when 10 years ago they were $485. He worries that working-class immigrants will be pushed out, especially if the Purple Line arrives at the intersection of University and New Hampshire, as is planned.
This same process occurred in Columbia Heights when the Green Line stop opened.