The number of black residents in Washington, D.C.'s Brightwood neighborhood dropped from 85 percent in 1990 to 67 percent in 2010, and that's made one resident so upset that he's now picketing against gentrification in the city. For several weeks, Millfred Ellis, 78, has posted campaign-style signs on his Peabody Street lawn with messages like "Brightwood wants less gentrification. Not more." Ellis told The Washington Post, "I don't want people to come in and diminish the affordable housing stock for black Americans because [black Americans] have nowhere else to go. There are plenty of places for white Americans to go." Not everyone in the community feels the same, though. ANC 4B Commissioner Brenda Parks said, "There's no such thing as too many white people living in the neighborhood. We need to get off this color thing." Increasing home values was one of the changes in the neighborhood that Parks described as positive. For Ellis, though, he believes it's only pushing out middle-class black residents. In 2000, the median home price for the neighborhood was $189,000, but by 2015 many listings are reaching up to roughly $800,000. For now, Ellis tells The Washington Post, "I don't want to lead the fight," but he does hope to launch a coalition that would fight for more affordable housing in Washington, D.C. To hear more of what he and other residents in the neighborhood have to say about the changes in Brightwood, check out The Washington Post article here.
· A D.C. resident hopes these yard signs can save his neighborhood from gentrifiers [The Washington Post]
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