TheodoreK

The comments here are from no one I recognize in my neighborhood. First off, I live on the back end of the neighborhood, that would smell anything from the DC water plant and I can tell you there are absolutely no smells of sewage. That has long been a disgusting myth spewed by people that do not live here, just because they can smell it from the highway, well pass the Bellevue neighborhood. The Washington Post recently highlighted the transition underway in Bellevue https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/bellevue-a-quiet-corner-of-southwest-dc-undergoes-a-transformation/2016/11/02/8932798c-9615-11e6-9b7c-57290af48a49_story.html.

Bellevue is a community on the cusp of gentrification and revitalization. When I first moved to Bellevue, my co-workers thought I was crazy, because several of them remember the area from childhood, when it was rough. Over the past decade, I have seen the demographics change of who lives here - more high income business owners and federal employees. The South Capitol Street SW and Atlantic Street SW intersection is being completely revamped and the blighted retail strip on that corner is being raised for new apartments with ground floor retail. The best thing about the neighborhood is that it is centrally located between Capitol Hill/Barracks Row, Alexandria, and National Harbor. It takes me 8 minutes, at best, to get to all of the restaurants on Barracks Row on Capitol Hill. Bellevue is 10 minutes or less from the recently Michelin star rated restaurants Pineapples and Pearls as well as Rose's Luxury. Additionally, the MGM National Harbor and the Wharf contain restaurants owned by world renown chefs such as Michael Samuelson, Jos Andrs, and the Voltaggio brothers, to name a few. It takes about the same amount of time to get to National Harbor and about 10 minutes to Alexandria. Being close to 295N and the Woodrow Wilson bridge makes commuting quick and easy.

We have a bike trail that runs through the neighborhood and extends through Oxon Hill and Alexandria that I love.

The crime stats are nowhere near what people portray. Don't believe me? Go to the Metropolitan Police Department's crime statistic site http://crimemap.dc.gov/. In that address, enter the address for Georgetown Cupcake 3301 M St NW, make sure you are looking in a range of 1000 feet, then select the 'One Year' option, so you can see the total number of crimes in one year. In comparison, enter the address of Bridgepoint Hospital, centrally located in Bellevue at 4601 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SW. Just as before, make sure you are looking in a range of 1000 feet, then select the 'One Year' option. You will see the amount of crimes are far less and dramatically insignificant when compared to Georgetown, an area with high property values, taxes, and yes - crime. It's all about what's important to the person seeking to move, but I love being able to walk to a bus that takes me directly to my job near the White House (A9), taking a quick drive to Capitol Hill or the upcoming MGM at National Harbor, and enjoying a quiet neighborhood that hasn't been overrun with hipsters - yet. I challenge everyone to drive through Bellevue at night, sit on 2nd st SW and see how quiet it is.