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Article: Viva Mount Pleasant; Can the Heart of the District's Latino Community Survive Gentrification?
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- September 30, 2007
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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About 30,000 people will converge on Mount Pleasant today for the
"Fiesta DC" Parade of Nations. Local Latino businesses will get a
big boost, but they are by now well accustomed to the need for
visitors' dollars. That's because Mount Pleasant, long home to one
of the region's largest and highest-profile Latino communities, is
in danger of becoming a hollow ethnic enclave, increasingly
dependent on nostalgic outsiders to sustain its Latino culture.
Of Mount Pleasant's 83 businesses, 70 percent cater primarily to
Latinos, said Cristina Fandino, general coordinator of Fiesta DC.
But the Latino businesses rely heavily on customers who have moved
away to more affordable parts of Maryland and ...