“I’m all for change,” Lois Harris says about her neighborhood, “but I want to be included in the change.”
Harris is sitting in her shop, Vogue Coiffure Beauty Salon, which occupies a narrow space near 23rd Avenue and Spring Street. She has a Pamela Banks sign in the window, an old Coca-Cola machine, and no website. Her Vogue Coiffure Beauty Salon has been open for business in the Central District for 50 years.
Harris’s shop may not be open for business much longer.
The city is currently spending $43 million to overhaul 23rd Avenue, the main business strip in the heart of the city’s historically African American community. The project has faced a glare of attention as businesses in the area complain about the toll the construction is taking on their bottom line.
While most of Harris’s regulars are willing to make the trip to see her despite the construction, she says she’s lost all walk-in traffic. She’s paying her bills, but not making a profit, and if it doesn’t get better soon, Harris says she’ll have to close…
