Washington Transplants Are Streaming North to Grab Budget Prices -- Washington Post, July 22, 2006

To hear Falita Liles talk, you would think she had died and gone to heaven. But all the University of the District of Columbia librarian has done is move from Washington to Baltimore.

Thousands of Washingtonians each year are moving north from the Capital City to Charm City, attracted by cheaper housing, ethnic neighborhoods and urban amenities they say are lacking here. The ex-Washingtonians have leveraged the appreciation on their D.C. homes to buy larger and, they say, live better in Baltimore.

The migration has been aided by Live Baltimore, a largely city-funded nonprofit that since April 2002 has spent about $350,000 to market Baltimore to Washingtonians, quietly luring prospects with nearly monthly free happy hours in and around the District.

The message is simple: Hellow, D.C. Balmer wants you! Ditch the hip, high-priced District and its trendy, almost-as-pricey inner suburbs. Say goodbye to Ballston, hello to Belton Hill. Adios, Capitol Hill. Federal Hill awaits you. So long, Mount Pleasant. Hello, Mount Washington...