Why is DC So Dysfunctional?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a tax paying resident I applaud the effort to ship crime out of the city. People aren't "forced" to move, they make a voluntary decision based on all available information. The information is that PG County is soft on crime and welcomes that ilk so they moved there.

What a moronic statement. I hope you work for some troglodyte congressman and will be leaving DC very soon. People are leaving DC (and NYC for that matter) b/c PG is "soft on crime." I'm sure that's why the working poor are leaving the District -- we can get away with all sorts of felonious activities over there. Absurd. Professional whites are pushing up the rents and pushing people out of their neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a tax paying resident I applaud the effort to ship crime out of the city. People aren't "forced" to move, they make a voluntary decision based on all available information. The information is that PG County is soft on crime and welcomes that ilk so they moved there.

Oh puh-lease! The apartment buildings on my street were converted to condos. The rents on the remaining rental houses and apartments have rocketed up. Working class people can't afford to live here anymore. And FWIW the crime I worry about (muggings and break-ins) has increased because there are more people with money in my neighborhood. It was safer before it got gentrified!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world, and I think that Adrian Fenty is generally a good mayor, but why cant this city work? Ward 8 keeps voting for Marion Barry, people in Chevy Chase have to call 911 in MD because DC wont respond, the crime is out of control (for a city its size), the schools are horrendous, highest taxes in the region and now this WaPo article about Fenty’s racial divide. How can Fairfax and MoCo get it right and DC just seems to always continuously lag behind its neighbors? Houses on Capitol Hill cost over $800k but you cant walk outside at night. Other cities like NYC cleaned up the crime and neighborhoods but it seems like except for Jack Evans this city council is more concerned with bag taxes than they are with high crime and businesses fleeing to Va. Is it in our water?

My house cost $145k (now assessed at $400k) and I walk outside at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a tax paying resident I applaud the effort to ship crime out of the city. People aren't "forced" to move, they make a voluntary decision based on all available information. The information is that PG County is soft on crime and welcomes that ilk so they moved there.

Oh puh-lease! The apartment buildings on my street were converted to condos. The rents on the remaining rental houses and apartments have rocketed up. Working class people can't afford to live here anymore. And FWIW the crime I worry about (muggings and break-ins) has increased because there are more people with money in my neighborhood. It was safer before it got gentrified!

"working class" quite an oxymoron if we are talking about recent gentrification areas. Let's face it--most of those ppl weren't working (at least in a legal profession).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot believe that the DC school system has been SO dysfunctional for so long.

Don't people realize how important good schools are? It attracts people into the city. It provides kids a good education to lead into a productive future.

The wealthy people who choose to live in the city send their kids to private school so often that the city is not incented to fix the schools.

[Anonymous]

Been to Detroit lately? THAT is a dysfunctional city. DC is not perfect, and there is a lot of room for improvement in many areas like schools, but there are also many positives.

[Anonymous]

Lots of houses in Capitol Hill cost a lot less than $800k, even now, and I feel perfectly comfortable walking around at night. Do it all the time.

The post about how people "choose" to leave the city because PG County is soft on crime? Cuckoo. People can't afford to live where they once could.

[Anonymous]

16:15 & 16:23 - well said. You actually sound like you know what you are talking about. Thank you.

There are many in denial here. Which is a HUGE part of the problem.

Locals tend to try to thwart the question by deflecting to "other cities" (which they in turn love to hate, inevitably). Which was, of course, NOT the question.

OP, were you here for the Marion Barry years? Hours of entertainment, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is the tax base. DC gets no revenue from government buildings, and no income from many of the people who work in DC. I also think NYC get taxes from city residents and also from the state. DC only has one way to get income - tax residents. Many of the residents have low incomes, and to be fair, they can't put higher tax rates on NW addresses to offset lower tax rates for other quadrants.

You'd think they'd be more efficient with the money they have though.

What about the money appropriated to DC directly by Congress?

[Anonymous]

scroll down to page 9 "Other Factors Affecting the District's Financial Position"
http://cfo.dc.gov/cfo/frames.asp?doc=/cfo/lib/cfo/cafr/2009/cafr_2009_letter_of_transmittal.pdf

It refers to the 2003 GAO report "District of Columbia - Structural Imbalance and Management Issues."
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03666.pdf
Am I the only one who remembers when this report came out and the Wash Post article about it? It explains how DC's financial structure is hopelessly screwed up.

[Anonymous]

But what city isn't dysfunctional? I mean from where I sit DC has really improved and maybe my perspective is different from most because I grew up here.

I mean if you compare the stuff that Fenty does now to what MB did back in the day? Goodness gracious. Fenty is nothing on him. MB would openly hang at titty bars and do all kinds of wild crap. The cops were barely able to control the city - and people were getting shot ALL OVER the PLACE.

Does anyone remember when DC was the murder capital - growing up it wasn't uncommon to go out as a teenager and get shot at and you're just trying to have fun at a go-go, or whatever.

It's definitely not perfect but everyone has a role in making it work better. We shouldn't be asking why DC is dysfunctional. Ask what are we doing to help make it even better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But what city isn't dysfunctional? I mean from where I sit DC has really improved and maybe my perspective is different from most because I grew up here.

I mean if you compare the stuff that Fenty does now to what MB did back in the day? Goodness gracious. Fenty is nothing on him. MB would openly hang at titty bars and do all kinds of wild crap. The cops were barely able to control the city - and people were getting shot ALL OVER the PLACE.

Does anyone remember when DC was the murder capital - growing up it wasn't uncommon to go out as a teenager and get shot at and you're just trying to have fun at a go-go, or whatever.

It's definitely not perfect but everyone has a role in making it work better. We shouldn't be asking why DC is dysfunctional. Ask what are we doing to help make it even better.

Yes, other cities have problems, but still manage to accomplish all the basics. DC is the only place I've lived that out-and-out FAILS at some of the things a municipal government should do. DC schools are the worst in the nation. 51st. Yet we spend more per student than any state. (Yes, I realize that if we control for the fact that DC is a single city with high cost of living and no balancing rural areas like all the states, the numbers shift a little. But it's still utterly dismal.) Our criminal justice system is a joke. Total revolving door, especially for younger offenders. Fenty built the lovely new Wilson Aquatic center, but didn't appropriate/budget anything for maintenance... and it's starting to show... and the city council let him do it. Sure, mayors everywhere like to grab a little ribbon-cutting action, but most other city councils would've had something to say about the future of the facility. And on and on. That's what OP means by dysfunction. Or at least, that's why I say DC is dysfuntional.

What I am doing to improve it? I'm paying taxes on a ridiculously expensive property. I'm voting, communicating with my city council member (as corrupt as the rest of them, but he's what I've got), and attending neighborhood association meetings. What else is there?

[Anonymous]

11:12 Very insightful. If fewer locals were in denial, it could only help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make no mistake, NYC "got rid of the crime" by shipping certain people over the border to New Jersey. Which makes people in the newly family-friendly East Village feel happy, no doubt. But the crime wasn't exactly eradicated. It just moved.

Kind of like many parts of the District became more appealing even as the homicides and attempted homicides shot up just over the PG county line in Seat Pleasant and the like.

Giuliani limited the amount of time the homeless could be on the streets and then arranged bus tours of Albany. Most of them never returned to the city and crime in NYC when down while Upstate saw a huge increase in crime.

[Anonymous]

Another local trying to compare apples and oranges. Typical.