Why is DC So Dysfunctional?

[Anonymous]

DC does not govern itself and does not have the same powers and privileges of a city that does, such as NY.

[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.

hallelujah!! free at last! free at last! thank god almighty!!!

[Anonymous]

Sure, I'll answer this: DC is dysfunctional because there are LOTS AND LOTS OF POOR PEOPLE. Just to bring you up to speed, due to historical redlining, the multi-generational poor have been penned up in DC for the last century. That's starting to change. Younger people are choosing more walkable communities over exurban cul-de-sacs. Retiring baby boomers are choosing walkable urban neighborhoods. With the collapse of exurban real estate prices, the increase in city and inner-suburb housing, we've seen a growth in suburban poverty that has far outstripped urban poverty in the last half decade or so. With the massive surplus of vacant properties in the suburbs, that process will continue apace. As it does, suburban schools will begin to crumble. The areas inside the beltway will continue to gentrify. When a tipping point is reached, the effects will accelerate, just as they did when the middle-class was moving *out* of the cities in the 50s through the 60s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, I'll answer this: DC is dysfunctional because there are LOTS AND LOTS OF POOR PEOPLE. Just to bring you up to speed, due to historical redlining, the multi-generational poor have been penned up in DC for the last century. That's starting to change. Younger people are choosing more walkable communities over exurban cul-de-sacs. Retiring baby boomers are choosing walkable urban neighborhoods. With the collapse of exurban real estate prices, the increase in city and inner-suburb housing, we've seen a growth in suburban poverty that has far outstripped urban poverty in the last half decade or so. With the massive surplus of vacant properties in the suburbs, that process will continue apace. As it does, suburban schools will begin to crumble. The areas inside the beltway will continue to gentrify. When a tipping point is reached, the effects will accelerate, just as they did when the middle-class was moving *out* of the cities in the 50s through the 60s.

lol love to see people around here with a sense of humor. Thanks for the laugh before bed time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC does not govern itself and does not have the same powers and privileges of a city that does, such as NY.

Bingo

[Anonymous]

The problem is poverty. There are too many poor people in DC. Poor people often turn to crime, drugs, prostituiton, etc. And as others have said, the rich aren't incentivized to do things like fix the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, I'll answer this: DC is dysfunctional because there are LOTS AND LOTS OF POOR PEOPLE. Just to bring you up to speed, due to historical redlining, the multi-generational poor have been penned up in DC for the last century. That's starting to change. Younger people are choosing more walkable communities over exurban cul-de-sacs. Retiring baby boomers are choosing walkable urban neighborhoods. With the collapse of exurban real estate prices, the increase in city and inner-suburb housing, we've seen a growth in suburban poverty that has far outstripped urban poverty in the last half decade or so. With the massive surplus of vacant properties in the suburbs, that process will continue apace. As it does, suburban schools will begin to crumble. The areas inside the beltway will continue to gentrify. When a tipping point is reached, the effects will accelerate, just as they did when the middle-class was moving *out* of the cities in the 50s through the 60s.

lol love to see people around here with a sense of humor. Thanks for the laugh before bed time!

why is that funny? That poster's response is spot-on. The foreclosure and housing recession is hitting the outer suburbs hard. DC and close in urban areas like Clarendon,Bethesda, etc continue to see multiple bid offers and stable/slight increase in value. My parents are in the midst of selling their Fairfax home of 30 years for a condo close-in. ...as are many other retired couples.

[Anonymous]

Isn't DC administered (entry to managerial levels) by products of the DC school system? They are undereducated, unqualified, unmotivated ... maybe the government needs to hire people from VA & MD, who have had at least a satisfactory education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Why don't you run for Mayor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

Why don't you run for Mayor?

I can't. I'm white. But I have considered ANC.

[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?

I've been thinking about this and it occurred to me that we ought to ask whether you are talking about ALL of NYC. Sure Manhattan is a veritable Disney Land but seriously are there no parts of NYC that are a mess? If you're only comparing Manhattan to all of the District, that is an unfair comparison. Compare Manhattan to, say, Dupont Circle or Gallery Place -- not that either neighborhood really compares well to Manhattan -- still it's a much fairer comparison.

Personally, I don't know enough about the rest of NYC to make a statement one way or another as to how the whole city compares. Any transplanted New Yorkers who know the whole city well want to comment?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you run for Mayor?

I can't. I'm white. But I have considered ANC.

Almost half of the DC Council is white, including two of the four At-Large members (and before Brown replaced Schwartz, three of the four At-Large members were white and the Council was majority white). I think your excuse is disrespectful of the many DC residents who will vote for the best candidate regardless of race. DC has sufficient racial problems that non-existant ones don't need to be invented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Once again, I will bring up Detroit as a truly dysfunctional city. The population is less than 50% of what it once was. Does the name Kwame Kilpatrick ring any bells? Detroit suffered from the same white flight as DC after the riots and still remains a mere shell of what it once was. I am someone who grew up in the Detroit burbs. 20 years ago there were still at least a few nice restaurants and hotels. Not so much any more. Of course, the economy and auto industry have influenced the situation, but the problems started long ago and have never come close to being addressed.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Other signs of dysfunction:

Highest adult illiteracy rate in a region that is the most educated in the nation

Highest AIDS rate, yet the AIDS office keeps "misplacing" funds. What are those stupid posters "AIDS is DC's Katrina"? How insulting to New Orleanians.

Highest unemployment in the region, etc etc.

If Fenty loses I know a number of families that will consider moving across the line to MD, and I don't blame them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure, I'll answer this: DC is dysfunctional because there are LOTS AND LOTS OF POOR PEOPLE. Just to bring you up to speed, due to historical redlining, the multi-generational poor have been penned up in DC for the last century. That's starting to change. Younger people are choosing more walkable communities over exurban cul-de-sacs. Retiring baby boomers are choosing walkable urban neighborhoods. With the collapse of exurban real estate prices, the increase in city and inner-suburb housing, we've seen a growth in suburban poverty that has far outstripped urban poverty in the last half decade or so. With the massive surplus of vacant properties in the suburbs, that process will continue apace. As it does, suburban schools will begin to crumble. The areas inside the beltway will continue to gentrify. When a tipping point is reached, the effects will accelerate, just as they did when the middle-class was moving *out* of the cities in the 50s through the 60s.

lol love to see people around here with a sense of humor. Thanks for the laugh before bed time!

As someone who owns real-estate in the close-in "streetcar" suburbs, I'm laughing too. Well, except when I have to go to some meeting in the exurbs, and I'm trapped for hours in gridlock as I pass the endless shuttered Ruby Tuesdays and mega malls. Then I'm pretty miserable. Heh.

http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2010/0120_poverty_kneebone.aspx

Anyway, things are cyclical. And I'm sure there were some city dwellers in the late 50s who'd scoff at the idea that cities were in for a period of decline. Some folks are always late to the game--sadly they're the ones who are underwater on the mortgages right now.