Longterm dc area residents, have you noticed decline ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole DC area looks a lot more seedy and rundown than it used to. Weeds and overgrown plants, uncared for houses, terribly designed and patchwork renovations, etc. It's all just so ugly.

And don’t forget trash. Lots of trash. It has gotten exponentially worse with all of the encampments.

[Anonymous]

Rodents are a lot worse since cv too, City response has really dropped off.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully this will NOT become a trend

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

This is pretty startling given the size of DC, carjackings are at more than 600 YTD too. Quite a few have been intercepted at port in Baltimore to my understanding. Some were being sold out of an apartment garage in Ward 1. Some are dumped and many are used in other crimes.

[Anonymous]

190 murders in DC this year. 42 more than 2022 and it’s only September.

[Anonymous]

The amount of violent daytime crime in busy areas with lots of witnesses was not common in the past. Prosecution rates are so low and sentencing is so lax that there just is no fear.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/teen-killed-man-injured-in-shooting-in-northeast-dc-closing-rhode-island-row-businesses/3421368/

[Anonymous]

Surely tourism is impacted at this point?

[Anonymous]

We aren’t better than this. There are still so many on here denying the problem and that we have crippled law enforcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surely tourism is impacted at this point?

Wow, even MSNBC is noticing, but people flock to this thread to tell everyone that they can’t see the ultimate in crime. I guess the view is bad from inside their own a$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Comparing today's crime to the crime that existed 30-40 years ago is a straw man. Those statistics are irrelevant. They simply don't matter any longer. It's much more relevant to look at crime trends over the last 10 years or so. Why? The city has changed. Society has changed. Everyday life has changed way too much.

So looking at crime trends over the last 10 years or so, no doubt things have declined. It's alarming, frankly. But nothing will be done because we can't even agree on whether it's worse than it was "before" so we keep electing politician who do absolutely nothing about it.

I don't see why 10 years is any less arbitrary than 30 or 40 years, though. Yes, society has changed. One change between 30 years ago and 20 years ago was that crime fell, significantly, in D.C., which also gained both population and wealth and income. What's the point in ignoring that?

I agree that comparisons to 30 or 40 years ago shouldn't be used to dismiss crime today, but pretending crime has always been as low as it was a decade ago and that the only relevant metric is how it's gone up since then seems sort of misguided in its own way.

Why can't we look at the whole arc and say, crime used to be even higher, it fell significantly, it is now rising rapidly again?

+1

-Long term dc area resident

The problem is that people looking back 30-40 years ago are using that time frame to dismiss what's happening now. "Oh, it was much worse before. Stop complaining, you transplants have no idea!" And going back that far is irrelevant because the crime is different now: different locations, different times of day, different types of crimes. How do we determine what to do about the crime NOW if we're focused on what was happening decades ago?

No one is "pretending" that crime was always as low as it was 10 years ago. But at that time, something was obviously working to keep crime low. What was it? What changed? We can't even be bothered to answer those questions because it's still not as bad as it was in the 80s, right?

I've lived here 20 years. Not sure if that qualifies me as a "long term dc resident" in your mind, though.

MPD has long been plagued by issues; however, they were generally effective at curbing crime until 2016.

Do not dismiss the effect on the average MPD officer of the “defund the police” movement. MPD officers watched closely as Baltimore arrested police officers (Black police officers) and put them through a criminal trial. Those officers prevailed against Baltimore’s baseless and politically-driven prosecution. They the officers sued the city. And won.

MPD officers got the message loud and clear: do not risk your job by arresting criminals.

Honestly, please explain to me why any sane MPD officer would bother arresting a dangerous or violent criminal? Risk your job over that? And for what??

On top of that, progressives continually push anti-prosecution prosecutors, who drop every case the police bring.

So again, if every one of your arrests is going to simply be dismissed by the prosecutor, why would you take the risk of arresting violent criminals?

These situations are seriously what is happening now on the streets of DC. It is not a mystery.

And criminals in DC know they will not face serious consequences.

DC is a one-party town. That party owns this town, and now they own it’s problems.

Answer is simple. Arrest people who commit crimes, prosecute criminals, put them in jail for appropriate periods of time and crime will go down.

But that is not the progressive way and DC is being run by progressives. Vote correctly and the problem will be solved. Vote as you are now and it will get worse.

Great. Put forward candidates who aren't pro-enforcement of violent/property crimes but anti-enforcement of white-collar/tax crimes. And that recognize adequate taxation is essential, and must be borne in great degree proportionately to the sum of advantages conferred by society. And that acknowledge that there continues to be societal bias against certain demographic groups that should be corrected (though not with some kind of permanent privilege). And that affirm that "the business of America is business" is a misquote that has been twisted, along with misinterpreted Ayn Rand laissez-faire (Smith's Invisible Hand only works to societal benefit if the sinews of that hand are properly constructed towards the desired ends), into a political prop for the continual advantage of the already wealthy.

Then maybe, just maybe, we can get rid of the terrible inefficiencies of the policies promoted by the left in the name of just cause. (I don't expect to be rid of the graft inherent to politics, no matter which group prevails.) Happy enough to have them in power if they would act with openness and thoughfulness instead of back-room dealings and knee-jerk populist takes that they clearly feel no compunction pursuing even as they undermine those causes in the first place.

[Anonymous]

A LOT of people will see this, has tourism dropped off yet? The Mexican government issuing a warning got a lot of press too, this summer.

[Anonymous]

DM has 2 million readers on weekdays, it will get picked up by other outlets, too. With CRE in freefall and the population shrinking, can't afford to lose tourist $$$.

[Anonymous]

And DC Council is still on summer break....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And DC Council is still on summer break....

Even after Labor Day?

Tony Williams called them back early one year to deal with uptick in crime.

That Pinto Emergency bill was ineffective, unfortunately. Frumin waffled greatly about it, watch him argue for sunsetting provisions, along with JLG. Despite the shooting on Connecticut Avenue on Saturday afternoon and the shooters running across Forest Hills playground.