Is DC on the way to being San Francisco ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

Translation - Wah, I can’t do what I want with other people’s stuff and the homeowners like living in the areas they live in. The nerve of those people wanting to enjoy the neighborhood as it is!

*tantrum*

You own the property you own (if you own property). You don't own other people's property. You don't own public property. You don't own the neighborhood.

So if you want to "enjoy the neighborhood as is", that's fine, you can want whatever you want. If you want to believe that everyone who supports things you oppose is a jealous tattooed ageing millennial who lives alone in a studio apartment with 14 cats, again, you can want whatever you want. If you want to stop change from coming to the neighborhood, you can want whatever you want, but it's not possible for anyone to stop change. Your neighborhood is going to change. That's not a threat, it's just a statement of fact. The only question is how it will change.

I ain’t readin all’at, but I will say good luck rezoning upper NW 😂. Did you major in Brokeology at your liberal arts college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

Translation - Wah, I can’t do what I want with other people’s stuff and the homeowners like living in the areas they live in. The nerve of those people wanting to enjoy the neighborhood as it is!

*tantrum*

It's not their stuff. It's public space. It's zoning ordinances. It's them blocking everything with endless fervor with their listserves and lawsuits.

The city council + Mayor can change the zoning with a majority vote and a pen stroke. Why haven't they done it yet? Those residents can hoot and sue all they want, but that doesn't override a statutory change.

Hint - they don't change it because that's the lucrative tax base for the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

Translation - Wah, I can’t do what I want with other people’s stuff and the homeowners like living in the areas they live in. The nerve of those people wanting to enjoy the neighborhood as it is!

*tantrum*

You own the property you own (if you own property). You don't own other people's property. You don't own public property. You don't own the neighborhood.

So if you want to "enjoy the neighborhood as is", that's fine, you can want whatever you want. If you want to believe that everyone who supports things you oppose is a jealous tattooed ageing millennial who lives alone in a studio apartment with 14 cats, again, you can want whatever you want. If you want to stop change from coming to the neighborhood, you can want whatever you want, but it's not possible for anyone to stop change. Your neighborhood is going to change. That's not a threat, it's just a statement of fact. The only question is how it will change.

I ain’t readin all’at, but I will say good luck rezoning upper NW 😂. Did you major in Brokeology at your liberal arts college?

"I ain't readin all'at" says a poster who actually did read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

MacArthur HS opening in September, the new massive surgical pavilion at Georgetown Hospital, new high rise housing going up at Georgetown University, new homes in Burleith now selling regularly for north of $2.8m, renovation of Wisconsin Ave Safeway nearly finished, new apartments built and planned for Wisconsin Ave, City Ridge development nearly finished....it's nuts over here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to DCUM, DC has been dying for 40 years.

The trajectory DC was on in the Williams/Fenty era is what people compare back to. There was hope that the whole city was on the right-path. Its been a lot of two-steps forward two-steps back since. Progress is very neighborhood or even block specific.

[Anonymous]

SF is so dependent on tech, and those companies are the least likely to be in-office and are the most geographically mobile. DC has a lot of the kind of private sector jobs that have already brought people back full-time - law firms, consulting, lobbying, etc. - and a lot of those jobs need to be in the DC area. WFH for those folks has already peaked - anyone who commutes knows that the traffic is back, people are going in again. Feds are mostly hybrid with 1-2 days a pay period, which is a big change, but even 1/5th of the fed workforce coming into the city on any given day is a lot of people. And if there is a Republican administration they are likely to make all the feds go back.

Not saying nothing will change in DC - I still think there will be fewer offices and office workers downtown overall, and that will hurt tax revenues - but SF was (is) uniquely badly-situated. And as many have pointed out, even with all of that working against it, SF is still chugging along - it's not the deserted hellscape that right-wingers who haven't set foot in a city in 25 years like to pretend it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

MacArthur HS opening in September, the new massive surgical pavilion at Georgetown Hospital, new high rise housing going up at Georgetown University, new homes in Burleith now selling regularly for north of $2.8m, renovation of Wisconsin Ave Safeway nearly finished, new apartments built and planned for Wisconsin Ave, City Ridge development nearly finished....it's nuts over here.

They tried to stop the Hearst pool too! Now everyone loves it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

All things which are great but a small, but vocal contingency of status quo nimbly has been trying to block to their graves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

MacArthur HS opening in September, the new massive surgical pavilion at Georgetown Hospital, new high rise housing going up at Georgetown University, new homes in Burleith now selling regularly for north of $2.8m, renovation of Wisconsin Ave Safeway nearly finished, new apartments built and planned for Wisconsin Ave, City Ridge development nearly finished....it's nuts over here.[Graves.

How long was Cathedral Commons development delayed by the CP guy who replaced Nancy Atwood? *some* things are happening (or might be), but in spite of certain residents. Not supported by them. And usually these project could have been more, or faster, or many other things are just not done (I'm looking at you, Chevy Chase Safeway!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feds are moving back into the office minium of 3 days/week before 2024 election. It’s happening.

+1 OPM will be doing a very aggressive push this fall for BTO. By spring ‘24 most agencies with offices in DC will be back in the majority of the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feds are moving back into the office minium of 3 days/week before 2024 election. It’s happening.

+1 OPM will be doing a very aggressive push this fall for BTO. By spring ‘24 most agencies with offices in DC will be back in the majority of the week.

Good luck with that, lol.

We recently hired in our agency, and so many of the younger applicants are simply not going to take the job if they are required to come in person. We've already had difficulty filling positions.

A lot of the private sector allows full-time telework. They can make more money working in the private sector, AND have more flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feds are moving back into the office minium of 3 days/week before 2024 election. It’s happening.

+1 OPM will be doing a very aggressive push this fall for BTO. By spring ‘24 most agencies with offices in DC will be back in the majority of the week.

OPM: OK, federal workforce in DC, everybody has to go back to wasting many hours per week commuting to/from work, because the commercial vacancy rate in DC is too high.
Federal workforce in DC: No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

MacArthur HS opening in September, the new massive surgical pavilion at Georgetown Hospital, new high rise housing going up at Georgetown University, new homes in Burleith now selling regularly for north of $2.8m, renovation of Wisconsin Ave Safeway nearly finished, new apartments built and planned for Wisconsin Ave, City Ridge development nearly finished....it's nuts over here.[Graves.

How long was Cathedral Commons development delayed by the CP guy who replaced Nancy Atwood? *some* things are happening (or might be), but in spite of certain residents. Not supported by them. And usually these project could have been more, or faster, or many other things are just not done (I'm looking at you, Chevy Chase Safeway!).

The CCDC Safeway site will be a redevelopment nightmare, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the neighbors. The building and parking lot are owned by two separate entities, and Safeway has tried repeatedly, for decades, to get the parking-lot owner to come to the table about redeveloping the site, to no avail.

If you knew anything about the neighborhood -- and you clearly don't -- you'd know that people would rejoice if a new store replaced the decaying relic that's there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SF is so dependent on tech, and those companies are the least likely to be in-office and are the most geographically mobile. DC has a lot of the kind of private sector jobs that have already brought people back full-time - law firms, consulting, lobbying, etc. - and a lot of those jobs need to be in the DC area. WFH for those folks has already peaked - anyone who commutes knows that the traffic is back, people are going in again. Feds are mostly hybrid with 1-2 days a pay period, which is a big change, but even 1/5th of the fed workforce coming into the city on any given day is a lot of people. And if there is a Republican administration they are likely to make all the feds go back.

Not saying nothing will change in DC - I still think there will be fewer offices and office workers downtown overall, and that will hurt tax revenues - but SF was (is) uniquely badly-situated. And as many have pointed out, even with all of that working against it, SF is still chugging along - it's not the deserted hellscape that right-wingers who haven't set foot in a city in 25 years like to pretend it is.

+1 to all of this. I really think people are over blowing the Fed angle.

1. Any job that requires a clearance has had people go in full time the entire pandemic, so there is always a large number of people who will always stay here. Ditto other jobs that require a good amount of face time like anything on the Hill and the entire Embassy/international organization community.

2. Of the Feds who are working from home, most always lived in the suburbs anyway. While a certain part of downtown DC where some federal buildings are is doing poorly, other areas like Georgetown, 14th St, and U street are thriving.

3. DC still has relatively harsh winters compared to California so it’s never going to attract the same kind of homeless crowds SF does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions about how an entire city are doing miss a lot of subtlety. In SF, like DC, the downtown business district is suffering but many of the outer neighborhoods are thriving with work from home. I've heard that many new businesses are opening in the Sunset (which had been a sleepier part of SF), and I'd guess places like Pacific Heights and Forest Hill are also thriving. In DC, Logan Circle and SW Waterfront are incredibly vibrant. Dupont and Upper NW seem tired, but that was true before COVID as well. Again, it's really the CBD that is suffering not the city as a whole.

Upper NW is tired because of the death grip from a bunch of homeowners who bought in the 80's and 90's and are riding the property value wave but wanting to "preserve the character" of the neighborhoods at all costs. Any change put forward is met with swift resistance.

CT Ave redesign, Foxhall Elementary, Palisades Trolley Trail, Palisades Rec Center . . . What else?

MacArthur HS opening in September, the new massive surgical pavilion at Georgetown Hospital, new high rise housing going up at Georgetown University, new homes in Burleith now selling regularly for north of $2.8m, renovation of Wisconsin Ave Safeway nearly finished, new apartments built and planned for Wisconsin Ave, City Ridge development nearly finished....it's nuts over here.

They tried to stop the Hearst pool too! Now everyone loves it

I live nearby and don't see much to love. It's tiny, no concessions like other pools across America have (popsicles, whatnot) and barely open. The tennis courts are nice. They need to maintain the grass in the field better.