Crime in NoMA, near where I work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station has always been sketchy, like since the 80s.

Wrong. Union Station was renovated in 1988 and it became a shopping and dining destination. I went there for years and never felt unsafe. It’s only been with the rise of the homelessness and lawlessness in the past ten years that it has really declined.

+1

We use to lunch there when I worked nearby in the 00s, and I’ve met friends for dinner at the nice restaurants.

It’s a gorgeous building and sad how far it’s fallen.

+2 Much of DC became unsafe after the riots following MLK's murder in 1968. Then it got better during the early 2000's. Now it's on the decline again due to progressive policies such as extended school closures and being soft on crime. It's so sad to see what's happening to DC.

We finally had enough and moved after our once-safe neighborhood had a spike in crime that isn't going away plus couldn't deal with DC politics and the DCPS decline. It's night and day to be in a neighborhood where it's safe for our kids to bike and walk around. I lived in DC for over 20 years and never thought I'd leave until the insanity that started with the pandemic.

School closures were 4 years ago

How low information are you if you don’t know that the results of that disaster are still huge in the city?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has me feeling uncomfortable -- DH's office relocated to NOMA recently.

I keep wondering if all of the talk about increased crime is fear-mongering, or if things really are unsafe. I mean, I know stats are stats, and there is a clear increase in certain crimes, but stats reflecting an increase in crime aren't necessarily enough to cause legit worry for the safety of loved ones -- and I'm not sure where we are with all this.

Some friends who have been living in Anacostia for almost 15 years are leaving the area. They have decided it is no place to raise their child (now about 3 I think?) due to the increase in crime and the lack of quality public education (they can't afford private). I think the DW was feeling unsafe, and like I said -- they had lived there a long time without that being a problem, and now it is enough of one that they are moving.

What's funny about this is when I was in college and would come visit friends in DC over the summer or whatever, my dad (in a different state) always said - whatever you do, stay out of Anacostia! His limited knowledge of DC was just that Anacostia was dangerous. This was in the early 90s. Ironically when I moved here in the early 2000s I had a job at the Anacostia Naval Annex... I loved to spook my dad by telling him I was going to Anacostia every day.

I guess it gentrified for a while and is now backsliding? Similar to NOMA...

I don’t think Anacostia ever gentrified. I’m not being snarky. There is one theater there that tried to be an anchor for bringing people across the River and making Anacostia more approachable but it never gentrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has me feeling uncomfortable -- DH's office relocated to NOMA recently.

I keep wondering if all of the talk about increased crime is fear-mongering, or if things really are unsafe. I mean, I know stats are stats, and there is a clear increase in certain crimes, but stats reflecting an increase in crime aren't necessarily enough to cause legit worry for the safety of loved ones -- and I'm not sure where we are with all this.

Some friends who have been living in Anacostia for almost 15 years are leaving the area. They have decided it is no place to raise their child (now about 3 I think?) due to the increase in crime and the lack of quality public education (they can't afford private). I think the DW was feeling unsafe, and like I said -- they had lived there a long time without that being a problem, and now it is enough of one that they are moving.

What's funny about this is when I was in college and would come visit friends in DC over the summer or whatever, my dad (in a different state) always said - whatever you do, stay out of Anacostia! His limited knowledge of DC was just that Anacostia was dangerous. This was in the early 90s. Ironically when I moved here in the early 2000s I had a job at the Anacostia Naval Annex... I loved to spook my dad by telling him I was going to Anacostia every day.

I guess it gentrified for a while and is now backsliding? Similar to NOMA...

I don’t think Anacostia ever gentrified. I’m not being snarky. There is one theater there that tried to be an anchor for bringing people across the River and making Anacostia more approachable but it never gentrified.

Columbia Heights and Shaw and Petworth and 14th Street gentrified. Anacostia was not on that bandwagon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has me feeling uncomfortable -- DH's office relocated to NOMA recently.

I keep wondering if all of the talk about increased crime is fear-mongering, or if things really are unsafe. I mean, I know stats are stats, and there is a clear increase in certain crimes, but stats reflecting an increase in crime aren't necessarily enough to cause legit worry for the safety of loved ones -- and I'm not sure where we are with all this.

Some friends who have been living in Anacostia for almost 15 years are leaving the area. They have decided it is no place to raise their child (now about 3 I think?) due to the increase in crime and the lack of quality public education (they can't afford private). I think the DW was feeling unsafe, and like I said -- they had lived there a long time without that being a problem, and now it is enough of one that they are moving.

What's funny about this is when I was in college and would come visit friends in DC over the summer or whatever, my dad (in a different state) always said - whatever you do, stay out of Anacostia! His limited knowledge of DC was just that Anacostia was dangerous. This was in the early 90s. Ironically when I moved here in the early 2000s I had a job at the Anacostia Naval Annex... I loved to spook my dad by telling him I was going to Anacostia every day.

I guess it gentrified for a while and is now backsliding? Similar to NOMA...

I don’t think Anacostia ever gentrified. I’m not being snarky. There is one theater there that tried to be an anchor for bringing people across the River and making Anacostia more approachable but it never gentrified.

I'm the PP with the friends who are leaving Anacostia. I'd consider them to have been a gentrifying force. Like classic leading edge gentrifiers -- artsy progressive young white people looking for more home than they can afford elsewhere, family money allowing them to purchase something big and renovate, and then fleeing with either the first brush with real crime or a child that approaches school age, whichever comes first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has me feeling uncomfortable -- DH's office relocated to NOMA recently.

I keep wondering if all of the talk about increased crime is fear-mongering, or if things really are unsafe. I mean, I know stats are stats, and there is a clear increase in certain crimes, but stats reflecting an increase in crime aren't necessarily enough to cause legit worry for the safety of loved ones -- and I'm not sure where we are with all this.

Some friends who have been living in Anacostia for almost 15 years are leaving the area. They have decided it is no place to raise their child (now about 3 I think?) due to the increase in crime and the lack of quality public education (they can't afford private). I think the DW was feeling unsafe, and like I said -- they had lived there a long time without that being a problem, and now it is enough of one that they are moving.

What's funny about this is when I was in college and would come visit friends in DC over the summer or whatever, my dad (in a different state) always said - whatever you do, stay out of Anacostia! His limited knowledge of DC was just that Anacostia was dangerous. This was in the early 90s. Ironically when I moved here in the early 2000s I had a job at the Anacostia Naval Annex... I loved to spook my dad by telling him I was going to Anacostia every day.

I guess it gentrified for a while and is now backsliding? Similar to NOMA...

I don’t think Anacostia ever gentrified. I’m not being snarky. There is one theater there that tried to be an anchor for bringing people across the River and making Anacostia more approachable but it never gentrified.

I'm the PP with the friends who are leaving Anacostia. I'd consider them to have been a gentrifying force. Like classic leading edge gentrifiers -- artsy progressive young white people looking for more home than they can afford elsewhere, family money allowing them to purchase something big and renovate, and then fleeing with either the first brush with real crime or a child that approaches school age, whichever comes first.

There are certainly families who tried but that doesn't mean it happened. It just never got there like Petworth, Columbia Heights, H Street, etc. did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I’ve in the area and I have never seen or heard the area called NOMA.

It breaks my heart about what Union station has become. I loved going through there to get to the trains, visit the market downstairs, even went to the movie theater there. I especially miss B. Smith’s restaurant. Walking around there used to make me happy.

Not sure if you are trying to insinuate that people are making up the neighborhood "NOMA" but there's a metro station called "NOMA/Galludet" so it's not really just a DCUM thing.

Until September I had been going to the Peace Corps building about once a month by metro and didn't feel unsafe... but some of the recent incidents would have given me pause.

I was being serious. What does NOMA mean? At first I thought it meant northern Massachusetts.

It's "North of Massachusetts". According to wikipedia the New York Ave-Florida Ave metro was renamed NOMA-Galludet in 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NoMa

Thank you. Clearly I have not taken metro down there or spent much time there in quite awhile. Increasing fares and dwindling attractions have led me to spend less and less time in DC. Outside of work I used to go 1-2x a week but now I hardly go at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I’ve in the area and I have never seen or heard the area called NOMA.

It breaks my heart about what Union station has become. I loved going through there to get to the trains, visit the market downstairs, even went to the movie theater there. I especially miss B. Smith’s restaurant. Walking around there used to make me happy.

Not sure if you are trying to insinuate that people are making up the neighborhood "NOMA" but there's a metro station called "NOMA/Galludet" so it's not really just a DCUM thing.

Until September I had been going to the Peace Corps building about once a month by metro and didn't feel unsafe... but some of the recent incidents would have given me pause.

I was being serious. What does NOMA mean? At first I thought it meant northern Massachusetts.

Why don’t you Google it, OP? If you don’t know something that’s common knowledge, Google is a great way to get up to speed.

Not OP. Also, I had no idea from the title it had anything to do with an area of DC. Now I know it was a rebranding of an area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station has always been sketchy, like since the 80s.

Wrong. Union Station was renovated in 1988 and it became a shopping and dining destination. I went there for years and never felt unsafe. It’s only been with the rise of the homelessness and lawlessness in the past ten years that it has really declined.

+1

We use to lunch there when I worked nearby in the 00s, and I’ve met friends for dinner at the nice restaurants.

It’s a gorgeous building and sad how far it’s fallen.

+2 Much of DC became unsafe after the riots following MLK's murder in 1968. Then it got better during the early 2000's. Now it's on the decline again due to progressive policies such as extended school closures and being soft on crime. It's so sad to see what's happening to DC.

We finally had enough and moved after our once-safe neighborhood had a spike in crime that isn't going away plus couldn't deal with DC politics and the DCPS decline. It's night and day to be in a neighborhood where it's safe for our kids to bike and walk around. I lived in DC for over 20 years and never thought I'd leave until the insanity that started with the pandemic.

JFC, read a book. You have no idea what happened in all major U.S. cities after 1968, you think Black folks just turned lawless in their own neighborhoods?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has me feeling uncomfortable -- DH's office relocated to NOMA recently.

I keep wondering if all of the talk about increased crime is fear-mongering, or if things really are unsafe. I mean, I know stats are stats, and there is a clear increase in certain crimes, but stats reflecting an increase in crime aren't necessarily enough to cause legit worry for the safety of loved ones -- and I'm not sure where we are with all this.

Some friends who have been living in Anacostia for almost 15 years are leaving the area. They have decided it is no place to raise their child (now about 3 I think?) due to the increase in crime and the lack of quality public education (they can't afford private). I think the DW was feeling unsafe, and like I said -- they had lived there a long time without that being a problem, and now it is enough of one that they are moving.

What's funny about this is when I was in college and would come visit friends in DC over the summer or whatever, my dad (in a different state) always said - whatever you do, stay out of Anacostia! His limited knowledge of DC was just that Anacostia was dangerous. This was in the early 90s. Ironically when I moved here in the early 2000s I had a job at the Anacostia Naval Annex... I loved to spook my dad by telling him I was going to Anacostia every day.

I guess it gentrified for a while and is now backsliding? Similar to NOMA...

I don’t think Anacostia ever gentrified. I’m not being snarky. There is one theater there that tried to be an anchor for bringing people across the River and making Anacostia more approachable but it never gentrified.

Spoiler alert - Gentrification should not be the actual goal.

[Anonymous]

Another shooting today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union Station has always been sketchy, like since the 80s.

Wrong. Union Station was renovated in 1988 and it became a shopping and dining destination. I went there for years and never felt unsafe. It’s only been with the rise of the homelessness and lawlessness in the past ten years that it has really declined.

+1

We use to lunch there when I worked nearby in the 00s, and I’ve met friends for dinner at the nice restaurants.

It’s a gorgeous building and sad how far it’s fallen.

+2 Much of DC became unsafe after the riots following MLK's murder in 1968. Then it got better during the early 2000's. Now it's on the decline again due to progressive policies such as extended school closures and being soft on crime. It's so sad to see what's happening to DC.

We finally had enough and moved after our once-safe neighborhood had a spike in crime that isn't going away plus couldn't deal with DC politics and the DCPS decline. It's night and day to be in a neighborhood where it's safe for our kids to bike and walk around. I lived in DC for over 20 years and never thought I'd leave until the insanity that started with the pandemic.

JFC, read a book. You have no idea what happened in all major U.S. cities after 1968, you think Black folks just turned lawless in their own neighborhoods?

DP, but I encourage you to read a book. The riots in DC after MLK's assassination were so bad that they had to declare martial law to stop the destruction, and in the aftermath, anyone who has the means to escape the charred carcass of DC did so. They were clearing rubble from the riot 3 decades later. It doesn't matter what happened in other cities bc this thread is about DC. Also we don't have to rewrite history because you find it offensive.

[Anonymous]

If it makes anyone feel better, I feel like working in the area during the day isn't especially unsafe. And early evening isn't really an issue. Not sure about late night, but the person whose work is moving there should be ok. (I've worked in gallery place for 15 years and go out in DC too, and have never had an issue.) I don't drive in D.C. much but public transport has been fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it makes anyone feel better, I feel like working in the area during the day isn't especially unsafe. And early evening isn't really an issue. Not sure about late night, but the person whose work is moving there should be ok. (I've worked in gallery place for 15 years and go out in DC too, and have never had an issue.) I don't drive in D.C. much but public transport has been fine.

I feel the same way. But there are people like PP who hasn’t been on the Metro in 15 years but can state with confidence how unsafe it is.

[Anonymous]

Avoid the Gallery Place Walgreens

[Anonymous]

NoMa is Union market area/hood, not union station.