Union Station smells like urine, has a homeless problem, and is half deserted.

[Anonymous]

I work about a block away (though have been home since Covid). US was always fine for lunch. Most of the unhoused people I saw where on First street. I would go there to get steps in when it was too hot/cold/wet outside. No issues. I hope it has not changed too much.

[Anonymous]

I used to go there in high school to go to the movies and get food in the food court...now it's definitely gone downhill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a homelessness crisis in our nation, but nobody wants to do anything about it. Instead, everywhere you look a new luxury condo/apartment complex is being built. Our country is pathetic.

There are overwhelming amounts of money spent on the homeless population. Money isn’t the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a homelessness crisis in our nation, but nobody wants to do anything about it. Instead, everywhere you look a new luxury condo/apartment complex is being built. Our country is pathetic.

There are overwhelming amounts of money spent on the homeless population. Money isn’t the issue.

+1. In fact, homeless people from all over the country are streaming to DC because of our generous handouts and permissive stance on open-air drug use and public defecation. It's basically a free for all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been the case for at least 20 years.

Try 40+ years. It’s been like that as long as I can remember.

[Anonymous]

Is DC going to be the next SF? How incredibly sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is DC going to be the next SF? How incredibly sad.

Have you forgotten the 80s? DC was the original SF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a homelessness crisis in our nation, but nobody wants to do anything about it. Instead, everywhere you look a new luxury condo/apartment complex is being built. Our country is pathetic.

There are overwhelming amounts of money spent on the homeless population. Money isn’t the issue.

It’s a combination of two issues:

1) no affordable housing due to the urban boom over the past 20 years combined with Hope Vi getting rid of the awful old housing projects but not replacing them with low density affordable housing or section 8 vouchers. Cities are the victims of their own success. The area by nats park used to be an enormous housing project that covered many blocks. Where do you think all those people went to when they built the park and the cute bars and fancy high rise apartments?

2) the opioid/meth/fetanyl crisis. Thank the Sacklers for this, and the Chinese fetanyl producers. A lot of these people have brains that may be permanently fried, plus we really don’t have good rehab options for these addictions. I have a friend who works in addiction treatment and this is so far beyond the usual coke-type addictions they used to deal with.

We need a complement of different policies to deal with both of those issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Union station is disgusting and an embarrassment but not much anyone can do.

Gate the doors and require a ticket or metro fare to enter

This. But progressives want homeless peeing and pooping on everything everywhere even as they make it impossible to build housing by being wailing nimbies. Time to move someplace sensible.

This is dumb. There are businesses there that rely on folks to come. Manage the homeless issue. That's separate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a homelessness crisis in our nation, but nobody wants to do anything about it. Instead, everywhere you look a new luxury condo/apartment complex is being built. Our country is pathetic.

There are overwhelming amounts of money spent on the homeless population. Money isn’t the issue.

+1. In fact, homeless people from all over the country are streaming to DC because of our generous handouts and permissive stance on open-air drug use and public defecation. It's basically a free for all!

This

[Anonymous]

Waited tables at Union Station in 1996. It was gorgeous. Restaurants, lovely retail outlets, nice cinema. Sad to hear it has gone down so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Russia has a good handle on this, we should use their way of addressing it

Having lived In Russia, I have no idea what you wanna.

[Anonymous]

We had a black tie fundraiser in Union Station in early 2000s, was beautiful. Now, it's awful. Penn Station is still worse, although the sanitized privately-owned new Amtrak area is indeed very nice, but mostly because it's patrolled by armed guards and there are no seats outside of the lounge.

It's going to take a concerted effort by the people living in (and maybe half working) in these cities to clean them up if they want to see any sort of quality of life. NY/DC/Chicago are turning into SF - crime-ridden piss-smelling hellholes that are simply unliveable.

[Anonymous]

Union Station has had a homeless problem since Ronald Reagan was elected and de-institutionalized the mentally ill. The only thing that's changed in what you are reporting is that many shops in the Station have closed. So have they closed everywhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm shocked that its been 6 pages and nobody has brought up the Union Station mens bathroom hook-up stories...