Reply to Real talk about the city’s economy, federal buildings leases, and telework impacts

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
New poster and late to this party but...I'm a suburbanite, neither I nor my spouse has ever worked in DC, yet we go into the city frequently and spend money there. We have no desire to live in the city but we absolutely go to the museums, a lot of theater, concerts, exhibits and other events. Yes, most of the museums are free, but we pay for plenty of other outings, meals, parking, etc. So: Are we just "parasites" or are we coming into your city and contribuing to its coffers? I'd bet we spend considerably more in DC than office workers who live in 'burbs like us, work in DC, but leave each night and don't spend any money on entertainment in the city at all. But if you want to call us suburban parasites, go right ahead. [/quote]

Yes, that is correct. You might want to brush up on your land use history. Suburbs didn't just magically appear outside of city centers from thin air. They were created to allow certain people to get away from others and in some cases avail themselves of city services without paying city takes (Exhibit A: Baltimore). You don't pay DC property taxes and our councilmembers cater to your transportation whims. Sounds like a raw deal to this DC resident.[/quote]
This is unhinged. There are 3 million people that live in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County and the far and away vast majority of them have lives that have nothing to do with DC. They live, work, and play in their own communities. All parasites apparently, who are stealing from DC and if they venture into DC to spend money, that makes them worse because being physically in DC and standing on a sidewalk or whatever means they are using “services” which makes them even worse parasites even though they are contributing to the city’s economy.[/quote]

I was thinking about something tangential to this today. I fly around the world like a lot of people to visit cities like Paris, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc. and love doing it. But I live in Fairfax and almost never spend any time in DC despite working in living under 30 minutes away. I was there was some draw to DC other than the sports stadiums. But I'd rather fly to London for the weekend than drive the 25 mins to DC. Weird.[/quote]

There's a hell of a lot more to do in DC than there is in Fairfax or anywhere else in the DC burbs.  [b]Museums, music, art, and so much more[/b], and for us, much of it is walkable or otherwise easy to get to.  We're doing tons of stuff in DC every weekend.  You throw Paris, London, Hong Kong out there, but the thing is, most normal people don't have the money to visit those places except for maybe once every so many years.

The barrier isn't at all a lack of things to do, it's the fact that you have to deal with traffic and don't want to take mass transit.  Inside DC we don't have anywhere near as much of a problem.  [/quote]
 
Are you able to give some examples? I’m truly unaware of much going on besides concerts at the arena, smithsonian museums and the Phillips collection.  DC isn’t a city for the arts.  In my opinion, it has less to offer in the arts than a much smaller city like Cincinnati.

I think it’s kind of weird to live in DC for access to the arts and music.  DC is mostly office buildings, a handful of decent restaurants and large museums/government buildings .   No one travels to DC for the arts and music. [/quote]

You want examples of music and the arts? How about the Kennedy Center? The Anthem? 9:30 Club? Black Cat? Pie Shop? Echostage? Flash? Warner Theater? Wooly Mammoth? DC Fringe? Shakespeare Theatre Company? Arena Stage? Mosaic Theater Company?

Also I love how you handwave away our museums with "I'm unaware of much besides the Smithsonian, what do we have?" The Smithsonian is the largest museum network in the world and has 20 museums in DC. That's like saying "I'm unaware of much wine stuff going on in Napa besides all the vineyards!" And you're not even right. We have plenty of museums besides the Smithsonian -[b] the National Gallery of Art, the Holocaust Museum, the Navy Museum, the Spy Museum, the National Geographic Museum, the Kreeger, the Museum of the Bible, (ew, I know. But still, it's a museum) Anderson House, Dumbarton House, Woodrow Wilson House, the Heurich House, the Octagon, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the Folger, the Women in the Arts museum.  [/b]

Any of these ring a bell? No wonder you think nobody travels to DC for arts, music, or museums. You're woefully ignorant of the entire scene.  Imagine being this confidently incorrect about something so obvious. [/quote]

These are great, but I can’t imagine someone in DC visiting these museums on a regular basis.  These are places you visit once or when you’re bored with young kids and need somewhere to go on a Saturday in February. [/quote]

What?  No, the museums have changing exhibits all of the time.  You go back to see the new stuff.

You're just kind of showing your a$$ here, and it's probably better to be quiet.[/quote]

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