Reply to What DC residents can do for the city?

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[quote=Anonymous]The thing is that all the gay folks who moved into Dupont and environs in the 90s and early 00s, and the other young professionals who followed, were actually willing to put up with a pretty high level of crime. I lived in Dupont in the early aughts and moved to the U Street corridor 2005ish -- Dupont was still a little dicy at that point and when I moved to U Street it was downright sketchy. Same with Columbia Heights, Petworth. Back when Popville was still just a guy living in Petworth, you didn't see families living there, but you did see young professionals, DINKs (both gay and otherwise) and others who liked being in the city, on the Redline, near a few bars, and didn't mind the violence that much because it wasn't directed at them.

And that demographic isn't going anywhere, by the way. Young single people with money to burn, and DINKs who like going out and living an urban lifestyle, are not fleeing to the suburbs. Sure, some people are choosing Ballston/Clarendon or Bethesda over Shaw and H Street, but that's ALWAYS been true -- there has always been a population of people who are afraid of DC east of the park, or can't handle the city at all.

What DC is losing now, in part because they never really had them? Families. Asking people to raise kids in this city is a different proposition. For a time, the argument was getting better and better every day. Now it's headed the other direction. And when people talk about money leaving the city... well, it not a bunch of DINKs. It's people in their 40s and 50s who are peak earnings, who have a couple kids and want to raise their kids somewhere that feels like a safe place for kids.[/quote]

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