Actually the parts that are not federally owned actually belong to MD and it’s residents. MD just agreed to slow DC to borrow certain swaths. So yes, indeed us suburbanites have a say in “your DC neighborhood”.

See below:



In order to grant the residents of the District of Columbia voting representation and control over their local affairs, some members of Congress, such as Rep. Dan Lungren, have proposed returning most parts of the city to Maryland. These proposals go back at least as far as 1839, when some members of Congress proposed retrocession of the portion of the District west of Rock Creek to Maryland. In recent years since at least 2001, several failed attempts, mostly supported by Republicans, have been made to return most of the District to Maryland and give them full voting rights: H.R. 810 & H.R. 381, both sponsored by Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH); and H.R. 1858, H.R. 1015, H.R. 3732 and H.R. 2681, all sponsored by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX). The proposals received little support from congressional Democrats.

If both the Congress and the Maryland state legislature agreed, jurisdiction over the District of Columbia could be returned to Maryland, excluding a small tract of land immediately surrounding the United States Capitol, the White House and the Supreme Court building which would become known as the "National Capital Service Area". The idea to retrocede all but the federal lands to Maryland dates back to at least 1848.

https://www.dcvote.org/sites/default/files/documen...s/articles/mdrretrocession.pdf

ProQuest has a few pretty good articles about DC retrocession as it relates to MD. Also to become a state DC needs permission from the state of MD.

Originally DC was formed from Maryland and Virginia land, but the Viriginia land was ceded back to Virginia in 1846. Thus, all of DC's current land was originally Maryland's land. And as noted above, there's already been a case (1793-1794) where a DC resident represented Maryland in the U.S. Congress.

Uriah Forrest (who lived in DC) represented Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives. Up until 1801, people who lived in DC voted just like any other U.S. citizen (voting in either Virginia or Maryland, depending on where the DC land came from). However, the "Organic Act" passed by Congress in 1801 stripped DC residents of their rights to vote in Federal elections. In 1801 this didn't affect many people, but this 1801 law now affects hundreds of thousands of people. Given this strong historical precedent, it would make sense for DC residents to vote in Federal elections as Marylandians. Although a bill was passed in 1961 to give residents the right to vote in presidential elections we still lack proper congressional representation. DC Vote has more information on this)

Which leads us back to the thesis sentence: Although Maryland ceded the land of DC for purposes of creating a Federal capital district, there's evidence that Maryland never ceded that land for the purpose of creating another state. That's important, because states have to specifically okay the creation of another state from their land. Indeed, there's historical evidence that Maryland did not intend for another state to be created, since a DC resident has represented Maryland!

Credit to: David A. Wheeler
https://dwheeler.com/essays/dc-in-maryland.html

Anonymous wrote:

Funny, I thought that the District was federally owned (so all taxpayers have a say). The people living in the District are guests of the federal government.

You thought wrong.

The parts of DC that are federally owned, are federally owned - about 29% of the land area.

The rest is not.

Here's a map: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/local/dc-marijuana-map/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny we put all these bike lanes everywhere and hardly anyone even uses them.

This is so true. I don’t understand why all the anti parking and anti car people don’t understand that not everyone wants to or can Über or carshare, not everyone wants to live in DC, some people enjoy living in the burbs and thus choices should include city parking. There is no need to get rid of parking when people are planning to use Amtrak to commute to another city. No one can “commute” from places like Loudon County, VA/Waldorf, MD/ or Olney, MD via public transportation, because it doesn’t exist. Carpooling from these places to Union Station would cost over $50. Driving from these places to park at the nearest metro garage isn’t exactly always guaranteed. Metro is NOT RELIABLE. Last weekend I caught an Uber to Glenmont station with the intention of catching the red line train downtown. Unfortunately, the red line stations from Fort Totten to Glenmont were completely shut down. I was told to catch a shuttle from Glenmont to Fort Totten and then try to catch the train there. That kind of ride on the bus was projected to be well over 2 hours because of all the passenger stops. I decided the city wasn’t worth the weekend stress.

Not everyone wants to or can uber - yep
Not everyone wants to live in DC - yep
Some people enjoy living in the burbs - yep
Thus choices should include city parking - nope

If you choose to drive yourself, that's fine, but the city doesn't have to provide parking for you.

Here's a useful site for you to check in advance, the next time you're thinking about taking Metro on a weekend: https://www.wmata.com/service/track-work.cfm

Actually I have an idea. If suburban PP wants DC to build parking for her, then I would gladly agree to it ... in exchange for a commuter tax for all MD and VA residents who work in DC. Fair?

Lol. You’re “idea” is hardly new, and all it would do is drive jobs out of DC.

obviously I know that. what's truly lol-worthy is suburban PP who DOESN'T EVEN LIVE IN DC claiming an entitlement to park in my DC neighborhod, while insulting bikelanes that I and my neighbors use every day. PP is a guest in DC. she has no basis to make any demands.

Funny, I thought that the District was federally owned (so all taxpayers have a say). The people living in the District are guests of the federal government.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm baffled that somebody is seriously comparing the level of service and options available at Union Station to the level of service and options available at these suburban whistle stops.

First of all, whistle stops are an actual thing, and these aren't them.

Second of all, say what? Do people get on there, or do people not get on there?

Rockville is definitely a whistle stop...

An open air drug market in Union Station? Did they remove the roof?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a DC thread. The problem with Union Station isn't the open air heroin market, or the massive presence of prostitution. It is the parking....

Do what now?

Don’t you mean the homeless, panhandlers, and spice users?

Yes add the homeless/panhandlers, but I really mean the open air drug market and the second busiest hub for working girls in the City.

I don't really care one way or another, I even believe prostitution should at least be decriminalized. It just seemed odd to me that some would prioritize parking over people.


LMAO SPICE?! I had a friend who tried that at a party about ten years ago, thats the last I've heard of it. If you ever want to scare your teens away from drugs, smoke some spice in front of them and tell them its just regular weed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a DC thread. The problem with Union Station isn't the open air heroin market, or the massive presence of prostitution. It is the parking....

Do what now?

Don’t you mean the homeless, panhandlers, and spice users?

PP was posting from 1982.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is such a DC thread. The problem with Union Station isn't the open air heroin market, or the massive presence of prostitution. It is the parking....

Do what now?

Don’t you mean the homeless, panhandlers, and spice users?

Anonymous wrote:This is such a DC thread. The problem with Union Station isn't the open air heroin market, or the massive presence of prostitution. It is the parking....

Do what now?

This is such a DC thread. The problem with Union Station isn't the open air heroin market, or the massive presence of prostitution. It is the parking....

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely disgusting that they are pushing this idea of no cars. When will this war on cars end?

Where did it say that no cars were allowed? You must mean parking.

Hey OP, you really need to stop having these conversations with yourself. Can't you and your alternative personalities just text each other rather than inventing threads on DCUM?

He talks to himself, and you delete post you disagree with or make your views look bad. The world will keep on spinning, no need to fret.

Anonymous wrote:

Hold your horses, there, urban cowboy. Sales and use taxes account for about 20% of the DC budget, and the federal government supports nearly 40% of the city's budget.

Also, people don't "damage" roads.

People don't damage roads, but cars sure do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny we put all these bike lanes everywhere and hardly anyone even uses them.

This is so true. I don’t understand why all the anti parking and anti car people don’t understand that not everyone wants to or can Über or carshare, not everyone wants to live in DC, some people enjoy living in the burbs and thus choices should include city parking. There is no need to get rid of parking when people are planning to use Amtrak to commute to another city. No one can “commute” from places like Loudon County, VA/Waldorf, MD/ or Olney, MD via public transportation, because it doesn’t exist. Carpooling from these places to Union Station would cost over $50. Driving from these places to park at the nearest metro garage isn’t exactly always guaranteed. Metro is NOT RELIABLE. Last weekend I caught an Uber to Glenmont station with the intention of catching the red line train downtown. Unfortunately, the red line stations from Fort Totten to Glenmont were completely shut down. I was told to catch a shuttle from Glenmont to Fort Totten and then try to catch the train there. That kind of ride on the bus was projected to be well over 2 hours because of all the passenger stops. I decided the city wasn’t worth the weekend stress.

lady I have news for you - the city is not here to cater to you and your car.

Precisely. But then I try to avoid DC as much as possible due to the extreme hassle it has become to get there. On the upside, neighboring jurisdictions get my fun money instead.

great. have fun.

I always love this threats from suburbanites that they are going to stay home.

Most folks in my DC neighborhood would be thrilled if that happened.

But the city doesn't care - sales taxes are a small percentage of the DC budget - I think in 2019 it was like 2% of the total income raised by DC and I can't find it now but I believe like one-tenth of that money comes from non DC residents. The 10% restaurant tax collected from non DC residents is insignificant and certainly doesn't even cover a decent part of what it costs DC every year to maintain its roads, roads that overwhelming are used and damaged by suburbanites.

Hold your horses, there, urban cowboy. Sales and use taxes account for about 20% of the DC budget, and the federal government supports nearly 40% of the city's budget.

Also, people don't "damage" roads.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny we put all these bike lanes everywhere and hardly anyone even uses them.

This is so true. I don’t understand why all the anti parking and anti car people don’t understand that not everyone wants to or can Über or carshare, not everyone wants to live in DC, some people enjoy living in the burbs and thus choices should include city parking. There is no need to get rid of parking when people are planning to use Amtrak to commute to another city. No one can “commute” from places like Loudon County, VA/Waldorf, MD/ or Olney, MD via public transportation, because it doesn’t exist. Carpooling from these places to Union Station would cost over $50. Driving from these places to park at the nearest metro garage isn’t exactly always guaranteed. Metro is NOT RELIABLE. Last weekend I caught an Uber to Glenmont station with the intention of catching the red line train downtown. Unfortunately, the red line stations from Fort Totten to Glenmont were completely shut down. I was told to catch a shuttle from Glenmont to Fort Totten and then try to catch the train there. That kind of ride on the bus was projected to be well over 2 hours because of all the passenger stops. I decided the city wasn’t worth the weekend stress.

lady I have news for you - the city is not here to cater to you and your car.

Precisely. But then I try to avoid DC as much as possible due to the extreme hassle it has become to get there. On the upside, neighboring jurisdictions get my fun money instead.

great. have fun.

I always love this threats from suburbanites that they are going to stay home.

Most folks in my DC neighborhood would be thrilled if that happened.

But the city doesn't care - sales taxes are a small percentage of the DC budget - I think in 2019 it was like 2% of the total income raised by DC and I can't find it now but I believe like one-tenth of that money comes from non DC residents. The 10% restaurant tax collected from non DC residents is insignificant and certainly doesn't even cover a decent part of what it costs DC every year to maintain its roads, roads that overwhelming are used and damaged by suburbanites.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's funny we put all these bike lanes everywhere and hardly anyone even uses them.

It's not "all these" bike lanes, it's not "everywhere," and if you can't see people when they're riding bicycles, then you shouldn't be driving.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/dc-vows-to-create-20-more-miles-of-protected-bike-lanes-by-2022/2019/11/23/d8b7e614-0ae2-11ea-8397-a955cd542d00_story.html

There are stretches of bike lanes that I've never seen a single bicyclist use, ever.

Everyone gets to have a hobby, and I guess hating on bike lanes is yours.

Bicyclists can dish it out, but....

Try riding a bike some time. You'd be happier.