Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live near H Street and have for the last 12 years.

It is still much better than it was when I first moved here, but the trend of the last two years is very concerning. I hate seeing longtime businesses like Biergarten Haus closing, I hate all the broken windows. There is a lot of vagrancy and it has an edge to it that it didn't have pre-Covid. There are serious mental health and substance abuse issues. I do find myself uneasy in the area more than I used to a few years ago. Probably still a lot less than I did a decade ago, when a lot of the development on H Street didn't exist. I'd still rather walk past some panhandlers outside Whole Foods than walk down several blocks of shuttered businesses, the old crappy grocery store that used to be there, and a giant storage facility. It is still much better now.

I actually think something good can come from that article though. I don't think H Street has backslid so much it can't be saved, but we need to DO something about it. I'm encouraged by the people in the article organizing to start neighborhood groups and improve the situation. There are many people who own expensive homes along the corridor who have a vested interest in making it a better place to live.

I think it's a bit strange how few public officials were interviewed for that article. Most glaringly, Charles Allen doesn't make any appearance, and only one ANC rep is mentioned. It is unusual for an article like that to appear in WaPo without the council rep for the Ward interviewed. I get Allen doesn't control crime, but it is his ward and the article actually focuses on the impact all of this has on businesses and residents, which is very much within his oversight. He can also be doing liaison work with DCPD. But... crickets.

Biergarten Haus is closing? Probably a combo of rents and crime
It is more profitable in DC for large landlords to have empty property apparently. DC needs to look at this! So tired of empty store storefronts.
High rents and crime, winning combo Bowser and Council!

Anonymous wrote:I think this article was journalistic malpractice. Everything in it may be true, but NO quotes from the marijuana shops with lines out the door? No quotes from any criminals, loiterers, whatever?

Look I’m white and don’t smoke and I like going to restaurants but it’s the job of the newspaper to bring the perspective of all the stakeholders or just people involved if stakeholder feels too much.

I mean if the marijuana store has a line out the door but I don’t like it because I don’t use that store, is that different then when the $14 bagel sandwich place opened if you don’t eat that? Is that just because of the odor problem or because of the clientele? That discussion should be in the story. Neighborhoods change. People have different opinions about it. The paper should not be the mouthpiece of any one group or another.

Anonymous wrote:I live near H Street and have for the last 12 years.

It is still much better than it was when I first moved here, but the trend of the last two years is very concerning. I hate seeing longtime businesses like Biergarten Haus closing, I hate all the broken windows. There is a lot of vagrancy and it has an edge to it that it didn't have pre-Covid. There are serious mental health and substance abuse issues. I do find myself uneasy in the area more than I used to a few years ago. Probably still a lot less than I did a decade ago, when a lot of the development on H Street didn't exist. I'd still rather walk past some panhandlers outside Whole Foods than walk down several blocks of shuttered businesses, the old crappy grocery store that used to be there, and a giant storage facility. It is still much better now.

I actually think something good can come from that article though. I don't think H Street has backslid so much it can't be saved, but we need to DO something about it. I'm encouraged by the people in the article organizing to start neighborhood groups and improve the situation. There are many people who own expensive homes along the corridor who have a vested interest in making it a better place to live.

I think it's a bit strange how few public officials were interviewed for that article. Most glaringly, Charles Allen doesn't make any appearance, and only one ANC rep is mentioned. It is unusual for an article like that to appear in WaPo without the council rep for the Ward interviewed. I get Allen doesn't control crime, but it is his ward and the article actually focuses on the impact all of this has on businesses and residents, which is very much within his oversight. He can also be doing liaison work with DCPD. But... crickets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things are bad all over the city

Yeah, the article had one throw away line about how crime upticks are actually worse in other neighborhoods, including U Street/Shaw. I have several friends who live over there and it's not good. I think the main difference is that on H, everything is concentrated on one strip, but over there the commercial areas are spread throughout the neighborhood so it's not just "another shooting on H Street." Instead it's a shooting on 11th and then one on 7th and then a smash and grab on 16th and a mugging on V Street and so on. I have friends who recently moved into a big condo building near 7th and O NW and there have been multiple shootings right in front of their building in the last month. I don't know anywhere in H Street that is that bad.

But as an H street resident, I actually don't mind the article even if it's not flattering. I don't think it's the worst crime in the city, but there's no question the area is going in the wrong direction lately and needs an intervention. More attention from DCPD, more activism from neighborhood groups and the business community? Sign me up.

Anonymous wrote:Things are bad all over the city

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm another long-timer who voted 'Yes' for decriminalization and wish I hadn't.

I used to spend time in legal Colorado every year hiking and skiing, and figured DC would play out like Denver with the well-run dispensaries and a population that generally respects the social compact. Ergo, my 'Yes' vote.

What I DIDN'T foresee is: the smallest MPD force in decades, the jails turning out all residents to the streets re: Covid, whoever TF this clown AG is, and especially, the seismic backlash to apparently all policing, ever, because a demonstrably psychotic cop killed a man in the Midwest who was Black.

Honestly, I feel like if George Floyed, rest his soul, were Hmong instead of Black -- but everything else was as it was -- we wouldn't have utter lawlessness in every big blue US city in 2023.

It’s pretty well known among anyone in medicine he OD’d on fentanyl.

Uh no it's not, wtaf?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm another long-timer who voted 'Yes' for decriminalization and wish I hadn't.

I used to spend time in legal Colorado every year hiking and skiing, and figured DC would play out like Denver with the well-run dispensaries and a population that generally respects the social compact. Ergo, my 'Yes' vote.

What I DIDN'T foresee is: the smallest MPD force in decades, the jails turning out all residents to the streets re: Covid, whoever TF this clown AG is, and especially, the seismic backlash to apparently all policing, ever, because a demonstrably psychotic cop killed a man in the Midwest who was Black.

Honestly, I feel like if George Floyed, rest his soul, were Hmong instead of Black -- but everything else was as it was -- we wouldn't have utter lawlessness in every big blue US city in 2023.

It’s pretty well known among anyone in medicine he OD’d on fentanyl.

Anonymous wrote:I am concerned with the crime, but I have been going to H Street every single week for the last 14 years (I get my hair cut there). It is still so much nicer than it was 14 years ago. I have never felt unsafe on H Street. I have also never let my guard down on H Street. Just because it looked nicer, the underlying element never left.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that this is not a pot thread but I feel like I was lied to about the city's role after the pot regulation was passed. I would never have voted for the decriminalization had I known that DC would allow people to simply smoke walking down the street or in public parks. I feel naive having fallen for the rhetoric years ago from the decriminalization crowd.

Ad me to the list of voters who would vote to repeal.

I’m not trying to be mean, but you really didn’t see that coming? I voted against in Maryland. People are driving while smoking pot, smoking right outside stores and homes, but I can’t get upset about it because then you’re the bad guy.

I hope citizens wake up and repeal these poorly thought out laws.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep telling us everything is fine:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/20/h-street-corridor-dc-crime/

Mind boggling how any DC resident can keep voting for the same and expect better outcomes. What’s the definition of insanity again? Watch, in 2024 DC voters will prob triple down on this catastrophe. The district is now a total loss. At this point, the only solution is to try to wall it off so that their crime infested island doesn’t spill over to areas around them.

And to think, they argue they have the mental capacity to be a state when they can’t even do one of the very basic duties of govt, which is to ensure public safety and law and order.

R.I.P. H street.

Everything is apparently not at all fine with you, OP. I'm sorry. I hope you are able to get the help you need.

Keep sticking your head in the sand while the city around you crumbles into a Snake Plisken theme park.