rectalhorror

rectalhorror t1_j9z7jgt wrote

Not to excuse them, but there's this perception that these kids actually have "parents" in the first place. In many of these households, the fathers are either absent, dead, or in prison. The mother, if she's actually involved in the kids life, is either struggling with multiple jobs or dealing with their own mental health/addictions. Which leaves it to the grandmothers and aunts to provide whatever supervision they can. Anyway, DC's "juvenile justice" system has been broken since the '80s for a number of reasons and was basically run under a court order for 35 years. https://dcist.com/story/20/02/06/after-35-years-d-c-will-finally-have-control-of-its-youth-rehabilitation-services-again/

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rectalhorror t1_j9yhqjv wrote

Reply to comment by gator_fl in Gambet DC by Homework-Silly

I maintain that DC peaked when it was being run by the Control Board with Tony Williams at CFO. Ever since he left the Mayor's office, the rot started setting in; the way DC contracting setasides work, you have a handful of "small, disadvantaged, locally owned contractors" who put their name on the contract, collect their check, and subcontract the work out to out-of-town businesses that actually do the work. Same situation with the sports betting and online gambling apps; "emergency" legislation was passed, which means little if any oversight. Instead of having multiple apps like Virginia, you get one poorly cobbled together POS that nobody uses.

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rectalhorror t1_j9y5lci wrote

I’ve been reading DCist since Ryan Avent started it as an blog with sports and The Week in Jazz thrown in. It’s evolved from a wonky urbanist policy site to a local news site to a social justice/activist megaphone site, which is fine. They’re free to publish any agitprop they deem relevant, so long as you know that all roads lead to racism, gentrification, food deserts, etc. As for the crime issue, long term trends are downward, but recent trends are upward, which is why some people feel unsafe. The thing is, I grew up going to punk shows in DC in the ‘80s when the murder rate was climbing, but I never felt unsafe because most of the violent crime was localized in Wards 7 & 8. That’s no longer the case. I think DC fills the vacuum left by WaPo’s pathetic Metro coverage; their deep dive stories on the people who have been shot read like they were generated by a bot: kid with promising future dies in shootout, calls for action go unheeded, much handwringing, rinse, lather, repeat. At least DCist posts some positive stories about developments east of the river.

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rectalhorror t1_j8svarq wrote

But in an interview for this article, Donald acknowledged the agency’s failure to properly assess rents has led to overpayments. She said her stance changed recently after talking with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials who issued a sweeping report in September, which flagged the problem alongside the agency’s failure to provide “decent, safe, and sanitary” housing for its residents. The report depicts a housing authority in disarray and at risk of defaulting on its agreement with the federal government.

“We are going to fix all of this,” Donald said.

lol, lmao

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rectalhorror t1_j6nk4z6 wrote

Reply to comment by swampoodler in Anyone miss the old DC? by sg8910

Born and raised in DC. Parents moved out to the burbs in 1975 because living in Southeast was starting to get sketchy and the schools were terrible and Marion Barry was Marion Barry. Spent my teen years in the '80s going to punk shows at the old 930 Club and DCSPACE and the Wilson Center and it was great: the whole town shut down at 7pm and we had it all to ourselves and we never felt unsafe because the real violent crime was in Wards 7 & 8. Yeah, you had sex workers walking 14th Street into the '90s, but they didn't give us any trouble. Post COVID DC means the crime isn't localized anymore; it's in every ward. I'd suggest it all started when Lanier disbanded the vice squads to focus on the high end drug dealers, leaving the street level crews to fend for themselves. So a decade later, with pot legal, those crews are fighting over smaller territories for fewer dollars. DC SHOULD be able to prosecute the top ten percent of criminals committing the 60% of the violent crime AND provide intervention for those kids before they become repeat offenders, but my lifetime in DC has shown me they're incapable of being able to chew gum and walk at the same time.

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rectalhorror t1_j6nfu7m wrote

Same deal with the Purple Line connecting Silver Spring and Bethesda: locals were decrying the environmental impact and when that didn't work, the Chevy Chase Country Club clutched their pearls at the impact to their historic neighborhood. Also the recent proposal to run a maglev line from DC to Baltimore. Every town in that corridor protested because they'd get no direct benefit from it, which is part of the issue with these nimbys.

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rectalhorror t1_j4rszb6 wrote

Stripmalls are deader than dead. If you use DC's The Wharf as a template, luxury residential, hotel, and boutique retail/eateries work. It helps if you have a concert venue. Not really a fan myself because the eateries are overpriced trash, but the tourists seem to like it and the place is always packed. In the case of Harborplace, a decent food hall with lots of local options would attract local dollars.

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rectalhorror t1_iy4wv9v wrote

K Street in 1900 was upscale rowhouses, not the office blocks of today. Around the same time, Georgetown and Foggy Bottom were working class factory towns with a lot of industrial capacity. Heurich Brewery was where the Kennedy Center is now and there was still port activity and shipping on the Georgetown waterfront.

My dad went to Georgetown University in the '40s and one of his profs grew up in Foggy Bottom around the 1890s. He and his friends used to walk across town and stop by the White House and ask to play with President Roosevelt's kids. The Secret Service would just let them in and they'd play with all the farm animals that they kept on site; goats and ducks and chickens and the like. Then they'd bring out some sandwiches for lunch and walk back home like no big deal. And this was right after President McKinley was assassinated.

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