Yes Washington - so its not my imagination !
I was there in 1995, Farragut Square seemed to be the worst spot, and the bit around Union Sation. “Yo can yo spare a quarter ? ah aint hed nuttn’ ta eat fo 3 days” si the sort of thing I heard every day I was there.
New York in 2004 seemed a lot better, I was only accosted twice, and the second one was quite funny. A broad Scottish accent piped up”Och, can ye no speer us some change pal “ said a middle aged flute player opposite Macy’s. “Its for ma subway fare see, and ah left me wallet in church like”.
The unexpected accent took me a bit by surprise so I found myself giving him a couple of subway tokens !