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I’d never been to DC in my life...when I took a GS job there in 2010, and stayed for 3.5 years (leaving last year).

What I can generally say is that it reminds you of a banana republic capital. There’s generally a murder every day or two in the area....most centered around the eastside or the northside of town. Few if ever, occur in Georgetown.

The METRO system works, but it’s overloaded with incompetent workers, drivers, and managers. During my time there, there were five or six subway accidents, which usually led back to human factors. At least once a month, you had a suicide on the rail system, and if you were on that route...it meant that you got stuck for at least three hours while some crew cleared the remains.

If you walked around the rear of the White House and went one block east....you felt like you were in Detroit. You were generally still safe. If you went past the Anacosta River...day or night....you were generally unsafe. DC cops avoid the area except routine patrols.

The city council? Mostly all corrupted....it’s the only way to win, and to stay on the council. They all had requested (demanded) SUVs as personal cars (not the cheaper $30k models but the $45k types). At some point, it came out that two decades ago....someone made a city rule that only the chief of police and fire could have a SUV...while everyone else was limited to regular cars. That was a shocker, for the city council members.

Whenever it snowed....the snow removal priority went hyper, with city council members pushing and demanding their districts get priority. For years, it didn’t really matter....then came the snows of Feb 2010, and lots of heat went onto the street crews.

The Nationals stadium was put right into a fairly congested area...with crime elements being around 1000 feet away from the entry gates. Cops stayed around when games ended to ensure you could walk to the Metro station and get the heck out of the area.

Teenage punks ruled Metro stations in DC after school hours. You’d see people jumped or robbed. It was popular to just sit there at one station and watch teens place themselves to hit on a guy talking on his cellphone....grabbing the phone and making a run.

Pickpockets? They roamed Metro day and night. I watched some guy left a businessman’s wallet on the escalator (I was near the bottom and they were near the top). By the time I got to the top and could see both....the pickpocket guy was already flipping through the billfold and pulling the credit card out...tossing the rest into the garbage. He walked across the street into the Arlington Mall, and I can only imagine he had some insider working a shop and quickly let him charge a thousand on clothing to be resold later.

Americans who came into DC as tourists were actively preyed upon. As long as you stayed as part of your tour group....you were generally safe within the national mall area.

Homelessness? There’s probably over five thousand scattered around DC, at least two thousand in Arlington, and around five to ten thousand in the areas of Maryland surrounding DC. Most are mentally deranged and ought to be put into a facility....but no one will do that. The remainders? Mostly GI’s with serious alcohol problems who do various programs via the charity operations, but never get past a certain point of recovery and stability. All of the homeless programs just spend the money and never fix the issue. I used to walk by the Justice building and continually notice two particular homeless guys who’d pitch a tent behind the bushes. They would stay there for weeks until the cops stumbled upon them and forced them leave...then within a week, they’d return to the same spot.

The incredible thing that I started to notice by the end of 2012 was that government employees (the younger crowd) were buying old residences in DC, renovating them, and changing the system....block by block. It might take twenty years, but I think that eighty percent of DC will middle-class or upper-income. The Anacosta region? The forbidden zone....I don’t see it ever coming back. You’d have to put fifty cops on hourly patrol and really put folks in jail for law violations (not the pretender-justice that exists now).

When I left DC in July of 2013....I went out in style...going to Union Station and riding Amtrak out of town. I had to sit and wait two hours for the train to leave. If you wanted to see every single weird character of DC....go to Union Station. Nutcases, transexuals, hookers, dopers, etc....they all hang out there. Food and drink cost fifty percent more than normal. You might see one cop an hour....if you really spent time looking. The train left on time, which I appreciate...and I just shook my head as my car left town. I had expectations when I got there...and it was a shocker in some ways as I left...the banana republic status is absolute and correct to give the town. And no one should ever think about moving there....unless you want a career in corrupt politics or want some drug-dealing opportunities.