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Washington, D.C. is our nation's capital, home to political movers and shakers as well as a collection of esteemed museums, monuments honoring great leaders, go-go music and the half-smoke. There's plenty to love about D.C., but, like any city, it has its flaws.
From the traffic to the widening gap between rich and poor, there are many frustrating things happening in D.C. right now. Some you'll forget about as soon as happy hour starts, but others are bigger societal issues that demand resolution—resolution they'll probably never get.
These depressing facts about D.C. aren't meant to slander the District in the least, but they'll piss you off all over again if you've experienced or witnessed them. If you're new to the area, they might bring the honeymoon phase to a swift end. Either way, it's time to face the music.
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It's Over for the Corcoran Gallery of Art
In what the Washington City Paper described as "a death that has been predicted year after year since at least the late 1960s," it was recently announced that the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art and Design was folding after years of financial issues. Established by Riggs Bank co-founder William Wilson Corcoran, the Corcoran was one of the first fine art galleries in the U.S., as well as D.C.'s largest private museum. Though both the Corcoran and its College of Art and Design will be absorbed by the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University, this slow, demoralizing death will leave a gaping hole in D.C.'s art scene. It hurts when history dies.
Traffic Is Atrocious
No matter what city you go to, you're going to criticize its drivers because you, of course, are the greatest driver on the planet. However, D.C. is consistently rated among the worst—if not the worst—city for traffic. In 2013, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report ranked D.C. the most congested urban area, ahead of Los Angeles and New York, due to the estimated annual delay per commuter (67 hours) and additional gallons of gas wasted (32). The same study also calculated the amount of time drivers should allot for a commute that would take 20 minutes in light traffic: once again, D.C. was the worst with 114 minutes.
Be prepared to stew in your own anger as you sit in traffic, even if you've given yourself plenty of time to get where you're trying to go. During that time, you might consider taking the Metro—or moving to another city.
Infidelity
Cheaters prosper in D.C., according to philanderer's website of choice, Ashley Madison. In 2013, the District was named the least faithful city in America for the second year in a row. Noel Bilderman, CEO of Ashley Madison and owner Avid Life Media, offered an explanation that you'd expect House of Cards' villainous politician Frank Underwood to recite word for word in his southern drawl: "Simply put, the more successful you are, the more prone to cheating you are, and Washington is full of successful people looking for something outside their marriage."
Marriage rates may have increased in D.C. over the past decade, but people apparently don't have a problem overstepping their vows, especially as they climb the ladder of success. How comforting.
House of Cards Is Filmed in Baltimore
Speaking of House of Cards, the bulk of the show is shot up the highway in Baltimore. (It might be headed to another state if Maryland doesn't ante up on tax credits.) Yes, there are shots of D.C. (look at North Capitol Street flourishing in the second image in the opening title sequence), but Baltimore actually serves as the primary filming location for Beau Willimon's political drama. Also, Freddy's BBQ Joint is fictional, as is the "Cathedral Heights" Metro station. So much for authenticity.
Snowvereaction
It's nowhere near as bad as what happened in Atlanta in January (that was truly a spectacle), but D.C. has been known to overreact to reports of snow. No, you won't find people sleeping in grocery stores, but you will find people ravaging stores, hoarding goods as if a disaster is imminent. This prompted President Obama, who hails from Chicago where winter winds slice through you like a machete, to clown D.C. for its tendency to scare easily over snow and ice.
Concern may be substantiated in the wake of the 2010 blizzard, but even that was marked by the government shutting down snow removal efforts, citing dangerous conditions and leaving many with unplowed—and unsafe—streets.
It Gets Harder to Find a Parking Spot Every Year
Though the District naturally encourages you to utilize its public transportation system as a way to avoid the headache of parking (a headache that's grown more intense over the past two years), there will come a time where you will have to find a parking spot—assuming you drive. Signs restricting parking spots to residents of certain zones have become the norm, which is good for residents of popular neighborhoods who struggle to find parking spots near their homes because of happy hour and nightlife addicts, although it's tightened the grip on D.C.'s parking stranglehold.
The lone upside here is that you become quite skilled at reading parking signs, lest you get a ticket.
The Parking System Is Totally a Racket
The harsh reality is that if you own a car in D.C., you're going to get tickets. It's simply unavoidable. If you don't become a master of reading street signs (and even if you do), the time will come when you'll find yourself at the mercy of an unforgiving parking enforcement employee. You might even find yourself saying "F*** the law" and risking a ticket, rationalizing it as another cost of going out. Tickets have been recognized as "the cost of doing business," as delivery vehicles sometimes receive several each day due to the lack of appropriate parking in the city. Charge it to the game.
The Crunch of Northwest 14th Street
D.C. is known as one of the most rapidly-gentrifying cities in the U.S., and one of the best examples of that is what's become of Northwest 14th Street recently. This has resulted in an abundance of restaurants and residential buildings springing up, almost to the point that the area has begun to feel overcrowded. Later this month, a Trader Joe's will open just below 14th & U Street NW below the Louis residential complex, which will bring even more people to the area.
Sure, the area's redevelopment has brought many great new places to eat and live, but you can't help but feel a bit claustrophobic as a result of the "gentrification overdrive" at times.
The Rising Cost of Living Is Not Your Friend
In 2013, the Economic Policy Institute's budget calculator considered the cost of housing, child care, food, health care and transportation, determining that it would take an annual income of $88,615 for a four-person family to live modestly in the greater D.C. area. Not even comfortably or middle class—modestly. That cost is 40 percent—$25,000—higher than the national median, placing the D.C. area second to only New York City.
If you live in a less expensive city and are considering a move to D.C., you can play with this tool from CNNMoney to find out how much you'd need to earn to live comparably in the nation's capital. Hopefully, a more lucrative job is motivating your move, because you're going to need it.
Chocolate City Is Becoming Less Chocolate
The evolving racial demographic in D.C. has been a hot topic for a few years now, with its "Chocolate City" nickname being jeopardized by Census Bureau data divulging that just over 50 percent of the city's population was African-American as of July 2012, down from July 2011 and July 2010. D.C.'s population may be growing, but the African-American population—which peaked at 71 percent during the early 1970s—is shrinking, with some even conjecturing that it's been below 50 percent.
The reason gentrification is bemoaned in D.C. transcends racial tensions; it's about the haves and have nots. A negative that's come with gentrification and the rising cost of living is that some people, whether they're businesses or longtime residents, have been priced out of their neighborhoods. It just so happens that a number of these people are African-American. Another truth, as a January Washington Post article illustrated, is that others choose to leave these neighborhoods because they don't feel like they belong to—or in—them anymore.
The biggest reality, however, is that neither black nor white are the colors that matter in D.C.—it's green that reigns supreme. Income, more than anything, is what divides D.C. in 2014.
Income Inequality
The median household income in D.C. might be well above that of the rest of the U.S., and the greater D.C. area might boast some of the wealthiest counties in the country, but the gap between rich and poor in the city is so wide and obvious that it's painful to observe. In late 2012, the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities released a report which revealed that between the late 1990s and mid-2000s, the 16 percent increase in the incomes of the richest 20 percent of D.C.'s population corresponded with a near 19 percent drop in the incomes of the poorest 20 percent. It's a classic case of the rich getting richer as the poor grow poorer.
Furthermore, a 2012 report from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute showed that the average income in D.C.'s top fifth was 29 times higher than that of the bottom fifth. Only some are benefiting from the economic growth in D.C., and it's very evident.
