Economist.com Cities Guide: Washington, DC Briefing - August 2006

News this month

Emergency measures

This summer has seen a sharp rise in crime in Washington, DC, with 14 murders in the first 13 days of July alone. The District’s police chief, Charles Ramsey, declared a crime emergency on July 11th, giving him the power to quickly change officers’ schedules and assignments. In the 30 days before the announcement, the number of robberies rose by 16%, while assaults with deadly weapons rose by 14%. The crimes have taken place throughout the District, with some of the most publicised incidents on the tourist-filled National Mall, and many involving juveniles. Mr Ramsey said that he would re-evaluate the emergency in mid-August.

Other city officials are doing what they can to improve security. On July 18th the city council approved a plan put forth by Anthony Williams, the mayor, that gives police wider access to juvenile records, allows the installation of surveillance cameras in residential areas and sets a 10pm curfew for those aged 16 and younger, which went into effect on July 31st. In late July Mr Williams also called for a review to assess whether to increase the number of police officers from 3,800 to more than 5,100, the size of the force in the early 1980s, when crime was a serious problem in the city.

Poll dancing

Adrian Fenty, a city council member, seems favoured to succeed Anthony Williams as the city’s next mayor. A poll published by the Washington Post in mid-July placed Mr Fenty and Linda Cropp, the city council chair, as the two frontrunners in the Democratic primary, scheduled for September 12th. According to the poll of likely Democratic voters, Mr Fenty leads Ms Cropp by 42% to 32%, with no other candidate earning more than 8%. Because the city is overwhelmingly Democratic, the winner of the primary will almost certainly replace Mr Williams, who is not seeking re-election.

Mr Williams himself has not only endorsed Ms Cropp, but also has become increasingly outspoken in his criticism of Mr Fenty, calling him “disengaged” and attacking him for being the council's sole critic of the crime-emergency bill. Ms Cropp contended that the poll itself was meaningless—her support, she claimed, would have been far greater if the survey had been taken after Mr Fenty voted against the crime bill.

Pennies from the Hill

The District’s Metro took a very small step towards long-term solvency in July. Under the current system, the Metro does not have a steady, dedicated source of revenue; instead, each year it must seek funds from the District, Maryland and Virginia, leaving its finances in a perpetual state of uncertainty. This may change. On July 17th the House of Representatives voted to pump $1.5 billion into the public transport system over the next ten years, with the money coming from offshore-drilling revenues. The catch: the Metro only gets the cash if Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia match the funds. The chances of that happening are uncertain. While the District’s government has promised to dedicate 0.5% of sales-tax revenues to the system, attempts to create stable funding streams for the Metro failed in the Virginia and Maryland legislatures. Virginia's assembly will pick up the issue again in the autumn, but Maryland may see less progress, as the assembly is adjourned for the rest of the year and officials have argued that their allocations to the Metro are sufficient.

The bill remains controversial in Congress. It must still be approved by the Senate, where many Republicans are condemning it as the biggest earmark in history. Proponents counter that the system—the country’s second busiest, after New York—is so uniquely important to the federal government that it deserves special federal funding.

Pop goes the bubble?

With a glut of houses for sale, the price of buying a home is dropping in the Washington area, while the cost of renting is inching upwards. Though the slippage is not universal—several areas continued to show growth—this is the first time in five years that home prices have fallen anywhere in the metro area. In Loudon county in Virginia, for example, the median home price in June was 1.2% lower than it had been a year earlier, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, a regional listing service. The District itself saw a small price increase in June, compared with a year earlier, but May’s median home price was 1.2% lower than in May 2005. Only the suburbs immediately outside the city—Arlington in Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland—saw prices rise by more than 5%.

With buyers wary that the market will continue to wane, the Washington Post reported that the area’s rental market has become one of America’s tightest. Rents rose by 7% in the past year, according to Delta Associates, a property research firm. Developers are now changing gear: Delta found that over the next two years, at least 4,000 condominium units will be leased to renters.

In search of a referee

While the Washington Nationals continue to wallow at the bottom of their division, problems are mounting off the field as well. Squabbling over the team finally seemed to come to an end this spring: Major League Baseball (MLB) signed a lease for a new ballpark in south-east Washington in March, and in May selected the Nationals’ owners, a group led by Theodore Lerner, a local developer. But it seems that the bickering will continue. On July 18th MLB warned that the District’s government was in default of the lease agreement because it had missed paperwork deadlines, which could prevent the stadium from opening in time for the 2008 season. Lawyers warn that they will take legal action if these issues are not resolved within 30 days.

The District also continues to clash with the Lerner group over plans for parking in and around the new stadium. The Lerner group claims that the city is not building enough; city officials counter that while there will be only 1,200 spots at the park, an additional 7,000 will be available nearby (though some of these lots would be up to half a mile away from the park). In the midst of this wrangling, Mr Lerner and his partners are easing into their new roles by making small upgrades to the team’s current stadium, such as adding a new food court and opening more than 100 concession stands around the park.

Catch if you can

August 2006

Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and Earth

Until September 10th 2006

Now 61, Anselm Kiefer, a German artist, has produced a diverse body of work that is at once intricate and rough. He inserts darkness into light scenes, sprinkling his works with snakes, small fires and words. While he tends towards paintings, he liberally spices up the medium with everything from birdcages to rotor blades, and has even attached skis to the canvas.

This show at the Hirshhorn Museum displays 40 large works dating from 1969—including paintings, books and sculpture—in an exploration of the artist's take on heaven and earth. One particularly prominent, oddly haunting piece is a sculpture of a large book with angelic wings attached to it (pictured). Another is a painting that features a severed head floating above a winter landscape. This dense exhibit lends insight into the work of one of Germany's most controversial contemporary artists.

The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Independence Ave and 7th St, SW. Open: daily 10am-5.30pm. Admission is free. See the museum’s website.

More from the Washington, DC cultural calendar