Washington, the capital city of the US is in many ways an interesting summary of how two sides of American life can bare very little resemblance yet live alongside each other and in close proximity.
Wealthy homes, white marbled buildings and monuments lie on one side of town while in the suburbs, away from all the tourists is the dangerous and run-down projects full of drug crimes and countless murders.
The smooth
The Georgetown University, the US Capitol, The Washington Monument, the African American civil war monument, the Lincoln statue, the Pentagon and of course The White House are all some of the United States’ most precious and boasted tourist attractions. Every year millions of people from all over the world go on the guided tours and soak up American’s recent but very treasured history. The Smithsonian Museums bring in more tourists every year than anywhere like them in the world.
The city sits in its own District, the District of Columbia, but the bordering states are Maryland and Virginia. Although it’s the capital city, downtown Washington isn’t that large compared to other US cities. You can get around the main tourist attractions quite easily, but then it’s worth thinking about spending a few days out in the leafy suburbs too.
Washington has some wonderful parks full of their much-loved cherry blossoms that make the city look like wedding scene. The Georgetown Waterfront is one of the most beautiful and popular open spaces in the city. Overlooking the Roosevelt Island on the banks of the Potomac River, it’s a great place for an evening meal and a stroll with a loved one.
The rough
Sadly Washington isn’t all statues and flags. There is an altogether much darker and hidden side to the city that many feel the powerful politician who work alongside the President either don’t know or don’t care about.
During the 1990s DC was the murder capital of the entire United States. Beating the like of New York, LA and New Orleans there was a frightening 482 homicides in one year prompting some lengthy discussion in the nearby white stone buildings where worried suits sweated over what to do on their own doorstep. Was all the Districts money being spend in the same parts of town all the time leaving the others neglected? There was certainly a divide between the rich and the poor.
Areas such as Logan Circle and Columbia Heights were rife with gun crime, drug dealing and prostitution. Something had to be done. East Washington was becoming a war zone. The District police changed many of their personnel and their tactics and a massive gentrification project was undertaken – which attempts to bridge the gaps in society between the rich and poor by physically moving the more affluent into the area where poorer people were so as to reduce the ideological gap. Crime rate dropped. Murders dropped. By 2006 the murder rate was down to 169.
During that time there was quite a famous legal battle in which the Second Amendment’s ruling on American possession of handguns was brought into question, something many people in Washington became divided upon, but which eventually led to the city having to relax its very strict ban on guns, which many fear will only bring a return to high the murder rates of the 1990s.
Top 5 Popular Washington DC Hotels on Venere.com
- Hotel Red Roof Inn – 2-star Hotel – Double Room from $229
- Capitol Skyline Hotel – 3-star Hotel – Double Room form $398
- Henley Park Hotel – 4-star Hotel – Double Room from $109
- Holiday Inn Central Washington – 3-star Hotel – Double Room from $137
- Hotel Washington Plaza – 3-star Hotel – Double Room from $99
Photo of Washington DC T-shirts by M.V. Jantzen
Topic: General Travel |
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About the author
Phil is a freelance writer working on various writing and editing projects ranging from feature film scripts to travel writing. He enjoys writing from experience and sharing information on the many places he has visited over the years
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