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I just moved to a house in SW DC close to the Waterfront--it's on G Street between 3rd and 4th Street. The area has seemed safe so far and I like it but I haven't had any reason to be out on the street after 8 or 8:30 PM. As I'm new to DC, I'm planning on going out alone (not drinking but going to an event or two) on some weekend nights and taking the metro (blue or orange line) back at 10 PM latest. My place is a 10-minute walk from the Waterfront and L'Enfant Plaza stations. I'm a woman, 22 and physically small. Do you think that I should spring for a taxi if I end up having to go home after 9 or 10 or is the 10-minute walk safe enough for me to not have to be too worried?
I live in the area. I think the streets are safe, but the blocks near L'Enfant Plaza will be eerily desolate at that hour. Not unsafe per se, but there won't be anyone else walking around at that time. Personally, I feel more comfortable when there are other people around late at night. Cab is probably the easiest option and would give you peace of mind.
I'm also a small 20s female, and have lived very near there for the past several years. I often walk home late at night, and nothing has ever happened to me. However, my neighbor (also a small female) was held up by an armed robber about a year ago. (The armed robbery occurred around 12 noon on a sunny day though, so cabbing it at night wouldn't have helped...) I do not think that muggings/armed robberies are particularly common currently (although there was a stretch last year when there were a number of armed robberies in a short period of time), but that as the previous poster mentioned the neighborhood can be very desolate at night. I would definitely cab it if you are stumbling around drunk/can't walk straight or are wearing shoes that you cannot walk in (or just bring a change of shoes). Otherwise, I guess it is somewhat of a judgment call. If you do decide to walk, definitely stay alert and walk at a brisk pace.
Last edited by movinghere; 08-09-2012 at 10:30 AM..
SW Waterfront is safer than the H Street/Benning area or south of the Anacostia, but there are still a lot of..."youths" who cause trouble in the area. I know a fella who was robbed at gunpoint at 6PM on a sunday by a young "urban" teen. I heard a few gunshots a few blocks away one time I went to the Safeway there. Any area with subsidized or public housing is going to have violent parasites. Personally, I'd think it would be just dandy to raze all that section 8 nonsense. Taxpayers don't need to fund taxtakers any more.
If you can afford it, go one metro stop over to Navy Yard.
Last edited by jokerstars; 08-09-2012 at 10:39 AM..
^ so you're going on all section 8 people
for something one person did huh?
---
well you're just a couple blocks
from 2 metro stops, so how
unsafe could it be really? at
least you're that close, right?
Last year there were a number of armed robberies within a block or so of the Waterfront Metro. Also, while L'Enfant is a popular transfer point, very few people exit the metro station at night, so it CAN be very desolate at night. I don't think a metro station guarantees that the neighborhood is safe. Also I think that where the original poster said she is living is about 10 mins or so walking at a fast pace from the metro, so it isn't like she is RIGHT on top of the metro.
That being said, I do agree with you to some extent; the government basically razzed tons of homes in the near SW in the mid 1900s and built condos to house the government employees and yuppies. Most of the people living in the public housing have ties going back to DC long before the young professional class moved in, and some probably had parents/grandparents who used to live in homes that got razzed by the government as part of the redevelopment. As a young professional I am glad I'm able to live in the SW neighborhood because I can have a short commute to the downtown without paying the skyhigh rents of Dupont, BUT at the same time I don't think I'm more entitled to enjoy the neighborhood than other demographics of people who were living there long before I was. Also, even if a few people in the public housing are committing crimes, we cannot advocate razzing the houses of hundreds of people (including women, small children, people on disability, etc) because a few committed a crime.
BUT at the same time I don't think I'm more entitled to enjoy the neighborhood than other demographics of people who were living there long before I was.
These aren't property owners you're talking about. They're people on the public dole. They have no more "right" to be in a neighborhood just because they have a generation or two longer on you. Especially when their presence leads to a drastic spike in violent crime.
Leftists cried that when Bill Clinton reformed welfare it would lead to mass starvations. It didn't. Neither would getting rid of public housing. Not only taking out more than you put in, but also leading an increase in crime? I shouldn't have to subsidize that nonsense.
Move the crime map over half a mile from Foggy Bottom to Rosslyn. Watch the crime drop.
These aren't property owners you're talking about. They're people on the public dole. They have no more "right" to be in a neighborhood just because they have a generation or two longer on you. Especially when their presence leads to a drastic spike in violent crime.
How do we know that these people (well their parents/grandparents) didn't own property (that would have been passed down) before the government bulldozed? Apologies if I am incorrect about this.
Of course I don't like crime, but you could also say that no one is forcing yuppies to move to the neighborhood if they don't like the neighborhood. There are plenty of other neighborhoods with less public housing in DC or out in the suburbs, and there is nothing wrong with living in such a neighborhood if one doesn't feel comfortable in SW. Also given that we live in a society of "innocent until proven guilty," we cannot declare ALL people living in public housing as guilty of crimes bc a minority of the people commit crimes.
"I know a fella who was robbed at gunpoint at 6PM on a sunday by a young "urban" teen."
Dude, if you mean black, just say black. You don't look any less racist because you say "urban" instead (are there youths in DC that are not urban?).
Thanks a lot for the different perspectives (minus the extended aside on welfare reform that seems to be inevitable in any discussion of safety in any city)! I'd love to hear from anyone else who's been to or lives in the area.
Dude, if you mean black, just say black. You don't look any less racist because you say "urban" instead (are there youths in DC that are not urban?).
I do mean black. I put it in quotes because I'm mocking the political correctness a lot of the white transplants in DC use.
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