Let's debate DC statehood

Great Debates
61

Well, since that’s the gist of my argument exactly, let me expand on it a little.

Every city in the nation, and even every neighborhood, has some trade-offs. Capitol Hill has the glorious history, buildings and proximity to congressional offices that Rock Creek East lacks, but it also has a skyrocketing crime rate and no street parking. If safety and parking are big considerations, is it undemocratic to suggest that you move 20 blocks west? I don’t think so.

While The District has sharply-defined demarcations (Eastern Avenue, Western Avenue, Southern Avenue and the Potomac), the metropolitan area doesn’t. Many DC neighborhoods straddle the Maryland state line (Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Shepherd Park) and finding housing on one side of the DC line is no more prohibitive than finding housing on the other. There’s a duplex on 16th Street that is, quite famously, half in DC and half in Maryland. Changing addresses from one side of the DC line to the other is a lot less complicated than, say, changing addresses from East Berlin to West Berlin (back when there was a wall).

Some of the DC area’s priciest real estate sits within a block of Western Avenue, on both sides. There are trade-offs for living on one side or the other. A DC address is more prestigious and a bit more expensive than a Maryland one, but the Maryland address comes with congressional representation and easy access to–well, DC and all its big-city glamour. Wherever you wind up, you wind up there knowing the tradeoffs and it’s no accident that you pick that location. And if you’re dissatisfied with the tradeoff, it’s easily rectified.

“Move to Maryland” isn’t a snotty, sarcastic comment the way “Move to Russia, you damn commie” was. It’s practical, viable advice. Have your cake in Checy Chase DC, or eat it in Chevy Chase, MD, but don’t whine to me that you can’t do both.

My brother in Seattle is dead-set against DC statehood for a different reason. He thinks it’s unfair that the East Coast gets, like, 30 senators already while the West Coast makes do with six. I can’t think of any issues where the East Coast votes in a unified bloc to put the screws to the West Coast, but it could be a consideration.

While we have different opinions here, I think most of us have some common ground. I think we’re pretty much agreed that:

–DC doesn’t rate representation in the Senate, but should get a voting delegate in the House.

–While a new state containing DC and the surrounding counties and municipalities would be “neat,” it ain’t gonna happen for numerous practical reasons; MD and VA will fight tooth and nail to keep their richest revenue-producing regions from drifting out of their orbits.

–Retrocession to Maryland of the non-Federal chunks of DC might solve the issue, but only if Maryland is interested and indications are that it is not.

Is there anything I’m missing?

62

Yes, it is, if that suggestion comes from an elected official whom you are trying get off his ass to do something about the problem. Some Washingtonians want statehood because they feel neglected – because their city government is underfunded (for lack of plenary taxing authority) and they have no voice in the federal.

63

Look, all I can tell you is that in the 70s, the black leaders who most benefited from White Flight had a choice: Lure the white tax base back into a safe, well-managed city, or try to levy a commuter tax. They chose the latter. Instead of throwing these morons out of office, the plurality of Black voters kept bringing them back time and again, felony convictions and all (Okay, only Barry had a felony conviction, but my God, did they have to elect him twice after the most famous drug bust in history?). When Congress looks out its window and sees Bizarro City demanding a promotion to Bizarro State, their first instinct is not to give it to them. And I’ve gotta side with Congress on this one.

64

Well, I don’t think many people in the world would put “plentiful parking” and “actual represenation in one’s own government” in the same league.

Do I take it that you think that representation in Congress is a take-it-or-leave-it sort of thing? As in, do you believe that some Americans are not entitled to someone in Congress to represent their views?

65

:stuck_out_tongue: You really think that would have made a difference? White flight happened in every major city during that period regardless of whether it was well or poorly managed! You’ll have to look elsewhere for the causes.