As someone who mostly grew in DC, I can’t say I share Xeni’s nostalgia. I never saw much of the redeeming weirdness of other ghettos like one encounters in NYC or SF or LA.
That said, I read her remarks more as acerbic irony on the bullshit promises of DC city politicians than an endorsement of the practical fear of violence so prevalent in the nation’s capital. DC has a surfeit of law enforcement agencies, and their iron fist has failed to bring peace in decades of systemic poverty and violence. Yes, as you say, the murder rate is down. But that’s mainly due to the decline of the crack epidemic, which has far more to due with economics than good police-work,
