Originally Posted by
brendog
Great, no. Pretty damned good compared to pretty much anywhere else in the US (NYC and Chicago excepted), most definitely. Granted, I rarely ever set foot on Metro, as I bike and walk everywhere, but it really isn't that bad, particularly if one isn't stuck on the red line or outside of the main city core.
The Metro is an adequate commuter system to bring people to their jobs and home again. And, yes, compared to other US cities it's a beacon - but the US is a third-world country
and the OP, who's from Europe, should know it has huge limitations. Furthermore, speaking as a former DC and Silver Spring resident who didn't own a car and relied on Metro as my primary mode of transportation, I can say with some authority that outside of business hours - and particularly on weekends - it's a crapshoot.
Originally Posted by
brendog
As on on and off resident of DC for the past decade and a very frequent visitor to Mexico City, I would rate DC as much, much safer than Mexico City, particularly in the touristy areas. Then again, I'm very comfortable traveling around most of Mexico City solo, as well (Good luck finding trouble in Polanco or Colonia Roma). Yes, A-M, H St NE, CoHi, and U St (The main nightlife areas) do see some crime, but it's generally late at night around bar time, and is very sporadic. I frequent most of those neighbourhoods at night and have never felt even remotely in danger. It's been the better part of a decade since most of those areas resembled the scorched earth of the 1970s through 1990s.
You're totally right that DC is far safer than it used to be, but it needs to be said that random street crime remains extremely prevalent - far more so than most white, upper-income people in the city like to tell themselves. I know many people in DC who have stories of being held up at gunpoint in midday in places like Foggy Bottom, or being suckerpunched by a group of kids in Eastern Market. Even in so-called "nice" neighborhoods like A-M, there are often houses where shootings and muggings occur regularly but the city's dysfunctional laws means police take no action. I can think right off the bat of the corner of 15th/Columbia - literally a block away from embassies - as well as 17/Euclid, but there are many, many others. There are often shootings on the A-M strip - hell, there have been several shootings and stabbings at a club across the street from my old office, on 14/K right downtown!
I feel much safer walking around at night in Polanco, Condesa, even Zona Rosa than I would in A-M.
Anyway, I think we both agree that the OP is very unlikely to come to harm in DC. I'm just urging him/her to exercise more caution than s/he might otherwise think to do, even in apparently wealthy neighborhoods.