We spent a week in DC around New Years, the first long period I've spent in the District since living there in 1988 (but one of many trips back since then). The place feels different-- there's an air of excitement, anticipation, and relief evident pretty much everywhere you go.
D.C. has new air of excitementAs my return flight from Washington, D.C., approached the Twin Cities late Sunday night, I thought about how dramatically the nation's capital has changed since I first visited 30 years ago.
Then the Metro subway system and I.M. Pei's striking East Wing of the National Gallery of Art were new and exciting. Away from the Capitol mall vacant lots still stood as reminders of the April 1968 riots that destroyed much of inner-city Washington, but downtown looked fresh and vibrant. The mood seemed light even though the times were tough, the nation mired deep in a cycle of inflation and skyrocketing energy prices. Though Watergate was fresh in people's memories, tourists still flocked to see the icons of American government, to visit the Capitol and tour the White House.
When I moved to Washington 10 years later, the bloom had fallen off the rose. During the Reagan years, poverty, homelessness, crack cocaine and AIDS had torn into the fabric of the rebuilding city. Homeless people clustered on steam grates outside federal buildings and drug deals were commonplace. The local news ran a regular segment called "DC: Streets of Shame" that featured my neighborhood, warning people to avoid it at night. Aggressive panhandlers and mentally ill homeless people made walking downtown interesting even in the daytime.
I left Washington a few weeks before the 1989 inauguration of George H.W. Bush but have returned many times since. The most striking changes I noticed came in the wake of 9/11.
Streets were closed, security multiplied, and the federal core took on the feeling of a place under siege. Security bollards — those steel and concrete posts that protect building entrances — were planted everywhere, traffic was rerouted and metal detectors became common.
Snipers could occasionally be seen atop the White House. The city that had once been among the most open capitals took on a grim air of crisis, forever on orange alert.
Last week's trip felt different though. Many new attractions have opened in recent years, including the National World War II Memorial, the National Museum of the American Indian, the privately owned Newseum, and the $620 million U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, which was dedicated just last month.
But what had really changed since I'd visited last January was the mood of the people we met. Everyone seemed happy — cheerful even — and not just the tourists. Police officers, museum employees, hotel desk clerks and even people riding the Metro late at night were chatty, smiling and overtly friendly. The city feels like something exciting is about to happen.
Everywhere we went people were preparing for the anticipated record crowds coming to witness the historic swearing-in of the next president. Fences and scaffolding ring the Capitol. Giant posts for speakers and jumbo TV screens dot the mall. Reviewing stands have been constructed on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House.
Barack Obama souvenirs are being hawked not only by street vendors, but in the Smithsonian gift shops alongside copies of the inaugural addresses of Lincoln and FDR. Even the Metro system got in on the game; the fare cards we purchased Sunday afternoon were marked by an image of the president-elect.
Change is coming to Washington and the excitement is palpable. Whatever the result, early 2009 will likely be a good time to visit the nation's capital, if only because everyone will be smiling for a while longer. Here's hoping we all have reason to smile long after the bunting is taken down, the streets swept clean and the city returned to its more languid self.
No comments:
Post a Comment