Empty Washington

[Jolly]

True?

https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-workers-staying-home-remote-work-crushing-washington-dc-downtown-2023-7

[89th]

Seems true, and similar to most other cities as the article starts out with. Furthermore, downtown DC (such as the Federal Triangle area) was already a ghost town outside of business hours since businesses thrived on the worker traffic. Cities, including Minneapolis, need to adjust to make their buildings residential and let the associated businesses and areas pop-up around it to support it. Otherwise, you'll be finding many cities looking like Baltimore... mostly run down and beyond interest or repair.

Oh the irony btw... I still have my same job (employer is based in Northern Virginia and thrives off government work), but I took my duties remote in 2021 and moved a thousand miles away. My quarterly visits to DC aren't helping with the downtown GDP.

[Copper]

And DC is a ghost town in August anyway, everyone goes on vacation.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Copper said in Empty Washington:

And DC is a ghost town in August anyway, everyone goes on vacation.

Yep.

Some notes from the article:

"All 24 agencies had extra space and need to take a hard look at what space they'll need going forward and then move in that direction quickly," he said.

Too late for that, Charlie. Plenty of companies based in DC saw the writing on the wall during the pandemic and downsized. No reason at all you couldn't have done the same thing.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has been ringing alarm bells about the downtown crisis. She's pressed the White House to either get federal employees back to the office, or turn over their building space to the city or any private entities "willing to revitalize it."

Hey jackasses: remote work brings opportunities, too. Okay, so the DC contingent is staying home. But home isn't downtown. Know why that is? No one can afford to live that close to work. Bring the rents down and suddenly, hey, more people will show up.

Not only that, but remote work means that folks who work for companies around the world can move from Nashville, Santa Monica and Toronto into DC and work from there. It's a lateral move if you're not stupid about it.

[Jolly]

Businesses on the first floor, residential on the rest of them. Works for a lot of places.

[Jolly]

Now, back to one of my favorite proposed perks...Turn some of that unused Federal office space into residential quarters for Senators, Congressmen and staffers.

Do the quarters by lottery and mix the parties.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Jolly said in Empty Washington:

Businesses on the first floor, residential on the rest of them. Works for a lot of places.

Definitely a way to do it.