Bartendings Finest

Washinghton DC

I INTRODUCTION
Washington, DC, city and district, capital of target = "_blank"> United States of America. Washington has the same boundaries as the District of Columbia (DC), a federal territory established in 1790 to host the permanent capital of the new nation. The name of the first U.S. president, George Washington, the city has served since 1800 as the seat of federal government. It is also the heart of a dynamic metropolitan region. During the 20th century in Washington, DC, metropolitan area grew rapidly as the responsibilities of national government increased, both at home and around the world.

The city is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers and is flanked north, east and southeast by Maryland and southwestern Virginia. Although the city has retained some aspects of their southern origin, which has assumed a much more cosmopolitan character. At the same time, the city struggles with social and economic inequality, and a number of residential neighborhoods suffer from poverty and crime. Washington warm weather and humid in summer and cold and wet in winter. The average daily temperature range is -3 ° C (27 ° F) and 8 ° C (46 ° F) in January and No. 22 C (72 ° F) to 31 ° C (88 ° F) in July. The city averages 98 cm (39 inches) of precipitation per year.

WASHINGTON II and its Metropolitan Area

A City Outlines
Appointed to serve as the permanent headquarters of the federal government have begun in 1800, the District of Columbia was named in honor of Christopher Columbus. It was created from land ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland, and incorporated the existing seaport towns of Alexandria, Virginia and Georgetown, Maryland. The district was originally 259 square kilometers (100 square miles) or 10 square miles, as provided in the Residence Act of 1790. The central town site was designed by French architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant in 1791. The rest of the field was an open area extends north of the border with Maryland. He was appointed as County Washington. In 1846 Congress returned the federal district that had been ceded by Virginia.

In 1871 the cities of Washington and Georgetown were consolidated with Washington County to become Washington, DC, making the city, county, and federal district and the same. Washington, DC has a total area of 176 km square (68 square miles), and the Washington metropolitan region, in addition to Washington, DC contains 24 counties in the neighboring states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia has a total area of 17,920 square kilometers (6920 miles square).

In its plan for the city of Washington, L'Enfant attempted symbolize the new United States and its republican government. He gave importance to each of what were then the primary elements of government-the executive and legislative branches. It also appears in the states giving their names to a broad diagonal avenues. They arranged both according to geography and the prominence of each state in the construction process national. Massachusetts, Virginia, and especially Pennsylvania, with its associations with both the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Constitution, won the most usual. Avenues behalf of other states with a significant role in the ratification of the Constitution, in particular, Delaware and New Jersey, crossing at the Capitol. In addition, L'Enfant expected to cross the straight diagonal avenues with the city street network and numbered letter boxes provided in each state would locate facilities, giving them same symbolic importance in the capital they had in the federal system.

B Settlement Patterns and Development
Initially Washington was slow to develop the dense pattern of settlement characteristic of cities. In the 20th century, however, Washington had filled its open spaces and dominated the area surrounding, which remained largely rural. This pattern changed after the Second World War (1939-1945), as the city lost population to the suburbs Virginia and Maryland. While the federal presence is concentrated in Washington, was expanded considerably to the suburbs. At the same time, new private companies, the fastest growing source of regional employment was concentrated almost exclusively in areas outside the city.

While the metropolitan area expanded, not do so randomly. Growth tends to follow the location of federal facilities outside the city and the development of transport routes. During the Second World War the construction of the Pentagon as the Defense Department headquarters encouraged local development at the Virginia side of the Potomac River. Growth was also stimulated other key facilities, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia, and the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the National Office Standards (now the National Institute of Science and Technology), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), all in Maryland.

C Public Buildings
Washington is home to many public buildings and famous and interesting sights. Many of these are associated with the federal government. The United States Capitol States Situated on a hill that rises 27 meters (88 feet) above the Potomac and consists of two wings that branch from a central rotunda. The north wing is occupied by the Senate, and the wing south by the House of Representatives. The rotunda is crowned by an immense dome, topped by a statue of a woman who represents liberty. To the east of the Capitol is the Supreme Court, with its portico the model of a Greek temple. North of the Capitol, at the end of Delaware Avenue, stands the massive Union Station, now a center commercial as well as a train station has long been a center of the city.

From the Capitol, Pennsylvania Avenue runs slightly to Northwest and Constitution Avenue runs directly west. Between 6 and 15 streets NW the two avenues form an area known as the Federal Triangle. Within this triangle focus a number of government buildings, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the departments of Justice and Trade. Also in the triangle is the National Archives Building, which contains the original drafts of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution United States and the Bill of Rights.

Just north of the triangle, on Tenth Street NW, is that of J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the Federal Office of Investigation (FBI). In the block north of the Hoover building, also on Tenth Street, is the Ford Theatre where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and in all the street is the Petersen House, where he died. Together they make up Ford's Theatre National Historic Site.

Northwest of the triangle, at 16th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, is the oldest federal building in Washington, De la Casa Blanca, the official residence of U.S. president. The foundations of the mansion were established in 1792, and all Presidents George Washington, but it has occupied. Tours are conducted daily through the most famous ground floor and first floor rooms, as the East Room, the Blue Room and the State Dining Room.

Flanking the White House is the building of the Ministry of Finance to the east and Office Building Executive West. Across the street is Blair House, the official guesthouse for visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. Blair House, built in 1824, serves as a temporary executive mansion of President Harry S. Truman and his family from 1948 to 1952, while the interior of the White House was being extensively reconstructed.

North of the White House is Lafayette Square with a statue of General Andrew Jackson made from melted-down cannon captured by Jackson during the War of 1812. West of White House on New York Avenue and 18th Street NW, is one of the oldest monuments of Washington, the Octagon. Completed in 1801, houses a museum dedicated Octagon architecture and the early history of Washington, and is also home to the American Foundation for Architecture. It was one of the first residential structures built according L'Enfant plan. During the War of 1812, British troops burned the White House, the destruction of its interior. President James Madison and his family lived in the Octagon as the White House was being rebuilt.

South of the Federal Triangle is the commercial center, a narrow park stretching roughly 1.6 km (1 mile) from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Although the mall officially ends at 14th Street, extends to the Potomac landscaped parkland. Monument Washington, whose marble shaft dominates the skyline, stands 169 meters (555 feet) near the center of the park. The interior of the monument is hollow, and visitors can or climb its 898 steps or ride an elevator to 150 meters (500 feet) for a magnificent view. A height restriction law enacted by Congress in 1899 ensures that no private structure in Washington, DC, will extend higher than the monument or the Capitol.

Beyond the monument in West Potomac Park, still in a straight line from the Capitol, is the huge monument to Lincoln. This building is 36 columns represent the 36 states of the Union at the time of the death of Lincoln in 1865. Its interior contains a great stone seated figure of Lincoln carved by sculptor Daniel Chester French. Nearby, the Arlington Memorial Bridge crosses the Potomac River and connects with the Lincoln Memorial Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Located in the cemetery are the Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington House, home of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, and in the hillside just below the tomb of President John F. Kennedy.

Near the Lincoln Memorial is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This monument commemorates men and women who died during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Southeast of the Lincoln Memorial is the tidal basin, framed by the famous Japanese cherry trees in Washington. The government of Japan gave the cherry trees to the United States in 1912. Reflected in the water of the Tidal Basin is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. This circular, colonnaded marble monument contains a bronze standing figure of Thomas Jefferson by sculptor Rudolph Evans. Approximately halfway between the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial is the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, which opened in 1997.

D Barrios
The first neighborhoods near early federal activity, including Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, and the Capitol, all disappeared with time. Although they were discovered and restored in the second half of the 20th century, in the latest provisional communities became popular. In the mid-19th century streetcars began to offer easy commutes to areas outside the city center. At this time, the Anacostia section of Uniontown, where abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass settled after the American Civil War (1861-1865), and LeDroit Park, near Howard University, developed Washington's first suburbs.

In the 20th century, Mount Pleasant, a few miles north of the White House, became popular. With the availability of car, first park in Cleveland and, later, Wesley Heights and American University Park emerged as preferred residential destinations. Just above the old town the area known as Shaw emerged as the most prominent black section of town. The concentration of theaters and other social activities gave U Street the nickname of Black Broadway. Something more about the old city, the Adams Morgan section emerged in the 1960s as one of the most diverse of Washington, with large populations of immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Over the years, the suburbs outside the city have grown rapidly. In addition to older areas such as Arlington, Virginia and Chevy Chase, Maryland, near the new office and retail complexes have sprung up in Tyson's Corner and Pentagon City in Virginia and in the Freedom Plaza in Maryland.

III POPULATION
Washington, DC, grew slowly from the time of its origins to the Civil War. Its founders are expected to emerge as a big city because commerce to your site for along the Potomac River. However, the city was unable to take advantage of their opportunities, because, among other things, the lack of federal funds development, and it lagged behind other major cities ports along the eastern seaboard. Washington's population boom during the Civil War, from a modest population of 61,122 in 1860 to 109,199 only a decade later. During the first half of the 20th century, the federal presence in the city expanded, and population grew with it, reaching a peak of more than 800,000 in 1950.

The population of the city fell later, as it lost residents to the suburbs. Nearly 69 percent of the metropolitan population lives in Washington in 1940 by 1960 that number had fallen to 37 percent, and less than 16 percent 1996. In 1998 the city population was 523,124. By contrast, the metropolitan area's population in 1996 was estimated at 4,563,000.

In part by the District Columbia was originally formed from slaveholding states, the national capital has always had a significant black presence, approximately 25 percent of the population from its origins to the Second World War. After the war many white families moved to the suburbs, and the makeup of the city has changed. In 1957, Washington became the first major U.S. city with a majority black. Between 1950 and 1960 the black presence in Washington grew by nearly 50 percent, from 280,803 to 411,737, while the white population declined by one third.

Until recently the vast majority of the black population is within the city. But like an earlier generation of whites, the black middle class began to leave town and move to the suburbs. In 1990, when the city population was 606,900, Blacks constitute about 66 percent, compared with about 30 percent white. Hispanics, who can be of any race, accounted for about 5 percent of the population. The city had 400,000 black residents, however, only the two surrounding counties of Prince George, Maryland, and Fairfax, Virginia, contained a combined population of about 430,000 black residents.

During the 19th century, Washington lacked the industrial base that drew immigrants to other cities, so the population retains its character largely by birth. In the 19th century, small Italian and Eastern European Jewish communities formed, creating their own churches and synagogues and institutions associated with ethnicity. Many descendants of these immigrants left the city to the suburbs in the 1950s, along with much of the rest of the white population. While the Italian Roman Catholic Church, Santo Rosario, still in operation, near Union Station, a few of his parishioners still living in the city. Most of the early synagogues near downtown have gone, replaced by black Protestant congregations.

A small community Chinese formed in Washington in the late 19th century. Originally concentrated downtown along Pennsylvania Avenue, Chinatown moved several blocks north to give way to the end of the Federal Triangle office complex in the 1930s. Chinatown still exists along the H Street NW, but only one third of China's 3000 Washington listed in the 1990 census live in that area. Additional 37,000 Chinese live in surrounding suburbs. In the suburbs, they are joined by more recent immigrant groups from Asia, especially Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians. Both suburban Maryland and northern Virginia support Asian populations of about 100,000 each.

Hispanics are the group of immigrants from other large area. Although the District of Columbia of the population is approximately 5 percent of Hispanics, the largest number of these immigrants are in the suburbs, about 90,000 in Maryland and 100,000 in Virginia. In 1991, the Washington metropolitan area in the nation's tenth as a destination for new immigrants.

IV EDUCATION AND CULTURE Higher Education Institutions
It was the dream of George Washington that the host capital city of a national university. Congress, however, are reluctant to fund such an entity. As a result, while a number of institutions have aspired to national roles, none has been favored with a national mandate. Founded in 1789, Georgetown University is the oldest Roman Catholic university in the United States. George Washington University was founded in 1821 by Baptists as a Colombian College. Gallaudet University is the only liberal arts university in the world specifically for people deaf and hearing-impaired students. Former Union General Oliver Otis Howard founded Howard University in a predominantly black college after slavery was abolished in 1865. The two other private universities in the city are the Catholic University of America and American University. In addition, the city opened the University District of Columbia with congressional approval in 1977 by the consolidation of a college professor, a college of the city, and a technical institute.

In Virginia suburbs are George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, in suburban Maryland University of Maryland at College Park, Montgomery College and Prince George's Community College. The Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area links most of the public and private institutions in the area of higher education. Through the consortium, a student enrolled in an institution may take courses at another institution.

B Religious Sites There are many churches in the Washington area, the largest and most impressive of which is the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, more commonly known as National Cathedral. Another is the imposing Roman Catholic National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a mixture of Byzantine and Romanesque architecture that rises in land from the Catholic University in northeast Washington. Other famous churches include New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where Lincoln worshiped, Saint John's Episcopal Church, known as the Church of Presidents, and attended by ten presidents, St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Cathedral, attended by President Kennedy, and the Church of Christ, where Thomas Jefferson adored. Outside the city is the Washington Temple Church of the Latter-day Saints, finished near the ring road in Maryland 1974.

C Museums
The most famous museum in Washington is the Smithsonian Institution. With the help of a gift from Englishman James Smithson, Congress chartered the Smithsonian in 1846. The Smithsonian is a collection of many institutions that are world famous for its artistic, historical and scientific collections. The National Museum of African Art was first museum in America dedicated exclusively to African art. At the Museum of Natural History many of the world's most famous gems, and the National Museum of American History traces the development of the United Nations States through scientific, technological, cultural and exhibitions. The National Air and Space has aeronautical exhibits which includes the original ship used by the Wright brothers and the Mercury capsule in which astronaut John Glenn became the first orbit of the earth.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden contains notable paintings and sculptures by 19th and 20th century European and American artists. The Arts and Industries Building and the Freer Gallery of beautiful art collections art house in America and Asia. Another most important art collection, the National Portrait Gallery, is housed in a building with the National Museum of American Art, which houses American paintings, sculptures, graphics, folk art, and photographs of the 18th century to the present.

Over time, the Smithsonian has evolved from the attic of the nation and called on a set of great range and diversity of research and education. In recent years, other, more specialized institutions have joined the wide range of cultural institutions that make up the Smithsonian. Besides the many artistic and historical collections, the Smithsonian includes Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a living monument to former U.S. president Woodrow Wilson, who supports the research and writing of the scholars selected nationwide to pass time at work in Washington.

Other important collections in Washington include the National Gallery of Art, a gallery of the nation's head of art, important collections of European and American paintings, the Museum of Dumbarton Oaks, a collection of pre-Columbian and Byzantine art, the National Building Museum, dedicated to the achievements in American architecture, construction, engineering and design, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which provides information about the persecution and the murder of Jews in Europe during the Second World War. There are also several venerable private institutions, such as the Corcoran Gallery of Art, started in the 1880s through the bequest of banker William W. Corcoran and the Phillips Collection, opened in 1921 near Dupont Circle in the city's first museum of modern art. Historical Society Washington, DC, housed in a 19th century mansion built by beer magnate Christian Heurich, is the only institution dedicated exclusively to the preservation and interpretation of the rich local history of Washington.

D Library The Library of Congress is the national library of the United States and includes a record of every book Printed in the United States. Among its priceless documents are the first draft of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and a first draft of the Declaration of Independence as composed by Thomas Jefferson and edited by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Library music collection contains original manuscripts, ranging from a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven to the score of the musical Oklahoma!, as well as a large collection of instruments. The affiliated Folger Shakespeare Library contains 79 first folios (impressions early) works of Shakespeare, as well as oddities, like a corset that Queen Elizabeth I of England used in the late 1500s. Other distinguished libraries in Washington include National Agricultural Library, which has more than one million volumes of botany, zoology, entomology and chemistry, and Founders Library Howard University, with 50,000 volumes relating to black history and culture.

E The Washington Performing Arts offers many outlets for the performing arts. The National Theatre, founded in 1812, hosts new theatrical productions. Arena Stage, founded in 1949, opened a new facility in the 1970s as part of redevelopment area southwest of the city and has achieved worldwide recognition for their productions. Also from the 1970s, the Elizabethan theater of the Folger Shakespeare Library began offering productions. Twenty years later the Shakespeare Theatre opened to enthusiastic audiences in the restored Lansburgh's Department Store on seventh street the center.

A big boost for the arts in the city came in 1971 with the opening of the Centre John F Kennedy for the Performing Arts. The center includes the House Opera, the Concert Hall and Eisenhower Theater, and also provides a home for the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Ballet and the American Film Institute National Film Theatre. The opening of the center stimulated the creation of a series of smaller theaters serving diverse interests. In the suburbs, the Wolf Trap Farm Park Performing Arts in Virginia and Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland have become major performance centers.

F Cultural Events
Washington is organized many annual events, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which celebrates the flowering of Japanese cherry trees in the Tidal Basin. The Hispanic Festival has taken place every weeks summer in Washington since 1970. The mall hosts annual fourth of July fireworks and the National Folk Festival. The city also celebrates the Chinese New Year Columbus Day and St. Patrick's Day with parades.

V RECREATION
The Washington region has many well-known parks and recreation areas. The mall is the most important park in Washington, and home to many demonstrations and special events. Near East and West Potomac parks, consisting of land reclaimed from the sea along the Potomac River, an area for a number of recreational activities, such as rugby, softball, volleyball, and polo. The Ellipse, between the White House and Washington Monument is a large public park that contains the Zero Milestone, from which distances are measured in all the national highways passing through Washington. Within the city, Rock Creek Park, which stretches from downtown to the Maryland border, is home to the National Zoo. The National Arboretum is in northeast Washington. In addition, the intersection broad diagonal avenues with other streets of Washington arranged in a straight grid provides a series of small parks.

Professional sports are important in Washington. For many years Griffith Stadium hosted LeDroit Homestead National Park Grey and black League American League Senators in Washington. Integrating Major League condemned the Grays, and poor fan support resulted in a move for the Senators franchise. Another team that left the city was the Redskins team Washington professional football, he moved to Prince George County, Maryland, in 1997. Since the team moved to the suburb of the city, however, the team the region's professional hockey's Washington Capitals, and basketball team, the Washington Wizards, returned downtown after spending nearly a generation in suburban Maryland. Capitals and Wizards of the work on a new sports and entertainment complex, the MCI Center, which opened in December 1997. The Center has helped revitalize the center of the city. The DC United soccer team, a newcomer to Washington, achieved success quickly and became national champion in 1996.

VI ECONOMY One of the main economic activities of their origin far, Washington is expected to emerge as a major trading city because of its site along the Potomac River. However, the city lagged behind other major port cities such as Baltimore, along the east coast. Instead of trade, the engine of the economy of the city has proved to be the federal government.

At first employing no more than several hundred workers, the federal bureaucracy grew steadily in the 19th century and exploded in the 20th century. In 1940, 44 percent of civilian workers in Washington were federal employees. Although the economy grew faster than private sector public after the Second World War, was still closely tied to the federal presence through the proliferation of national associations, groups pressure, subcontractors, lawyers and accountants associated with the work of government. increasingly global role of the United States created scores of jobs in organizations like the World Bank, IMF and the Organization of American States, as well as the departments of U.S. government itself State and Defense. These federal jobs, stimulated the economy and boosted the value of real estate in Washington, especially in the 1980s, and the federal government continued as an important presence in the city throughout the 1990s.

Tourism is the second most important aspect of the economy of the city. The monuments and museums national attract more than 18 million visitors each year, hotels are numerous. The city hosts many conventions and a major convention center opened in 1983. The functions federal government and local tourism industry has created a strong service economy, employing more than one third of all city workers. Manufacturing is of minor importance and is dominated by the printing, publishing and food industries.

B Transport For years, the transport corridor to and from Washington Union Station, served by several railroads. Built in 1907, Union Station occupies 10 hectares (25 acres) in the heart of the city. During the second half of the 20th century, airports and roads became important. Washington has three commercial airports Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, International Airport Washington Dulles and Baltimore-Washington International Airport-with national and international connections.

In 1964 a highway known as the ring road is completed around Washington to facilitate traffic. The 36 cloverleaf intersections linked to the main routes to and from the city. In 1976 a subway system opened in the city that extends to suburban Virginia and Maryland. Called the Metro, the system will be expanded to over 160 km (100 miles) completed in early the 21st century.

C Economic Problems
One result of the growth of jobs in the Washington office of 1980s was a growing income gap between residents of the city. Disadvantaged areas, predominantly black neighborhoods, became subject to a plague of drugs and associated violence. These areas are concentrated in the sections oldest in the northeast and southeast quadrants of the city. Although downtown property values, as did Washington's murder rate. During the 1990s became one of the deadliest cities in the nation. While the region prospered through most of the last half century, much of the center the city left behind. the city's tax base was reduced as more and more middle-and upper-middle-class families moved to the suburbs. This lower tax base contributed to a fiscal crisis of the city.

GOVERNMENT VII as the current problems
Unlike elsewhere in the United States, Washington has no representation full policy. Although its political structure has changed over time, the city has remained subordinate to the federal government. This situation is based on Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which states: "Congress shall have power … to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases any such district on … as may by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government. "The idea of exclusive jurisdiction consolidated in 1783 when Congress, then meeting in Philadelphia, veterans face wrath of the American Revolution who demanded pay. When the authorities of Pennsylvania does not intervened to protect the Congress, many members stressed that any permanent seat of government should be under the control of Congress. From that experience almost forgotten, Washington is left without direct representation in national government that oversees much of its operation.

The Constitution, however, prohibit the creation of a lower governing body to address local issues. In 1802 Congress authorized an appointed mayor and council elected in the city to Washington. In 1820 expanded the franchise and made the mayor of popular election. In 1871, Congress replaced a large part of the territory designated by the city government, although residents still voted for a house of delegates, as an instrument to consolidate the cities of Washington and Georgetown with Washington County. When the experiment generated costs Congress found that too expensive, which eliminated the popular election in Washington in 1874 by placing local governments under a commission of three persons appointed by the president.

Initially, this system was favorably received for the replacement of party politics with professional management. However, the defects of the committee revealed over time. In 30 investigations conducted between 1934 and 1941, Congress found that the power and responsibility badly divided between commissioners and various federal agencies, and political whim that most actions controlled. From 1949 and lasting for more than a decade, the Senate voted on several occasions to grant the local elections in Washington. However, the House District Committee refused for over 20 years to bring the project legislation to the floor for a vote. Finally, in 1973, Congress authorized the popular election of a mayor and city council of Washington.

In 1974 the Autonomy Statute, which established the mayor and city council, became law. The event, despite the restoration of popular elections, maintains a considerable power for Congress to revise the legislation and approve the budget in Washington. It also prohibited the city from taxing federal property or income earned in town for people who commuted to work from outside the district. These restrictions are still a source of tension between municipal officials and Congress.

In the mid-1970s local activists began an effort to ensure the independence of Washington. They argued that the Constitution gives only one size maximum federal district, not a minimum size. Therefore suggested that the federal district are limited to the area between the White House and the Capitol and the Residential District of Columbia become a new state, New Colombia. Congress, however, even to vote on the proposal until 1993, when the House of Representatives rejected the measure, 277-153.

Marion Barry has been the dominant figure in local politics in Washington from autonomy took effect. He has served as mayor for all but eight years since autonomy began in 1974. First elected mayor in 1978, Barry established a reputation as an able administrator and a defender of the autonomy that is committed to solving social problems of the city. In later years, the scandal touched his administration, and in 1990 lost a bid for a fourth consecutive term after being arrested and convicted for smoking crack cocaine. After serving six months in prison, made a spectacular recovery, ensuring the first election to City Council in 1992 and then as mayor in 1994. Barry returned to power sparked immediate controversy. However, it soon became clear that the city faces an even greater crisis in a projected budget shortfall of $ 750 million next year.

With the city can not borrow from the sector private pay their debts, Congress intervened by passing the District of Colombia and Financial Responsibility Act Management Assistance 1995. This measure establishes a board significant powers of control, a measure justified by Congress due to the mismanagement overstaffed and has endangered the city's credit. Under the terms the act, the president appointed five persons to the board to bring the city's finances under control. Congress ordered the control board to cut jobs.

Barry, however, refused to cooperate with the control board, and instead chose to focus on the needs of the city. Washington stated that problems poorer income that high costs, and urged the federal government to pay more for the obligations of Washington. He recommended that the federal government to assume many costs of state functions by the city since 1974, but his proposal did not receive the sympathy in Congress. However, two years later, without input by the Mayor, President Bill Clinton Barry approach incorporates in its proposed federal budget. In August 1997 the national government increased its share of Medicare costs highway in the city, assumed responsibility for funding the pension plan of Washington, and took over operation of the District's prison system.

By agreeing to these measures, Congress insisted on exerting greater influence in Washington. It empowered the control board to choose their own administrator city, and expand its operational control over all but a small part of daily operations. In accordance with Congress established in establishing the control board, these powers back to the city only after three to achieve balanced budgets in a row. This restriction, even under the best circumstances, will go to Washington with limited control over their own local affairs in the next century.

VIII HISTORY
Washington's contemporary crisis is deeply rooted in its history. From the beginning, there was tension stemming from the dual function of the city as the capital city. In reserves the right to exercise exclusive jurisdiction over the District Federal, Congress lavished attention on some parts of the city, while other parts suffered neglect, making a clash of interests inevitable.

George Washington saw no conflict between the city and the capital. On the contrary, he conceived the new capital as the cornerstone of nation-building process. He believed that the District of Columbia, conveniently located in the Potomac River would exploit the commercial opportunities to the west. Such success could be ensured national loyalty, but the states were too jealous of each other to join in the promotion of National City.

The problem first emerged on the selection Site of the city. State governments fought bitterly over the site of the capital, waiting nearby and would allow a particular influence on the new government. Then, once a location was chosen, the states resisted paying taxes for necessary improvements to accommodate the new government. To finance the construction of the city, land by the district was divided up into lots, two thirds of which were reserved for roads and federal buildings. The rest was sold to the public. However, funds lag. In addition, the plans of man hired to build the city, Pierre L'Enfant, was so expensive, and L'Enfant and wrapped himself in disputes with landlords, he was fired in 1792. As a result, the Federal District was far from complete by the time the national government moved there in 1800.

Federal funds improvements remain small in the early years of the capital. Development was slow, and the city evokes criticism from visitors to the United States and abroad. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the city was occupied and burned by the British. This meant that much of the city had to be completely rebuilt, more duties funds.

When the city sought help from Congress to build a canal west to boost trade, Congress refused. At the time they finally authorized the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Canal in 1828 it was too late to make a difference. A decade earlier, target = "_blank"> New York had successfully completed the Erie Canal, and dominated the Western trade. In addition, Baltimore jumped ahead of Washington in the race for regional control when it began work on the nation's first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) in 1828.

In 1835 a committee Congress led by Sen. Samuel Southard admitted that funding for the District Congress was inadequate. Southard argued that the grand plan for the city was too heavy a burden for local authorities to cope alone. His report generated sufficient federal funds to pay a debt owed in Chesapeake Bay and Ohio Canal, but was still higher than urban income needs in the 1860s.

After the Civil War, Republicans in Congress saw an opportunity to implement social reforms in Washington. In addition to making Washington the first place to enforce the emancipation of the slaves, Congress put end segregation of public transportation and removed all references to race in the civil code. Congress gave voting rights to black men, even when many Northern states rejected such measures. With the overwhelming black support the Republicans took over the local political power in Washington in 1868.

Parts members resisted social innovations, however, seeking instead to promote the physical improvement of the city. After the British burned the city in 1814, Congress Washington had considered moving to another location. Relocation became an issue again with so many physical improvements necessary deferred during the Civil War. The Local argues that without the investment in the physical city, the government would abandon Washington, and would be condemned.

Mainstream Republicans led by Alexander Shepherd, a former plumber who entered politics during the war campaign for social change from the physical reconstruction. In 1870 he broke with the Republicans Radicals in power and elected their own candidate for mayor. The following year, he persuaded Congress to impose a new form of territorial government, with a governor and the Senate appointed by the president and a house of delegates elected by popular vote.

Pastor Alexander took a considerable influence in the new government through from his position as administrator of a new board of public works. Under his leadership, the city in updating its physical appearance: classification and streets paving, planting trees, developing and sewers. These improvements stifled efforts to move the capital to a more central place in the States USA.

However, Shepherd's expenses also provoked controversy, prompting congressional investigations in 1872 and 1874. In the first case, a friendly committee gently chided the government of the District, stating that in seeking to improve the city's debt level should not exceed $ 10 million. For 1874, power had shifted in Congress, and Shepherd now faces hostile critics. With debt exceeding $ 18 million, Pastor said that the unpaid taxes and the lack of an adequate tax base bothered him. Congress was sympathetic at least at this point, and members reiterated the ruling of Southard, 1835 report that the city could not sustain costs associated with the federal government.

Subsequently, Congress adopted a plan to provide a regular payment to meet the federal district in at least half of their operating costs. By accepting this argument, however, members of Congress insisted on a more direct control. In 1874 the territorial government is replaced with a committee of three persons, appointed by the president. One person in the commission would be chosen from the ranks of the Army Corps of Engineers and was responsible supervision of public works.

A series of physical improvements followed, and since the turn of the century approached, target = "_blank"> Washington assumed a modern form. However, the federal presence lacked distinction. With the support of representatives of the American Institute of Architects, a special Senate committee created to design a new plan of Washington. Presented with considerable fanfare in 1902, this proposal provides a set of buildings throughout the federal Mall connected to a regional system of parks. It took more than 25 years to realize this vision, but by the 1930s, as the complex Federal Triangle along Pennsylvania Avenue was nearly completed, the city planners could argue that the capital city was at last worthy of national Government welcomed.

Instead of uniting the city and the capital, however, the appearance of the nucleus of the new city established by the federal presence, apart from residential areas of Washington. This possibility had been recognized since the turn of the century. While the Senate prepared its plan developed, social activists expressed concern for the rest of Washington. They pointed in particular to unsanitary conditions in many poor neighborhoods, especially in the alleys where the houses are small had built to house a black majority population.

Efforts to improve safety conditions of the apartment occupied by several generations reformers. First, private funding was used to provide housing for low-income residents, and in 1930 formed the nation Washington first public housing authority. The public housing complex Langston Terrace in northeast Washington was built with funding from the federal government. There, Blacks had better housing conditions. But the policy changed after the Second World War. Fearing the effect of white families moving to the suburbs, Congress authorized funds to provide a model program of urban renewal in the southwest Washington area. Designed to attract middle income residents back to the city, wholesale renewal of the area led to the displacement of many of the predominantly black residents of the area.

Federal funding that had enabled improving an old section of the city of Washington to improve the income, but also greater tension with a growing black population of the city. A renewal effort later, in the Shaw area immediately north of downtown sparked opposition from neighbors around the battle cry: "No Southwests more." From that experience came a powerful coalition of civic groups decided to plan for renewal of their neighborhood for themselves. When Congress authorized a nonvoting delegate in the House Representatives of Washington in 1971, the leader of the neighborhood renewal efforts, Walter Fauntroy, was the first to hold the post. He supported the political ascent of his fellow civil rights activist Marion Barry.

The autonomy was opened in 1974 and an affirmation of local prerogatives against federal. As its most successful representative, Marion Barry was able to secure federal funding, but at the same time, consciously built his political strength in the country to distance itself from federal oversight. The national government's suspicions became so strong among the majority of local residents, Barry easily returned to power, even after his arrest and conviction for drug use. Congress' decision in 1995 to impose a control board on the city hit many residents as a blow to the political independence of the city. While the Board agreed to seek solutions to the political city, as well as problems tax, finance precedence. As the bicentennial of the federal presence in Washington in 2000 approaches, city and capital to remain in a difficult relationship and unstable.

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