Last year, I first proposed to my husband the idea of allowing our preteen daughter to ride the Washington, DC, Metro alone. She wants to take Irish dance classes in the city, and a weekly drive in from the Maryland suburbs is too much for the family schedule.
Then came story after story of stabbings, gang violence, and even a shooting on the Metro.
My proposal went back on the shelf.
We moved to the DC suburbs because of its proximity to the best our nation’s capital has to offer. I frequently take our six kids into the city to explore the Smithsonian museums, attend performances at the Kennedy Center, and soak up the living civics lesson that is Washington, DC.
But in recent years, that promise has begun to unravel.
The Metro stations that once filled us with civic pride now fill us with unease. City streets feel less predictable, less policed.
And worst of all, none of it feels like an accident.
Since the pandemic and the 2020 protests, Washington, DC has been spiraling.
Police were demoralized. Prosecutions declined. Repeat offenders walked free.
The result? Growing lawlessness and a population that no longer feels protected.
Just this week, a former DOGE employee risked his life to save a woman from being assaulted by a group of a dozen teens in the city. He was beaten so severely that he suffered a concussion, but he prevented what could have been a much more tragic outcome.
Elon Musk shared the story on X and added his own conclusion: “It is time to federalize DC.”
He’s not the only one who feels that way.
President Donald Trump posted a blistering statement on Truth Social, declaring that “Crime in Washington, DC is totally out of control.”
He pointed to youth gangs, violent assaults and the lack of consequences for offenders.
“If DC doesn’t get its act together, and quickly,” Trump warned, “we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City . . . and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore.”
Critics will call this authoritarian.
But for parents like me, people trying to raise independent, confident children in this area, the idea is simply a relief.
And this isn’t just about families and tourists.
Leo Terrell, chair of the Justice Department’s task force to combat antisemitism, sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser this week blasting the city’s failure to protect the Israel on Campus Coalition’s recent student conference.
The organizers had to spend over a quarter of a million dollars on private security to ensure the safety of Jewish attendees — what Terrell called a “Jewish tax” just to exist peacefully in public.
In May, a House staffer was the victim of an armed carjacking in Navy Yard.
In July, a congressional intern, 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, was killed in a drive-by shooting that also injured a 16-year-old boy and a woman.
If we want the best and brightest to visit our city and serve in government as staffers, civil servants or interns, we need to offer them a capital that is safe to live in.
Right now, we can’t.
If staffers, students and commuters can’t move through this city without fear, what exactly are we doing?
I’d love to hand my daughter a flip phone and a SmartTrip card and give her a taste of independence.
But I can’t.
Not while Metro attacks happen weekly.
Not while carjackings plague every neighborhood.
Not while city leaders stand paralyzed, caught between ideology and inertia.
Washington, DC, should be a national showcase — but unless someone restores order, the city will continue its descent into fear and frustration.
The message from parents, federal workers and even tech billionaires is the same: Enough is enough.
We want our kids to love this city. But more than that, we want them to be safe in it.
And that shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars and is a homeschooling mother of six in greater Washington, DC.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
