Tardy but hearty thanks for your cover story on the civic cesspool that is DCRA (“DCRA: Defending the City’s Ruling Aristocracy,” 6/30). I found myself recalling Jane Wagner’s dark humor: No matter how cynical I become, it’s never enough to keep up. The District’s ability to appal and betray its citizens truly beggars the imagination.

I thought it was particularly rich that Linda Harried—the bureaucratic buffoon who approved more than a hundred 95/5 transactions, depriving thousands of tenants of the opportunity to purchase their homes—weeps for, of all people, the city’s landlords.

D.C. politics don’t often inspire otherworldly thoughts, but your article sure did. Paragraph after tragic paragraph, one thought kept coming to mind: God, I hope there’s a hell for these people.

Dupont Circle