Take your pick as to
which is most depressing:
1.) that the District government could not afford to provide basic police protection in Chinatown (“Chinatown: Ground Zero,” 8/16);
2.) that, to obtain such protection, local businesses had to ante up $30,000 (plus rent and utilities) for a police substation;
3.) that the police department gladly accepted the money and is now apparently providing its best service only to those who can pay for it;
4.) that Police Chief Larry Soulsby is actually proud of this state of affairs (“to me, this is really community policing”);
5.) that Washington City Paper reports all this positively, without the slightest hint of irony.
Capitol Hill