"The View from 17th and Euclid" by Colbert King (Washington Post)

I lived in suburban Maryland from 1993 to 1997. However, thorough my involvment with the Chinese Community Church and Greater DC Cares. I got to know a little bit about life in the city and the difficulties there.

Below are some excerpts from Colbert King's article on the mean and deadly streets of DC which I came across in my daily visit to Andrew Sullivan.

Excerpts:
"Close" takes on added meaning when it comes to a group of youths in a five-block area north of Florida Avenue. They are bound together by more than their love of hoops. Their lives are crammed into a Northwest Washington community bordered by Columbia and Kalorama roads and 16th and 18th streets. And within that small stretch of land, carefully hidden from direct observation by city motorists, commuters and the occasional presidential motorcade zipping up and down 16th Street, is a chaotic and violent world that produces, as Scripture says, "sighs too deep for tears."
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Venture onto that piece of Northwest real estate and you will find a criminal enterprise calling itself "1-7." Yes, America conquered Iraq, and the Republicans control the White House, Congress and all of the government machinery in the nation's capital. But in a neighborhood only a few miles north of the presidential mansion, 1-7 -- named after the corner of 17th and Euclid streets, where its members hang out -- rules the streets after dark and is a menacing presence during the day.
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There are 17th-and-Euclids in many neighborhoods of our city east of Rock Creek Park. The mayor and the D.C. Council know that. So does our delegate in Congress. Our civic leadership knows it, too. But when it comes to washing one's hands of a nasty situation, Pontius Pilate has nothing on our political, business and religious leaders. They would rather hyperventilate about getting a baseball team or the Olympics or school vouchers -- even as the city runs over with dropouts from the public school system. Witness the members of 1-7.
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were it left up to me, I would cash out half the D.C. government -- and all of the Department of Human Services -- and send the non-D.C.-tax-paying city workers back to their homes in Prince George's and Montgomery counties and Northern Virginia, where Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner could take care of them, and turn over those millions of D.C. tax dollars to city-based community groups, faith-based organizations with proven records and our dedicated police officers who are trying to give our children a fighting chance. And I'd do it in a heartbeat.

One more thing.

Think of all the pistols tucked in waistbands across this city. And all the gunshot victims in wheelchairs, and the murders we rack up by the day. With some of the toughest gun control laws on the books and with gun-packing groups like 1-7 roving D.C. streets with the audacity of the 3rd Infantry Division, Washington has the unmitigated gall to demand that the Palestinian Authority disarm West Bank terrorists. Charity begins at home.

Speaking of sighs too deep for tears.
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Poverty and crime in America's cities remain an intractable problem. You can substitute the street names and gang names in another city and you would get the same story. Yet, King sees hope in the community-based and faith-based organizations trying to make a difference. One of the ironies of the political Left has been their resistance to the "compassionate conservatism" emphasis on faith-based community organizations to deliever social services. The Left claims to be the champion of the poor yet they will scream separation of church and state when people want to direct some of the government's social service budget to organizations that have religious affiliations.

The fact of the matter is that people of conscience can't wait for the political system to get its act together. We need to go ahead and donate money, time and energy to groups in the cities that are doing something. I know when I help out I get a glimpse of another world and of course that other world is a mere 15 - 25 minute drive from my trendy Westside neighborhood in LA. It challenges me to rethink how I live my life and how I should try a LOT harder to simplify my life so I can donate more time, money and energy to help others in need.