when the city government is the slumlord

we purchased our home in 2005 and since 2005 we've been witness to the slow deterioration of the two properties across the way. the district government is committed to ridding its neighborhoods of blight - fining and even taking ownership of homes where the current owner either cannot or refuses to maintain the property. no such enforcement with these homes, but then that would require the district government to police itself. yep, the eye sores are owned by the district of columbia housing authority.

we've tried everything! at one point we even convinced them to sell the properties. now it seems though that the houses are a part of the district of columbia housing authority's new "greening initiative" funded by the recovery act. they even put up big signs so you know it must be true!

of course, there's been no movement on this initiative which led kristin and me to surmise that the "greening initiative" is nothing more than waiting until the buildings decay beyond repair and are unceremoniously returned to the earth.