I arrived in our nation’s capital yesterday. It took significantly longer to get from Dulles Airport to my hotel (2 1/4 hours) than to fly all the way from Boston (1 1/2 hours). I had to wait for the shtutle bus from the concourse to the main terminal to arrive, then longer for it to leave, then in line for the SuperShuttle, then 15 minutes for the SuperShuttle to leave - and then after all that, you’re way the heck out in Virginia and have to drive to DC!

But most striking about DC is the lack of people out on the streets. We met some folks at a bar near Dupont Circle, one of DC’s hottest districts, and in the middle of a Sunday afternoon there were very few people walking around. Then, this morning, we rode the Metro to Downtown, and at 8:15 am, there were almost no people on the streets there either. Where are the people? In any neighborhood with bars and restaurants in New York or Boston or San Francisco, the sidewalks are pretty full on a Sunday afternoon, and in the business district of any of those cities, it’s nonstop pedestrian dodging during rush hour on Monday morning.

Maybe all the people are at the Lincoln Memorial. That was packed, even at 11 pm on a Sunday night.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.