Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 14:41, 12 December 2005

Older discussion (through September 5, 2005) archived at Talk:Washington, D.C./Archive 1

An event mentioned in this article is an August 24 selected anniversary.

Image:Pentagonfireball.jpg

I have removed Image:Pentagonfireball.jpg (Security camera image of the moment after American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon), as I think the article can do without it for the following reasons.

• The Pentagon is located in Arlington, Virginia and not in Washington.
• We can find a more appropriate image that depicts the security implications on people in Washington, such as the closing of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House (done in response to the Oklahoma City bombing and not the September 11, 2001 attacks).

Recent history

I also think that too much space is devoted to recent history (2001 - present), in relation to history prior to 2001.

A word count shows:

• 1249 total words in the history section
• 674 words (53%) of the history section about recent history (2001 - present)

As time permits, I will do what I can to improve the balance for the various historical time periods in this article, as well as add some image that better reflects the impact of security measures on people in Washington.

--Kmf164 00:52, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

District of Columbia article?

Considering the amount of popular press, legal press, and American constitutional scrutiny that the District of Columbia as an adminstrative entity receives, I'm rather suprised that there is not a separate article on it rather than merely a redirect to this article. Has this been discussed to resolution previously, or is it merely a matter of not finding the right mix of authors to make the suggested article work? Thanks for the input. Courtland 14:23, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

At the current time, Washington, D.C. and District of Columbia are, more or less, the same thing. Somethings that should be gone over include the fact that the Distict used to comprise two counties (Washington County and Alexandria County), that there used to be two cities in the District (Washington and Georgetown, Georgetown being incorporated by the Maryland General Assembly prior to ceding), and the fact the government is known as the District of Columbia, and Washington, as a name, only continues through colloquial use. -James Howard (talk/web) 14:54, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Category structure

What the hell? Why is it all screwed up and separated into Category:Washington, D.C. and Category:District of Columbia? This is a complete and utter mess. The division as to which goes where is really arbitrary, and there is no justification for a separate treatment that is just going to leave people really confused. These parent categories and all of their subcategories need to be merged; I don't really care in which direction, though it should follow the article title, and District of Columbia just redirects to Washington, D.C..

I agree with you completely. Unfortunately, we had this debate already and I lost. --D Monack 04:55, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Hmm. Maybe it's time to have that debate again. It looked like a pretty close "no consensus," and it really is a problem for people trying to find Washington-related articles. —Cleared as filed. 05:02, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

I also agree. On Misplaced Pages Commons, it's also Category:Washington, D.C. Let's be consistent. --Kmf164 05:09, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The categories are only confusing to people who think the city is the District. Are you confused between New York City, New York County, and New York? (SEWilco 05:41, 8 November 2005 (UTC))

That (equating city and district) was the crux of my question in the thread above ... apparently the current working guideline is that the city is the district and vice versa (merely relating what lies above — don't shoot the messenger, please) Courtland 05:59, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

The city is the District. Why else does District of Columbia redirect to Washington, D.C.? They are one and the same. Contrast with the New York example, where lots of other cities/towns/etc. exist within the County and the State. Not so in D.C. —Cleared as filed. 06:00, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

It pains me to remind you that Misplaced Pages is meant to reflect reality and not create it; thus "why else does X redirect to Y" doesn't help much in this instance. Courtland 06:08, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Heh, well thanks for being condescending. Sorry to cause you pain. My point is that the two are the same, and that is why the redirect exists. There doesn't seem to be any debate about the redirect, and we should make the categories consistent. —Cleared as filed. 06:12, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

But Misplaced Pages categories are meant to reflect Misplaced Pages articles, so the redirection of one title to another does help decide whether there should be one category structure or two, or what the name of that single category structure should be. Postdlf 06:43, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Life would be pretty hard for me if I was confused by that distinction between NY state, county, and city, considering how I live in Manhattan. But regardless, that's not a good analogy. Having separate categories for Washington, D.C. and the District of Columbia are instead the equivalent of keeping separate categories for Manhattan and New York County. There's a definitional difference, but not a concrete one, and the fact that District of Columbia merely redirects here means that editors on this topic have already determined that it should be treated as one subject. Creating a duplicative category structure ignores that well-founded decision.

For that matter, the CfD was clear on one thing—the separate category structures should not exist. There was simply no consensus as to which direction to merge, not whether to merge. The default should be to follow the article title, as the category structure is but an extension of the topic this article defines. If this article should be named otherwise, then let's discuss that here. And, if District of Columbia is to be split off from Washington, D.C., that should also be discussed here, and the category system should then correspond to the division of content between the articles. Postdlf 06:05, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Please note that I have listed these duplicative categories for merging, based on the rationale that I have expressed above. Postdlf 21:17, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Private Schools

The section of private schools is really lacking; its very incomplete, and should link to a seperate article about private DC high schools. I can add a lot to it - anyone agree? Tkessler 21:56, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Go for it, I went to one (obvious which, check my recent edit) and they need more love. --Golbez 22:29, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Agree. I'm not quite sure what you're thinking, but I think the topic of education can be greatly expanded into a separate article.

I don't know all the details or not yet sure how exactly to explain it, but there is a long history and controversy regarding education in DC. The quality (or at least perception) of DC public schools has been considered poor — particularly in the 1990s when the Control Board and Congress intervened and school facilities were shuttered due to fire code violations. The quality of DC schools contrasts particularly with the surrounding jurisdictions — Montgomery, Arlington, and Fairfax Counties — which are regarded as among the very best public school systems in the country. (Though Banneker is #46 in Newsweek's list of top high schools and Wilson is #318.)

The rather poor quality of DC public schools deters many middle-class families from living in DC, in favor of the suburban counties. Other families send their children to private school, if they can afford it. School vouchers and charter schools are yet more issues relating to education in DC. --Kmf164 22:40, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Map showing proximity to VA and MD

This article (and Geography of Washington, D.C. strongly needs a map showing the states of Virginia and Maryland, and where Washington, D.C. is situated between those two states. Without it, the context of where it's located is unclear to readers (even to many Americans) who would like to know exactly where it is located. The map of the entire U.S. makes the area too small, and the map of D.C. itself doesn't have the context of the neighboring states. Would anyone able to do make such a map? I don't have the graphics skills. Badagnani 23:07, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Might want to try this map Image:DC locator map.jpg. --Boothy443 | trácht ar 06:16, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

The map should somehow include both the national and regional map, with one an inset of the other. I'll work to come up with something that provides both levels of context. --Kmf164 14:41, 12 December 2005 (UTC)