Soaring Crime Rate Hurting Small Businesses in Washington

As 2024 opens, Washington seems set to continue hemorrhaging small businesses as its government fails to control the city’s skyrocketing crime rate. In the D.C. metropolitan area, the closure of restaurants and bars has gained a high profile and perhaps become an unconscious symbol of a wider crisis that has seen thousands of businesses close or leave the city over the past four years. The city has witnessed the destruction of such heritage establishments as the Hotel Harrington—founded in 1914 and until November of 2023 was not only the city’s oldest continually operating hotel but still a family business owned by fifth-generation descendants of its founder....