A Local Government Contractor's Perspective on Washington: The Halfway Point

A Local Government Contractor's Perspective on Washington:

The Halfway Point

By: Connor Williams

The rest of the Fall 2017 WAIP cohort and myself are about six, seven weeks into our time here in the the nation's capital and everyone is having invaluable experiences. For me, it's been an interesting perspective, since my main motivation for being in D.C. is to see policy development on the federal level in contrast to that of towns and cities. The time I have spent as a contractor and volunteers for a few Cleveland area communities and the city of Columbus has made me familiar with local administration and policymaking, and the issues of local people and their governments, and I wanted to see how local issues translate to the national stage.

It has been interesting to see that governance, when scaled up, is very much what I expected it to be: smart, competent individuals attempting to address long-term, constitutionally impactful problems while constantly juggling everyday national events (and everyday constituent concerns) that divert their time and energy. Essentially, there is always something gumming up the gears of pragmatic lawmaking and statecraft. Like I've seen on the job or discussed in our policy seminars, national governance is hard. This comes as no surprise to me, considering my background. But, many of the ideas produced, and often shelved, in service to solving national problems are often extremely valuable to local administrators, who aren't in possession of the sheer talent, ability, and resources at the disposal of Congress and the Supreme Court and the network of federal agencies that work with and advise them.

The environment of D.C. itself is a forge of metropolitan cultural and societal innovation very much like how its institutions are forges of ideas. The city itself is defined by a vague sense of directed momentum that gives it life in a way different to the wholesale chaos of downtown Manhattan or Los Angeles, and it's fascinating being in an climate such as this. It's not so much the surreality of living so close to the fanciful buildings dotted around Capitol Hill and the National Mall, but moreso the fact that the older, non-gentrified, urban neighborhoods share this nebulous air of purpose.

A view from the west side of the Capitol at sunrise. Pretty invigorating, no?

As someone who is very tied to the environs and conditions of suburbs and relatively contained urban sprawl of the Midwest, it's strange that I think it's very hard to feel "at ease" here. It's not so much that it's tense here nor does it make me feel unsafe, homesick, or anything of the sort, it's just a city where I can't really stop to smell the flowers. I had not felt this way when I had spent time in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Cleveland, or Philadelphia, so D.C. makes for a really interesting, albeit not necessarily ideal, place for me to live temporarily.

Overall, while I have been learning a lot and enjoying the best of what the public sector has to offer, and learning more about what makes good governance, I have been rather surprised how I have been influenced by the atmosphere of Washington. I am not sure how this will affect me on the move back to Ohio, and back into the sphere of local administration, but only time will tell.