You could see the essential social predicament facing D.C. — and many other urban centers — last Friday on a sunny summer day in the heart of Ward 8.

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. avenues come together to form a triangle, across from the Opportunities Industrialization Center, a job training agency. The park in the triangle was jammed with folks, hanging out on picnic tables, sipping beers from paper bags, passing time.

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