D.C.-owned vacant lot is left to languish

There once was a row house at 460 Ridge St. NW, until it collapsed. The property’s owner — the D.C. government — swiftly moved in after the building fell in November 2007, razed what was left and secured the lot with a chain-link fence and padlocked gate.

It looked Thursday as if District workers have not returned since. The fence had been pushed to the ground. The still-padlocked gate was disconnected from the fence. The lot was covered in garbage. And the weeds had grown taller than the average adult.