SPECIAL FEATURE | %1&%77%(367(-6)'836=
DIRECTORY
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DCWITHOUTEMBASSIES
AFANTASYSCENARIO–ORISIT?
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BY ROLAND FLAMINI
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I
n late 2016, a group of European countries
facing serious economic problems following
the collapse of the euro amalgamated their
respective embassies in Washington with their
U.N. Missions into single diplomatic operations
based in Manhattan.
Left behind were the
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embassy brass plaques as a symbolic presence,
and a number of service apartments and hotel
suites available for visiting diplomats.
Within six months, other embassies had
seen that – after initial American huffing - the relocation had done no lasting harm
to the bi-lateral
relations of the departed
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missions, and a real exodus began -- greatly
helped by the timely introduction of a new
high- speed rail service bringing Washington
closer to New York City than Pelham, N.Y.
A sea of For Sale signs went up on
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70
Embassy Row and elsewhere as some 180
foreign missions attempted to unload various
residences and chanceries. In a buyer’s market,
what had started life as Millionaires’ Row
before the Depression and then became
Embassy Row was Millionaires’ Row again
as the grand ambassadorial mansions were
snapped up by leaders of the computer
aristocracy. A fleet of more than 6,000 cars
with diplomatic plates flooded the used
car market. A number of Washingtonians
cut off suddenly from their transfusion of
embassy receptions and social functions had
to go into therapy to treat their withdrawal
symptoms…
RELAX! Not Happening -- except
perhaps in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s worst
nightmares. Not yet anyway. Embassies enrich a
country’s capital, culturally as well as financially.
Yet in these days of terrorism and advancing
technology who can say when nations might
decide to substitute holograms for human
diplomats? Holograms need neither food nor
shelter; they get paid no salary, and no lives are
lost if they get blown up.
Not that there’s any sign of ambassadors
with briefcases being replaced by ambassadors
inside briefcases. Washington’s diplomatic
community is growing still. In 2001, 169
foreign missions employed a total of 9,681
personnel, according to a study prepared at
the time by George Mason University for
the National Capital Planning Commission.
Their combined payroll and non-payroll
expenditure totaled $547.67 million, or
three percent of Washington’s $57.2 billion
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WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
| O C T O B E R | washingtonlife.com
P H OTOS BY TO N Y P OW E L L
Signature Theatre’s Sondheim Gala at the Italian embassy. in 2014.
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