The Ricardo Apartments

When I first moved in, my apartment was fine for the price. However, after about a year and a half, a man moved in above me who must have been breeding and raising cockroaches from hatchlings. I started getting hundreds of roaches in my apartment and the property manager seemed powerless to do anything. So I moved out. I will say that the building is old (as are the appliances) and residents have no control over their own heat. The heat is on all winter long and is cranked up to full blast. Many residents leave a window open because it gets too hot. And, there is no air conditioning in the summer. Also, there are huge roaches that call the laundry room home. Further, because there is no doorman, if you get a package that is too big to fit in the mailbox, you have to go to the post office to pick it up and that post office is in a dangerous part of town. Also, I used to park a block from my apartment (on Arkansas Ave.) and on a couple different occasions, my car was broken into and my tires were deflated. However, if not but for the disgusting neighbor above me who brought a million cockroaches with him, I would not have moved. My apartment was $ 500 a month (utilities included) and the bus stop out front made the apartment very convenient to downtown. I also liked the Bohemian feel to the neighborhood. I miss the Ricardo… Note to management: please get a ton of boric acid and bug bomb the place. I would move back!

What a dump. I just moved out of there and I will never ever live in the District again.
My roommate’s chihuahua was stolen off our balcony in about a five-​minute time span. Ghetto! It’s hot as balls all year ’round. The appliances are older than I am.
The mice, the bugs and the mold – not to mention the constant flow of shady pedestrian traffic thanks to the bus stop – will have you considering taking your own life.
Sure the rent is cheap, but at some point you have to stop living like a 24-​year-​old crust punk.
One star for the balcony.