[JPKab]

I don't disagree, but when you look at the Arlington, Virginia neighborhoods of Rosslyn and Ballston, you can readily see how the height limit impacts DC. For those of you not familiar with DC's geography, the District of Columbia was originally a perfectly square diamond. The portion on the south side of the Potomac was given back to Virginia due to congressional lobbying in the early 1800's creating laws which mandated building all Federal buildings on the north side of the Potomac. This left the Arlington/Alexandria portions of the District of Columbia as poor, economic backwaters. No Federal money pouring in, and also no congressional representation. Virginia took them back.

The cities of Arlington and Alexandria now occupy the portion of the original diamond that is west of the Potomac. When standing in Georgetown, you look across the river and see 20 story office buildings. Arlington and Alexandria act as quasi-DC, in the sense that they are dense, are connected via DC's subway system (Metro) and separated from DC only by a relatively narrow river.

Lifting the height limit, I think, would be a great thing for DC. It is an overly suburbanized metro area due to the height restrictions.