Barry Calls City Safest in the U.S.

Controversial Mayor Marion Barry said the streets of the nation’s capital were the safest in the United States and blamed the media for portraying the city as crime-ridden, rundown and traffic-choked. “It is safe or safer than Topeka, Kan.,” he declared during an interview on the CNN program “Evans and Novak.” Barry, who won a fourth term as mayor in 1994 after serving a prison term on a drug conviction, accused the media of “beating up” on Washington and complained that the District of Columbia’s unique status made it impossible for him--or anyone--to successfully manage the city. Barry adamantly rejected the notion that Congress, which represents hundreds of millions of Americans who do not live in the nation’s capital, should have any part at all in administering it.