The timing may have seemed odd for a left coast D.C. encomium, but the picture painted by a Sunday L.A. Times piece was clear about the current business environment in the Washington area.

While we turned our attention toward council-member Marion Barry’s latest drug-related difficulties, Times writer Johanna Neuman drew on numbers released from George Mason’s Center for Regional Analysis and the Greater Washington Board of Trade to illustrate the sharp contrast between the city under Barry’s leadership and the economic juggernaut that is today’s Washington. Meanwhile, fast on that story’s heels came yesterday’s Post coverage of the Gallup Organization’s Soul of the City survey results for the Washington area. In a survey that reflected well on the area across several categories, the Posties focused overwhelmingly on the negatives.