system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Washington DC should have been set up as an independent geographic zone with no residents

One of the chief concerns of the residents of Washington, D.C. is that they reside within the district but have no representation in Congress. Technically, they do have representatives that can do quite a few things (vote in committees being a very important one) but they can't do other core functions such as voting for final passage of bills. They also do not have Senators representing them either.

There is a push to grant them statehood and I won't speak to whether or not I think that is a good idea. What I would like to propose to CMV is the hypothetical situation that the District of Columbia should have been set up as a completely independent geographic zone bordered by Virginia and Maryland with no residents whatsoever. 

The boundary of the District of Columbia would be exclusively zoned for governmental and business construction only, no homes would be allowed inside the perimeter and the workers and politicians would commute into the city.

The cost of running the district would be drawn from the tax system (both federal taxes and, assuming non-government businesses and organizations are allowed, taxes paid by those organizations directly to the district). Utilities would be provided under contract from the neighboring jurisdictions outside the District. Services such as law enforcement, fire, sanitation, maintenance, etc. could be provided either as functions of the District or under contract from neighboring jurisdictions.

In this fashion, there is no such thing as no representation. People who work in the District are residents of Virginia or Maryland and have the representation and rights accorded by their home state, just as people who work in one state but live in another are accorded.

I'm sure there would have to be some specific provisions on things like taxes, jurisdiction for crimes (immediate extradition perhaps? a special district court that just handles DC crimes?), and the like.

Edit: Note, this is a hypothetical and would have required this set up from day one. I'm not sure it could be done today without crazy upheaval, so this CMV is about the hypothetical, not about trying to do this today.

I am presently in the middle of an argument with my girlfriend over this topic and I'd like to spar it out with you good CMVians to see if you do any better of a job of convincing me than her. Change My View!
gpt
Since your idea is about hypothetically having done this way back when DC was first established...

You have to remember that for the first 130 years that DC existed, cars didn't. Commuting in from the suburbs was a HUGE undertaking. Even today with a car it takes a long time because of traffic, but it would have taken much longer by horse or foot.