President Donald Trump picked the wrong week to throw down on the District of Columbia.

On Friday, Trump complained that the city that surrounds his temporary quarters at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is “poorly” run and had inflated the cost of his coveted military parade, forcing him to postpone it.

One day earlier, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser congratulated the city’s public school students for improving standardized test scores for the third year in a row. Bowser trumpeted the good news from the foyer of a freshly modernized elementary school, price tag $68 million. It’s one of 14 schools rebuilt or renovated in the past two years — all part of the District’s $1.3 billion plan to refurbish all its public schools. Six modernized schools will open on Monday.

On the same day, prosecutors announced stiff sentences for five men taken down by D.C. cops and federal agents for selling crack, cocaine and heroin. Crime is down in the capital city—according to the Metropolitan Police Department, homicides are down 25 percent since 2007; burglaries are down 40 percent over the same time span.

While more than a few major cities battle deficits, this week, the District posted a reserve of $1.19 billion, according to the D.C. chief financial officer.

Oh, and J.P.Morgan Chase this week announced it’s expanding into Anacostia, the Southeast neighborhood that in past decades was known less for piling up dollar bills than for piling up dead bodies in the District’s drug epidemic.

D.C. police started the week by managing the confrontation between 20 or so white nationalists who showed up in front of the White House and thousands of locals disgusted by the purveyors of hatred in their town. No punches thrown, no arrests, no disruption beyond downtown.

No, Mr. President, the city behind the monuments is far from “poorly” run. In fact—and it pains me as a critic of the government and its leaders to say it—Washington, D.C., functions as well as, or better than, any other major U.S. city.

Twenty years ago, when D.C. was still suffering from botched management and corruption from former Mayor Marion Barry’s four terms, late-night comics would feast on the capital city’s foibles. Now, young new residents are throwing down hundreds of thousands for condominiums and feasting at new restaurants like Maydan, just rated Bon Appetit’s No. 2 restaurant in the country.

“The District is not a perfect place for people in need.” says Shana Bartley, executive director of DC Action for Children. “There’s a lot of need for improvement, but at minimum, compared to other places where we work, it puts its money where its mouth is.”

No one is mouthing off these days about corrupt cops.

“Twenty years ago, the Metropolitan Police Department was very poorly run,” says Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. “Today it’s one of the better departments in the country.”

The government running the District is relatively young. The Home Rule Act of 1974 created a form of limited self-government. Residents elect a mayor and a 13-member City Council, but under the Constitution, Congress and the president maintain ultimate control. In a sense, the District government’s finances are akin to those of a federal agency: The District proposes a budget, which Congress must approve.

In contrast to the current federal system, where the legislative arm and the executive are in lockstep, the City Council acts as a decent check on the mayor. True, Bowser is a Democrat, and the majority of council members are Democrats. (Democrats in D.C. outnumber Republicans 7 to 1.) But Bowser has made a bed of nails for herself on the Council. She’s been abrupt and dismissive. A new progressive coalition, led by Council Chair Phil Mendelson, has taken control of D.C.’s budget and overruled the mayor’s program to handle homelessness.

Despite (or perhaps because of) ambition counteracting ambition, at the moment, D.C. government is functioning relatively smoothly. Rising revenues from commercial real estate have allowed the government to run surpluses for the past few years. Its $14.5 billion budget throws billions to schools and health care. It has had 21 consecutive balanced budgets. Wall Street bond rating agencies just gave D.C. their coveted triple-A rating.

Let’s talk basics: The trash gets picked up, police come when called, the streets are clean. Perhaps that’s why Trump’s daughter Ivanka has stuck around with her husband, Jared Kushner, and their three children. Given the choice of moving back to Manhattan, the Kushners are sticking it out in D.C.’s swanky Kalorama neighborhood. That puts them a short walk from the former first family—Barack and Michelle Obama live down the street with daughter, Sasha—and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross live not too far away in $12 million mansions.

Which brings us to the Trump Hotel down the street from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. If the president believes the District is “poorly” run, that hasn’t cut into profits he’s made from the hotel. Financial disclosure statements from his first year in office show profits of $40 million from the hotel, which is very dependent on District services.

To be sure, the District has its share of problems, like any community. The homicide rate is climbing nearly 30 percent higher than last year. Bowser might trumpet rising test scores, but 71 percent of D.C. fourth-graders still scored below proficient reading level, and 79 percent of eighth-graders lacked proficiency in math, putting them far below the national average. The District has a persistent homelessness problem. It houses too many families in motels and substandard houses. The government has failed to maintain affordable housing and longtime residents are getting priced out of gentrifying neighborhoods.Too many neighborhoods are unsafe. A 10-year-old girl was shot and killed on her way to get an ice cream cone in July.

At this point, it’s doubtful Trump has ventured out far beyond his namesake hotel, except maybe for his inaugural parade or occasional stops on Capitol Hill.

But if Trump wants to see how his adopted city is run, why not check it out? President Richard M. Nixon used to step out for dinner once in a while. Bill Clinton jogged through our streets. Laura Bush would occasionally take her husband to read at a local public school. Michelle Obama frequented Soul Cycle.

The District estimated the cost of putting on his military parade at $21.6 million. That doesn’t include the cost on the Pentagon’s side of supplying tanks, planes and troops, which brings the cost closer to $90 million.

Maybe if Trump and Bowser stroll the parade route together, they can cut a deal. The District can pull it off, even reluctantly, if the Pentagon will go along.