The law of unintended consequences continues to surprise. Who would have thought that replacing ramshackle row-house slums with “clean and sanitary” housing would have produced the now-discredited world of the housing project and the government-sponsored ghetto?

And now builders and developers of the new Washington — the Washington of smart new buildings, thousands of condo owners, new urbanism, roaring real-estate values and new life for commercial corridors — are facing an unforeseen problem. How does the New World deal fairly with poor people?

In theory, of course, and on paper, the solution is a formula. For each new project, a certain number of units are reserved for moderate- and low-income residents, their rent structure being supported in part by the higher prices charged for the “market” units.

These “set-asides” or “overlays” are now traded between developers and the city housing authorities like items of barter. Add so many low-rent units to your project and get higher density as a reward. Builders offer additional streetscape features — cast-iron “period” lampposts, landscaping, walkways, alleys, etc., and they are rewarded by higher density, or even by extra city-owned land.

Hundreds of the new units, both high-priced and moderate- and low-income, are coming onto the market. But who should get the bargain units? In the suburbs it’s done by mandated lotteries — local governments notify and screen potential buyers. In Fairfax, for instance, 8,000 people are on a list hoping to qualify as eligible for low-income housing.

But in the District, officials have no system in place even to notify residents about, much less distribute, the stock of cheap units.

The city’s record in running housing for the poor is dismal. It was only turned around by the courage of a Capitol Hill judge, the late Steffan Graae, who forced a court-appointed receiver, David Gilmore, to clean up a corrupt system of favoritism and bribes.

Gilmore is now trying to solve the special-education program’s deep financial problems. Another energetic reformer should take over the allocation of “below market” housing before the certain scandal breaks.

Oh what a boring race it is — already!

When finally a poll comes out — 800 potential voters interviewed — it shows that newcomer Adrian Fenty (D-Ward 4), the handsome young man of the City Council — has a slight lead over the council’s warhorse chairwoman, Linda Cropp, with the rest of the pack stuck in single digits.

But the key element of the poll (among Democratic voters, conducted by Potomac Inc.) was the matter of the Mayor Tony Williams inheritance. Who would get the nod from former Williams supporters? That, amazingly enough, was judged to be an even split: 32 percent going to (business as usual) Cropp and about the same to (outspoken Williams critic) Fenty.

If this doesn’t prove that Williams, were he to run, could win this election with the wiggle of one finger, what does? The poll says that 62 percent of residents say the city is on the right track under Williams’s leadership.

It also proves that Williams, with a nod of his head, can decide this election by endorsing one of the two front-runners.

The overall lesson is that Cropp is likely to benefit from the inevitable decision voters must make and Fenty is helping them by portraying Cropp as the mayor’s surrogate and himself as the anti-Williams. What an odd political land is D.C.

There is only one bright star on the scene, and that is the original and energetic independent, David Catania (At large), but because of the 90 percent Democratic registration in the city (as well as the fact Catania is both white and gay), he has no chance of becoming the chief executive.

The shocking part of the latest report out of the city’s Office of Property Management (OPM) is not that the money available for improvements to 7th Street is not half enough. What was worse was the warning from OPM official Peter May that the money spigot will be turned off.

“These are lean times for capital spending” May told a late January meeting of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee (EMCAC).

EMCAC Capital Improvements Committee Chairman Monte Edwards warns that construction on two separate market projects — the repair of the building itself and the improvement of the 7th Street streetscape — will not begin “probably until September and continue through Christmas, the busiest time for the market.”

The city’s Department of Transportation is committed to improving the street to close to the standard of 8th Street S.E., which as “Barracks Row” has won national attention for beauty and attraction to business.

But problems have emerged. A handsome pedestrian crossing designed to align with the market’s center portal may not be possible, as it would interfere with an under-street Pepco equipment vault.

It now seems that most of the money will be spent on sewer improvements and not on the street or on much-desired air conditioning. And it also looks as though the city is so committed to big-ticket items such as the baseball stadium, the National Capital Medical Center, overhaul of the libraries, restoration of the public schools and other projects that Eastern Market will lose priority.

• Barry Watch: While police search fruitlessly for a youth named Maurice whom ex-Mayor Marion Barry says he may have recognized as one who robbed him during the now-famed “bag of groceries” incident, City Councilman Barry (D-Ward 8) says he’s appalled some may have hinted the robbery was a drug deal gone wrong. ...

• Angry D.C. parents are on the warpath because reformist D.C. Public School Superintendent Clifford Janey wants the school year to begin Aug. 14 instead of the traditional end of the month. When given the choice of improving the dismal record of the city schools or staying on vacation, parents showed their mettle. ...

• Famed Hill pharmacy Grubbs, at 4th and East Capitol streets N.E., has been in business since 1867 — and the past 35 years under the direction of Ed Dillon. But Dillon and partner Jeanette Partilla retired Jan. 26. It has been sold to Michael Kim, an employee, who says he plans no major changes. …

• Pub developer Joe Englert (Pour House, Lucky Bar, Capitol Lounge) has run into local opposition to four pubs planned for H Street N.E. Six people have protested the pending liquor licenses, and the matter is under mediation. ...

• Next feud a-coming: The Hill’s numerous expatriate church congregations, folks who swan in Sunday mornings from Maryland and Virginia, double park for two hours and are never ticketed (because they are worshipers, one supposes), have incensed residents for years. Now Logan Circle N.W. residents have made an issue of the matter, asking police to ticket. ...

• Mayor Anthony Williams and the City Council have asked the Supreme Court to review a U.S. District Court ruling about a commuter tax here. The lower court (many thought unfairly) threw out an argument that commuters use the city yet pay no taxes and residents pick up the bill. It’s a situation unique to D.C. ...

• Look for the city to appoint a new “chief of housing” to coordinate the giant task of creating the 55,000 new units of affordable housing needed. A task force sponsored by City Hall issued a report Jan. 31 suggesting the units must be built if D.C. is to achieve Williams’s goal of 100,000 new residents in the next decade.