Category Archives: Uncategorized

Councilmember Charles Allen at this morning’s monthly community office hour at Curbside Cafe

Police Officer at Eastern market Metro last night at c. 9:30pm. Chief Lanier has authorized additional resources for Capitol Hill.

50 Plus Capitol Hill Residents Meet With CM Charles Allen On Crime

Chief Lanier Sends More Resources To 1^st District After Touring Capitol Hill Yesterday

by Larry Janezich

This morning, Charles Allen met for more than two hours with 50 plus Hill East residents who came to Curbside Café at 15^th and C Streets, SE, to express concern about the continuing violent crime – mostly robberies, many of them with a gun – on Capitol Hill.  Allen asked 1^st District Commander Jeff Brown and 1 District MPD Lt. Eddie Fowler to attend and Brown gave an update on MPD’s efforts to address crime.

(Shortly after the meeting, about 10:20am, MPD responded to a shooting at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.  The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to the hospital in a private vehicle.  Police say that the shooting may have been the result of a traffic altercation between the victim and the suspect at the Sunoco Gas Station.)

Brown told the crowd that Chief Lanier had summoned him yesterday and said, “Here’s the keys – you’re driving.  I want to know what’s going on on Capitol Hill.”  Brown said that he and the Chief drove Capitol Hill for three hours, touring hotspots – H Street, Hill East, and Barracks Row.  Brown told the Chief that his force was stretched too thin.  At the end of the tour, the Chief authorized overtime for officers of the 1^st District, said she would shift some additional resources to Capitol Hill and suggested that bike officers be encouraged to use the overtime to increase their presence on the streets.

Brown also told the crowd that a string of robberies such as Capitol Hill has experienced recently is usually caused by one or two groups of individuals, and that work from the MPD Intelligence Unit had paid off yesterday when 1^st District officers pursued a group of five robbery suspects into the 6^th District where they were arrested.   He also said that one of the two suspects involved in the mid-day armed robbery at 9^th and East Capitol had been arrested in the 6^th District.  According to Brown, 90% of the violent crime in the 1^st District is being committed by individuals from outside the community.

Brown noted that though the force has an authorized level of 4200 officers, the current level is 3800 – down 400 officers.  There are 170 cadets in the academy, but it will be a year before they are on the streets.  Recruitment is problematic:  only 1 out of every 300 applicants is selected to join the force and many officers who join the force are recruited away by other police forces offering better pay and/or benefits.  In addition, he said, the force is facing the crisis of a “retirement bubble” with many officials and officers becoming eligible for retirement simultaneously.

Prior to Brown’s arrival at the meeting, Allen told attendees that MPD was failing to communicate to the community the measures they were taking to address crime.  He said, “You say your adding overtime, new officers, and new bike units, but I’m not seeing it and I’m not feeling it.”  He urged MPD to experience the community in a different way by getting officers out of the cruisers and into the neighborhoods.  He said he was also working on a package of legislative initiatives with CM McDuffie, Chair of the City Council’s Committee on the Judiciary.  Some of the elements under consideration include incentives for home crime cameras, more funding for recreation centers, more funding for street lighting, a stricter pre-trail hold policy, and reforming the 911 Call Center.

Hill East activist Jim Meyers told Brown that he was “horrified” at the demise of the PSAs, saying that when police had failed to show up for a recent PSA 108 meeting, the attendees engaged in a discussion of how to collectively address crime issues on their own, and it was “one of the best PSA’s” he’d attended in years.  He asked Brown, “Is community policing dead?”

Brown said that community policing is not dead and stressed the importance of revitalizing the PSAs and involving the ANCs.  He said that the PSAs which should be one of the main ways the MPD gets information out to the community.

Allen announced that he will host a Community Safety Meeting with Chief Lanier next Tuesday, October 27, from 7:00pm until 8:30pm, at Friendship Chamberlain Charter School, 1345 Potomac Avenue, across from Harris Teeter.

The 6th District lies across the Anacostia River. Councilmember Charles Allens Ward Six contains all of the 1st MPD District and parts of MPD Districts 3 and 5.

Detail of MPD’s 6th District

Councilmember Charles Allen and MPD First District Mark Beach at this morning’s meeting on safety issues near 8th and PA Avenue, SE

Business Community Meets Again on Safety Issues Near Eastern Market Metro

by Larry Janezich

This morning, representatives of more than a dozen community stakeholders, ranging from businesses, to MPD, to ANC6B, to Community Connenctions, to the Capitol BID met at Hill’s Kitchen near 8^th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, to discuss safety issues.  Hill’s Kitchen owner Leah Daniels has been the prime mover in organizing a response to the quality of life crimes which have come to define the 8^th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, commercial intersection.  The problems Daniels cited included vagrancy, trash, drug activity, public urination and public sex acts.

The issues were first aired at a similar meeting with CM Charles Allen on September 21 (http://bit.ly/1jzL4H5) and Allen reconvened the group to report on steps which have been taken to address the problems.  Two of the factors that Allen cited which are perceived as contributing to creating a negative environment on the corner are the clients of mental health provider Community Connections and students from both Cesar Chavez Charter School and Eastern High School.

With respect to the students, Allen credited Cesar Chavez administrators for instituting school staff participation in the after school safe passage program, whereby staff maintain a presence on the street between the school and Eastern Market Plaza to monitor student behavior after school.  Allen also commended the follow through by Eastern High School principle Rachel Skerritt in identifying students involved in a flash mob robbery of the Barracks Row 7-11 (http://bit.ly/1KGitvH), intervening with each of the students, and requiring those involved to visit the store with their parents to apologize to the manager.

MPD First District Captain Mark Beach addressed the group telling them of his strong commitment to bring improved community policing to the First District, ensuring his officers get out from behind the wheels of their cruisers to interact with businesses and residents.  He said his officers “are being tasked with becoming part of the community and they’re doing so,” and that he engages in a dialogue with his officers to determine what extent they are participating in the community, asking for specific details on who they have interacted with.

Beach said that police work is being hampered by a “mental health crisis” which is exacerbated by those self-medicating with synthetic drugs.  The resulting unconsciousness is a huge problem for MPD and DCFD, he said; MPD gets “25 or 30” calls a day asking for a first responder, sapping police resources.  Nonetheless, he urged residents to overcome the feeling of reluctance to call 911 when there is not a life or death emergency and to call for quality of life crime issues.

Some business owners complained that when they called 911, police response was slow and  police were nonchalant when they did arrive.  One said, “I’m calling but MPD is not doing anything.”  Beach said in such cases, he could be called directly, and gave the group his cell phone number.  He also claimed that part of the problem on response time is the troubled Office of Unified Communications (OUC) – the    call center – which he pointed out is not part of the MPD.  CM Allen agreed and said that the call center was the subject of recent Council hearings undertaken in an effort to better understand the unit and to make in more efficient.

Community Connections’ (CC) Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Dave Freeman said CC has conducted a survey of the area around 8^th and Pennsylvania, and identified 12 CC clients who frequent the intersection and who need additional intervention.  He described the steps that CC is taking to provide additional help to these individuals and to get them off of the streets.  He stressed that the assistance of ANC6B and CM Allen’s office could be helpful.

The group also heard from representatives of CVS and of Starbucks –  the latter cited the bus stop in front of the coffee shop as being the major contributing factor to loitering.  The redesign of Metro Plaza – if and when it becomes a reality – would relocate the bus stop across D Street to Metro Plaza.  Allen urged both stores to call 911 rather than relying on staff or irregular attention from corporate security offices.

Although invited, there was no representative from the Barracks Row 7-11, and concerns were raised that the problems experienced by that outlet in terms of being a magnet for a negative environment would be duplicated when the 7-11 on Pennsylvania Avenue opens in a few days.  Allen said he was meeting with representatives of both outlets in the next two weeks and would work with them to address these issues.

Asked for her reaction to the meeting today, Daniels said, “Anytime business can get together to solve problems, it’s a win.  I appreciate Charles Allen’s involvement and his work to make the community a cleaner and better place.”

Allen attributed the “vast majority of negative things to a handful of people.”  He urged the group to stay in touch with his office and the ANC and said the group would meet again if necessary.

View of Tracks and Union Station Parking Lot Looking South,. October 14, 2015, c. 7:20 pm

The Week Ahead….

Monday, October 19

1. ANC6D meets at 7:00pm, 1100 4th Street, SW, DCRA 2nd Floor Meeting Room.

Agenda not available at press time.

2. ANC 6A Transportation and Public Space Committee Meeting, 7:00pm, Capitol Hill Towers, 900 G Street, NE.

Among items on the Agenda:

Public space request related to Rappaport Co. redevelopment of H Street Connection.

Request for support of traffic calming assessment for 1200 and 1300 blocks of Constitution Avenue, NE.

Tuesday, October 20

1. ANC 6A Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee meets at 7:00pm, Sherwood Recreation Center, 10^th and G Streets, NE.

Among items on the agenda:

Discussion of request by The Pursuit at 1421 H Street, NE, for a change from a Restaurant to a Tavern license.

Discussion of request by Ocopa at 1324 H Street, NE, for an Entertainment Endorsement.

2. Eastern Market Community Potluck Dinner 7:00pm, North Hall.
3. CHRS Board of Directors meets at Capitol Hill Townhomes, 750 6^th Street, SE.

Wednesday, October 21

1. ANC6A Economic Development Committee meets at 7:00pm, Sherwood Recreation Center, Corner of 10th and G Streets, NE.

Among items on the agenda:

1140 Florida Avenue, NE.  Developer will make a brief presentation to provide information and answer questions regarding project in ANC5D.

134 11th Street, NE.   Applicant seeks a special exception not meeting the lot occupancy requirements to construct a garage with a rooftop deck in the R-4 District.

1313 to 1323 Linden Court, NE.  Applicant seeks variances to allow the construction of five one-family dwellings and a neighborhood-servicing retail establishment in the C-2-A District.

1114 F Street, NE.  Applicant seeks historic landmark designation for the Lexington Apartments building.

2. Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee meets at 7:00pm, North Hall, Eastern Market.

Saturday, October 24

River Park Nursery School Yard Sale at Eastern Market: Oct. 24, 8 am-1pm, From the announcement:  “Come find great bargains and delicious home baked goods while supporting a Capitol Hill nursery school!  Eastern Market in the plaza near Rumsey pool on North Carolina Avenue Southeast.  Proceeds support River Park Nursery School, which has a 50-year tradition of providing quality instruction that encourages individual growth and development.”

Sunday, October 25

Rosedale “REVERSE BOOK SALE” 1:00pm – 4:00pm. From the announcement:  “Friends of the Rosedale Library Fall Anniversary Celebration.  Donate books in good condition to support FORL’s programs at the Rosedale Library.  We’re doing things in a different way – a Reverse Book Sale.  Drop off your gently used books and make a donation. We’ll use the books to raise funds for FORL programs and events at the Library.  *Reverse Book Sale *Bake Sale and Cider *Halloween Crafts for Kids *Film Screening at 2 p.m.  “Mama C: Urban Warrior” *DCPL and FORL info and give-aways.” Rosedale Library is at 1701 Gales St NE, Washington, DC 20002.

The alley to C Street behind 300 block of PA Avenue before re-paving this summer

The Mendelsohn restaurant dumpsters on a good day

And on the morning of October 11, 2015

Grease in open buckets on top of biofuel dumpster behind Good Stuff Eatery, October 11, 2015

The scene recently behind Pret a Manger

Road kill two weeks ago on 9th Street near Hill Center

The rat in the previous picture alongside a section of the Washington Post, for scale. CHC subsequently called the Mayor’s Hotline 411 to have the carcass removed

Restaurants and Rats: The Latest Chapter Involves Famous Local Chef​

by Larry Janezich

Capitol Hill residents have heard about rats.  But residents who live near restaurants know them.  As retail outlets give way to the higher rents available from restaurants,​ the rat problem has grown – let us say by leaps and bounds.  The widely publicized rat wars on Barracks Row spurred ANC6B to set a goal of best operating practices for Barracks Row restaurants – a standard that encompasses indoor trash and grease storage and noise and odor abatement.  Now those issues are being prioritized for restaurants on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue – particularly those between 2nd and 4th Streets, S.E.

The C Street neighbors behind Pennsylvania Avenue restaurants –  a mix of longtime residents and newer ones, some with children – say that the trash disposal practices of these restaurants are attracting rodents to a degree greater than anything in their recent experience.  Residents have been complaining to the restaurants and to the ANC but have little leverage in a city which is disposed to put the welfare of its commercial base over the welfare of its citizens.  The renewal of liquor licenses every two years and requests for exceptions to the ban on fast food outlets are two of the few points where pressure can be applied on behalf of residents.

​The restaurants near the intersection of 3rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue is a case in point.  Four commercial spaces which used to be a barber shop, a drug store, a bank, and a dry cleaners have all been converted to eateries.  Rat problems have grown accordingly.

CHC has interviewed or had email exchanges with some half dozen nearby residents of the Pennsylvania Avenue restaurants in question.  All say that their quality of life has suffered as the result of problems brought to the neighborhood by restaurants including trash and grease management and noise and odor issues.

Residents on the 300 block of C Street, SE, are particularly at odds with the three restaurants owned by celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn – The Eatery, We the Pizza, and Bearnaise.  The complaints include bad trash and grease management practices, illegal parking in public alley, illegal construction of a roof deck and a fence, noise and odors.

Nearby residents appealed to then​-ANC6B01 ​Commissioner​ Dave Garrison​​ in 2013​,​ who tried to mediate an agreement between the restaurateur and neighbors.  When Bearnaise appeared before the ANC in 2013 to support the application for a liquor license, a restaurant representative told the ANC that the restaurant had made arrangements for twice a day trash pick-up at 8am and 6pm, and had ordered heavy metal covers for trash bins (see ANC6B minutes for that month).

Neighbors say that the metal covers were installed but do not help when bins are filled to overflowing, and the promised twice a day trash pick-up is not happening and has never happened.  An unexpected downside of the metal covers is the late night crashing when they are closed by restaurant personnel.

This past summer, neighbors appealed to ANC6B01 Commissioner Jennifer Samolyk,​ who succeeded Garrison.  Samolyk appealed to the Mayor’s office, and one of the Mayor’s Ward 6 representatives – Seth Shapiro – visited the site and, in attempt to improve alley cleanliness, facilitated the repaving of the alley which happened on short notice and apparently without consultation with the neighbors.

Since then, according to nearby residents,

• The dumpsters continue to leak debris and liquids especially when emptied into trucks on C Street
• Frequently open and overflowing dumpsters remain in the alley and in a “corral” behind al illegally constructed fence in space leased from an adjacent bank
• The pizza delivery autos of the restaurant park illegally on public space in the alley, blocking it to access by emergency vehicles and presenting a danger to pedestrians when the vehicles back out onto C Street
• An illegal deck has been constructed atop Bearnaise with the intent of growing a roof top herb and vegetable garden which will further exacerbate the rat problem
• Open buckets of used fryer grease are stored in the open behind The Eatery

Several nearby residents have paved their back yards with concrete to prevent rat burrows.  All of them complain about the abundance or rats – alive and dead – plaguing their lives and preventing the use of their yards.  One resident claims he was told by DPW that “restaurant quality grease” disposed of in a sewer line was responsible for sewage backup in his basement.  Another has taken a pet to the veterinarian twice to be treated for eating rat poison.

All restaurant liquor licenses will come up for renewal in March of 2016.  Perhaps because of this, the Mendelsohn restaurants have apparently become more receptive to addressing resident concerns.  This week, a representative of the restaurant group told CHC that they are “installing a refrigerated walk in trash room which is being custom made to have a wide enough door that accommodates wide trash bins.”  In addition, the representative said, “We currently spend over $165,000 a year in keeping our restaurants extremely clean for our customers. As a family business we are constantly working within our community to enhance our neighborhood.”

In February of this year, Mayor Bowser appointed Spike Mendelsohn to Chair the District’s newly created Food Policy Council.

According to the Mayor’s press release, “As Chair of the Food Policy Council, Spike Mendelsohn will spearhead efforts to promote the food economy and entrepreneurship, improve food access and equity in all 8 wards, and promote urban agriculture and production.”

Neighbors hope that in addition, Mendelsohn will set an example for other restaurants in the city by adopting best operating practices – as one of his competitors on Barracks Row (&Pizza) – has been willing to do.

ANC6B Steamed at Dissing by DGS over Eastern Market Flea Market Licensing

by Larry Janezich

ANC6B was expecting to hear Department of General Services (DGS) Associate Director Forest Hayes discuss the details of the new licenses issued to the Eastern Market Weekend Flea Markets Tuesday night.  (The city backed off an earlier announcement that they were taking over management of the weekend flea markets from the current private operators as reported by CHC here:  http://bit.ly/1QeBTGK). Instead, Hayes dispatched Eastern Market Manager Barry Margeson to the meeting to tell the ANC simply that the licenses had been extended to July 31, 2017, and all other questions should be directed to the DGS press office.

This did not sit well with Commissioners.

Chair Kirsten Oldenburg expressed her concern and disappointment that details were not forthcoming on whether the agreement contained any provision beyond the July 2017 date, particularly after completion of the Hine contract, saying that she felt the Commission had been deprived of the opportunity to have a dialogue with the Associate Director on these matters.

Commissioner Denise Krepp, never one to mince words, told Margeson that Hayes’ method of dealing with the scheduled visit was “outrageous.  We invited Hayes; he said he can’t come and sent you to tell us to call his press person?”  Margeson replied, “Yes.”  Krepp said, “Excuse me, but it seems that the director is giving us a large bird.”

A less outspoken Commissioner Hoskins said that the failure of DGS to communicate or engage on such an important issue spoke to the need for the ANC to demand greater transparency on the licensing.

The Commission subsequently voted 10 – 0 to send a letter to the DGS Director Christopher E. Weaver, copying the Mayor, saying they “expected the director (Hayes) at our next meeting” to discuss the matter of licensing the flea markets.

Liberty Mutual Church at 527 Kentucky Avenue, SE (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)

Church Van Stolen in Hill East – District 1 MPD a No Show at PSA 108 at The Church

by Larry Janezich

Sometime during the night on Tuesday or early Wednesday morning, car thieves stole the clearly marked van belonging to Liberty Baptist Church.  The thieves cut the lock to the chain link enclosure, hotwired the van and drove it away.  The van was later recovered Wednesday afternoon abandoned on Virginia Avenue, SE, engine still running.  Reverend Anthony Owens described the incident to CHC, and asked that it be brought up at the PSA 108 scheduled for 7:00pm on Thursday night.

CHC would have done that had any MPD official showed up for PSA 108.  None did.  A dozen Hill East residents – many of them new faces brought to the meeting on a day when the subject of crime in Hill East lit up the newhilleast listserv.  In addition to the newcomers Hill East ANC6B commissioners Nick Burger and Chander Jayaraman were in attendance.  In the absence of MPD, those commissioners met with residents for about an hour discussing concerns about crime in Hill East.

The increase in attendance above the handful of residents that usually turn out for the PSA meetings was apparently driven by community reaction to three violent crimes which occurred Wednesday night in Hill East:

• A stabbing at 16^th and Independence
• A robbery with force and violence in the 100 block of 14^th Street, SE
• A stabbing a Potomac Avenue Metro Station

A posting by a 15 year resident at 13^th and C Streets reacting to the night of violent crime and expressing lack of faith in police and elected officials to address the “skyrocketing surge in crime’ set off a day-long crime discussion on the listserv which included notifications of Thursday’s PSA meeting.

District 1 MPD didn’t get the message.

The tentative course through Capitol Hill for the 2016 Rock ‘n Roll Marathon

ANC6B Holds Up Rock ‘n Roll Marathon Pending Better Management Plan

WMATA Suggests Full Service Could Return to Stadium Armory Metro In 3 Months

by Larry Janezich

Still stinging over what they perceived as a badly mishandled 2015 Rock ’n Roll marathon, ANC6B told the organizer and WMATA that they wanted a concrete plan to keep the March 2016 race from repeating the chaos of this year.  The concerns have been heightened by WMATA’s estimate that service at Stadium/Armory Metro stop which is closest to the marathon’s RFK stadium finish line will be reduced for the next six months while fire damage near the stop is repaired.

Many residents of the city – especially in the Capitol Hill residential districts which suffer the greatest impact of the race – question whether the benefits to the city justify the disruption of the lives of so many residents.  DC hosts two annual marathons – the Marine Marathon in the fall (much of which is in Virginia) and the R&R Marathon in the spring (all of which is in DC).

At the October meeting of the ANC Planning and Zoning Committee, commissioners told the organizers that they wanted to hear from WMATA before considering approval of the marathon.

A long list of complaints about the 2015 race included:

Stadium/Armory Metro Stop overwhelmed with people trying to board trains on a weekend schedule.

Out of Service escalator at Stadium/Armory Metro contributed to huge back up of people trying to get onto Metro.

Discouraged riders walked in the rain to Eastern Market Metro, only to encounter backups there.

No alternate transportation – buses – available to facilitate moving of people.

Not enough WMATA and organizer personnel on site to manage and direct crowds.

Inadequate signage.

Police offices ignorant of cross over points where moving across the race course would be permitted.

Street closures earlier than announced.

WMATA Assistant General Manager Lynn M. Bowersox told the ANC that managing a 20,000 member crowd was difficult, and that with other – usually larger events – organizers pay WMATA the cost of increasing service to accommodate crowds. She said that a new assessment by WMATA suggests that normal service could be restored to Stadium/Armory Metro stop in three months instead of six.  Finally she offered that the escalator currently down for maintenance at the stop would be back in business by the end of January.  According to Bowersox, WMATA is open to addressing specific areas of concern, but, she said, she was only hearing generalities about overwhelming numbers of people.

Commissioner James Loots told Bowersox, “I want to hear more than Metro is returning to normal – because last year, normal was not good enough.” He said he could not support the race without a written commitment about what the organizers and WMATA will do to prevent recurrence of 2015.

Commissioner Brian Flahaven said that WMATA and the organizers need to be more proactive and that “it is a small thing to ask that the race have no negative impact on the community.”

The Commission subsequently voted not to support the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon until and unless the organizers and WMATA respond to a forthcoming list of concerns and provide commitments regarding concrete actions which will be taken to address those concerns.  The vote was unanimous, 10 – 0.

The space along side of 1100 8th Street – the new home of Las Placitas – will be the site of a 38 seat sidewalk cafe.

Las Placitas Scheduled to Open November 1^st in New Lower Barracks Row Location

ANC Clears Liquor License

By Larry Janezich

The three Amaya brothers (Isadoro, Roman, and Jose)  owners of Las Placitas Restaurant, hope to reopen the popular restaurant at its new location at 1100 8^th Street, SE, on November 1.  The news was announced Tuesday night at ANC6B’s October meeting where an application for a liquor license for the restaurant was before the Commission.  The application was approved by a vote of 9 – 0 – 1.

Las Placitas had occupied the space at 517 8^th Street for 24 years and 360 days, making it one of the oldest existing restaurants on Barracks Row.  The Amayas lost the lease at that location this month and the neighboring Matchbox restaurant will expand into the space.  The new restaurant will seat 78 – 40 inside and 38 at a sidewalk café  alongside the restaurant.

Closing at the end of October

Relocating to space formerly occupied by Curbside Cafe

The Pretzel Bakery’s Current Menu 

The Week Ahead….And Hill East’s Curbside Café Out – Pretzel Bakery In

by Larry Janezich

Hill East’s Curbside Café Out – Pretzel Bakery In

Curbside Café will close the doors of its brick and mortar operation at 257 15^th Street at the end of October and The Pretzel Bakery just down the street at 430 15^th Street, SE, will relocate to the space.  The move will allow the bakery to offer sit down dining, but it is unclear whether the move will affect the bakery’s menu.  Curbside Café which opened in October of 2013 has over time reduced its operating hours to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  A representative told CHC that business on the weekends is ok, but that the area lacks sufficient foot traffic to justify remaining open during the week.  The Payne Elementary School directly across the street occupies a city block which might otherwise hold residences with potential customers.

The bakery – owned by Sean Haney – will be the third attempt at establishing an eatery at the former site of the notorious New Dragon carry-out, long a 15^th Street trouble spot.  (Curbside was preceded by The Creperie which briefly thrilled the neighborhood before falling victim to internal management squabbles.)

Re-establishing retail on 15^th Street has been problematic.  The commercial strip – a hold-over from another era – once boasted a Safeway, a tavern, a small department store, at least two convenience stores, laundromats, two liquor stores and various other enterprises.  Little retail space remains as multi-unit residential projects soaked up the strip’s commercial space.

The Week Ahead….

Tuesday, October 13

1. ANC6B meets at 7:00pm in Hill Center

Among items on the agenda:

Virginia Avenue SE, concept/new construction of 4-story building (consent agenda).  See CHC post here: http://bit.ly/1jcn90s

Presentations by Forest Hayes, Associate Director, Department of General Services, on the status of the Eastern Market Weekend Flea Markets

Restaurant liquor license for Las Placitas, 1100 8th Street, SE.

Rock ‘n Roll DC Marathon (March 2016)

Letter to Stanton-Eastbanc on Hine Development Construction Problems

DDOT Navy Yard/Union Station Circulator Proposal on Elimination of Stops

Letter to Mayor Bowser on Events DC RFK Study Process

Letter to WMATA on Trains Skipping Stadium Armory Metro Station

Resolution on DC Homelessness

2. O. Wilson Elementary School Community Safety Walk (before PSA 104 public meeting), 6:00pm , meet at TD Burger, 257 K Street, NE, to walk through the community problem spots.
3. PSA 104 meeting at 7:00pm, JO Wilson Elementary School, 660 K Street, NE.  For maps and additional information on Ward Six PSAs, see here:  http://1.usa.gov/1LBL0g6
4. Public Meeting for Linden Court, NE, Alley Safety Improvement Project, 6:00pm, H Street Country Club, 1335 H Street, NE. DDOT invites the community to a presentation of the plans and schedule for the Linden Court NE Alley Safety Improvement Project.

Thursday, October 15

1. ANC6B Outreach and Constituent Services Task Force meets at 7:00pm, Hill Center.
2. PSA 108 meets at 7:00pm, Liberty Baptist Church, 527 Kentucky Avenue, SE. For maps and additional information on Ward Six PSAs, see here:  http://1.usa.gov/1LBL0g6
3. Special Community meeting on restoration and renovation of Virginia Avenue Park, 7:00pm, Hill Center. Department of Parks and Recreation representatives will meet with the community on proposed plans for Virginia Avenue between 2^nd and 9^th Streets, SE.  The plans will be implemented by CSX at the completion of the Virginia Avenue Tunnel Project.

MPD Assistant Chief Diane Grooms addresses ANC6A and residents on crime issues on or near H Street, NE

MPD First District Acting Captain Tony Charland speaks to the First District’s response to crime on H Street

Starburst Plaza, courtesy of Google Maps

Asst. Chief Grooms Defends MPD’s Response to Violent Crime on H Street Nightlife Destination

by Larry Janezich

Assistant Chief Diane Grooms came to ANC6A Tuesday night in response to an ANC request that MPD address what the MPD is doing about the rash of violent crime on or near the popular but gritty H Street, NE, nightlife destination.  Grooms was a high-level stand in for First District Commander Jeff Brown who is on leave owing to a death in the family.

Grooms sought to assure the ANC and the 50 or so residents in attendance that Chief Lanier is devoting considerable resources to address crime city-wide as well as in and near PSA 104 which includes H Street, NE.  Multiple MPD resources are involved in the effort, including the Gun Recovery Unit, the Narcotics and Special Investigations Division (NSID), and the Criminal Interdiction Unit (CIU).  She said that MPD also devotes additional resources to nightlife areas – up to ten officers on an as needed basis.  Some of the nightlife areas she mentioned include Adams/Morgan, China Town – and H Street, NE.  In addition, she said, the Chief has authorized overtime in every one of the eight MPD Districts.

Much of the crime in the H Street area, Grooms said, is from teenage and pre-teenage youths who come from Trinidad and congregate at locations such as the Sherwood Recreation Center and along Benning Road, including the Starburst Plaza which she termed “the ground zero for distribution of synthetic drugs.” Grooms said that a typical robbery involves a group of 2 to five who knock the victim down and steal property and then take what she termed the main route out of the area – Benning Road.  MPD devotes a lot of resource3s to this corridor, she said.

With respect to recent homicides on or near H Street, she noted the recent killing of an alleged potential robber by his would be victims (case closed), a fatal 800 block of H street stabbing on a Metrobus in which an arrest has been made, and a Third Street, NE, homicide which she described as a revenge killing (still pending).

Grooms referenced the criticism levied against Chief Lanier for disbanding the vice squads and consolidating them in the NSID, saying that the centralization had resulted in “tons of arrests” involving distribution after refocusing the unit’s efforts away from lower level drug users and possessors of marijuana, heroin, and crack cocaine: “the system is flooded with people who need help rather than locking up.”.  CM Charles Allen and the MPD Union have both criticized Lanier for centralizing the seven individual vice units into one citywide drug unit.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Struhar of NSID followed Grooms, pointing out some of the drug sale hotspots on or near H Street, naming Starburst Plaza, “Rose’s Liquor,” the CVS in Hechinger Mall, Rhode Island Avenue and Benning Road.  He noted 44 arrests recently for distribution of drugs along Benning Road and cited a number of heroin arrests in the 12^th and 13^th block of H Street.

Struhar said that the best thing the community can do to help MPD is to provide information, urging residents who observe drug sales to email MPD here:  NSID.drugcomplaints@dc.gov  Regarding when to email, he said, “Juvenile in parks smoking marijuana?  No.  Call 911.  Sale of drugs from houses or on the streets – email MPD.”

For the First District’s part, Acting Captain Tony Charland – who spoke in Brown’s absence – addressed the resources under the First District’s Command, citing the H Street detail now operating on a ten hour shift as well as the two members of the Mountain Bike Unit which currently patrol a ten block area centered on 8^th and H Streets, NE, and the neighborhood to the south.

Charland said that the MPD has the presence and a plan to address crime – and emphasized that the key thing is communications and that “has to involve the community.”  He said that the number of calls MPD receives establishes the priority regarding devotion of resources to an area: “It’s not necessary to have police on every corner – communications allows MPD to find ways to be creative regarding community policing.  If you see something that doesn’t look right for your community, we need to know.”  He urged residents to emails him directly at Antonia.Charland@dc.gov

In the short time remaining for questions after the presentations, ANC6A Commissioner Omar Mahmud        told Grooms that residents feel a general sense of lawlessness and that people don’t feel safe because of the number of quality of life crimes such as gambling and public urination.  He said people are uneasy with the neighborhood and there is the sense that it is regressing.  He told Grooms that MPD needs to address the low level crimes that make them feel that way.

Grooms agreed that gambling needed to be addressed, but cited the difficulty of enforcing nuisance crimes such as public urination which has to be witnessed by an officer.  Grooms also noted that the department is undergoing a large number of retirements – especially at the managerial level – and that those vacancies are not expected to be replaced until a new promotion policy is in place sometime next spring.

Summing up, Groom urged residents not to hesitate to call 911 whenever they sense something amiss; “That’s what we’re here for.  If it doesn’t seem right, act on it.”  She said that the criminal population is small and involves a small number of people repeating crimes and that the police are trying to focus on that.