Monday, March 14, 2016

Kathy Henderson Calls Cops Over Community Clean-Up Dispute

Screen Shot 2016-03-13 at 10.17.13 PM
Tweet from Commissioner Adam Roberts (5D03), who replaced Commissioner Kathy Henderson (5D05) as Chair of ANC 5D in January

I think I can safely say that most of us regard community clean-ups as generally a good thing. Trash gets picked up, the streets, sidewalks, and treeboxes look a little nicer, and neighbors get to meet and catch up on local news. A clean-up in the Carver Terrace neighborhood took an ugly turn Sunday afternoon. Kathy Henderson, the former Chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5D, called the cops during a community clean-up lead by the current Chair Adam Roberts. Six volunteers turned out for a community clean up of both sides of the 1700-1900 blocks of L Street. They were reportedly working their way around in a u-shaped pattern that brought them to the sidewalk in front of Henderson's house (Roberts and Henderson both live in the 1800 block of L Street, just on opposite sides). Henderson was out gardening in her yard, and allegedly made a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Thank you for finally doing something good for the community." That sort comment and its tone will strike as familiar anyone who has either read Henderson's emails about Roberts to the Ward 5 Yahoo group, or attended an ANC 5D meeting.

Henderson and Eddie Milton (Roberts' partner),
who regularly videotapes ANC 5D meetings and posts them on YouTube, then traded verbal barbs. According to Commissioner Roberts this verbal dueling included Henderson saying the following while holding a handful of garden soil: "shut up...just shut up ...you're disgusting...I so badly want to hit..." Roberts told me another neighbor who was present at the clean-up says she saw Henderson fling dirt at Milton, but it was apparently after Milton had turned around.


Video courtesy of Eddie Milton 

Commissioner Roberts declined to give specifics of what Milton said, but stated that it was "Nothing threatening." Henderson called MPD to report that Milton was "in front of [her] house antagonizing [her] and throwing things at [her]." She continued, saying "something is wrong with him," and describing Milton as "an African-American male. He's wearing blue jeans, a striped hoodie, and some gray sneakers." No fewer than four Metropolitan Police Officers arrived promptly complete with blaring sirens and flashing lights. No arrests were made.

An uninvolved resident mentioned on Twitter that Kathy Henderson was present at a community clean-up he attended only the day before. As far as he knew, no one called the police on the cleaning residents. All I can say is that Carver Terrace must be absolutely spotless at this point.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

She's such a charmer that Kathy Henderson. She must make the people that do vote for her proud. Her bluster and Donald Trump's are so very similar, as it is with bullies everywhere.

Anonymous said...

she's like the donald trump of local politics

Anonymous said...

Well said!

Anonymous said...

Think of the resources wasted in calling the police...Specious calls for service waste millions in tax dollars all over the country every year, not to mention precious time preventing first responders from addressing true life or death situations.

Anonymous said...

Carver Terrace is not spotless, it's absolutely disgusting and the streets and sidewalks are covered in trash. Thanks to the volunteers trying to clean up the community. Please come the M St. NE, between 17th and 19th Streets!

Anonymous said...

The cops must hate her. Seriously calling the cops on someone she knows and knows isn't bothering her just to harass him. People like that must be truly miserable.

Anonymous said...

As a member of the L street community and one of the 6 volunteers from the cleanup yesterday, I find it amazing that whatever cleanup Ms. Henderson was involved with failed to pick up ANY trash on our street before we started cleaning Sunday afternoon. This woman tries to use bullying and shameful words to influence her community, instead of actually picking up a garbage bag and DOING something. Time to let residents who truly care about our street take her position-- she is a waste of precious neighborhood resources.

Anonymous said...

Kathy was wasting police resources at the same time 10 year old Ridwan Eliassou-Maman was declared "Missing Person Critical" by DC MPD. At this time, they still have not found the child. I am absolutely disgusted by ANC 5D05 commissioner Kathy Henderson misuse of the DC's emergency services.

See this link for a picture of Ridwan to help in the search:
https://twitter.com/DCPoliceDept/status/709039351246798848

Lets pray that MPD locates Ridwan Eliassou-Maman and gets him safety reunited with his family.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon 12:46 - I don't understand why you're ask for volunteers to clean up M Street between 17th and 19th. Why not get out there and volunteer yourself?

Adam Roberts said...

@8:15 Good news - Ridwan has been located. https://twitter.com/dcpolicedept/status/709061987926458369

Adam Roberts said...

Let's set it up! Another neighbor just expressed interest as well. Email me at 5d03@anc.dc.gov and I can connect us all to find a time that works. I'm only one person but count me in to help out day-of and to advertise. Let's get your neighbors on board!

Annoyingmous said...

She kinda does remind me of Trump: both love to bluster and seem uninterested in either truth or civility.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 12:46: I cannot keep an entire 2 blocks clean by myself and I had to work on the day volunteers cleaned the neighborhood. I do my part when I can. Hope you do the same.

Anonymous said...

She will always be a child because she was voted out of her chair spot, now children please grow up