Highlights:
-The burning body discovered on Sunday was male and had a record. This victim had been victimized in a similar manner recently (police believe this was someone finishing the job). The body was burned in an alley behind Danny's & a carpet store (1200 block of H Street). The victim was shot before being set on fire. It is not clear whether the shooting also occurred in that same alley. So far, it does not appear that the victim had ties to this community, but this is only a preliminary assessment since his next of kin has not yet been notified.
-Much discussion centered on alley safety & police enforcement in that alley & others nearby. calls for basics like the city installing better lighting, or trimming trees were heard. We were all reminded that psa 102 has had dramatic decreases in crime overall & that this incident was an extreme anomaly. After the meeting concluded police walked back to the alley with residents to view the scene.
-Another topic was the long requested establishment of a local police substation. Apparently the police are trying to get ( the now vacant) Minor elementary school. The issues are that a charter school, which has first right of refusal, wants the space & also that the school would need to be renovated. The vacant [sorry, not truly vacant since it is sometimes used for HSMS meetings. I guess the plan would be for HSMS to share the space with the police] Bank of America building (10th & H) was mentioned as a possibility, but the police had turned the space down when it was offered to them on the past. There was one mention of the possibility (mentioned at the previous evening's ABL meeting) of using the second floor of 1224 H Street. The police stated that they would be interested in a larger space, similar in size to Minor.
5 comments:
For those who don't know (like me), the remainder of the old Miner Elementary building is historic and located in the SE corner of the current Miner Elementary School lot (601 15th St.), which puts it at about 16th and F Streets NE. An aerial photo is at:
http://www.k12.dc.us/dcps/frontpagepdfs/RLI/
RLI%20Old%20Miner%20_2_.pdf
This site doesn't have the benefit of a visible police presence on H Street, but would certainly be a step in the right direction.
The "vacant" building at 10th and H is supposed to be the office of H Street Main Street... and not vacant.
Sorry, it's not vacant. HSMS does use it sometimes. I mentioned it because Anwar was at the meeting & said they had offered the space for use as a substation before, but that the police had turned it down. He said the police could use it if they wanted to. I guess they would share it with HSMS.
What about the old vacant firestation in the 1300 block of Maryland?
From Voice of the Hill website:
Property Transfer Further Delays Rehabilitation
Abandoned Fire, Police Station Still Empty
BY DAVE FRANCIS
Two long-vacant Capitol Hill properties located at 525 Ninth St., NE, and 1341 Maryland Ave., NE, will be transferred from the Office of Property Management to the National Capitol Revitalization Corporation (NCRC), further delaying a process to rehabilitate the structures.
The properties, which were maintained by the city’s community development department (DHCD), but technically owned by OPM, were transferred to the NCRC as compensation in a deal with the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation in which the city would transfer property to aid in the revitalization of the Southwest Waterfront. Both properties are located in Northeast.
The transfer will likely delay the renovation of the properties. The impacted Advisory Neighborhood Commission and residents close to the buildings have been working with the DHCD for nearly two years to issue proposals for companies to develop the properties.
ANC 6A Commissioner Joe Fengler said that it is unclear how long the delay will be, as the NCRC is not a government entity but an independent agency.
“I don’t know where we are,” Fengler said when asked about a timeframe. “I am disappointed that the disposition of these two properties has found its way into another bureaucratic delay.”
The latest delays come over a year after DHCD Director Stanley Jackson promised proposals for these projects would be issued before the end of 2004. When this deadline was missed, additional promises were made by Vanessa Akins of the Office of Planning that the proposals would be issued early this year.
But because the properties are not under the purview of DHCD, they will have no part in issuing a proposal, erasing over a year’s worth of work. Length of delays caused by the transfers of the properties is not yet known.
ANC6A sent a letter dated June 15 to OPM chief Carol Mitten asking her if the office can issue the proposals despite the transfer. He has yet to receive a response.
In the letter, signed by Fengler acting as ANC chairman, the commission attached a long string of documents, dating back to February 2004, outlining committee and community efforts to rehabilitate the properties. The letters include minutes from the March 2004 meeting in which Jackson promised the proposals would be issued by the end of that year, and an April 2005 letter to the DHCD requesting an update on when the proposals will be issued.
The properties have been a point of contention in the community.
Residents were split on how the property should be used, but after long debate the ANC recommended that facility have a quasi-residential use. The process for coming to community consensus on the Ninth Street property was less contentious, with residential use being approved easily.
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