For the razor wire, ask DCRA's Office of General Counsel (at 202-442-8475) where to direct a complaint. It probably falls under either the Building & Land Regs. Admin. or Compliance & Enforcement, and OGC will tell you which one. If it's Compliance & Enforcement, you just need to fill out the complaint form, attach a photo to be helpful, then sit back and wait for the wheels of DCRA to run their course. Maybe call once or twice to check the status, of course.
For future reference, I submitted a complaint to DCRA at 442-4641 (Building and Land Regulations). The person taking the complaint was not aware that razor wire was illegal. It helped a lot to be able to site to a statute (D.C. Code sec. 9-1213.01), which makes it illegal to erect barbed wire along any public walk within the fire limits of D.C. Since the razor wire in the 1400 block of H St. NE is elevated above the public walk, it arguably falls outside of this provision, but there's only one way to find out.
Ok, mixed signals again. I called a few different offices and mostly was got voicemail. I called Councilman Orange's office (since I live in Ward 5 and it is a general question). The guy I talked to had never heard of razor wire, but when he called me back he gave me the same reference that Rich mention re: the barbed wire (this was also the only reference I could find in the portion of the DC code that is online). I the called Francine Edmonds who is an acting ward 5 contact for the Office of Neighborhood Services. Ms. Edmonds assures me that razor wire is with out a doubt 100% illegal in the District of Columbia & that DCRA should certainly know this.
8 comments:
Nothing says come on in like razor wire.
What gets me is that I sometimes see it on area churches (usually around their parking lots). Razor wire is definitely illegal in DC.
So who and why isn't the no razor wire enforced?
For the razor wire, ask DCRA's Office of General Counsel (at 202-442-8475) where to direct a complaint. It probably falls under either the Building & Land Regs. Admin. or Compliance & Enforcement, and OGC will tell you which one. If it's Compliance & Enforcement, you just need to fill out the complaint form, attach a photo to be helpful, then sit back and wait for the wheels of DCRA to run their course. Maybe call once or twice to check the status, of course.
For future reference, I submitted a complaint to DCRA at 442-4641 (Building and Land Regulations). The person taking the complaint was not aware that razor wire was illegal. It helped a lot to be able to site to a statute (D.C. Code sec. 9-1213.01), which makes it illegal to erect barbed wire along any public walk within the fire limits of D.C. Since the razor wire in the 1400 block of H St. NE is elevated above the public walk, it arguably falls outside of this provision, but there's only one way to find out.
I was under the impression the razor wire, unlike barbed wire, was completely illegal in DC. Is this not the case?
Ok, mixed signals again. I called a few different offices and mostly was got voicemail. I called Councilman Orange's office (since I live in Ward 5 and it is a general question). The guy I talked to had never heard of razor wire, but when he called me back he gave me the same reference that Rich mention re: the barbed wire (this was also the only reference I could find in the portion of the DC code that is online). I the called Francine Edmonds who is an acting ward 5 contact for the Office of Neighborhood Services. Ms. Edmonds assures me that razor wire is with out a doubt 100% illegal in the District of Columbia & that DCRA should certainly know this.
Ok, the final decision is that razor wire is legal. But, you must still comply with the rules Rich Luna makes reference to above.
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