A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.
Monday, October 17, 2005
A Personal Story on Fighting Neighborhood Crime
Here's a link to a piece that recently appeared in the Washington Post. The author, a local resident tells the story of her personal efforts to improve life on her block by working with neighbors and city employees to make criminals feel unwelcome.
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Very proud of pushing her problem on to H Street. I suppose that is where it belongs. Not on Capitol Hill proper.
The above is an unfair characterization of the article -- especially if you bother to read to the last sentence, where the author admits that merely moving the dealers further North (or in other neighborhoods its further East) is not the answer...
I think the overall point is that we all have to chip in and work together to resolve neighborhood issues because it isn't something that the police can, or will do alone.
I thought moving it to 7th and H was interesting, but I agree that she should be commended for her active work in mobilizing the neighborhood to work together.
Knowing the writer of the article personally, and being intimately involved in her efforts I can attest to the fact that merely pushing the criminals out of her imediate block is not the intent. We have worked very hard to have these criminals arrested and locked up, but unfortunately our judicial system in this city does not work. These criminal are usually back out on the street within the same day. It is going to take a much bigger effort from the community to see this activity go away and not just moved from one location to the next.
6 comments:
Very proud of pushing her problem on to H Street. I suppose that is where it belongs. Not on Capitol Hill proper.
The above is an unfair characterization of the article -- especially if you bother to read to the last sentence, where the author admits that merely moving the dealers further North (or in other neighborhoods its further East) is not the answer...
I think the overall point is that we all have to chip in and work together to resolve neighborhood issues because it isn't something that the police can, or will do alone.
I thought moving it to 7th and H was interesting, but I agree that she should be commended for her active work in mobilizing the neighborhood to work together.
I applaud her efforts as well but the wording about Hth & 7th made her seem insensitive to her lower income neighbors to the north.
As in many areas in many cities the divide between the south and north side of H street is greater than just four car lengths.
Knowing the writer of the article personally, and being intimately involved in her efforts I can attest to the fact that merely pushing the criminals out of her imediate block is not the intent. We have worked very hard to have these criminals arrested and locked up, but unfortunately our judicial system in this city does not work. These criminal are usually back out on the street within the same day. It is going to take a much bigger effort from the community to see this activity go away and not just moved from one location to the next.
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