Apple Road, which is a one block street, is indicated by the star. The Trinidad neighborhood is visible in the bottom left of the map. That blue line in the top right of the map is the Maryland border.
Thomas Announces Outreach Initiative to Address Epidemic of Crime and Violence Gripping Ward 5 Neighborhoods
Washington DC – Ward 5 Councilmember Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr. announced today that he is undertaking a broad-based community outreach initiative to address the wave of crime and violence that has taken hold in several Ward 5 neighborhoods.
The two homicides that occurred over the weekend of March 15 and16, 2008, highlight the need for such an effort: On Saturday, March 15 at 11 pm, a man was found shot in the head in the Stronghold neighborhood at North Capitol and Evarts Streets, NE. And at 4 am on Sunday, March 16, a teen-age boy was found murdered on Apple Road, NE, which is located in the Trinidad neighborhood.
Councilmember Thomas' initiative includes several components:
• Opening a community outreach office in Trinidad, which has endured an alarming increase in homicides among youths;
• Meeting with all ANCs, civic, business, and church leaders to develop strategies for their neighborhoods, including those from the Trinidad neighborhood and along the Rhode Island Avenue corridor; and
• Launching of an anti-crime program in conjunction with MPD Chief Lanier and 5D Commander Greene, with the goal of ensuring that maximum resources are deployed to restore order in Trinidad, the Stronghold, and other Ward 5 communities where violence has escalated in recent months.
"The crime and violence gripping Trinidad, the Stronghold, and some of our other Ward 5 neighborhoods is unacceptable," said Councilmember Thomas. "I am deeply troubled by the level of violence that has erupted. I am committed improving public safety in Ward 5 and bringing this senseless violence to an end," pledged Thomas.
8 comments:
Maybe the person that wrote the press release lives in Ward 9.
Glad to hear it. I'm bummed that I had to miss the PSA meeting yesterday. Anything of note happen there?
In my limited experience it seems that the only thing that can make a difference is forcing the drug dealers to move on somewhere else. Is that right in others' experience?
If it is, what are the options besides waiting for property values to price them out of the neighborhood?
And if there are options we need leadership and organization. We don't see much strategy or leadership coming out of the PSA meetings (and admittedly citizens don't show up regularly to demand it, either) so maybe this outreach office can provide it?
it's amazing to see that they got the stronghold neighborhood right, and didn't call it "brookland", which is what that usually gets lumped in with.
Unfortunately, you can buy out their houses, but they return to the 'hood.
Right now there is a car with no tags, and three dealers sitting in it, at 14th & Emerald. They are there every evening, however, the cops never see them. These are the same guys that stood in front N-A Minit when Diane Groomes patroled our neighborhood. Unfortunely, the only they seem to leave is feet first. and that is really a bad thing.
Since we are talking about crime in ward 5, I just heard on the news that a live grenade was found in a house in the 900 block of 5th street N.E. Two people were arrested. Are we going commando on crime now? Say blowing up crack houses. Hmmm?
I am so sick of these f#cking animals in the neighborhood. Frankly, I think the problem resides with the landlords. In my observation, there are more renters and squatters in these neighborhoods rather than owners. The landlords who rent out alot of the uglier looking rowhouses and 4 unit brick buildings don't screen the people they rent to because they don't give a damn. They want the rent, whether from the Housing Voucher program or anywhere else. Meanwhile, any and everybody is moving in, staying for years, and alot of these people are causing issues in the neighborhoods in Ward 5. If the landlords would fix up their properties and more importantly, CARE ABOUT WHO THEY RENT TO, then perhaps more decent people could come to reside in Ward 5 and the vast majority of these violence issues experienced on these blocks would end. No one who has something valuable to protect would risk their property deteriorating and becoming drug or violence infested. I'm not saying everyone who is a renter in Ward 5 is a problem person, but from what I see, there are ALOT of renters in the area who live in the less maintained properties and these people more often times than not, are the ones littering, letting alot of bad @ss kids run wild on the streets, and cause ALOT of grief for decent and hardworking people who live in the area. It's not right and I believe the DC government and Harry Thomas' office need to do more than open a few offices for crime prevention. They need to start making these absentee and irresponsible landlords PAY for this. I know writing this is like farting in the wind to hope someone in a position of some level of authority in DC could do something, but I just had to vent about this. It's just not right...
Anon 12:05, if you haven't already, you might be interested in the Williams/Abdo Condo thread.
hmm. Saw a 5D police officer out on patrol late one Saturday night driving slowly - below the speed limit. I thought he was checking out something suspicious or was at least paying very careful attention. But no, his poor driving was due to his talking on a cell phone and not paying attention to much else while he was behind the wheel.
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