June 4, 2007
Morning Roundup: Crime Back Up Edition
Good morning, Washington. We hope you had a safe weekend and were able to enjoy the cooler weather on Sunday thanks to the rain brought in by remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. The respite from the heat, which looks like it may last through Wednesday, is one of the few things we can find to be upbeat about as we go over today's headlines. As you've already heard, Tonya Bell, a 30-year-old woman from Oxon Hill, has been charged with aggravated assault while armed after plowing through an Anacostia street festival on Saturday in a station wagon going 70 mph. At least 40 people, including seven children, were hurt -- all are expected to survive. This morning comes confirmation that Bell had been under the influence of crack cocaine at the time of the incident, and has a criminal record dating back to 1995.
Data Shows Violent Crime Up: D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier is doing her best to reassure District residents that crime statistics were not purposefully altered now that the department has revealed that violent crime last year actually increased by 9 percent, despite the radically different statistics released at the end of the year which claimed that violent crime was actually down. An internal review uncovered crimes that were misclassified or not counted, including significant increases in assaults and robberies. Some are questioning whether former Chief Ramsey intentionally misled the public about how safe D.C. had become under his watch. Lanier is set to announce her new summer crime strategy this week.
More Columbia Heights Shootings: A 13-year-old was fatally shot and a man was wounded Saturday night on the 1400 block of Girard Street NW in Columbia Heights, only half a day after a 16-year-old girl was shot and wounded on the same block. Police are investigating three other deadly shootings over the weekend as well: two people were shot and killed in separate incidents in Northeast on Saturday, and police fatally shot a man Sunday after he allegedly pointed a gun at an officer. Columbia Heights residents are particularly alarmed by the recent spate of violence, after another woman was shot at a bus stop at Georgia Ave. and Columbia Rd. on Friday.
Briefly Noted: D.C. Council considers bill that would remove the statute of limitations for bringing sex abuse charges ... One year later, questions remain about 2006 D.C. Jail break
Photo by bethanyll22
|
The Post is reporting that Bell may have worked in Marion Barry's office at some point as a temporary aide.
I'll just leave it at that. Someone else can write the jokes.
Tell me again why replacing the current residents of Columbia Heights with well-educated, hard working, young professionals (who tend not to shoot each other) is a bad thing.
Gentrification of this entire city can't happen soon enough. Let the people who didn't work hard enough to get the multiple degrees needed to be part of the elite move out to PG County.
Exactly how many degrees do I need for you to consider me elite?
I too despise the uneducated.
At least one college degree will be sufficient.
Did anyone hear that Wonderland Ballroom got held up recently? Masked perps walked in, couldn't get into the safe and just robbed everyone in the bar.
Huzzah! That means I'm elite. It feels good.
Next stop, Columbia Heights!
Wonderland was robbed in December of last year. Not recently.
Wow. My apartment overlooks Girard & 15th.
I'm so glad I flew out to Chicago Saturday morning. And even gladder that I'm moving to Silver Spring in a few weeks.
chris lee - is this the robbery that happened last december or has there been another? because i think then the police commented that these kinds of things always happen around the holidays.
Now, I think the police comment that people shoot each other when the weather gets hot. Any excuse not to, you know, actually investigate crime.
All of the people who are uneducated are not committing the crimes. Many of those people go to work everyday and simply do make a lot of money. There will aways be an underclass, because someone has to do the things that we "the elite" will NOT do. I'm sure the ladies who clean my house cannot afford my house nor can the man who works on my car. All poor people are not criminals; unfortunately they live among criminals and other idiots.
I have to check my "gossip" source.
I really hate when people who've never lived in PG County trash it. Leave that to those of us who grew up there.
i was on the block not an hour before the shooting happened saturday night. many of my friends were still there. someone i know couldn't walk out of their front door because it was a crime scene. and this isnt the first time i've heard shots fired on that street. it's a common occurance, usually followed by a cop car driving slowly down the street 30 or 40 minutes later.
the 1400 block of girard is notoriously dangerous and whatever the police are doing isn't enough.
it's time for the district to get real and start putting criminals in jail. minors should be charged as adults when they're repeat offenders. i know it's hard being raised in a bad neighborhood. there are a lot of bad influences and right/wrong is ambiguous at best. but it's only made harder when a 13-year old - a good student and good kid, at that - is in danger of being shot on his block. something needs to change and if it did tomorrow it would still be too late.
Gentrification is the only answer. Unless you are thinking of assigning a police officer to every "at risk" potential perp and victim. Putting people in jail is no solution either. They just get right back out and do it again. The only answer is to replace high concentration of potential perps with high concentration of "non" potential perps. ;)
Excuse me tivomax, I have lived in Prince George's County all of my life. In Upper Marlboro for a fact and according to my recollection, it is one of the wealthiest black communities in AMERICA. I live in an area were everyone has a college degree or two...including myself. Everyone I know has a job and they work hard for what they have. So when did D.C. become the elite? Every city has crime. If your going to move into a city which once had the highest crime rate in the country, then I think you should pray that you are safe, your family is safe and move on about your business.
P.S. I second what the lavatory lady said, NOT ALL POOR ARE UNEDUCATED! How about you go and try to talk with some?
never trust a college that allows graduates the freedom to mistake your and you're
they're and there and their etc.
does it make anyone else's eyes bleed?
Gentrification of this entire city can't happen soon enough. Let the people who didn't work hard enough to get the multiple degrees needed to be part of the elite move out to PG County.
Disgusting attitude. So it's only the rich who deserve public safety? This isn't about gentrification vs. nongentrification, except to the extent that the police actually pay attention to gentrified neighborhoods to keep the criminals out. It's not like rich neighborhoods are somehow morally better than poor neighborhoods.
I'm so glad I flew out to Chicago Saturday morning. And even gladder that I'm moving to Silver Spring in a few weeks.
Heh. Have fun in exciting Silver Spring.
I will have fun in Silver Spring. I'll be living a couple of blocks away from a great art cinema, a few blocks from Sligo Creek Park to go running in, a couple of blocks from a great gym, near some awesome cafes (hello Mayorga!) and Latino/Ethiopian restaurants, and I can take the Red Line and be in Dupont in less than half an hour whenever I want. All for less money than it costs to live in a roach-filled apartment in DC near crackhouses and drive-bys.
Or are you suggesting that my desire to not get shot makes me somehow a bad person? Because that's certainly the impression I got from your comment. But yeah, you're probably way cooler than I am.
Well let's not get carried away in the other direction though, Sara. I'm on your side, but it's definitely not the case that all neighborhoods would have equal crime, but then certain neighborhoods reduce their crime simply by the benefit of having a strong police resposne presence. Everyone deserves an adequate public safety response, but in some places it is perceived as more of a losing battle because the necessary resources are simply out of reach because the crime per capita or per square mile is simply too high to be effective. It's easier to adopt preventative measures in lower crime areas because it takes less manpower and resources to do. The negative side of that coin is then the appearance to the public is that all the resources go to the wealthy neighborhoods because preventive policing is a lot more visible and positively reinforcing than response policing, which sucks up resources and gives people a tangible excuse to blame the police rather than the real cause of crime - the criminals themselves.
Ok,Just Sayin' without the g, clearly I am sorry for making your eyes bleed, but in the midst of anger at someone who is degrading a place where I reside, grammar and syntax really does not matter to me. I was not writing a college worthy essay.
"Downtown" Silver Spring seems basically like a mall to me. And what's up with that weird putting green/astroturf "park"? That's all! To each his own. I just like a little bit more of a crowd and stuff around.
How is M St. in Georgetown any different from a mall, exactly? In fact, half of it already IS a mall (Georgetown Park), and the rest of it has the same stores as an average mall (Barnes & Noble, Club Monaco, Banana Republic, Haagen Dasz, Mexx (okay, so it's an upscale mall), etc. And then the other stores are mostly stuff that appeals only to really rich people (i.e., antique shops, overpriced furniture stores with $2500 sofas).
Would I rather live in a gorgeous, historic neighborhood in DC than in Silver Spring? Sure. But I can't afford it. And the areas I can afford anything bigger than 400 square feet are dangerous. So off to the suburbs I go.
Well shoot, looks like I have to leave Columbia Heights. I only have a BA and qualify for section eight (ie I make less than $45k). So I guess I'm the one causing all the problems in the neighborhood! Why didn't anyone warn me! I would have left years ago!
Hooray for Silver Spring!
One day I will get around to selling my ghetto DC house for triple what I paid for it and move to the spring as well.
I've never spent much time Gtown, so I can't really make the comparison. But to me, it's not only the individual chain stores that make a place feel fake. The problem with "downtown" Silver Spring is that it is entirely manufactured, from the streets to the buildings. At least M street (the little I recall of it) has authentic, diverse architecture housing the Banana Republics and the Gaps. It doesn't feel like a mall.
But you know, I don't really like DC at all anyway, any part of it, so I probably shouldn't be opining!
The problem with "downtown" Silver Spring is that it is entirely manufactured, from the streets to the buildings.
All urban spaces are manufactured. It's just that the ones that have been constructed in the past thirty years lack the diversity of character that comes from age. And that applies to most of the "downtowns" in DC Metro--Bethesda, Arlington, etc. As time passes, the streetscapes are torn out and reconstructed; prices rise and fall; the buildings are torn down and rebuilt individually throughout successive real estate booms and busts. Silver Spring is a suburb that has recently transformed itself into an urban center. It isn't fake, it's just new.
I live two blocks from the shooting and the only solution is to break up concentrations of poverty. There are around 500 section 8 apartments within 3 blocks of each. And before anyone starts another arguement against the "poor people are criminals" issue, the fact of the matter is that most crime occurs in and from high concentrations of low income housing. I have personally spoken with someone who owns one of the buildings and he said unless a felony is committed on-site he cannot evict anyone without going to court. You can stop paying rent for 6 months before you can legally be evicted. Thanks to everyone who pushed for all the "tenent friendly" laws in this town...now your neighbors in section 8 who do commit crimes will never be evicted. For anyone who is not emotionally or financially prepared for even the basics, you ought to not have children. I love seeing the pregnant ladies in Faircliff. Good move, having MORE children in section 8.
Being "good" won't necessarily make you "happy" but "happy" people tend to be "good".
All urban spaces are manufactured.
That's a good point. But there's a world of difference between interesting, quality development with craftmanship, and the prefab generic crap in Silver Spring. So as to mediate my complete negativity a little bit, I will say that I'm impressed by the throngs of crowds who hang out there on the weekends. Whether or not I like it, it's clear that a lot of people do! It could be much worse.
"That's a good point. But there's a world of difference between interesting, quality development with craftmanship, and the prefab generic crap in Silver Spring"
The funny thing about this comment is that most of that interesting, quality craftmanship was built from common design books. The entire Victorian-era architectural period was driven by the mass production of decorative accessories.
In that sense, they were all "prefab" (particularly the charming Sears homes that dot neighborhoods like the Pallisades and Cleveland Park).
"You can stop paying rent for 6 months before you can legally be evicted."
Does that only apply to Section 8 housing or can I take the next five months off from rent payments too... DC might not be such a bad place after all.
I feel like an ass. My niece is coming to DC for a summer internship and she didn't want to spend thousands of dollars for a bunk bed in GW so I told her to pull the trigger on a cheap sublet on a still-nice place a few blocks from Howard. She didn't want to be drowning in a sea of vapid out-of-towners but now I feel like I sent her into a big murderous crack den.