WASHINGTON — Councilmember Brooke Pinto, chair of the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee continued her safety walks Wednesday. This time she went to Ward 8 where a lot of frustrated residents called the walk performative.
The walk started at 16th and Good Hope Road, SE – a known open-air drug market. Missing from the block was the normal activity. Community members told WUSA9 that police cleared out the block the night before Wednesday’s walk.
On busy Good Hope Road, some saw signs of hope as city leaders gathered for the safety walk.
“Our number one focus this year is to improve public safety throughout the city,” Pinto told the crowd.
But zooming out, the picture becomes clearer to residents: the block which is normally full of people was clear, but their chairs and liquor were left behind.
“Sitting out here not doing anything, doing what they want it's not good for our generation,” said a resident named Jasmine who was catching the bus and said she did not feel safe on the block.
The next stop was Triangle Park right across the street from Kimble Elementary School. While the children played, the park regulars scattered, and the conversation got heated.
“We're moving in the opposite direction where I think most folks would agree is the most troublesome intersection in this neighborhood and it seems very intentional,” said Patrick O’Keefe. “We were right there!”
“I will have to defer you to my council colleague on the route we’re taking,” Pinto responded.
“We’re taking this route because this is where we can visit the businesses impacted by the crime,” added Monique Diop from Councilmember Trayon White’s office. “We can always come back and be more specific, but this is a general walk to look at business and support those businesses.”
Tori Hawkins Plummer, the connected schools’ manager at Anacostia High School said her students are hanging out at a trap house nearby.
“They smoke all day, come into the building high, and go back out and smoke all day. We’re told nobody can move them off private property. If we had loitering law in place that would help,” she told CM Pinto.
“I think something needs to change to give MPD more tools to be able to intervene when there are hot spots and loitering is one way to go there,” Pinto responded.
Finally, the crowd moved down to what many said was the cause of the crime: a methadone clinic that residents are trying to move out of the community. The managers were invited to the walk but did not attend.
"I'm just gonna (sic) say it, ‘another walk to nowhere,” said ANC Commissioner Jamila White. “If we know there are about 500 people roughly, according to administration, in 52 blocks causing this crime then what happened to building blocks plan?”
“We're proposing incremental solutions, and they will not give us firm responses for what we're asking us,” said Patrick O’Keefe who said he is still committed to the neighborhood. “The residents are amazing. It's an incredible community. Unfortunately, it attracts a lot of people who don't live here and loiter and those are the people who are targeted, and the residents are the victims.
Next on the agenda for the Public Safety & Judiciary Committee will be an oversight hearing on violence interruption programs on October 30.