4/13/00:
Backstage is leaving their corner spot (destination
unknown)... Washington Video on S (Conn Ave) is
leaving... Rainbow & Stars is open temporarily on
Conn Ave, in support of the March on Washington (in
old Hong Kong spot, next to Kulturas Books)
Bohemian Caverns at 11th & U is expected to open May
1st. Bistrot du Coin should open later this month, in
old Food for Thought space. A new store in Georgetown
is worth visiting because it is so fabulous: Visit
Ultra Violet Flowers on 31st just above the canal. Why
can't Dupont have a place like this?
Last night - big fire next to Vegas Lounge (1400 P).
Check out old Newsroom spot for David Ottogalli's
"PeepsShow" art display featuring hundreds of
Marshmallow Peeps (and see PEEPSSHOW.com). And the
"Light Comes From the North" light display at the
south Dupont Metro goes away in less than two weeks -
I wish it were permanent!
Weekend stuff: Youth Pride Day is Saturday in Dupont
Plaza (check out my nifty ad at
http://www.announce.com/khein/dupont/), and on Sunday
the Farmer's Market returns to 20th St, behind Riggs!
Check out fabulous "Exiles on Main Street" story from
NYTimes at
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000409mag-exiles.html
(free registration required), following folks in
Bethesda longing for the urban edge.
Jim Graham announced that of the 3 Clifton Terrace
buildings (major trouble spot between 14th & 13th), 1
would be developed as market-rate rentals, 1 as
affordable condos, and 1 as subsidized rentals. Jim's
Web site also says "the developer of the garage (with
an entrance on 18th at Belmont, and reaching back into
the land fronting Champlain) has indicated that
construction will begin this year." We'll see...
See fab announcement "US Attorney Sues Property Owners
in 1400 Block of R Street," below... (NB that the
slumlords receive $600,000 per year from HUD for
subsidizing this threat to the neighborhood. Thanks,
Uncle Sam!)
If anyone has archives of updates before March 16,
please lemme know!
Best regards
Michael
------------------------------------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: David Stephens
Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2000
To: Undisclosed Recipients
Subject: US Attorney Sues Property Owners in 1400
Block of R Street
Dear Neighbor -- I thought that you would find
noteworthy the Press Release announcing the U.S.
Attorney's action against the nuisance properties in
the 1400 block of R Street. These properties have been
the principal focus of PSA 309 activities for several
years and a major concern of the wider Dupont and
Logan Circle neigbhorhoods. The "Friends of R Street
Neighbhorhood Association" that is referenced in the
press release is the incorporated break-out group of
PSA 309 citizens that is carrying forward the
neighborhood's own civil action against the properties
via Operation Crackdown. The reference to the
Memorandum of Understanding is the agreement that the
PSA negotiated with MPD and property managers in 1998
(vice 1999).
Wilma Lewis and her staff have been, in my judgment,
exceptionally responsive to our concerns. In the four
short months since Ms. Lewis attended our December PSA
309 meeting, she and her staff have taken our two
years of effort and built a federal case -- literally
and figurtively-- against the nuisance property
owners. In the District of Columbia -- it is sad to
say -- this is nothing by extraordinary.
Regards, David.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Channing Phillips
Thursday, March 30, 2000 (202) 514-6933
PRESS RELEASE
Wilma A. Lewis
United States Attorney
For the District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney announces commencement of civil drug-
related nuisance action involving 124-unit apartment
complex in Northwest Washington, D.C. - United States
Attorney Wilma A. Lewis announced today that the
United States Attorney's Office for the District of
Columbia has commenced a civil action in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia
based on a local drug-related nuisance law, federal
asset forfeiture laws, and civil contract and
regulatory claims, against R Street Associates Ltd.
Partnership ("R Street Associates") and the HUD-
subsidized 124-unit apartment complex known as 1416,
1428, 1432, 1436, and 1440 R Street, N.W., located in
Northwest Washington, D.C. Since 1985, the properties
have been owned by R Street Associates, a Pennsylvania
limited partnership.
United States Attorney Wilma A. Lewis stated that
"this action is part of a city-wide enforcement effort
to crack down on drug-related nuisance properties in
the District of Columbia by holding property owners
accountable for providing decent, safe and sanitary
housing for their tenants. Property owners must meet
their obligations when they decide to participate in
federal housing programs and accept rent subsides.
Today's filing represents the commitment and
collaborative effort of the United States Attorney's
Office and others, including the Metropolitan Police
Department, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, and the Friends of R Street Neighborhood
Association, to help improve the quality of life for
the residents of this community."
The investigation of drug sales and other criminal
activity at the properties - conducted by the Office
of the United States Attorney, the Metropolitan Police
Department ("MPD"), and the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General
("HUD") - revealed that the properties have been, and
continue to be, used for and associated with numerous
illegal activities, including dangerous drug
trafficking of crack cocaine; robbery; public
drinking; loitering; and other felonious conduct.
According to the Verified Complaint filed on March 30,
2000, by the United States Attorney's Office, since
January 1, 1999, the Metropolitan Police Department
has executed at least 18 search warrants at the
properties for drug-related offenses, resulting in 13
arrests of individuals who were charged with felony as
well as misdemeanor narcotics, weapons and violent
offenses. The Verified Complaint also alleges that
during the same time period, MPD has been called to
the properties on an emergency basis over 500 times,
to respond to crimes including assaults, automobile
theft, and robberies, and resulting in at least 53
arrests effected at the properties.
The complaint further alleges that since acquiring the
properties in 1985, R Street Associates has failed to
curb these unlawful activities despite efforts by law
enforcement agencies to abate these dangerous
conditions. It is further alleged that these
conditions have been aggravated by the properties
being allowed to remain inadequately supervised,
managed, secured, and cleaned, requiring MPD to
institute a twenty-four hour, seven days a week
officer patrol in the block where the properties are
located.
In 1999, R Street Associates entered into a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Friends of R Street
Neighborhood Association to improve the properties and
surrounding conditions. The agreement called for R
Street Associates to enhance property conditions by
improving existing security measures and being more
responsive to tenant and neighborhood concerns. The
Verified Complaint alleges that, by failing to abate
the drug-related nuisance on the properties, R Street
Associates has not lived up to the terms of that
agreement.
The Verified Complaint now seeks an injunction to
require R Street Associates to act to abate the
nuisance of drug sales and related activity at the
properties under the District of Columbia Drug-Related
Nuisance Act, as well as money damages from the owners
of the properties for failing to provide decent, safe,
and sanitary housing to the residents of the building.
The owners of the properties receive approximately
$600,000 per year in rental assistance payments from
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In announcing the commencement of this action, United
States Attorney Lewis complimented the efforts of the
Metropolitan Police Department, specifically,
Investigator Stephanie A. Garner, Sergeant Gregory
Shamanek, Investigator Holloday Atkins, and
Investigator Ronzell Baker of MPD's Third District
Drug Enforcement Unit. Ms. Lewis also commended the
efforts of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Office of Inspector General,
specifically, Special Agent Christina Cumba Frazzini,
Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Jerry Gilbert, and
Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Darnall. Ms. Lewis
also praised the involvement of Operation Crackdown, a
special project of the Bar Association of the District
of Columbia, and the Friends of R Street Neighborhood
Association in this historic government and citizen
collaborative effort. Lastly, Ms. Lewis commended
Community Outreach Specialist Stephanie Bragg-Lucas,
Paralegal Specialists Jennifer C. Skinner, Gail Price,
and Richard P. Simmons, Assistant United States
Attorneys William B. Wiegand and Rudolph Contreras,
who assisted in the investigation of the matter, and
United States Attorneys Linda Otani McKinney and Lydia
Kay Griggsby, who investigated the matter and will
conduct the litigation.
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