A few useful things

MPD has a crime mapping thing, that as of this morning the map feature does not like Firefox or Macs. You too can get the same thrill the police get when looking at statistics that say that crime is down. However, you are tempered by the fact that the latest victim of the theft from auto was your neighbor and the fact that there are fewer thefts from autos is of little comfort. I went down to the level of my block and discovered crime is down in almost everything, except one thing where it is up by several hundred percent.

If you didn’t notice it on the right hand side of the blog I have links to find when the next 96, or G2 is coming, which sometimes is operational. There is a NextBus for the 96, the 90, the G8, the G2, the P2, and others. Poking around I found Nextbus for PG Co.

Take the cab

I type this advice as I remember my last trek home at night I walked alone. I did take a series of buses, and wound up at a point (5 blocks from the house) where I couldn’t mentally justify paying for a cab. I completely acknowledge that it wasn’t my brightest moment.
Tuesday there was a Shaw murder where the victim was walking home. Truxton resident, Durval Martins, was killed at 11th and Q around 3 AM.
If you’re cheap like me you probably loathe spending money for a cab, but if you are going out at night, mentally add cab fare to that night’s expenses. Tuck away $10-$20 bucks before you head out to the clubs or wherever, for cab fare. Seriously, if you’re coming back home in the wee AM hours, be safe and take a cab. The eyes on the street have gone to bed and you’re on your own. Hail a cab. If there are no cabs where you are, get over to a major street and keep a sharp eye out or have the establishment where you’re leaving call the cab for you.

From the 5D listserv:

ATTENTION BLOOMINGDALE, BATES & SHAW COMMUNITIES

THE FIFTH DISTRICT PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THE CAPTURE OF KENNY LEWIS.

Kenny Lewis was wanted for a Felony Assault that occurred on October 16, 2008, in the 400 B/O Q Street, NW. He is also the suspect in several assaults against women & robberies.

Okay now who is the judge we write statements to? Because if Mr. Lewis is found guilty by a jury of 12 DC citizens (or pleads guilty), the community needs to let the sentencing judge know how crimes against women in our neighborhood impact our lives, even though we weren’t the ones assaulted. Rest assured that Mr. Lewis probably has relatives and friends who will argue that he’s really good or misunderstood or deserving of some sort of mercy that will put him back on the streets unrehabilitated.

Stupefying Illogical Criminals

There was a mugging in the NW corner of the TC this weekend as reported on the TruxtonCircle.Org discussion board. A group of youths violently attacked a couple and their reasoning makes no sense (see below). I’m sorry, I don’t think any under funded city run youth program can redeem these criminals. The unnecessary violence used reveals a deep corruption of spirit, that may reveal a moral poverty in their family life. There are too many kids looking to beat people up. Anyway here’s what was reported…

Around 1 a.m. this am at 4th and Rst, NW Three men and a woman were mugged by a group of at least a dozen youths, some on bikes. The agressors threw the woman against a tree and punched one man in the face. Another one had been struck in the leg.
The group of kids were black, all male, from what I gathered, ages 12-17. The victims described them as “highschoolers.” They approached the victims from several directions, and initially threw a bottle or can over the heads of the victims. The kids wanted their wallets and phones. One of the victims yelled at kid, causing him to run away, without obtaining the wallet. Another kid said this was “for Obama.”

What the….?

Wanted for violence against women

WANTED
wantedmpd
From the flier from the crime meeting I didn’t go to:

The above subject is wanted for “Felony Assault” warrant number 2008CRW003906 by the Fifth District Detective’s Office. The assault occurred on October 16, 2008 in the 400 block Q Street NW. Please contact Detective Martin at 202 698 0660
IF THE ABOVE SUBJECT IS SEEN DO NOT APPROACH, CALL THE POLICE

Subject’s description- Name: Kenneth Lewis; Year of Birth 1984; Height- 5’09”; Weight-165 lbs

Something bad happened at Catania Bakery

I have no details but when I wandered over there around 8something AM there was a cruiser and a bakery delivery van blocking off the alley. In front there were a couple of the Latino workers, a cop, and a woman with her dog hanging out in front. When I got closer to the entrance I saw a sign saying there wouldn’t be any retail sales today. I asked the Latino guys. There English and my Spanish, not so good. All I got was the word assault out of the whole thing. The cop was busy chatting with the lady with the dog, and I asked if anyone was hurt. No. With that I headed home.

Book Review: Home Girl: Building a dream house on a lawless block, pt 2

See part 1 here.
One chapter says it well, “Nice Bones, Rotten Organs”. Besides the drug trade going on outside the author’s house the other main drama of the book is the renovation of the house she bought in Harlem. I have to say I’ve been lucky. I found one main contractor for the big stuff and I have stuck with him and it has been a good relationship. The author, Judith Matloff, sadly has a multi-ethnic, multi-skilled, multi-competent, crew tearing her house apart at any one moment. Old houses are like old people, they are charming but they do have problems that come with age, and poor maintenance. Part way through fixing the place up she calls in some experts who come up with a laundry list of things that needed addressing.
I’m also lucky in that I got to live in my house long enough to have a clue of what it needed and how I wanted to live in it, before taking on major renovations. I know, for me, that my bedroom only needs to be functional, and not some oasis or retreat from the world. And then there are a bunch of things that I wanted to customize to the way I live and want to live (radiators, claw foot tub, Corian counter tops, etc), that no developer could ever foresee. But enough about me.
The second major theme is the business of drug dealing and it is a business. It confirms Sudhir Venkatesh’s work in looking at the drug dealing that goes on in the streets of Chicago, NYC and DC as a business with a hierarchy. In Gang Leader for a Day, the manager of the drug trade was J.T., in this book it is Miguel. Our street has one too, and so reading Matloff’s and Venkatesh’s experiences, re-affirms what I am (thankfully) seeing less of, on my street each year. Managers, main drug leaders, whatever tend to be a little older (in their 20s or early 30s) and keep their foot soldiers, the younger men selling, running, looking out, etc in line. A manger’s primary interest is to move product with as little interruption as possible. Which on the good side means they are not interested in starting up turf wars or any other activity that would bring greater police presence. This is illustrated (in a chapter I’m currently at a loss to find), when the author is very pregnant, is threatened by a female crackhead and her boyfriend on the author’s front stoop. She calls the cops, however Miguel lets it be known that if she had just informed him, instead of calling the cops (bad for business) he would have taken care of it.
I know it sounds strange, but in these situations it is not unusual to work out some sort of ‘peace’ with the dealers, while at the same time battling the drug trade through other channels. As a middle class (white

WANTED: Robert Hannah “Rob”

UPDATE= DCist reports that an arrest has been made!


Robert Hannah, aka “Rob,” is wanted on an outstanding Felony Warrant for Voluntary Manslaughter in connection with the beating death of Tony Hunter which occurred at 8th & N Street, NW, in September 2008. Hannah is described as a 18-year-old black male (date of birth: 8/11/1990), 5′ 7″ in height, and 148 lbs. His last known address is in the 1100 block of McCullough Court, NW. He is known to frequent the area around 7th & O Streets, NW. Download a PDF WANTED poster for distribution.

The case is under investigation by members of the Homicide and Sexual Offenses Branch. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Detective Jed Worrell on 202 645-9618 or 202 486-1596 (cell); Detective Jackie Middleton on 202 645-5501 or 202 497-4606 (cell); or the Metropolitan Police Department’s Command Information Center (CIC) at 202 727-9099. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call 1-888-919-CRIM [E]. Anonymous information may also be forwarded to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411
–originally posted 10/10/08

Anyone around 3rd and R hear shots?

Walking to work this morning the police had most of R Street, from Florida to New Jersey Avenues blocked off. I had to ask as I saw the G2 bus rumbling down 4th St (normally rumbles down 3rd), I was told there was a shooting and they were trying to determine where all the shots came from. Then the officer asked me if I had heard anything. Ah, no. I heard nothing this morning. Did you?
_____________
UPDATE: According to the Washington Post a woman was stabbed at the bus stop at 3rd and R, most likely to catch the G2 heading in the direction of Georgetown. That stop is a little isolated with the high chain link fence fortressing the yard of the house on that corner, and diagonally across the Co-Op’s high fence, and across Mt. Sinai’s education center’s parking lot. Please keep the victim in your thoughts and prayers.

A question to ask when you lock your bike

Yesterday I chased a bike thief down my block.
Let me begin my story. I was home sitting on the couch watching some awful afternoon TV movie when I noticed outside my window someone in the yard next door. Then I noticed the fellow reaching over the fence. My first thought was that he was putting trash in my recycle bin. Then I remembered I moved the bin to stop people from throwing trash in it. Second thought was ‘is this guy stealing my tomatoes?’ And in an instant I realized he wasn’t aiming for my tomatoes, the bastard had his hands on my roommate’s piece of shyte bike.
I screamed stop kept screaming as I grabbed my keys and headed to open the door and stop him. By the time I got the gate door open the thief was two doors down and had just fallen off the bike leaving it on the sidewalk. He ran down the block and just turned the corner heading towards New Jersey Avenue when I realized I was looking at a man on foot and not a man on bike. I was still yelling at the top of my lungs as I debated for two seconds about unlocking my bike, chasing him and trying to play bicycle thief polo with his head and my u-locks. But I chose to grab my roommate’s bike and put the stupid thing back in the yard.
I then did what my roommate should have done. I locked the bike in a way that makes it ‘harder’ to just lift and ride off with, I locked the rear wheel to the frame. I used one of my locks, and moved my bike inside as it was without it’s normal 3 locks. Then I called the roommate and relayed what just happened and fussed.
The almost stolen bike is a piece of crap, which should have been its own anti-theft device. But it is a device that cannot work alone it needs a lock. A properly locked lock. It would have helped it said bike was locked to the fence, which it was not. Short of that it would have helped a lot if said lock was locked to a wheel, which it was not. Instead a newish $35 Kryptonite lock was locked to the frame and nothing else.
Where it was on the frame may have made biking on it difficult, making for a harder ‘quick’ get away. Add to the fact the bike is heavy and only one speed and no hand brakes, running on foot may have been better if you want to get away from an angry black woman.
So kids, when you lock your bike, look at before you turn your back and ask, can someone lift it and ride away? I got 3 locks, so the answer is, not unless they throw it in the back of a truck.