Columbia Heights Shootings Cause Alarm – washingtonpost.com
The Columbia Heights police were pulled off to the South East mass causality incident. This is distressing to note that it was only a month or two ago, at the Town hall meeting for Columbia Heights at the Lincoln Theater, it was impressed upon on us that the MPD was looking for ways to work smarter, not necessarily increasing their rosters.
This weekend set of drive-by murders, however puts their efforts into serious concern. We have been very lucky to see an increase of police presence these past couple of weeks on 14th street. However, the SE incident had some of PSA 304 officers called over, presumably to take statements from eye witness accounts and maintain some order in what would be considered a large crime scene.
In the absence of the current police presence, some murdering scumbags managed to kill a 13 year old child at the park at 14th and Girard St, NW. at approximately 9:00pm, within a block of a school and community center.
Councilmember Jim Graham has commented that he was disturbed to find out there would have been police car with in that vicinity had they not been called off to South East. Let’s just see if he was disturbed enough to motivation some legislative action.
A strong police presence is critical in this area. And, we need road level cameras. If we can not deter murders from taking pot shots at innocent lives, at least we work to make sure they don’t get away. It’s time for tougher sentencing for violent crime and re-examination of juvenile penalties. And, no one should be allowed at that park after dark.
Categories: Buzz · Columbia Heights · Jim Graham · Scumbags
District Construction – a photoset on Flickr
This photo is a little dated. The building is in its place is coming together very fast and it’s amazing how grand it is. Columbia Heights is undergoing huge, long awaited changes. I am predicting this becoming the next hottest neighborhood in Washington DC due to affordable housing near a metro and a neighborhood that’s accustomed to living in an urban setting considering it’s so central to the rest of the city. There’s still quiet a battle to get some of the big box vendors to understand how significant the opportunity is here, with Whole Foods foolishly backing out of their deal. They’re too confident with their P Street location store and where insisting on series of giveaways like private parking. Unfortunately it’s clear that:
A) Jim Graham’s office did not educate themselves when they set this parcel of land to be sold to DCUSA and prematurely allocated parking spots for public use…how they done their homework they would have known this could be a serious deal breaker for a company like Whole Foods
B) Whole Foods has lost key knowledge that urban locations are fundamentally different from suburban locations. There are no soccer Moms in the city that need to drive to Whole Foods to scoop a few hundred dollars every few weeks for home. There IS however few thousand new, young professionals that will walk to the store a several times a week for smaller sized purchases, but much more frequent number of them. The P Street location with it’s compact car spaces doesn’t offer room for large SUVs and did a survey they I think they would be impressed by just how many walk from the surrounding neighborhoods.
What’s really clear is that a Whole Foods at this location would have out performed the P St. There are about 2,000 new condo units coming to the market, literally right on top of the Whole Foods. Too bad they’re blind to that fact.
Categories: Buzz · Columbia Heights · Jim Graham · Politics
