Tuesday, June 05, 2007

New D.C. Data Alter Violent Crime Tally

"Violent crime in the District jumped nearly 9 percent last year, the latest police statistics show -- a big turnabout from earlier claims that the numbers had dropped from the previous year."
Allison Klein
Washington Post
June 2, 2007

Friday, February 09, 2007

Shaw Blogosphere Review

"Over the past several months there has been a small blogging renaissance in Shaw...The result of so many civic-oriented blogs has been an unprecedented online attention to the local ANC. "
The Goodspeed Update
January 19, 2007

Not my problem, says District chief financial officer

"A District government agency failed to collect as much as $40 million it could have received from the federal government for Medicaid services that it provided. Another agency requested $17 million from the feds for undocumented reimbursements, apparently to camouflage its overspending. Yet another agency overspent its approved budget by $18 million, perhaps violating the federal Anti-Deficiency Act."
by Jonetta Rose Barras
The Examiner
Feb 8, 2007

D.C. police fight high turnover

"More than 5 percent of its 3,800 officers have left the Metropolitan Police Department in the last two years...
Former MPD officer Ed Farris said the breaking point for him came last year, when he was accused of using excessive force by a girl who was injured in the crash of a stolen car. An investigation found no wrongdoing, Farris said, but he was punished anyway because he was accused of filing improper paperwork.
"That was the final straw,” Farris said. He left and received a $15,000 pay raise to become a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security."
by Scott McCabe
The Examiner
Feb 6, 2007

Monday, January 01, 2007

All Boarded Up and No Place to Go

"Logan Circle has undergone a major rebirth over the past few decades. We have new residential buildings, retail spaces, even a burgeoning art community. But crime and public safety are still a top concern. A large part of the problem is the abandoned and neglected properties that continue to make our neighborhood attractive to criminals."
Washington Post
Sunday, December 31, 2006

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Cameras haven't helped solve cases, Ramsey says

"Patricia Riley, special counsel to the U.S. Attorney's Office, testified that prosecutors had asked to have defendants detained until trial 110 times and that the court granted the request 73 times. She said 55 of those cases were for persons accused of carrying a handgun without a license. [The rest (55) are assumed to be for robbery-Ed.] "
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 30, 2006

Mayor Extends Teen Curfew In District

"The number of curfew-age juvenile victims of violent crime on public space between the hours of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. has decreased 44 percent, and the number of curfew-age juveniles arrested between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. has decreased 42 percent, officials in the mayor's office said."
nbc4.com
September 28, 2006

Pedestrian deaths in D.C. show rise�

"Sixteen pedestrians have been killed in the District so far this year, the Metropolitan Police Department reported. The number of pedestrian deaths increased to 16 last year from 10 in 2004."
By Tarron Lively
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 8, 2006

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

D.C. motorists get a 'break' as gas drops

"The normally large premium Washington pays for gas compared with the rest of the country has narrowed from 12 cents to 3 cents a gallon."
By Patrice Hill
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 29, 2006

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Most Expensive Rental Markets In America 2006

Washington, D.C. area ranks 13th according to Forbes.
Population 4,923,153
Price per square foot for Class A* apartments $18.85
Five-year price change for Class A* apartments 14.9%
Price per square foot for Class B** apartments $15.15
Five-year price change for Class B** apartments 17.6%

The Future of D.C. Public Schools: Traditional or Charter Education?

"With public confidence in the schools at an all-time low, more than 17,000 public school students -- nearly one in four -- have rejected the traditional system in favor of 51 independently run, publicly funded charter schools. That share is one of the largest in the nation and is expected to rise when six more charter schools open their doors this fall."
By Lori Montgomery and Jay Mathews
Washington Post
August 22, 2006

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Crime emergency affects very little�

"��According to police statistics, the city had 21 homicides last month, when Chief Ramsey declared the crime emergency, and 20 in June. ����In addition, there were 309 reports of assaults with a deadly weapon last month, compared with 311 such reports in June. Sexual assaults numbered 33 last month and 38 in June. ����Last month, Mayor Anthony A. Williams said the crime emergency's goal was to decrease crime by 50 percent in 30 days...
Police statistics show that arrests have increased 21 percent, firearm recoveries have increased 46 percent and curfew violation citations have increased 177 percent since the emergency began."
By Amy Doolittle
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 9, 2006

Sunday, August 06, 2006

The 'Crime Emergency' That Never Goes Away

"It's not a coincidence that you see the largest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction." [Great reprise of the past 'crime emergencies'. Though I disagree with the solutions Mr. King suggests. -Ed.]
By Colbert I. King
Washington Post
August 5, 2006

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Support the Officers on the Street

"The department has failed to develop strategies for reducing crime and encouraging aggressive, effective policing but instead has focused its efforts on instituting a disciplinary system that actually discourages proactive policing. Indeed, the department has more people assigned to investigate its own officers than it does to investigate homicides."
By Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Metropolitan Police Department Labor Committee
Washington Post
July 23, 2006

Monday, July 24, 2006

Park Police complain of budget strain�

"Several veteran Park Police officers noted that Teresa Chambers, as police chief, raised warnings in December 2003. She was suspended and later fired for telling reporters that the agency had neither enough officers nor resources to provide adequate security in a post-September 11 world... the National Park Service told Congress in April 2000 that Park Police needed 806 officers. At the time, the agency had 638 officers, compared with 621 today"
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 24, 2006

Friday, July 21, 2006

The Case For Repealing DC's Gun Laws

"D.C.'s homicide rate has soared since the city banned handguns in 1976...
The District of Columbia is the only jurisdiction in the U.S. that prohibits keeping firearms in an operable condition at home, for defense against criminal attack...
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled that the city's police department is "not generally liable to victims of violent criminal acts for failure to provide adequate police protection. . . ." (Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1, 1981)...
Since D.C. imposed its handgun ban, 29 states have adopted laws to allow citizens to carry firearms for self-defense. Today, 38 states have Right-to-Carry laws. States with those laws have seen crime decrease, and they have lower overall violent crime rates compared to other states."

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

How tax-friendly is your state?

The Tax Foundation, a policy research group, estimated the average taxpayer's total state and local tax burden for 2005. D.C. comes in second for least tax friendly at 12.2% of per capita income.
CNN/Money

Auditors fault special-ed data�

"The District's Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) and public school system don't know how many foster children receive special education, according to a government audit released yesterday."
By Jim McElhatton
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2006

D.C. officials earn in city, live in burbs�

"More than half of the D.C. government's employees live outside the District, taking about 60 percent of the government's $1.73 billion payroll to spend -- and be taxed -- in the suburbs... The District imposes a 5.75 percent sales tax and a property tax rate of 92 cents per $100 assessed value. It also levies a top income tax rate of 9 percent... Of the 4,723 persons on the police department payroll last year, about a quarter — 1,193 — lived in the city. Of the fire department's 1,988 employees, 580 were city residents, or 29.2 percent."
By Matthew Cella
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2006

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Crime types vary by D.C. division�

"the 6th and 7th police districts -- which comprise poor and working-class neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River -- lead the city in the number of homicides, accounting for 40 of the 82 killings recorded through June.
�But those neighborhoods rank near the bottom for robberies, which occur most frequently in the 1st and 3rd districts -- which encompass affluent communities in Northwest and downtown."
By Matthew Cella and Gary Emerling
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 14, 2006