Archive for the ‘Bureaucracy’ Category
Red Line Trains Collide Near Fort Totten: Deadliest Crash In Metro History
Comes this dispatch, via Dr. Gridlock:
A Red Line Metrorail train derailed at 5:10 p.m. approaching Fort Totten in the Shady Grove-bound side. Trains are turning back at Brookland and Takoma….Metro says that shuttle bus service has been requested to bridge the gap between Takoma and Brookland.
There are reports of injuries. Developing.
UPDATE, 5:35 P.M.: This seems quite a bit worse than a minor derailment. WJLA-TV reports:
Metro confirms two trains have collided on the Red Line between the Takoma and Fort Totten stations. It happened close to the Fort Totten station, a Metro spokesperson said.
D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said one train was on top of the other train.
This is “developing into a mass casualty event,” Etter said. “We’re expecting a number of injuries. We’re not aware of any fatalities at this point.”
Update, 5:46 p.m.: ABC News/News Channel 8 is reporting one fatality. Reporter Brad Bell saw the fatality being taken from the accident scene. At least nine people injured. The fatality appears to be a male. Many passengers still stuck inside metro cars. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter confirms one dead on WTOP.
Here is the official Metro alert:
“Metro reports that 2 train collided and one train is on top of the other train. Â Metro reports massive injuries at this time. The green line and the red line are affected. Further information to follow.”
It looks like the accident ocurred just beyond the Fort Totten stop.
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“Beer Garden is Not Our Term.”
More on the beer garden proposed near National’s Stadium in D.C.
Andrew J. Kline, representing Robert “Bo” Blair, said at a March 25 meeting of the Alcohol Beverage Control Board that his client wants to create a “festival site with amenities” near National’s Stadium, but that “beer garden is not our term, I don’t know where that came from.”
Cardinal’s Nest Show Showdown Today at D.C. ABRA
The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration has ordered Cardinal’s Nest owner Darrell Green, a former D.C. police officer, to appear before the board today to answer multiple charges: that he allowed underage drinking; allowed beverages to be sold that were not for consumption inside of the establishment; permitted the sale of back drinks (translation: double-fisting); played music too loud; and violated multiple specifications of a voluntary agreement he entered with Brookland residents. He was also charged with not making that agreement available for inspection.
Green is scheduled to appear before the board today at 1 p.m. At last check, he was being represented by Andrew J. Kline, who Loose Lips reported in December violated nearly a dozen rules of professional conduct, including committing criminal forgery and engaging in behavior “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation,” according to a report [PDF] issued by the D.C. Court of Appeals’ Board of Professional Responsibility.
Read the full report and other details after the jump.
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Remember the Mustard-Yellow Condoms? A Look at the District’s Tortured Response to the AIDS Crisis
A little more than a week ago, news broke that at least three percent of District residents have AIDS or HIV. This provoked Shannon L. Hader, director of the city’s HIV/AIDS Administration to now-famously compare D.C. to West Africa. When pressed by Loose Lips at a press conference, Hader stated that our rates of infection were twice as high as New York City and five times that of Detroit.
As LL pointed out, the bigwigs at the press conference—Mayor Adrian Fenty, Councilmember David Catania, et al.—defensively argued that the part of the reason for the high infection rates is that the city is just testing more people. Case in point: testing is now routine at the D.C. Jail.
But this epidemic is not a new epidemic. In fact, it’s been called an epidemic too many times to count. Perhaps the reason this story didn’t provoke serious outrage and more press conferences and men in white coats discussing infection trend patterns is that this is an old story.
“This is the number one [public health] priority of this government,” Fenty told the Washington Post. That quote was from an April 5, 2007, story headlined: “Fenty Renews Fight Against HIV-AIDS; Mayor Promises Strong Effort, Plans To Pick New Agency Chief.” In the story’s first graph, the mayor “pledged” to “put an end to this crisis.”
D.C. Jail Inmates Still Being Over-Detained
Yesterday, Washington City Paper’s Mike DeBonis tracked the latest turn in the war between Councilmember Phil Mendelson and AG Peter Nickles over the D.C. Jail’s 10 p.m. inmate release deadline. Nickles doesn’t like the law and wants it repealed. Mendo is still probably “appalled” at the request.
Nickles argues that the law is too costly. Advocates say that the law is put in place to curb over-detentions at the D.C. Jail and prevent inmates from being dumped in the middle of the night. Yesterday, Nickles sent a letter to Mendo pressing his case.
I was charmed by this particular section:
“DOC reports that the frequency of over-detentions has been reduced in the last year by approximately 40%,” Nickles writes. “Since early 2007, DOC has reduced the number of over-detentions from as high as 45 per month to as low as eight per month in 2008. DOC has spent approximately five years working to improve its release proceedures…”
It’s interesting that for all of the DOC’s work, there are still inmates who are being over-detained. It’s still amazing to me that the District can’t seem to get this right.
The Most Expensive Room In The City
At last week’s hearing on the Department of Mental Health, Councilmember David Catania revealed the cost to house one person for one year at St. Elizabeths.
Guess how much?
About $280,000 per year.
“That is an enormous amount of money,” Catania said in what has to be the understatement of the day. There are so many reasons the money isn’t worth it. University Legal Services has found plenty of reasons.
Councilmembers Thomas And Alexander Make Fools Of Themselves
D.C. Councilmembers Harry Thomas Jr. and Yvette Alexander are elected officials. People must have seen something in them that they liked. Maybe in Thomas’ case, it was his famous name. Maybe in Alexander’s case, it was her sunny personality. But since joining the council, both have gained reputations as lightweights.
Last Wednesday, on February 18, Thomas and Alexander earned their reps.
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D.C. Jail Establishes New Procedures For Transgender Inmates
Today, the D.C. Department of Corrections issued a “program statement” establishing new procedures in how it classifies and houses transgendered inmates at the D.C. Jail. This is a huge step, and a surprisingly progressive step for the D.C. Jail. In a letter obtained by Washington City Paper, AG Peter Nickles wrote to to the D.C. Prisoners’ Project of the new regs:
“Pursuant to this policy, the District Will be one of only a few jurisdictions in the nation to permit transgender inmates to be housed according to their gender identity in appropriate cases, and to allow transgender inmates to initiate hormone therapy while in custody.
These provisions, along with other aspects of the policy, will help to ensure that the rights of transgender prisoners are respected and that their unique needs are accommodated, to the extent practicable, while they are incarcerated.”
New York State is the only jurisdiction that has these kinds of procedures. This is big.
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You Are Ordered To Stay Away
Arraignment court—in C10 of D.C. Superior Court—is starting to feel a little predictable. A man gets called. Sometimes he’s in shackles. Sometimes not. He steps forward. He places his hands behind his back. The man is read his charges (drugs, stolen auto, fugitive warrant). He is then told to stay away from somewhere in the District.
It’s almost 5 p.m. Arraignment court doesn’t end until every man gets their stay-away order.
At 4:45 p.m., a man steps up to the judge. He is told to stay away from Alberto’s Pizza on P Street NW in Dupont Circle.
100 yards.
Like a football field, the man says.
Black Jesus And Ice Cream Cones
Sitting behind the defense table are a pair of brothers, Gerald and Richard Arnold. Richard is in braids. Gerald is in a light blue shirt that’s too big for his frame. They look bored. Almost sleepy. They came into courtroom 320 clutching legal file folders. But the proceedings are slow and tedious. A juror is interviewed about her past drug charges. Another juror is quizzed. There is a bench conference in which someone flips the white noise switch.
The entire room is filled with white noise. It’s enough to make anyone–even defendants on trial for two murders and a raft of drug and drug conspiracy charges to feel a little lost.
Firefighter Greg Bowyer’s Average Day
Last night, two firefighters—Greg Bowyer and Gerald Pennington—announced their plans to file a lawsuit against the fire department. We detailed their case roughly an hour ago on City Desk.
Since announcing his imminent lawsuit against the fire department, Bowyer says his day has gone pretty normal.
Firefighters: ‘We Know The Dark Figure Of Rubin’
Last night, WJLA reported that a pair of D.C. Firefighters are readying a civil lawsuit aimed squarely at D.C. Fire Department Chief Dennis L. Rubin. This fight has been brewing for years. The firefighters are claiming that their own department has botched numerous fire investigations and that the upper brass retaliated against them when they complained within the department and to the media. The fight heated up soon after the Eastern Market fire which some investigators say was arson.
The fight over the Eastern Market fire did not sit well with Rubin apparently. I know first hand how Rubin handles tough inquiries into that case. But investigators persisted. They complained about how the Mount Pleasant fire was handled and so on. Meanwhile, Rubin was still Chief Rubin.
The inevitable happened. Two whistleblowers—D.C. Arson Investigators Greg Bowyer and Gerald Pennington—were transferred to something called the Community Services Unit and generally toyed with. Now Bowyer and Pennington are fighting back. They plan on filing a lawsuit this week. They have scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at noon at Eastern Market. Last night we reached Bowyer.
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Mark Spence Goes To Court
As I documented in this week’s cover story on Osman Abdullahi’s death, the problems at 830 7th Street NE were vast. Abdullahi was left without meds in a house without heat and very little food. There was the thinnest of safety nets for Abdullahi and his fellow tenants. After the shooting, the building’s manager Mark Spence simply shut the home down. Without the proper notification or going through Landlord-Tenant Court, he kicked everyone out and locked the doors. Last Friday, I reported that city officials still aren’t sure where the tenants ended up.
An unlicensed home means simply that the tenants are left in particularly vulnerable positions. But one former Spence tenant did fight his eviction. He took Spence to court.
Where Did The Residents Of 830 7th Street NE Go?
On January 26, Osman Abdullahi was gunned down by D.C. Police after an altercation inside his unlicensed group home. The home, located at 830 7th Street NE, had no heat, very little food, and no supervision. Abdullahi wasn’t taking his medication at the time. The home’s manager Mark Spence has a long history with troubled group homes. We published a cover story on Spence’s activities and Abdullahi this week.
Within a few days of the incident, Spence effectively shutdown his group home. The lights were turned off. The doors were locked. A mysterious notice to “correct” or “vacate” was placed on the door.
The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs told me they have no record of posting such a notice on the door of 830 7th Street NE. The notice cited overcrowding as an issue. Spence had 30 days to correct the overcrowding problem or face some kind of fine or eviction. I saw the notice. The notice did not have DCRA letterhead or a name and phone number of an inspector who made the determination.
I asked Spence about the note. He told me the building’s owner could have posted it. He added that he had cleared everyone out of the building. This is a clear violation of landlord-tenant regs. No one stopped Mr. Spence from ignoring the law.
The Office of the D.C. Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program has had frequent encounters with Spence’s work, dating to 1999, according to Jerry Kasunic, the office’s current director.
Today, Kasunic met with the Department of Mental Health. He had one question for the department: Where did the residents of 830 7th Street NE go?
The department’s answer: We don’t know.
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This Is What a Group House Looks Like
Look at it. Go ahead and stare. This is what a District group house looks like. This is the scene from the Jan. 26th police shooting death of Osman Abdullahi. He had been suffering from schizophrenia. He had been living at this group home, located at 830 7th St. NE, since Nov. 1.
The Department of Mental Health has repeatedly stressed that this was not technically a group home. It was not one of their own. It had not been licensed as one. It didn’t get a handy acronym that I won’t even bother explaining. It didn’t have the proper paperwork. But it was a group home. Many of its tenants were mentally ill. [All five I talked to or researched had been in the system]. All were unsupervised. This house had a history, a backstory. Abdullahi had a story, too. We first wrote about the incident later that night. I get to expand on my reporting for this week’s cover.
While DMH gets to breathe a sigh of relief that this wasn’t one of their own homes, its people were still inside. Its people were living without food, without heat, without meds, without supervision. So take a look at where some D.C. residents were living. Who’s going to prevent this from happening again? Who’s going to make sure there’s someone competent watching over our most vulnerable? While DMH is investigating the house, the big question is: Did any of their people ever do a site visit, ever actually come to the house?
More pictures after the jump.
