Shooting at Brandywine & Connecticut Ave NW This Afternoon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frumin only seemed engaged when telling rambling anecdotes. The one about the mom with a voucher wanting to send her kids to Cathedral schools for middle school and his surprise came off as offensive.

What kind of policy work has he done in the past?

He mentioned the recent WP article about the voucher debacle EOTP on Quincy and said JLG was talking about it and she "gets it" and maybe he can work with her. It was striking to me since she was the only one who voted against Pinto's Emergency Crime Bill and his remarks in that hearing echoed hers to the extent I was afraid he was going to vote no. All other CM voted yes and did not grandstand. JLG has a very different base with very different ideology, why he is so focused on her and working with her, etc.? It's mystifying.

He has the demeanor of a kid who never had his homework done but always had some elaborate tale. In business this guy would not be your A team you'd have meet with top clients, he just does not present well or effectively. People in CP were unhappy with his level of engagement at their crime meeting a week earlier, even after a SHOOTING he did not seem to alter his engagement. People did try to create a sense of urgency. He even joked about Cheh, who was far better and more informed.

Will he run for an at large seat next? Someone told me he has mayoral ambitions. He's really not the best person for the current situation. He likes riding his bike, going to events and posting on socials.

He already tried and failed to win an at-large seat, in 2013. He finished fourth despite a huge fundraising edge.

The last question Frumin got last night -- and his response -- were pretty telling of his inadequacy. He had a guy telling him that he felt Frumin and rest of the Council were spending too much time on inconsequential matters and not on a very important one: that DC residents don't feel safe right now. I don't think this is an uncommon sentiment right now, but Frumin tried to brush him off by saying he had to deal with lots of issues and can't focus on just one. "I'm too busy to deal with the fact that DC residents feel unsafe" wasn't exactly the most reassuring answer.

He's headed for one term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The building at 5333 doesn't have vouchers or anything of the like. It is a super high end, very new building with mostly affluent tenants.

That’s how the Saratoga used to be. I was so jealous when one of my classmates moved in there during college (her parents paid). The Saratoga was palace compared to the 1950s dumpy studio apartment I lived in with no AC. And now it’s a homeless shelter. Mind boggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have seen no reporting on this incident in the WaPo. Did I miss it? I found out from our list serv and concerned neighbors talking to each other. Like the attack on someone at the Starbucks outside on Ct and Livingston, with a fire extinguisher, without private communication, we’d never hear about any crimes in our neighborhood here. Why?

Anonymous wrote:We have to put our faith in the U.S. Attorney's office. Crime is rampant because there are so few consequences right now. Once we start prosecuting more crimes, the tide will start to turn. It will also help police morale. For years, they have been putting cases together only to see them go nowhere.

The USAO with the no paper rate of 67%? The one that had to be called up to the Hill, scolded and directed to report out numbers so their abysmal performance can be tracked? Faith? Put the screws to Matt Graves and force him to rein in his ideological prosecutors as he did in pilot project in Chinatown would be more productive.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/05/chinatown-crime-dc-police/

While prosecution rates soared in Chinatown when prosecutorial discretion was removed by Graves, overall the prosecution rate dropped 4% that month, was that meant as a signal from career prosecutors? Note, in Chinatown pilot, same no certified lab, same MPD, all factors cited for non-prosecution were the same but no prosecutorial discretion. There was also this response to trying to bring more gun cases in most impacted areas, pulling them into fed court. Staff prosecutors refused. https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/politics/black-prosecutors-dc-gun-cases/index.html

Most recent numbers were slightly better, hope the trend continues but the public pressure and Congressional oversight cannot let up.

Washington Post doesn't have much of local coverage anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frumin would have been better off running for an at-large seat. He seems to have little interest in advocating for his constituents.

if he didn't have any interest in advocating for his constituents, he wouldn't have bothered with having the meeting last night. There really isn't a lot a Councilmember of ANC Commissioner can do about crime. There just isn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frumin would have been better off running for an at-large seat. He seems to have little interest in advocating for his constituents.

if he didn't have any interest in advocating for his constituents, he wouldn't have bothered with having the meeting last night. There really isn't a lot a Councilmember of ANC Commissioner can do about crime. There just isn't.

I don’t know. Maybe stop fawning over the very program has caused many of his constituents to live in fear for three years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The building at 5333 doesn't have vouchers or anything of the like. It is a super high end, very new building with mostly affluent tenants.

A lot of higher end buildings have experienced drug dealer related crime and it has made the news n the past few years. Shooting with less victims made the news in a friend's luxury bldg in Logan.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/court-documents-southwest-dc-apartment-shooting-investigation/65-0fbd2526-6b0f-4276-b1f2-bc58e7557c37

The fancy new building in Van Ness with the Italian restaurant has had federal warrants served. Not sure if they were tenants or visitors but LE goes in with long guns. Paying a LOT of money in rent, whether via cash or HUD funds still seems to often bring on into proximity to unsavory situations in NW DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched about 25 minutes online and was not encouraged by Frumin's responses at all. His strategy seems to be to hope no more "incidents" (aka murder attempts) happen until this one has blown over.

He made quite a few statements aimed at lowering expectations, was odd.

MPD said they expect the case to be closed soon so then the shooters and victim will be identified. If it is true that none of the 3 were leaseholders at Brandywine or Saratoga, but may have had "ties" that is almost worse. That associates of residents are dealing in the neighborhood but can't be evicted as a solution is more complex. I am still baffled that things that would get you kicked out of public housing seemingly have no impact on vouchers.

3 shots fired, 1 hit victim, someone asked where other 2 went but question was sidestepped.

How can you kick someone out of their house for being an associate of someone who breaks the law? (Or, more likely, for being the parent or grandparent of someone who's an associate of someone who breaks the law.)

Public housing has pretty strict rules about this - you can be kicked out if you let someone use the premises for crime. And for drugs this even extends to off premises drug crimes.

https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FAQSREENTRYPOLICIES.PDF

[Anonymous]

Councilmembers can do plenty. Gray introduced a bill to greatly increase the effort to fully staff the police force. Pinto introduced the emergency crime legislation. In 2019, the Council took the USAO to task for failing to prosecute hate crimes (unfortunately, they didn’t seem to care about other crimes).

Frumin wouldn’t even answer my e-mail when I wrote to him about crime concerns (my unpaid and unstaffed ANC rep responded immediately, however).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frumin would have been better off running for an at-large seat. He seems to have little interest in advocating for his constituents.

if he didn't have any interest in advocating for his constituents, he wouldn't have bothered with having the meeting last night. There really isn't a lot a Councilmember of ANC Commissioner can do about crime. There just isn't.

I don’t know. Maybe stop fawning over the very program has caused many of his constituents to live in fear for three years?

Agree. Not true,that there is nothing Council can do. The Council recently limited the criminal background check screening landlords can do. That could be revisited, for example. A separate eviction track for dangerous tenants, esp those who have threatened staff or other tenants was a good idea and that is DC Code that the Council can change, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frumin would have been better off running for an at-large seat. He seems to have little interest in advocating for his constituents.

if he didn't have any interest in advocating for his constituents, he wouldn't have bothered with having the meeting last night. There really isn't a lot a Councilmember of ANC Commissioner can do about crime. There just isn't.

that’s such a toxic and false attitude. of course they can do something about crime. of course they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Frumin would have been better off running for an at-large seat. He seems to have little interest in advocating for his constituents.

if he didn't have any interest in advocating for his constituents, he wouldn't have bothered with having the meeting last night. There really isn't a lot a Councilmember of ANC Commissioner can do about crime. There just isn't.

I don’t know. Maybe stop fawning over the very program has caused many of his constituents to live in fear for three years?

Agree. Not true,that there is nothing Council can do. The Council recently limited the criminal background check screening landlords can do. That could be revisited, for example. A separate eviction track for dangerous tenants, esp those who have threatened staff or other tenants was a good idea and that is DC Code that the Council can change, etc.

yep. there’s no reason the eviction rules for housing voucher tenants couldn’t be the same as public housing. and of course the council could take steps to fix the voucher program to reduce violence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Councilmembers can do plenty. Gray introduced a bill to greatly increase the effort to fully staff the police force. Pinto introduced the emergency crime legislation. In 2019, the Council took the USAO to task for failing to prosecute hate crimes (unfortunately, they didn’t seem to care about other crimes).

Frumin wouldn’t even answer my e-mail when I wrote to him about crime concerns (my unpaid and unstaffed ANC rep responded immediately, however).

Charles Allen certainly had an impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Councilmembers can do plenty. Gray introduced a bill to greatly increase the effort to fully staff the police force. Pinto introduced the emergency crime legislation. In 2019, the Council took the USAO to task for failing to prosecute hate crimes (unfortunately, they didn’t seem to care about other crimes).

Frumin wouldn’t even answer my e-mail when I wrote to him about crime concerns (my unpaid and unstaffed ANC rep responded immediately, however).

Charles Allen certainly had an impact.

I would say Frumin is having an impact on crime as well just like his buddy Allen. Two peas in a pod.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched about 25 minutes online and was not encouraged by Frumin's responses at all. His strategy seems to be to hope no more "incidents" (aka murder attempts) happen until this one has blown over.

He made quite a few statements aimed at lowering expectations, was odd.

MPD said they expect the case to be closed soon so then the shooters and victim will be identified. If it is true that none of the 3 were leaseholders at Brandywine or Saratoga, but may have had "ties" that is almost worse. That associates of residents are dealing in the neighborhood but can't be evicted as a solution is more complex. I am still baffled that things that would get you kicked out of public housing seemingly have no impact on vouchers.

3 shots fired, 1 hit victim, someone asked where other 2 went but question was sidestepped.

How can you kick someone out of their house for being an associate of someone who breaks the law? (Or, more likely, for being the parent or grandparent of someone who's an associate of someone who breaks the law.)

Public housing has pretty strict rules about this - you can be kicked out if you let someone use the premises for crime. And for drugs this even extends to off premises drug crimes.

https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FAQSREENTRYPOLICIES.PDF

It's my understanding that DC enforces this in Section 8 housing but not re: HF vouchers. It's what I have been told in the area and this WP article touches on it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/08/dc-paid-housing-chronic-homelessness/

Even when tenants are arrested, they’re quickly released and able to return to the building, Derosa said during the meeting, because neither the Housing Authority nor the District’s Department of Human Services will revoke their vouchers or otherwise hold them accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Councilmembers can do plenty. Gray introduced a bill to greatly increase the effort to fully staff the police force. Pinto introduced the emergency crime legislation. In 2019, the Council took the USAO to task for failing to prosecute hate crimes (unfortunately, they didn’t seem to care about other crimes).

Frumin wouldn’t even answer my e-mail when I wrote to him about crime concerns (my unpaid and unstaffed ANC rep responded immediately, however).

Charles Allen certainly had an impact.

I would say Frumin is having an impact on crime as well just like his buddy Allen. Two peas in a pod.

If I’m one of the Connecticut Ave voucher residents that’s been up to no good I’m feeling pretty bullet-proof after hearing Matt’s full throated endorsement of the program in the last two public meetings. Stunningly irresponsible.