Concerning youth rehabilitation facility near Powell Elementary School
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Anonymous
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Dear Neighbors:
I'm writing with concern that a residential youth drug rehabilitation facility is being placed at 1345 Taylor St, NW, on the same block as Powell Elementary School. We, as neighbors, were not notified in advance of the property owner's intent to transition his property into this type of facility, and we are working to block it from occurring through the change.org petition in addition to letters to DC officials. http://www.change.org/petitions/muriel-bowser-and-...mail&utm_source=share_petition This building is just across the alley from the Powell Elementary playground and on the same block as a DCRA and DC police identified nuisance property with a history of violence and drug activity. The problems witnessed have included: -Shootings in front of the problem houses and in front of our houses -Repeated drug dealings (both during the day and at night) in front of the problem houses and on the block in front of our houses -Stolen packages from front porches -Robberies in our homes both when residents were in their homes and when they were away. Due to the existing problems on the 1300 block of Taylor St, this is not a good area for youth that are being cared for and coached on rehabilitation. It is not fair to the kids being treated, the neighbors, or the Powell school community, considering the existing trouble on the block. Adding additional persons with drug problems to a block where there is known drug-dealing could endanger the youth at the facility, as well as those in the surrounding area. Please sign the Change.org petition. The petition will help us get the attention of elected officials and engage others concerned about the placement of this facility. It's important. Sign and forward to your friends. Here's the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/muriel-bowser-and-...mail&utm_source=share_petition Thank you in advance for your time and attention to this matter. Sincerely, Elisa Waske |
Anonymous
| Doesn't sound like a safe place to live with small children regardless of the new teen drug rehab house. |
krokodil
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| Any updates here? |
Anonymous
| This is no longer a facility for troubled youth. |
krokodil
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Really? Can anyone provide a bit more info...? |
Anonymous
Elisa, What you are proposing is known as "Not In My Backyard Syndrome". But you have chosen to live in a huge city, and huge cities are going to have drug rehab facilities and liquor stores along with organic groceries and museums. If you want to live in a place that does not have drug rehabs nearby, then consider moving to a suburban bedroom community with strict zoning that separates residences from other uses. Lots of those communities exist. But understand that most of us CHOOSE to live in the big city because we LIKE that there are lots of things going on, we enjoy not owning a car, and appreciate having a diverse mix of people in the neighborhood. No, we don't like petty crime. But we deal with the negative aspects of city life in ways other than trying to control what everyone does with every property on the block. You'd go crazy trying to control the neighbors like that. But of course people try. And I'm curious -- where do you think the "right" neighborhood for a drug rehab would be? I suppose in any neighborhood except your own... |
Anonymous
NP. It's easy to be a sanctimonious blowhard when it's not your house, your street, or your child's school. I don't live in this woman's neighborhood, but until you produce the letters you've written, welcoming the drug-addicts, the gang-bangers, and the pedophiles onto your street one can only think of you as a bloviating cow who should keep her methane-loaded brain-farts to herself. |
Anonymous
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Folks, the letter was from over a year ago. Thanks for the ill-informed commentary, though!
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Anonymous
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Love the gentrifier nimby cloaked as concern for the kids!
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jsteele
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Regardless of the poster's motives, do you really think it is appropriate to place a youth rehabilitation facility adjacent to a school? |
Anonymous
| Much better to have youth roaming the streets NOT rehabilitated. That would make me feel so much safer! |
jsteele
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Oh, thanks. I didn't realize that was the only alternative. Makes total sense that there is only one possible location for this facility. |
Anonymous
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NP here. I would NOT want this youth rehabilitation center next to my DD's school. As much as I would support such a center, I've seen the behavior that comes from such a center being in the neighborhood.
Remember the thread on the kids who were throwing rocks at parents walking with their toddler in front of their house (next to such a school)? All of the youth who were walking down the street blocking traffic? Not to say this will definitely happen or won't be managed well, but there is a HISTORY of incidents in the neighborhoods of these centers. So, much attention needs to be put into WHERE they are located for the sake of the youth in the center, the neighbors and certainly a school community nearby. |
Anonymous
I think it is a city, with scarce real estate, so yes I am fine wirh needed facilities being placed where they can. If there are management issues with the kids, they should be adressed wherever they happen. Rock throwing would not be ok wherever it happened. |
Anonymous
So it should be placed where these behaviors can bother other people, not "neighbors" and "communities" (ie gentrifiers who have a right to be exempted). Got it. |