March 12, 2008
Columbia Heights Target Crime Update
There's been a lot of news and even more speculation about how dangerous the blocks surrounding the new Target, across the street from the Columbia Heights Metro, have become since the store opened last week. We posted about a series of muggings that occurred in the general vicinity, especially at the Metro entrance, within days of the grand opening. Good news: WTOP has since reported that a 16 year-old has been arrested in connection with at least 12 armed robberies in the area, which appear to be the same ones we had heard about.
Elsewhere, Prince of Petworth was spreading rumors on Monday about Target customers being robbed right as they exited the store. Someone alerted him to a bunch of cop cars in the area, assumed to have been responding to the crimes. Scary! Except, not at all true. Newly promoted MPD Inspector Edward Delgado posted the following update to the 3D Substation email list yesterday, titled " Rumor of a robbery at the Target":
Hello NeighborsGuess that means there are still plenty of job openings at the Target.What you hear are rumors regarding this incident that have no bearing or
merit. What actually occurred was that store employees that were caught
stealing from the Target. Rumors like this cast a negative light on
Columbia Heights and will discourage developers and new home owners from
investing in Columbia Heights.If there is ever a question about crime in your neighborhood you could
email me at Edward.Delgado@DC.gov.
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I'm all for development but big box retailers should not be allowed inside city limits...
and that's why you're an idiot
Only in DC.
corrected: "I'm all for development but I like giving 5% of every dollar I spend on the generic crap I'm gonna buy anyway to the state governments of Virginia and Maryland."
You guys are right I am stupid for wanting DC independents and small business communities to thrive because Lord knows I would rather have local independents put out of business with the store fronts boarded up rather than keeping a cookie cutter mid-end big box retailer profitable in the hood where the avg personal family income sits around 30 grand. Yeah I'm really stupid....I see fuck small business man even though 90 percent of the jobs in the united states are belong to em....
He just a baby! And those employees that stole stuff are just babies too! Won't anybody think about the poor babies?
'Target' takes on new meaning...I'm assuming they didn't originally intend the bullseye as a symbol to attract criminals.
zip - What small businesses are providing the products that Target is selling? I'm for small, locally owned businesses in DC, but get real. That site would still be a vacant dump had a big box retailer not signed a lease. Period. That's just how urban development works: anchor store signs, smaller retailers follow, hopefully the Council isn't a bunch of cockheads and provides some subsidies so that locally-owned joints don't go under in the first 18 months.
DC has no shortage of crummy mom-and-pops that sell forties and Rap Snacks. They don't really have the capital to offer plasma teevees and decent detergent that doesn't make my ass burn.
That site would still be a vacant dump had a big box retailer not signed a lease.
if by vacant dump you mean $500K condos, yes.
Got to agree with Monkey on this.
We all luuuuuv the idea of charming and funky local businesses.
The reality, at least in DC, is that far too many (but not all) local businesses have terrible customer service, a limited selection of products, erratic hours of operation, etc.
Retail in DC has by and large been shit for 30 decades. And we had block after block of boarded up storefonts. And during that time we zero big box stores (to my knowledge).
So I'm afraid the suckassedness of local DC retail is already upon you. And has been for decades.
either zippy subsides on crappy, expired and overpriced food, or doesn't know what the fuck he/she is talking about.
About the only comparable local retail outlet I can compare to Target is Rodman*s, and there less than a 0% chance that kind of funky local place would ever move into a marginal neighborhood like Columbia Heights at this point.
I'm not any kind of expert on regional development, but I think Monkey and others are basically right. Without some deep-pockets corporation like Target willing to take a chance on a new strip mall, the area around Tivoli would be a failure.
Didn't make my point too clearly.
I meant to point out that DC retail has sucked for decades even without Target or other big box stores here.
i'm seconding (or thirding or fourthing or whatever the hell it is at this point) what monkey said. i'm getting the feeling that everything zippy posts is crap. i mean, of course you dork, we're all for small businesses. but those small businesses have had since the f'in riots to supply the district with the goods that customers wanted at low prices, and guess what??? everyone in DC shops in VA and MD. so yeah, i welcome target with open freakin' arms.
when do we get to shop at zippy's corner store o' stuff? i'm sure it's going to be the retail equivalent of an orgasm...
Apparently, even this latest email is a false rumor. No robberies or crimes, or employee thefts have been documented since the store's opening. See:
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/03/12/no-one-knows-shit-about-target-crimes/
Wow... so the Target's been open for what - six days? - and the employees are *already* stealing?
DC is the ghettoest city EVER.
Oh, and Hillman, I'm pretty sure DC retailing was pretty strong back in the mid-1700s... but what with getting burnt down in the War of 1812 and all, it never really recovered ;-)
Can we ban zippy? His/her comments are just terrible.
Can we ban zippy? His/her comments are just terrible.
I disagree, freedom of speech means freedom to be stupid. Once Zippy hits rock bottom, people will cease to engage with he/she/it and they'll go away.
Just My $.02,
HR
Free Zippy!
The flipside to zip's argument is that you risk getting screwed if you put TOO much faith in big box retailers. F Street downtown used to be THE shopping district for over half a century. For over a thousand generations small businesses were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before THE EMPIRE. The suburbs leached all that commerce out, until only Woodies and Garfinkles remained and when they folded, F Street was deader than last xmas.
Go to Landover Mall and see what happens when you put too much faith in major retailers. DC needs to finance unique locally-owned small business. Otherwise, downtown becomes another anonymous suburban stripmall minus the parking.
I (heart) Monkey's Star Wars references.
Zippy's comment made me think of this
Hillrat- True, but freedom of speech does not apply on private websites.. and my experience leads me to believe that they will not just go away that easily.
Everything's okay! Keep buying things!
@Politburo
I wasn't talking about the freedom of speech in a legalistic sense, but more about the spirit behind free speech. I like hearing from people who disagree with me and occasionally the stupid things that people say are kind of funny. People around here say all kinds of whacked out stuff about [insert aggrieved group of the moment here], but rather than censor them they are allowed enough rope to hang themselves with their own ignorance.
In any kind of more or less open forum like this one you're going to have trolls. Some will be more persistent than others, but my experience has led me to believe that they usually don't last long if no one responds to them.
Which reminds me, has anyone seen pleskowicz? I hope he's okay. I said a special prayer for him, made a burnt offering to Ba''al, and sent a donation in his name to the Church of Scientology.
@Monkeyerotica:
Plesko isn't back b/c nobody fed the troll again. His message on the darth popus visit to dc thread is the last one as of now.
Does anyone know whether the shopping cart escalators are working again at the Target? The only reason I went this weekend was to use one--I have never seen one before--but it was broken.
Ironically, I was going to post this afternoon about how safe Columbia Heights is. I say ironically, because I've just returned home from work to find that my CAR HAS BEEN STOLEN.
That's right, it was there this morning and it is gone now. Stolen right from my nice little off-street parking spot in the alley behind my house, not two blocks from the brand new Target.
So this is my little APB: If anyone sees a dark green Chrysler Sebring convertible with tan roof, out of state plates and a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker, please let me (or the MPD) know.
Thanks!