So when are they putting up the Trinidad-style roadblocks and ID checks? They can start with Whole Foods. That joint's highway robbery. $60 for a bottle of third-rate barolo? Eat me, muthaf***ers!

Back in the 1980s, that stretch of 14th between Logan and K was THE place to troll for hookers. Friday nights, there'd be nothing but MD, PA, and DE license plates cruising at 10 MPH. Good times.

I work on 12th and P and it seems to be very quiet around the circle. Although there is the unsual riff-raff that loiter in the circle all day; they seem moslty harmless. Go down a few blocks around 8th and P though is a differant story. I've felt uneasy a number of times riding my bike around at night in that area.

Our gut feeling is that there as been an uptick in violent crime in the Logan/western Shaw area. The area seems quiet, and we don't really feel unsafe living there (we're at 13th and R, and aside from a car break-in two years ago have never personally experienced anything disconcerting)--but we're definitely hearing more stories about muggings, burglaries, and--yes--shootings.

Whether this is anything more than a random occurence of tempers flaring during a hot and muggy summer, or signs pointing towards a greater trend of more violent crime in a "gentrified area", I really can't say.

I live two blocks north of Logan Circle on Rhode Island, and I feel pretty safe most of the time. I've been yelled at/followed for no apparent reason, in broad daylight, a few times which was a bit scary (that is the exception for sure).

That said, I always carry my mace and make eye-contact when walking towards U at night (usually on 11th, 12th or 13th).

I recently moved from around 10th and O and I frequently saw unsavory people on bicycles who appeared to be casing houses and cars....also, the alley by me constantly was constantly littered with used condoms...not to mention the gay bashing/mugging near BeBar last year.

Well, if he lived on the 1300 block of 14th street that means he either lives in N street village or the Seville (which was one of the buildings the Post covered in their evil landlords series right before the MtP fire) there aren't any other residential buildings on that block (in fact both those buildings have N street addresses, so I don't think anyone technically lives on that block). So it's another case of the poor killing the poor, it's not like a Church street loft dweller or a tourist staying at the Donovan was involved.

So the surprise is that 14th Street/Logan Circle aren't completely gentrified?

UMan:

I actually live in the Seville right now, so I'd be curious to see the Post article, but I can't find it online. I've never really considered my landlord evil in any way, but maybe that's because I pay my rent on time.

Why does DCist even bother with neighborhood crime stories anymore?

regentrifydcnow, I'm not sure I understand your point. "Gentrification" refers to the improvement of a neighborhood by middle-upper class home buyers, thus raising property values and displacing the poor and/or less affluent. By definition, an area cannot be "gentrified to the extreme" when it is initially developed. An area may have been designed to attract wealthy homeowners, but when no one was living there previously that development is not "gentrification".

In addition, the streets around Logan Circle were not "planned" specifically to attract the wealthy; it just happens to be where the wealthy built their homes and moved to. LeDroit Park is an example of a "planned community"; Logan is not.

Regardless, your ultimate point--that individuals purchasing homes there now should not be considered "gentrifiers"--is blatantly false. Unquestionably, the property values in Logan have soared over the last decade, and lower income residents have been displaced. Logan, as much as any neighborhood in central DC, is practically a living definition of what "gentrification" is.

I'm at 13th and R and I don't feel less safe. Most violent crime is not random and the odds of something happening to me are still really low.

I've noticed a lot of cops around since I moved into my place in December. I see them driving through the alleys on my block a few times a week. More foot or bike patrols might help but there was that shooting in NE this past weekend where cops were the next block over and someone STILL was shot.

Time to register your guns, people.

-Logan Circle Resident

"If you want to stop crappy activity in your alleyways, or any other part of your 'hood, you need to reclaim the physical space by being out there and being seen to be out there."

With all due respect 32skidoo, that's not an option for many when it comes to the alleys running behind their properties. In our building, for instance, only 2 of the 9 units have alley access (ours is not one of them). Never mind the fact that the alley area behind our property isn't at all conducive to "hanging out" (and that drinking beers on your front steps is, actually, against the law), unless you consider hanging out by yourself with a bunch of mosquitos, broken glass and recycling containers.

It's all well and good to be visible in your neighborhood, but being visible in and of itself isn't going to deter a great percentage of crime. In this particular instance, who is going to be in their alleyway at 2 AM anyway?

No one "deserves" to be shot, but we can all agree that certain activities lend themselves to a higher risk of being violently attacked and/or killed--drug trafficking, prostitiution, other criminal activitiy, etc. We don't know why Derrick was in the alley at 2 AM on a Thursday night, but if he was merely walking home and minding his own business it's certainly a peculiar path to take home.

14thandYou.. the "peculiar path" he was taking home is a very common shortcut that people take between Vermont and 14th. It's not an "alley" per se, but the road that cars use when using the 14th St Popeye's drive-thru. You enter on 14th and exit on Vermont. This is very wide and very well-lit. In fact, it feels safer to me than to walk the extra 1/2-block to N St (between Vermont and 14th), which has an (empty at 2am) church on the South and a (walled off, dimly lit) N St Village entrance.

Regentrify and 14th:

You are both right.

The massive houses in Logan were not built to house the poor.

The neighborhood became poor in an artificial construct, namely desegregation, white flight, 60s riots, etc., then by the force of government policy.

That's why I find it a bit hilarious when people claim that the area needs to kept poor. Even when market forces dictate otherwise. To the point where we have to artificially preserve public housing complexes in an effort to preserve poverty in the neighborhood.

14th and You:
Drinking a beer on your front porch is not against the law in DC. Google "chardonnay lady" for accounts of the long-past pr debacle that spurred (still) CM Schwartz to introduce the law that changed that.

i lived just off the circle for a year before moving out to bloomingdale, and the only problem that area seemed to have was an inordinate number of home break-ins. look at the police statistics...property crime is a MUCH bigger problem in that area than crime against a person.

that being said, that alley usually has a lot of traffic in it...car, bike, and pedestrian. it's surprising to hear that this happened.

logan circle is not a dangerous neighborhood though. nbc4 is just trying to stir things up.

"Though this is uncommon in this neighborhood, we still all live in the district and should know that it has one of the highest crime rates in the country, so what really makes this neighborhood safer? "

Because different neighborhoods have different demographics, social constructs and other factors which play a role in the level of crime. Clearly, crime is nowhere near evenly dispersed throughout the city. A homicide is a maddening and saddening event regardless of where it occurs, but a homicide in Spring Valley will typically generate a greater amount of news interest than one in, say, Trininad. I'm not advocating that such a thing is necessarily fair or "right", but it's really not difficult to understand.

Getting back to the topic of this article, the kid dealt drugs. He hung out with drug dealers. He ended up dead. This wasn't random. It wasn't about race or gentrification (directly at least). He played a risky game and got burned, as a lot of people do in DC.