Good morning Washington, and welcome to the second full day of this summer’s Crime Emergency. Feel safer yet? No? Well, give it a few weeks. It’ll still be a little while before the city collectively re-loses interest in its crime problem. But for now, there’s some excellent coverage in the area media — and perhaps unsurprisingly, the Post is leading the way.
July’s Murders Examined: Although the deaths of Alan Senitt and Chris Crowder have pushed the city into action, theirs were far from the first lives lost during this disturbingly violent summer. Today’s Post spends nearly 3,000 words examining the lives and deaths of the fourteen murder victims that have been lost (as of this writing) in the city during July. Although some of the accounts are short on details, it’s heartening to see the recent violence examined in a context that extends beyond Georgetown.
Officials Warn There’s No Quick Fix: As one might expect, the immediate substantive reactions to the uproar over crime have been changes in how police are deployed throughout the city: yesterday the city council allocated $31.5 million for new officers, and the U.S. Park Police announced changes to its patrol schedules aimed at making the Mall safer. However, there are indications that these measures may not be the magic bullet we’d all like. Police Chief Ramsey is warning that it may take years for the allocated funds to be fully converted into police officers. And WTOP reports that the Park Police’s recent failures may have more to do with systematic understaffing rather than merely an inefficient patrol pattern — a problem that former Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers was fired for pointing out.
Stadium Parking Found: The Post reports that stadium planners think they’ve come up with a solution to their looming parking problem. You might remember a recent controversy over whether the stadium’s garages would be above or below ground. That issue was resolved with a simple non-decision (“both!”), but it only opened enough spaces for the ticketholders with the deepest pockets. But what about us plebes? Well, apparently 9,000 more spaces have been located for the unwashed masses. However, they’re spread out over many sites, some are quite far from the stadium, a third are currently in private hands, and many are served by insufficient streets.
Briefly Noted: Officer apologizes for racially-charged comment… Chief Ramsey asks feds for help getting max sentences for offenders… NBC4 discovers Craigslist, makes a graphic for it… FCC sends Comcast and MASN to binding arbitration…
This Day In DCist: We interviewed the very talented RPM (Restoring Poetry in Music), discussed the best places to eat on Bastille Day (Happy B-Day all, by the way), and looked at the latest political news surrounding voting rights and stadium financing.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user llemanie
