We’ve seen some drug free zone flyers before but this is the first prostitution free zone I’ve ever seen. I found this flyer in the Shaw Logan Circle neighborhood off 12th Street. So, it’s pretty cool that a nice xerox can declare a zone drug and/or prostitution free. I hope they’ll print a few more out for litter free zones, double parking free zones, maybe murder free zones, hypocrisy free zones, etcetera etcetera…

tent fire December 1st, 2022

Ed. Note: Last weekend the Post had an editorial “It’s time to clear out the McPherson Square encampment”

A reader passes on the below letter from the National Mall and Memorial Parks:

“The National Park Service (NPS) will clear the unsheltered encampment at McPherson Square on February 15, 2023, shifting the closure date up two months from the initial posted closure date of April 12, 2023. The updated closure date responds to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services’ (DMHHS) January 9 request that NPS close the McPherson Square encampment on February 1 because high levels of illegal drug activity and other dangerous and unsafe activities significantly impede social services outreach and endanger social services providers, mental health clinicians, unsheltered individuals, and the public. Following DMHHS’ request, the NPS considered the recommendation of the United States Park Police (USPP) in determining the February 15 closure date. Read More

“Dear PoPville,

There’s an little known DC Code section that allows community groups to file lawsuits against properties that are being used to sell, store or manufacture illegal drugs; that are being used to unlawfully store or sell guns; or that are being used to facilitate prostitution.

Some residents in Truxton Circle have a pretty dire and threatening situation going on with a tenant on a block and we’re considering all options. Over the past 24 months, the residents and/or guests of this household have dealt drugs, brandished firearms, threatened other residents, destroyed property, spray-painted security cameras, and generally created an unlivable situation in the immediate area of the property. Read More

Photo by Victoria Pickering

From the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia:

“Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that Castle Management and other defendants, which owned and managed the Forest Ridge and The Vista Apartment complexes (398 units) in Ward 8, will pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit over dangerous and deplorable conditions at its properties. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleged the property owner forced hundreds of tenants to live with vermin infestations, water damage and mold, no fire safety systems, and security defects that led to persistent gun violence. Separately, OAG resolved a lawsuit against the owner of Good Hope Laundromat requiring it to address persistent gun and drug nuisances at the property and pay penalties to the District. In a third settlement, the landlord and management of a Ward 4 apartment building accused of misrepresenting its apartments as safe and habitable despite ongoing housing code violations is required to substantially renovate the property, prove its properties are compliant with D.C. housing laws for future rentals, pay $50,000 in combined civil penalties, and implement an employee Housing Code training. Read More

Photo by Tim Brown

From the Office of the DC Attorney General:

“Attorney General Karl A. Racine today filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) for endangering over 5,000 tenants at 10 public housing properties–as well as the surrounding communities in Wards 1, 5, 6, and 7–by failing to confront drug- and firearm-related nuisances at the properties. DCHA is an independent District agency that provides housing for low- and moderate-income residents. Between January 2019 and May 2020, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has responded to over 5,270 incidents that occurred at the properties, including homicides, shootings, and drug offenses. DCHA has failed to respond to both resident complaints and Office of the Attorney General (OAG) notices and requests for action, including recommendations to increase security presence, lighting, and security cameras. Following DCHA’s inaction, OAG filed suit seeking a court order compelling DCHA to make immediate security improvements to its properties to protect District residents. Read More

via google maps

Ed. Note: It was an operation for “prostitution related offenses”. See below for full MPD report.

“Dear PoPville,

We live near the intersection of 12th St. & N St. NW. Over the last few months — and most recently last night — we’ve noticed police activity on our block that we don’t really understand. We’re hoping that the community might shed some light.

In short, several police cars will pull over a car (sometimes with a squad car blocking that car from the front); an officer will approach the driver and have him out of the car within a minute or so; the driver will then be put in the back of a police car a few seconds later (sometimes cuffed, sometimes we’re not sure, but never with any fuss); and finally a different police officer will immediately hop into the pulled-over car and drive it away (without, e.g., first documenting any evidence). To be clear, the entire sequence of events lasts only 3-5 minutes — much too quickly to be an ordinary traffic stop, in our view. And we’ve never before seen a police officer get into someone’s car and drive it away. Read More

Photo by PoPville flickr user Erin

From the Office of the Attorney General:

“Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that notorious landlord Sanford Capital, LLC, and its owner will return over $1.1 million in rent payments to 155 tenants forced to live in uninhabitable conditions. The joint settlement agreement resolves three consumer protection lawsuits the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) brought against Sanford for charging rent but failing to maintain its properties and endangering its tenants. It also resolves 32 claims filed by the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia on behalf of individual tenants relating to housing conditions at one Sanford property. Under the terms of the joint agreement, Sanford will be required to return rent paid by tenants at three properties located in Wards 5, 7, and 8, pay the District a penalty, and continue divesting from all their properties in the District as required by a previous settlement. Read More

Photo by PoPville flickr user Ted Eytan

Ed. Note: Yesterday we heard the other side.

From Councilmember Grosso’s office:

“The following is Councilmember David Grosso’s opening statement delivered at the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety hearing on the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019, which would abandon the District of Columbia’s criminalization approach to sex work in favor of one that focuses on human rights, health, and safety:

“Thank you, Councilmember Allen, for convening this hearing today.

“This is a historic occasion as we consider how we as the government and the community should treat commercial sex and, most importantly, how we can better protect the human rights of the people involved.

“Earlier this year, along with Councilmembers Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, and Anita Bonds, I introduced the bill before us today, the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019.

“Over the past 3 years I developed this legislation in close partnership with the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition, and the bill is in line with recommendations from Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, U.N. AIDS, Human Rights Watch, and numerous other human rights, public health, and anti-trafficking organizations.

“Since coming into office, I have met with and listened to sex workers and other people who trade sexual services for money as well as survivors of human trafficking.

“I met with them because all of my work at the Council is grounded in a human rights and racial equity framework.

“That means looking out for the human rights of the most marginalized communities, including people in the sex trade, and reconsidering policies that perpetuate racism.

“In listening to those most directly affected, I heard how criminalization and stigma cause tremendous harm to people in the sex trade. Read More

Locations of Likely Human Trafficking Cases in the U.S. via Polaris

PoP-Ed. posts may be written about anything related to the District and submitted via email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail please include PoP-Ed. in the subject line.

Fully decriminalizing the sex trade in Washington, D.C. would increase the risk of sex trafficking
Brad Myles, CEO of Polaris

Proponents of legislation headed for hearing before the D.C. Council in mid-October would have you believe that the question of how to handle the sex trade in our city is a binary one: Either you decriminalize sex work, or you don’t. Period.

That’s no accident. Even the name of the bill – the “Community Safety and Health Amendment Act” – is designed to send this misleading message. The reality is far more complicated. This bill does not solely decriminalize sex work in an attempt to help keep people in prostitution safer. It also repeals crimes related to pimping, brothel-keeping, and sex buying, on the grounds that people in prostitution should not have their livelihoods interfered with in any way. In doing so, it increases the risk of sex trafficking for vulnerable people in the District.

Here’s the more complicated, honest version. The sex trade in DC is heterogeneous – a market ecosystem involving many different actors and impacting tens of thousands of lives. Some people are in the sex trade out of intentional choice. They exist, but it is a minority of the trade. Some of the most marginalized and vulnerable members of our society are exploited in the sex trade, or get involved out of desperation and lack of other options. Read More

via Montgomery County Department of Police

Thanks to all who passed on. Fox5 reported: “Hurwitz is co-owner of the 9:30 Club and The Anthem in D.C. He is also chairman of I.M.P., an independent concert promotion and production company based in the D.C. area, which operates the Lincoln Theatre and Meriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia.”

From Montgomery County Department of Police:

“Detectives from the Special Investigations Division – Vice and Intelligence Unit have charged Seth Hurwitz, age 60, of the 6100 block of Lenox Road in Bethesda, with solicitation of prostitution from a licensed massage therapist at her place of business. Based on statements Hurwitz made to the victim during this investigation, detectives are concerned that there are additional victims. Read More