Monday, July 11, 2016

DC Water CEO and General Manager George Hawkins’ statement on recent crimes in Bloomingdale

From: Hadiah Jordan <Hadiah.Jordan@dcwater.com>
Date: July 11, 2016 at 4:54:24 PM EDT Cc: Hadiah Jordan <Hadiah.Jordan@dcwater.com>, "CreativePages, LLC" <creativepagesllc@aol.com>
Subject: DC Water CEO and General Manager George Hawkins’ statement on recent crimes in Bloomingdale
                      
Dear Residents,

I am deeply saddened to hear about the recent street robberies and the shooting death of a resident in Bloomingdale. I know the fear that such acts engender – I was held up at gunpoint several years ago in a nearby neighborhood – and members of the community are rightly concerned about these horrific crimes. We are also concerned for the safety of our workers who are in the neighborhood every day building critical new infrastructure to safeguard Bloomingdale against flooding.

We have strived to be good neighbors during our First Street Tunnel project, and we will uphold that commitment until the work is done later this summer. I have called Chief Lanier to offer our assistance to try and deter crime in Bloomingdale. I have also asked our team to explore any and all measures to enhance security around our construction sites in the neighborhood. Working with the project’s contractors, we are taking the following actions: 

·         Checking and repairing lighting - During the project, lights were added to better illuminate sidewalks around our construction staging areas. Residents have reported some of these lights are out. Electricians are checking to ensure the lights are functioning properly, and if not, making the necessary repairs.

·         Improve visibility – Beginning immediately, workers are removing the noise blankets that shield nearby homes from the construction areas. This will hopefully increase visibility and eliminate blind spots that could allow criminals to surprise victims or escape capture. The blankets can be rehung as needed for noise suppression during heavy construction. 

·         Additional patrols – DC Water is working to supplement security around the construction staging areas. This will include off-duty police officers or private security personnel.

·         Free transportation for residents – The tunnel project continues to offer free rides in the neighborhood on request for residents who call the 24 hour hotline at 1-844-FST-INFO [1-844-378-4636].
No one should have to fear walking down the street in their own neighborhood. We will continue to work with MPD to respond to this very troubling and tragic series of crimes.

George Hawkins
CEO and General Manager
DC Water 
 

Hadiah
Hadiah S. Jordan, Public Outreach Coordinator | DC Clean Rivers Project | DC Water | Hadiah.Jordan@dcwater.com
5000 Overlook Avenue, SW | Washington, DC 20032 | t (202) 787-4717 | f (202) 787-4476
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4 comments:

Citizenalpha said...

Why did it have to take a murder for this to happen? People have been pointing out the broken lights and the string of robberies for weeks. Why aren't security cameras being explored?

Unknown said...

Why don't we organize a walk through of Bloomingdale neighbors around the block as protest? We should!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nate said...

Glad to see them doing something, but as others have pointed out, why did it finally take a murder to cause action? These steps are essentially the same things a number of Bloomingdale residents emailed DC Water asking for last week. Hell, I told them their street lights were off on July 6th after another armed robbery. Their response - normal canned BS that they remain committed to safety...MPD has responsibility for safety...blah blah blah.