May 9, 2011 marks four years since MPD vice units conducted a raid on the then Scott Montgomery Elementary School lot (now KIPP Shaw Campus).

Scott Montgomery School parking lot, 1500 b/o Fifth Street NW.

Nearby neighbors and school staff had suffered for almost (if not more than) a decade under the daily (seven days a week) menace of gangs, gang graffiti, breakins, and belligerent behavior from teens and young adults constantly disturbing peace and quiet in the area (sometimes as late as 1am or 2am). It took a change from the local old guard ANC leadership before neighbors, who filed a widely endorsed petition, could even get the attention of our Ward 2 Councilmember to encourage MPD leadership to crackdown on the open air drug market and vandalism that was obvious to anyone who walked by any given afternoon and into the late evenings.

It's truly indicative of how casually the local gang members felt about the largest drug bust in the area in a decade. They hardly missed a beat as they continued the "basketball game" which was usually just a ruse screen for nefarious activity. The drug paraphenalia and alcohol bottles left on the "drug free zone" school grounds EVERY SINGLE F'ING DAY, were apparently not enough evidence for local officials to pay attention before.

Fast fwd to today:

The school lots are free of all the nonsense. This weekend, families gathered and enjoyed the school/neighborhood playground. Church patrons parked on the school lot w/o worrying that their cars would be broken into while they worshiped on Sunday. And with the blessed rain coming down, as I write this, the Fifth St Peace Garden grows and marks a new era of peace for the immediate area.

Fifth Street Peace Garden

But the serenity never seems to last very long in Shaw. ...

Gunshots apparently rang out this past Saturday for the second time in Shaw in the past few weeks in the area of 7th & P or 7th & R Streets NW, possibly causing the broken glass at the G2 (Georgetown/Howard) bus shelter on the 600 b/o P St NW (which sits directly across the street from the $260 Million CityMarket at O development that is currently underway.).

http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/04/evans-bill-require-least-...

Although Ward 2 Councilmember Evans has urged that his colleagues staff MPD at no less that 4000 officers along with his budget response (pdf), on Monday, May 9, 2011, Mayor Vincent C Gray will hold his Ward 2 FY2012 Budget Town Hall Briefing. Gray is expected to reiterate his plans to allow the current [3,800+] MPD staff to fall below levels needed to sufficiently protect residents and combat crime in areas like Shaw which have been plagued by drugs and violence.

Some might call that turning back the clock, but time will tell. History shows that elected leaders don't always turn a deaf ear, but local residents and our elected progressive ANC leadership need to show up and speak up (not just tweet about it).

How are students supposed to have safe routes to school and avoid the influence of gangs and drug boys and girls if there aren't enough police officers to keep the criminals off the streets -- much less off the school grounds? Low- and upper-income residents alike are terrorized by crime in our communities. Until the crime is greatly reduced for all residents, from students to seniors, other vital services must take less priority on the budget chopping block. (Even homeless people can be victims of crime, but they have less of a voice than others.)