Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[bdweller]

I agree that the alley(s) described above are the problematic ones. I regularly walk the dog and see drug deals going on or just ending at the outlet of the alley on 18th st. between Park and Lamont. Usually very young teens w/ backpacks after 11pm.
What ever happened to the police bike patrols? I saw that as good alternative to cruisers as they easily patrol the alleys and sneak up on a group of dealers. Especially if these people are escaping the area on foot. Which seems to be the case. I saw the bike cops alot last year but haven't seen ANY this year.
I have also seen a chain of people on block corners extending from 17th and Irving staggered all the way up to 17th and MtP (the argyle).
And just think, you too can own a condo in the argyle starting at $400K!

[PRN]

With regard to where our "white shirt" drug dealers operate. One of them lives (or frequents) a rowhouse in the 1800 block of Monroe Street - apparently his grandmother's. These guys are the remnants of a very active gang of drug dealers that used to operate primarily in Park Road Park (2002) but were busted up by active cooperation between the neighbors and police - several principals were arrested and I assume incarcerated as they haven't been seen around since. Recently these guys have been doing some erratic drug dealing. Those of us around Park Road Park still have an informal alert system and we all call the police whenever we see any drug dealing activity. These guys use bikes, phones and never have drugs and money in the same place. Clients pay one person then meet another down the street or around the corner to pick up their drugs. These are areas where I have seen them operating:

1. Sitting on the wood trestle wall next to the Argyle Building and the African Hair Gallery - generally they seem to only direct traffic and take money here and usually don't stay long as one of the neighbors will call them in.

2. In front of the Argyle - between the entrance to the apartent bldg and the Convenient Store.

3. In between Heller's and Samber Mkt - I believe they use the alley for cover - I can't say for sure as I have never walked back there but it makes sense.

4. The alley btwn the 1700 blocks of Park and Monroe; 18th and Mt. Pleasant.

5. On the corner of Monroe and 18th Street and often in the upper part of Monrroe Street.

6. Around Bancroft Elementary School.

I have seen them most often in areas 4 & 5 above.

As for identifying them - unfortunately that is not enough - they have to be caught in the act or carrying drugs. Most of us that have lived around here for awhile know who these folks are and so do the police. My neighbor tells me he saw the police "shake down" the one we call "Little Lomax" who is the one with ties/and or living on Monroe St and also the apparent leader of the group now, a week ago Friday. ("Little Lomax" got his name bcz he looked like Lomax the now gone former leader of these guys). Little Lomax is around 5' 5" with dreadlocks and wears gansta style clothes. As I said in my previousl post, they wear white long t-shirt style shirts when they are dealing. I have even seen them go by in regular clothes on a Saturday afternoon and show up 15 minutes later in white.

The concerted effort to get rid of these guys back in 2002 (when the drug dealing was really open) came after there were four shooting incidents right around the areas I described above. We actually had a policeman sitting in the park everyday for 6 weeks. It was not easy to get the guys busted then - the police set up surveillance cameras (in several apartment buildings and private homes) and built a case over several months before taking them down.

Calling the police whenever you see these guys is the best way to discourage them - in many ways the dynamics of the neighborhood have changed sufficiently that it is not as easy a place to deal as in the not too distant past. By that I mean that many homes and apartments that once served as cover no longer do. It is no longer possible to cut throught the yards of the homes on the North side of Park Road Park to "escape" into the alley and apts behind (all the homes and the apt building there put up tall fences to stop just this back in 2002). In addition, all the neighbors around the park have put in a lot of time to clean up the park and make it less desireable as drug haven and more amenable to just hanging out or walking through for all our neighbors.

Hopefully this is helpful.

[jack]

[jack]

[kvetchingeditor]

So I work a second shift and bus home any time between midnight and 1:30 a.m.

Are these fellows pretty much of the "stick to business" type and try to be unseeen? I mean, if I happen across these fellows doing their business and don't really notice it, I'm not going to get shot or mugged am I?

I either get off at Park & 17th or Lamont & Mt. Pleasant and walk to between 18th and 19th on Park Road ... though I usually go in the alley entrance during the day (I just moved in). Should I avoid this?

Help!

[jack]

[mha]

[flydhest]

mha,
You and I must have been neighbors. I lived at Euclid and 17th before moving here to Mt. P. I know of both these groups of dealers.

[mha]

Sounds like we might have been - and certainly we are neighbors now. I was on Euclid in 1992 and 1993. To this day the corner of 17th and Euclid continues to have issues

[flydhest]

ah, I was there only briefly when I moved back home to DC, from 1999 to 2000. Moved into my Mt. P home in May 2000.