DeAndre Pettus, a Murch Elementary kindergartener, loved Spider-Man. Someone tied two Spider-Man balloons to a sign outside of 4500 Connecticut Avenue.
On Sunday, October 6th, five-year-old DeAndre Pettus died at Connecticut House. His father is charged with cruelty to children. The prior weekend, one-year-old Journee Moore died after medics were called to Sedgwick Gardens Apartments. Her death was ruled a homicide by blunt force trauma. No one, as of this writing, has been charged in that case.
“[T]wo children have died in our neighborhood in as many weeks, so we should all be screaming from the rooftops,” ANC 3F Chair Courtney Carlson wrote in an email to Forest Hills Connection.
Commissioners are doing more than that.
A representative for the DC Department of Buildings had already been scheduled to speak at ANC 3F’s October 15th meeting, to follow up on the commission’s work over the summer on rodent issues. Carlson and Commissioner Teri Huet, who chairs the ANC’s Housing and Neighborhoods Committee, acted quickly to add more DC agencies with apartment safety oversight to the agenda (below). And they’ve had conversations already with DC officials, ahead of what they hope will be a constructive and productive community Q&A.
“The agencies aren’t going to speak to the specifics of this case (though MPD will report on it),” Carlson wrote. However: “The city needs to speak to how they are protecting children. Tenants have told the ANC and city agencies repeatedly about the conditions in these buildings and minimal if any action has been taken.”
Ward 3 Council member Matt Frumin has also confirmed he will attend the virtual meeting.
Here’s the full agenda, and the Zoom link:
ANC 3F Public Meeting Agenda
October 15, 2024
7:00 until 9:00 PM
Zoom Meeting Link: bit.ly/anc3fmeet
▪ Welcome Call to Order and Roll Call [7:00 pm]
o Adoption of the October Agenda and approval of September meeting minutes
▪ Commissioner Updates
▪ Committee Report- Housing and Neighborhoods: Community Q&A on tenant safety [7:05pm]
o Department of Buildings
o DHS, Family Services Division
o MPD: Lieutenant Forrest
o Councilmember Matt Frumin
o MOCR Hope Cousins
Other related agencies have been invited but are not confirmed.
▪ Other Committee Reports [7:40 pm]
o Streets & Sidewalks
o Parks & Watersheds
o Schools & Universities
▪ Special Projects [7:50PM]
o DC Water/DDOT: Albemarle Closure Community Q&A
Regular Agenda-Community Forum [8:10]
o Meet the 2024 ANC 3F Candidates
o UDC: Juanita Gray
o Van Ness Main Street: Gloria Garcia
o Community Announcements
▪ Regular Agenda – Votes [8:35pm]
o Days Inn Parking Garage Zoning Adjustment-Shane Dettman
o Mom’s Organic Market Stipulated ABCA License (tentative)
o Consideration of 2 ANC 3/4G Resolutions:
▪ Resolution Recommending DC Council Increase WMATA Funding Through NewRevenue for Improved Bus Service
▪ Resolution Advising Increased Daylighting and Intersection Visibility for Safety in ANC 3/4G
▪ Commission Business [8:50pm]
o Treasurer’s Report: Mitchell Baer
o Vote on approval of Q4 QFR
▪ Adjournment [9:00pm]
The next ANC 3F meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 19 at 7PM
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Green Eyeshades says
The sad deaths of these young children is shameful.
Why should ANC3F waste ten minutes next Tuesday listening to DC Water explain that it forgot about its own storm drain? They lost track of a six-foot-diameter storm drain under a main thoroughfare for commuters!
The agenda posted above also includes this line:
“Other related agencies have been invited but are not confirmed.”
If they haven’t already, ANC3F could invite the Deputy Mayor in charge of DHS to spend ten minutes explaining specific actions taken by the District to prevent horrible tragedies like these.
Scott says
Thank you for covering these enormous tragedies. Is this related to the city dumping mentally ill adults in pricy NW apartments without sufficient mental or social services support? Also, please find out why a man accused for beating his 5 year old to death was released before his next hearing, as reported by the Washington Post. Thank you.
Tammi says
Exactly! Despicable.
David J. Bardin says
Killings in our neiborhood of a very young child and a baby in shocking circumstances deserve a deep dig. Thank you ANC 3F for doing that.
Green Eyeshades says
There are lots of important details in the Washington Post story last updated on Tuesday, October 8:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/10/07/dc-child-dies-father-arrested/
I started picking out a few key paragraphs, but everyone who lives in this neighborhood needs to read the whole thing. It is Dickensian, bleak, shameful, unacceptable.
Anonymous says
What will viewers learn about the children’s deaths beyond what has already been put out in the media? Those who know are forbidden to speak. There will undoubtedly be a lot of hand-wringing. But what will be accomplished by attending other than showing that the community is outraged and upset?
I also don’t understand why no one has been identified and arrested in the bludgeoning death of the infant at Sedgwick Gardens. Media coverage identifies by name the caretaker of the resident in whose apartment the infant was found. With all that information, how can police not have identified the murderer?
Anonymous says
Another poster wrote:
“If they haven’t already, ANC3F could invite the Deputy Mayor in charge of DHS to spend ten minutes explaining specific actions taken by the District to prevent horrible tragedies like these.”
The District can’t take any actions to prevent these kinds of tragedies. They’ve willingly and shockingly tied their own hands by refusing to screen applicants for vouchers,. as they used to. Two or three months ago they voted to make a key piece of temporary legislation into permanent legislation. What they passed allows voucher applicants to self-certify that they’re qualified to receive a voucher. Many, if not most, voucher recipients are like most other renters. But a few aren’t ready for independent living. They city has abdicated its responsibility to make its voucher programs safe by allowing all who want a voucher to say that they qualify for a voucher. No screening at all. Perhaps it’s simply a matter of money — no money to hire staff to screen applicants.
Green Eyeshades says
This is a false rumor.
The rumor concerns vouchers under the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP).
DC Council passed a self-certification policy for the LRSP as an EMERGENCY bill in May of this year after overriding the Mayor’s veto. That emergency bill already EXPIRED on August 5, 2024.
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B25-0780
A similar legislative history for the prior “temporary” policy allowing self-certification shows that it was signed by the Mayor more than TWO YEARS ago, in October 2022, became law in December 2022, but EXPIRED in July 2023.
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B24-0907
Unless the commenter can show a link to official legislative history from DC Council, their remarks that the District “tied their own hands by refusing to screen applicants for vouchers” apply only to the past. It seems to be true that — in the PAST and for short periods — voucher applicants for one type of voucher known as Local Rent Supplement vouchers were able to self-certify.
There is no proof that the tenants living at the locations where two children died even participated in the Local Rent Supplement Program.
Readers who enjoy researching legislative history can start at this link showing recent DC Council action under the heading of “2024 Local Rent Supplement Program Eligibility.”
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/searchresult/documentSearch=false&searchString=2024%20Local%20Rent%20Supplement%20Program%20Eligibility
Islay says
Thank you for posting links to the legislative history. Policies that have been in place since October 17, 2022 (the date self-certification was initially enacted) affect the current landscape of subsidized housing. There is evidence, in the form of public court records, that one of the involved households receives a housing subsidy.
Green Eyeshades says
Which voucher program provided the housing subsidy mentioned in court records?
Did those court records say anything about that housing subsidy being granted to a tenant who “self-certified”?
Court records are a fantastic way to gather facts. Keep up the good work.
As Forest Hills Connection reported over a year ago, there are at least three different voucher programs operated by at least two District government agencies. So far, I have been able to find only one of those programs that was affected — temporarily — by the allowance to self-certify.