October 07, 1999
Mayor, Cabinet Officials Walk Through Second Drug Market
Southeast Capital Community Presents Mayor with Needs Assessment
(Washington, D.C.) Mayor Anthony A. Williams brought his agency directors to walk through an open-air drug market at 16th & D Streets in Southeast. This is the Mayor's second walk in the past two weeks highlighting the enforcement component of his recently launched anti-drug approach that combines prevention, enforcement and treatment. The walk through, which also involved councilmembers and community leaders, began at 16th & D Streets, Southeast and continued through an alley of heavy drug trafficking, eventually ending at 15th and Massachusetts Avenue. The Mayor met with members of this Capital Community, a community targeted for open-air drug market abatement, and spoke of their efforts in working hard to rid the community of drug related crime while holding government agencies accountable. "This is a Capital Community that has been very engaged in the Partnerships for Problem Solving process. We are glad that they are holding us accountable for results," said the Mayor. "Capital Communities are our number one priority and we will continue our work to fix the things that need to be fixed." Residents of the community presented the Mayor with an assessment of their neighborhood that highlighted suggested improvements for street lighting, tree trimming and other needs. Recognizing that no single solution can deal with the multifaceted challenge of drug abuse, the Mayor has embarked on a long-term, holistic effort to solve the city's drug problem that requires a coordinated effort involving all of the government's agencies and the community. One of the Mayor's three goals outlined in his anti-drug approach includes reducing drug-related crime and violence in the District. "We're determined to make the dealers get the message that it's time to get another line of work," said the Mayor. "I'm calling on this and other communities to not only support this process, but to get involved in it, because if we lose the war against drugs, we all lose, and we lose everything."
