Tenants believed they would own 20 percent of the apartment community. But the two developers are now accused of turning a Columbia Heights jewel into a neglected property where “mold allowed to grow like an experiment in a petri dish.”
As the final vote on the major tenant rights reform bill approaches, an academic study challenges developers’ claims that TOPA hinders construction, revealing the divide between reliable findings and industry-driven advocacy campaigns.
Dozens of immense willow oaks, red oaks, and lindens tower around the gargantuan husk of the long-defunct Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Northeast. The District Department of Transportation calls them “heritage trees,” large, mature trees that are illegal to cut down under D.C. law due to their irreplaceable environmental benefits. But the D.C. Council, […]
Some D.C. tenants were relocated while their buildings are torn down with the promise they could return to the new buildings. But now some are facing eviction notices for nonexistent apartments, a tactic some affordable housing providers are using to bar tenants’ return.
As the D.C. Council debates Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed exemptions to TOPA, a longstanding tenant’s rights law, tenants who stand to lose their protections describe how they’ve used the law to their benefit.
The chief executive of contracting firm Motir has been temporarily banned from doing business with the D.C. government over allegations of dishonesty and misconduct. Now he’s ruffling feathers in the community as he tries his hand in the service industry.
A key tenant protection is on the chopping block as developer groups claim it’s driving away big investors. But a closer look at the data, and a response from Amazon, suggest the truth is more complicated than political rhetoric.
Thousands of D.C. utility customers have complained about deceptive and predatory third-party energy companies that often charge higher rates than Pepco or Washington Gas.
MPD has little oversight over ShotSpotter. The department couldn’t describe the benefits of the costly and controversial system and doesn’t know where all the sensors are.
A manager at Conservice, a third-party utility billing company, said in an email that some tenants at Brookfield’s Foundry Lofts are overcharged for utilities.
Mikhail Phillips denies responsibility for the mountain of trash outside his Sheriff Road apartments. “The Attorney General is now trying to portray me as someone who wasn’t trying to fix items, but we were trying to do things promptly,” he says.
A former employee at Red Oak Capital blew the whistle on the North Carolina-based company’s allegedly shoddy vetting and reckless lending. Razjooyan received more than $40 million from the private lender.
Black men in their mid-fifties to mid-seventies accounted for nearly 38% of the city’s opioid fatalities in 2022, while only making up about 4% of D.C.’s total population.
Ali “Sam” Razjooyan and his associates are accused of doctoring loan documents and tricking tenants out of their rights. While they get rich, tenants are displaced.
Many of these residents have lived in Columbia Heights for decades. Their precarious situation shows just how hard it can be for longtime residents of D.C. to stay here.
Employees, attorneys, and advocates say the little-known Family Court Social Services Division has become thoroughly dysfunctional, leading to bad outcomes for kids.
Former property manager for banished slumlord Sanford Capital, Daniel Crosby, now runs his own company. Tenants in buildings managed by Scope Property Management complain of inhumane living conditions while the government pays millions in housing subsidies.
The DCPS second grade teacher knows the work order for the computerized lock on her classroom door was marked “completed.” But she doesn’t trust it. It was complete on the first day of school last year, when it malfunctioned again and locked out her entire class. She had to turn to her fellow teachers for […]
The Office of the Inspector General is investigating MPD Officer Todd Cory for his alleged involvement in a bribery and kickback scheme, according to government documents.
As chief, Contee did not impose meaningful discipline against many officers despite official findings of wrongdoing, according to the Office of Police Complaints director, protecting repeat offenders and allowing sustained misconduct to go unpunished.
Local real estate firms are increasingly keen to cash in on a lucrative government program. One local developer has leveraged it to build a small empire of low-income apartment buildings where construction never ends and tenants live in squalor.
Step past the Dick Tracy caricature on the sign advertising Street Lawyer Services and into the business at 409 H St. NE and you won’t find a lawyer. No lawyer’s shingle is visible anywhere, inside or out. “They’re upstairs,” the woman who greets customers assures us in the brightly lit room, directing our attention away […]
WRC-TV true crime reporter Paul Wagner produced a multi-part investigative podcast on how police tracked down the Potomac River Rapist for WTOP Podcasts.
This podcast explores how in D.C. and nationwide, past policies have left many low-income residents and communities of color disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards.
Under her Zero Waste Initiative, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) has publicly committed to diverting 80 percent of the District’s waste from incinerators and landfills by 2032. In December of 2020, she signed the Zero Wast Omnibus Act, which directs the city to reduce the contamination of recyclables to attain that lofty goal. In 2018, District […]
“There is no such thing as ‘away.’ So, when we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.”― Annie Leonard, Executive Director Greenpeace USA Melinda, a resident of Northwest, considers herself a conscientious environmental citizen. Like many of her neighbors, she is troubled by climate change and the manner in which mankind has damaged the Earth. […]
Before dawn, the concrete tipping floor at Fort Totten Transfer Station in Northeast DC is quiet, and mostly cleared. It is basically an empty shed that serves as the landing spot for the District’s daily recyclables. A little before 6 a.m. private haulers start to check in at the weigh station and dump their hauls. […]
This series focuses on particular areas that The DC Line found to be failing in DC's child welfare system, including investigations, the child fatality review process and foster care.
The nearly three hour long documentary explores every aspect of the case and reveals new information: the controversy over a DNA dragnet, the email with an ominous warning, the witness police never told anyone about.
In May 2020, a 20-year-old man was arrested for armed carjacking and robbery. In April, a 19-year old man was arrested for an assault with a dangerous weapon. Months later, the two have yet to be indicted on these charges. Both remain held in DC Jail, awaiting trial. Their extended detention is far from unique, […]
Injured public sector workers in the District have access to fewer rights and benefits than their private sector counterparts. Pending legislation may change that.
Evictions have been suspended in D.C. since Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency on March 11 over the coronavirus pandemic, and will remain so until 60 days after the emergency order ends. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also barred many evictions through the end of year. But after such restrictions end, tenant advocates fear a huge influx of eviction cases.
