Before 4B ANC Commissioner Evan Yeats came into office in 2019, he submitted his first traffic safety request for the intersection of Piney Branch Road NW and Dahlia Street NW.

It’s a busy intersection and, at the time, there were no stop signs at the intersection, just warnings to stop for pedestrians.

Yeats said people reported the intersection to traffic safety programs a while before then, and the community had worked with MPD to address enforcement.

Still, Yeats said nothing was done to fix the traffic concerns. Over a year later, in June 2020, 21-year-old was hit and killed by a driver while walking in a crosswalk.

Following Abbott’s death, DDOT added stop signs on Dahlia Street. But that’s just one intersection — and fatalities have continued to climb citywide.

There have been , making it the most dangerous year for traffic in nearly a decade. “The failure is on all of the District government. Each one of those preventable deaths is on all of us for failing to move fast enough and taking the issue seriously enough,” Yeats said.

In the wake of these deaths, the city is up the process of investigating traffic safety requests and considering greater use of automated traffic enforcement cameras.

But many residents and advocates wonder if the changes will be enough.

“They haven’t risen to the moment yet,” Yeats said.

Accelerating traffic safety requests

Yeats said the entire 4B commission has a consensus that traffic safety is a priority for their community. Additionally, he said it has always been a top concern for residents.

Yeats said one of the difficulties in addressing traffic safety issues is the lack of clarity from the District Department of Transportation on its processes for installing traffic calming measures on a variety of roads.

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George said in a statement to 91ÇŃ×Ó that residential streets lack the necessary measures to prevent speeding.

“The people of Ward 4 deserve to be able to safely walk, run, bike and drive in their communities,” Lewis George said. “But far too many of our streets are designed to prioritize commuters and speed over safety.”

Lewis George said she and D.C. Council worked to address these issues through fully funding the Vision Zero Act in the 2021 budget. Specifically in Ward 4 she said $1.7 million was secured for traffic safety improvements on Georgia Avenue, one of the most dangerous streets in the area.

Additionally, she said D.C. Council helped improve the system for making traffic safety requests. She said previously there was little to no transparency and the process for filing these requests was “arduous.”

In October, DDOT streamlined the process and created a database accessible to the public to monitor requests. In a announcing the initiative, Mayor Murial Bowswer said the work to improve traffic safety is “urgent” and said DDOT would accelerate the process of implementing calming measures like speed humps and stop signs.

Yeats said it may be too early to tell if these measures will be effective but is skeptical it will create enough change. He said the new process is not transparent enough about the resolutions to traffic safety concerns.

“We aren't doing enough fast enough to physically reengineer our spaces for the safety of vulnerable road users,” Yeats said.

Yeats is also concerned about the timelines for repairs. Recently, he said he participated in creating a new cross walk in his community, a process that took three months total, which he said was too long.

Prior to Nov. 1, residents would need an ANC endorsement and questionnaire to submit a traffic safety assessment, according to DDOT’s Traffic Safety Investigation Service Request DDOT changed this process to eliminate the need for endorsement.

In some areas Yeats said this could be helpful for residents who have less responsive commissioners. However, in other communities including 4B where there is a push to address traffic safety, he said the change takes away a level of oversight.

Lewis George said these were important changes, but there is still room for improvement in the system, including ensuring requests aren’t being closed out before the correct measure is taken.

“The underlying thread for all of this is a need to put people first in terms of the design of our roads, intersections and sidewalks so we can keep our community members safe.”

John Leibovitz, Brookland resident and CEO of Passage Safety, a start-up technology company focused on traffic safety, said he is particularly tuned in to safety issues in his Brookland neighborhood because of his two kids. He said one child is in sixth grade and has started walking to school and another child is in third grade and isn’t clearly visible to some drivers.

One issue he’s noticed in his own neighborhood is inconsistencies for the placement of stop signs. Over the years, he said resident requests have caused some intersections on the same street to have four-way stops while others don’t — for no clear reason. As a driver he said this can be confusing and ultimately dangerous.

Leibovitz said DDOT has been responsive to some of his concerns and is addressing some of those inconsistencies by adding four-way stops when necessary. But he said he believes there should be a greater look at traffic calming measures and infrastructure to prevent issues before they happen rather than being reactive.

Leibovitz said enforcement is an issue too. Recently, he said another driver behind him swerved into the other lane of incoming traffic, sped ahead and went through two stop signs.

“There were probably no repercussions for doing that,” Leibovitz said.

Enforcing traffic safety

Leibovitz testified at a recent D.C. Council focused on automated traffic enforcement (ATE) cameras and traffic safety to discuss some of the work done by his new start-up Passage Safety. He said D.C. has 1,500 miles of public roadways, 18,000 intersections and 14,000 blocks but only 116 active automated enforcement locations.

He said it’s important to implement enforcement in neighborhoods where as a driver he’s witnessed dangerous and “unthinkable” behavior.

Leibovitz said during the hearing that the city should also consider less intense fines, equitable distribution throughout the District and state to ensure out-of-state drivers are still paying traffic fines.

Hannah Neagle, a Vision Zero Campaign coordinator for the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, said the ATE program is an important piece of enforcing other strategies for calming traffic. She referenced other cities that have implemented ATE’s and said New York City has had a lot of success with its program.

Vision Zero and the bigger picture

The Vision Zero initiative, which aims to reach zero traffic fatalities or serious injuries in D.C. transportation systems by the year 2024, was adopted in 2015. But traffic fatalities have increased every year since then, except in 2019.

Earlier this year, the Office of the D.C. Auditor announced it would undertake a 10-month investigation into the initiative after attempts to curtail traffic fatalities have failed. Several advocates signed a letter in 2018 asking the D.C. Auditor to look into Vision Zero reading “if the Mayor-backed initiative created to eliminate traffic fatalities is not working, we want to know why and to what extent it's costing DC taxpayers,"

Auditor Kathy Patterson said Vision Zero has been on her docket since then, but was moved up given the community interest, according to DCist.

Neagle said funding and implementing the Vision Zero Omnibus Act is a major focus. One of the challenges she said is DDOT’s capacity to address traffic safety. She said she hopes to see DDOT put more efforts toward traffic safety but the agency covers a wide swath of city issues.

Additionally, Neagle said it’s important to take an equitable approach to traffic safety. She said Wards 7 and 8 historically have more fatal crashes but receive less attention when implementing changes.

Neagle said she feels the mayor and the city have “turned a corner” and are more focused on slowing down drivers and preventing traffic fatalities. Additionally, she said there’s been clear public input that action needs to happen now.

Faith Hall, volunteer co-chair of D.C. Families for Safe Street, said on top of the 39 traffic fatalities and numerous injuries in the District, 314 people have been killed in traffic fatalities in the greater metro area.

“This is an epidemic, a hidden epidemic that has been ongoing in American society for decades,” Hall said.

Hall said her organization believes many traffic fatalities are preventable through lowering speeds, changing traffic patterns and adding other options of transportation.

Hall said the city has not reached its goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and is not doing enough to systematically solve the problem. She said DCFSS was pleased when Mayor Murial Bowser unilaterally decreased speed limits and when the Vision Zero act was passed, but she has questions about whether the program is adequately funded.

In 2020 D.C.’s chief financial officer calling for more funding to Vision Zero. The report showed the Vision Zero total bill would cost $171 million over a four-year period to implement everything in the bill, including infrastructure enhancements and an expansion of ATE’s. The analysis found DDOT would need 17 new employees to effectively run these functions.

In May, Bowser $10 million would be reallocated in the FY2022 budget for safety improvement projects and the city ATE program. Additionally, in October she $345 million would be invested in streetscapes, trails and Vision Zero through the FY 2022 Fair Shot Budget. This total also includes the amount for Dupont Crown Park and a new South Capitol Street Trail to National Harbor.

But funding aside, Yeats, who also sits on the Vision Zero committee for 4B, said the goal of zero deaths by 2024 is still a good uniting goal, though he thinks the action taken by the city has been more performative rather than systemic change

“I'm really hoping and praying for DDOT to take ownership of [Vision Zero] in the next year and coming years,” Neagle said.

“Because unfortunately, we're not meeting the goals.”

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On a crisp Saturday morning this month, a couple dozen D.C. residents gathered by the Takoma metro stop, armed with bags and rubber gloves to clean up litter along Cedar Street NW.

As they made their way down the 400 block, children ran ahead of their parents, returning to deliver bits of paper and discarded wrappers to the several bags that would be full by the hour’s end.

Elaine Koerner has been a Takoma resident for three years and said this was her second clean-up, but the first for her four-year-old grandson.

“I’m trying to teach him about not littering and picking up trash and I think he has a really good time,” Koerner said while her grandson proudly delivered a penny he found on a nearby playground.

The city offers services for residential and public trash collection and street sweeping, but some streets are left without designated street sweeping, pushing residents to host regular clean-ups. In addition to the influx of trash during the pandemic, the strain on city resources pushed the city to suspend street sweeping for over a year.

The pause in services highlighted the importance of programs like Adopt a Block, a program funded by the Mayor’s Office of the Clean City, which allows residents to select a block and make a commitment to hold clean-ups.

Through this program, the city provides tips and supplies for clean-ups, including pandemic-specific information on collecting personal protective equipment like masks. There are 1,063 total recorded volunteers for Adopt a Block who collected 925 total trash bags’ worth of garbage from 2018 to today, according to

Erin Palmer, ANC 4B commissioner and co-host of Saturday’s clean-up in Takoma, said neighborhood organized clean-ups can be a powerful tool in overall street cleaning and community building. The one in Takoma was held through Adopt a Block.

Evan Yeats, ANC 4B commissioner, co-hosted the clean-up with Palmer and said programs like Adopt a Block are helpful in reaching areas not covered by city “clean teams” or street sweeping.

“It’s not like a machine is going to come through and pick it up if we don’t, so I don’t see how it’s really going to get off the road and into the trash can unless we do it,” Yeats said.

While he said these programs and clean-ups are effective, Yeats said he wishes more spaces were covered. He said one barrier is the amount of resources available.

“You’ll be walking back and you’ll still see stuff still on the ground,” Yeats said about neighborhood clean-up days. “Just the amount of capacity it takes to get it all picked up would be huge.”

Yeats said the resources provided by the Office of the Clean City are important, however, people don’t need city support to host a clean-up in their own neighborhood.

Since the pandemic, there has been an and recycling produced as businesses shifted to takeout and more people ordered online. Coupled with delays with Department of Public Works trash collection due to capacity issues and safety concerns, some residents like Koerner have noticed overflowing public and residential trash bins.

Whenever Yeats spots an overflowing public trash can, he said he reports it to 311. He said the current influx in trash could be considered a good thing because it means people are adjusting their lifestyles, ordering more carry-out and supporting local businesses.

To accommodate the increase in business, Yeats said DPW should consider updating its schedule and more frequently addressing trash in areas that used to be less busy.

However, Yeats said the influx in trash hasn’t had too much of an effect on littering and the trash collected during Saturday’s clean-up.

Koerner said she hasn’t seen a big difference on the amount of trash on the street, but said she’s noticed more trash and cardboard because people are ordering more online.

Palmer said there has been an issue with overflowing trash cans in her neighborhood particularly since the pandemic. From what she can see in her neighborhood, Palmer said the issue hasn’t improved since 2020 and the early days of the pandemic.

In December 2020, reported a series of structural issues coupled with sanitation workers testing positive for COVID-19 led to a mound of trash culminating in Fort Totten, a publicly operated transfer site.

Laurence Minor, has lived in Takoma for the past three years. He said he enjoys neighborhood clean-ups because of the community building.

“Meeting neighbors and actually knowing each other and cleaning up and making sure we maintain our areas,” Minor said. “It’s pride.”

Peter Wood, an Adams Morgan resident and ANC 1C03 commissioner said he heard about the clean-up from ANC commissioners and wanted to support the neighborhood. He said it’s a powerful way of getting in touch and understanding their neighborhood.

“How it works and how a lot of the problems for better or for worse if we want it fixed we need to do a little bit more work ourselves,” Wood said.

Wood said participating in clean-ups gives the feeling of having stake in your neighborhood. Ideally, he said people wouldn’t litter or public services could better maintain the streets and sidewalks. However, he said the city compensates for this by providing materials and administrative support for those “willing to do the groundwork.”

Another Takoma resident, Jamie Atchison, picked up trash while pushing a baby stroller, using a grabber to collect cigarette buds wedged in sidewalk cracks. She said she wanted to participate to clean-up the community while teaching her kids about the importance of community and keeping the environment clean.

On top of the environmental impact of littering, Atchison said it is a public safety and an overall neighborhood aesthetic issue.

By the end of the clean-up, an hour after it started, Palmer said volunteers had collected 12 bags of trash. After doing so many clean-ups, she said it builds up overtime and makes an impact on diverting waste from neighborhoods and waterways.
By the end of the clean-up Koerner said she was feeling happy to participate and proud of her neighborhood.

“Happy that my grandson is here and worked with me and saw how cooperation works,” Koerner said. “This was a good teamwork day. He could see that.”

The post Amid strain on city’s trash collection, volunteers clean streets themselves first appeared on 91ÇŃ×Ó.

Khloe Pitts discovered Casa Ruby in the eighth grade after her family kicked her out of the house for coming out as a transgender woman. She was homeless, sleeping outside in Dupont Circle when she met Ruby Corado, the founder of LGBTQ nonprofit Casa Ruby.

Corado promised to give Pitts a warm place to sleep as long as she stayed in school. Pitts said she kept that promise, and when Corado opened the low-barrier housing and services shelter on Georgia Avenue in 2012, she brought Pitts with her.

“From that moment, I felt like I can save the world too,” Pitts said.

Pitts went on to volunteer then work at Casa Ruby as an outreach specialist. But now she said she feels “back to where she started” after Casa Ruby closed it’s shelter and cut many staff positions due to a steep cut in city funds.

On Sept. 25, the D.C. Department of Human Services informed the non-profit that an $850,000 grant that funded the low-barrier shelter would not be renewed with only five days’ notice before the new fiscal year.

Corado started a GoFundMe with the intention of keeping the shelter open another month. To date, it has raised almost $130,000. Interim executive director Alexis Blackmon said this money and additional funds she is applying for will eventually be used for a new shelter and for maintaining their additional services.

But a month after the shelter effectively had to close its doors, Pitts said former Casa Ruby clients are facing dangerous situations or returning to the streets because of abuse they’ve endured at other non-LGBTQ led organizations.

On top of the low-barrier shelter closure, Casa Ruby laid off about 30 employees, many of which Blackmon said were former clients and could struggle to find another job.

Listen to Khloe Pitts, former Casa Ruby client and current staff member, discuss the impact of Casa Ruby’s shelter closure on her and other staff. 

Pitts retained her position but is only working one day a week and makes about $300 a week. She said even with help from other organizations, she is scared she will not be able to pay her rent, car payments or other necessities after struggling to find additional income.

Listen to Khloe Pitts talk about the impact of Casa Ruby’s closure on her role as outreach specialist. 

Blackmon said Casa Ruby was a safe space for those in the LGBTQ community experiencing homelessness. She said many people leave their homes and seek places like Casa Ruby because of domestic violence from a partner or family. Growing up, she said she experienced abuse from her family after she came out as transgender, and since there were no organizations like Casa Ruby, she had to live in hotels.

“They think we’re making a choice for being trans, and that’s just not the truth,” Blackmon said. “It’s just us living in our true identity, making ourselves feel comfortable, making our outside match our inside.”

Casa Ruby, as an organization, still provides a variety of services, ranging from support for crime victims, immigration services and transitional housing.

But the low-barrier shelter’s closing meant the loss of up to 50 beds, laundry services, meals and showers, Blackmon said. While she couldn’t say how many people were served through the shelter, Blackmon said Casa Ruby provided over 40,000 services, either a bed, meal or shower through the shelter last year.

“A lot of our clients always knew that Casa Ruby was their home,” Blackmon said. “When you’re experiencing homelessness going from place to place having one place that you can securely put your items to know that they will still be there is a feeling of security as well.”

In about Casa Ruby’s closure, DHS had not provided a concrete reason for its decision not to renew the funding for Casa Ruby.

But Interim Public Affairs Specialist Curtis Smith at the DHS reiterated the decision in an email statement to 91ÇŃ×Ó.

“DHS is committed to the safety and well-being of youth, including LGBTQ+ youth, who we know disproportionately experience homelessness,” Smith said.

“Grant renewal decisions are based on ensuring accountability and continuity of quality services and the safety of our residents. We value the community organizations who deliver these services and honor the contributions of Casa Ruby,” he said.

Smith said DHS is not decreasing overall funding for LGBTQ youth services and is instead offering those through a national LGBTQ organization, and , an organization focused on youth-homelessness. These new services are both located in the Deanwood neighborhood in Ward 7.

Covenant House used the grant to open SHINE, a safe space and shelter for LGBTQ youth, according to a press release sent by the organization. SHINE offers 24 beds, laundry, dining and case management services. The release said the “trauma-informed” services were established for positive development and are culturally specific to LGBTQ youth.

“We are very excited to launch a program that serves LGBTQ+ young people who experience homelessness at a rate 120% higher than that of their peers,” said Angela Jones Hackley, Covenant House Greater Washington CEO.

“We have done a great deal of work with the community to make this happen, and SHINE is a program that our amazing LGBTQ+ young people will benefit from, and most importantly, something that will create lasting impact in their lives.”

But Casa Ruby representatives still expressed hesitation over the effectiveness of those organizations.

Pitts said she has personally faced harassment and abuse in other non-LGBTQ specific shelters and would not be comfortable going anywhere outside of Casa Ruby. She said she wouldn’t recommend any other client go to those shelters either, but has heard of people going back to shelters in Southeast and Downtown D.C.

Listen to Khloe Pitts talk about the impact of Casa Ruby’s closure on former clients. 

Blackmon said she had concerns that Casa Ruby clients may be at risk of staying at shelters that are not a LGBTQ-centered organization and are less understanding of the needs of LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. She said in these environments, clients are at risk of facing additional trauma.

“The cultural competency behind that, I’m just not 100% sure that it’s where it should be,” Blackmon said. “It’ll also mean the client can be mistreated, misgendered, abused, raped. There’s a lot of things that can happen.”

Lourdes Ashley Hunter, executive director of the , said Casa Ruby is a unique organization because its staff and leadership are trans or queer people of color and because of the care offered.

Hunter worked at Casa Ruby from 2015 until 2018 as the chief operating officer before establishing TWCC.

Hunter said as a low-barrier shelter, Casa Ruby would first address a client’s needs — a warm shower or a meal — before conducting an intake form or psychosocial assessment. She said other organizations will first go through the technical processes before helping a client, or may not help clients that do not meet qualifications.

Hunter recalled a time when she drove by the Georgia Avenue shelter when it was closed and saw clients sleeping in the doorway. She said people would rather wait until Casa Ruby opened than going to another shelter.

“They’re not going to get that care,” Hunter said. “They’re not going to get that compassion. They’re not going to get that nuanced understanding from someone who actually lived that life.”

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