The Tragedy of Temple Courts

Tonight I attended a meeting addressing problems at Temple Courts, part of the NW#1 development near North Capitol Street. For years, residents have been living in third-world conditions. Chronic infestations of rats, mice, bed bugs and roaches create living conditions that I thought could never exist here in the United States. The building's owner has ignored these issues and was fined $1.4 million by DCRA for maintaining unhealthy and unsanitary conditions. Finally, DCRA just gave up because enforcement proved impossible. It made me sick to see human beings living in the capital of the free world subjected to the conditions at Temple Courts.
The meeting was put together by first-year Councilmember Tommy Wells, who is making a valiant effort to improve the situation. Mayor Fenty showed his support to residents of Temple Courts by attending as well, and offering to let the tenants themselves decide the fate of their homes. Residents were given three options:

1) Remediate the issues while the tenants stayed in place
2) Relocate, remediate and return -- a process that would take approximately two years
3) Relocate, demolish, rebuild and return - a process that could take up to five years

While none of the solutions is perfect, and I'm afraid there are no perfect solutions, the fact that tenants were given the opportunity to control their own destiny really left me with hope.

I am writing this blog to bring problems that continue to lurk below the surface to the surface. Temple Courts is now moving in the right direction, but there are heartbreaking stories all around this city, and I hope that we can bring them to light here.

What/where are other public housing issues in DC needing to be addressed? Are certain neighborhoods east of the river being ignored? I urge you all to look for similar problems and post them here on District Matters for all to see. It's up to us to make a change.