Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Battling the Fear Factor; Merchants Working to Improve Safety, Perceptions of Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 04:30:31 EST Message-ID: <13.1992Oct26.043031@AmeriCast.com> Battling the Fear Factor; Merchants Working to Improve Safety, Perceptions of Capitol HillBy Kara Swisher=Washington Post Staff Writer= The customers didn't come to the Two Quail restaurant on Capitol Hill one Saturday night last month. They didn't bother to cancel. They didn't call to explain. But much of the "middle seating" - mostly made up of suburbanites who drive in for a romantic dinner at the intimate town house - just didn't arrive. Bruce Thompson, proprietor of the Capitol Hill establishment, says he knows why. Less than 24 hours earlier, Abbey McClosky, a 22-year-old just out of college, had died following a savage beating elsewhere on Capitol Hill. His customers, Thompson said, were afraid. "It did indeed hurt business," said Thompson, who has been operating on the Hill for seven years. "The direct results of spectacular crime being reported and scaring people."< The ini- tial shock inevitably faded, and business at Two Quail has picked up. But a wide range of Capitol Hill merchants, real estate brok- ers and community leaders interviewed recently said attention focused on the area following recent crimes, including McClosky's murder, is crimping sales at businesses already battling reces- sion. While the problem is partly psychological and hard to quan- tify, most said fear of crime hurts the bottom line. "The perception of crime affects business horribly," said Stephanie Cavanaugh, spokeswoman for the Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals, which has 200 member merchants. "It's terrible for business when people are afraid to go into businesses and fearful of going around in the evening." The fear seems to come in waves, set off by high-profile violence: In Georgetown, shopkeepers said sales fell several years ago after controversial reports of random violence by teenagers; in Mount Pleasant, the 1991 riots dampened business; trade in Dupont Circle was slightly chilled recently with reports of increased muggings; and Anacostia has struggled for years to attract businesses because of well-known crime problems in parts of the area. This time around, it seems, it's Capitol Hill's turn. "The whole thing has really shaken things up," said Ed Dillon of Grubb's Pharmacy on East Capitol Street, where business has dropped off at night. "It is certainly a topic people discuss a lot these days." Battling a negative image isn't like balancing a ledger - specific actions may not seem very concrete, and results can be hard to pin down. Still, Capitol Hill businesses are fighting back. Some are improving lighting. Others have lobbied for more police. And some simply have tried to make customers more aware of their safety. At La Brasserie, a restaurant on Massachusetts Avenue, owner Au- drey Dequeker said merchants have to think about how to make cus- tomers comfortable. For instance, La Brasserie offers valet park- ing: "Customers really like that we have it," she said. "They never tell me that they are scared, but they always ask (for it) now." In a way, it's odd that fears are focusing on Capitol Hill, which as a whole is no more dangerous than neighborhoods such as Dupont Circle and Adams-Morgan, according to police statistics. But many interviewed said the area's high profile and its role as a tourist destination make it a choice target for the intense glare of the media. "We are high-profile and benefit from that, but it sometimes is a bitter price," said Don Denton, a real estate broker at Century 21 Denton Campaigne, which does a lot of business on the Hill. "When something negative happens here, it's news all over the country. You don't see serious crime in Virginia getting coverage in Iowa or San Diego," he said. The intense attention, some also note, has a racial tinge to it. McClosky was white and middle class, in contrast with poor black youths, some of whose deaths have not received the same amount of news coverage. "Our whole society is preoccupied with something else, until it knocks on our door," said Pastor D. Lee Owens of the Greater Mount Zion Church in Stanton Park on Capitol Hill. "We have managed to rationalize black-on-black crime, but when a white person dies, it moves to a whole new level of urgency." Some Capitol Hill merchants, both black and white, agree. "When a white individual is killed, it gets a lot of coverage and there is not the same concern about the young black youth," said Karen Getman, co-owner of Mission Traders, a gift shop near Eastern Market. "You look at this explosion of anxiety and fear and wonder why it doesn't happen other times." One retailer, who did not want to be identified, said the in- creased attention has come in part because Capitol Hill is one of the most racially, ethnically and socially diverse neighborhoods in the city. "It's one of the more integrated neighborhoods because of preju- dices that anywhere black people live there is going to be crime," said the retailer. Up and down the streets, though, both black and white shoppers said similar things - they are aware more than ever of crime on the Hill and were familiar in detail with the crimes that have taken place. "I don't hang out on the streets as much," said E. Johnson, who works nearby for the government and was walking with a group of friends. "But crime, it's everywhere, so what are you going to do?" A woman walking with him said she does not go anywhere on the Hill anymore and makes her husband pick her up at night rather than walk to the Metro. Still another said she is thinking of moving off the Hill, even though she has never had a problem in the many years she has lived there. It's hard to say whether the fears are justified. Overall, crime in the four-square-mile Capitol Hill area - bounded by North and South Capitol streets on the west, 15th Street on the east, H Street NE on the north and the Eisenhower Freeway to the south - has actually decreased this year. In the section of the First Police District that corresponds most closely to Capitol Hill, crime was down 9.5 percent in the first nine months of 1992 compared with the"The area is naturally going to attract more attention, so it's important you attack these problems right away to make people feel comfortable there."< - D.C. Council member Harold Brazilsame period in 1991, said Deputy Police Chief William B. Sarvis Jr. But there were 15 homicides during that period in 1992, compared with 10 in 1991, and assaults jumped to 219 from 168. The de- creases were mostly in burglary, theft, theft from autos and rob- bery - crimes that are largely against property, not people. Police say the violent crimes can be blamed on a handful of drug markets, concentrated at Eighth and H streets NE, the Kentucky Courts housing project on Kentucky Avenue SE and the Potomac Gar- dens housing project on Potomac Avenue SE. The tree-lined streets and handsome Victorian town houses that make up much of Capitol Hill - and the key retail corridors along Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Massachusetts Avenue NE, Eighth Street SE and Eastern Market around Seventh Street SE - are no more dangerous than other close-in residential areas of the city, ac- cording to police. But dispassionate statistics have little to do with fear. McClosky's murder followed other sensational violent crimes. The same week McClosky was killed, an 80-year-old widow - who is black - was sexually assaulted in her home at Fourth and East Capitol streets. In January, a 25-year-old Senate aide was shot dead near his apartment, only a month after the wife of Sen. Kent Conrad (D- N.D.) was held up at gunpoint. "It's a gut feeling, but what I have seen is that people are a little scared more than ever before," said Barry Rivkin of Metropolis Bicycles on Eighth Street SE, who has been in business on the Hill since 1979. "The last wave of crime did cause a drop in business, especially late at night," said Lynne Breaux Cooper, co-owner of five-year- old Tunnicliff's Tavern at Eastern Market. Merchants say suburbanites and those from out of town seem most afraid. "I think it is wrong, but there is a definite perception outside the Hill about the crime on the Hill," said Paul Meagher, manager of the Hawk and Dove restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue SE, where McClosky once worked as a waitress. "Maybe it is the randomness of the crimes, but perception rules," Meagher added. The business owners say they are trying to fight both that per- ception and the reality of crime. Thompson of Two Quail said he has more calls than ever before concerning parking and safe trav- el routes, and the restaurant freely tells customers the safest ways to get to their destinations. At the Hawk and Dove, Meagher said employees ask customers who live nearby to call back when they arrive home from the restau- rant.< Don Denton keeps the lights in his real estate offices on all night to brighten the streets. All say they instruct customers to be a lot more careful, not to walk in the area's secluded alleys and to watch out for anyone who looks suspicious. Some other ideas being discussed include a private courtesy pol- ice force paid for by Capitol Hill merchants, similar to programs in other cities. Most merchants interviewed - not surprisingly - want increased police presence, something not always available over the long term from the budget-strapped city government. In late September, Congress passed a bill to expand the area where U.S. Capitol Police, who serve the Capitol grounds, can make arrests. And on a recent weekend in October, the community held a "Citizens/Police Community Patrol Day" to show support for the police. "We try on all fronts to sponsor events, coordinate merchants along different streets," said Cavanaugh of the Capitol Hill business association. "Basically, we are trying to get people out, and raise the level of comfort on the street." Many think the best cure for fear is increased vibrancy and street activity from solid businesses. The success of the reno- vated Union Station, where sales are close to $90 million annual- ly and which attracts 63,000 people daily, has added a hefty an- chor to the area and acts as a magnet for people. "We are trying to be more proactive," said D.C. Council member Harold Brazil (D-Ward 6), who has been trying to get more police presence for the area. "The area is naturally going to attract more attention, so it's important you attack these problems right away to make people feel comfortable there," Brazil said. While police may help, getting rid of fear is tough. Walking under bright lights toward Union Station to catch the Metro on a recent balmy night, Magdalena Konieczny said she has stopped walking around as much at night unless she has to and has limited other activities, too. "As soon as it gets dark, I will not walk by myself around here anymore," said Konieczny, who works at the Justice Department and lives nearby. "I have definitely changed my habits." Still, the outdoor terraces of the Massachusetts Avenue restau- rants - American Cafe, Armand's Pizza, Tortilla Coast, La Brasserie - have been filling up again lately, weather permit- ting. Seemingly unconcerned, people eat, drink and talk into the night. That is, said Two Quail's Thompson, until another crime captures headlines. "Business declines because of fears of crime and, while it's not the biggest factor, it takes another bite out of it," Thompson said. "It's something we are working against all the time."Staff writer Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report.<02:10 10- 26C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)