D.C. Transportation Department workers yesterday began removing 17 illegal pay phones that have been plagued by violent gangs, drug dealers and graffiti in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood in Northwest.
The removal is the beginning of a crackdown on illegal pay phones marked by graffiti, which police say marks gang territories.
“It is so obvious that they are being used in the drug dealings,” said D.C. Council member Adrian Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat who has sought a similar survey of pay phones and removal of illegal devices along the much larger Georgia Avenue. The survey of Georgia Avenue pay phones began Friday.
“If you think they got a lot on Mount Pleasant, wait until you see how many are on Georgia Avenue,” Mr. Fenty said, emphasizing that there is an “overabundance of pay phones at certain intersections.”
“These phones are no longer conveniences for the residents of Ward 4. They have become facilitators for drug deals and markers for gang graffiti,” he said.
A D.C. Public Service Commission survey conducted last fall found that 59 pay phones were marred by graffiti or otherwise defaced in Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights. The survey showed that more than 30 percent, or 17 phones, were not certified or registered as required by law, said Linda Jordan, director of customer services for the commission.
The illegal phones were on Mount Pleasant Street, Park Road, Columbia Road and 14th and 18th streets.
In October, Ms. Jordan had asked the Department of Transportation to remove the illegal phones “as soon as possible.”
Her request came at about the same time a young man was killed and a bus driver was injured in a gunbattle on 16th Street NW. Previously, there had been fatal gang-related shootings off 14th Street NW and behind a Safeway on Columbia Road.
The delay in removing the illegal telephones irked Terry J. Lynch, executive director of the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, who said that “it’s simply unacceptable” that it’s taken the department more than two months to take out the pay phones.
“There are at least 12 more such phones awaiting removal in Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights,” Mr. Lynch said.
The graffiti-marked pay phones are signs of a “bunch of illegal activities,” such as drug dealing and prostitution. The graffiti also mark gang territories, which may set off warfare with other gangs claiming the same areas, Mr. Lynch said.
But, Mr. Lynch said pay phones are critical to low-income communities, so more-strict enforcement of installation and maintenance of pay phones should be conducted by legally certified telephone companies.
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