News Articles, 1998
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UPDATE ON THE NEWS

Monday, September 21, 1998; Page B05

Operation Crackdown Is Growing

Operation Crackdown, which helps rid Washington neighborhoods of drug houses, has picked up steam since February. The program, run by the Young Lawyers Section of the D.C. Bar Association, has gone from about a dozen cases to 75 across the city, said Jennifer Quinn, who heads the program.

"It's great," Quinn said. "We're really getting the word out to the community."

Operation Crackdown also is benefiting from passage of the drug-related Nuisance Abatement Act, approved by the D.C. Council in June.

That measure expands the definition of public nuisance to include properties where drugs are used, sold or housed. It also allows community-based organizations to file suit in Superior Court against owners of alleged drug houses; gives judges more flexibility to tailor remedies, including ordering "property to be closed, sealed or even demolished"; requires a court hearing within 10 days of the filing of a suit; and allows the court to put pleadings and supporting affidavits under seal to protect witnesses.

At least two law firms have "adopted" neighborhoods, which they are helping to eliminate drug houses by demanding that property owners fix the problem or face a civil suit, program officials said.

"We're trying to promote this adopt-a-neighborhood idea," said Quinn, whose firm, Steptoe & Johnson, has taken on a neighborhood that overlaps Southeast and Northeast Washington. "We've got two of these adopt-a-neighborhood projects in progress."

The Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast has been adopted by lawyer Seth Waxman and other lawyers at Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge. Waxman began working with Operation Crackdown a year ago and five other lawyers at his firm have joined him. In Trinidad alone, 42 properties have been targeted.

"Making their community more livable -- that's basically what it's all about," Waxman said of the program, which was started in 1994. "It's been great. It's given the community members a sense of empowerment."

Operation Crackdown may be reached at 202-828-3643.

-- John W. Fountain

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