DC Councilmember Pinto continues neighborhood safety walks, gets heckled in Ward 7

WASHINGTON (7News) — D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who chairs the committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, is walking in all 8 of D.C.’s Wards, talking with residents about her Secure D.C. crime plan.

She came to two more D.C. Wards on Monday. So far, when she's arrived in a ward, she's been joined by police officials, ANC Commissioners and other residents who are waiting to move with her.

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They started in Ward 7 in Northeast, met by local Councilmember Vincent Gray in a wheelchair and At-large Councilmember Robert White. They moved along Minnesota Avenue, a corridor that has significant levels of crime. At one point they were heckled by young men standing in front of a liquor store.

“Stop telling them lies,” one yelled, “Tell the truth about what’s going on!”

The group of walkers was surrounded by a half dozen or more police officers.

Pinto at one point stopped in an area strong with the smell of marijuana and asked one young man for his ideas.

“We need to talk to each other,” said one resident before interjecting that he was “wasted, right now.”

He did go on to tell her that the contingent of police traveling with the group was intimidating to him.

Another resident, Jay Brown, told Pinto that crime and poverty are linked in neighborhoods.

An hour after Pinto completed the Ward 7 tour, she was in Ward 6 in Southwest D.C. greeted by Charles Allen and another contingent of residents and police.

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“One of the things we’ve struggled with is gun violence in this neighborhood,“ Allen said.

Among the places they walked past was a newer building in which a recent dispute led to multiple people being shot and one of them killed.

“We want to stay focused on things that we can move the ball forward on,” said Pinto. “And so we’re doing walks in all 8 wards as another avenue to hear directly from residents.”

Pinto’s schedule has her walking in her own Ward 2 on Tuesday and Wards 4 and 8 on Wednesday to complete her tour.