Exclusive: Downtown D.C. business leaders demand crime solutions
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
A bevy of business groups and industry associations located in downtown Washington wrote to Mayor Muriel Bowser and lawmakers on Thursday expressing "deep concern about the alarming increase in violent crime across our city."
Why it matters: The letter comes before the D.C. Council will take a final vote on Tuesday on a sweeping public safety bill in response to last year's surge in homicides and gun violence.
What they're saying: The D.C. Council "should take immediate action to target the small group of organized and repeat criminals responsible for most of these violent offenses," the letter says, signed by 70 groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, and the U.S. Travel Association.
- About 500 people are likely responsible for most of the gun violence in the District within a year, according to a 2021 study by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform cited in the letter.
Zoom in: The letter acknowledges several examples of recent violent crime, including the Feb. 3 death of former D.C. Board of Elections and Trump administration official Mike Gill, who was shot in a carjacking on K Street downtown.
- "This is happening in communities all across the city. Everyone needs to feel safe," Drew Maloney, a friend of Gill and the head of the American Investment Council, told Axios. Maloney, a D.C. resident, led the drafting of the letter after Gill's death.
By the numbers: D.C. witnessed the most homicides in 25 years last year with 274 deaths. Violent crime overall shot up 39%, and carjackings nearly doubled.
- This year so far, violent crime is down 11% compared to the same time last year, according to police stats. There have been 26 homicides — down 30%.
The bottom line: "After two decades of steady economic growth, Washington, D.C. was able to cast aside its reputation as 'America's murder capital' in the 1980s and '90s," the letter says.
- "We are committed to Washington, D.C.," it adds. "Our organizations are committed to bringing our employees back to work in our physical office locations downtown and across the District."