Harry “Tommy” Thomas Jr. is standing at the crossroads of a turf war trying to figure out how to stem a week of violent bloodshed in a small Northeast community.
It was a week that started with four shootings in Carver Langston in Ward 5, a neighborhood named after two public housing projects, Carver and Langston Terrace. It ended with at least two people dead and a police car posted on nearly every street corner. Children discovered one of those bodies on their way to school Wednesday.
“This has been a cycle that doesn’t stop,” said Thomas, the incoming Ward 5 Democrat.
With six weeks to go before he officially takes office, Thomas, looking sharp in a pinstriped suit adorned with a “51” pin to signify his support for D.C. statehood, is already on the job.
He is standing at the intersection of M and 19th streets NE with Metropolitan Police Cmdr. Jennifer Greene and Department of Public Works inspector Andre Lee looking at ways to add more lighting to the neighborhood to deter crime.
Thomas tells Greene he wants to beef up her staff. Many of the police working were pulling overtime on the day ofThomas’s visit.
“The problem is that you’ve got to change minds and then be accountable,” Thomas said.
Drive with Thomas throughout Ward 5 and it’s clear he feels the devil works through idle hands. He is bothered when he sees young, able-bodied men sitting on front stoops on a workday. The son of former Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas Sr., Thomas Jr. handily won the Nov. 7 general election for the seat being vacated by Democrat Vincent Orange. Thomas Sr. died shortly after losing his Council seat to Orange in 1998.
“He’d be jumping for joy,” Thomas said.
Thomas will lead Ward 5 during a time in which it is at its own crossroads. Largely working-class, neighborhoods like Brookland and Trinidad in Ward 5 are now considered “hot” housing markets.
Before his visit to Carver Langston, Thomas met with a developer who is building $400,000 townhouses near the Fort Totten Metro, some of the first new homes in the ward in years. He also stopped to check the progress on an affordable housing unit being renovated in Ivy City.
Thomas, who purchased his first home through an affordable housing program, wants more programs to teach such residents about their investments and help them “graduate” to future homes.
“It’s a balancing act,” Thomas said. “A lot of things are changing. … We have to find ways to connect our residents to the economic well being of the rest of the city.”
