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The Redwood Apartments at 3916 Chamberlayne are the epicenter of disorder on Chamberlayne Avenue. See below for data about 3916 and John's pitch to the Public Safety Committee. We also have a Redwood story in Style Magazine, news from the Times-Dispatch about the City's move on the Redwood, and a copy of the City's notice letter of July 7, 2000.
See also how this scandal endured into 2001 without attention by anybody but the police. The 2001 data showed a continuing problem but that year also brought some action.
Here is the offense table for 3916 Chamberlayne
Count of Offense Year Offense 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Grand Total AGGR ASSAULT 1 2 1 2 1 7 ARSON 1 1 HOMICIDE 1 1 2 LARCENY 1 1 1 2 1 6 LARCENY FROM AUTO 1 1 2 MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT 1 1 1 4 2 3 1 13 PROPERTY RELATED 1 1 3 2 7 RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY 2 1 2 5 ROBBERY AGAINST PERSON 4 3 7 SIMPLE ASSAULT 1 1 2 4 THROW/SHOOT MISSILES 1 2 3 Grand Total 6 4 2 12 10 13 10 57 And here is the graph of total offenses by year:
3916 also is the arrest leader for the 3900 block (and, indeed, for all of Chamberlayne Avenue north of Brookland Park)
There is some nasty stuff there:
Statute Total Offense 18.2-119 12 Trespass after having been forbidden to do so 18.2-456 5 Cases in which courts and judges may punish summarily for contempt 18.2-250 4 Possession of controlled substances unlawful 19.2-128 3 Penalties for failure to appear 18.2-250.1 2 Possession of marijuana unlawful 19.2-306 2 Revocation of suspension of sentence and probation 18.2-128 1 Trespass upon church or school property 18.2-248 1 Manufacturing, selling, giving, distributing or possessing with intent 18.2-248.1 1 Penalties for sale, gift, distribution or possession with intent to sell, give or distribute marijuana 18.2-255.2 1 Prohibiting the sale of drugs on or near certain properties 18.2-258.02 1 Maintaining a fortified drug house 18.2-346 1 Being a prostitute or prostitution 18.2-387 1 Indecent exposure 18.2-388 1 Profane swearing and intoxication in public 18.2-460 1 Obstructing justice 18.2-57 1 Assault and battery 18.2-95MV 1 Grand larceny 46.2-301 1 Driving while license, permit, or privilege to drive suspended or revoked 46.2-894 1 Duty of driver to stop, etc., in event of accident involving injury or death or damage to attended property Grand Total 41 And here is the list of Calls for Service from the Redwood during the period January 1998 through April 2000:
Definition Calls Disorderly 62 Unnecessary Noise 39 Domestic Trouble 32 Vice Offense 29 Assignment 21 Wanted Person 17 Break & Enter 16 Fight 16 Assault 15 Silent 911 15 Unk 13 Armed Person 10 EMS Notified 9 Promiscuous Shooting 9 Suspicious 9 Vandalism 9 Assist 8 Reference 7 Larceny 5 Other 5 Person Down 3 Hit & Run 2 Intoxicated Person 2 Stolen Vehicle 2 Fire 1 Found Property 1 Fraud/Forgery 1 Insecure Building 1 Mental Subject 1 Missing Person 1 Prowler 1 Recovered Vehicle 1 Sex Offense 1 Shooting 1 Traffic 1 To get a feel for these data, here are the high incidence numbers compared to the 1999 Chamberlayne Avenue data (3000 block to Henrico line), both expressed as a % of the total.
Definition 3916 Chamberlayne Disorderly 17% 13% Unnecessary Noise 11% 6% Domestic Trouble 9% 12% Vice Offense 8% 3% Assignment 6% Not counted Wanted Person 5% 2% Break & Enter 4% 3% Fight 4% 1% Assault 4% 2% Silent 911 4% 10% Style Magazine did a story about 3916 on July 25, 2000. The Times-Dispatch reported on August 12, 2000 that the City is cracking down on the Redwood as part of a larger program to target problem properties. We didn't see any action until 2001.
Here is a summary of John's presentation to the Council Public Safety Committee meeting on May 22, 2000:
We began to learn of the problems on Chamberlayne about three years ago when I used a Freedom of Information Act request to get the crime data for the Bellevue neighborhood, where I live.
Bellevue overlaps Census Tracts 102 and 104.
The police database at the time could produce data by Census Tract and that’s how I got the data. To get the Bellevue numbers I stripped out everything but Bellevue (Bellevue is the blue on the map below; the Ginter Park neighborhood is the light green):
Over a third of the offenses reported were on Chamberlayne. For a more modern view, here is a list of the high crime blocks in CT 102/104 for 1993-99, counting all the offenses in the Police Dept. database except natural deaths, traffic offenses, and other noncriminal matters:
EVTLOCA
Total
3900 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
405
3800 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
300
4900 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
290
3200 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
253
3600 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
236
3000 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
158
3500 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
154
4300 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
148
1100 Blk AZALEA AV
137
1700 Blk BELLEVUE AV
135
4200 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
125
4800 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
99
1300 Blk WESTWOOD AV
98
5000 Blk BROOK RD
95
4900 Blk OLD BROOK RD
76
1200 Blk BELLEVUE AV
68
4300 Blk OLD BROOK RD
68
4000 Blk MACARTHUR AV
65
4800 Blk BROOK RD
64
3200 Blk N BOULEVARD
61
3200 Blk N BOULEVARD B
54
3400 Blk CHAMBERLAYNE AV
52
Eight of the top ten and ten of the top dozen blocks are on Chamberlayne. Here is a list of the Chamberlayne offenses during that period:
Chamberlayne Ave. Offenses, 1993-99
OFFENSE
Total
%
LARCENY
422
19.3%
RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY
326
14.9%
PROPERTY RELATED
298
13.6%
MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT
292
13.3%
SIMPLE ASSAULT
287
13.1%
LARCENY FROM AUTO
182
8.3%
AGGR ASSAULT
129
5.9%
ROBBERY AGAINST PERSON
118
5.4%
THROW/SHOOT MISSILES
41
1.9%
NON-RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY
30
1.4%
FORGERY/FRAUD/BRIBERY
16
0.7%
ARSON
12
0.5%
ABDUCTION
10
0.5%
HOMICIDE
9
0.4%
ROBBERY AGAINST BUSINESS
9
0.4%
MANSLAUGHTER
3
0.1%
WEAPON OFFENSE
3
0.1%
EMBEZZLEMENT
2
0.1%
RAPE
2
0.1%
SEX OFFENSE
1
0.0%
2192
Interestingly, crime on Chamberlayne increased during the ‘90’s, in contrast to the falling rate in Richmond (and across the country). Here are those data in terms of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report numbers; the all-offense numbers have a similar shape
The high crime block on Chamberlayne (north of Brookland Parkway) is the 3900 block:
(Note there is no 3700 or 4000 block. The database has a significant rate of errors, one of which is the listing of offenses in blocks that don't exist).
We also have the 1999 calls for service data for Chamberlayne (as with the offense data, for the stretch north of Brookland Park). These are calls for service recorded on the communications center database. They appear to be a fair measure of disorder at the subject address. Again the 3900 block is the champ:
More recently we have obtained the 1999 arrest data for Chamberlayne Avenue, again north of Brookland Park. The data the computer produced is the list of offenses charged, not the number of people arrested. For instance, on Jan. 6 there are four listings at 3916 Chamberlayne: possession w/intent to distribute; possession of marijuana; maintaining a fortified drug house; and contempt of court. Those could represent four separate arrests at the same address or one arrest with four charges or something in between. The list does not distinguish. Given that limitation:
If you will look carefully at the map above, you will see that the 3900 block runs from Claremont Av. to Bellevue Av., two blocks from Bellevue. 3900 Chamberlayne looks to be Crime Central and the (anomalous) crime rate in Bellevue tracks the rate on Chamberlayne. For sure, the crime on Chamberlayne is not coming from Bellevue.
If you will go look at the 3900 block, you’ll see the source of the problem: There is one fire station, one small office building, and the rest is apartments. Unless the firemen have the biggest crime ring this side of the Crimea, the problem is the apartments.
The Bellevue Gardens occupies the entire east side of the block. Well, there is the fire station at the corner of North Avenue (Claremont on the other side) but the complex extends beyond Bellevue Ave, so it really is more than the east side of the block. On the west side, the locales of interest start at Bellevue Ave. with Abbey Square (3918-20, 60 apartments) and the Redwood (3916, 24 apartments). The complex at 3914 now is part of the Northcourt chain.
The numbers confirm the inference. Here for a start is a pie graph of calls for service in the 3900 block during 1999:
Here we see the Bellevue Gardens, which occupies all of the east side of the block, has only 30% of the police calls; Abbey Square and the Redwood on the west side cause the imbalance. As to the west side, if you think it remarkable that the Redwood, a 24-unit apartment, would play in the same league with Abbey Square, a 60-unit apartment, and with Chamberlayne Gardens, a block-long complex, stay tuned.
Here are the 3900 block offense reports, again as a pie graph:
Note that the east side of the street has only 22% of the crime reports; again the Redwood and Abbey Square over on the west side are the source of the imbalance. And if you think that there is a remarkable number of offenses reported at the Redwood, take a look at the arrest data (again reported as offenses charged at each address, not as number of arrests):
Indeed, there were more offenses charged at the Redwood in 1999 than at any other address on the Avenue north of Brookland Parkway:
Address Offenses Arrests Calls Owner 3916 10 41 75 Redwood 3918_20 12 29 127 Abbey Square 3207_11_15 22 15 154 Northcourt 4924 12 9 17 Check Cashing Store 3006 6 8 47 Northcourt 3603_5 4 6 39 Victoria Square/Chamb. Towers 3214 4 5 16 YWCA 3505 14 4 115 Hawthorne Hall 3905_43 11 3 145 Bellevue Gardens 3804 6 3 13 English Boxwoods 4930 18 2 60 BP Station 3817 9 2 15 City of Richmond Notice: The Redwood has lots of offense reports, lots of calls for service, and a whole lot of arrests. Across the street the Bellevue Gardens have lots of offense reports, lots of calls for service, and hardly any arrests. Where do you think the criminals are? Five bonus points if you said "the Redwood."
One more thing: using the Police Department data on offenses for the west side of the 3900 block and, using a count of numbers of apartments, here is the rate of reported offenses per apartment:
These data support some interesting inferences:
· In 1999, the crime rate at the Redwood was about double that at Abbey Square and about four times the rate at the other apartments on the block.
· In 1997-98, the folks in Ginter Park launched an Operation Squalor (public nuisance) prosecution of the Redwood and the 3914 complex (now Northcourt). Redwood went to court with only a minor effect on the crime rate. 3914 was the subject of a presentment but did not go to court. Nonetheless it reduced its rate to about the same level as the other complexes on the west side of the block.
· The owner at 3902 installed a new manager in 1997. She reports it took her 18 months to clean the place up. The data show an improvement in the first year and a continued improvement in the second.
As to the Redwood, the landlord made a series of promises in the court case. These included a fence between the Redwood and Abbey Square. Here is the "fence," complete with the (carefully engineered) passage that makes the fence irrelevant.
It was not too long ago that Chamberlayne was known as "Champagne Avenue." The City zoned Champagne Avenue into a sewer of disorder running down the middle of a lovely neighborhood.
The City has tried policing (Capt. Beadles and now Capt. Kiniry have done fine work over there) and Code enforcement. The Ginter Park folks tried Operation Squalor. None of it has worked. The data above and the anecdotes I have heard lead me to think there is a fine civil cause of action against the Redwood owners for public nuisance. In light of the ugly conditions on the Avenue (and particularly given the serial failure of conventional approaches at the Redwood) I think it is past time for the City to try something new, such as a nuisance suit..
Last updated
02/24/02
Please send questions or comments to John
Butcher