The Washington Post. Apr 11, 1989
National drug policy director William J. Bennett, describing drug-related violence in the District as “out of control,” yesterday unveiled an emergency plan to build two federal prisons in the Washington area, evict drug dealers from public housing projects and bring in extra federal prosecutors, drug agents and military intelligence analysts as part of a concerted attack on the city’s drug problems.
“Make no mistake, we are insisting on resolute and substantive efforts from the District,” Bennett said at a news conference with Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp. “The plain fact is that, for too long and in too many respects, the D.C. government has failed to serve its citizens.”
But the plan, which Bennett estimated would cost “roughly $70 million to $80 million,” stops far short of the more sweeping request for assistance made last week by D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. It does not turn over any funds to the D.C. government and provides no money for the 700 new city police officers, 11 new judges and 79 extra probation officers and other court employees sought by Barry. It fails to declare the District a “high intensity drug trafficking area,” as Bennett suggested he would do three weeks ago, largely because of objections from the Justice Department.
Bennett, who did not invite any District officials to join him in announcing the plan, pointedly criticized Barry’s administration for “irresponsibility” in its effort to combat drug-related crime. City officials, while publicly welcoming the federal effort, said that Bennett’s criticisms were uninformed and that, for the most part, his plan was little more a reshuffling of existing programs.
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What kinda plan is that?