Two female students were assaulted Monday on local streets, marking the sixth violent crime reported to the Department of Public Safety this month and raising concerns about dim lighting in the area.
“I didn’t know where the guy was coming from,” Pooja Jotwani (SFS ‘05) said about the man who robbed her early Monday morning. “That’s a lighting issue.”
At 3:47 a.m., while Jotwani and a friend were walking on 35th Street between Volta and Q Streets, a man armed with a knife approached them from behind and demanded cash. Their money was taken and the assailant fled, but the students were not injured.
“I just wanted to get out of there,” Jotwani said. “In the moment, I didn’t feel threatened, just scared.”
As part of a broad effort to prevent these incidents, Vice President for University Safety and Security David Morrell and Meredith Mellody (CAS ‘05), a member of the Student Safety Advisory Board, presented a proposal to Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission to install four new streetlights along local streets on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
The university delegation proposed four locations for the streetlights: 3409 O Street, 3609 O Street, 3515 N Street and 3608 N Street. The proposal was tabled until the next meeting on Oct. 26.
“We believe that a higher level of lighting will enhance the safety of students who traverse these areas late at night,” Morrell said.
Last summer, Morrell worked with the SSAB to survey the condition of the lights on streets near campus. The Board submitted a proposal to the ANC indicating which sites would benefit from the installation of new lights.
“It was a well-thought out case,” ANC Commissioner John Lever said. “But the board had not been informed in advance of the specific locations of the lights.”
The proposed lights are along streets, not at intersections. According to Lever, residents are worried that they will shine into their houses. The board’s decision to table the proposal stemmed from a desire to notify individual residents who would be affected by the lights’ placement, Lever said.
Though initially frustrated by the ANC’s lack of a verdict, Lever said, “In hindsight, this will give residents a chance to comment on the issue.”
The SSAB proposal also recommended that burned-out bulbs be replaced and overhanging trees thinned to provide better illumination in other problematic locations. This would be a low-cost alternative to adding even more lights in the area.
Jotwani criticized the ANC’s decision to postpone judgment.
“I think that’s not a good decision,” Jotwani said. “Most of the streets around here aren’t very well lit at all.”
