Fire department report suggests deliberate gasoline spill at 3003 Van Ness

A report by DC Fire and EMS, obtained via a FOIA by the Van Ness South Tenants Association, suggests that a gasoline leak at 3003 Van Ness on August 20, 2023, may have been deliberate.

The report states that residents of 3003 Van Ness complained about a strong smell of gas in the West building of 3003 Van Ness, which was confirmed by the DC Fire crew on the scene. Firefighters found that the odor seemed to emanate from a room on the penthouse level marked “West Back Machine Room,” “Cooling Tower Access.”

According to the official report:

“There was also a strong odor of gasoline coming from inside the room. Once the cardboard boxes and plywood were removed from behind the door, Engine 28's crew made entry into the room where a gas can was located along with what appeared to be vandalism to some of the room's contents. “

It appears that an individual may have been arrested in connection with this incident, but retrieval of arrest records is pending.

Members of the Van Ness South Tenants Association are particularly concerned about the gasoline incident because in recent months, residents have been plagued with many fire alarms, as many as 2-3 per week. Management has claimed that these alarms likely were pranks. However, the alarms have sounded so often, day and night, that many residents no longer bother to leave their apartments when the alarms go off. If DC Fire had not arrived on the scene on August 20th and discovered the apparent gasoline spill, the results coul d have been catastrophic.

On August 29th, the tenant association sent a letter to Equity Residential expressing residents strong concerns about these issues.

As of August 31st, Equity Residential has sent no communication to residents of 3003 Van Ness about the gasoline incident.

VNSTA sends letter to Equity management regarding gasoline incident and fire safety

The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent a letter to Josh Luper, Equity Residential property manager for 3003 Van Ness, regarding a recent incident in which an intruder poured gasoline in a stairwell.

The letter begins:

“I am writing to express our deep concern with fire safety conditions at 3003 Van Ness. 

As you know, for months residents have endured very frequent fire alarms, as many as two or three a week, day and night. These have occurred so often that many residents don’t bother to leave their apartments when the fire alarms go off. 

Equity Residential has sometimes claimed that there was a minor problem e.g., with the boilers. At other times Equity has claimed that someone pulled the alarms as a prank – if this is true, it is concerning that the company hasn’t been able to identify the perpetrator(s) after so many months.

This situation not only is a severe nuisance to residents – dramatically lowering the value of their apartments by the constant disruption – but it also presents a severe safety hazard. The danger is compounded by the fact that the elevators at 3003 Van Ness are frequently out or order, preventing residents, particularly the elderly and disabled, from quickly exiting the building. 

To make matters worse, the tenant association recently learned from the DC Fire Department that the alarm systems at 3003 Van Ness had been disconnected from the call centers that are supposed to relay emergency calls to the DC Fire Department. Residents assume that when alarms sound at 3003 Van Ness, the Fire Department will soon be on its way. However, it turns out that it hasn’t even been called.”

See the entire letter at this link.

Letter to Equity Residential Senior VP Frances Nolan re: fire hazard at 3003 Van Ness

The Van Ness South Tenants Association sent a letter Sunday evening to Equity Residential Senior Vice President Frances Nolan, regarding the spate of fire alarms that have been going off at 3003 Van Ness several times weekly for months.

Fire alarms have gone off so frequently at 3003 Van Ness, both day and night, that many residents don’t leave the building when they go off.

The tenant association and individual residents have complained many times to Equity Residential management about the problem with constant fire alarms and also about the lack of security at 3003 Van Ness.

Equity Residential’s failure to address such problems has caused fury among residents.

Email to Equity Residential re: no security guard at broken garage doors

From: Harry Gural
Date: Mon, Jun 26, 2023 at 10:38 AM
Subject: Security risk -- Garage doors widen open with no security guard
To: Joshua Luper
Cc: Stacey Aguiar

Josh,

Given all the security problems we have had at 3003 Van Ness, and given that the DC Attorney General has threatened to file suit against Equity Residential under the Drug-, Firearm-, or Prostitution-Related Nuisance Abatement Law, residents were upset to find out that Equity hasn't posted 24/7 security at the wide-open garage doors. Doors from the garage to the main buildings are almost always broken or the locks jammed, so the lack of a guard at the garage doors not only gives intruders access to hundreds of residents' cars, but also easy access to the interior of the buildings.

While we understand that the doors are broken (again), it is Equity's responsibility to secure the building. Residents are paying over $2,000 to live at 3003 Van Ness, so they have a reasonable right to expect that Equity will make reasonable efforts to make sure that if exterior doors are broken, that Equity will post a 24/7 guard. As a $24 billion company, Equity Residential surely can afford to do this much to assure its customers of a safe living environment.

Equity Residential has had very serious security problems at 3003 Van Ness, and so it must take reasonable steps to secure the property. We request that you take immediate steps to post a 24/7 guard at the entrance to the underground garages until those doors can be repaired.

Harry Gural
President
Van Ness South Tenants Association

Despite a history of security problems, another exterior door is left unlocked

Today the Van Ness South Tenants Association sent a letter to Josh Luper, Building Manager of 3003 Van Ness for Equity Residential, calling for increased security after another exterior door to the building was found unlocked this weekend.

March 6, 2023

 Mr. Josh Luper
Equity Residential Corporation
3003 Van Ness Street, NW
Washington, DC 20008

 Dear Josh,

 I am writing again about chronic problems with exterior security doors at 3003 Van Ness. These problems are particularly concerning given the history of poor security at the property.

 Last Friday, March 3rd, I checked an exterior door that leads from the lower courtyard to the underground garage. This is the same door that I had reported as being unlocked several weeks ago. Again, the door was unlocked, providing easy access to the garage. Here is video showing demonstrating how easy it is to enter the building.

 Read the entire letter in printer-friendly form.

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Tenant association emails Equity re: seven broken security doors at 3003 Van Ness

The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent Josh Luper, building manager for Equity Residential of 3003 Van Ness, the following email about seven broken or malfunctioning security doors at 3003 Van Ness.

VNSTA has warned Equity many times about broken security doors, which provide easy access to the property without keys or fobs. It also has repeatedly requested that Equity hire an experienced, 24/7 security guard to patrol the building. Nevertheless, Equity management has failed to keep the doors and locks properly functioning — for this reason, we have posted video of the malfunctioning doors to Twitter.

Residents can help pressure Equity Residential to provide adequate security by helping to document such obvious security lapses. Residents may take video of the problems that, like the video recently posted to Twitter, demonstrates the problem accurately and convincingly.

Such evidence will be verified, posted online if necessary, shared with the property authorities, and archived as evidence if the lack of adequate security at 3003 Van Ness leads to a situation that requires legal remedy.

See today’s email below:

Josh,

Members of the tenant association did an informal inspection of security doors at 3003 Van Ness this weekend, and we found that seven security doors providing entrance to the building could be opened without a key or fob, including three doors that provide direct access from outside to the buildings and four that provide access from the garages to the buildings.

We have reported such incidents many times, and although in the past it appears that Equity has made some belated attempt at repairs, the repairs are insufficient or the problems are recurring. For this reason, we have taken video of all seven broken doors and we have posted them on Twitter:

@vnsta3003 / Twitter

We note that in two cases the locking mechanisms were blocked with duct tape or masking tape. This appears to be a malicious attempt by someone to prevent the doors from locking properly. However, even in this case the situation is Equity's responsibility -- the company should have a security guard roving the premises 24/7, looking for such vulnerabilities, and calling for repair. In two cases here, it would have been sufficient to pull the tape off the locking mechanisms.

We note that in several instances, the doors and locks that were tampered with are directly below security cameras. While we know that in the past many of these cameras were inoperable, it is our understanding that they should have been repaired or replaced. In this case, if Equity's security camera system is functioning properly, video of the perpetrator should exist in recently archived video. If so, such video footage should be shared with the Metropolitan District Police. If such video does not exist, it would be evidence for the DC Attorney General that Equity Residential continues to not take seriously the mandate to tighten security.

As you know, the DC Attorney General has threatened Equity Residential under the Drug-, Firearm- or Prostitution-related Nuisance Abatement Law. This should have been a strong signal to Equity Residential that it must take reasonable steps to secure the property. However, our finding this weekend that seven doors that provide access to the building were broken or malfunctioning demonstrates that Equity isn't taking its responsibility seriously.

We strongly request that you repair all these doors immediately, check security camera footage to find out who taped open two of the doors, and report the incidents to the police. Moreover, we reiterate our repeated request for the $24 billion Equity Residential corporation to spend a little of its huge profits to hire a 24/7 experienced security guard at 3003 Van Ness so the company can provide adequate security to its customers.

Harry Gural

President, Van Ness South Tenants Association

VNSTA sends letter to Equity management, setting the record straight

The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent a letter to 3003 Van Ness manager Josh Luper, responding to his recent letter discounting resident complaints about maintenance, security, and other problems in the building. The VNSTA letter corrects some of Equity’s key assertions.

Thank you for your letter of August 5th, which responds to our letters of July 20th and August 3rd. Our first letter described some of the chronic, extensive problems that residents have reported to us. The second letter expresses concern about the lack of a full-time security guard on the property, and it poses questions about the part-time service Equity appears to have hired.

 Your recent letter would lead a reader to believe that it has been smooth sailing at 3003 Van Ness and that residents have no cause to complain. However, many of the claims in the letter are misleading or they fail to respond to the points raised in our letters to you.

Read the entire letter in printer-friendly format.

VNSTA sends letter to Equity Residential about security at 3003 Van Ness

The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent a letter to Property Manager Josh Luper, asking him to provide specific details about the presence or lack of a security guard at 3003 Van Ness.

After Attorney General Karl Racine pressed Equity Residential to increase security at the property or risk being designated as a “nuisance building,” the company told the tenant association that it would hire a security guard. However, since that time, it appears that a security guard is on site part-time if at all.

The letter provides a brief outline of security problems at 3003 Van Ness, then poses these specific questions:

• What days and hours is there a security guard on the premises at 3003 Van Ness?

• What company provides security guard services?

• What are the qualifications required of such guards?

• Is the guard required to do rounds of the building? If so, where and how often?

• Does the security service keep detailed logs? Can the tenant association review them?

• Under what circumstances does the security guard contact MPD?

• What is the phone number at which residents can reach the guard on duty?

Read the entire letter in printer-friendly format at this link.

Read the VNSTA report on security failures at 3003 Van Ness

VNSTA releases new report on security failures at 3003 Van Ness

The Van Ness South Tenants Association today released a detailed new report on security failures at 3003 Van Ness. The report finds that Equity Residential for years has failed to provide adequate building security, leading to rising levels of crime and nuisance behavior.

Specifically, it finds that:

• Exterior doors and locks frequently are broken.

• Many security and safety lights often don’t work and don’t get replaced for months.

• The security camera system is practically inoperable, with broken cameras, extremely poor coverage and limited recording capacity.

• The key fob system is outmoded and fails to prevent unauthorized entry.

• There is no 24/7 security guard.

• There is poor screening of visitors, with many non-residents freely entering both through the main entrance and through other exterior doors to the outside that are not monitored.

• Equity Residential takes no responsibility for handling even simple problems, and instead simply tells residents to call 911.

The report finds that recent pressure on Equity Residential by the DC Metropolitan Police Department and DC Attorney General Karl Racine has moved the company in the right direction. Recently, Equity has repaired exterior doors and lights, although some already are broken again. It also has announced that it plans to replace the outdated and poorly functioning security camera system, without providing additional details or a timeline. However, the pace of change has been glacial and few details of concrete plans have been shared.

The report on security failures follows VNSTA’s 45-page report on maintenance problems at 3003 Van Ness.

Sept. 14, 2021 — An officer at the main entrance of 3003 Van Ness tells a resident that police and the Secret Service are pursuing an armed individual.

DC Attorney General warning that it must tighten security or risk prosecution as a “nuisance property”*

The Van Ness South Tenants Association can now confirm that recently the DC Office of the Attorney General (OAG) delivered a letter to Equity Residential management warning that it must tighten security or risk a lawsuit via the OAG that could result in it being designated a “nuisance property.” The OAG’s website describes nuisance properties this way:

“D.C. Code § 42-3101 through §42-3111 allows the Office of the Attorney General and community groups to file lawsuits against properties that are being used to sell, store or manufacture illegal drugs; that are being used to unlawfully store or sell guns; or that are being used to facilitate prostitution. These lawsuits must also show that the properties are having an “adverse effect” on the neighborhood as a result of the drug, gun, or prostitution activity. The law empowers judges in these lawsuits to remedy the nuisance through a variety of appropriate means, like ordering the landlord to evict a problem tenant, install security cameras, maintain a list of people who aren’t allowed on the property, or take other steps to prevent the nuisance activity.”

Earlier this week, the Forest Hills Connection reported that the Metropolitan District Police (MPD) recommended to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) that three local buildings, including 3003 Van Ness, be required to improve building security or risk a lawsuit by the OAG.

The Office of the Attorney General and the Metropolitan District Police now will meet with Equity Residential management to discuss what steps Equity must take to improve security at 3003 Van Ness.

Ironically, on the home page of its website, the $33 billion Equity Residential corporation describes its mission this way:

“Our purpose at Equity Residential is creating communities where people thrive. We know that in order to thrive, however, our residents must first feel safe.”

— Equity Residential

*Note: In a previous iteration of this page, VNSTA had stated that 3003 Van Ness already had been designated a “nuisance property.” However, it later learned that there is a longer process leading to such a designation - a warning or letter from the OAG and then requirements by OAG to improve security procedures. If that is not successful, the OAG may file a lawsuit against Equity Residential. If the company loses the suit, the Superior Court likely would designate it as a “nuisance property.”

Nevertheless, the recent action by the Attorney General, prompted by a request by the Metropolitan District Police, is a very strong rebuke against Equity Residential for failing to provide adequate security for its residents.