jonetta rose barras: Geoff Griffis’ war on poor people

Undoubtedly, DC business owner Geoff Griffis may flinch or become riled after reading the headline of this column. I am certain he would take issue with my characterization. However, there is no other way to honestly describe nearly four years of unscrupulous actions by Griffis through his two companies, CityPartners and 5914 LLC, and in cooperation with associates such as the notorious Sanford Capital — all in a quest to develop land near the Congress Heights Metro station.

Poor tenants in a group of apartment buildings — 1309, 1331 and 1333 Alabama Ave. SE and 3210 13th Street SE — have been forced to live in deplorable conditions, as Griffis or his crew routinely violated District housing codes and orders from various DC Superior Court judges.

In his latest effort to stop Griffis, DC Attorney General Karl Racine this week asked DC Superior Court Judge Kelly A. Higashi to allow the city to dissolve CityPartners’ 5914 LLC.

Hallelujah. It’s about time.

Last year, I urged District officials to revoke 5914 LLC’s license to do business. I also advocated for them to debar the company, preventing it from bidding or securing any government contracts or subcontracts.

Racine has been trying to protect poor and working-class renters from Griffis and his posse  since 2016. That’s when the AG filed a lawsuit demanding they stop violating the city’s housing codes and make repairs immediately to improve the quality of life for the Alabama Avenue residents, all of whom are African American. In 2017, Racine secured an agreement with then-owner Sanford Capital to stop doing business in the District and, through a court order, had the apartment buildings placed under receivership.

Without Racine’s prior knowledge, Sanford and Griffis thwarted the spirit of that agreement and the court’s intent when Sanford secretly sold its properties to CityPartners’ 5914 LLC. Since 2013, the latter corporation has been part of a group of investors and developers determined to push out poor tenants in order to make way for their massive and potentially lucrative mixed-use project on the site.

In demanding dissolution of 5914 LLC, Racine argues that the corporation has “continually exceeded and abused the authority conferred upon it by law by engaging in a pattern of conduct designed to violate District law, [the] court’s orders, and the rights of the tenants at the Congress Heights apartments.”

On Tuesday, representatives from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and Griffis’ lawyers appeared in court before Judge Higashi. The OAG provided evidence to support its motion; it  alleged that Griffis’ company schemed to “constructively evict as many tenants as possible from Congress Heights by allowing the property to decline into slum-like conditions”; engaged in “negotiations to purchase Congress Heights” despite a court order “granting the tenants an exclusive right to negotiate to purchase the building”; and engaged in “an illegal purchase of Congress Heights that violated the tenants’ [rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act] and that was also an effort to frustrate the court’s receivership.”

Housing advocates recognize this as a war on low-income renters that includes not only these Congress Heights apartments but also others in the city. “This is what developers and big companies do; they make war on poor people and tenants’ rights,” said Robert Leardo, a spokesperson for the DC Tenants’ Advocacy Coalition.

Developers “know the law and what to do to get around the law,” he added. “Without the AG, these people are pretty much powerless.”

Griffis did not respond to my phone calls requesting a comment. Last year, however, after the OAG asked the court to hold Griffis in “civil contempt,” I spoke with Griffis to get his response. He told me then that he was trying to “do the right thing” and that he thought the project he was proposing was “great for the community.”

That kind of assertion coming from a wealthy white businessman is one reason several residents have asserted that racism is at play. “They just want to bring the rich white people in here,” Ruth Barnwell, a resident at the Alabama Avenue complex, told me when I first began writing about this saga more than two years ago.

The rapacity of certain developers has not slowed, even as African Americans have voiced concerns. Their actions have helped provide justification for legislation like that introduced earlier this year by DC Council Chairman Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie and several of his colleagues focusing on racial and economic inequities.   

“Decades of structural and institutional racism in the District, and to be sure, in America, has created widespread racial inequities, which are pervasive and exist across all indicators for success, including in education, criminal justice, employment, housing, transportation, health, and in business,” McDuffie said when he introduced the Racial Equity Achieves Results Act of 2019.

Only nine of the more than 60 original Congress Heights apartments are currently occupied. Several tenants and their families were relocated as their developer of choice, National Housing Trust, started the renovation process. The tenants, following a court order, were exercising their rights under TOPA. However, Griffis pre-empted their efforts when he effected the illegal purchase that prompted Racine’s office to make the “civil contempt” request to the court. Judge Higashi hasn’t yet ruled on that issue; meanwhile, everyone has been acting as if Griffis is the owner.

Yes, this is a huge mess — and it seems to be getting all the worse as time passes without a solution.

“The tenants are at their most vulnerable,” said one knowledgeable source who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the details of the case. Equally egregious, Griffis has threatened the court-appointed receiver with lawsuits, charging that person with negligence. The receiver, intimidated by Griffis’ alleged tactics and worried about lawsuits, has asked to be relieved of duty. The OAG has found another company — Catalyst — that is larger and appears to be able to withstand potential bullying by Griffis.

The judge did not rule on the OAG’s dissolution motion; another hearing is scheduled for next week. However, in what could only be described as audacious, Griffis asked the court to permit his company to recommend a new receiver. Anyone chosen by him almost certainly won’t have at heart the best interests of the tenants.

Gentrification isn’t always bad, and shouldn’t be cast wholesale as a bogeyman. It’s important, however, that government and businesses that are interested in being good corporate citizens work in collaboration with residents. Working together, they can more effectively alter the economic mix of a community — without displacing current residents — to facilitate overall growth while improving employment and enhancing living standards. There certainly are myriad ways these changes can advance without waging war on the poor as Griffis and others have done.

The first step in that dynamic should be to strengthen the hand of tenants, particularly those on Alabama Avenue in Congress Heights. The courts should grant AG Racine’s request and dissolve CityPartners’ 5914 LLC immediately.

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jonetta rose barras is a DC-based freelance writer and host of The Barras Report television show. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.