US Chamber, trade groups urge DC to crack down on crime

Dozens of industry and trade associations are urging District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and council members to take action amid an increase in violent crime in the city.

In a letter sent Thursday, 70 business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and the National Retail Federation expressed their “deep concern about the alarming increase in violent crime across our city.”

Violent crime in D.C. jumped 39 percent from 2022 to 2023, according to Metropolitan Police Department data, in sharp contract to declining rates of violent crime nationally and in other major cities. Homicides in D.C. jumped 35 percent last year, while robberies increased 67 percent.

The letter references several instances of violent crime that have rocked the city in recent months, including the death of former Trump administration official Mike Gill, who was shot during an attempted carjacking on K Street last month.

Drew Maloney, head of the American Investment Council and a friend of Gill’s, spearheaded coordination of the letter in the wake of his death.

“As job creators, taxpayers, and dedicated contributors to the economic and social well-being of our nation’s capital, we urge the Mayor and City Council to address this pressing issue that threatens the safety and prosperity of not only our community but also our employees and their families,” according to the letter.

The letter also points to the carjacking of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) in D.C. last fall. He later described the nation’s capital as “two or three times more dangerous” than his district on the southern border.

Amid concern over the uptick in violent crime, Congress overturned a D.C. crime bill that was considered too soft on crime last year. The GOP-led resolution to block the bill, which included controversial provisions to reduce the maximum penalties for certain crimes including armed carjacking, passed the Democrat-led Senate and was signed by President Biden.

The D.C. Council is slated to vote next Tuesday on a massive public safety bill that aims to close certain gaps in the system. The council overwhelmingly voted to pass a first reading of the “Secure DC” bill earlier this month.

The business groups urged the council to “address these issues in a way that is consistent with the crime crisis in our city” ahead of the vote.

They also reiterated their commitment to the city and said they were committed to calling employees back into the office, “which will contribute to the city’s tax base and give a boost to the local economy.”

“After two decades of steady economic growth, Washington D.C. was able to cast aside its reputation as ‘America’s murder capital’ in the 1980s and 90s. We want to ensure the city does not reprise that reputation because we are unable to contain the recent wave of violent crime,” the groups wrote in the letter.