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Tenant association inspection of 3003 finds minor improvements, many problems

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An informal inspection of 3003 Van Ness by the Van Ness South Tenant Association conducted today that after many months of resident complaints, both exterior doors from Veazey Terrace are working properly. They lock automatically when the doors close, they open with a fob, and they won’t open without a fob. The tenant association has reported problems with these doors for well over two years, and residents are pleased that finally they have been repaired.

On the other hand, the tenant association inspection of 3003 Van Ness found many other problems — some which have been reported dozens of times in the past.

For example, many of the doors leading from the underground garages to the main buildings remain broken. Some open easily without a fob; others won’t open at all even with a fob. The tenant association has reported the broken doors many times in the past, recording approximately 100 short videos of broken doors over a period of more than two years, posting them on its YouTube channel.

The elevators in both 11-story buildings have been in and out of service for more than five years. Currently, of the four elevators in the 11-story West building, two have been completely out of service since December. Often, one of the remaining elevators is used for employees, contractors or resident moves, leaving only one in service. Of the three elevators in the 11-story South building, only one was operating during the inspection of Feb. 2 — the others were stuck on floors with no sign to indicate why they are not working.

In addition, the inspection revealed that there are still large holes in some parts of the ceiling in the garages, some heavy metal hatches hang from the ceiling so low that they could cause injury, ceiling panels in elevators are missing, some fire extinguishers are missing from their locations and are being used to hold open laundry room doors, and dozens of laundry carts remain parked in hallways.

Non-residents may find it hard to believe that this is a substantial improvement from conditions in recent years.

See photos and videos below from our February 23, 2025 inspection of 3003 Van Ness.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS:

The main door leading from Veazey Terrace to the West building has been repaired, including an industrial-strength handle over the locking mechanism. However, the fob reader has already been broken, and residents on Monday reported that a fob would not unlock the door.

After more than two years of complaints by the tenant association, the second Veazey Terrace door leading into the G-2 level garage has also been repaired and is working properly.


NOW THE BAD NEWS:

1) ELEVATORS OUT OF SERVICE

Two of the four elevators in the West building have been out of service since mid-December. Management says that this is due to the massive flooding that occurred in the West building in December. While this may be the proximate cause of the problem, ALL elevators in both buildings have been out of order intermittently for several years, causing considerable frustration for residents.

In the West building on the day of the inspection, the two elevators on the north side of the West building (near Veazey Terrace) remained out of service. In addition, one of the two remaining elevators was stuck on an upper floor, so residents were forced to choose between waiting a long time for an elevator or walking the stairs of the 11-story West building.

Residents have become irate about the situation with the elevators in the West building. Management says that they won’t be repaired or replaced for months.

Sign on the door of an elevator that has been out of service since mid-December.

One of the two remaining elevators in the West building is temporarily out of service, leaving residents to wait for a long time or to walk.

South building elevators

On the day of the inspection, one of the two elevators in the South building was stuck on the fourth floor. While it appears that the elevator was later back in service, for a period of time the elevator couldn’t be used by residents.


2) SEVERAL SECURITY DOORS DON’T LOCK AND CAN BE ENTERED WITHOUT A FOB

Unfortunately, several of the doors leading from the underground garages are still broken, allowing easy access to the buildings for anyone who gets into the garages. It is easy to get into the garages because the loading dock door is frequently left wide open, and also because people on foot can follow cars through the garage door.

Residents are highly concerned about the fact that intruders can easily walk off the street into the buildings because 3003 Van Ness has experienced an elevated level of crime and extreme nuisance behavior in recent years.

Equity Residential has been told about the doors that do not lock many times. At times, it has made half-hearted attempts to fix the doors, using residential-grade materials that are easily broken.

The tenant association has recorded approximately 100 videos of broken doors at 3003 Van Ness over the past two and a half years, and it has posted the videos to its YouTube channel.

Door from G-2 garage into the West building doesn’t lock

This door has been almost continuously broken for more than two years, with management evidently making little effort to repair it. Through this door, an intruder who has entered the underground garages can easily enter the West building on the G-2 level near the fitness room. From there, no fob is needed to enter the hallways or main lobby .

Door A from the G-1 garage to the West building doesn’t lock

Despite reassurances from management to a resident that this door was being repaired this week, Door A remains broken, allowing easy access from the G-1 level garage to the West building. This door has been broken almost continuously for more than two years.

Double doors from G-2 garage into the South building did not lock

The main doors from the G-2 garage into the South Building have usually been working properly in recent months, with new heavy-duty metal doors and hardware. However, on Sunday Feb. 23, the doors could easily be opened without a fob — see video — allowing easy access to the South building.

Door Q from the G-3 level of the garage to the West building does not lock

This door has been broken continuously for many months. An intruder who has entered the underground garages can enter the building through Door Q without a fob.


3) SEVERAL SECURITY DOORS CANNOT BE OPENED EVEN WITHOUT A FOB

Door D from the G-1 garage to the South building cannot be opened, even with a fob.

This door has been broken continuously for many months.

Door N from the G-2 garage cannot be opened even with a fob

This door has been mostly broken for more than two years.

Door O from the G-2 garage the building does not open even with a fob

This door has been mostly broken for more than two years.

4) FIRE EXTINGUISHERS USED TO PROP OPEN LAUNDRY ROOM DOORS

For reasons difficult to understand, the doors to laundry rooms are sometimes propped open with whatever is at hand, including fire extinguishers. This means that the fire extinguishers aren’t in the boxes where they are supposed to be, a possible problem in the case of an actual fire.

4) HOLES IN GARAGE CEILINGS

In 2022, the tenant association released an extensive report about severe maintenance issues, especially leaks and water damage, in the underground garages of 3003 Van Ness. This report led to inspections by the Department of Buildings, which cited Equity Residential for violations, forcing the company to do extensive repairs.

Nevertheless, problems with the ceilings of the garages still remain. Some of them, like metal hatch left open at head height, could cause injury.

5) SHOPPING CARTS LITTER THE HALLWAYS

Some residents have a habit of taking shopping carts from the nearby Giant supermarket and using them to transport their groceries back to 3003 Van Ness. Often, they remain in the hallways for a long time, making the halls look like a shopping cart junkyard.

CONCLUSION

Because of time constraints, the tenant association did not do a complete inspection of common areas of 3003 Van Ness. In any case, that should be left to the professionals at the DC Department of Buildings.

However, the partial inspection conducted by the tenant association on February 23 found that while two important repairs have been made — the exterior doors leading from Veazey Terrace — many other problems remain, including elevators out of service, security doors from the garages to the buildings that either don’t lock or don’t open, safety hazards in the garages, and dozens of grocery carts that make the halls look like a junkyard.

The DC Department of Buildings continues its inspections for 3003 Van Ness, responding to complaints by residents. Over the past year, DOB has assessed Equity Residential with more than $1.2 million in fines, although DOB subsequently forgave most of those fines because it decided that the housing violations were adequately addressed.

Residents of 3003 Van Ness simply want to live in a clean, well-maintained building, with adequate security, and operational elevators, which fully complies with the DC Housing Code.

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City Paper finds more fines at 3003 Van Ness than any other building in DC

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The Washington City Paper published a story today finding that in August 2023, the owners of 3003 Van Ness owed the city more than $1.2 million in unpaid fines for housing code violations. This affirms a previous report by the tenant association, which also included a detailed list of those fines.

The WCP story reports that more than $1 million in fines had been wiped away in recent months, despite ongoing housing code violations at 3003 Van Ness.

A recent informal inspection by the tenant association found that extensive problems persisted even after the Department of Buildings conducted inspections of 3003 Van Ness for more than a year.

Many apartment doors lack self-closing, fire-safety mechanisms even after two arson attempts at 3003 Van Ness.

The Department of Buildings plans to continue inspections of 3003 Van Ness this month.

Data source: DC Department of Buildings

““The District’s decision to forgive the property’s fines only underscore that the current system does not incentivize landlords to provide timely responses to safety concerns. The fact that DOB forgives fines—even more than $1 million of them—means that a landlord can ignore serious housing code violations for a long time. The company does not fear the Department of Buildings, so it does not repair serious problems that put their residents at risk.””
— Harry Gural
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Tenant association reminds residents to sign inspection permission forms NOW

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The Van Ness South Tenants Association today sent a newsletter to all members, reminding them to fill out permission forms to get their apartments inspected by the Department of Buildings.

Between August 2023 and fall 2024, the DC Department of Buildings conducted a “proactive inspection” of many units at 3003 Van Ness, assessing well over $1 million in fines for violations of the housing code. Some of those violations were potentially life-threatening, e.g., the lack of GFCI electrical outlets and self-closing fire safety doors.

DOB was not able to inspect all units at 3003 Van Ness.

Nevertheless, residents report that many some violations in apartments have not been repaired. Also, serious problems in common areas persist, e.g., two elevators in the West building that have been out of order since December, and apparently won’t work again until at least the end of the year.

For these reasons, the tenant association has asked DOB to inspect all remaining units that have potential housing code violations, as well as all common areas.

However, for residents to get an inspection, they must fill out a permission form and send it to the Department of buildings at DOB.OAR@dc.gov.

See more information below in the newsletter that was sent to tenants.

DON'T MISS THIS LAST CHANCE TO GET PROBLEMS IN YOUR UNIT FIXED

Thanks to the advocacy of members of our tenant association, the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) has decided to inspect 3003 Van Ness AGAIN. This is a critical opportunity to get long-standing problems in your apartment and in common areas addressed.

PROBLEMS IN YOUR APARTMENT

For DOB to inspect your apartment, you MUST fill out a permission form and send it to DOB. Without this form, DOB will not be able to inspect your unit.

NOTE: In the past, even when residents filled out permission forms, DOB had trouble getting into apartments because Equity Residential did not make an effort to make this possible. DOB says that this time Equity has pledge to cooperate.

If you have any of the problems listed below, please print the permission form (English or Spanish), and email it to the DOB at DOB.OAR@dc.gov. Please cc: the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

If you have issues in your apartment, now is the time to act. If DOB finds housing code violations, it will order Equity Residential to fix the problems or face a steep fine. 

Examples of Possible Housing Code Violations:

  • Door to the hallway doesn't close by itself (fire hazard)

  • Electrical outlets without circuit breakers in the kitchen or bathroom (electrocution risk)

  • Problems with heat or air conditioning

  • Rodents

  • Insects

  • Mold

  • Peeling paint

  • Plumbing leaks

  • Broken appliances

  • Lights that don’t work

  • Warped flooring or other effects from the recent flooding

  • Other problems 

PROBLEMS IN COMMON AREAS

As you know, we also have experienced many problems in common areas -- broken elevators, malfunctioning exterior doors, leaks, loose floor tiles, rodents, etc. The tenant association has reported many of these problems to the Department of Buildings, along with extensive video evidence in many cases.

If you know of problems that you think may not have been reported, please take photos and video of the problem, including both close-ups and medium shots (to help show the location). Please send these to the tenant association, along with a description and more details about the location, so we can forward these to the Department of Buildings.

DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE

This may be the last chance you will have in a long time to get problems in your apartment or in common areas fixed. This rare opportunity was only made possible by many hours of work. Don't miss your chance to get things fixed so you can enjoy 3003 Van Ness again!

““The landlord must ensure that your unit and all common areas are safe and sanitary as of the first day of your tenancy. This is known as the “warranty of habitability.” The landlord must maintain your apartment and all common areas of the building in compliance with the housing code, including keeping the premises safe and secure and free of rodents and pests, keeping the structure and facilities of the building in good repair, and ensuring adequate heat, lighting, and ventilation.””
— DC Tenant Bill of Rights

Recent survey finds that some doors lack fire-safety mechanisms

A recent online survey of residents of 3003 Van Ness found that some apartment doors like self-closing fire-safety mechanisms, a possible violation of the DC Housing Code. In the case of a fire, the mechanism is designed to automatically close an apartment door after the resident exits, slowing the possible spread of the fire.

So far, 44 residents have completed the survey. Of those, 34 report that their units lack self-closing fire-safety doors.

These findings are particularly troubling given the recent fires that were deliberately set in a hallway and a stairwell of 3003 Van Ness last week. This follows a previous arson attempt in 2023.

Due to the recent arson attempt, the tenant association plans to renew its efforts to get more residents to complete the survey so it can be determined which units need self-closing doors.

After recent inspections of a large number of units at 3003 Van Ness, Equity Residential added self-closing mechanisms on some doors. As seen in the photo below, they do not appear to be prohibitively expensive devices.

It isn’t too late for residents of 3003 Van Ness to complete the online fire door survey.

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New Year's Eve inspection finds chronic security and maintenance problems

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An informal inspection by members of the Van Ness South Tenants Association found that many of the same security problems that have been reported in the past have not been addressed. The tenant association has recorded well over 80 videos of malfunctioning security doors over the past two and a half years.

Many of the problems recorded on video on December 31st are the same issues that were witnessed by the DC Department of Buildings (DOB) during an official inspection of 3003 Van Ness on December 17th. The DOB discover many malfunctioning security doors, and it issued a 21-page Notice of Infraction to Equity Residential and levied $609 in fines.

On December 31st, two weeks after the DOB inspection, the tenant association found that only two doors had been repaired, while many others remain broken. One door that was repaired is the second Veazey Terrace entrance, which has been broken almost continuously for more than two years — it now has a reinforced handle and lock mechanism. The main entrance from Veazey Terrace also received a stronger door handle, but the hinge mechanism still does not work properly so the door does not close automatically.

The chronically broken security doors are of especially serious concern given that an intruder attempted to light a resident’s apartment door on fire on Monday, December 30th. Equity Residential management has not informed residents about this incident, and it is not clear whether it has taken any steps to prevent the intruder from entering the building again. In any case, as the videos below indicate, it is extremely easy for anyone to enter 3003 Van Ness.

An intruder attempted to light a fire outside a resident’s apartment.

The informal inspection of 3003 Van Ness by the tenant association found that exterior security doors were left open, and other security doors malfunctioned or had broken locks and could be opened without a fob.

The door at the main entrance from Veazey Terrace does not close automatically.

The door in the G2-level garage to the West building by the gym can be opened without a fob, allowing easy access to the West building.

Door N to the South building in the G-2 garage can be opened without a fob, allowing easy access to the South building.

This door has been broken for months, allowing easy access to the apartment building from the underground garage. It is easy to get into the underground garage from other entrances, so it is easy to walk off the street into the garage and then into the apartment area.

Door G on the G-1 level of the garage into the South building won’t open with a fob. As a result, someone frequently props it open with a fire extinguisher, allowing easy access to the building.

Door Q on the G-3 level of the garage remains broken, allowing easy access to the buiding.

The loading dock door is left open at approximately 10 am on December 31st. There is no Equity Residential employee in sight.

The same loading dock door is still open four hours later, allowing easy access to the building.

Two of the four elevators in the West building are broken, including the only freight elevator. One of the remaining elevators is frequently used by contractors, so only one elevator is operational for residents of the 11-story West building.

In the 11-floor South building, one of the three elevators is out of service.

One of three elevators in the South building is out of service.

Residents of 3003 Van Ness are extremely concerned about the fact that there are not enough working elevators to serve the residents of the two large apartment buildings. Older and disabled residents cannot climb the stairs or exit the building easily. Other residents are forced to wait a long time for an elevator. Residents cannot move large furniture in or out of the building due to lack of a service elevator.

LAUNDRY ROOMS

Residents largely welcome the recent upgrade of laundry rooms, with the installation of new washers and dryers.

However, it seems like some of the new washers are leaking or were incorrectly connected to the plumbing. One resident recently alerted management to this leak on the 5th floor laundry room in the West building.

BROKEN LIGHTS

Residents also report that many lights are out in stairwells and some hallways.

While management has claimed that the broken lights are due to the recent massive flood in the West building, residents say that many of these lights have been out for a long time. In fact, there is a lot of email evidence between residents and management showing that residents have complained about broken lighting in stairwells long before the flood.

Long “dolly shot” of maintenance problems in stairwells and hallways of 3003 Van Ness

MORE bROKEN LIGHTS

Residents have recorded more videos of broken lights. The videos below were recorded on January 6th in stairwells 1 and 2 near the 10th floor in the West building. Both show that many lights are out in these stairwells.

We are concerned about this safety and security issue, in part because two elevators are out of service in the West building, forcing residents to walk up or down stairs in some cases.

Residents report second arson attempt at 3003 Van Ness

On Monday, Dec. 30th, 2024, residents of 3003 Van Ness reported an apparent attempt to light a fire inside a hallway on the 7th floor of the South building. Those who observed the incidents said that the perpetrator may have been a former resident of the building.

Ashes in stairwell on South 7th floor, 3003 Van Ness

This attempted arson followed another unusual incident on Saturday, Dec. 28th, when a fire extinguisher was sprayed in the hallway of the South 7th floor. Video taken immediately following the incident shows extensive powder and footprints leading toward the exit elevator.

Fire extinguisher residue and footprints

RESIDENTS’ CONCERNS

These most recent attempts to set fire inside 3003 Van Ness follow another incident on Aug. 20th, 2023, in which an apparent non-resident spilled gasoline in a stairwell in an upper floor of the West building.

There are other serious reasons for concern:

  1. Fire alarms have gone off dozens of times in the past year, as often as once a week or more. They occur so often that when an alarm goes off, many residents don’t leave their apartments because they assume that the incident is a false alarm.

  2. The building management has not even informed residents about the arson attempt.

  3. Building security is horrible at 3003 Van Ness. Over the past two and a half years, one or more exterior doors has been broken at almost all times, allowing easy access into the building. In addition, three to four doors from the underground garages have also been broken at almost all times, and the loading dock door is frequently left open. It is extremely easy to enter 3003 Van Ness, and any intruder who would want to create a problem of any sort could easily gain direct access to hallways.

  4. The fire alarms at 3003 Van Ness do not connect directly to the DC Fire Department, but instead are routed to a third-party company, which decides whether to alert the Fire Department. Most residents don’t know this, so they assume that if in the event of a fire they pull an alarm the Fire Department will be directly alerted. This is not true — residents must call 911 to get quickly to the Fire Department.

  5. There are many senior citizens and others living in the building, who would have trouble evacuating in the case of a fire.

  6. Equity Residential has done little to address these issues in recent years. For example, until recently, it has made little effort to repair the exterior security doors. As evidence, the tenant association has recorded more than 80 videos of broken doors at 3003 Van Ness.

  7. Equity Residential refuses to hire an experienced 24/7 security guard service despite a high number of security problems in the building. City records submitted at recent testimony before the DC Council show that residents of 3003 Van Ness make on average one call to 911 for assistance every day. Some of these are for serious incidents — in recent months residents have called 911 for reported stabbing, assault, theft, burglary, disorderly disturbance, domestic violence, sexual assault, aggravated assault, illegal firearms, drug dealing, overdoses, harassment, and fraud.

911 calls originating from 3003 Van Ness in October, 2024

The tenant association has tried repeatedly in the past to get Equity Residential senior management to take the security and fire risks seriously. For example, see the long list of posts about security issues.

Or see these past posts and letters to Equity Residential senior management regarding fire risks:

THE TENANT ASSOCIATION VERY STRONGLY RECOMMENDS THAT RESIDENTS EVACUATE THE BUILDING WHEN FIRE ALARMS GO OFF.

DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE HAVE BEEN MANY FALSE ALARMS, THE RECENT ATTEMPT TO SET A FIRE IN THE HALLWAY SUGGEST THAT THERE IS A RISK OF AN ACTUAL FIRE. RESIDENTS SHOULD TAKE THIS RISK SERIOUSLY.

Tenant president submits Notice of Appeal of court decision in rent case

Harry Gural, president of the Van Ness South Tenants Association, yesterday submitted a notice to the Rental Housing Commission that he will appeal a decision by the DC Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) in an eight-year rent case.

The announcement may come as a surprise to those following the case, because the final decision by OAH ordered Equity Residential to pay Gural $59,888 for past overcharges.

However, Gural had long argued that DC law mandates that the housing provider pay three times the amount of the overcharges if they were made in bad faith.

“(a) Any person who knowingly (1) demands or receives any rent for a rental unit in excess of the maximum allowable rent applicable to that rental unit under the provisions of subchapter II of this chapter, or (2) substantially reduces or eliminates related services previously provided for a rental unit, shall be held liable by the Rent Administrator or Rental Housing Commission, as applicable, for the amount by which the rent exceeds the applicable rent charged or for treble that amount (in the event of bad faith) and/or for a roll back of the rent to the amount the Rent Administrator or Rental Housing Commission determines.”
— DC law §42–3509.01. Penalties

This central part of the case depends on whether Equity Residential acted in bad faith when it charged Gural more than $50,000 over eight years. (Gural was forced to pay “only” $31,000 into escrow under an order in Superior Court.)

DC law (§42–3502.08) states that in rent-stabilized apartment buildings like 3003 Van Ness, the landlord can charge an annual rent increase calculated by multiplying the current rent by a figure equal to inflation (CPI-W) plus 2%. For example, if the current rent is $2,000 per month and the inflation rate is 3%, the maximum rent increase would be $2,000 x (3% + 2%) = $100. The new maximum rent would be $2,100.

Nevertheless, evidence shows that Equity Residential had inaccurately listed Gural’s current rent as an amount that far exceeded his actual rent paid, and then demanded a rent increase based on this higher amount — demanding a rent increase of $365. In fact, the maximum rent increase by law was $65.

Equity Residential argues that it could not possibly have known how to calculate rent increases under DC law, and that it could calculated rent increases based on falsely reported amounts that far exceed the amount actually paid.

Evidence introduced by Gural shows that Equity had frequently demanded of other tenants rent increases that exceeded $1,000 per month.

Former Attorney General Karl Racine won $1 million award for residents of 3003 Van Ness for this practice. Nevertheless, Equity Residential continued to argue that it could not possibly know that it was overcharging Gural even after the 2021 decision in the Attorney General’s case.

For this reason and others related to charges of retaliation, Gural submitted his Notice of Appeal to the Rental Housing Commission, the three-person panel which serves as the appellate body for rental housing cases.

It appears that the eight-year case will drag on.

How to get help if your apartment was flooded

If your apartment or belongings were damaged by the widespread flooding in the West building on December 16th, here are some tips for getting help.

  1. Report the incident to Equity Residential management for 3003 Van Ness. Equity has an online portal for reporting maintenance problems. However, we strongly recommend that you also email the building manager, Dan Burkes, at dburkes@eqr.com. You should cc the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

  2. Take extensive photos and video of the damage. If it isn’t repaired in a timely manner, take more photos and videos as evidence that it was not repaired.

  3. Fill out this important survey by the tenant association so we know about your problem and can help.

  4. File a request with the DC Department of Buildings for an inspection of your unit. The DOB is closely aware of the situation, and it will send someone to inspect your apartment for damage.

If you have additional questions, email the tenant association at vnsta@vnsta.org.

You can help your neighbors by making sure that they receive this information. While many residents of 3003 Van Ness are on the tenant association email newsletter distribution list, some residents are not. You can help share the information above by printing a few copies of this one-page flyer and posting them on your hall or slipping them under the doors of nearby apartments. (If you slip them under the door, please be sure to slip them all the way under.)

Thank you!

At least two of four elevators in the West building are out of service

The recent massive flooding in the West building of 3003 Van Ness has seriously damaged elevators #3 and #4 in the West building (those closest to Veazey Terrace.)

Residents report that one of the other two elevators in the West building has been sporadically out of service, apparently due to workers removing washers and dryers from all of the laundry rooms in the West building. As a result, in recent days residents of the 11-story West building often have had access to only one elevator. Many residents, especially senior citizens, have expressed their concern.

According to management, “it will take some time for the other two elevators to be up and running as they have extensive damage due to the flood.”

See below a photo taken on the day of the flood of one of the elevators that was severely damaged. This elevator and the one adjacent to it are now out of service.

Flood in elevator (Dec. 16, 2024)

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DC Department of Buildings inspects broken security doors

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At the request of the Van Ness South Tenants Association, the DC Department of Buildings today inspected broken security doors at 3003 Van Ness.

Just two days earlier, VNSTA reviewed the security doors leading from the street into the underground garages, and from the underground garages into the West and South buildings. The tenant association found that it remains easy to enter the residential hallways of 3003 Van Ness from the street, through multiple doors.

The tenant association has recorded more than 80 videos of broken security doors at 3003 Van Ness over more than two years.

VNSTA awaits a report by the Department of Buildings.

See video below recorded on December 15th, 2024.