The worst city government in America - Washington, D.C

Washington Monthly, Jan, 1989 by Jason DeParle

That was two years ago. How are things now? In 1987 and 1988, inspectors found unchanged wound dressings, poorly kept records, peeling paint, a leaking ceiling, poorly labeled drugs, roaches, water bugs, and asbestos.

Well, these things take time.

'I lacerated uteruses'

Not every public facility can match the one-two, hot-cold whammy of D.C. Village. But given the way city inspectors enforce the law, they're certainly free to try.

How's this for a year's work? In March, three children died in a rooming house fire; city inspectors had long known of serious fire-code violations, but let the house stay open. In July, a 65 -year-old woman in a home for the mentally retarded died after setting a fire in her room; city inspectors had a long list of violations at the home, but let it stay open. Later in the year, police announced they were investigating reports that the owner of a day-care center had raped the pre-schoolers. Guess what? City inspectors had received repeated charges of sexual abuse. And they let the day care center stay open.

There's more.

In the spring, police charged Weldon Ferguson, the operator of a home for the mentally retarded, with sodomizing a client, As you might have guessed, despite complaints of abuse from the patients themselves, the city let the home stay open. But this story comes with a twist: Among the patients was Wayne Smith, whose complaint of sexual abuse was taken so seriously by the city inspectors that they dashed off a letter telling him to call and arrange an interview. "Failure to respond to this letter will result in closure of the complaint," an administrator warned. Smith, who is mentally retarded, doesn't read. The result was "closure of the complaint." And another 22 months passed until a doctor discovered that another patient had been sodomized. Ferguson pled guilty in September to sexual assault. At least six residents of the home say they were sexually abused while city inspectors kept Ferguson in business.

Ready for one more?

In August, an 88-year-old resident of a D.C. boarding house collapsed and died after arriving in an emergency room while covered with maggots and lice; D.C. inspectors had documented the filth at the home but let it stay open. In fact, three different city agencies knew about the conditions there, documented them, and then did nothing. A social worker at George Washington University offered reporters this description of Doris Giovannoni's body when it arrived at the emergency room: "She was absolutely filthy, and her body odor was beyond description. . . . She was covered with lice, and her knee-high stockings appeared to be bonded to her skin. When the stockings were removed, in fact, the skin came off with them, and her ankles and feet were infested and covered with large and small maggots eating well into the tissue '"

A record like that-five dead and many sodomized-ought to win someone an award. Our nominee is Frances A. Bowie, head of the Service Facility Regulation Administration, which licenses the city's nursing homes, day care centers, dialysis centers, homes for the mentally retarded, abortion clinics, and lots of other places to which vulnerable people turn. The agency's name makes it sound like it runs gas stations. If it did, they'd stress selfservice, with a motto telling patients to "help yourself '"