With eviction papers in hand and television cameras by his side, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry ousted 16 people from an apartment in the Eastgate Garden public housing project yesterday, deeming those inside crack users and directing city workers to nail shut the apartment's windows and doors. The raid surprised not only tenants but also representatives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, who arrived about an hour later to execute a search warrant based on a previous alleged drug purchase at the apartment at 5047 Drake Place SE. Federal agents tore down plywood boards and ignored the "No Trespassing" signs erected by the city in an attempt to shut down alleged illegal activities there. "This is a classic case of no coordination," said Lt. Reginald L. Smith, a D.C. police department spokesman. "You're going to need coordination to fight this war on drugs and {yesterday} no one's talking to each other." No one was found in the apartment in the federal raid and no one was arrested in the midafternoon raid, which was conducted in drizzling rain by police, Barry and more than a dozen representatives of the Department of Public and Assisted Housing. A small plastic bag containing what appeared to be 18 rocks of crack cocaine -- worth $50 each -- was found in the middle of the front room during the first raid and confiscated by police. Capt. Robert Boggs, who accompanied Barry and a handful of reporters through the apartment, said he could not make arrests based on such evidence. Barry said the home was being closed because the tenant listed on the lease owes the city $1,200 in back rent and the apartment had been the scene of a gunfight between an off-duty police officer and two men Wednesday night. "We're doing this to show the people that we're going to clear crack users out of public housing . . . . It's a victory because this is one place that won't be operating as a crack house anymore," Barry said after touring the dilapidated apartment where small walkie-talkies, glass pipes and broken mirrors littered mattresses and floors. Barry said the city would go to court to ensure that the tenant, who was paying $90 a month to rent the apartment with three other adults, could no longer qualify for public housing. Barry also said the tenant would not be allowed to use the city's shelters for the homeless. According to housing officials, police had raided the residence twice before, in August and October 1988, and found guns and crack. The tenant had been given two previous eviction notices, in September 1988 and in March, but because of delays in the eviction process, he remained in the building, they said. The mayor said he initiated the eviction after he heard over his police radio a gunfight between an off-duty police officer and two men in the neighborhood Wednesday night. He visited Eastgate that night and warned residents of the apartment, "I'm going to put you out." The raid created a sideshow in the poverty-ridden neighborhood where tenants said drug trafficking is a business for far too many who roam their streets. "I know tonight I'll sleep in peace," said Hilda Jackson, a 29-year-old mother of three who came out to watch the crush of police and reporters. "It's more of a relief than anything." "It's a relief," agreed her neighbor, Tawana Gurly. "But they're just going to move from that house to that one," she said pointing to another brick row house on the same block.
