On Friday, November 21, I received a large packet in the mail from the District
of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Office of Civil
Infractions. It said my wife and I would be required to pay a fine of $2,000.00
for work illegally done without permit on our property at 3526 11th Street NW in
May 2008. This seemed odd, since we had not done any work on our property in
May. At the back of the packet was a series of pictures, with notations by DCRA
Inspector Kevin Smith, of a property that was clearly not ours. Smith noted
"illeagle" work, including a fence that was "to high" and a post that went
"overe" a property line. He initialed and signed the documents.

We thought perhaps this was just a mild error, that maybe the property was in
NE, not NW. After a while, I realized the front door of the house in one of
Smith's photographs looked familiar, so I went over to 10th Street NW. Sure
enough, the property in question is at 3526 10th Street NW, not 11th Street. By
my count, Smith's incorrect listing of our address occurs at least 15 times in
the DCRA packet we were sent.

We contacted DCRA by phone and got an answering machine. We e-mailed DCRA, as
well as Councilmember Jim Graham, his staff, and several DCRA officials whose
names appear on the document. As usual, CM Graham's staff got to work on the
matter immediately. DCRA did not reply at all. On Monday, I e-mailed again
around midday, and received no reply -- save for an e-mail from James McKay, who
was listed on the DCRA document as "General Counsel" of DCRA. The signed
document says McKay received the document by "intra-office mail" on November 19,
2008. McKay informed me that he has not worked for DCRA since September.

Today I heard back from Timothy Handy of DCRA saying he had just "signed and
filed with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) a Notice of Summary
Dismissal which dismisses the Notice of Infraction I701004 which you received in
error." I appreciate his response.

However, I then received a message from CM Graham's office -- helpful throughout
this nonsense -- that included this earlier response from Edries Jamal of DCRA,
which for some reason Mr. Jamal did not send to me: "Our investigation shows
that this case was forwarded to the Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH), and
if the complainant feels that he was wrongly cited, he has to go the hearing to
challenge this matter."

I do not "feel that I was wrongly cited" -- I was wrongly cited. I know where I
live. I also do not see why I should have been required "to go the hearing to
challenge this matter" -- the error lies with the city, not with me. I live
here and pay taxes here. I do not appreciate the suggestion that the government
has the right to force me to defend myself against its own ineptitude. It is
also not my concern which subset of which division of the massive D.C.
bureaucracy one government employee chose to refer the matter to. That's their
affair, not mine. If the city screws up, it is the city's obligation to make it
right.

As of now, to my knowledge Kevin Smith has not been reprimanded for his
incompetence.