D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier is building a workout space for yoga, step aerobics and other activities on a secure floor of police headquarters that can only be accessed by Lanier and her top staff. The renovations are not part of the city’s capital budget and are being performed by the police department’s maintenance staff, The Washington Examiner has confirmed.
“There is no gym being built,” Lanier spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said in an e-mail late Tuesday in response to Examiner inquiries regarding rumors of the construction of a gym. “We have identified an open space for group fitness activities.”
That space is room 5126 at police headquarters in Northwest, sources said. Only Lanier and her staff have access to the guarded fifth floor. Crump said only that the space will be open to “members of the department.”
Crump did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how much the renovations for the “open space for group fitness activities” have cost the city. She did say the department will not be purchasing equipment.
The District is in the midst of a deep budget crisis. On Tuesday, the D.C. Council voted to furlough “non-essential” city employees for four days to save $19.3 million. It was part of a larger effort to close a $188 million budget gap. And although the council didn’t move forward with proposed tax hikes, it’s likely to take up the possibility in April when city officials expect to face a $440 million budget shortfall. The police department has been hit hard by the latest round of budget cuts, including losing $1.6 million for recruiting. If the department doesn’t fill positions that will be left vacant by retiring officers, it will shrink.
“Given the fact that we just cut over 400 police positions, the fact that the chief of police is building herself a private gym at taxpayer expense is appalling,” said police union Chief Kris Baumann.
The department already has several gyms. Although there isn’t one in the headquarters, there are gyms in each of the city’s seven district facilities. There’s also a larger gym at the police academy.
Baumann said it’s particularly frustrating that the funds for the project were not in the capital budget.
“The chief is acting like she’s a monarch taking funds from the treasury and destroying part of the castle,” he said. “It’s government run amuck.”
