Abigail Salvatore moved to Washington nearly four years ago to a house in need of some tender loving care. Her porch in particular needed some fixing, but she lacked the proper tools.
Washington, D.C
D.C.'s tool library was hammered by theft. Volunteers hope to fix it up.
But that all changed late last week when 81 tools were stolen during multiple break-ins at the library located at Twin Oaks Community Garden, Salvatore said. The theft dealt a second blow to the library after 40 tools were plundered earlier this month. All told, according to Salvatore, more than 120 tools worth about $10,700 have disappeared. The once-stocked shelves are wiped clean, and two smashed windows have since been boarded up.
The thefts at the tool library reflect how few communities have been spared from the spate and fear of crime in D.C. police said on Thursday that have not made any arrests in the break-ins. Volunteers said the tool library would be shut down for at least one month to recoup the loss.
Volunteers said they are committed to making sure the library lives on.
“We’re here for everybody, especially the ones that need it the most,” said Tony Vitez, another volunteer at the library. “To shut down and not to have something like this would exponentially take things downhill.”
Salvatore added: “I think we have a responsibility to make it work.”
Run by Green Neighbors D.C. in partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation, roughly 900 Washington-area residents have registered to use the resource since it opened in 2021. The idea is not new to cities in the United States. There are more than 50 similar tool-lending libraries in Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, Atlanta and Denver. One of the first collections devoted to caulking guns and wrenches opened in Berkeley, Calif., in 1979, The Washington Post previously reported.
In the week since the break-ins, the volunteers said more than $10,000 had been donated to Green Neighbors D.C. Some residents offered to donate tools to replace the ones stolen, Salvatore said. Other residents offered to store whatever tools were left to help prevent another break-in.
Vitez said part of the money will go toward replacing the tools. He said they would also be dedicating money to bolstering security, such as getting lockable cabinets and stronger window grates.
“We’ve learned a lot,” he said. “We’re running out of a very old building with no security, and there are simple things that we can do to just sleep better at night and make sure the resources for the entire community are safe.”
Marshall Daly, another volunteer, said the tool library was going to have to temporarily close regardless of the break-ins. The library, which is housed inside an old youth gardening center dating back to 1965, needs some repairs. Daly pointed to a gaping hole, roughly the size of a fist, in the floorboards of the weathered yellow building. The volunteers said the library is also in the process of finalizing its partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation, which permits the volunteers to use the space.
Still, the volunteers said they are counting down the days until they can again open the library’s doors.
Daly said he likes the library because it collects the community’s resources into a shared space. Vitez said he liked the environmental benefit associated with sharing tools. Salvatore said its presence makes the community stronger than it was without it.
“We want to make D.C. more resilient. We want to make our community more resilient,” Salvatore said. “And so I think embodying that … in the face of something that could potentially make us decide to shut down is important.”