By Rebecca
‘july09 031’
courtesy of ‘your idea’
Which cast member of the Real World DC was just hired at Tony & Joe’s along the Georgetown waterfront? Can’t reveal our sources, but all signs point to lame reality service industry drama (with some horrible Matchbox 20 song played over it).
By Tom Bridge
‘Roosevelt at campaign contributions investigation (LOC)’
courtesy of ‘The Library of Congress’
Council Chair Vincent Gray has announced that the City Council will be investigating the contract given to Donna Watts-Brighthaupt by Marion Barry in the amount of $60,000, as to whether it was properly awarded. This is a bit of a backtrack for the council, as Gray had earlier said he wasn’t sure if the council had the authority to investigate Barry’s contract. The council will be retaining an outside law firm to conduct the investigation and make recommendations to the council regarding the status of the contract.
I was talking with a friend last night, and both of us were wondering if this would finally be the scandal to sink Marion Barry. Each of us wondered if there wasn’t a trail of these kinds of contracts through the last decade or so of Barry’s public service, and that this might be the final nail in the coffin. I think that, for as long as Marion Barry’s been around, he might get a slap on the wrist, because you don’t have such a long career here without knowing just how to play something like this. My friend made a valid point that it seems that a number of Republican governors could learn from Marion Barry’s scandal-handling techniques. I couldn’t agree more, the guy is a master at scandal operations.
Photo from LOC, because who doesn’t think that Teddy Roosevelt wouldn’t be an awesome investigator in this case?
By brownpau
MyFoxDC has details on this HD video of a train operator seeming to fall asleep at the controls between stations on the Green Line, taken by Metro rider Gregory Thomas — bigblockz8 on YouTube.
Continue reading
By Katie
‘Metro Center’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’
I’ve been around these parts for a while now, and in all my Metro riding experience, nothing has ever been *quite* as hot underground as the sweatbox otherwise known as Metro Center. I hop off my train to transfer there twice a day and walking out of the air conditioned car I’m hit with a wall of hot, humid grossness. And with the red line trains running much slower and farther apart, I’m left sweating on the platform for a very uncomfortable amount of time.
UnsuckDCMetro has been reporting that the “chiller” is broken at Metro Center and last week was supposed to be fixed “in a couple days”, whatever the heck that means. Ughhhh, nothing says professional like mopping sweat when you get to work, right?
But Metro Center can’t be the only sauna in the system right now, no way. So I ask you, dear readers, what’s the hottest Metro Station you’ve been to recently?
By Tom Bridge
‘IMG_8619’
courtesy of ‘dbking’
NBC 4 is reporting tonight that Marion Barry was arrested today in a domestic dispute. The Twitter Buzz is that the charge was for stalking, but as the commenter on NBCWashington.com wrote, “the only thing it seemed that he was capable of stalking might be a stuffed animal or a warm glass of milk”.
Hopefully Hizzoner will be available for comment in the morning.
By Tom Bridge
‘refund’
courtesy of ‘substack’
If you got a refund from the DC Office of Tax & Revenue, it’s possible you actually owe them money instead. While this screwup didn’t result in the embezzling of millions of dollars, it did result frequently in confusion for those, including Councilman Catania’s partner Brian. So, if you got a check, and are pretty sure you owe the DC Government instead, call up the Office of Tax & Revenue at 202.727.4TAX and see if they can help you sort it out.
By Kirk
‘House’
courtesy of ‘squidpants’
A week after the original projection for the RW cast move in date, there’s still no sign of them. The house looks like it’s more or less ready to go. I stopped by on Saturday and there was some minor construction happening inside, but the exterior of the house looked to be in ship-shape; there was even a grill and patio set out on the porch. There hasn’t been any official word on when the cast will arrive, but I suspect that it’ll be some time this week. I’m betting that MTV wants to have them in before the 4th so that they can get some nice, iconic shots of fireworks over the monuments. We’ll have to wait and see, though.
By Rebecca
‘Paolo’s Ristorante’
courtesy of ‘john w’
At around 10pm Saturday night, Paolo’s Ristorante on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and N Street NW caught on fire. I happened to be sitting across the street having a drink at Martin’s Tavern, when I noticed black smoke billowing out the back roof of the restaurant; shortly thereafter we saw flames. At the time, Paolo’s was in full swing, packed with diners and DCers prepping for a night out. Two fire engines promptly appeared and the small blaze was adeptly extinguished–it took about an hour or so, for the whole operation to be over. It was very cool to see the DCFD is full action. This included two ladders in operation, hooks pulling down flaming debris, and multiple fire extinguishers. I even spotted a female firefighter. Yeh, chick, represent!
From my vantage point, the fire was not very big and most likely started in the kitchen at the back of the restaurant. It looked to be near some sort of chimey-esque vent. Given the fire’s size and location, and the fast response of the DCFD, I assumed everyone (staff and patrons) got out OK. This conjecture was furthered when I walked by Paolo’s at 1:30am and saw the staff sitting at the restaurant’s bar having drinks and chilling out. When it’s 11pm on a Saturday night and your workplace, which happens to be a bar, closes unexpectedly, what else should you do besides grab a drink, enjoy the weather and hit up the nightlife? Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Circuit Board Art’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’
The Post is reporting this morning that the trackside train proximity sensors did not function properly on Monday, or in a test on Thursday. These sensors are designed to detect where the trains are in the system and provide that information to other nearby trains to slow or stop them based on proximity.
Metro has undertaken a complete review of all the electronic relays on the Red Line, and will keep the system operating on manual with a maximum speed of 35mph until the review is complete, which may take a few weeks. We’re going to be on manual for a while, so that means adjusting where you’re standing on the platform, as trains are going to be pulling forward to the 8-car mark even at 6 cars long. In addition, Metro will be moving all of the 1000-series cars to the center of trains for safety purposes. If you see a 1000-series car at the front of a train, mark down its car number, time of day and where you saw it, and put it in the comments here? We’ll make sure Metro knows about it.
By Tom Bridge
‘TwitterFailWhaleScreenshot_2’
courtesy of ‘MikeBlogs’
One of the first rules about having a Twitter account is that, if your messages are public, you have to assume that everyone you know can and will read your tweets. So, that means if you’re talking about work, or end up saying something like, “In americas ghetto anacostia… If i get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me.” while working for the DC Jobs program? That means you’re going to get fired.
Congratulations, David Le, that, coupled with a few of the other tweets from the article makes me glad the city fired you.
By Tom Bridge
Mayor Fenty, in the Tuesday morning news conference at the site of the Metro crash, cited a figure of 7 dead, a number that had been reported by all the media earlier in the morning as 9 dead. Now, we have an explanation from the mouth of the Mayor, saying that all of the media was wrong, and that only he could’ve known the truth. I’m not sure that I believe him here. If the media had been reporting 10 dead, and only 7 ever died in the incident, perhaps, but with 9 being the final death toll, and the media got 9 from somewhere, this seems a little odd to me.
By Ben H. Rome
‘Franconia-Springfield metro station’ courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’
So Metro, now what?
That’s the question in the back of everyone’s minds here in the District after Monday’s tragic Metro accident. It’s not an easy question to ask and in the coming days, how John Catoe and WMATA answers it may well make or break the transit agency.
It will certainly redefine it, for good or ill.
One of the biggest issues I’m seeing so far is the continued lack of communication from WMATA. From the top down, Metro needs a serious reworking of how it communicates with the public, emergency personnel and with itself. Catoe’s shameful performance on WTOP yesterday morning is just one poor example; his response was a canned one, not addressing the reporter’s question but instead rambling into an answer I’d heard verbatim elsewhere. The response was so off the mark that WTOP had to interrupt him twice to try bringing him back to focus.
But more damning is the failure of Metro to let emergency responders know what the magnitude of the situation was in the first critical minutes after the collision. DCFD officials have been critical of how understated the accident was described; fortunately, rescuers realized the magnitude of the incident upon arrival and summoned additional help. But the question remains – what if the proper amount of help had arrived at the start? Would some of the victims be alive today?
By Tom Bridge
Tomorrow is going to be a very, very difficult day for many. Our hearts go out to those who’ve lost loved ones, or were injured in the catastrophe. But, we must go on, and we must learn from what happened. We have to get ready for tomorrow.
Let’s start with what’s closed:
– Red Line Metro Rail service between Rhode Island Ave/Brentwood and Silver Spring. This will be closed all of Tuesday, and possibly longer. It’s going to take some time to get things back to normal on those tracks.
– Brunswick Line MARC train service will not be running on Tuesday.
There are options for getting around tomorrow, even though there is a giant hole in the Red Line. So, let’s ask one question, if you’re going to be affected by the Red Line closure or MARC train cancellation: Do you really need to be in the office? If you can work from home tomorrow, or take a mental health day, or can afford to call in sick, give it some thought. It’s not that your job isn’t important, but tomorrow’s going to be a royal cluster out there, and if you can stay home and still get everything done? Do it. For everyone.
If you’re an end-to-end commuter, Metro’s got some advice for you:
Metro officials recommend that customers who normally use the Red Line between the Glenmont and Silver Spring Metrorail stations should commute to Metrorail stations between the Shady Grove and Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail stations, or to use the following Metrobus lines to avoid the service disruption:
• Metrobus C8 line (Glenmont to White Flint)
• Metrobus Q2 line (Wheaton to Rockville)
• Metrobus C2, C4 line (Wheaton to Twinbrook)
• Metrobus J1 line (Silver Spring to Medical Center)
• Metrobus J2, J3, J4 line (Silver Spring to Bethesda)
• Metrobus L7, L8 line (Friendship Heights)
If you can possibly use the Green Line, instead of the Red, or bus to the Green Line and take it in, that would be a good option.
Commuters who are coming from the edge of town can continue to park at the outer-edge Metro stations on the red line and deal either with the shuttle bus, or attempt to park at College Park Metro, but parking’s going to be at a real premium, so if you’re not early, you’re going to miss out. Dr. Gridlock has some ideas about alternate busing solutions as well.
Whatever you do, be prepared for delays. Metro will be operating on full manual control tomorrow, which means that trains won’t be at top speed, and braking may be a bit of an adventure. Hold on tight. Leave a little earlier, if you need to be there on time. The trains are going to be crowded, the buses are going to be crowded, so, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am, make sure you’re showered tomorrow, and make sure you’ve got deodorant going. Lay off the cologne and perfume, though, as that can be just as bad, if not worse, than BO. Be polite. Squeeze in a little tighter if you have to. Don’t block the doors. If you have to, get off the train and get back on after people have debarked. If you miss a train, it’s not the end of civilization. Relax. It will be okay.
And yes, I’m telling people to go ride Metro tomorrow. Metro is, historically, a very safe system. Less than a dozen people in the last 33 years of its operation have come to their end in an accident. You’re far safer on Metro than you are on the Beltway or on the surface streets, where thousands die every year in car wrecks.
By Tom Bridge
‘So. Now what do I do with this piece of shit?’
courtesy of ‘Mat Honan’
The Clear Card, once a frequent traveler’s best friend, is now kaput and will stop operating tonight at 11pm. So, all of you who ponied up extra money to get through security a little more quickly, I’m very sorry, but you get to wait in line again.
By Tom Bridge
Courtesy of WUSA-9 via Twitter & Flickr
Courtesy of NBC Washington via Twitter & Flickr
Shortly after 5pm today, two Metro Red Line trains collided just outside the Fort Totten Metro station. Systemwide delays in the middle of rush hour are now to be expected. It’s not clear at this time if there were any injuries in the trains that have collided. Metro is slicing the Red Line in half for the rest of the day with a full service interruption between Fort Totten and Brookland, and power has been cut to those tracks.
We’ll be updating this story with news.
Update 42 [8:55pm] ABC is going to be halting their coverage at 9pm this evening. Currently, they’re talking with GWU Hospital, which received 26 patients from today’s crash, most of which were “green tag” patients in need of treatment, two were red tag patients in critical condition. They’re being looked at now.
Update 41 [8:42pm] The Washington Post now has a Gallery of Photos from the Scene of today’s accident.
Update 40 [8:30pm]Mayor Fenty is starting now. There’s going to be an 8am briefing tomorrow. We’ve just visited the scene of the collision. The scene is as horrific as you can imagine. Our deepest condolences to the families of all the victims. 70+ transported off the trains to the hospital. Chief Rubin will give more information shortly. There are six fatalities confirmed on the scene right now. It will take a few hours to get through the whole scene to make sure there aren’t any other casualties.
Chief Rubin: 76 transported. 50 walking wounded (green tag), 14 yellow tag and 6 red tags and 6 fatalities. We’re continuing to staff all our stations, plus we’re relying on support from surrounding communities and we thank them. We’ve been working 3.5 hrs, 200-250 firefighters at the scene. They’re down to the two cars that are smashed together. Two responder injuries, both have been transported and are seeking treatment now at area hospitals.
Chief Lanier: Do not come to the site. New Hampshire Ave is closed from North Capitol to Eastern.
GM Catoe: Our condolences to the families who’ve lost loved ones. We’re still in investigation mode to determine the cause. We will not operate this segment until at least tomorrow. Manual mode is in effect, with reduced speeds. (this would indicate that the automatic system may be part of the problem here). Thank you to MPD and DC Fire/EMS. This is a tragic event. We will get to the bottom and find out what happened. The NTSB is involved, and we have a federal responsibility to find out what occured here today.
NTSB Examiner Kirshman: My condolences from NTSB, We know there are fatalities, and local groups will handle the announcements regarding this. There are 9 investigators and additional personnel from NTSB involved. We are working closely with local responders and the Mayor. Train 214 and Train 112 were involved in today’s crash. We will begin once they’re finished with the accident response.
Chief Rubin: The primary search is still underway. One of the train is compressed 75-80% at this point. Jaws of Life are being used. We will make sure the train is cleared, living or dead, before the investigation begins.
NTSB: We’re looking at maintenance, the tracks, and working with Metro to do initial documentation, but NOT until the accident response is complete.
FBI Agent: The FBI Evidence Response team will be participating with NTSB. We will meticulously review this scene. I caution also against assumptions about what happened and how it happened.
Chairman Graham: The board will convene at 2pm tomorrow to discuss
GM Catoe: I will not comment further until we have more detailed information. We’re in the mode of recovery. Once the investigation is complete, we’ll release information. GM Catoe looks very tired.
Update 39 [8:20pm] MPD is now requesting you call 311 to inquire about loved ones potentially injured or killed today. Do NOT call the SOC. If you’re out of the District, please call 202.737.4404 which is the Metro Accident Information Line. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Ever since I can remember’
courtesy of ‘ben pollard’
Well, we’ve had our time to make up our wills, get ready our bail monies, and shine up our truncheons; the Real World is Here. Washingtonian is looking for your help mapping out their stay in the DC area, and is asking for folks to email them, or twitter using #rwwatch to help keep tabs on this dangerous plague of human misery. Keep an eye on their map to figure out where not to go for drinks or dinner after work.
By Kirk
‘Workers’
courtesy of ‘squidpants’
The Real World watch has officially begun. Word on the street was that filming was supposed to begin this weekend, but it looks like that the actual date may be a bit later. I swung by the RW house on Saturday to try to catch a glimpse of the incoming cast, but found that the building was still in the final stages of renovation. From all appearances, furniture was being brought in and the final touches were being put on the aesthetics. We’ll have to wait and see when the soon to be drunken co-eds officially arrive, unless they managed to sneak in yesterday.
In the mean time, WaPo’s “Going Out Gurus” have compiled a handy list of Real World friendly bars for all of us to avoid. Cobalt, Russia House, the Shadow Room and Town make the list, along with a few others. Take note and beware.
By Carl Weaver
Homeless in Sugamo 2
by jamesfischer
It’s a slow day here in Georgetown, what with it being early still and thus nobody making too much of a fuss over me being the only guy in the neighborhood without one of those shitty men’s scarves all the pseudo-hip guys seem to be wearing nowadays. Being a bit bored, I decided to look at Craigslist to see what magic I could stir up. As I have said before, I am a big fan of the missed connections because they represent the bit of tension before a relationship blooms or withers.
I found this one, with a woman who admitted to flashing a homeless guy she found rather attractive:
Hot homeless man at 7-corners – w4m – 25 (Alexandria)
Me: driving bright blue car-gave you money and a wink to match. I showed you the tattoo on my boob.
You: ruggedly handsome, tall, clean cut beard, killer smile, jeans had some holes-and a flannel
I was going to ask for your number and I assumed you wouldnt have one. So I guess we will find out if you have a computer eh? If this is you tell me what the tattoo on my boob was.
I like to think I am a reasonably attractive guy and I never get boobs flashed at me in public. What gives, boob woman? What’s a gainfully employed guy have to do to get some cleavage flashing action? I know it’s like a charitable action to do that for the homeless, but don’t think the rest of us wouldn’t appreciate it too.
My guess for the tattoo: a black widow spider. Or a likeness of Charlton Heston. What’s your guess?
By Tom Bridge
‘Artomatic 1905 WASA Pumping Station’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’
Think your Pepco bill hike was bad? Meet Jeanette Cohen whose WASA bill went up 4,000% last month after WASA says she used over 139,000 gallons of water. Folks, that’s a 39-day shower, but yet, WASA won’t back down and are insisting that Mrs. Cohen, who’s 99 years old, pay the whole bill.
Class act, WASA. Class act.
No word yet on how much lead Mrs. Cohen’s house now contains.
By Tom Bridge
‘CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS / @CSIï¼�cafe’
courtesy of ‘[puamelia]’
The Post and WJLA are reporting a double shooting in Columbia Heights that has shuttered 14th Street at Irving, as well as the south entrance to the Columbia Heights Metro, and WMATA is re-routing 52, 53, 54, H2, H4 and H8 bus lines around the incident.
It’s not clear the extent of the wounds of the victims, but both have been transported to area hospitals.