‘Day 150 / 365 – Don’t Cut Our Budget’
courtesy of ‘anitakhart’

The figure has been hinted at a few times over the last few weeks, but now it’s here, and it’s worse than anyone thought.  According to District CFO Natwar Gandhi, DC is facing a $175M Deficit for Fiscal 2011 that starts Friday. Revenue from income and sales taxes are down $100M, and overruns from DCPS ($25M) and Medicaid ($33M) are factors as well.  Look for a lot of hand-wringing purse-string tightening, and new fees and taxes meant to make up the difference.

This is a good deal worse than anyone expected.  More detail as it’s available.

‘El Floridano’
courtesy of ‘Amber Wilkie Photography’

With their truck positioned on Farragut Square, El Floridano was serving lunch to DC’s hungry masses when, they contend, the Golden Triangle BID ambassadors working in the park turned the sprinklers on their customers.  TBD talked with Golden Triangle’s executive director, who says that’s not quite how it went down.  Our emails and calls to Golden Triangle were not immediately returned.  We have reached out to both sides for comment, but it being Friday afternoon, none has come.  Were you there this afternoon?  Did you see what happened?

‘mustachioed stick figure’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

Metro will be operating without their customer service call center due to a flood.  That means all of their customer service lines are down, MetroAccess reservations have switched to online only, and there are a few emergency lines available for reservation checks.  More details as they’re available, but for now, plan on using WMATA.com for anything Metro-related.

”
courtesy of ‘DC Central Kitchen’

DC Central Kitchen is just about as big a pillar in this community as there is.  They work with people who absolutely need help with job training, and they teach them how to work in kitchens across the metropolitan area.  They train hundreds of people every year and work to get them jobs.  In this economy, that’s about the closest thing to sainthood as you can find.  Last night, some people vandalized their vans, doing hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, of damage to the vehicles they use to feed the homeless in DC.

It took hours today for DC Police to respond to repeated calls to come examine the crime scene, which crippled their morning deliveries with the fleet of vans, which is equally frustrating.  Who does this?  Who goes after someone who does this kind of work?  I can’t explain it.  There are some saying it could be a Rush Limbaugh supporter who didn’t take kindly to their video flipping the radio host off.  It’s entirely possible that it’s a disgruntled former student, too. In any event, perhaps take this moment to show them some appreciation?

We have great community service in this town, and in the face of travesties like this, we must show them our support.

‘DC’s Mayor Adrian Fenty’
courtesy of ‘Sprezzatura Images’

On Friday, Mayor Fenty declined the Republican nomination for Mayor stating that “While I am humbled by the nomination, I will not accept it.” He pledged his support to work with Chariman Gray. Fenty won the Republican nomination with 822 write-in votes. It is unknown how many Republicans and Independents would have voted for him in an open election, and we’ll have to keep speculating on that count.

‘Pay for time’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The first battle of the Gray administration is to…walk back meter fees?  Really?  In a week when the deficit could be rising to $100M? I mean, I hate the fact that I have to carry a couple rolls of quarters at any given point, but the answer here isn’t dialing back the meter fees.  The answer is moving to a telephone parking service across the city, like the various trials that are already underway in Foggy Bottom, Dupont and elsewhere in the city, where you can just call in a payment and adjust your meter payment without needing four pounds of quarters.  There’s another option, and that’s what Arlington has adopted with their iPark system where the city takes a deposit and you slowly (or quickly in DC’s case…) work through your credit while the city earns interest on the money already in their coffers.

Don’t dial back the fees when you’ve got a $100M deficit.  Make parking less painful, yes, but not less expensive.  Meters aren’t what drive people away, parking tickets are.

‘Mayor Fenty 502’
courtesy of ‘yospyn’

The results of the DC Election just got a bit more interesting.  This morning, DCBOEE released the totals of write-in candidates (PDF) for the Republican and Statehood Green party ballots, and the winner of the Republican primary for Mayor was Adrian Fenty.  He has until 4:45pm today to issue the board a letter of intent to accept the nomination if he wishes to have his name on the ballot this November.  Could he choose to run again in November?

Continue reading →

‘253/365’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

There is a developing situation at 1901 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn, where a suspicious package, received by Townhall.com.  N. Moore Street is closed between Lee Hwy and 19th Street while police are working the area. The package is currently being X-rayed by the bomb squad.  It’s not clear what set the situation off, but the area is to be avoided while they’re working out what’s happening there.

‘DC’s Mayor Adrian Fenty’
courtesy of ‘Sprezzatura Images’

Mayor Fenty is trailing in the polls. The District is less than a week from Primary Election Day. So what does Fenty do? He calls President Obama.

“I have personally reached out,” Fenty told WTOP although he has not named which White House official he spoke with over the phone.

Fenty told WTOP that he personally called the White House and asked to speak with President Obama and the First Lady regarding a potential endorsement in his name.

Besides a helping-hand from a federal face in a local campaign, President Obama and the White House don’t have much to offer the current District mayor besides a continued personal relationship with the first family.

In an ideal situation, Fenty would like to see the Obama’s make a personal appearance before the Sept. 14 primary announcing their endorsement of his campaign or for the White House to print an official endorsement of his campaign, but so far there has been no response to Fenty’s request.

Fenty does remain realistic that this last minute high-profile endorsement is unlikely.

“For lots of reasons I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said.

‘Shana Tova – Happy new year’
courtesy of ‘chany14’

Happy New Year to my fellow members of the extended family that is Judaism. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and high holiday, begins at sundown tonight. This is a time for families to come together, observe, and pray as a unit. Or, if you’re like me, you’re left to your own devices as far as observing the holiday and praying goes.

A story came out today via the City Paper that Jewish residents living on Wisconsin Avenue NW (near Neapolitan pizzeria 2 Amys) encountered a hitch in their Rosh Hashanah festivities. Plans were set to celebrate the eventual ground breaking and opening of a modernized Giant grocery  store and large residential development named Cathedral Commons for Thursday afternoon. According to the City Paper, people living in the area wished to attend but many couldn’t due to the Jewish New Year overlapping with the development launch.

The launch party has been moved as to not conflict with Rosh Hashanah, leaving the once verklempt residents to observe the New Year uninterrupted by neighborhood events.

Updated information for the launch party is not available at this time.

L’Shanah Tovah!