Category Archives: News

News, The Daily Feed
By

New 9th Street Bridge opens on Monday

Photo courtesy of
‘DC 1133 Marker’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Living in Ward 5, you have to make some interesting driving choices right now.  If you want to head to H Street NE, or to Eastern Market and the Hill, you have to brave the ugly construction and logjam mess that is the area around the 9th Street Bridge that crosses over New York Avenue.  The construction has been ongoing for over a year, and has made North/South travel in that area difficult.

Monday, Northbound traffic will open on the 9th Street Bridge (Southbound has been open for a few weeks now) and that means no more illegal left turns onto 9th Street from the Brentwood Parkway.  Instead, you’ll take the new Northbound bridge span toward the Home Depot/Giant shopping center directly instead of having to deal with the New York Ave onramp/offramp morass.

As someone who uses this route every day: Hooray, DDOT!

News, The Daily Feed
By

Gray introduces Lew, Hall

Photo courtesy of
‘Allen Lew, Vince Gray and Gerri Mason Hall’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

This afternoon in front of the assembled media, Mayor-Elect Vince Gray introduced his right and his left hands to the audience. Gray introduced his right hand, City Administrator Nominee Allen Lew, and his left hand, Chief of Staff Gerri Mason Hall.  These are the first two of many appointments expected between now and Christmas to fill the various vacancies in the new Gray Administration.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Gabe Klein out at DDOT

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_4618’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the popular Director of DDOT, Gabe Klein, is leaving.  It appears that Vince Gray has asked the popular and effective director of the city’s transportation hub not to come back under his administration. Projects that Klein brought to the forefront during his four-year tenure include the DC Circulator, the beginnings of the Streetcar system, expanded bike lanes and counterflow lanes, and the new Capital Bikeshare system.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Councilmember Brown proposes Internet Poker, Sports Betting

Photo courtesy of
‘Win win win!’
courtesy of ‘midom’

With slot-machines heading for Anne Arundel County, and the poker tables live in Charles Town, WV, the District may considering joining the surrounding jurisdiction’s more lax approach to gambling.  According to Freeman Klopott of the Examiner, Councilmember Michael A. Brown has a bill ready to allow the DC Lottery to manage an online poker system, as well as permit sports betting in DC.

There’s a big pair of obstacles to Brown’s plan, and they come in the form of two ugly boogeymen:

 

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Harris Teeter opens off North Capitol tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘Tysons Harris Teeter’
courtesy of ‘wfyurasko’

The city’s newest grocery store opens tonight at 5:30.  The Harris Teeter at Constitution Square (1201 First Street NE, near the NY Ave Metro) will throw open its doors for everyone and host a two and a half hour “Taste of the Teeter” event so you can try most of the stuff in the store.  I’m pretty excited about this opening, since it’s right in my backyard, and will probably become my everyday grocery store.

Though the store isn’t a 24-hour grocery, which is a bummer, it’ll be open from 7a to midnight each night, and features a pharmacy department open 7 days a week as well.  See you at the opening!

News, The Daily Feed
By

Walmart developer decides to skip own community meeting

Projected Walmart drawings

Foulger-Pratt, the developer behind the complex planned for the intersection of Georgia and Missouri, has now pulled out of a community meeting set for tomorrow night, according to the Brightwoodian.  In addition, it’s likely at this point that the Curtis Chevrolet car barn will not be part of the plan for the new location.

If you’d like to attend the community meeting, it’s tomorrow night at 7pm at the Emory United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall at 6100 Georgia Ave NW.  Many upset with this about face from Foulger-Pratt will note that you can email their representative Dick Knapp at dknapp@foulgerpratt.com to voice your displeasure.

Update: We spoke with Walmart this afternoon, and they have confirmed that Foulger-Pratt is once again attending the development meeting tomorrow night, and that they are firmly committed to the Georgia & Missouri location.

News, The Daily Feed
By

Pie for a Cause

Photo courtesy of
‘Dangerously Delicious Blueberry Pie’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

You may have noticed that this morning’s sidebar ad for So What’s the Deal is for Pie, and Dangerously Delicious Pie, at that.  There’s more to the story.  So What’s the Deal is reserving $2 of that purchase price to work with Dangerously Delicious Pies to make sure that area homeless shelters and food banks have pies for Christmas this winter.  So hit that pie & crossbones, and for each of our readers that buy pie today, I’ll match their $2 donation to help bring cheer (and pie) to all this Christmas season.

News, The Daily Feed
By

New Executive for Prince George’s County Today

Photo courtesy of
‘Prince George’s County Sheriff’
courtesy of ‘scoutnurse’

This morning’s swearing-in ceremony in Upper Marlboro, Maryland will mark the changing of the guard for Prince George’s County.  Rushern Baker will take the helm of the troubled county just weeks after embattled Exec Jack Johnson and his wife, County Councilmember Leslie Johnson, were arrested on charges of evidence tampering and destruction of evidence.

Citing corruption in the Police Department, Baker will likely first ask for the resignation of Police Chief Roberto Hylton, and remarked on WAMU this morning to reporter Matt Bush that they’ll be seeking new permanent heads in many departments countywide.  There’s no question that this will be a difficult time for the County, but hopefully it will be a chance for the county to turn things around internally in response to the increase scrutiny.  The Post has a series of articles this morning on the Leadership Change that are fairly hopeful.

Good luck, Mr. Baker. You’ve got a long road ahead, and you’re going to need all the allies you can find.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Know Your (Jayson) Werth

Photo courtesy of
‘Jayson Werth’
courtesy of ‘pvsbond’

The word is out this afternoon that just days after the Nationals parted ways with first baseman Adam Dunn, the team has come to terms with former Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Werth.  The team is expected to announce the deal in a 5pm press conference.  While the details of the contract have yet to come to light, beyond it being a 7-year deal, this a huge bombshell to start off the Winter Meetings in Orlando.

To give you Werth’s details at Nats Park, in 2010, Werth hit .419 at Nats Park, and slugged .806 for a monstrous OPS of 1.306, the best of any ballpark not named Coors Field.  Now, granted, some of that has to be given to our terrible pitching, but it’s still impressive to see someone take to a place like that.

Asking around this morning, everyone I talked with seemed to like Jayson, and one of my fellow fans went as far as to say that if you don’t like Jayson Werth, chances are you probably just don’t like people.  Looks like Ryan Zimmerman has an upgrade behind him in the lineup!

Update: According to sources, the deal is worth $126M over 7 years, or approximately, the gross domestic product of Kiribati.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Nats make overnight contract moves, part ways with Dunn

Photo courtesy of
‘Adam Dunn’
courtesy of ‘Max Cook’

Yesterday evening at midnight was the end of season deadline for the Nationals to agree to contracts with their arbitration-eligible players, and the Nats let Chien-Ming Wang, Wil Nieves (Who?) and Joel Peralta go without a contract.  The Nats did agree to contracts to Jesus Flores and Alberto Gonzalez for the 2011 season.  The other five players that will participate in binding arbitration are John Lannan, Josh Willingham, Sean Burnett, Michael Morse and Doug Slaten.  Of these deals, the biggest departure is Peralta, who had an excellent second half of 2010 after his promotion from Syracuse.


Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Adams Morgan Hotel project in trouble

Photo courtesy of
‘Old Steps’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

Facing a shortfall, even imaginary spending becomes unpopular with legislators, and yesterday the finance and revenue panel of the DC council killed a $61M proposed tax abatement for a hotel project in Adams Morgan that was to have incorporated the First Church of Christ Scientist at Euclid & Champlain NW.  The hotel is estimated by its developer to have contributed $7M/year in various taxes which would have offset the property tax abatement that was proposed, according to a quote from the developer acquired by the Business Journal’s Michael Neibauer.

It’s frustrating to see something that wouldn’t have affected the bottom line of the city until 2015 get the axe, but when you’re facing the budget gaps that this city is facing, easy cuts with high dollar value seem like a good place to start.

News, The Daily Feed
By

DC Water awarded Patent for Blue Plains process

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Water’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

DC Water, along with the help of a patent database search solution, yesterday announced that they have received a patent on the new method of treating wastewater with aerobic and anaerobic processed, titled “Method for Treating Raw Sludge Including Simultaneous or Pulsed Aerobic/Anoxic Digestion.”  The method produces low odor compost-like biosolids, degrades microconstituents within biosolids and removes nitrogen from the recycle streams, all of which allow the city to claim the largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world.

While today’s news cycle will likely focus on the CDC study that showed lead is still problematic in the DC Water system, that study was based primarily on data from 1998-2006 and doesn’t reflect current practices at DC Water.  This new patent will allow DC Water to license their unique treatment system to other municipalities around the world and provide a proven solution to a unique problem.

We toured Blue Plains in October and got a longer look at the new process, and all of the bacteria involved, and found it a fascinating place.

News, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed
By

Metro shortens timeline to meet NTSB recommendations

Photo courtesy of
‘Order is repetition of units…..’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

Metro’s Finance & Administration committee today approved a $15.7M “budget reprogramming” to shorten the process to meet the NTSB recommendations after last July’s fatal train crash.  Included in the budget modification is the replacement of the track circuits that lead to the issue, installation of event recorders onboard the 1000- and 4000-series, conduct a comprehensive safety analysis of Automatic Train Operation and the beginnings of the replacement process for the 1000-series.

The use of the safety language surrounding ATO suggests to me that we’re looking at 2012 at the earliest before ATO returns to Metro, meaning that your commutes across town are going to remain herky-jerky for the forseeable future.

The funds are coming from within the Capital Improvement Program, nominally coming from a delayed project with the CIP 025 line item reserved for Track Maintenance Equipment, which has been delayed.

News, Night Life, The Daily Feed
By

ABRA: DC9 may reopen December 15th

Photo courtesy of
‘DSCN3278.JPG’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

According to TBD’s Sommer Mathis, who attended today’s ABRA hearing, DC9 has been given permission by ABRA to reopen on December 15th if they so choose.  The Board had some conditions set out under previous meetings that were met: they had to revamp the video security system, and under no circumstances could they employ at any of the restaurants/bars in the same group, the five individuals initially charged with the death of Ali Ahmed Mohammad until after the January 19th status hearing.

I’m not sure why that last condition was necessary, but given the choice between abandoning his staff and keeping his various licenses in order, there’s little choice that Joe Englert has at this point.  By the status hearing on the 19th, the DC Medical Examiner should have an autopsy report, hence the rescheduled date.

All Politics is Local, News, The Daily Feed
By

Vince Gray laments budget situation

Photo courtesy of
‘rainy tuesday’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

This morning’s speech by Mayor Elect Vincent Gray before the press was fairly somber in tone, thanks in part to the massive $181M gap in the FY 2011 budget, and the $345M gap in the FY 2012 budget.  Gray promised to keep tax increases off the table in the speech until such time as they’ve identified potential sources of waste in the current budget.

As Gray points out, out of the $5.3B total, less than a billion of that total can be considered even remotely discretionary.  $1.5B is related to fixed costs, debt service and things like Metro, and the rest is divided into four pools: salaries at DCPS/MPD/DCFEMS, salaries of District employees, Medicaid/Charter Schools, and everything else.

As part of identifying potential sources of savings, Gray is recommending that all capital projects that the city is considering, but hasn’t spent money on, be frozen until further notice. He’s also pulling for a blue ribbon commission to help manage the capital positions of the District.  We’re going to be calling this the Pabst Blue Ribbon Commission, given the subject, if you’ll pardon the joke.

If you’d like, you can review the Mayor Elect’s speech and budget supplemental numbers.

News, The Daily Feed
By

Ingmar Guandique found guilty on all counts for murder of Chandra Levy

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Courthouse’
courtesy of ‘Joe in DC’

Ingmar Guandique has been convicted of two counts of felony first degree murder that carry a life sentence.  TBD TV’s reporter Stephen Tschida on the scene said that Mrs. Levy started at Guandique with a look of anguish and happiness while the verdict was read and the jury was polled.

At last, Chandra Levy’s murder is put to rest.

Sentencing is scheduled for February, and each of the felony murder counts carries a minimum of 30 years.

News, The Daily Feed
By

MPD Suspends Assistant Chief over testing misconduct issue

Photo courtesy of
‘Taking a Test.’
courtesy of ‘peruisay’

Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes was placed on administrative leave late yesterday over allegations of corruption related to promotion tests. Asst. Chief Alfred Durham will take over her duties until the investigation is complete.  Groomes is alleged to have helped commanders who did not take their National Incident Management System test, which is required for all top-level MPD staff to be cognizant of national situations.

Asst. Chief Groomes said in a statement to FOX 5: “I am sorry for my actions and bad judgment…and bringing discredit to the best chief…police department and city.”

There has been significant outpouring of support on community listserves for Chief Groomes from citizens and community leaders alike, with many calling her a “dedicated law enforcement officer” and citing a record of strong service to the department.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
By

TBD does Escalator Census

Photo courtesy of
‘Escalators sure are pretty’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

TBD this week sent their intrepid community people through a grand tour of the Metro, charting each and every station’s escalator status. All told, Metro is missing about 13% of their total escalator fleet right now due to mechanical failures of one sort or another, which is both more than it should be, but also somehow less than I thought it would be.

In the decade or so that I’ve lived here, this has been Metro’s white whale. They organize high level commissions, or an escalator repair academy, or promise that they’ll get better, and it seems that they never do.  It’s rare that I encounter a day where all the escalators along my travels are working. Monday last week, about a third of the escalators I encountered on a red line jaunt (Brookland/CUA – Woodley Park – Farragut North – Gallery Pl. Chinatown), and several made ominous noises that had me wondering if I was about to experience some free-wheeling good times at the bottom of an escalator.

It seems that escalators, though, are the least of the problems of an aging system that had several other major crises this week, including a roof cave-in at Farragut North, a train collision with track equipment on the Red Line, and the communications being down yesterday.  I’d much rather Metro fix problems like those first, as we can all use a few more stairs in our lives these days.

All Politics is Local, News, The Daily Feed
By

Committee of 100 to Gray: Fire Gabe Klein and Harriet Tregoning

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Lydia DePillis from Washington City Paper this morning published a letter (and some very astute analysis) from the Committee of 100 to Mayor-Elect Gray asking him to please fire Gabe Klein and Harriet Tregoning and appoint new (and more friendly to them) leadership at DDOT and the District Office of Planning. Specifically, the C100 cite the loss of a Streetcar Grant (which wasn’t Klein’s fault) and Tregoning’s choice of input tolerance (which DePillis correctly identifies as meaning disregard for their input) and send the whole thing to Gray.

Now, here’s my two cents. It may be early in the transition, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gray make a clean sweep of Fenty appointees, rockstars like Gabe Klein included.  Klein’s Circulator buses are popular in the downtown-going crowd, but not across any of the bridges except those to Virginia, and his Streetcar program has raised the ire of one of Gray’s biggest allies, Marion Barry.  Gray can certainly use this letter like an excuse, and part ways with Klein and Tregoning, lose little political capital, and come away with a stronger ally in the Committee of 100, for what good that would be worth.

Personally? Klein has made DDOT a lot more visible to its residents, increased popular services, and added a bike-share program that has taken off.  While that means public transit has been the focus of DDOT instead of cars, it’s provided the opportunity to strengthen a part of DC that has been suffering for a long time, and in light of Metro’s recent suffering, that’s a necessary part.