Category Archives: The District

All Politics is Local, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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Michelle Rhee On “This Week”

Photo courtesy of
‘Michelle Rhee’
courtesy of ‘angela n.’

Yesterday morning, DC’s chancellor of Public Schools, appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to weigh in on the current state of America’s public education system. During the round table discussion with Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, President of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, and host Christiane Amanpour, Rhee (who joined via satellite from Sacramento) spoke to the revamping of the DC teacher evaluation model, implementing a merit-based compensation system  and reforming the way government resources flow into the school districts.

See the first segment of the discussion, after the jump.

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All Politics is Local, The District, The Features
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Campaign Notebook: August 27, 2010

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Flag’
courtesy of ‘kevnkovl’

OK folks, we’re now less than three weeks out from primary day. Eighteen days. What in the world will us journobloggers do once this is all over? These things are getting a bit longer as we get closer to the election, so let’s get started.

The Big Race

We’re getting down to the wire, and things are getting ugly. The Gray campaign unveiled it’s first television spot, which hits hard on the “cronyism” topic. Gray has also sent out a barrage of mailers with the same theme. Going negative with the first television spot is a bold move, going against most conventional wisdom. However, like others, we have to wonder how much conventional wisdom applies to this race. In fact, it seems at this point the cronyism theme likely tests in favor of Gray among undecideds.

Fenty loses bid to allow independents to change parties. The mayor made a last minute appeal to the Board of Elections and Ethics to allow non-party affiliated voters to change affiliation in order to vote on September 14. As of July 31, there were nearly 80,000 registered voters with no party affiliation, and they will not be able to vote in the primary. The deadline to change parties has passed, so any remaining no-affiliation voters are out of luck. Freeman Klopott at the Examiner thinks this smells of desperation in the Fenty camp. I’d agree. Fenty likely thinks these unaffiliated voters would break for him, which may be the case since the largest numbers of no-party voters are in Wards 1-3. I think Gray campaign manager Adam Rubinson went a bit too far with the Hugo Chavez comparison, but this does seem to fall into a “kitchen sink” approach to getting more votes. It is a valid point to discuss–that nearly 16% of the electorate cannot vote in the de-facto election—but this should happen between elections, not during.

What’s next–dogs and cats living together? Mass Hysteria? Fenty sits down with the City Paper. Vince Gray loves Sex and the City.

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Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, People, The District, The Features, The Great Outdoors
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Soccer Playing Opportunities: WAWSL & WISL

Photo courtesy of


‘Ft Slocum Soccer Ball’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

As the summer months draw to a close, so begins the Fall soccer season. And for those of us who have played practically all our lives, soccer is in the air. We’re hypersensitive to the lowering of sun’s trajectory, the crisper air, and the smell of freshly cut grass. It all evokes memories of the morning practices and games, when the dawn’s mist slowly lifted from the field.

Fortunately the DC area offers plenty of soccer playing opportunities for any and all levels, and for those who wish to play on coed, men’s or women’s teams. Should your preference be a single sex team, there are two leagues in particular that I believe offer the best soccer playing experiences in the DC area, and they’re recruiting players of all levels for the fall season.

Next November 2022 do not miss out all the details of the Qatar World Cup at ESPN that will have all the details of the matches.

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All Politics is Local, Downtown, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, People, The District, The Features, WTF?!
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And For Mayor, We Endorse…

Photo courtesy of
‘Mayoralty elections (LOC)’
courtesy of ‘The Library of Congress’

As the countdown to voting day continues, many have asked us here at WeLoveDC just who we’re going to endorse for Mayor of the District. We’ve had a long and exhausting debate on our author email list, and quite frankly, we couldn’t come up with a unanimous choice, much less a majority decision. So instead, we decided to offer up our own endorsements for mayor, in our own words.

You may be surprised at who we picked. Continue reading →

Downtown, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, People, Special Events, The District, The Features, The Mall
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DC: We Are More Than What Others Say We Are

Fire and Ice
‘Fire and Ice’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

To the Tea Party tourists visiting this weekend:

We’d like to welcome you to the nation’s capital.

Please note that despite some serious misunderstanding and outrageous assumptions made beyond the Beltway, DC really is a safe city to visit. We do recommend, however, that you just avoid Baltimore completely. Think of it as our certifiably insane sibling to the north, with delusions of class. (And yes, I am kidding. We DCites do have a sense of humor, especially at Baltimore’s expense. And Philadelphia’s.)

Despite some ramblings of various cantankerous individuals, the District does have a lot to offer you on your visit. We bust a lot of myths about our fair city here on this site; please take a moment to see if we’ve answered any of the ones you’ve heard. We also showcase a lot of amazing arts, theater, restaurants, individuals, and other great things about the DC area here; I invite you to check out what else lies beyond the Mall and maybe sample some of our wares. Continue reading →

Crime & Punishment, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, Technology, The District, The Features
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Protecting Your Bike

Photo courtesy of
‘Next time, lock up the entire bike’
courtesy of ‘billaday’

I love bike riding. And I love bike riding around DC. It’s truly a fantastic mode of transportation, whether you’re headed to work or play. Since moving to DC in 2006, with my Cannondale in tow, I’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of bike traffic. I’d most likely attribute this rise to 1) increased Metro fares, 2) the addition of numerous bike lanes and bike racks, in part spearheaded by the WABA, and 3) the increase in popularity of road biking. Sadly, the increase of bike riding has also meant a parallel increase in DC bike theft, and if you’ve ever had your bike stolen, like me, you know how much of a personal affront it is and how irreplaceable your perfectly fitted and outfitted bike was. So, in an effort to prevent further bike theft and the ensuing anguish, I asked Mike Christian of Revolution Cycles for some tips and advice on how to better secure our bikes.

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Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, People, The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors
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Run in the Rain with Michael Wardian

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Tonight at 6:30pm, The Georgetown North Face’s weekly run features ultra-marathoner Michael Wardian.  Wardian has competed a races all over the world, including four wins in DC’s National Marathon, and is  a fantastic resource for those interested in marathon running. So despite this dreary wet weather, get your running shoes on and enjoy a run in today’s slightly less humid and hot summer evening.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The District
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New poll shows Gray with razor thin lead over Fenty

Photo courtesy of
‘vince gray blogger roundtable’
courtesy of ‘Dave Stroup’

The web is buzzing with the results of a new independent poll of the race for mayor. The poll, conducted independently by Clarus Research Group, has challenger Vincent Gray with a slim 3-point lead over incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty. In a sampling of 501 registered Democrats, Gray comes away with 39%, Fenty with 36%, Leo Alexander with 2%, and a whopping 22% undecided. Among those considered likely voters, Gray opens up a larger lead, 41% to 36%. The margin of error for this poll was +/- 4.4%.

Clarus also polled on the Council Chair race, and the results are roughly what was expected. Kwame Brown leads Vincent Orange 39% to 29%, with 29% undecided.

There are no real surprises in the poll, but if you’re a DC politics junkie it is fascinating stuff. We learn that most people in the city aren’t familiar with District Attorney General Peter Nickles–and those who do know him like him, 27% favorable, 18% unfavorable. MPD Chief Lanier gets 80% favorable, and Rhee is more divisive, as expected, 50% favorable, 35% unfavorable.

What does it all mean? The race is close. Super close. We already knew that. The numbers on Rhee are split down the middle, again not a surprise. The Nickles numbers show what us bloggers and commentators often forget–most people don’t read the same things we read. I bet you’d see similar numbers if you polled about Ron Moten. We’re going to see more ads about Fenty’s “results” and we’ll see more hits by Gray on Fenty’s personality and ‘cronyism.’ I’d venture a guess though that with Nickles’ numbers where they are, most people either don’t care or don’t know about the alleged cronyism. In essence, this poll merely confirmed what we all thought, this is going to be an extremely close election.

The District, The Features
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Why I Love DC: Samer

Lincoln's Shadow
All photos by the author

I’ve lived in and around this town for 23 years now. When I got here, DC was where I was headed to college. It offered an interesting backdrop, but I didn’t imagine I’d be here so many years later.

And, yet, here I am. Tomorrow I’ll celebrate my 41st birthday, and as I age, the city has grown up around me. I’ve never lived anywhere else for so long. And while I have an Arlington address, my life revolves around the city — from work to play, I’m more often downtown than not.

I could go on and on about what makes DC better than other places. But, being more comfortable with a camera than I am with the pen, I’m going to try and show you parts of my DC, and the reason that I find myself staying here, year after year.
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All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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ANC Mary Cuthbert describes challenger with racial epithet

YouTube Preview Image

We tweeted about this one early this morning, but it deserves mention here because advisory neighborhood commission (ANC) races aren’t covered in proportion to their importance to their immediate communities. Congress Heights on the Rise posted a video this morning of ANC Mary Cuthbert’s (8C03) argument with a challenger seeking signatures for his ballot petition, in which she refers to him as a “dumb nigger.” CHotR also includes examples of Cuthbert’s history of other misbehavior. (You can hear it at about 12 seconds in.)

In her role as part of ANC 8C, Cuthbert only represents about 2000 neighborhood residents, but since ANC commissioners are unpaid, volunteer positions, they frequently run unopposed. The small area they each represent means that individual commissioners often fly under the radars of the very residents whose interests they’re theoretically protecting, but they are elected officials just the same. This kind of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated from a City Council member, and there’s no reason to tolerate it from an ANC.

There are many fine ANCs out there who work in a thankless job. If yours is one of them, you should thank him or her. But if yours is not, you owe it to yourself and your neighbors to find out who the challengers are before Election Day. And have you considered running yourself?

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, News, People, The Daily Feed, The District
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Sign Her Up! Redskins Latest Recruit

Photo courtesy of
‘New Washington NFL Uniform’
courtesy of ‘Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com’

Today Albert Haynesworth for the third day in a row chose not to take the Redskins conditioning test, which consists of two timed 25 yard shuttle runs with a 3 1/2 minute rest in between each set. So local Fox 5 reporter, Lindsay Murphy, took it for him and came pretty darn close to passing.

Given how useless, lazy and overpaid Haynesworth has been during his time at the Redskins, I say “Sign Her Up!”

All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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Help Solve Animal Cruelty Cold Case In Northeast

Photo courtesy of
‘McGruff looks pissed’
courtesy of ‘MikeOliveri’

Some disturbing news coming out of the Northeast today. Apparently, Washington Humane Society officers are heavily investigating two cases of cold-blooded animal murder and they’re looking for help in solving these senseless and heinous crimes.

In April an innocent opossum and her ten babies were stoned to death in an alley behind 16th Street, NE and a month later an innocent cat was brutally found stoned to death on the 200 block of Maryland Avenue, NE.

National studies have shown that individuals who commit these senseless acts of animal cruelty are seven times more likely to commit other anti-social acts such as violence towards people. So this individual or individuals pose a risk to the entire DC community.

If you have any information regarding these heinous crimes, please contact the Humane Law Enforcement Department at 202-BE HUMANE. All calls are confidential.

All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, News, Special Events, The District, WMATA
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NTSB Finds Systemic WMATA Safety Issues From Red Line Crash Investigations

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Today in a five hour long hearing, (not including a one hour long lunch break) the NTSB released their findings on the 2009 Red Line crash. Chairwoman Hersman kick off the hearing with opening remarks that highlighted the thoroughness of the report, the importance of its findings and immediate need for WMATA to take action to rectify what Hersman called “WMATA’s anemic safety culture.”

As Tom pointed out earlier today, many of the findings had already been unearthed. NTSB Engineer Payan spent a good length of time both describing and fielding questions about the failures of the Automated Train Operation (ATO) system and the WEE-Z bond sensors that caused the first train to essentially disappear from the track circuitry sensors and made the second train speed up and, tragically, slam into the first train. Prior to the crash, circuit failures like this were happening so often that WMATA employees became desensitized to the alerts and would ignore them. More shocking is that since the crash, WMATA has identified about 290 track circuits capable of this same failure and has not replaced them. No word on if WMATA is currently paying more attention to the alerts. Continue reading →

Adventures, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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30th Street Bridge Finished, TJ Street Bridge Construction Begins

Photo courtesy of
‘blurry reflection’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Time moves at the speed of light when you’re busy living life, so it will surprise you all that’s in been almost a year since the DDOT embarked on Operation: Remove, Restore and Replace Georgetown’s C&O Canal Bridges.

Since I last reported on the epic project from the construction companies dublin, the 30th Street Bridge had been closed to traffic, but as of the last few days the new bridge has reopened in spectacular form and on schedule to boot! Not word on budget status. A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle, such as a body of water, valley, or road, without closing the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross.

Suspension bridges are strong because the force on the bridge gets spread out. The weight of the cars or trains or horses, whatever’s traveling across it, pulls on the cables, creating tension, to hire the best contractors to make a quality job, visit http://brownbuildingcontractors.com and hire them now. Those cables then pull down on the towers and also pull on the anchors on either end of the bridge, to hold up the deck.

When bridges requiring piers are built over a body of water, foundations are made by sinking caissons into the riverbed and filling them with concrete. In the case of suspension bridges, towers are built atop the caissons. The first suspension-bridge towers were stone, but now they are either steel or concrete. If you need some materials for your project you might want to buy from skirting boards Perth.

Next up is the renovation of the much beloved Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge scheduled to kick off on July 28th and last approximately one year. While two-way traffic will still be permitted between M Street and Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge and between K Street and Thomas Jefferson Bridge, what about crossing the canal to get coffee and cupcakes at Baked & Wired?!!!  I’m very concerned that my afternoon sugar rush will be sorely impeded and inconvenienced. On the up side, some extra walking will help make up for these sweet indiscretions.

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District, The Hill, The Mall
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DDOT Unveils Historic DC Photos

Photo courtesy of
‘MacArthur Marquee’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

After years of scouring, the DDOT historians have posted some fantastic photos of our beloved city from the 1940s thru the 1960s to their Flickr account. The set features cityscapes from all over the district, including an awesome shot from an open air parking lot on H Street NE, a Harlem-esque looking F & 13th Street, and Tenley Circle with streetcar tracks.

My favorite pic is the shot of Rosslyn looking over the Key Bridge to DC taken in 1945.  It’s amazing to think of the now skyscraper filled neighborhood as only having two and three storied buildings. Some may remember one of last remaining relics of that era, Tom Sarris Orleans House, which tragically closed in 2008. That place was definitely a DC insiders go to.

News, The Daily Feed, The District
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A Little More on Big Bear’s Situation

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Yesterday, we posted that Big Bear Cafe would be proceeding to the Alcoholic Beverages Regulation Agency without the endorsement of ANC 5C, something that usually spells the death of any application. However, it’s also worth unpacking some of the allegations from the ANC. They insist in their opposition resolution that Big Bear has been operating in violation of the zoning authority. We asked owner Stu Davenport yesterday about this, and he came back with some specificity concerning the zoning. According to Davenport, and the DCOZ, Big Bear has operated with full knowledge of the District’s zoning authority, and with a certificate of occupancy (CO) from the District. When Big Bear opened in 2006, they had a small 8-seat CO that they expanded to their larger current CO, with full assistance from DCRA and their structural engineers. Though the building they occupy is zoned R-4 (residential), they are operating with an operating exception, and a codified map amendment to preserve the Cafe’s future status is before the zoning commission to match the property to the surrounding zoning of C-2-A.

In short: despite what the commissioners of ANC 5C said in their opposition ruling, Big Bear has been operating legally, under the zoning commission’s rules, with their knowledge, and with all legal permits, including a restaurant permit that runs through May of next year.

News, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Court of Appeals rules for District on rejection of gay marriage referendum vote

Photo courtesy of
‘Chris and Hampton’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

The DC Court of Appeals, in a 5-4 verdict (available in PDF), upheld the District’s rejection of a referendum on gay marriage. At stake was the choice of the Board of Elections and Ethics to reject the petitions from Harry Jackson and others to require that gay marriage be put to a vote of the citizens of the District.  The BOEE argued, successfully, that to put this on the ballot would be to potentially authorize discrimination in violation of the Human Rights Act.  Associate Judge Thompson, writing for the majority, said “we therefore affirm the Superior Court’s rulings that the Council acted lawfully in imposing the Human Rights Act safeguard and that the Board correctly determined that the safeguard required it to reject the proposed initiative.”

Most interesting in the 84-page verdict was the item upon which all nine judges agreed: “the Board correctly determined that the proposed initiative would have the effect of authorizing such discrimination.” While the dissenting judges disagreed regarding the authorities involved in the case, they did accept that a voted prohibition against gay marriage was a wholesale violation of the Human Rights Act. Let that sink in a minute. We’ll have some more detail and reaction later today.

Life in the Capital, The District
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Why I Love DC: Rebecca

Photo courtesy of
‘Captured a taxi, despite all the rain’
courtesy of ‘KentonNgo’

They say when you meet the one, you just know. It’s the thrill. It’s the magic. It’s the joy. It’s the romance. It’s the respect you have for him, and he for you. It’s the way he makes you feel like the most beautiful creature in the world.

For me, DC is undeniably the one. I’ve flirted with Paris and set up house with St. Louis. I eloped with Brussels and begged for New York to have me. But it’s DC, my childhood home, that turned out to be the love of my life. Washington was the guy next door that took me by surprise and became my knight in shining armor.

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All Politics is Local, The District, The Features
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Campaign Notebook: July 2, 2010

Photo courtesy of
‘Pride Parade’
courtesy of ‘erin m’
There are 74 days left until the primary.

As we approach the holiday weekend, the mayoral campaign continues to ratchet up a bit. Education was the big topic this week, a subject that most certainly matters and most certainly will not fade. There’s been some developments in the Ward 1 race, and Vincent Orange is becoming a bit more visible. There’s been a good deal of news, so let’s get to it. Continue reading →