WHETHER YOU GREET George W. Bush's departure from office with joy, sadness or ambivalence, it's hard to deny that he's had an impact on our fair city, so it's only fitting that we find a way to say goodbye. And, hey, if you're trying to find a way to ask out that cute girl who volunteers for Obama, you could do worse than proposing a satirical farewell to Prez 43. Here's how you can do it.
Start out at the Cactus Cantina, a classic spot for D.C. Mexican food (yes, it exists here, sort of) and reportedly one of the president's favorite restaurants. Sure, there are myriad barbecue joints you could try as well, but they aren't very clean and you might end up with some terrible infection, like trichinosis or a War in Iraq or something.
Of course, the centerpiece of the evening will be seeing "W." at the AMC Loews Uptown. Try to catch the 7:55 show — dinner will have to be a little early since the theater is a ways away from the Cantina, but it'll leave you time later to grab dessert and discuss the cinematic antics of Oliver Stone and the ethical implications of judging history before the story is over.
BRING ON THE conventions already.
Seriously.
Anything to end the flood of "Hey, guys, Obama's going to pick a vice president soon!" articles.
The Democratic National Convention is taking over Denver (and the news agenda) next week, and thus will end the speculation about Vice Presidential candidates.
And thus it is a cause for great jubilation.
Continue Reading "Conventional Hangouts: Where to Watch the Democrats Party" »
MARION BARRY is sometimes credited with sparking the revitalization of the area around 14th and U streets NW. It was there during his tenure as mayor when the District government moved many of its agency offices to the Reeves Center, which officials hoped would anchor the area's revitalization. And while the Reeves Center brought jobs to the U Street corridor, some say it's debatable whether the municipal complex sparked the neighborhood's renaissance, which didn't kick into high gear until more than a decade after it opened in 1986.
Now, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has announced that the city will relocate the Department of Housing and Community Development to a new building in Anacostia at Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Good Hope Road, a facility that the NAACP had at one point considered using as its national headquarters.
Continue Reading "D.C. Readies to Relocate Some Workers to Anacostia" »
D.C. MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY on Friday announced a slight change to the new fare structure that will be implemented when the city's taxis move to time-and-distance meters this spring: a $1.50 fee for each additional passenger during a cab ride.
As The Post's Sue Anne Pressley Montes reported over the weekend:
The additional-passenger charge was eliminated when Fenty (D) proposed fares in January, but it has been restored after a period of public comment. Surrounding jurisdictions allow cabdrivers to charge for additional passengers.The mayor also modified rules to authorize the D.C. Taxicab Commission to certify six to 10 meter installers and to raise the maximum fare from $18.90 to $19.
» "Additional-Rider Charge Restored to Fare Proposal" [WaPo]
» "District Taxi Fare Estimator" [WaPo]
"NEVER HAVE I SEEN the government move so fast on anything. You get the sense that no one over there even looked at this in context."
— D.C. Shadow Senator Paul Strauss on the U.S. Mint's speedy rejection of three proposed designs submitted this week for the District's commemorative quarter, each which had the an inscription protesting D.C.'s lack of a full and equal vote on Capitol Hill.» "Mint Rejects Voting Rights Message" [WaPo]As The Post' Paul Duggan reports, the rejection was anticipated by city officials, since guidelines governing the coin program prohibit controversial messages.
» "Mint to D.C.: Leave It On Your License Plates" [Raw Fisher/WaPo]
"THERE ARE MANY DRIVERS who have done the same thing that I have done. We have taken care of our families, put children through college, bought property and various other ventures that we would not have been able to do if we hadn't made driving our cab a business. Time-and-distance meters will take the opportunities away from the drivers."
— Stanley Tapscott, a cab driver and a D.C. Taxicab Commission member, testifying before the D.C. Council about the upcoming transition of D.C.'s cab fare structure from zones to time-and-distance meters.» "Cabdrivers Tell of Financial Fears" [WaPo]As The Post's Sue Anne Pressley Montes reports, Tapscott accused "the powers at be" of using meters to reduce the number of cabs in the District, which boasts the largest number of taxis per capita anywhere in the nation.
Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post
THE FUTURE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA commemorative quarter won't have a panda bear or cherry blossom on it, that's for sure. But will there be a message decrying the District's lack of a full and equal vote on Capitol Hill? D.C. officials hope so, but are running into problems with a long-standing U.S. Mint guideline for the popular state-themed coins: No controversial messages.
As The Post's Mary Beth Sheridan reports:
Yesterday, the District submitted three ideas for its quarter, part of a popular program that has produced coins representing each of the 50 states. One would feature the three stars and two bars of the D.C. flag; another would portray Benjamin Banneker, the 18th-century abolitionist who helped survey the city; and another would depict jazz great Duke Ellington, a D.C. native.But according to D.C.'s plans, each coin design would also have a message related to voting rights, which is likely going to get a thumbs down from federal officials.
The U.S. Mint hasn't yet officially nixed D.C.'s proposed designs, and spokesman Greg Hernandez declined to tell The Post whether they'd be rejected.
"THIS IS CRAZY. Why are we talking about trash? We should be talking about community grants and projects, not trash."
» "In the District, Anger Toward Endless Mess" [WaPo]— Kathy Henderson, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner in the Northeast D.C. neighborhood of Carver Terrace, on missed trash pickups by D.C. sanitation crews, as The Post's Yolanda Woodlee reports.
Henderson will be one of the residents raising concerns about trash pick-up during a D.C. Council oversight hearing on the Department of Public Works and its director William Howland Jr. that's scheduled for today.
» EARLIER: "In Alleyways, Trash-Can Territory Can Be Blurred" [Free Ride/Express]
Photo by Lois Raimondo/The Washington Post
DON'T EXPECT PEACE AND QUIET at the corner of H and 8th streets NE anytime soon.
In recent years, the amplified speeches by members of the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge that ring through the air on most Saturdays have sparked complaints in the community. The clamor against the clangor has risen to such a level that one determined blogger, David Klavitter of Quest for Quiet, has documented his struggles with the noise and the D.C. government, which lacks regulations governing such loud sounds.
Legislation introduced by D.C. Council members Mary Cheh, Tommy Wells and Kwame Brown that would place a 70 decibel limit on amplified sound was stopped this morning by a 7-5 vote that indefinitely tables the measure.
KEY COMMUTER ROUTES are usually the first to get the attention of D.C. plows after a snowstorm, but a new strategy is set to move residential streets up from their lower spot in the snow-removal pecking order.
Reports The Post's Elissa Silverman:
You're not likely to see it this week, considering the weather forecast, but here's how the plan would work: Approximately 90 heavy trucks would be dispatched to the main roads to make them passable for buses, emergency vehicles and other traffic. At the same time, a fleet of 80 or so light trucks equipped with salt and plows would hit the neighborhoods. For major storms, the city can call in contractors as well.Will the new strategy work? We'll have see what happens after the next snowfall, which might come over the weekend, according to The Post's Capital Weather Gang.
» "Fenty Wants Main Roads, Side Routes Plowed at Same Time" [WaPo]
» "Forecast: Warmth Waiting in the Wings; But More Wintry Late in the Week" [Capital Weather Gang/WaPo]
File photo by Michael Grass/Express
Addison Road