The District

Franklin School - Get Off The Pot

This morning’s news roundup on Greater Greater Washington included this link to a story in the Examiner (ugh, I hate linking there) about the long-suffering ...

Marion Barry Is The Problem With Ward 8

Councilmembers in the District of Columbia hold an inordinate amount of power, so the current battle over the boundary between Ward 6 and Ward 8 is no surpri...

Goddamn Gentrifiers

By some measures, Heather and I are long-time residents of the District of Columbia. We moved into a small condo on the 1200 block of 13th Street NW in March...

Vacant and Blighted Property Testimony

Councilmember Bowser and Councilmember Evans held a joint hearing  yesterday on B18-546 and B18-448.  Both bills are an attempt to better define who gets hit...

West Nile Virus in Logan Circle

If you thought moving to Logan Circle meant trading mosquitoes and West Nile virus for prostitutes and robberies, think again!  I received an email from Laki...

Desi Deschaine - You Will Be Missed

I write with a heavy heart that our good friend Desi Deschaine has passed away. As a staffer for Mayor Williams, and later Councilmember Jack Evans, Desi ti...

Blame for the Metro Crash

The Metrorail system is deeply inculcated into the fabric of transportation in the DC Metro Area.  Everyone uses it, at least once or twice.  It is a testame...

DC Alerts Does It Again

I am really not intending to make this blog a running commentary on DC Alerts, but sometimes my hand just gets forced.  Though my last post on the issue was ...

DC Alerts Needs To Take Its Role Seriously

The idea behind Alert DC’s text-messaging/email alert system is a good one: Broadcast information about emergency situations to interested and/or affected pa...

Anecdotes in the Great Meter Debate

Though we usually walk most places, since we are without cars, Hedda and I will hop into a cab more often than many. The impending switch from the archaic zo...

Free Parking on 4th of July

It seems that DPW is going to be closed tomorrow, and that means that MPD will be responsible for enforcing parking. And since they generally have bigger fi...

The Asshole from Texas is Right

Let’s get this out of the way first: I want voting rights. I’m angry over my disenfranchisement, and I seethe at paying taxes without a vote in the matter. T...

Fenty Inaugural Ball - Kind of a Drag

Hedda snagged a couple of tickets to the Fenty Inaugural Ball this evening, and took me along as her date. It was a “black tie optional” evening, and we opte...

My Idea to Bridge the Metro Budget Gap

With all the hubbub over possible massive fare increases on the Metro, I feel like I should throw my two cents in. After all, without a car, public transit i...

Voting When It Doesn’t Matter

It’s election day, my first in DC, and I voted this morning. I was musing with Hedda on our way to the polling place about how depressing it is that our vote...

I Am A Human Rights Violation

Once again, the United Nations has smacked down the United States for denying me and my fellow DC residents voting representation in Congress. This time, how...

My First Ever Letter to the Editor

Last week’s City Paper had a really good article entitled “A Line in the Sandbox” that discussed some of the trials and tribulations of a particular DC Publi...

D.C. Smoking Ban Almost Law

Well, Mayor WIlliams has decided to niether sign nor veto the smoking ban. In most jurisdictions, this would mean that the law would take effect. However, th...

Fix The Libraries and RFK Stadium

So here’s a great idea! Why not take the $535 million in public funds slated for the new baseball stadium, and instead of throwing it down the tubes, spend i...