September 18, 2007
Morning Roundup: A Different Kind of Fun Edition
Good morning, Washington. For the first time in almost 30 years, the Senate will take up a measure considering D.C. voting rights this afternoon, though as we explained yesterday, today's action is really just a vote to consider giving us the vote in the House, not the actual vote to give us the vote. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who will take public transportation all day today in honor of Car Free D.C. Day, announced he will take advantage of his Congressional floor privileges and show up to lobby senators before the vote today, which is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. We're looking forward to picking out his distinctively shiny head on C-SPAN2.
D.C. Courthouse Violations Put Lives at Risk: The Examiner digs into a report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, which blasts the D.C. Courthouse for health and safety violations related to overcrowding and overall poor conditions at the jail inside the building. The H. Carl Moultrie Courthouse space used by the U.S. Marshals Service processes twice as many prisoners for which it was designed, and the facility itself is in need of serious repair and maintenance attention -- conditions which the report blamed for at least one death.
Protests Outside Fun Fair: Neighborhood blog Life in Mount Vernon Square has been keeping us posted on the movement to shut down adult video store Fun Fair, which culminated in a protest outside the business Monday evening. Located at 919 5th Street NW, neighbors complain that Fun Fair is operating an illegal, arcade-style adult business, where customers pay to watch videos on site in booths, despite previous efforts of the DCRA and other city agencies to revoke its licenses. Neighbors have also complained of routine drug activity and prostitution surrounding Fun Fair. The Post and the Times have stories as well today.
Briefly Noted: D.C. Council set to vote on payday lending limits ... Md. to check mental health records of gun buyers ... 14-year-old shot and killed in police altercation in Southeast ... Car crashes into Southeast cemetery ... D.C. Police complain to Council about department policies.
This Day in DCist: In 2006 we noted another lockdown of the Capitol after an air hammer was mistaken for gun fire and took a listen to an Israeli rap outfit visiting the District.
Photo by LaTur
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Field Report:
Fenty and Graham took S2 bus this morning. But they were delayed for an hour by, of all things, a car accident. Huge accident shut down 16th street this morning.
Um, just to be clear, if you shoot at the police...they will shoot back.
I almost took my car to work today, after waiting a half hour for a bus on 16th street. Glad Fenty got to experience that too.
I spotted Fenty's shiny head crossing Columbia Rd at 16th Street this morning... with a camera crew in tow.
Anyone have a link to a news story? All I know is that a car FLIPPED (!!!) at 16th and Irving. Any casualties? He/she must have been tearing ass to flip, that or they were in a nice 2001-vintage top-heavy SUV. ..
At least it was a nice day to walk to work... takes just as long as the bus does anyway.
As I was coming down 17th street on my bike this morning I witnessed the aftermath of a car striking a bicyclist. According to witnesses the bike clearly had the right of way, and the car blew the stop sign and hit him (I didn't see it happy so I can't confirm this). As I was leaving they had the cyclist on a backboard and were loading him into an ambulance.
So much for a happy car-free day.
happen....not happy
guest 6, where on 17th street?
I and another pedestrian were almost hit by some impatient bimbo in an SUV who disregarded the stop sign and crosswalk... just so she could get mere inches into the stand-still traffic leading up to 16th.
Fun Fair is definitely a menace to the neighborhood. You'd figure a video called "Goldiecocks and the Three Bears" would have at least one hairy guy in it. But no, it's nothing but plushies. For how long are residents supposed to put up with this blatant false advertising?
Car Free Week continues for me without incident, though the (slightly) higher number of cyclists on the roads this week seems to be ruffling the feathers of the SUV/sports car set in Georgetown, Kalorama and Dupont, as I've heard more "toots of the angry horn" on my commutes this week than I've heard in many months.
(As you can probably guess, I commute by bike year-round.)
Yeah I noticed a definite inclrease in bike traffic along the GW parkway bike path that I ride to work,
Could not have been a nicer day by the way for a car free day for everyone!
www.dcmetrocentric.com
James
DCfist,
Apparently a car was at the light on Irving and thought he had a green and went across 16th St. But only the Northbound had stopped, Southbound still has a green for another 10 seconds or so. I think the car that flipped was coming down 16th.
I could hear the wreck in my apt that's not even facing 16th street...incredible sound of crashing metal.
Saw one guy in a neck brace, but don't know what happened to the person (people) in the car that flipped.
The flipped car at 16th & Irving wasn't a SUV - it looked like an older (80's?) Chrysler. Then again, they were dragging it down 16th St on its hood, so I didn't get a good look at the make.
The other two cars involved in the accident weren't SUVs, either - one was a wagon, the other looked like a convertible.
Fun Fair has the WORST porn. Its got to go!
I had to assume they were SUVs because I'm surprised that anything with a lower center of gravity/higher level of stability would flip while going at the speed of rush hour traffic in the city. But I guess anything is possible. Yikes! Let's just look at it as a prelude to what's in store when Target/Best Buy/etc. open and traffic at that intersection increases tenfold.
The car/bike accident on 17th was just South of R, where there is the somewhat random mid-block stop sign for some small sidestreet. Corcoran maybe?
16th st accident: there was a Lexus on the tow truck that was crumpled all over, a van with a crushed front hood, and three (!) other cars behind the tow truck that I couldn't really see. I get on the same bus stop as Fenty and my half-hour commute took an hour and forty minutes. Yikes.