May 8, 2008
Morning Roundup: Safe as Houses Edition
Good morning, Washington. A string of home invasions and robberies in wealthy parts of Bethesda and Chevy Chase has police searching for links between the crimes, and local TV news stations doing what they do best: making area elderly people terrified that the same thing will happen to them. Montgomery County police think it's possible the same man may be responsible for five home invasion robberies dating back to September, and have released a composite sketch of the suspect.
Budget Deficit Woes: In case you hadn't heard by now, the D.C. government is facing a growing 2009 budget deficit, and that's prompting every city agency to fight to save their own funding. Police Chief Cathy Lanier got into the game this week, writing committee chair Phil Mendelson to argue that a proposed cut of $2.5 million would affect her ability to hire more police officers. Mendelson told the Post her concern was "ridiculous" and that she merely wanted the money to do whatever she wants with it. In other budget news, Mayor Fenty’s budget chief, William Singer, has suggested that the answer to the 2009 deficit could be raising a tax on corporate property and delaying tax relief on local businesses, reports the Examiner
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Idle Cars Do the Devil's Work: The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has a Climate Change Steering Committee, which has put out a series of recommendations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the metro area that includes fining drivers who leave their cars idling for more than five minutes. We'll just have to wait and see if the D.C. Council follows their advice.
Briefly Noted: A D.C. man was shot and killed on I-295 near Pennsylvania Avenue ... Islamic divorce ruled not valid in Maryland ... Man pleads guilty to traveling to D.C. to have sex with minor ... D.C. lottery system could have been hacked again.
This Day in DCist: Last year the Smithsonian began looking for a new leader after a series of embarrassing scandals, and the year before that the Church of Scientology was planning an expansion in the D.C. area.
Photo by staceyviera
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how on earth would the 5 minute rule be enforced? will police need to start carrying stopwatches? the police are probably the biggest offenders of this anyway.
i think fines should be done away with and replaced with punching. for example, if a taxi is missing a meter after june 1st, the driver should get punched. if someone is protesting too loudly, punch them. did you just expose yourself to a panda in public? get ready for a punch.
we could reduce carbon emissions in the USA by 63% if the old guys on my block turned their cars off. every morning, there's a cadre of gentlemen who go out into their cars with a newspaper, turn the car on, and sit there and read with the car running. nearly 365 days a year.
i've never asked anyone why they do it, because it just would feel too damn awkward. any ideas?
RE: DC Lottery
Fire their asses and bring in someone new!! Anything less than an air-tight system should be grounds for dismissal, especially if the city can save $8M.
I wonder if the "no-idling" law will include police cars. DC police rarely turn their engines off, and Capitol police are even worse, since they don't even patrol as much...just sitting in their cars near barricades and Capitol driveways.
I loved Fox5 coverage. They open with 80font letters flying at the viewer: HOME, MASK, MAN, BOUND, GUN...I heard MINORITY was nixed at the last minute....keep up the good work FOX!
McGillicuddy, what about those damn pandas exposing themselves to us? Filthy exhibitionists. Plus, in front of all those children? The Zoo should be ashamed...and punched.
The only thing that scares old people more is robots stealing their medicine.
I do hope they catch this guy quickly - there's a special place in hell for criminals who prey on the elderly like this.
The DC Housing blog pretty much nailed this: the District's proposed property assessments for 2009 are in decline, in some cases as high as 30%. With those kids of revenue losses, budgets have to be cut accordingly or they need to look for money elsewhere.
And I'm pretty sure there's nothing else you can do but idle your car on K Street at rush hour. It's not like it's moving or anything. This is really going to go over well in August when the temperature hits triple digits. The only way fining drivers for idling vehicles would work would be to have some kind of cyborg General Grivous idling enforcement officer go from car to car, yelling, "You fool! I have been trained in your jedi arts by Count Dookoo!" Then he detaches his extra arms, pulles out a feather boa and pasties, and does a provocative striptease.
did the scientoligists ever put something in the 16th st. building? all i've ever seen scientology related is the building in dupont.
hungeegirl, what scientology church on 16th street/ Are you confusing scientologists with the Church of Christian Science???
While the cops are themselves major contributers to the idling problem, the Metro buses are probably even more so. I can't even begin to say how many times I've walked by buses lined up one after another at the Fort Totten Metro Station idling so the driver (on driver, per bus) can keep comfortable.
I can understand the need for a little heat in the winter and ac in the summer but an entire bus idling for 30 minutes while the driver takes their break is a bit overkill. Maybe metro should look into installing some sort of independent heating/cooling system specifically for those times. Imagine the money they could save on fuel costs as well.
There are pennies to be pinched across the system, they just need to start using their heads a bit. Same goes for the budget crisis in the DC government.
DC already has a 3-minute idling law for trucks and tourist buses. It's something like a $500 fine and is enforced in key touristy areas like the Capitol and Mall. It used to be a 5-minute idling law. But that wasn't bringing in enough revenue, so they cut it down to 3 minutes. I have to wonder if the MWCOG's suggestion is about global warming or about new revenue sources for financially struggling local govt's. Because if it was really about global warming, there are other measures that would have a far greater effect - BUT, they wouldn't raise additional revenues.
And I love that Mendelson has finally discovered he has a set of cojones. It took his wife leaving him, but he's finally learned how to stand up to The Man. Of course, that explains why the street in front of his apartment will never be repaved. Sucks for his neighbors.
"This Day in DCist: Last year the Smithsonian began looking for a new leader after a series of embarrassing scandals, and the year before that the Church of Scientology was planning an expansion in the D.C. area."
Then he detaches his extra arms, pulles out a feather boa and pasties, and does a provocative striptease.>
Oh thanks so much for that visual! (Punch!)
i've never asked anyone why they do it, because it just would feel too damn awkward. any ideas?>
Miss Manners suggests a shoulder-fired missile.
Does anyone else come in or out of the Dupont North metro entrance in the mornings? I think that metro stop is a AAA franchise for a free newspaper distribution farm team. Dupont Circle north is one step away from the rush hour big leagues (maybe Farragut North or Metro Center). The paper people start at the smaller stops and as they get some attention and prove their stuff, they move up to busier stops.
I've seen a few Express guys come and go, they definitely had what it took to get those papers into rushed hands, all with a smile on their face. And the last Examiner lady definitely was a bit gruff looking, but she had "it."
This new Examiner woman though, I hardly notice her until I almost bump into her. She's not giving any papers out like that, especially for the second-rate free paper (do they even have Sudoku or a gossip section?).
Anyway, anyone else see this happening? It provides me with a small amount of entertainment as I make my way to the escalator every morning. But I will be sad to see the Examiner guy move on to The Show eventually. I've gotten used to hearing his distinct "Free Express" and "g'morning" shouts.
Well, it will be one more building for some amusing Xenu protests if the CoS does expand*.
*(This post is for humor purposes only. Please do not sue me, CoS.)
@Bethesdaist: Well, the old people could at least sleep a little easier at night if they signed up for a Old Glory Robot Insurance policy (classic SNL reference).
That 3 minute idling law has worked so well for tour busses. Head over to Maine Avenue some time and try and find a single parked bus that isn't idling.
What the traffic cops need to do is deploy some buzz droids to attach themselves to the busses and disable their ignition coil as well as the air conditioning and ray shields. That should work until R2 hits the buzz droid's center eye. That's it! Careful! Watch it! Yeah! You got em, R2!
DC's anti-idling law is basically toothless because it lets buses idle to run A/C when it's too hot, and it doesn't mention that the bus has to actually have passengers. So the buses park in SW and run all day long.. they just have to shut off and restart every 15 minutes to be in compliance.
"i've never asked anyone why they do it, because it just would feel too damn awkward. any ideas?"
The ol' banana in the tailpipe...
Oh, sure, as long as Montgomery County remembers who's wearing the trousers.
c'mon, reid, i don't need the seaton place mafia to put out a hit on me! but the banana idea is funny
(do they even have Sudoku or a gossip section?).
Indeed the Examiner does have a gossip page called Yeas and Nays.
"I wonder if the 'no-idling' law will include police cars. DC police rarely turn their engines off, and Capitol police are even worse, since they don't even patrol as much...just sitting in their cars near barricades and Capitol driveways."
Bah! Police?!? The worst are the fire and EMS vehicles! I saw an ambulance and two ladder trucks parked outside of a burning building the other day, and they were idling for like AN HOUR!!
Fscking arsehairs.
@hungeegirl, the Church of Scientology is at 20th & R Street, next to Cosi.
The Church of Christian Scientist is at 16th & I Streets.
hungeegirl is referring to text from the "This Day in DCist" year-old DCist post on the Church of Scientology expansion:
Have they built something there? If so, I've never seen it.When will people realize that there is NO SUCH THING as corporate taxation!!!! It is simply a cost absorbed by the consumer of that corps goods/services. Add one more "hidden" tax to the pot.
Oh, and the idling law is absurd. If anyone thinks this has anything at all to do with global warming....then they themselves should cool off by pulling their head out of thine butt. Most city laws like this are simply and solely for revenue.
AgentFAP, might I suggest you take a course in introductory macroeconomics. A tax on a good or service is inevitably shared between the purchaser and the seller, except in the unlikely event that the good has a completely inelastic demand schedule, which means that the consumer has to buy it no matter how much it costs.
thank you voteprime! yeeesh!
voteprime: Have they built something there? If so, I've never seen it.
If they are anything like the Scientology projects in Clearwater, completing projects may take years, or decades. They've got one building they've worked on for well over 13 years, at times with no activity for months, but with announcements of its completion being updated time and time again.
Why does it feel like monkey's TiVo picked up Episode III this past week...?
Nooooooooo!
Most mornings there's a line of cars on L Street, between 16th and 15th streets, with the drivers sitting in them while they idle. I guess they figure they're not parking illegally (no parking before 9:30 a.m., the cars get there around 9:15) if they do that. Ends up messing with traffic trying to turn left on 15th.
The DC Excessive Engine Idling Law situation is even goofier than you think.
The existing tourbus idling laws are ridiculously unenforced.
Mike: When I complained idling buses, it got forwarded to MPD, so I always thought they are supposed to enforce it, but who knows.
AgentFAP, might I suggest you take a course in introductory macroeconomics. A tax on a good or service is inevitably shared between the purchaser and the seller, except in the unlikely event that the good has a completely inelastic demand schedule, which means that the consumer has to buy it no matter how much it costs.
Ummmmm, please tell me your kidding... Oh they "share" the cost do they? Let me answer your question with a question then. Where do the corps get the money to pay their half? ;)
Holy crap! Robberies in Chevy Chase?!
Good thing my condo building in Friendship Heights is surrounded by old people who all have way more money and stuff than me. There's tons of schwag to grab before hitting my place.
Then again, if they took my TV, it'd give me an excuse to go on a road trip to find it again, only to run into some dude who wants me to "do" his wife, trip on peyote to Rob Zombie videos in the desert after partying with former Motley Crue roadies, ride a tour bus with old people back to DC, get chased by a Homeland Security guy who loves to cavity search, etc.
Good times.
~EEE~
I could've gone with a Big Lebowski reference, but that'd just be too classy.