June 13, 2008
Morning Roundup: Friday the 13th Edition
So, uh, yeah. I swear I didn't mean to help this along any, but it pretty much does seem like the entire city of Washington, D.C. is cursed this week, culminating in today's massive power outage across the center of the city. Traffic lights are out, five Metro stations are without power -- and now we're hearing that Farragut North and Dupont have been effectively closed to entry. One thing to keep in mind: Pepco is reporting that 12,598 customers are currently without power in the city (as of 9:43 a.m. on their web site). One "customer" is one building downtown. For each outage, that could mean more than 100 people are stuck without AC, internet or elevator access downtown. It's Friday the 13th, kids. Fasten your seatbelts.
Trinidad Checkpoint Abruptly Ended: D.C. police have decided to end the "Neighborhood Safety Zone" checkpoint in Trinidad all of a sudden -- one day after they said they'd be extending it through Sunday. Way to make everyone feel like this thing has been well thought out, guys. There's also some confusion over the number of vehicles reported to have been turned away at the checkpoint. The MPD are now saying they stopped fewer than 50 of the more than 700 vehicles that tried to pass through the checkpoint since it was in place on Saturday. But on Wednesday they were saying they stopped 50 percent of vehicles. There were no shootings in Trinidad while the checkpoint was in effect, so police are declaring the program a success! Too bad those eight people who were shot the other night weren't in Trinidad.
Briefly Noted: Eight people have been indicted in an alleged $35 million mortgage foreclosure rescue scam in Greenbelt ... Montgomery County Planning Board rejects developer's proposal to add a 16-story office tower to the Bethesda Metro center ... Vienna woman dies in early morning house fire ... Police on the shore are bracing for Senior Week.
This Day in DCist: Last year Marion Barry was back in court, and the year before that Georgetown was cracking down on housing code violations.
Photo by philliefan99
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MPD needs a swift kick in the ass. This entire program has been FUBAR'd from the get-go. From confusion as to who was allowed in, to not giving the city council peeps a heads up, to officers not getting the con law training Nickels said they did, to other streets being closed off and traffic ferreted to the checkpoint, to the shifting views on when the checkpoint would end. Absolutely astounding.
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What more needs to be said?
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PUMPERNICKEL BREAD!
okay that's what needed to be said
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D.C. Summer 2008: District Cursed, Sommer 2008.
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ok, this is way off topic, but is american apparel going the ambiguous pat route for friday the 13th today? is that a blonde woman with extremely bushy eybrows in red tie shorts? or is that a very un-musclely sufer dude kind of grabbing his crotch area? dudette? wha?
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Hmm, so can we deduce that the lack of comments is due to all of the DCisters stuck in the downtown buildings without power? While at it, can we also say the MPD checkpoint was a success due to the lack of shootings in Trinidad. And finally that all of the craziness is taking place today because of today's day and date???
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dnm: that's clever, but mean. surely this isn't all sommer's fault. we have to spread the blame around. i say davy dcist is at least partially responsible.
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I think there's more to the Trinidad neighborhood checkpoint than the police are admitting to. There was an attempted break-in at my place Tuesday (that I found out about the next day from a neighbor- thanks DCPD!) and in talking to the cops, there's apparently been a mass release of low-level prisoners by the DC courts and, as a result, there's a mini crime-wave of burglaries/break-ins. This isn't to excuse the checkpoints (I think they're lazy, unconstitutional, and ultimately worthless) but this adds a little more context.
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After years of confusion, I think I have finally figured out the American Apparel ads. They are designed to demonstrate that the clothing will look equally hideous on a beautiful (albeit pallid) young woman and an emaciated, disfigured man. So just imagine what they'll do for YOU!
People actually buy this clothing, is the baffling part. To me, it looks like the 70s just puked all over the locker room.