June 19, 2008
Morning Roundup: Make Your Own Way Edition
Good morning, Washington. WTOP's Mark Segraves has dug up records that show that Mayor Adrian Fenty has spent about $50,000 on travel and other expenses for himself, a number of aides and a security detail while the mayor was on the road campaigning for Sen. Barack Obama. It's not at all strange for Fenty to be out on the campaign trail for Obama, but Segraves makes the point that most sitting politicians make sure not to charge their constituent taxpayers for their expenses on such trips. Also interesting: that Fenty took ten police officers and three detectives with him on these trips for his security detail, when he normally just drives himself around D.C. without any security. Fenty declined to comment on WTOP's story until he had more time to review the expense reports in question.
Metro Area Foreclosure Rates Growing Rapidly: Remember a while back when we kept hearing that the D.C. Metro area wasn't being hit as hard as other major cities by the mortgage crisis? Well, now we are. The Washington region now has one of the fastest-growing foreclosure rates in the nation, with 15,613 homes having gone into foreclosure during the one-year period ending in February, reports the Post. That gain represents a sixfold increase in foreclosures, the highest increase in the rate of foreclosures of any metro area in the country for that time period.
MoCo Water Advisory Lifted: The advisory to boil drinking water in most of Montgomery County north of the Beltway has now been lifted. Tests found no evidence of contamination after a large water main broke on Sunday night. Officials are recommending that people run their taps for five minutes, and discard any ice from automatic ice-makers the next three times you get a new batch of ice, before cleaning the ice-maker with bleach.
Briefly Noted: Variable speed limit system to be set up on Capital Beltway ... Teen sues D.C. for $10 million, says city put her in clinic where she was raped ... Alexandria to hike towing fees 26 percent ... Federal judge rules inauguration arrests were illegal.
This Day in DCist: In 2007 there were major delays on the Green line, and in 2006 we were hating on Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay, who were both in town that day.
Photo by chip py the photo guy
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i think you have to make the point, though, with regards to the foreclosure story, that the "area" that is getting hit around here with foreclosures is suburbia and exurbia. sure, there are some in the district, but we are not seeing any prince william county crisis here.
the district is weathering this pretty damn well, and i feel that point should be emphasized.
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DC forclosure data is a mixed bag. Yes, the rate in DC was high in 2008 compared to 2007, but it was pretty low compared to the previous 8 years. Nothing compared to the outer suburbs where mil-plus monster mansions are going on the block for $400k with no takers.
Then again, compare this region to places like Charlotte NC where there never was a bubble, and you actually have stable growth instead of growing forclosures, and the requisite tax hikes to compensate for the revenue losses.
And some of us never stopped hating on Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay.
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Prince William and Loudon counties are majorly screwed. The inner burbs and DC are doing well, but PG County and parts of Wards 4, 5 and 7 are getting hit by subprime loans gone bad. And it's interesting that Adams Morgan has also been having issues; probably b/c of liar loans being taken out by immigrants who can't afford them anymore. No doubt DC will take a hit, but it'll be nothing compared to the misery in the Virginia exurbs.
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Did Segraves even need to dig up records to ‘investigate’ this? Does this even count as news? I can’t wait for a Post investigation tomorrow on how ‘Adrian’ is alternatively a name women use when spelled differently.
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"The highest the [variable] speed limit will go is 50 mph, the lowest it could go is 35 mph."
Haha, that sucks.
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Variable speed limits for congestion are a waste of time and money. Traffic will flow as fast as possible. I know they have had some success in Europe with these systems, but we all know the US isn't Europe.
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in 2006 we were hating on Rachel Ray and Bobby Flay...
Back before they were exposed as terrorists you mean. Actually Bobby might not be a terrorist. Though he does put mango, an imported fruit, in every dish he makes.
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Last year, schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee ordered her staff to stop sending kids to KidsPeace after a series of children had their arms broken under “therapeutic restraint.”
So that's what they're calling it now. See, this is what happens when you get ban waterboarding...uh...I mean "hydrotherapy."
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I don't know Monkey, maybe Charlotte has just continued to grow, but where my parents are in Knoxville there was no bubble either, prices just grew steadily but it was definitely not boom city. Now? Well, nothing is selling. No one is moving. Especially at the high end of the market. So yeah, foreclosures have been rare. And prices haven't fallen, but trying to sell a house is nearly impossible.
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Prices in DC actually rose about 3% last year.
And if I'm looking at the stats right the entire DC area was unusually low in foreclosures. So now we have a major spike but it's really just up to roughly the same rates as other cities.
The Post story is a bit sensationalistic.
And it must chap their ass to actually have to admit that DC prices actually went up. What with their never-ending fearmongering about real estate in DC.
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DC1974 - Well, that's the difference between Knoxville and DC, innit? You still have a lot of job generation here, Federal and private sector, so demand for core housing remains relatively stable. Knoxville, not so much. Combine that with rising fuel costs and the cheapness of sprawl housing relative to core housing diminishes substantially.
I'll have to check it out myself, as I'm roadtripping to see Tom Waits in Knoxville next weekend. Mind if I crash on you parents couch? I promise not to poop under the cushions. Again.
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But the Examiner last week saw a different picture...WHO TO BELIEVE?!?!?!?!1
"Foreclosures plunge in Maryland, Virginia, rise in D.C."
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Fail...
Foreclosures plunge in Maryland, Virginia, rise in D.C.
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I have a very hard time believing that prices are growing in DC, at least Adams Morgan.
I am seeing almost identical town houses on my street selling for $100K less than they did in early 2007, $40K less than they did at the beginning of the of this year. Assessments are 15-20% above what the sale price is.
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Month-to-month fluctuations, whether it's crime or real estate sales or forclosures, don't mean a helluva lot.
Ask anyone who's trying to lose weight.
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"I'm roadtripping to see Tom Waits in Knoxville next weekend..."
I hate you so much right now, Monkey.
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If you hurry, you can still get tickets to see him in Prague. I hear they sell a tasty beverage there called "beer."
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Why the hell does Fenty need 10 police officers and three detectives with him when he travels? I mean, I know he thinks he's hot shit around town, but he really should know that almost nobody knows who he is beyond the D.C. area, much less gives a damn.
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I'm just glad he fired his fluffer. That clown outfit was creeping me out.
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" he really should know that almost nobody knows who he is beyond the D.C. area, much less gives a damn."
Maybe that's the point. Around here everybody knows him, but not that many people want to kill him. On the road with Obama, on the other hand, he may get mistaken for his holiness, at least in the eyes of some racist assassin.
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Come to think of it, I really hope his clown fluffer doesn't come back for revenge, regardless of how cool the made-for-tv movie would be.
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Re: the Fenty security detail, I think it was a total of 13 different po-po that have traveled with him out of town, not a 13-man security detail on each of his trips. I think Segraves didn't make that clear enough based on the travel log document he has on his site.
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"We've traced the call. The clown fluffer is INSIDE THE HOUSE! RUN, ADRIAN, RUN! Get out of there! They're inside the perimeter!"
"You're not reading that thing right."
"It's reading right, man! Ten meters...eight meters...what the fu--"
"Gimme that thing! That can't be. That's inside the room."
[climbs on table, looks into ductwork, sees hoards of crawling clown fluffers.]
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Careful Ian, you could come back with a bug.
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I am a taxpaying resident of the District of Columbia. I am also a government contractor, and because of the Hatch Act, it is illegal for me to make monetary contributions to a federal presidential campaign. Technically, my tax dollars, regardless of how little, have now contributed to Obama's campaign.
We haven't heard the last of this, I promise.