July 22, 2008
Morning Roundup: Close Calls Edition
Photo by er3465
Good morning, Washington. Things are pretty much back to normal this morning on Capitol Hill after a potential jumper kept police, emergency crews and reporters outside the Senate Hart Building for over seven hours overnight. The man turned himself over to Capitol Police at approximately 2 a.m., after climbing onto a ledge about 5:45 p.m. yesterday. The man has not been identified, but police did say he speaks Mandarin and doesn't speak understand English very well. This is the second potential jumper we've heard about in the last week in the city -- the other one reportedly shut down Washington Circle on Saturday before coming down without incident falling down after deciding not to jump. The Hart Building opened at its regular time this morning.
Barry Calls for Audit of Payroll Program: Sigh. For whatever reason, the District government just can't seem to handle paying the teenagers it hires for its summer youth job program. It looks like there was a glitch last week that prevented roughly 6,000 teens from being paid on time, and now D.C. Council member Marion Barry is calling for an audit to find out what went wrong. Barry has every right to be peeved: at the beginning of the summer, the city went around touting its new checkcard payroll system that would ensure every teen got paid on time, because the program has had major problems just like this for years and years. Now it's possible not only that the new system hasn't solved the problem, it's created a new one: Barry also said he's heard some teens who did not show up for work have been paid anyway.
Four Day Work Weeks Proposed in Fairfax: We'd never encourage our readers to move away from the District to way out in Fairfax County, but, uhh, if you have the chance to work for the county, keep in mind they may be moving to four-day work weeks to reduce costs and pollution. Living in the city center = awesome, but could having Fridays off = awesomer?
Briefly Noted: Large group of teens committing robberies in Northern Virginia ... Body found in Silver Spring ... D.C. Council eases restrictions on earmarks to help nonprofits
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didn't the guy on Washington Circle fall off as he was trying to climb down? Dosen't sound much like "without incident".
See: Man Decides Not to Jump Off Ledge, Then Falls
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Barry also said he's heard some teens who did not show up for work have been paid anyway.
I believe that's the DCPS Mid-level Management Training Program. Top performers are sent on a fact-finding mission to Bermuda to observe how they run their summer job training programs. After two years of not showing up for their summer job, they're offered a substantial severance package and contract buy-out. Then they go to another school district for an even more lucrative summer job as Deputy Assistant Director for the Assistant Deputy Director for Self-Esteem Motivational Posters.
The summer jobs program has been a feather in Barry's cap since his first term as Mayor for Life. The sad part is that most of the kids who benefitted from this program got decent jobs and moved the hell out to PG County, leaving the poorest of the poor behind. But in Barry's original vision, they would have remained in DC with their delicious, chessclub brains and meaty, succulent limbs, drenched in barbecue sauce and slow roasted to seal in the summer job flavor.
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Ooh. The Washington Circle guy (who was trying to jump off GW Hospital) didn't "come down without incident"--he tried to climb down but fell.
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the only thing wrong with the phrase 'potential jumper' is the word 'potential'. don't start something you can't finish.
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Oh, you missed the biggest story of the day. Straps on the Metro! That's right. Motherfracking straps -- not pull down bars -- on the center bar/pole on my car on the Red Line this morning. You could tell some riders were genuinely shocked as they boarded. Short people are no longer allowed to complain.
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looks like the guy at the GW hospital died—go to the DCFD website, and scroll down a few stories to read about it.
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How long before somebody hangs themselves with those straps during a delay?
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we had a murder last night on the bloomingdale/ledroit park border too. not seeing it on the web anywhere, other than the ledroit park yahoo list. don't know if you have to be subscribed to read that (i am).
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Yeah, Fairfax is way the hell out there....
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Four-day work weeks rock if you're single or an empty-nester close to retirement. It's a steaming pile if you're a breeder. Compressed work schedules don't work if they conflict with the hours your daycare is open.
This town needs more 24-hour diners and 18-hour daycare. Or combine the two, open it right across the street from Junkpunchers, and I'd never leave the neighborhood.
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How long before somebody hangs themselves with those straps during a delay?
Funny, I was sort of wondering the same thing on the Metro this morning. Or at least tried to figure out if the opening was big enough for a tall passenger to accidentally get stuck in.
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we're experimenting with 4-day workweeks every other week during the summer here at NGS. they're couching it as a way to be more green, and as something temporary, but i have a feeling that they're looking at implementing this more long-term.
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The DC summer youth employment program hires some 19,000 kids. How about auditing the program to see what the effectiveness of the program is, other than giving paychecks to kids?
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The sunken well in my basement looks just like that pic. Except, y'know, with more bloody fingernails and torn hair.
No more disposable Instamatics for my "guests."
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I used to work a 4, 10-hour day week. Man, that was sweet. It only works if your commute is short though, there's no way I could travel for an hour (like I do now) then put in 10 more, then travel for another hour.
(It says a lot about how much the rest of that job sucked that I gave it up.)
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The Utah state government just switched to a 4-day work week, as a 1-year experiment. The stories I saw gave the impression the employees were all for working more for those four days in return for the extra day off. Seems reasonable.
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Did they ever get rid of Barry's "Youth Violence Initiative" where they handed out free tickets to basketball games on the rationale that if a kid is at a basketball game, he's not breaking into someone's car or raping them?
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you'd never encourage your readers to live in fairfax county? You prefer the high crime, bad public schools and overall inefficiency of DC?
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you think maybe we enjoy the cultural amenities, ability to not sit on i-66 every morning for an hour, ability to walk to work, and proximity to bars and restaurants. nah, that couldn't be it, could it briffy...
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"How about auditing the program to see what the effectiveness of the program is, other than giving paychecks to kids?"
Lots of people actually involved in this program say that many, if not most, of these kids actually do little or nothing.
The real 'value' here is in the pandering.
Plus, why actually fight the root causes of poverty when you can gin up something like this instead? This is so much easier, and looks great at a press conference.
I do wish an accurate audit of the entire program could be done, and we could get a concrete idea of how much money is wasted here.
Then the next time Barry or some other politico starts whining about not having enough money for another worthless or counter-productive program we could trot out figures on how much this program wastes.
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DC: Come for the cultural amenities, stay for the Trinidad shooting galleries.
And the mambo sauce. Try getting that s**t in Front Royal, bitches.
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I actually think a 40 hour work week is inhumane. I think it should be four six-hour days, or at the very most four eight-hour days. Otherwise what's the point? I have no time or energy to do anything in my current 8.5 hour day, five days a week. And maybe I'm a big baby, but that doesn't change the fact that I can't spend time with my family and friends, let alone take care of personal hygiene/health and house maintenance.
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I'd hardly describe living in DC as "awesome". Out here in the burbs, the baristas are tame and you can get coffee any way you want it!
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Dude, keep your focus on the teens that aren't getting paid. The ones who get paid without showing up are probably cool with that arrangement.
Could be the good brother Marion has been not not licking toads again.
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IMGoph,
The Fairfax county main government center is surrounded by tons of high density housing, and is in easy walking distance to Wegmans....that maybe be enough for the Mormon or AA readers of Dcist.
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thanks Goph. i enjoy getting the perspective of DC residents who clearly don't have kids to worry about.
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@briffy... or having a short commute, being environmentally friendly, being able to walk everywhere, having the cultural opportunities, being near friends, having no idea how much gas costs, seeing diverse people, not sending a ton money to Richmond, having everything be non-smoking...
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@briffy/Goph.... actually, I have many friends/family who are raising kids just fine right in downtown DC. (yes, they go to school, aren't on drugs, have recreation areas)... it can be done. I also have many friends who grew up in NYC... same thing.
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The problem isn't that Barry's pandering to voters through their unemployable teenagers, it's that he continues to drown his teenagers in salt, pepper, ketchup, and hot sauce. The man is not taking care of his high blood pressure and refuses to switch to leaner, heart-smart meals like skinny white girls whose diets consist of cigarettes, Diet Coke, drama, and semen.
18th Street Lounge is practically a buffet in this regard.
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Why aren't they using the same system that they use to pay city employees? You know that system has to be nearly flawless because otherwise city employees would riot.....
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nowisthtime,
"seeing diverse people"
Apparently you haven't been Fairfax in a long time. It is one of the most diverse areas in the world and they interact with each other instead of just "seeing" them...plus they get representation.
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You prefer the high crime, bad public schools and overall inefficiency of DC?
"Washington DC: come for the high crime, bad public schools, and overall inefficiency; stay because Monkey won't let you out of the sunken well!"
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here's nbc 4's story on the bloomingdale murder.
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thanks, briffy, glad to know that some people apparently feel burdened by their children.
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I love children! I've had two for lunch!
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If you're not making over 150K in DC and you have children then you're not going to send your child to DCPS. You would move to the suburbs where there are quality public schools. I live in DC but I'm not so blind to the plight of the middle class which DC shuns in droves because of piss-poor local government and pandering to poverty pimps and touchy/feely white liberals.
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children + selling them on Ebay = PROFIT!
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Poverty Pimp and Touchy/Feely White Liberal.
I think we've found DC's latest crime-fighting duo.
"Quick, Young Democrat! To the Pimpmobile! Evil's afoot! And don't forget your rape whistle!"
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Apparently you haven't been Fairfax in a long time. It is one of the most diverse areas in the world and they interact with each other instead of just "seeing" them...plus they get representation
Diversity is more than the color of your skin.
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I used to work a 4, 10-hour day week. Man, that was sweet. It only works if your commute is short though, there's no way I could travel for an hour (like I do now) then put in 10 more, then travel for another hour.
I don't get it. Don't you all have homes?
My wife and I just stay home and do our jobs here, that way we don't have to drive back and forth to some... "office" did you call it?
Sheesh people! It's not rocket-science!