Morning Roundup: Pop Edition

As we wrote on Monday, all of those dreams of thousands of dollars in extra disposable income courtesy of the out-of-state fools who dared come to the District for the inauguration of President Barack Obama have fast been deflated by reality. Today the Post follows up today with an article of its own, detailing how over-ambitious District residents and almost catastrophically high crowd estimates combined to scare away the many country bumpkins we were hoping would make us all just a little richer. That's not to say that some people haven't gotten lucky -- just that it hasn't been that many of us.

213 Places to Drown Your Sorrows During the Inauguration: If you're really smarting from not having been able to unload that group house, you'll be able to drink your sorrows away for a few extra hours in 213 of the city's bars during inauguration week. According to the Washington Times that's the number of watering holes that have registered to stay open until 4 a.m. during the festivities. According to the Post's take on the story, 26 are in Ward 1, 35 in Ward 6 and the great majority in Ward 2, which includes Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Chinatown.

Metro Finances Not Looking Good for Next Year: Sure, next to the $1.2 trillion deficit that the U.S. is looking at for the coming year, $176 million doesn't sound like much. But for Metro, the shortfall represents 13 percent of its operating budget and would stand as the largest budget gap in the agency's history. The Post depressingly reports that despite record ridership, Metro's shortfall may provoke $73 million in service cuts by next July unless expenses can be cut or new revenue streams found. Metro General Manager John Catoe has already identified 891 position that may have to be cut to help close the budget gap.

All Hands on Deck Back for '09: The Examiner's Bill Myers brings word that Police Chief Cathy Lanier will be bringing back the All Hands on Deck initiative at least eight times in 2009. The well-publicized initiative sees the District's entire police force hit the streets over a weekend in a massive show of force, though critics argue that it is but a temporary solution to the city's stubborn crime problem. Homicides have risen over the last two years, the first back-to-back increases since the good ol' days of 1990-91.

Briefly Noted: DHS complex at St. Elizabeth's approved ... Retired Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) to get his own sub ... Not everyone is excited about the inauguration ...

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2008, the D.C. Council gave Michelle Rhee the power to fire non-union teachers and Metro showed off what future rail-cars might look like (no, they won't yet hover). In 2007, the all-too-young editor of the Washington Business Journal passed away and some local transit geeks imagined what a Metro map of the future would look like (to accompany the non-hovering rail cars, no less).

Image by muohace_dc