Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Good morning, D.C. We've been wondering whether it's just us being overly sensitive and whiny thinking that the "spring" weather this week has left a little to be desired. It's been sunny, which is great, and definitely a bit warmer, but still cold enough overnight that you need a real coat. Capital Weather Gang's Matt Rogers kindly confirms our suspicions: "Our normal temperature in DC in late March is near 60 degrees," he writes, noting that we'll only reach the lower 50s still for the next few days, and continue to dip below freezing at night (plus, rain!).
Metro Crime Highest in Six Years: Pair of stories from the Examiner's Kytja Weir on increasing crime rates for both the Metrorail and Metrobus systems. "Serious crimes increased more than 15 percent in 2008 over the previous year," according a report Weir previews. "Riders can take some solace that reported assaults declined somewhat. There were no rapes or homicides." Umm, we guess that makes us feel better? Also, assaults on bus drivers went up to 70 in 2008, versus 55 in 2007. WTOP notes that every single Metro board member says they have confidence in General Manager John Catoe.
Even More Budget Sifting Stories: Mayor Fenty and his top lieutenants appeared before the D.C. Council yesterday to defend their budget proposal, and there's a lot to digest. David Nakamura reports that the administration plans to freeze all District workers' salaries. The city's workforce investment fund would be zeroed out in the next year's budget, something that surely won't go over well with the unions. Meanwhile Michael Neibauer enumerates all the cuts in services the city is facing: "The Department of Health will pare plans to increase the number of schools with nurses, saving $500,000. School crossing guards under the Department of Transportation will work three-hour shifts instead of the current four, saving $527,000. The Department of Employment Services will reduce apprenticeship and training subsidies by $300,000." And so on.
Briefly Noted: Suspect in triple murder, Joseph Mays, ordered held without bail ... H Street businesses struggling with construction ... Christine Sarbanes, wife of former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, passed away ... Still unidentified man injured in Northeast apartment fire dies.
This Day in DCist: One year ago, we were terrified by the White House Easter bunnies, and the Washington Post resurrected its D.C. Wire blog (congrats on a full year of blogging, WaPo City desk!).
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Metro; You’re Killing Me.™
That's where you've got it wrong. Metro doesn't kill people, Metro Operators kill people. I wish Congress would stay out of our personal business and understand that the Second Amendment extends to an individual's right to responsibly own a Metro train in order to protect him/herself. For God's sake, all the criminals already have Metro trains...why make it harder for a law-abiding citizen to responsibly own one????
Agreed DJ, We should also stand up for the right to bare yourself on a MetroBus?
Whereas assults by bus drivers when up 100%.Especially on costumed canine crime fighters.
"Riders can take some solace that reported assaults declined somewhat."
That's because snitches get stitches, even if they're lowering their carbon footprint by using mass transit.
I miss the old Rhino Pumphouse. Food was pretty lousy, though. Reminds me of this kid I knew in second grade. We used to call him "Rhino" because he had a nasty habit of not flushing. Combine that with his hippy parents giving him a high-fiber diet, and you can see why the "horn" of his "rhino" would always be "bobbing" above the surface of the water. Or maybe you just had breakfast and don't want to. Anyway, we'd be waiting in line to use the facilities and as soon as this kid exited, the next person would look in and scream, 'RHINOOOOO!" Serves the trifling kid right. Jeebus, just flush twice. It won't kill you. Or maybe he was really proud of his accomplishment, having pumped out something the size of his forearm. This was back in the day when the young gentlemen were often fond of proclaiming, "Dude! Check out the log I dumped! It's friggin HUGE!" Unfortunately, this "stage" usually ends some time close to retirement age. If you're lucky.
"H Street businesses struggling with construction..."
[From the Article] Instead, some business owners like Khadijah Bronson, who owns Spoiled and Rotten Kids Boutique and Spa on the 1200 block of H Street, say the construction is hurting business.
With a store that caters to these little bastards, I hope he goes out of business.
I would totally shop at a store called "Lil Bastards." I don't care what they're selling, so long as it isn't Calvin peeing on a Ford.
How about if he's peeing on a Dodge?
As far as H st. goes, it's a total mess. It was a quirky, bumpy drive before, with potholes, random, half working traffic signals and poorly marked lanes and pedestrian crossings but....
"DDOT expects the H street project to be completed by July 2011. "
What the hell are they doing?
I know the district is a great fan of make-work transportation projects that accomplish nothing, but 3 years to resurface roughly 15 blocks? Unfortunately the determined hipsters seeking H street cred are the only ones saving the place from turning back into a shithole.
This was the same complain they had about the year-long construction on P Street off Dupont: the roads were shredded, sidewalks were a mess, it really killed off a lot of business. And that was during the boom years when people thought nothing of blowing $5 on a cupcake. This doesn't bode well for struggling H Street businesses.
In Russia, cupcake blows you for $5.
comment of the week, i'm calling it right now.
Not necessarily justifying the schedule, but it's not a simple resurfacing project.
And I would bet that the 2011 date is the completion date of the whole project from DDOT's perspective, not the completion date of the particular phase that the businesses are complaining about... but that's complete speculation.
Agreed - they're reconstructing the entire street, including installing streetcar tracks. That's a much bigger deal than a simple resurfacing project.
There's no doubt that major construction projects like these have an impact on businesses. I guess the question is whether you think the end result is worth the pain.
Yeah, installing streetcar tracks that probably won't be used for another five years, if ever.
Did DDOT settle that whole "you can't use overhead power lines in DC" problem? Because they have yet to buy-in on the underground power system. Seems like the power issue is the turd in the punchbowl that nobody's talking about. Or maybe they're just going to be powered by teams of Oompah Loompahs with Everlasting Gobstoppers dangling over their heads.
Two things I've learned this morning:
1. The Lingerie Football League begins play this fall.
2. Access to the Lingerie Football League's website is blocked by my office.
It belongs in the morning roundup because it's news to me.
Not blocked here. Nice....
Is DC fielding a team?
Also, I'm guessing there won't be many LFL fantasy leagues because, well, that would just be redundant.
I don't see DC listed:
Miami, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, New England, Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver
Wikipedia has some more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingerie_Football_League
Now wait just a minute. The wikipedia page makes it sound like the games won't be played in inflatable wading pools filled with pudding. I've lost interest.
You could make some Jello, round up back issues of the Wall Street Journal, strip down to your BVDs, and lust after your neighbor's teenage daughter...
Note to self: start a business, hire Over the River. Full of great ideas.
But here's the thing about the neighbor girl ~ she's nice and all, but she seems awful close with her step-father. And anyhow, I think she's going away to college soon. She's always wearing a t-shirt from this school I've never heard of, Lightspeed University. I don't think it's around here.
Congratulations...you just got an actual LOL from me. Not...that...I have any...idea what...Lightspeed, is it? Yeah...never heard of...what were we talking about?
Is it just me or is the Examiner blaming the drivers for being assaulted?
"Yet with both sets of statistics, the cases show the backlash that drivers face in a system in which one out of every four buses is late."
Clearly, if they drove on time they would never have a problem. Metrobus riders are just very demanding, that's all.
These crimes on the subway...are they done by Morlocks or something cause..correct me if I'm wrong..but if some punk can get away with his Ipod purse snatching...can't a more sophisticated bumblefart do more damage? What are all those cameras for? What's the quality of the picture? Please don't say Texaco gas station video quality. Should Hetro Metro be giving out free: Doomed T-shirts with a bullseye on the front and back. Metro's new symbol should be the donkey from JunchPunchers. Hee haw!
Not sure the 'no homicides' claim holds up: WMATA repeatedly killed my childlike sense of wonder with their weekend delays.
And by 'childlike sense of wonder' I mean 'made me late for my Thai massage'.
WMATA should pitch a pilot about their elite team of subway investigators with exceptional and diverse skills who are called together for only the most critical cases. Like busting up underground CHUD hooker rings, arresting kids for eating frenchfries, and blowing up sculls.