As illegal graffiti continues to appear on D.C.'s streets, the D.C. Council sought a way to do more than paint over it and send the taggers to jail, only to repeat the process again and again. Council member Jim Graham's office contacted The Midnight Forum, a non-profit with a mission to empower youth through hip-hop, through both the entertainment side as well as teaching business and life skills. These two groups, together with Columbia Heights/Shaw......

The Examiner reports on a new bill before the D.C. Council that would levy a $25 per month tax on all private employee parking spaces. The legislation is the brainchild of Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham and At-large member Phil Mendelson, and is designed to discourage employees from driving in to work even though they have access to a parking space at their office. It's an interesting idea in theory. Last week when we......

We've become used to the routine -- violence breaks out at/near District bar; Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) publicly demands that bar's liquor license be pulled in the name of public safety/the children/puppy dogs; bar goes under. So reliable has Ward 1's representative on the D.C. Council become in his ability to appear before the cameras after a violent incident at a local bar that the City Paper has even coined a term for......

Today Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) announced that the Central Union Mission, a 170-bed men's shelter currently located along 14th Street NW, would not be moving to a new location along the fast-developing Georgia Avenue in his ward. Instead, it would re-locate to a spot near Union Station. Wrote Graham on his website: Good news!!! Central Union Mission is not moving to Georgia Avenue in Ward One. It is moving downtown. We have re-defined......

In the department of hey, that's a really friggin' good idea, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham put up an announcement late yesterday that the D.C. Council unanimously passed an emergency bill Tuesday to create a pilot taxi zone in Adams Morgan.The pilot taxi zone will require taxis to report to a central location to pick up riders rather than drive through the streets to find their fares. Hack inspectors will be involved in enforcing......

Last week Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham announced he had secured $1 million to subsidize the hiring of off-duty MPD officers outside District bars and clubs. Businesses that sell alcohol are not allowed to directly hire off-duty officers, and must hire them through the police department at a rate of approximately $56 an hour. The new subsidy means the ABC Board can now provide up to a 50 percent discount on the price of......

In yet another sign that the ridiculously long-awaited Harris Teeter grocery store in Adams Morgan is actually going to open, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham has posted a notice on his web site that the store will hold a Job Fair on January 9 at the Columbia Heights Community Center on Girard St. NW. Both full-time and part-time jobs at the Harris Teeter are available, and applicants are asked to bring copies of their......

Good holiday news for District oenophiles: via the Examiner, the D.C. Council is considering legislation that would boost the amount of wine you can could have shipped to you from outside the city to two cases per month, per home or business. Currently an individual is limited to only one quart of wine per month if you don't have a manufacturer's, wholesaler's or retailer's license. Of course, retailers and wholesalers are expected to oppose the......

Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since......

You all said almost too much good stuff this past week. Here's a wrapup of some of the best comments, as well as the semi-prized best avatar and commenter name awards. Comment of the Week goes to frequent commenter Monkeyrotica, who doesn't like Council members complaining about closing schools: Maybe if parents weren't fleeing their poorly-run wards, they wouldn't be shutting their precious schools down. The Council has had DECADES and BILLIONS to fix the......

Good morning, Washington. Not that you could have missed the fact that it's awfully windy this morning after yesterday's late fall rainstorm, but the National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the metro area, effective through 1 a.m. Tuesday morning — this wind will consistently be 25-30 mph until late tonight, with gusts over 46 mph expected. If you drive an SUV or another type of high profile vehicle, you're asked to use......

A happy Friday to you, Washington. Hopefully you all made it in to work on time despite Metro having reduced the speed of their rail cars in several areas this morning. Speed restrictions were in place until 8:10 a.m. along portions of the Orange line in Maryland and Virginia, the Red line from Union Station to Silver Spring and from Shady Grove to Grosvenor, and the Green line from Branch Avenue to Congress Heights......

A day after the Washington Post put a number as high as $2.46 million on the amount of money that was stolen from the Office of Tax and Revenue in 1999, the last year that current D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi was the head of the office, at least two D.C. Council members are starting to test the waters by suggesting that Gandhi ought to resign. At-large member Kwame Brown and Ward 1 Council......

The overwhelming consensus so far at today's D.C. Council hearing on the recent theft of what looks to be $30 million-plus from the District's tax coffers? The scandal has damaged the reputation of the city government, and the council members are pissed. While most statements have clung to the nasty tidbits of information we already know (the enormity of the crime, that an auditor's warnings may have been ignored) and palliative cliches, council members provided......

D.C. officials are apparently stunned to find that the money they've spent on the new Nationals stadium isn't translating into the sort of unconditional loyalty they might like. Turns out the team's 2008 Dream Foundation Dream Gala (it's dream-related, see) will be held at National Harbor in Prince George's County, Md., and the Examiner reports that Mayor Adrian Fenty, D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray and just about every other D.C. leader is throwing a temper......

Given his position as chairman of the committee that oversees transportation and the D.C. Taxicab Commission, we knew headline-loving Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham wouldn't pass up an opportunity to create his own spectacle in the wake of Mayor Adrian Fenty's announcement about the transition to taxi meters. But it seems as though Graham was only able to muster up the resources to put together a 2 p.m. public roundtable at the Wilson......

Now is the time of year when we all get to start complaining about how stupid standard time is and how walking out of our offices last night into pitch black darkness was weird and uncomfortable and made us confused about what time happy hour was supposed to start. That is all. 'Fat Gap' Between Whites and Blacks in D.C. High: We've certainly talked about the income gap between whites and blacks in our city......

Good morning, Washington. Glover Park's unlikely strip club row along Wisconsin Ave. saw a scary crime over the weekend, as police are still looking for a suspect after an employee at Good Guys was doused in gasoline and set on fire by an angry customer. The victim, a 26-year-old man, has third degree burns over 80 percent of his body and is currently listed as stable but critical. The assailant had been kicked out of......

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced this afternoon that new time and distance meters for D.C. taxis must be installed no later than April 1, 2008. The announcement came about nine hours after the end of a 24-hour taxicab driver strike in response to the Mayor's decision to abandon the zone system. Fenty and D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Leon Swain Jr. also announced the pricing structure for the new meters: a $4 flag drop charge, then......

You'd think potentially violent criminals would know by now: if you injure someone anywhere near your favorite hang out spot in Ward 1, Council member Jim Graham is going to swoop in and ruin the fun for everyone else. If the possibility of being locked up in the terrifying confines of the D.C. Jail isn't enough of a deterrent, having all your friends be totally pissed at you for getting the place where they like......

The Post's Marc Fisher alerted us to some exciting news on Wednesday: the possibility of Chuck Brown and Duke Ellington meeting in D.C. No, smelling salts aren't involved. Rather, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham is proposing naming sections of T Street NW and 7th Street NW after the two local music legends in Shaw. The renaming would coincide with the expected reopening of the historic Howard Theatre in 2008, a place where both......

Welcome back to work, you godless heathens who had yesterday off. While you were off frolicking in the sunshine with flowers in your hair and puppies at your feet, the rest of us were here, slaving away. OK fine, maybe we spent a little time playing with our new avatar feature (read more here). But we only did it in a totally serious manner, devoid of any fun or whimsy. Speaking of fun, this ridiculous......

You know what they say -- better one scandal too late than never at all. We've received word from the office of Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) that tomorrow afternoon he'll be hosting a public roundtable on the Water and Sewer Agency, which has had something of a rough year so far. Reads an email from Graham: I will be holding a public roundtable on the status of the public water main system in......

Good morning, Washington. Buried at the bottom on the Post's updated story this morning on the controversy surrounding Monday's Adams Morgan fire, which has caused Mayor Fenty and Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham to start foaming at the mouth to take WASA to task for not replacing inadequate water mains fast enough, is a little human interest nugget. Apparently fire fighters managed to recover an engagement ring left behind by one of the building's......

Firefighters took almost eight hours to put out a four-alarm blaze overnight in Adams Morgan on the 2600 block of Adams Mill Rd., across from Pierce Park. The fire started at about 1:15 a.m., gutting a four-story apartment building and displacing residents of more than 30 units. The length of time it took to battle the blaze is being blamed on low water pressure in Adams Morgan. WTOP explains that the firefighters originally tapped......

Like ravenous dogs preying on fresh meat, local bloggers have pounced on the news that local organic grocer Yes! Organic Market will be coming to the Union Row building project, located at 14th and V streets NW. In a press release from Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, the 5,000 square foot market is scheduled to open in Spring of 2008, offering residents, “natural foods as part of a unique shopping experience.” Despite the ominous approach......

Good news for grocery store aficionados in the District: the long-delayed Harris Teeter store locations in the District, one in Adams Morgan at Kalorama and 17th NW and the other at Pennsylvania Ave. SE, across from the Potomac Avenue Metro stop, finally have some official-sounding opening dates. According to an email forwarded by Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham to the Third Police District, the Adams Morgan location will open in mid-February, with the Capitol......

Via Kriston Capps, it seems ANC 3F-04 Commissioner Frank Winstead compiled a scaaaaaary video in an attempt to stir up public safety concerns about the ping pong table located outside Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Ave. NW. We give Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham a lot of guff about trying to shut down businesses where violent crimes occur, but clearly the baton of irrational nannyism in local government has been successfully passed.......

Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) never ceases to amaze us. When he's not looking to shutdown bars and clubs (whether he has a reason or not), he's proposing schemes to put strip-clubs anywhere but in his own ward. He's newest plan? Putting them under Dupont Circle. Yes, you read that right. Under Dupont Circle. The Washington Times is reporting today that Graham has floated the idea of relocating some of the strip-clubs forced out......

>> We tragically forgot to mention in About Tonight that all left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers will gather on the Mall for Screen on the Green's first showing of the summer, Annie Hall. The movie starts just after sunset on the screen between 4th and 7th, NW. Bring an umbrella and/or a Faraday cage, as the thunderstorm watch goes until 9 p.m., but the screening is more or less rain or shine, unless lightning......