The sidewalk outside a Bank of America on Vermont Avenue NW is the cool place to camp out these days, with five more members of Occupy D.C. arrested Friday morning after sleeping under the ATM. more ›

While we may get up to an inch of snow tomorrow, today the D.C. Council voted to table a proposed law that would force more residents to shovel their walks. more ›

Huzzah! Work to rehabilitate Columbus Plaza, which has been called "the city's most embarrassingly neglected public space," is scheduled to finally begin on Monday. more ›

Who doesn't love a sidewalk cafe? Getting in some people watching as you down your meal is often one of the highlights of living in the city -- though don't tell that to the people who were running this city in 1961. more ›

Anyone who lives or frequents the 14th Street NW corridor between Logan Circle and U Street has surely seen Michael, the man whose belongings have been piled up on the corner of 14th and Corcoran Streets NW for at least a couple of years. Michael isn't a panhandler -- personally, I've never heard him ask for anything from anyone passing by, let alone money -- but his pile of belongings, which includes furniture, clothing, and other various supplies depending on the season, had prompted questions about blight in a corridor that is still undergoing a major transition. more ›

Remember those garish streetscape plans for 14th Street NW, the ones that residents were not particularly impressed with -- and which one DCist commenter dubbed "hideous tacky crap" -- when they were unveiled at the end of September? Well, turns out that District Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein isn't really thrilled about the plans for one of the project's main focus points either. According to a report in Greater Greater Washington, Klein has asked the project team to "present a better plan" for the 14th and U intersection redesign. According to the post, Klein has also instructed the project team to assume that the Reeves Center will be standing as is for some time -- there are those out there who believe that the Center should be demolished and rebuilt with a new footprint, but it sounds like Klein is reluctant to plan on that happening anytime soon. more ›

Just how conceptual do you want your sidewalks to be? That was the question asked of residents last night at the Reeves Center during a public meeting to discuss DDOT's planned 14th Street streetscape project. Mike Houh and Allen Yang of Precision Systems, Inc. (PSI), which has been contracted to design the new streetscape, presented a 25-page outline of the original and an alternative design plan. more ›

There's a stretch of sidewalk on Rhode Island Ave., between 9th and 7th streets NW, that has long been difficult to navigate. The root system belonging to a series of large trees planted there has, over the years, led to major cracks in the concrete that continued to be pushed upward, causing something like an obstacle course to form. There'd be several feet of flat sidewalk, and then, bam, you needed to climb up a foot or two of twisted tree root, broken slabs and maybe even a layer of hastily applied blacktop over that. It was difficult enough to manage for the able-bodied; forget about it if you have trouble walking or, even worse, get around in a wheelchair. more ›

As many a commenter have pointed out, while the District's roads are mostly in the clear today, sidewalks are a different story. Clearing the city's roads falls squarely on the District government, while most sidewalks are left to the homes or businesses they are in front of. And for any number of reasons, not every homeowner and entrepreneur does their civic duty, leaving local sidewalks a mish-mash of well-tended walkways to icy patches of death. Both Housing Complex and the Post have outlined the legal responsibilities and liabilities involved in clearing sidewalks -- if someone falls on ice in front of your house, they essentially have to prove that you were negligent in order to sue you -- while Prince of Petworth has posted his "Sidewalks of Shame" and Greater Greater Washington is taking some large buildings to task for not clearing away snow and ice. The main point for pedestrians is to remain vigilant, and for homeowners and businesspeople to get off their asses and do some sidewalk-clearing. If you can't, email us, because we're sure someone who reads the site will happily do the work for a price. Just imagine -- Monkeyrotica could be shoveling your walk. more ›

The D.C. Council is taking up a bill this session that would expand parts of the existing citywide smoking ban, including a provision that would allow property owners to legally prohibit smoking within 25 feet of any building entrance, even if that area includes public areas like sidewalks, Michael Neibauer reports today in the Examiner. The idea is to cut down on the number of times city residents are forced to walk through a gauntlet of smokers standing outside office building doors, an experience that's admittedly unpleasant for plenty of folks. But the question then becomes: if every business follows through on such a ban, where are smokers supposed to go? Not to mention: who would be responsible for enforcing this rule? Could individuals end up being ticketed by police for smoking on the sidewalk? There's going to be a lot of details to iron out on this one. more ›

Did you know that Segway riders are banned from riding on sidewalks within the Central Business District? What about that some small fraction of disabled people regularly ride Segways? These are the true and exciting facts that can be learned from this Examiner story today on a little bit of D.C. Council business that went down yesterday. See, it turns out that Miles Groves, the president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, is a chronic pain sufferer and a Segway rider. Groves uses a Segway to get around the city easier, and was recently given "a polite warning" by a police officer that he wasn't supposed to be riding on the sidewalk. Not included in the Examiner story: the phone call Groves presumably placed to Tommy Wells, champion of alternative transportation. And Wells came to the rescue yesterday, convincing the Council to pass emergency legislation to give disabled Segway riders a pass on being forced to ride in the street. more ›

The D.C. Department of Public Works finally got back to us on our question about what will be done with the 22 brand new ghost bikes that have been placed around the intersection of Connecticut and R Streets NW by activist Legba Carrefour ... kinda. Here's the boilerplate statement we received via email from DPW spokesperson Linda Grant:

"... the DC Department of Public Works is responsible for removing sidewalk memorials, which usually recognize residents who have died unexpectedly, and includes anything from flowers and stuffed animals to empty bottles of alcohol and bicycles. After 30 days, DPW removes all memorial items found at the site. As part of our policy, a sign is posted at the memorial to notify family and friends that they have 30 days to remove any personal effects."

The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District sent around word to their members today that the District Department of Transportation has informed them of a month-long sidewalk and road repair project on K Street that is set to begin this week. more ›