Good morning, Washington. Today will be sunny with highs around 80. We loved this photo of Adams Morgan by our friend furcafe. Some other DCist readers also have been taking some photos of the 6th and I Synagogue.
Prominent Developer Charged: All the newspapers today have articles about charges filed against real estate magnate Douglas Jemal and two other executives in his firm, the Douglas Development Corporation. Douglas, his son, and the company’s leasing director Blake Esherick are all charged with “conspiracy, bribery, fraud and other charges,” the Post reports. A supporter of Mayor Anthony Williams, Jemal started with an electronics store in Chinatown in the 1960s and now, as the Times put it, “everybody in the District can spot at least one of Douglas Jemal’s buildings almost anywhere in the city.” Although Jemal had donated to a variety of D.C. politicians, he had an especially close relationship with Mayor Williams – renting him his campaign office space in 2002.
Weekend Metro Ridership Up: WMATA officials announced that last Saturday 464,398 passengers rode the Metro, and 211,679 rode on Sunday, the Times reports. That’s compared to 300,170 people the same Saturday and 188,500 riders on the same Sunday in 2004. The spokeswoman for the Library of Congress, Audrey Fischer, told the Times that “We saw that many of the protesters partook in the book festival activities … as one of our authors said: ‘It was quintessential Washington … a real celebration of books and democracy.'”
Housing Approved At ‘National Harbor’: We’ve had our eye on the National Harbor project for a while now – the massive real estate development now under construction is located downstream from Washington on the Potomac River roughly across from Alexandria. The developer moved closer yesterday to their goals of building mini-city with 7.3 million square feet of mixed-use development when the Prince George’s County Council approved construction of 2,500 homes as part of the project the Post reports. The homes are thought a key component to attracting stores and restaurants.
Briefly Noted: Wizard’s Andray Blatche released from the hospital … downtown Circulator ridership up … man finds bones in recently purchased house …
