Good morning, Washington! We hope you’re as groggy and headachey as we are this morning: it’d mean that you did your patriotic duty as a DCist reader and came out to our happy hour last night. It was great to see old friends, meet new interweb luminaries, and generally hang out with folks who like this town as much as we do. Thanks for coming out. We’ll have to do this again. Soon.

Oh, and to all you Flickr users: be sure to tag your photos appropriately. Adding a “dcist happy hour” tag wouldn’t hurt.

Parking Solutions Debated: The good news is that the D.C. government is taking steps to improve the city’s parking situation. The bad news is that nobody likes their proposed solutions. At a recent city council hearing, D.C. transportation chief Dan Tangherlini acknowledged the problem’s seriousness and suggested some possible solutions — among them a fee increase and cap on the total number of permits issued per household. The response has been, er, “unenthusiastic.” The Washington Times has a good roundup of reactions to the proposals, including responses from members of the city council.

WMATA Handicapped Program Falters: The Post reports on the state of MetroAccess, the WMATA program designed to serve the disabled. The program was recently rebid and a contract awarded to MV Transportation after complaints surfaced about the service provided by Logisticare, the contract’s previous holder. But it now looks like the change hasn’t been for the better: patrons are complaining about long waits, missed pickups, and busy phone lines. MV blames bad data from Logisticare and inexperienced drivers; passengers and Metro managers say that MV seems to be at fault.

Explosion At GWU: A chemistry experiment gone awry prompted the evacuation of a building at George Washington University last night. There doesn’t appear to have been any damage or injuries; the primary effect seems to have been on the evening commute, as the emergency response snarled traffic.

Briefly Noted: Pot farm busted in Silver Spring… Former UMD professor arrested for prostitution… Roadblocks established to stem car thefts in Shepherd Park… Jury awards $3.7 million decision against P.G. County police in civil case over Howard student’s death… Kaine to deliver Democrats’ SOTU response…

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