Good Monday morning to you, Washington. We can officially declare that the dog days of August have arrived today, now that the House has finally, finally adjourned for their summer break. News junkies will want to note that before heading home they passed a modified version of the defense budget, which will increase spending for defense health care and military housing, among a list of other expenditures. Of course what Washingtonians really care about is that your commutes probably got a whole lot easier this morning, as members and their attendant staffers and lobbyists make the annual pilgrimage outside the Beltway, leaving us more room to maneuver in the soupy heat.
More D.C. Schools Embarrassments: Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee led Mayor Fenty and a gaggle of reporters on a tour of the school system’s book warehouse over the weekend, taking the opportunity to show exactly how the city’s schools have gone without books and materials because they sit at the warehouse. A book system audit is expected to completed next week. Meanwhile, the Examiner reports on the first two resignations of new hires since the mayoral takeover of D.C. Schools. Deputy chief finance officers Cornelia Kent and Patricia Davis were hired only a month ago and asked to spearhead efforts to radically reform the finance office, but they both handed in their resignations late last week. Their positions report directly to D.C. Chief Finance Officer Natwar Gandhi — and the story quotes anonymous sources claiming that Gandhi’s lack of support for Kent and Davis may have been to blame for their departure.
A Congestion Tax for D.C.?: Emeka Moneme, director of the D.C. Department of Transportation, told Mark Plotkin on The Politics Program that a Bloomberg-style congestion tax is the “right thing to do,” though no concrete plans are in place to pursue one in the District just yet. Moneme also said that “if people have good information about the number of vehicles coming into the city, its impact on their ability to park and get to work, people make choices about what they want to do.” Do you think that’s right?
Briefly Noted: All Hands on Deck for MPD begins again this morning … Arlington tries to make Four Mile Run bike path safer after string of sexual assaults … Influential anti-segregation lawyer, Oliver Hill, dies at 100 … Taxi driver arrested after firing gun at passenger … Naked White House fence jumper arrested.
This Day in DCist: Last year we questioned the efficacy of adding a ton more officers to the MPD’s ranks, and two years ago we were shocked to learn about the possibility of people sacrificing lambs out in the woods near Fort Totten.
Photo by billadler
