Good morning, D.C. You knew you hadn’t heard the last of the taxicab drivers who oppose Mayor Fenty’s time and distance meter mandate, didn’t you? The AP reports that the drivers behind the original lawsuit have indeed requested an injunction to block the implementation of a meter fare system pending an appeal. A judge is scheduled to hear that request on Friday in D.C. Superior Court, so hopefully we’ll have an answer on the potential their appeal holds before the weekend. Right now, the city is planning on issuing warning tickets starting May 1 to drivers caught without meters, and $1,000 fines starting June 1.

CFO, DCRA Scolded for Sloppy Record Keeping: The Post reports on the District’s inspector general having issued a stern warning to the city’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer that those two offices are keeping sloppy financial records. Inspector General Charles Willoughby wrote in a letter to DCRA Director Linda Argo and Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi that they risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue to fraud and abuse every year because revenue is not properly recorded and reconciled in transactions between their agencies. The warning comes, of course, only months after the Office of Tax and Revenue, under the leadership of the CFO’s office, has been embarrassed by a $50 million embezzlement scheme perpetrated by city employees and their accomplices.

City Streets Safer than Suburbs for Pedestrians: A report released by the nonprofit Coalition for Smarter Growth says that D.C. suburbs like Fairfax and Prince George’s counties are far more dangerous for pedestrians than the District itself. The difference is attributed to higher driving speeds in the suburbs than in the city center, which tend to lead to more fatal pedestrian accidents than those at lower speeds.

Briefly Noted: Man shot during attack on D.C. officer … Sinkhole closes lane on I-70 … Police bust 30 kids skipping school and drinking in adult’s apartment in Silver Spring … Virginia and Maryland rank fourth, fifth in federal aide.

This Day in DCist: Last year we learned that Tai Shan the panda had escaped the clutches of China’s greedy grasp for two more years, and the year before that church goers in the Logan Circle neighborhood were protesting Sunday parking enforcement.

Photo by soleil1016