Good morning, Washington. The U.S. Senate sure was a busy place last night, with their biggest move of course being the approval of their own version of a $700 billion financial bailout package, by a vote of 74 to 25. The House is now expected to take up the revised bill on Friday. Locally, last night’s action was also important the Senate also gave approval to $1.5 billion in federal funding for Metro. Lots of things have to happen before WMATA actually gets the money, but the Post says officials are optimistic that it could become available by next fall. Both D.C. and Maryland have approved their portion of the required $50 million per year in matching funds from all three jurisdictions, and Va. Gov. Tim Kaine has now promised his state will come up with the money.
911 Firings Examined: The Examiner reports on the firing of two employees of the District’s Office of Unified Communications, both of whom recently testified before a D.C. Council panel that their agency is poorly managed and undermanned. The paper describes both employees as “whistleblowers” and questions their firings. Office director Janice Quintana was asked directly by the D.C. Council in January whether the employees would suffer retaliation for testifying, and she told them, “Absolutely not.”
Architect Hired for Highlands and Gregory Libraries: The Post profiles big time London-based architect David Adjaye, who has been hired by D.C. Public Libraries to redesign and build the new Highlands and Gregory libraries, two of the six local branches that are currently being majorly rehabilitated or rebuilt. There doesn’t seem to be anything bad to say about Adjaye’s reputation: he’s community-minded, heralded as a major talent, and apparently not too much of a “starchitect” to show up in person to discuss his plans with the city.
Briefly Noted: Firefighter injured in Rockville … Nonprofits rightly worried about the economy … New Vida Gym in Logan Circle uses fingerprints instead of membership cards … Construction on MLK Memorial could start in November.
This Day in DCist: One year ago, we noticed city trash cans had been transformed into symbolic ballot boxes, and two years ago, we discussed in-office cafeterias.
Photo by Frankenstein
