Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie.

Good morning, Washington. This morning’s required reading is DCist editor emeritus Mike Grass’ profile of Vincent Gray, mayoral candidate. In his piece, Grass found the same kind of process-obsessed politician that we discovered when we spent some time with the Council Chairman earlier this month. Grass focuses on Gray’s “supercharged” work ethic, digs into Gray’s tenure as director of the D.C. Department of Human Services, talks plenty about the Rhee issue and concludes that Gray’s unique appeal (along with the District’s demographic shifts) is making for one of the more competitive mayoral contests in some time.

Metro Delays Morning “Peak of the Peak” Charge: The second round of WMATA fare increases is scheduled to go into effect on Monday. But the Post’s Robert Thomson reports that riders will only be charged the new “peak-of-the-peak” surcharge in the afternoon come Monday — morning riders will get a reprieve until approximately the end of August. The delay is due to an issue with Metro’s fare gates — apparently, the gates currently don’t have enough memory to apply all the different fares Metro will now assess. If the electronic machines designed to collect fares are having trouble remembering all the new increases, that probably doesn’t bode too well for the general public’s understanding, now does it?

Columbia Heights Streetscape…Done?: BeyondDC shares this photograph that DDOT took of the mostly-completed streetscape that it has been working on for, well, forever in Columbia Heights. The caption on the photograph reads “We know the construction has been challenging, but here is what has emerged from beneath the paving equipment and traffic cones: a new Columbia Heights with a truly unique streetscape…” — though we still see a couple slivers of orange in that image…maybe we shouldn’t speak too soon

Foggy (Rock) Bottom: It looks like the Foggy Bottom Metro station has been the site of some serious Metrofail in the last 24 hours. SmarTrip cards were reportedly not working at the station this morning, while lines to enter the station during yesterday’s afternoon rush wound around the block.

Briefly Noted: D.C. Chamber of Commerce’s Ward 1 endorsement goes to Jeff Smith over Jim Graham…Robbers lead police on chase through the streets of Old Town…Bullfeathers bar on the Hill to get new ownership…Potomac teen pleads guilty to 2009 murder…SYEP kids still getting mugged on payday…Yet another argument for the rapidly-growing “I’m deactivating my Facebook account” crowd. (Still less annoying than Farmville, though.)

This Day In DCist: It was a big news day last year: Banita Jacks was found guilty of murdering her daughters, James von Brunn was indicted for the Holocaust Museum shooting, and a Metrobus driver was charged with kidnapping. Of course, that didn’t stop us from taking a break to remember that despite the D.C. Council’s bickering, it could always be worse.