Photo by ElvertBarnes

Good morning, Washington. As you probably know, DCist isn’t exactly a family-friendly website — we’ll print expletives when we damn well please, unlike some of the major media outlets out there. In a similar vein, WTOP reports today that the trend of businesses catering to kids may be coming to an end, with various airlines and restaurants around the country and world kicking off kid-free service. Okay, the article doesn’t actually find any local business that seem to have followed this trend; in fact, I’m pretty sure Tryst sets aside tables on certain weekday morning for mothers and their newborns. (I’ve heard that the second floor of 2Amys is kid-free, but haven’t been in years to confirm.) It may only be a matter of time before we have our own chapter of SSCCATAGAPP (Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples And Teens And Gays Against Parasitic Parents), though, with its feared advocacy machine and catchy motto: “Children are the future, today belongs to me.” (Just to clarify — we’ve really got nothing against kids.)

Summer Jobs Program Wraps Up, Reviews Mixed: In yet another sign that the summer is quickly coming to an end, the Post reports that the District’s long-running and long-troubled Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) has wrapped up for the year. And while this year’s installment was meant to be smaller, cheaper and better targeted at getting District youth into good summer jobs, reviews have so far been mixed. The 2011 program served 14,000 participants at a cost of $18.8 million, above the expected 12,000 participants and $16.3 million price tag. Despite the usual logistical troubles and a few public safety concerns — two acts of sexual misconduct were reported, and firefighters were deployed to protect participants on payday — Mayor Vince Gray and city officials say that the revamped program better matched participants to jobs, unlike in years past when many were sent to jobs where they had nothing to do.

Metro Workers Get Pay Raises: The Examiner reports that a fight between Metro union workers and the transit agency has finally been settled, and the union is coming out the winner. After three years of legal battles, some 8,000 Metro workers will get three percent wage hikes retroactive to 2009, at a cost of roughly $104 million to the agency. The increases won’t cost users of the system anything extra, though; Metro had set already aside $96 million for the possibility of wage hikes.

Fallout From Pocket Veto Continues: Mayor Gray’s decision to pocket veto a provision of the 2012 budget that would delay the implementation of a new tax on out-of-state municipal bonds keeps pissing people off, friends and foes alike. First Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) came out against the move, then D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown expressed his unhappiness and now the city’s three biggest business groups have called it a “move we disagree with 100 percent.” As the City Paper points out, the head of one of the groups, Barbara Lang of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, has been a close ally of Gray; political watchers wonder if this is the end of that alliance. In related news, Brown tweeted yesterday that he had no plans of creating a commission to ferret out government waste as had been originally reported, instead, he wants to “work with the private sector and activist community” to “right size this government.”

Briefly Noted: President Obama to speak at inauguration of MLK memorial … Just about every D.C. politician that gets in trouble ends up being represented by the same lawyers … Prince William County sues over status of illegal immigrants it has handed over to feds since 2008 … Want to deliver alcohol in Prince George’s County? You need to be 18 now.

This Day in DCist: On this day in 2010, Mayor Gray won the Ward 4 Democrats Straw Poll after a rowdy candidate forum and Whole Foods announced it was coming to Foggy Bottom. In 2009, Mayor Adrian Fenty got into a little fender-bender and more emails came out detailing the personal and professional relationship between Councilmember Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and his girlfriend.