D.C. voting rights advocates and elected officials have been stymied in their attempts to get budget autonomy. Now they have a new plan to get it: just let residents vote on it.
Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us are Monday morning quarterbacks when it comes to local government. Whenever the District’s government does something foolish, many of us are quick to assume that we could do better. Well, now we have a chance to prove it. During last year’s mayoral campaign, the D.C. Appleseed Center ran a campaign soliciting resident input into the city’s most pressing problems. From the 1,500 submissions they…
Since they were apparently sick of all the best scoops going to the Post, the folks at the City Paper have been nice enough to grant us a little nugget of information — Mike DeBonis, currently Senior Editor at the alt-weekly, will become the newest Loose Lips columnists. As you may recall, in late June James Jones stepped down as author of the vital local politics column, choosing to move on to a stint at…
Since 1983, Loose Lips, the City Paper’s weekly local politics column, has been the place to get quirky news and commentary on the District’s political figures. But today, James Jones, Loose Lips columnist for the last two years, bids farewell to the paper. Jones came to the City Paper after a stint at WAMU, and his first column was published on March 11, 2005. According to the folks at the City Paper, Jones has taken…
Well, that may be that for proponents of a commuter tax for the District. The U.S. Supreme Court today quietly turned down an appeal filed by pro-tax activists, letting stand a decision by a federal appeals court that argued that only the U.S. Congress could allow such a measure. And given that no Congressional representative from a district that neighbors D.C. would dream of endorsing such a tax — especially influential Northern Virginia pol Rep….
In early April, the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice kicked of a contest they hoped would serve to inspire political and civic engagement in an election year in the District — basically, they launched a website. The website was interactive, encouraging area residents to identify problems and propose solutions. Once all the ideas were collected, they would be voted on, and the best ones would win cash prizes and the chance to…
Over the last few weeks we’ve been highlighting some of the proposals coming into the Solving D.C. Problems website, an initiative launched by the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice earlier this month to encourage residents to identify local problems and propose solutions. Today we focus on two ways to make the District a more entertaining city. The first proposes that the city invest in its own climbing wall: The city owns the historic…
No one likes buying condoms. The act, though innocent and perfectly legal, instantly offers an insight into the sexual activity of the purchaser, and, depending on the types of condoms bought, their sexual preferences. And while it’s one thing to march into a store and resolutely buy condoms, as embarrassing as that can be, it’s a whole other thing to have to sheepishly ask an employee for them. At many local CVS stores, that’s exactly…
Yesterday we reported on a new initiative launched by the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice through which residents can submit ideas on the city’s most pressing problems and propose solutions. We’re happy to see that the ideas have started rolling onto the organization’s website. After the jump, there’s a sampling of what has been offered thus far….
Crime, education and affordable housing. Ask a candidate for public office in the District what their campaigns are focusing on, and chances are that they’ll spit out any combination of the three issues listed above. And while there is little doubt that many residents are concerned about crime, education and affordable housing, few of us really know what matters most to whom and why. The D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is looking…