Hilda Mason, 91, who served more than 20 years on the D.C. Council, died yesterday at Washington Hospital Center. The Post has an obituary up (which perhaps unsurprisingly but a little creepily appears to have been largely written some time ago, as it notes at the bottom that one of its authors passed away in 2006), which details Mason’s status as the grand dame of local D.C. politics, having served on the Board of Education,…

If you see emergency response vehicles zipping around town laden with folks shouting into walkie-talkies about evacuations and floods, don’t be alarmed. Today Washington area officials are running their first ever joint hurricane response exercise. Federal workers, along with their counterparts from D.C., Maryland and Virginia are gauging the region’s ability to deal with a watery disaster. While most associate hurricane-strength storms with the Gulf Coast and tropical climes, many vividly remember the destruction wrought…

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent begins a new weekly opinion column on neighborhood issues today. To many central city residents, the suburban enterprise can seem a quixotic one, and the suburbanite a perplexing character. Pressing ever outward, he seeks to leave behind the impedimenta of urban life, only to find that the more pristine his new surroundings, the faster and thicker does the baggage of congestion gather around him. Almost immediately he finds that his new…

The sad reality of Dan Tangherlini’s departure from the helm of Metro has long since set in, and we have shifted from transit-geek depression to equally geeky curiosity over his potential replacement. As was reported on Tuesday and confirmed on Wednesday, D.C. native John Catoe Jr., currently second in command at the L.A. Metropolitan Transit Authority, has been asked to come home and run the trains and buses here in Capital City. The Post and…

Let’s start with the good news this morning: this excessive, unrelenting, soul-sucking heat is expected to come to an end tomorrow, say the guys at Capital Weather. And we say they better not just be leading us on. However, today is yet another day in Scorcher ’06 — and may even be the hottest one yet — with highs once again flirting with triple digits. Heat-related Problems Continue: With near record temperatures, people are…

We’ve had some good times with WMATA over the years, haven’t we? There was the time some guy was eating a candy bar while entering a station and was arrested. Or the time WMATA officials handcuffed a talkative pregnant woman? And, of course, there was that lovely moment when a 12 year-old girl ate a french fry on a Metro platform and, as a result, was searched, handcuffed, put into a paddy wagon, and kept…

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority held their first-ever annual town hall meeting last night at their downtown D.C. headquarters. Although enduring periodic jeers and spontaneous audience feedback, the meeting was, overall, remarkably civil for an agency who has been in the news for a string of problems in recent months. They announced that answers to all questions submitted would be posted on their website within a week. The discussion, ably moderated by former…

If you’ve entered the Dupont Circle metrorail station from the 19th Street escalators, you may have seen this sign, which seems to be a joint Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority-Krispy Kreme public service announcement about taking Krispy Kreme underground. It says: “Resist temptation: We know it is hard to wait. But please, don’t eat your donuts in Metro stations or trains. Thanks and have a nice day.” DCist wonders whether this was done purely on…

Don’t get us wrong. DCist likes the bus. We ride it everyday. And we appreciate all that Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority does to get us around town. But we have to wonder whether WMATA realizes that when it tries to do good, it can create more problems for commuters. A case in point: Yesterday, DCist was waiting for a 90/92 bus at the corner of Calvert Street and Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park. We…

We finally found one. After nine months of searching, DCist spied someone wearing a WMATA metrorail shirt this weekend on a Connecticut Avenue sidewalk. (It was a Metro Center shirt, like the the one at left). Since we love to talk about transit issues, DCist has a few thoughts on D.C.’s attempts to enter the world of transit chic. London promotes “Mind the Gap.” Paris glorifies its Art Nouveau Metropolitan signage. And New York has…