November 18, 2010 | 3:33 PM | By Anna
janinsanfran
What am I reading? “Social supports, not time limits, will reduce poverty“, by Linda Laughlin, a family demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau. It was posted at Greater Greater Washington:
Instead of placing limits on welfare, the DC council should support the TANF Opportunities and Accountability Act of 2010 sponsored by Tommy Wells (Ward 6) and Michael Brown (at-large). The bill would invest in job training and educational programs as well as develop a better system to track welfare recipients in order to better understand when and why families enter and exit social programs.
The welfare system is far from perfect, but as the District faces continued economic turmoil brought on by the recession, this is not the time to limit access to important social safety nets. District food banks, shelters, and other social services are already strained and woefully unprepared to face coming economic hardships as the economy tries to build itself back up. Families that have not been able to leave welfare are some of the most disadvantaged families without any means of support other than social programs.
November 18, 2010 | 1:40 PM | By Anna
thisisbossi
Memorial in front of DC9.
I can’t figure out why, exactly, but seeing this at the top of Brightest Young Things‘ weekly roundup of events and things to do-email made me a little queasy:
This week’s BEST WEEKEND BETS is, as always, hand selected from BYT ALL CITY and calibrated for maximum fun and minimum stress, and will be punctuated by images from random tumblrs we spent to much time on this week because, well, we can.
Before we do anything though, lets help DC9 re-open.It’s as easy as sending an email with:
Subject: I feel safe at DC9
Send to ABC board and council members
http://aboutdcgov.dc.gov/DC/About+DC.Gov/Feedback
Email: abra@dc.gov , jim@grahamwone.com
OK-OFF WE GO NOW.
Lets all just have a super weekend
It’s as easy as sending an email? But then what? Someone who lives in a different neighborhood, who may have a different complexion sends an email advocating for DC9 to remain closed? I get that the charges have been dropped, and if we believe in the presumption of innocence then my head tells me that it’s only fair to allow this business to reopen…for now. The squishy red thing in my chest disagrees with my head, violently.
Continue reading →
November 18, 2010 | 11:44 AM | By Anna
ChepeNicoli
I’m reading NBC4, where I learned that the District Department of Health has created a special website called “Rubber Revolution” to encourage safe sex. Available in seven languages, the site prominently offers free condoms and displays condom trivia, too. That’s how I newly know that an average condom can hold four quarts of liquid.
In a city with a 3.2 percent HIV rate — higher than that of West Africa — any effort to promote safe sex is worthwhile. The “Rubber Revolution” website offers useful information on obtaining and using condoms, and on practicing safe sex in general…
By far the weirdest thing on the site is the “What Kind of Condom Are You?” quiz, which like all those loathed but pervasive Facebook quizzes, uses a few superficial questions to lead to an ostensibly whimsical result. Do you like cheeseburgers and fries? You might be a latex condom. Reality TV fans could be flavored condoms. If you like being in charge at work, you’re a magnum.
Despite this misfire, the site has its uses. Free condoms can be obtained from the city through a discreet web form — “mailed in a plain envelope” — or, if you’re less shy, you can just “call 311 and tell the customer service representative that you want to order free condoms.”
NBC’s P.J. Orvetti reports that even if you “are” a flavored or latex condom because of your quiz result, the Department will send you free Magnum-sized prophylactics, which was the only aspect of the program which gave me pause. Poorly-fitting condoms don’t stay on, and that would defeat the noble purpose of a site which is trying to protect D.C. residents from sexually-transmitted diseases.
November 18, 2010 | 8:42 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Please, enjoy some breakfast links.
Blog Insider – In the Den of the Venture Capitalists [$2 Challenge] “It was only 9:30 AM, and I was already dreading my decision. A gray dress and curly hair amid a wave of business suits and salt and pepper goatees, I had already started to feel a bit out of place at the Federal Communications Commission and their big, shiny, moneyed interior. Listening to the assembled speakers go on and on about IPOs, spectrum, and other terms that I couldn’t quite grasp, I felt a rising sense of panic. I looked down at the three names I was supposed to meet with, and felt hideously small. How the hell did I get here?” (Racialicious)
Can Metrorail fares be simpler? “Abolish the peak-of-the-peak fare. It’s too complicated. Even though I recommended it, it seems that people hate it even more than I imagined, and it leaves Metro open to criticism that people are paying more for service that isn’t much better. Before anyone gets too happy about peak-of-the-peak being gone, very few people get a net discount under my plan compared to the current fares, due changes in the distance-based pricing.” (Greater Greater Washington)
Wal-Mart plans to open 4 stores in the District “The four stores would be built in D.C. neighborhoods where retail options are relatively scarce: on the site of a former car dealership on Georgia Avenue NW; at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road NE; as part of a new mixed-use development on New Jersey Avenue NW; and at East Capitol and 58th streets SE. As it has when it entered other cities, Wal-Mart’s announcement is already is drawing the ire of labor leaders who complain that the company pays substandard wages and provides inadequate benefits.” (The Washington Post)
Continue reading →
November 17, 2010 | 4:40 PM | By Anna
crowdive
OCS Graduates at Quantico.
I’m proud to be a member of a Military family, so this post over at Prince of Petworth immediately got my attention– one of his intrepid readers managed to photograph an alleged scam-artist on the Metro:
He asked for $60 for a bus ticket back to Quantico…This was on the Red Line…the elements of the story were that he was away from base, he had been mugged or pickpocketed (could not hear which), and he needed $60 to get back. He got off the train at Judiciary Square saying something about needing to catch the train back the other direction, but I think he may have seen me take the picture. Immediately after the scammer got off the train, there was another man who was wearing his uniform who realized what just happened and told the woman that she shouldn’t have given him the money, because if he was actually in the military the scammer would have gone to the fellow military guy first thing.”
I spoke to two Veterans, one from the Air Force and one from the Army about this situation, to find out what would actually happen to someone in the Military if they were stranded. Bottom line? They wouldn’t be panhandling for bus fare, ever, so beware:
Continue reading →
November 17, 2010 | 2:46 PM | By Anna
More about D.C.’s IHOP restaurants– here’s a piece about the life of Clarence Jackson Jr., whose son I interviewed yesterday for DCentric. Both men are co-owners of the new IHOP in Columbia Heights:
As a family, Jackson and his two sons, Tyoka and Clarence Jackson III, own the first IHOP franchise in Washington, D.C. at 1523 Alabama Ave., SE. They plan to open a second one in the North West neighborhood of Columbia Heights in October. “If I told you the beginning, you would think you already knew the ending,” said Tyoka of his father. “My father’s story is about overcoming odds. Owning D.C.’s first IHOP in southeast right at Alabama and Stanton is one of the odds.”…
“When we opened the store, we all bussed tables, washed dishes and cleaned toilets,” Clarence Jackson III, remembers. Monique, Jackson’s daughter, serves as kitchen manager and is known in the area for her special recipe for the restaurant’s Fish Fridays. Also on staff are Jackson’s nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
D.C. council chairman and mayoral candidate Vincent Gray gloated over the eatery, which he hopes becomes a landmark. “Mr. Jackson, where do you think these people went before you built this store?” he asked on one of his recent visits to the Alabama Avenue IHOP.
Congress Heights resident Janetta Chambers, 45, answered the question.
Continue reading →
November 17, 2010 | 10:58 AM | By Anna
When our server walked up, she put this coaster down next to our coffee pot.
Yesterday, I visited the new IHOP in Columbia Heights. It was opening day and despite the oppressively gray sky and fat rain drops, the place was almost full. I reviewed the food and wrote about my first impressions, here.
At the end of my late lunch, Briana– the most pleasant server I have encountered this year– brought over her towering boss, Clarence Jackson. He was so tall that my neck cracked from looking up at him and I was relieved when he cordially asked if he could sit down. I immediately realized that this was the “cop” whom people had commented about online, who owned both this IHOP and the one in Southeast. Suddenly, I was much less worried about hordes of marauding teens Metro-ing up from Gallery Place to invade Columbia Heights. As Briana had merrily said earlier when I asked her about potential rowdiness, “See that 6’7″ man over there? He’s my boss. And he’s a police officer. We’re not worried.”
I asked Mr. Jackson how his newest endeavor’s first day was going.
“I am very pleased.”
He inquired about my meal (and was the sixth person to do so, at that point) and I told him the truth; that it was better than I had expected and that the service was wonderful, too.
Continue reading →
November 17, 2010 | 8:45 AM | By Anna
Good morning, DCentric readers! Before you leave your umbrella on the bus, enjoy some fresh links!
Condo residents fight for immigrant chief engineer they love – and need “I have 204 angels behind me,” Rua, 43, said as his teary-eyed wife, Liliana Rosario Rua, and his daughter, Andrea Rua, a freshman at Montgomery College, nodded. “No matter what happens, I am never going to forget what they did for me.” Even as anti-immigrant sentiment has swelled in large swaths of the country, many communities are willing to do battle for individual immigrants who have become part of their lives.” (The Washington Post)
Wal-Mart coming to D.C., says Tommy Wells “If Ward 6 D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells’s Twitter account is to be believed, Wal-Mart has signaled its intention to open at least one store, if not more, inside the District of Columbia. “Walmart’s coming to DC,” Wells tweeted shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday night. Technically, Ward 7′s Yvette Alexander may have been the first to break the news, though she was less specific in her tweet: “Big box retailer coming to Ward 7? Stay tuned!” (tbd.com)
Sources: Fenty holding up the budget process “Throughout his tenure, Fenty was known for sending budget proposals down at the last minute, leaving the council and the Chief Financial Office with little time to analyze the spending. Gray and Council Chairman-elect Kwame Brown have said they have been meeting with the CFO to discuss the budget changes they’d like to make once they have the mayor’s budget in-hand.” (Washington Examiner )
November 16, 2010 | 5:05 PM | By Anna
Gautham Nagesh
I just got back from the new IHOP on Irving Street, here in Columbia Heights. Today was opening day, and our lovely server Briana told us that while the morning had been busy, the afternoon was much calmer. I’m sure the rain was to blame for some of that. Full review, after the jump.
Continue reading →
