September 20, 2010 | 5:12 PM | By Anna
Mr. T in DC
The Green Line likes long names.
DCist discusses local groups (like ANCs and BIDs) who would like to add even MORE words to our already cluttered, hyphenated Metro stops:
This isn’t a new debate. Metro station names have gotten somewhat out of hand over the last 15 years, especially on the Green Line. (Excuse me while I hop on at U Street / Cardozo / African-American Civil War Memorial, roll through Mount Vernon Square-7th Street / Convention Center, and then exit at Archives / Navy Memorial / Penn Quarter.) It’s station name creep, plain and simple, and especially galling when you think about how, at the genesis of the Metrorail system, station names had a limit of 15 characters.
September 20, 2010 | 4:33 PM | By Anna
tramod
He's eyeing you. And he's got a chicken bone in his left paw.
Whoa. TBD blows my mind with this one: “Who’s really responsible for chicken bones on the ground?” As someone with an extra-inquisitive puppy, who lives in a neighborhood where chicken bones litter the sidewalk, I would love to know who is really behind the random bones being flung about…
…one former Capitol Hill resident wishes her neighbors would think before assigning blame for how they got there.
It might sound trivial, but it’s an issue that’s come up at the ground level of local governance of late. Last week, we told you about Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6A’s attempts to get a new 7-11 on H Street NE reclassified as a fast-food establishment. The ANC’s issue with the national convenience store chain stems from, among other things, concerns over their insistence on selling prepared chicken wings. Chicken wings lead to chicken bones being tossed carelessly on the ground, the commissioners have reasoned, which can be dangerous for dogs and attract vermin.
Yes! I live around the corner from a 7-11! No wonder… Continue reading →
September 20, 2010 | 2:19 PM | By Anna
Eric Fischer
This is what DC looks like:
…Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, and Orange is Hispanic, and each dot is 25 people. Data from Census 2000.
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September 20, 2010 | 12:26 PM | By Anna
Amsterdam Falafel
Yum. One of D.C.’s delicious places to eat is expanding (Via NBC):
Soon you can grab a falafel from Amsterdam Falafelshop (2425 18th Street NW) without being in the District. The popular restaurant recently filed paperwork to become a franchise. Falafelshops may soon open in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.
While I currently find myself sating my falafel cravings with Roti, there’s no denying that Amsterdam’s fries and hours are fantastic. See, when Roti locks its pretty doors at 5pm, Amsterdam is still slinging chick pea fritters until midnight on quiet nights (Sunday and Monday) and 4am on noisy ones (Friday and Saturday). When they opened in 2004, many of us were elated to have a (vegetarian, no less!) alternative to Jumbo Slice. Yum.
September 20, 2010 | 10:34 AM | By Anna
vincentgallegos
WAMU 88.5's Kojo Nnamdi, last Fall, Busboys and Poets
So yesterday, the Twitterz were burning up with a link to an opinion piece that WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi had written for The Washington Post. It’s a great read– except for one problem. The title. WaPo called it, “For D.C., Vince Gray’s election is a bold step backward”…but that’s not what Kojo wrote:
The District today is becoming more racially, ethnically and culturally diverse than it has been in my 41 years here. The tax base is expanding, something every mayor in every city finds desirable. But this also means more affluent residents are displacing poorer residents. And with our city’s troubled racial history,gentrification can be socially and politically volatile.
That volatility has resulted in Mayor Adrian Fenty’s ouster. Vincent Gray, a decent and thoughtful man, benefited from black voters’ anger at Fenty, a result of four years of real and perceived slights by the mayor toward his black constituents. But that anger has propelled us into a future that concerns me. While the past should inform the future, it shouldn’t handcuff it…
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September 20, 2010 | 7:45 AM | By Anna
Good Morning, DCentric readers! While you were watching “Mad Men”, we were feverishly searching for links to serve you. Enjoy!
No funding for teachers’ bonuses if Rhee’s donors withdraw “The District would “probably not” be able to fund teachers’ bonuses after next month if the private foundations that Chancellor Michelle Rhee solicited withdrew their funds, the organization that manages the schools’ budget said.” (Washington Examiner )
Colin Powell says illegal immigrants do his home repairs “Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says illegal immigrants do essential work in the U.S. and that he has firsthand knowledge of that — because they fix his house. A moderate Republican, Powell urged his party on Sunday to support immigration generally because those who come from abroad are, in his words, “what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood moving forward.”" (AP)
4 People Shot Fri./Sat. Night in Petworth, 2 shot in Brightwood “Unfortunately it is easy to overlook these incidents because they weren’t widely reported (as fortunately nobody was killed) but let’s not pretend that they didn’t happen. Because the people that live on these blocks can’t pretend it didn’t happen.” (Prince Of Pentworth )
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September 17, 2010 | 4:15 PM | By Anna
Democratic Primary winner Vincent Gray was on WAMU 88.5′s Kojo Nnamdi Show today, taking questions and talking about the future. My favorite moment? When Kojo quoted a recent Colbert King column which contained this comedic gold; apparently Ward 8 political activist Philip Pannell once told WJLA that “that the makeup of Fenty’s cabinet, and his nominations to boards and commissions, “makes Tony Williams look like Shaka Zulu.”" After the laughter in the studio subsided, Kojo asked Gray “How will race factor in to the decisions you make in forming your cabinet, what is your sensitivity to the issue?”
Gray: “I want a cabinet that looks like the city. And that would be the template that I will try to use.”
See a video of the whole exchange (via The Kojo Nnamdi Show’s YouTube channel), below the fold.
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September 17, 2010 | 2:07 PM | By Anna
Bread for The World
After-school program, Washington, D.C.
Any piece with the line “I’ve seen Latin American juntas surrender power more gracefully” deserves a look, especially when the target of such a damning pronouncement is Michelle Rhee. Eugene Robinson is offended:
It may be the case that Rhee, who can point to some admirable accomplishments during her tenure, is the only visionary-cum-taskmaster who can whip the chronically troubled D.C. schools into shape — though it’s always foolish to forget Charles de Gaulle’s famous observation that “the graveyards are full of indispensible men.” But what’s so offensive is the idea that Gray — a native Washingtonian who graduated from Dunbar High School and has dedicated his career to public service — would inevitably allow the children of his beloved city to be devastated. Whether through incompetence, callousness or some other failing, Rhee does not specify.
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September 17, 2010 | 1:20 PM | By Anna
Remember that incendiary Milloy column? Borderstan gets it:
Yes, I guess Milloy was referring to this area of the city, to Logan Circle and U Street and the 14th Street corridor. We are, I suppose, the stereotype, of all things suspicious to Milloy. We have dog parks (two of them) and we have bike lanes (lots of them). “Chic eateries” and users of “social networks” abound…
On Tuesday, we collectively did as he suspects: Voters in precincts here gave Fenty 70 to 80% of the vote. But, while we supported him here, I don’t think you’d find many people here who would disagree that Fenty was the cause of many of his own problems….
None of this is meant to downplay the serious problems facing Washingtonians in other parts of the city, too many of them in dire economic circumstances. But wishing these newcomers would go away will do nothing to solve the horribly high rates of unemployment in DC.
I would also suggest—strongly—that many of my new neighbors make an effort to understand DC’s history. Only by doing so can you understand Milloy’s column and the frustrations he expressed.
September 17, 2010 | 10:48 AM | By Anna
M.V. Jantzen
One of the larger questions I want to explore on DCentric is, “Why is Marion Barry still so popular?” I know district residents who can rattle off a list of reasons why; I know other residents who are utterly perplexed by the man’s enduring appeal. There are often striking differences between those two groups (here’s one: the former are usually from here or have lived here for quite a long time).
I think it’s an important issue to understand, because the answer to that question involves race, class– and a different way of understanding the district. Don’t believe me? Well, just yesterday some DCers declared that Ward 8 voters’ support for Barry is proof that they aren’t that intelligent. Look at these comments from DCist, under Aaron Morrissey’s “Courtland Milloy vs. The World“:
Marion Barry and his cronies allowed the District to collapse in on itself during his time in office, which saw a skyrocketing crime rate, inept leadership in practically every city agency, and absolutely abysmal public schools. And as a consequence for his putrid leadership, he continues to get elected to the DC Council by the thoughtful residents of Ward 8. [link]
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