DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! While you were watching the Top Chef DC finale, we combed the internet and found these delicious links for you:

Courtland Milloy’s latest column (on revolting against Fenty) should come with a flame-retardant suit…yowza! “Watch them at the chic new eateries, Fenty’s hip newly arrived “creative class” firing up their “social media” networks whenever he’s under attack: Why should the mayor have to stop his work just to meet with some old biddies, they tweet. Who cares if the mayor is arrogant as long as he gets the job done? Myopic little twits.” (The Washington Post)

On why Michelle Fenty didn’t campaign for her husband… ““We made a strong distinction between our public and private lives,” Michelle Fenty told me at Fenty headquarters around noon Tuesday. “We wanted our children to live regular lives without the fact that their father was mayor interfering with their daily lives…People didn’t elect my husband to hear from me,” she said.” (Washingtonian.com)

Beware of that old-fashioned combination lock– it’s vulnerable. “Yesterday while I was grabbing a lunchtime workout at the Washington Sports Club in Dupont Circle, someone broke into my locker and took three credit cards. Over the next several hours, this person (or people) racked up nearly $4,000 worth of charges at Dupont Circle and Gallery Place shops…Washington Sports Club and MPD are on the case, but I want readers to know that using old-school Master combo locks are no longer safe.” (Prince Of Pentworth )

School Reform Lessons From Fenty-Gray Yglesias zeroes in on a big mistake: “I think Michelle Rhee unquestionably ended up doing this city a disservice with her habit of spending more time courting a nationwide constituency than on painful block-by-block selling of her message in skeptical communities. The fact that she packaged this posture up as an “I don’t do politics” persona was part of the misguided sales job and not a real reason.” (Matthew Yglesias)

Helping the homeless requires compassion “What does it say to a homeless man who sleeps at the 801 East Shelter at Saint Elizabeth’s when he realizes that there is one case manager at 801 for all 380 men who sleep there? It is hard to imagine that it says, “We care about you”. Placing shelters far outside the mainstream of the city tells the homeless that we want them to go away.” (Greater Greater Washington)

From Blight to Blossoms in Columbia Heights “A vacant lot near Park Road in northwest D.C. has become a public green space, due to the efforts of neighborhood residents and the nonprofit group Washington Parks & People…The project brought together disparate parts of the area, including schoolchildren who planted a garden, hundreds of volunteers, and “former gang members who helped with initial reclamation,”” (NBC Washington)