Sho' Ya Right: The remembrances of the Godfather of Go-Go keep coming in. Even Mayor Vince Gray had a (previously scheduled) DJ set at WPFW where he talked about the Chuck Brown's impact on the city. Plus! We're collecting your pictures of you and Chuck for next week's issue. Send them to chuckphotos@washingtoncitypaper.com. +2
Over at New York magazine, the Daily Intel blog had some fun yesterday riffing on this week's Newsweek cover headline calling Barack Obama "The First Gay President." After all, previous pieces of attempted journalistic provocation had labeled Obama the first female president and the first Jewish president, among other demographic identifiers. Wasn't this trend played out? Not so, wrote Dan Amira and Maya Robinson, introducing a slideshow of unlikely magazine covers including Outside ("The First Lumberjack President") and Men's Health ("The First Chiropractor President").
Well, what about Washington City Paper? As it happens, we cover a city where demographic and retail change is the driving narrative of local life. And, by coincidence, the magazine riffs landed just as Obama was en route to dine yesterday at one temple of neighborhood turnover, the 14th Street NW outlet of Taylor Gourmet. Which means that, thanks to the work of City Paper's own Brooke Hatfield, our contribution of the first-president genre is....
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton released testimony in advance of this afternoon's hearing for a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks in D.C. It's the testimony she would have given had she been permitted to testify—which she wasn't. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was particularly irritated, NBC4 reports:
"We have a member of Congress who wants to come in and talk about her district, I can't even imagine a situation where someone else would be denied that opportunity and I think it's wrong," Pelosi said. "And I think it's not civil and if we don't raise the level of civility around here it just further alienates the public."
Pelosi continued:
"What are they afraid of? The facts? The impact on the District of Columbia? The persuasiveness of the Congresswoman to represent her people? ... They have prevented her from having a vote on the floor, now they don't want her to have a voice in a committee on a subject of concern to her district, I think it's wrong."
So who is testifying? Three doctors and one District resident named Christy Zink—an activist who needed a late-term abortion when physicians found her fetus had abnormalities.
The first doctor is Anthony Levatino, a self-professed "former abortionist" who apparently found the procedure too gruesome and personally stressful, and stopped providing them to women in 1985.
The second doctor is Colleen Malloy, a physician and professor at Northwestern who once wrote a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times arguing that abortion to save the life of the mother "is almost never necessary." Rather, she says the body will miscarry eventually or the woman should carry the fetus to term.
The third is Bryan Calhoun, a member of a conservative physicians' organization who published a report claiming a link between premature births and abortions in the black community. (The report came out in a journal that had also published now-debunked studies that abortions lead to breast cancer.)
One thing all of these doctors have in common? None of them practice medicine in D.C.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery
7th and H St., NW. May 11th. © 2012 Matt Dunn
White people aren't having as many babies as other ethnic groups, the Post reports. Census data shows that 50.4 percent of all infants born in the last year were nonwhite. But in the Washington metro area, trends are a little different: White people in D.C. are having babies!
The District continued its rebound, attracting 16,000 new residents from all age groups — in one year gaining almost as many people as the 20,000 it added the entire previous decade. Although the number of African Americans rose by more than 2,000, their proportion dipped below 50 percent for the first time in decades. Whites had the biggest increase, at 8,000. But among babies, the number of Hispanic infants rose the most as a percentage, up 70 percent, to 1,700. The number of infants who are white also rose sharply, while there were fewer African American babies.
So yes, this means that young white professionals—you know, the childless ones—are coming here and settling in and having kids. It's hard to predict what that will mean for D.C. 10 or 20 years from now; it's likely that some will head for the suburbs and more space, but it'll probably challenge the definition of "Native Washingtonian."
Also worth noting: Demographics are changing in "Ward 9," too. In Prince George's County, the Post notes, "the number of African Americans declined slightly, while Hispanics and whites gained."
Photo by kodismom via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License
A morning roundup of news, opinion, and links from Washington City Paper and around the District. Send tips and ideas to citydesk@washingtoncitypaper.com.
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Good morning from Washington City Paper! It's Thursday! Today the print edition hits the streets, so go grab your copy. We spent yesterday evening revisiting classic Chuck Brown cuts. So much love to the Godfather of Go-Go.
LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: Chuck Brown's musical impact on D.C. [Post] MPD Chief Cathy Lanier's new contract protects her from civil lawsuits [Times] Airport authority calling a special session after getting shamed by an Inspector General audit for overspending. [WTOP] Congressional committee holding hearing on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks in D.C. [NBC4] Council approves 88 more traffic cameras. [WJLA]
YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Wednesday, City Paper's Needle fell 6 points. The bad news: We had to say goodbye to Chuck Brown far too soon. The good news: Key March Madness 2013 games will be played in D.C.. Take a look here.
SIX CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:
Wind Me Up, Chuck!: Arts Desk is keeping up with the latest news about the death of the D.C. legend. We remember the anti-drug track he recorded with former mayor-for-life Marion Barry. Other artists remember him on Twitter. And Julia Fisher tracks the reaction on U Street NW.
All in the Game?: In his column this week, LL considers the case of one company that became a D.C. contractor because it was D.C.-based... even though it wasn't actually D.C.-based: "With about $3 billion paid to contractors every year, you’d expect there to be hell to pay for any company caught gaming the system. But you’d be wrong, at least in the curious case of one major developer who got off virtually scot-free after being found in serious violation of the city’s rules. Critics have long maintained that the CBE program is rigged in favor of the powerful and the connected. This case probably won’t help dispel that notion."
Dear Jeff Bezos: Don’t Go To Northern Virginia!: LDP tells it to the Amazon CEO straight. She offers 10 reasons why the company should set up shop in D.C. instead of NoVa. #4: "I'm not sure what you want all your new office workers to do, but if it's anything federal government-related, the District is a lot more convenient than Tysons Corner. Must I introduce you to Washington traffic? If you really must deal with the military, the Pentagon has a Metro stop."
Obama’s Taylor Gourmet Pick: A Turkey Sandwich: The morning's big news was President Barack Obama's super secret trip to Taylor Gourmet to meet with small business owners and talk taxes. He ordered the most inoffensive sammie ever: The "12-inch Spruce Street sandwich, with roasted turkey, prosciutto, roasted red peppers, and provolone." What, no arugula?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: Some D.C. condo owners are "living on a goldmine." But they won't get that gold until they sell, notes LDP in her column this week.
Wi-Fried: Why some coffee shops can't afford to offer wi-fi.
BUSTIN' LOOSE PHOTO OF THE DAY: Chuck Brown, 1992 by Darrow Montgomery
LINKDUMP AFTER THE JUMP!
A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
Cat Nip: Someone on the Columbia Heights email list addresses a “Cat food crisis,” explaining, “For most of the 10 years that we have lived in the 3500 block of 11th Street, a well-intentioned woman has regularly placed cat food under certain parked cars for the homeless cats. A couple of years ago, though, we started having problems with rats getting into the engines of our cars, resulting in serious and expensive damage. In one instance, we found that the rats had collected and stored some of the cat food under our hood. We left a kind note asking her to refrain from placing cat food on our property, explaining our reason. She did not stop. We placed a less kind note, which, because we were out of town for a few weeks, remained posted for quite some time. She got the message and stopped putting food on our property. But now, about a month later, she has started doing so again. We are concerned rats will get into our car again. Moreover, our private property is being violated despite our repeated complaints.” Someone else wonders if this is “the same woman who puts food in our tree box for street cats that are taken care of by others, and will not stop no matter how many times she is asked to. She just moves over a few houses every time someone asks her to stop.” The conversation turns to cat abandonment: “In response to the cat food ‘crisis,’ perhaps the reason leading to this should be acknowledged. Selfish and irresponsible people toss out a cat, after they tire of it or when it becomes sick, to fend for itself (has anyone found a cat with its eyed gouged out or hanging on a noose from a tree used as dog bait?). Others refuse to spay/neuter their cats and then let them roam freely. The result is cats throughout a community without a home or food to survive.” Several neighbors chime in with feedback on the impact of cats on the rat population: do they keep the rats at bay; does the food counteract that benefit? Finally, one person responds to some mudslinging by apparent cat lovers, “OK, I can feel this conversation taking a sharp turn firmly away from the point: nobody has said they hate cats or think they should have their eyes gouged out. The problem is the real, costly damage that rats are doing to the neighbors' cars as a result of rats nesting and hoarding the cat food in the engines of their cars. It really is possible to have this as an issue without also wanting to feed stray cats head first into a wood chipper.”
Read more Neighborhood News Roundup: Tomato is a Fruit Edition
RIP, Chuck: Godfather of the Go-Go Chuck Brown has died. He was a legend in D.C. and in the music world, and he'll be missed. One last time, everyone: "Wind us up, Chuck!" -10
Real Sikh-Americans (by "real" we mean: "not employees of fake and indeterminate Asian and East African heritage who've been hired by Fojol Bros.") will be able to wear their turbans and maintain religious customs as police officers in the District, reports the AP.
Despite what a certain food truck would have you think, someone who is from India or of Indian descent doesn’t automatically have to wear a turban. Wearing a turban is a cultural and religious choice.
It's a choice that many South Asians of the Sikh faith make as a sign of their religion. A turban doesn’t mean someone is from the Taliban—or that they're ready to serve you bad Indian food while wearing a fake moustache.
And soon, a turban might even mean that a Sikh just wants to protect and serve citizens of the District, which, we think, is a good thing!
(By the way, if you’re interested to learn more about the Sikh faith and the Sikh people, perhaps visit The National Gurdwara, a Sikh temple here in D.C.)
Museum of Natural History, May 1
TBD's lone ranger John Hendel reports that only six people have died in traffic accidents since the beginning of the year—putting D.C. on track to having fewer traffic fatalities than it's had in 17 years.
This drop in traffic fatalities suggests that perhaps all our initiatives, from traffic safety officers to better biking infrastructure to signs warning against blocking the box and educating drivers about safety through concerted local campaigns and broader regional efforts like Street Smart, may have an effect. Last year there were 32 traffic fatalities total, 25 the year before that, and 33 the year before that. Those numbers are already much lower than the numbers of killed commuters in years past — like the 69 D.C. traffic fatalities of 2003, for instance.
Driving is also down nationwide, led by young people who are opting for public transit and bikes to get around—and we have to think that contributes, too.
Photo by dlofink via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License
A morning roundup of news, opinion, and links from Washington City Paper and around the District. Send tips and ideas to citydesk@washingtoncitypaper.com.
Sign up: To get District Line Daily — or any of our other email newsletters — sent straight to your mailbox, click here.
Good morning from Washington City Paper! It's Wednesday! We are still dealing with all the feelings created by last night's episode of Glee. How about you?
LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: Kenyan McDuffie wins the Ward 5 special election. [WAMU] Inspector General releases critical audit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority [WTOP] D.C. Council tentatively approves budget with no tax increases. [Times] Georgetown University in hot water with area archbishop after inviting Kathleen Sebelius to speak at commencement. [Post] Frank Gehry bends to the will of critics of Eisenhower memorial design—but he's not getting rid of those controversial metal tapestries. [Post]
YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: On Tuesday, City Paper's Needle ticked down 2 points. The bad news: Metro cars now opening doors before the train stops. The good news: Bike and Ride at College Park Metro. Take a look here.
SIX CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:
Kenyan McDuffie Wins Ward 5 Special Election: "The unofficial results have McDuffie, an attorney and former policy advisor in Mayor Vince Gray's administration, winning in a landslide of 40 percent of the votes in a field of 11 candidates."
With Gueverra On The Way Out, Community College Students Vent Frustration: LDP explains why Jonathan Guevarra's decision to bounce is not good news for the school: "It's a loss for a couple reasons: One, because Gueverra was generally well-respected, and had started to build a reputation for the school that will be somewhat diminished when he departs. And two, because it's going to be awfully difficult to attract high quality candidates to replace someone who left because of a lack of support."
Are The Fojol Bros. Racist?: Though we've never tried the purveyors of Indian/Thai/Ethiopian food, apparently complaints about their made up countries and fake ethnicities and turbans and mustaches and poorly conceived stage names have been going on for some time. Still, one Drew Franklin's open letter on Facebook inspired a petition calling on the owners to stop using their questionable marketing. Shani Hilton agrees that it's racist (though somewhat low on the scale of things we should worry about). Commenters are split.
Council Increases Arts Commission Budget to $11.9 Million: "Given preliminary approval today, the D.C. Council's budget adjustments include an additional $6.8 million for the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities—bringing its total budget to about $11.9 million, including $846,000 in government and other funds. (Or, if you include the unlikely transfer of a $2.5 million federal program already benefiting D.C. organizations, as the budget does, $14.4 million.) A final vote is scheduled for June 5."
District Moving Forward–Again–With Bite-Sized Piece of Hill East: "First, everything was happening on Reservation 13, the 67-acre piece of land located just south of RFK Stadium on the Anacostia River. Then very little was happening. Finally, nothing: Mayor Vince Gray seemed to have decided as recently as March that the project was a lost cause in this development cycle, unless a Redskins training facility fell out of the sky onto the site. Now, Gray has decided to move forward with the two most shovel-ready 'pads,' closest to the surrounding homes and the Stadium-Armory Metro stop."
Bomb Scare At Downtown LGBT Advocacy Offices: Yesterday, LAPD sent MPD a bomb threat they'd received that threatened national LGBT organizations. MPD began evacuating the Human Rights Campaign and several other groups from their downtown offices, searched for a bomb, and found nothing.
WHAT A PARTY PHOTO OF THE DAY: Man Buttoning Shirt by Matt Dunn
LINKDUMP AFTER THE JUMP!
Yards Park, SE. May 12th. © 2012 Matt Dunn
