Author Archive
Chevron on MLK Jr. Avenue SE: The Worst
It’s Monday, early afternoon. Just finished up an appointment right around the corner from the Chevron station right by the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Malcolm X Avenue SE, and need gas badly.
So I pull into the Chevron and insert a credit card into one of the pumps. It doesn’t work—have to go inside and pay. I tell the clerk, hey, please put me down for $30.
Bill Walsh, Still Respecting Sherm Lewis
Bill Walsh, the “genius” football coach of the San Francisco 49ers, died in July 2007. He’d had an amazing career, turning the 49ers from the worst record in the NFL to the best in just three seasons (1979-1981). That, plus numerous other accomplishments immortalized Walsh as one of the game’s greats.
Yet not quite as immortal as a photo caption in today’s Washington Post suggests. Sitting under a photo accompanying a column by Michael Wilbon on the merits of new Redskins play caller Sherm Lewis, the caption reads:
“Top coaches like Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren respect the Redskins’ Sherman Lewis, who was a successful offensive assistant with them.” (Emphasis added.)
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Kevin Severud
What About Alt-Weeklies, Downie?
The just-released report of Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson, titled “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” takes a long, hard look at an embattled industry. As the authors point out in the report, “Fewer journalists are reporting less news in fewer pages, and the hegemony that near-monopoly metropolitan newspapers enjoyed during the last third of the twentieth century, even as their primary audience eroded, is ending.”
Weekend in Review
So—six points against the Chiefs, huh? That’s not even enough points such that the copy rules at Washington City Paper oblige me to use a numeral. Perhaps that’ll be a reason cited when Zorn gets his walking papers this week.
Claim: Redskins Whine About Flu Shots
Alonzo, the guy administering flu shots at the 17th Street NW Safeway, says that the “little women” who come in for vaccines feel no pain.
A different scenario plays out for Redskins players. They wince and squirm, in Alonzo’s telling. They “call me back,” complaining how much the shot hurt, Alonzo told me upon giving me my flu shot after I’d waited nearly an hour alongside a case full of Lucerne yogurt.
Why the disparity in reactions? Is it just that the little women are tough and the Redskins players pusillanimous?
Not really, claims Alonzo. The differentiator here is muscle. If you have muscle, the shot kills. If you have just soft, saggy tissue in there, it’s a breeze.
Well, if that’s the case, hey, my deltoid is on fire right now with pain. Get me some Advil now!
Creative Commons photo courtesy of lu_lu.
Washington Post Discovers Facebook, Again.
Good on Bsom, who today faithfully noted that page A1 of the Washington Post features yet another Facebook story. That’s the 15th time Facebook has claimed this turf, by Bsom’s count. He’s got all the links to back it up, too.
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Jacob Botter
Washington Post’s “Improved” Weather Page
People don’t need much from a newspaper’s weather page or from the forecast on the evening news. You want the graphic saying what the weather will be, along with the high and the low for the day. Preferably the presentation will give you an accurate picture of the next few days.
And that’s all you need. Period.
For the longest time, the Washington Post understood this basic human need. The design of its local weather page reflected as much. Brilliant in its simple, info-delivering elegance, it gave you just the snapshot you wanted. I can remember mornings when I’d flip to the last page of the Metro section, and I’d glean everything I needed in less than two seconds. Not even the Internet can beat that kind of efficiency. The glorious layout is right here, may God rest its soul:
Somehow, the Post wasn’t satisfied with perfection. Read More “Washington Post’s “Improved” Weather Page” »
Weekend in Review
No wonder the Washington Post is playing up the story on its homepage. That’s what happens when the paper provides compelling Sunday reading. I am talking about the feature piece in Outlook titled “I Didn’t Tell. It Didn’t Matter.”; it’s about a young man, Joseph Rocha, who served in the Navy and got abused constantly over his sexuality.
The gripping part comes when the Rocha, a dog handler, describes in extensive detail just what his superiors did to torment him:
Alleged Taxicab Scammer on Tape!
Looking for the real goods on the feds’ probe into corruption in the D.C. tax industry? Just click below, and you’ll get an audio feed of some priceless undercover law-enforcement work.
But before you click, let us just set the scene for you.
Moten to Quit Peaceoholics!
That’s what he’s saying, anyhow.
Ronald Moten has run the gang-stopping, violence-intervening group since 2005. He’s the public face—and mouth!—not only of the organization but also of nonprofit crimefighting in the District of Columbia.
Or, at least he will be for a few more weeks. Moten tells ace reporter Jeffrey Anderson in this week’s cover story that he’s about to step down, do other things. The money quote from from the story: “‘We going to ground,’ says Moten, explaining his decision to pursue community activism, business ventures, and consulting opportunities in other cities. (Moten gets $500 an hour when he travels to consult with other cities on their youth gang problems, he says.)”
So what’s your take? Is this guy just cashing in, leveraging his reputation here for bigger dollars on the speaking circuit? Getting out before the last earmark dollars dry up? Or is he just doing what any good businessman would do? Or both?
Photo by Darrow Montgomery
Ben Ali Dies at 82
Sad news for the District of Columbia: Ben Ali, the patriarch of U Street institution Ben’s Chili Bowl, passed away last night at around 9:00 pm. A family member said that Ali “passed peacefully,” noting that he’d had “health issues off and on.” Ali had just recently returned for a cruise with his wife, Virginia—the two were approaching their 51st wedding anniversary.
“He lived a full life and put a lot into the business,” said a family member. Asked whether Ben’s will close at any point in observance of the passing of its founder, the family member said a decision on that matter hadn’t yet been made.
Peter Nickles, Document Madman
Don’t give up without a fight. That’s a rallying cry for underdogs the world over, for overachievers, for those who are oppressed by the man, for all classes of disadvantaged individuals.
And also for D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles, at least when it comes to requests for documents. The human FOIA denier just suffered a setback in D.C. Superior Court, a consequence of his decision to deny D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols access to files on secret real-estate deals consummated by city authorities. The deals in question were negotiated by the now-shuttered Anacostia Waterfront Corp. and the National Capital Revitalization Corp., and Nichols apparently wanted to inspect all the documents with an eye toward determining how good a deal the city was driving. Nickles told her no way—you can’t simply have access to the files.
But Superior Court Senior Judge Eugene Hamilton ruled yes way, you can have access to those files. Here’s Legal Times on the matter:
The dispute had pitted Nickles against former D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti, now a partner with Schertler & Onorato, who represents Nichols. In response to today’s ruling, Spagnoletti said via e-mail, “The court’s Order today confirms that the Auditor has a statutory right to unrestricted access to District government documents when performing her important auditing duties. The Auditor reluctantly—and for the first time ever—turned to the court when the Mayor and Deputy Mayor interfered with that statutory right.”
It’s Polling Season in D.C. Politics
Well, we’ve got about 11 months before the all-important 2010 District of Columbia primaries. Just enough time, in other words, for candidates to gather some early information on how they stand with the city’s electorate.
Which means polls!
Two of which City Desk has gotten some details on over the past couple of days. Details below.
WaPo: Cabbie Suspect Threatened Murder
In a nice little scooplet, the Washington Post’s Del Quentin Wilber is reporting that a key suspect in the taxicab scandal threatened to kill an informant. The allegations revolve around one Yitbarek Syume, who was arrested last week as part of the feds’ roundup of taxi workers who sought to illegally influence the District’s regulation of the industry.
Here’s how Wilber phrases the matter:
The [court] papers reveal that Yitbarek Syume met with an undercover FBI agent and an informant on the day after the top staffer of a prominent D.C. Council member was arrested on bribery charges. The three men discussed the high-profile arrest and how to avoid detection of their scheme, which funneled more than $300,000 to a D.C. government official, prosecutors wrote in court papers, citing a surreptitious recording of the meeting.
Syume, according to the records cited by the Post, had special plans for Abdulaziz Kamus, who had been identified in a Post story as a figure who had helped authorities document taxi-related bribes. Syume promised that Kamus will be “permanently eliminated.”
In an interview with Washington City Paper, Syume’s lawyer, Thomas Abbenante, said, “We’re going to have a hearing tomorrow afteronoon at 3. At that time, I’ll address the issue before the court. I’m really not going to attempt to try the case in the newspaper or the six o’clock news. I’ll leave that up to the government.”
Additional reporting by Jason Cherkis
Weekend in Review—Crafty Bastards Edition
A lot happening in a town like D.C. on an early October weekend. None of it, of course, compares with what went on Saturday at Marie Reed Elementary at the crest of Adams Morgan. That’d be the annual Washington City Paper Crafty Bastards arts & crafts fair. That this event is becoming a District institution is now a point of considerable consensus, and if you went on Saturday, you’d understand why: An ever-growing lot of craft vendors, an ever-growing selection of food vendors, enough Portapotties that you never have to wait, and beaucoup de people. Thanks to everyone who contributed, attended, thought about attending. Just wait till next year!
