Stupid trend alert: FlexCars just aren’t enough. Now we need to rent dogs. Shockingly, someone is willing to make money off this concept, according to a feature in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal. Enter FlexPetz (yes, with a “z”), which has come under fire for its practices in New York, London, and has all but been shut down from opening in Boston by both the city and the state of Massachusetts. No one, so far, has wimpered in D.C., where the FlexPetz Web site says a new outpost is planned for 2008. I have calls and e-mails out to the company, as yet unreturned.

One poster on the Adams Morgan listserv, at least, is interested: “it could be good for a child in a home that can’t full time a dog. Not a dog owner, but curious.”

If you can get beyond the fact that a dog’s not an accessory or that maybe it wouldn’t be so hot for a dog to jump from one family to the next, try and get over how much this costs:

• A monthly Membership Fee of $99.95 which contributes towards providing full care for all the dogs at each FLEXPETZ location.

• Daily Doggy Time charge (Daily Doggy Time is equal to a day, or part of day, you spend with a FLEXPETZ dog) at a rate of $45.00 per day.

• You will be billed for 4 Daily Doggy Times per month. You are not required to take out a Flexpetz for any set number of days, but you will be billed for these minimum four days regardless of actual usage  at a rate of $45.00 per day.

• Your Membership includes a mandatory in-home training/introduction session with a FLEXPETZ trainer….The total cost of this in-home orientation is $150.00

• Most FLEXPETZ locations have a shuttle service that can deliver and collect a FLEXPETZ dog to your home or office. Fees vary by location but are generally $25.00 per single trip.

For those of us who don’t have $500 or so to pretend to have a dog, I suggest going to a shelter, becoming a foster parent to a rescued dog, or, I don’t know, consider making friends with someone who has a dog. And I don’t mean this guy.

(photo by Kalimistuk)

I must admit to being a little pumped about the big Dog Days Sale that hits U Street’s arty shops this weekend. These are the shops that aspire to be eco-friendly, support local artists/designers, or just sell really interesting vintage stuff. And they are all significantly out of my price range. But maybe not tomorrow as the stores will be slashing prices!

A list of participating stores can be found here.

Is it me? We’re you shocked over the Food & Friends honcho’s salary revealed in today’s Post? Executive Director Craig M. Shniderman makes $357,447.

Wow.

Schniderman makes more than most if not all agency heads in the city. And he runs a non-profit. That simply feeds people.

The rule of thumb on judging non-profits is how much money the non-profit devotes to their core mission vs. how much money they spend on administrative costs and salaries. Food & Friends budget obviously feels a bit off.

Schniderman’s defense to the paper of record: His salary increased just 4 percent this year. So let me get this straight. He’s been making this huge salary for a couple years now. That’s not much of a defense.

From the Post:

Last year, Shniderman received a salary of $270,290, as well as $31,318 in various insurances and a pension plan and $55,839 in deferred compensation.

He goes on to tell the Post that he has no plans to take a pay cut. Of course, the non-profit announced it will be scaling back its operations due to rising costs and slacking donations.

Last week, the National Cathedral announced it would be cutting 15 percent of its work force, or 33 jobs, as part of both a new strategic plan and the reality of an economic downturn. Margaret Bergan Davis, associate dean of the Cathedral, confirms the greenhouse employees are among the cuts and that the greenhouse itself will close June 29.

This has some in the neighborhood a little worked up. Sioban Farey writes the “Cathedral greenhouse and nursery is too valuable to our community to lose…we need to find ways that we could work with the Cathedral to keep it open for many reasons….”

The small greenhouse, in need of repair even to an indifferent observer and located on the south side of the Cathedral grounds, is more than a retail store, Farey contends. In a pitch to fellow members (some 6,400 of them) on the Cleveland Park listserv, Farey argues they can work with the cathedral’s staff to reverse the decision.  “It is absoulutely congruent with the Cathedral’s mission to minister to all people of all faiths and none—what is more universal than plants/nature?”

Davis says that while she appreciates the appreciation of the surrounding neighborhoods, the decision will stand.

“I know the loss of the greenhouse is sad for many peoople,” she says. “I hope they understand that the greenhouse is from an era when the Cathedral needed that structure to grow its own plants and flowers. With the many different garden centers, the Home Depots in the area, etc., as beautiful and wonderful as the people are there, the idea of having plants for sale truly is not part of the foundational mission for the future,” she says.

Davis declined to say how many people who now work at the greenhouse will be laid off. She also said that the stragic plan cited as the primary reason for the changes was realeased 18 months ago, so some of these changes have been coming for some time.

Fisher today stands up for bags, free bags of any kind. Since Whole Foods is effectively getting rid of plastic bags today, the Post columnist argues that the question: “Paper or Plastic?” was a great conversation starter at checkout lines everywhere.

Fisher writes: “I’ve found that ever since ‘How are you?’ became so ubiquitous and so routinely ignored as entree to conversation with strangers, it has taken words such as ‘paper or plastic’ to shake people out of their blank stares on the cashier line. A small thing, to be sure, but I usually end up enjoying those brief exchanges with the supermarket workers, and I often learn something from overhearing the conversations ahead of me on the queue.”

Let us now all worry about Marc Fisher. Mr. Fisher, let me just say, you seem to be a really nice guy and a great journalist. You appear to have a lot of sources and enough time to attend games at your beloved Nationals Park. Surely, you must have great conversations outside of the checkout line. So chin up!

Maybe this is how Fisher gets his story ideas. Or maybe he just gets lonely waiting in those long lines. Maybe the Nats aren’t the universal citywide conversation starter like the Redskins are. Then again, maybe the loss of this question will actually make the lines move faster.

This past Saturday was National Record Store Day. So vinyl nerds and Yo La Tengo fans [OK they are the same] were finally given a special day to scuttle out of apartments, discover day light, and join the masses hungry for free shit, discounts and live in-stores.

The Day turned out to be more fun than seeing nerds in sunlight. It was actually more fun than all the pre-day hype.

The Day wasn’t necessarily aimed at the nerds. Nor was it pitched toward exposing the freeloaders to something they haven’t yet sendspaced.

The A-and-B listers called on to provide testimonials and flog the event have long ago started averaging three stars in Rolling Stone. In other words, we’re talking Paul McCartney and the Boss. Or they were as old-timey as Chuck Berry and Henry Rollins. Or they were Joe Satriani and the drummer from Flipper. Not exactly preaching to the ones who need converting.

I had worries that the whole thing was going to feel like one of those sermons the industry now provides late in the Grammy telecast. You’ve heard it before: the industry is dying, stop stealing music, etc. Even Metallica was participating. Or it would turn into an excuse for the industry to give away last year’s crap no one bought.

But this Day was aimed at the people the industry screws the most: the indie record store owners. If the music biz wants to save itself, they could do better than giving the stores a special day. The industry could stop giving sweetheart deals to the Big Boxes, and stop listing new records at inflated prices. At least on Saturday, the big labels paid attention to the little guy!

I was able to check out Smash and Crooked Beat. Both Adams Morgan stores were crowded and festive. Crooked Beat reported giving away all of its grab bags within an hour of opening up. Sales appeared brisk; the new releases seemed mostly sold out. It was great to hear the store crank up The Argument. So yeah, the nerds got to nerd out. And maybe the store got some new customers.

But now that the day is over, let the debates begin. One has started up over on our music blog.

–photo of Crooked Beat’s Bill Daly courtesy of mudsugar.com.

Gridskipper has recently put out their list of the most overrated restaurants in D.C. Tops among them….Lauriol Plaza.

The blog chain writes:

“Lauriol Plaza is the mother ship of overrated. The overpriced food here stinks, the lines are atrocious, and the service is abysmal. But this Mexican eatery continues to draw insane crowds almost every night of…”

Sure, Lauriol Plaza isn’t so great. But overrated? Don’t people know it kinda sucks and yet they still keep coming back? Rounding out the rest of its list are the predictable and not so predictable: Sequoia, Central, Bistro Du Coin, Gerard’s Place, and Jaleo.

Since I’ve only been to three out of the six, I’m not sure I can judge these things. Sequoia seems like a really dull choice. Why would the blogger even go there?

You know the fifty-color fliers and postcards good neighbors leave on your windshield? The ones inviting you to those exclusive afterhours parties and special events? The ones that would make Luther Campbell nod in approval?

While I’m not sure who actually responds to this spam and goes to these things, I do know that they constitute an annoyance. How many of these cards have I tossed into the backseat of my car? Too many!

It’s not a shock that people have complained. Southwest residents have been up in arms over them for a while. They’ve started calling them “Booty Cards.” Kinda perfect.

And they got Councilmember Tommy Wells‘ attention. After months of effort, Wells—along with the D.C. attorney general’s office—has been able to at least banish one company from distributing them. Wells, in a press release, calls this a “partial victory” for Southwest residents—and D.C. citizens in general.

Although he considered them pornographic, Wells knew he couldn’t fight them on indecency issues. Instead, his office went after the company over the trash they produce. A smart move!

-”This is just one battle in a much larger effort,” explains Wells’ Chief of Staff Charles Allen.

Read the rest of this entry »

Prince of Petworth hears a rumor that a new CVS may open up on a Georgia Avenue lot near Princeton Street. This is the sight of the old Farmer’s Market. So no upgrade for sure. Some comments posted are extremely polite or even joyous. Which is a surprise because let’s face it: Is there a place more hellish than a CVS?

Still. A lot of good comments. Comments like: “My vote is for the empty lot” and the suggestion to replace the lot with a badminton court or “lazer tag arena.”

Who could be against Lazer Tag?

Thanks to a tip via Prince of Petworth, we learned that Columbia Heights Coffee is expanding. The coffee shop, located at 3416 11th St. NW, is a neighborhood favorite (free wi-fi, good service). So we decided to phone the owner this morning and get more details.

The shop’s owner Nadew Delnesaw says construction on the facade should begin in about four weeks. He still has to get permits for the interior construction. But the expansion should provide a huge increase in seating. The place currently has a capacity for 15 coffee lovers. The new space, he says, could provide seating for an additional 40.

The expansion will also provide room for a performance space, Delnesaw says, and room to show hard-to-find movies. The expansion will also mean a bigger breakfast menu and room to start roasting their own coffee on site. The owner hopes to do “customized roasting.”

Sounds like some serious upgrades.

Delnesaw says this is not in any way related to a certain big-box store opening: “We’re not competing with the Target.”