The Payday Loan Consumer Protection Act, which holds once-exempt short-term lenders to the District’s 24 percent annual interest-rate cap, has passed the D.C. Council by a 12-1 vote.

The lone opponent was Ward 8 Councilmember Marion S. Barry Jr., who originally cosponsored the bill with Ward 3’s Mary Cheh. In an interview earlier this month, Barry said he didn’t understand the true nature of the bill—which lenders say will kill the payday industry—when he put his name on it.

The bill’s passage follows a pricey effort by the payday loan industry to stall its progress with a PR campaign, lobbying, and donations to community groups.

In remarks before his no vote, Barry cited the widespread appeal of payday loans, noting that there have already been more 60,000 payday transactions in the city this year, and lamented the fact that loan seekers would be forced to go to Virginia. (Maryland already has an interest-rate cap.)

“Let me say, there are some unscrupulous people in this business who have taken advantage of people,” Barry said from the dais. “Just because there’s four or five rotten eggs, you don’t throw out all the eggs.”

Barry mentioned reforms such as limiting loan “rollovers” and mandating financial counseling, but he did not introduce any amendments to the bill or substitute legislation.

Said Barry: “I want my conscience clear that I’ve done all I can do to reform this system.”

The Palisades 4th of July Parade has long been a place for D.C.’s pols to flex their campaign muscle with an election approaching. Question was, with the seemingly endless 2006 election season finally over, would the usual suspects continue to pull out all the stops on MacArthur Boulevard, or would this be a lower-key affair?

Nope—the keys stayed plenty high.

Now, I got to the parade about 20 minutes late, hoofing across town on my bike, apparently missing Adrian Fenty and a couple of others. But some notes on the rest of the lineup:

As usual, you can break the folks down into riders (folks who like to stay on high ground, taking in the big picture) and walkers (those really into the nitty-gitty, low-to-the-ground work of governing).

The Walkers: Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser (pictured above), Shadow Senator Michael Brown, At-Large Councilmember David Catania.

The Riders: Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander, Shadow Senator Paul Strauss

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At a Tuesday markup of the Taleshia Ford Memorial Amendment Act of 2007, the Committee on Public Works and the Environment voted to strike a section of the bill that would make it a crime for minors to buy alcohol at ABC-licensed establishments.

Currently, kids who buy alcoholic beverages at ABC-licensed establishments are subject to civil penalties and fines. Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham’s bill would have taken that punishment a step further. Under his legislation, a minor caught buying beer at a bar or nightclub would have had that purchase written into his or her criminal record. A provision within the bill also said the crime would be automatically expunged from the minor’s record after he or she turned 21, or through participation in the Time Dollar Youth Court, Graham says.

Ford, 17, was killed by a stray bullet at Smarta/Broadway on 9th Street NW in January. Graham introduced his bill shortly after her death and workshopped it for months with a coalition of community members, alcohol officials, and alcohol licensees. Some music-loving minors originally criticized the bill for threatening D.C.’s tradition of the all-ages show.

In its revised form, the Act prohibits unaccompanied minors under age 18 from hanging out at alcohol-licensed establishments that provide entertainment after 11 p.m. on school nights and after 12 a.m. on weekends or during the summer. They can attend events at alcohol-licensed establishments that provide entertainment if all the alcohol is locked up at the time.

At yesterday’s reading, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh offered an amendment to strike that section of the bill. In an interview, she called criminalization a “disproportionate and unnecessary” response to underage drinking at bars and clubs. “Who among us may not have tried to get a drink?” she asked. “The response is not to criminalize this behavior, but see that things are enforced that are already on the books.”

Said Graham: “It was as enlightened a provision as you could have and it seemed to be very important to our bar owners. For those reasons I voted in favor of it, but the majority of the committee opposed it.”

Cheh’s amendment was passed 2-1. The committee then voted unanimously to bring the bill before the full Council for a vote. A date for the vote has not been scheduled.

The battle over an obscure nomination by Mayor Adrian Fenty to the D.C. Zoning Commission has turned into a public soap opera.

Today, the council is debating the nomination of Geoffrey Griffis to the board. “Debating” would be the nice way of saying “dragging Griffis through the mud.”

Opponents of Griffis’ appointment just can’t forgive and forget his behavior when he was chair of the Board of Zoning Adjustment. In 2004, the National Child Research Center (NCRC) had put in for a zoning change so it could expand its facility in Northwest. As the matter was being debated, opponents of the project learned that Griffis had a personal relationship with Claire Bloch, a former member of the center’s board. He voted in favor of the zoning adjustment, and the NIMBYs hired a private detective to document his late-night rendezvous with Bloch.

All of this was recounted in writing recently when At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson called on Fenty to pull Griffis’ nomination last month. Mendelson promised a “messy” confirmation hearing—and he’s delivered. Most of the mud-slinging and salacious details have been supplied by activists who signed up to testify against Griffis. A block of Griffis supporters is lined up as well.

If that’s not enough intrigue for D.C. Cable Channel 13 viewers, consider this: Bloch was a top campaign worker for Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh’s 2006 campaign. Cheh hasn’t forgotten. She’s been acting like Griffis’ defense attorney from the dais. Campaign finance records show Bloch was paid $5,890 by the campaign. After winning the Ward 3 seat, Cheh pushed to have Bloch elected president of the Ward 3 Democrats. Bloch lost in a close election.

Those who missed today’s council hearing will get a chance to see a rerun of the steamy proceedings when the council votes on the Griffis nomination in a couple of weeks.