A local Girl Scouts troop is speaking out against major Nationals advertiser ExxonMobil. According to a press release from The Coalition to Strike Out Exxon:

The Washington Nationals ballpark is the first stadium to be LEED Silver Certified by the U.S. Green Building Council … Yet the Nationals continue to accept millions of advertising dollars from Exxon, by far one of the world’s biggest contributors to global warming.

The Girl Scouts have joined the campaign to prevent Nationals Park from being renamed in Exxon’s honor. In the process, the scouts will fulfill every girl’s dream: Getting to wear a polar bear outfit. This Sunday, June 29, the girls will bear up to raise awareness about the Nats funder:

Sunday is “Nats Conversion Day,” when the first 10,000 fans that bring in any old MLB merchandise can trade it in for a brand-new Nats Curly W cap courtesy of ExxonMobil. The girl scouts will don polar bear suits and hold up signs about ExxonMobil and global warming as people enter the stadium.

Photo by mape s

Slow-moving automobiles are making their way eastward in this great city of ours.

The Neighborhood Pace Car Program, sponsored by the D.C. Department of Transportation in partnership with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), has already taken root in Ward 3 and is currently creeping (at 30 mph or so) into Ward 6.

The safety program asks neighborhood motorists “to take responsibility for the impact of their own driving while setting the ‘pace’ for safer streets and neighborhoods.” It also asks them to place the special pace car decal in a prominent spot on their automobiles, so that other motorists don’t just assume that the driver is (a) trolling for a parking space; or (b) a longtime subscriber to AARP The Magazine.

Eve DeCoursey, a spokesperson for WABA, says the pace car idea originated in Australia. “Instead of just involving the engineers to FORCE the speed limit,” she writes, “or just involving the police to ENFORCE the speed limit, it also involves the drivers themselves(!) encouraging them to take responsibility for the impact that the velocity of their vehicles have on our neighborhood and community streets.”

DeCoursey goes on to say that the “risk and danger that a driver introduces to the street scape when driving 10-15mph beyond the speed limit is significant.”

Pat Munoz, who signed up to be a pace car driver in Northwest, says it hasn’t been an enormous part of her life because she doesn’t drive that much. But when she does drive, the sticker helps remind her to slow down and pay attention.

“Zooming around in your car isn’t conducive to having a nice neighborhood,” Munoz says. Munoz also says she hasn’t noticed if cleaving to the speed limit has convinced other drivers to slow down. “Maybe the people behind me…”

—Rend Smith

An enduring mystery of District life, at least for me, a non-District resident: Why is the Exxon at the corner of Virginia Avenue NW and Rock Creek Parkway so bloody expensive? Today a gallon of regular will set you back $3.69 at that station. That’s 20 cents more than the next most expensive station in D.C. , according to Gasbuddy.com. I pass by this station every day and am always surprised by how much it costs to gas up there.

I’ve heard predictions that gas will hit $4 a gallon by this summer; that station is on course to hit that price point by next month! And I just don’t understand why the invisible hand isn’t working in this case. Do Watergate residents enjoy the station’s quaint exterior so much that they don’t mind paying such a premium? Is the service amazing? How about the coffee? Why is this place still in business?

Artwork by unclejerry