Turn Out The Lights: It always feels a little Christmas-y in Adams Morgan, thanks to the illuminated martini glass, music note, coffee cup, and shoe that have been hanging from lightposts in the neighborhood for the last decade. But like a tree that's dropped all its needles and needs to go out to the curb, the lights will soon be retired. The Business Improvement District in the area is replacing them with banners, like the ones that have popped up everywhere else in the District recently. On the plus side: The lights look sort of silly. On the minus side: So do banners. +1

A Drum Major For Accurate Quotes: A mere six months after people realized the National Park Service had bowdlerized Martin Luther King Jr. in inscribing a quote of his on a new memorial to the civil rights leader, the agency is getting around to fixing it. The solution—recutting the memorial slightly to fit the actual words King uttered, not the paraphrased version—turned out to be so simple that it's tempting to wonder why they didn't just do it that way the first time around. But that way lies madness! +2

Vegas, Baby: The real test of whether local favorite Lamont Peterson benefited from home judging, as Amir Khan's fans allege, in their boxing championship match here last year will come soon enough. Peterson and Khan will have a rematch in May nowhere near the District—specifically, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. If only the D.C. Council hadn't repealed iGaming, maybe we could just declare the D.C. Convention Center a casino and hold the fight here. -1

The Discontent Of Our Winter: Two years ago at this time, there was a record amount of snow on the ground and the District was pretty much paralyzed by the effects of two massive snowstorms in a row. This year, the winter's been so odd that the forecast for Saturday—a dusting of light snow showers—seems like the 2012 equivalent. Just ask the D.C. Department of Public Works, which commemorated the weather advisory by posting a photo of snowboarders on its Facebook page. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 37 Today's score: +4 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 43

“If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all the other shallow things will not matter.”

At the time the controversy broke, sculptor Lei Yixin said the full quote wouldn't fit. The solution, apparently? Cut some of the granite off to clear more room for the full line.

Photo by Lydia DePillis

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 2/3. ©2012 Michael W. Hicks

But the shortness of the meeting was a bad sign—at least for the neighbors who oppose the plan. Chairman Anthony Hood ended the meeting with a decision to wait to see if Georgetown's suite of programs (noise/party patrols, trash pick-up, paying MPD officers to stick close to campus on weekends, etc.) designed to mitigate, well, the existence of students living in Burleith and West Georgetown are actually working. In mid-April, the university and its neighbors will submit their own assessments of how terrible (or not terrible) the student presence in the neighborhoods is. On May 10, the commission will hold another meeting to discuss the issues they weren't able to reconcile last night: Enrollment, housing, and off-campus student behavior.

"They just keep kicking the can down the road," Christopher Clements, president of the campus plan-opposing Burleith Citizen's Association, told me with a shrug. "Really, we're at a point where we just want a decision." Another neighbor added, "I'm a bit disappointed in them."

And really, the winner here seems to be Georgetown. The commissioners made it clear they were uncomfortable with the Office of Planning's fall recommendation that the university house all of its students on campus or outside of the 20007 zip code. And that's the solution that all the nearby neighbors I've talked to are endorsing. But it's incredibly unlikely they're going to get it. Right now the commission seems to be giving Georgetown a "help me help you" moment.

Garden of Evil: "I have been trying for years and years to get a plot. But, in reading comments from people involved in 'running' the gardens, I am shocked at how unkind and mean-spirited everyone sounds. I thought working a garden should be enjoyable and have a calming effect, but this list seems to be overrun by even more offensive comments than our dear own AdamsMorgan list! Why is there so much anger and hatred on this list?" writes a member of the Adams Morgan email list. This prompts a second member to issue this screed: "Last year, I had also hoped to be put on the list for the garden plot lottery, but was told that signs would be posted to notify us of the schedule.  Much to my chagrin, around the time I had been told to 'look for signs,' I finally walked up to the garden gate and noticed a small 3"x5" card on the garden gate announcing the event, which had taken place the week before.   While a number of things ran through my mind, I suppose I have to take responsibility for not checking the actual gate on a weekly basis.  My fault for assuming that signs(s) might be posted in a location where I would see them more readily." The saga continues! "This year, I submitted my name  to the garden coordinator(s) via email and recently heard back that the lottery would take place this weekend.  As I will be out of town, I immediately sent an email to the garden coordinator address asking if I could have a friend attend on my behalf.  This was one week ago and I've received no response, even though the lottery is to take place in three days.  I followed up this morning and my email bounced back, as the domain appears to have expired.  Finally, I am aware of three others who attempted to sign up for the lottery in the past week, and to my knowledge, not one of them has received any kind of response."

Avenue of Errors: New Columbia Heights calls the new street signs appearing across the city 'really crappy looking (and incorrect),' and posts photos demonstrating just how badly the new signage has been executed. "Check out the sign to the right for new Hampshire Ave and the one below for Georgia Ave. The New Hampshire sign uses three different sizes: the 'ew; in New is bigger than 'ampshire' in Hampshire. It shouldn't be that way, and it looks terrible," writes the blog. "Aside from that, more things are wrong. Compare the 'G' in the sign for Georgia Ave to the sign below in Michigan using the font: they're not the same. And the lower case letters in the DC signs are way smaller than they should be: 'eorgia' and 'ampshire' are less than half as large as the upper case letters, while in the Michigan sign, they're more than 2/3 the size of the upper case letters. (In typeface lingo, upper case letters are called majuscule, and lower case are miniscule.) Furthermore, the quadrant is written as Nw, when it should be NW."

Never Enough Starbucks: On the Shepherd Park email list, an ANC commissioner posts this notice: "Royces Video at 7445 Georgia Avenue NW has closed. If you are interested or know anyone who might be interested in this space please contact" the realty company holding the property. This prompts a member to ask, "Has Ledo Pizza closed?" Another member confirms that Ledo Pizza is indeed open ("Ledo Pizza is at 7435 Georgia and OPEN for business!"), while a third suggests, "There never seem to be enough Starbucks [or Cosi] around and they appear to be underrepresented on Georgia Ave and many of their locations have limited space, like Royce's. That would be my vote. Rita's ice cream would be my second choice."

Chevy Chase Problems: On the Chevy Chase email list, a member inquires (in a thread titled, "best place to buy euros in bulk?"), "I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has recently researched which of the various currency exchange options in DC is likely to give me the best exchange rate for buying a significant number of Euros."

Your U.S. Senate At Work: Maybe it's best D.C. doesn't have any members in the Senate, after all. Because if we did, they'd probably do embarrassing things like what Pennsylvania's Democratic Sen. Bob Casey did today, which was whine on Twitter about the Nationals' plan to sell advance tickets to a May homestand against the Philadelphia Phillies only to people whose credit cards match addresses in the D.C. region. "I'm calling on the @Nationals to reverse course on a reported plan to block @Phillies fans from buying tickets to games at Nationals Park," Casey blurted. ".@Phillies have some of the best fans in the world. They shouldn’t be left out in the cold because the Nats want a stronger home field adv." Of course, it's not like the people in the Senate have anything better to worry about than how many fans of their baseball team get to travel to another city to be obnoxious in person, right? -1

Brick City: On the eastern side of the District, transportation workers have been installing streetcar tracks for some time now. And on the western end, they'll soon be ripping them up—and then putting them back in—all for looks. An $11 million Georgetown streetscaping project will involve replacing brick streets with new, more historically accurate bricks, and regrading, but keeping, long-unused tracks. The first fully finished block opened this morning. +2

Free Money Here: This morning's Washington Post seemed thicker than usual, especially for a paper without a propaganda insert from China or Russia in it. Turned out there were 35 extra pages of agate type listing thousands of people and institutions with unclaimed assets that the District government is now trying to track down. Among the names on the list: Democratic powerbroker Harold Ickes (and also my younger brother, who is finally collecting his winnings from a sports bet he placed in Las Vegas several years ago). To see if there's a windfall coming your way, click here. +3

Type This Way: When word came that the District was switching the typeface on its street signs as it replaced broken ones, it seemed like good news. But now it seems the new design isn't quite as clean as it was advertised to be. The signs, which use mixed-case letters instead of ALL UPPERCASE as the old ones do, sometimes use mixed-case letters for quadrants, too, identifying streets as being in "Nw" or "Se" instead of NW or SE. And it turns out some of them also use different fonts within the same sign. So if you spot a sign that looks wrong, no, you don't have to rush out to buy new glasses. -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 34 Today's score: +3 Today's Needle rating: 37

When selecting a community, nearly half of the public (47 percent) would prefer to live in a city (19 percent) or a suburban neighborhood with a mix of houses, shops, and businesses (28 percent). Another four in ten (40 percent) would prefer a rural area (22 percent) or a small town (18 percent). Only one in ten (12 percent) say they would prefer a suburban neighborhood with houses only.

Also of particular interest are the findings about what various types of Americans prefer:

• Younger people who are unmarried tend to prefer the convenience of smart growth, walkable communities. Subdivision-type communities appeal more to middle-aged, married couples.
• Political views are predictive of what type of communities Americans prefer.  Democrats and liberals tend to prefer smart growth-type communities, while Republicans and conservatives are more likely to favor sprawl-type communities.
• In general, adults’ current housing situations reflect their preferences.  Those who live in housing-only suburbs, small towns, and rural areas prefer more spread out, less walkable communities, whereas urban residents and those who live in suburbs with a mix of housing and businesses prefer more walkable, smart growth-type communities.
• Those on both ends of the socio-economic scale tend to prefer smart growth communities while those in the middle are more drawn to sprawl-type communities.

Above all, though, Americans really like privacy, and they'll give up smart growth for it. Which means they'd pick a detached home on its own lot in the suburbs over a rowhouse or condo in a walkable neighborhood. Anyway, there's lots more to the survey: Dig in.

Photo by Mike Hicks

Metal Chris, meet the blogger behind the corpse paint.

Veronica Jackson, the Art Booster's Booster.

Pat Walsh, General Enthusiast!!

Click a picture, get a story!!

Although the Washington Redskins didn’t have the worst record in the NFL this season (thanks, Rams and Colts), after another disappointing season fans and sports pundits are looking for a savior. And what better savior for a team that likes nothing better than to win the offseason than Peyton Manning?

After sitting out the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, Manning may become a free agent in the coming weeks, and rumors have already begun to circulate as to where he’ll end up. Falls Church resident Jim Johnson is leading a crusade of Skins fans who hope his destination is the District. (Well, Landover, Md., technically, but you know what we mean, unless you're Marion Barry or Jack Evans.)

About two weeks ago, amid the pre-Super Bowl, post-season hoopla, Johnson started DCPetitionforPeyton.com and began tweeting from @PeytonToSkins, part of a virtual campaign to rally residents around the cause of bringing Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning’s bro to town. Although he only has 62 Twitter followers so far, Johnson isn't giving up. (Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins is on board, now, too!) So Washington City Paper spoke with Johnson to pick his brain about why Peyton would be the best fit at quarterback. This interview has been edited for length.

City Paper: It has been argued that no team needs a quarterback more than the Skins (two words: Rex Grossman), but why Peyton Manning?

Johnson: I think his experience and leadership skills are the most telling. I think the reasons why we need him. You just can't teach leadership and those type of skills on a team.

WCP: What happens if Manning gets signed to the Redskins and then gets hurt?

Johnson: I think the best way to deal would be getting him and creating a team around him by picking up a top wide receiver, which is probably [Justin] Blackmon from Oklahoma State University.

And then another quarterback, a young quarterback in the 2nd or 3rd round. [Peyton] will probably be available—I mean he's turning 36 this year—so he'll probably be available for about three to four years. You always want to have a young quarterback behind you to learn. A lot of teams made the playoffs with rookie quarterbacks who were drafted in the 2nd and third round. We could certainly do that with him.

WCP: How did you feel about the Redskins' season overall?

Johnson: Disappointed. They get off to a good start and then things just go south. Just the lack of leadership, I think they have good leadership on the defensive side of the ball but not on the offensive side. That's something that bringing Peyton Manning would do.

WCP: Do you think the Redskins can afford him?

Johnson: I do. I read just a couple of days ago that's he's looking to do a performance based contract so that he gets payed based on how often he plays. so if he's not playing he's not getting payed as much, which I think would be a phenomenal thing. Trying to prove that he's still able to play so that's why he's looking for a contract that is performance based, not just money up front.

WCP: How do you respond to your site/account's many hecklers?

Johnson: I think everyone has their own opinion, it's important to voice that opinion. I enjoy any dialogue about it, this is just how I feel about it. I think it's important to express that. I don't ignore them, I certainly respond to them.

WCP: How has the general response been to the website and twitter?

Johnson: Really good. I think a lot of people have been behind it, about 40-60. Forty percent for, 60 percent against. I think it has changed as things have become more clarified and Manning has been declared as healthy. I think it has shifted more to 50-50. The site has been up for two weeks

WCP: Perfect Redskins team?

Johnson: I wouldn't bring on Kyle Orton or keep Rex Grossman, the whole team would just be any one who could support [Peyton]. Just look at the all-star teams that they have and all those guys.

Photo via PetitionforPeyton.com

McPherson Square, January 30

Sandy Point State Park, Md., January 28

Page three photos are also in a big picture gallery.

Gallery Place/Chinatown. © 2012 Michael W. hicks

Some big news today: Five big banks agreed to contribute $25 billion to help relieve the financial burden on homeowners. The money partially immunizes the banks from legal action, and NPR reports, "Most of the money—$20 billion—would go toward writing down principal payments for homeowners who were not foreclosed upon, but who are struggling now."

So what does that mean for D.C.? According to a release today, the District will get about $40 million, which is dependent on the number of homeowners who take advantage of the relief program. The District government itself will get a $4.6 million check.

Mayor Vince Gray's statement is a pleased one: This settlement is a strong win for consumers. Even homeowners who don’t receive direct monetary benefits under the settlement will benefit as the reduction in unnecessary foreclosures helps to stabilize communities and the housing market in and around D.C.”

Full release after the jump:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Local homeowners are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in mortgage principal reductions and mortgage refinancing savings under a national settlement that state and federal enforcement agencies have reached with the five leading bank mortgage servicers, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan said today.  At Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s direction, the District joined in the settlement entered into by a contingent of state attorneys general.

The total value of the settlement nationally is about $25 billion.  The portion of that amount available to D.C. homeowners is estimated at $40 million, but will depend on how many D.C. homeowners choose to participate in the principal reduction and refinancing programs.  D.C. homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure in 2008-2011 may qualify for cash payments, and the District government will receive a $4.6 million payment.

The settling servicers – which together control about 60 percent of the mortgage servicing market – have agreed to sweeping reforms to their foreclosure-related practices, to supervision by an independent monitor, and to entry of a federal court consent judgment.  The settlement resolves only civil enforcement claims relating to the origination, servicing, and foreclosure of mortgage loans. It does not address civil liability relating to the securitization of mortgages or any issues of criminal liability.  The settlement will not prevent state and federal enforcers from continuing to investigate and hold accountable those in the mortgage industry whose misconduct helped to cause the housing market collapse in 2008.

“This settlement is a strong win for consumers,” said Mayor Gray. “Even homeowners who don’t receive direct monetary benefits under the settlement will benefit as the reduction in unnecessary foreclosures helps to stabilize communities and the housing market in and around D.C.”

Attorney General Irv Nathan said “We will work to insure that part of the money the District recovers from the settlement goes to educate homeowners of their rights and access to funds under the settlement.  Our office will also be vigilant to enforce the settlement in federal court if its provisions are violated or ignored by the banks.”

Borrowers may qualify for benefits under the settlement if their mortgages have been serviced by Bank of America, Citi, GMAC/Ally, JPMorgan Chase, or Wells Fargo.  Borrowers seeking information about their eligibility for settlement benefits may contact their servicers at these numbers:

Bank of America   1-877-488-7814

Citi   1-866-272-4749

Chase   1-866-372-6901

GMAC/Ally   1-800-766-4622

Wells Fargo   1-800-288-3212

General information can be seen at www.NationalMortgageSettlement.com.

Photo by Mr. T in DC via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

The Baltimore-Washington Newspaper Guild sent its members another memo this morning about the buyout offer at the Washington Post, clarifying a bit about who's eligible. Yesterday, the union indicated that six local government and politics staffers were exempt from the offer; the buyout is targeting a total of nine employees in the Metro department, out of 48 jobs targeted for elimination.

Editor Marcus Brauchli reportedly told Posties the paper was only offering buyouts to people in coverage areas where the Post "could afford to absorb reductions," and not in "core areas." So it seemed the local government beat was considered a "core area," despite the focus on Metro jobs.

Turns out that's not necessarily the case. Fredrick Kunkle, the Guild's co-chairman at the Post, says those local staffers are exempt either because they've been at the paper for too short a time to qualify for the buyout, or they're part-time, or they're out on leave—all categories that disqualify any Post employee from taking the buyout.

Full memo after the jump:

Colleagues,

We’d like to clarify something we said in yesterday’s Bulletin. We noted that the Post has listed, by age and job title, every position that is eligible or ineligible for the buyout. And this is true. But the Post has advised us that this eligibility list is only a function of hiring date, employment status — full-time v. part-time — and whether a person is on leave. That’s because it turns out that those who are on leave are also exempted, which is something that was pointed out to us after we put out the Bulletin.

So, in other words, there is a list that spells out, for those departments and units that are targeted for buyouts, which employees are eligible and which are not and lists them by age and job title. For example, the Post has exempted six employees on the Local Politics Government team and eight in the National Economics and Business team and listed their exact ages and job titles. But the Post has told us this is because those folks are either part-time, recent hires or on leave. The buyout offer is only for full-time staff hired before Jan. 1, 2010 in selected departments who are “actively working,” according to the Post documents.

We apologize for any confusion. We will try to keep you updated as we learn more.

Please remember we would also like to hear from you if you would like to join the bargaining committee. We will do everything in our power to secure the best terms for everyone.

I would also like to remind you all — and especially those of you are covered by the Guild contract but do not pay your dues — that one of the main reasons the Post is offering buyouts and is not just tapping people on the shoulder and telling them to go, is because you have a union and a contract. In the past couple years, I have probably heard all the reasons why people do not do the right thing and sign up–(”Hey, I’m an Ivy League grad, a star, and my editor loves me–what me worry?”, “I can’t afford it,” “I have philosophical differences with organized labor,” “My generation doesn’t do unions,” etc.) — but that’s all just brave talk. If you’re not exempt, you do enjoy protections that you would not have if the Post, like any company, did not have to deal with an organized workforce. This includes news aides, columnists, editorial writers, video journalists and reporters of all kinds — including some who in their work seem highly sympathetic about American labor’s struggles but who are curiously uninterested in their own union–and commercial employees too. We are very grateful for those of you who already understand this. We’re only as strong as all of you.

Cheers,

Freddy

Photo by dionhincliffe via Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

The District has long had an issue with truancy, Wright told me yesterday. "We think part of the issue is that parents and kids don’t understand the linkage between a day’s absence and how much learning is lost," he says. The campaign—which included a back to school campaign in the fall—will cost between $500,000 and $700,000 "spread across several agencies."

There will be radio ads targeting parents on stations like Majic 102.3 and Praise 104.1, and banner ads on buses and bus shelters for teenagers (one slogan:"The more you learn, the more you earn"). The greatest challenge, Wright says, is reaching ninth graders, a group whose school attendance tends to predict future success.

But as we noted a couple of days ago, there are predictors that are helping researchers find potential dropouts as early as the third grade. An ad campaign is certainly a well-meaning effort, but it's hard to believe that ninth graders will all of a sudden be moved to stop cutting class because an ad says they should. I asked Wright whether there would be metrics for measuring the success of the campaign; half a million bucks is a lot of money, after all.

He says that while the message is intended to help create a "schoolgoing culture" citywide, they'll be targeting three truancy-heavy high schools in particular: Cardozo, Ballou, and Anacostia. Students at those schools will be asked to sign an attendance pledge, and there are plans to measure student response and attendance over the course of the school year.

Photo by WzrdsRule via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

The bill needed broader support from the Prince George’s House delegation county affairs committee to win approval but fell short on a 3-2 vote. Prince George’s Dels. Carolyn Howard and James Proctor, both Democrats, voted no. Voting for the measure besides Frush were Dels. Jolene Ivey and Justin Ross. Del. Veronica Turner (D) was absent. The measure can come before the panel two more times, and the full delegation could take it up even without the panel’s endorsement.

On Tuesday, the Prince George’s County Council voted 8-0 with one member abstaining to endorse the bill, which first needs approval in Annapolis before the council could enact the bag tax. Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) had also backed the bill. Intense lobbying from plastic bag manufacturers operating as the American Chemistry Council helped scuttle the measure. Opponents of the bill said they worried that it could hurt low-income residents.

Photo by Mr. T In D.C. via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

(Correction: Due to a reporting error, this post originally misidentified the legislature involved.)