The Issue:

The headline-snatching councilmember, Jim Graham, angered cabbies by proposing to instate a district medallion system, which would charge taxis a monthly fee to operate, and also aim to cap the district’s 8,000 cab drivers. According to the Washington Post, Graham pulled the bill on Wednesday, a decision that reportedly has “nothing to do” with the arrest of his chief of staff. So why are the cabbies still honking?

Metro It: Cab drivers hope to send a message to Ward 1 residents that the medallion system needs to be shoved off the table: John Porterfield of the Dominion of Cab Drivers told City Desk, “We want to motivate business owners in Adams Morgan that DC cab drivers are an integral part of business. They can’t just do what they’ve done to us and not have any retribution…it’s time for you people to throw Jim Graham under the bus.”

Cab It: The legislation has been discarded—and it’s unclear how many drivers will actually boycott the area, and how many will just hike up fares. And of course, the stranded wasted college students affected by the strike can’t actually vote in Ward 1.

Next Step: The taxicab hearing has been postponed to later this month, but keep track of the ongoing saga before penciling it into your calendar...

Photo by Thomas Hawk, Creative Commons Attribution License

Washington is turning on all its institutions! The Burgundy Revolution is no longer stopping at Dan Snyder's door! (Though Sally Jenkins' column is.) TO WIT:

1) Washington Post Magazine chat turns into TOTAL BLOODBATH! Readers want to know: WHY DO THE ARTICLES LOOK LIKE ADS? WHY DID YOU USE THOSE FONTS? HOW IN THE HELL DID SECOND GLANCE MAKE THE CUT? Editors stammer, run inside, toss a Chuck Brown feature off the parapets. It's not gonna work!

After the jump, more evidence the whole town is going Montecore.

2) Thomas Boswell turns on the Nats, but maybe he's turning on all of D.C. when he calls it "the only top-10 market with the gall to act like a bottom-five town." REVOLUTION!

3) Cabbies in Adams Morgan turn on drunks! This is like Jason Linkins turning on bad writing!

4) The new Washington Post local homepage causes me to turn against remaining informed! Not because of the page, which I like, but because of this animated lady with a Smedneck accent who keeps popping up every time I return. Isn't there some kind of technology that ensures I see her only once?

What's next? A mob in front of Ian MacKaye's house demanding he apologize for Egg Hunt?

BIKE COMMUTING CORNER: Soon it will rain a lot. Get yourself some fenders. There are many expensive ways to do this, and I used to subscribe to them, but these days I'm high on the "chromoplastic" SKS fenders that you can pop on in a half-hour and that do just as nice a job as expensive French or Japanese ones that you need to pay some guy at City Bikes $30 to install after you nearly kill yourself trying to get a decent fender line that can be destroyed by a stick getting sucked up between your tire and fender. These will simply detach safely if that happens. Don't be the chump with the gnarvosis stripe up your back! Buy them from REI and they'll ship them to the store for free.

I gotta bounce! My sink is broken! Follow me on Twitter!

Click image to enlarge

It's Art: The sculpture did win the survey, even if only 100 people took part: Chris, writing on the Adams Morgan listserv, says, "I find the sculpture quirky and bright and a tad over the top. Reflects the neighborhood."

If It's Art, I Don't Want It In My Neighborhood: Some residents feel the official poll was too small to reflect the wishes of the broader community (in a larger online survey at the blog Greater Greater Washington, "Bicycle Musician" came in last.) John, also writing on the listserv, says, "Why, oh why must all Adams Morgan public art look like it was designed to appeal to toddlers? This is pretty bad."

Next Step: Rachel Dickerson, spokesman for DCCAH, told City Desk that due to large community input, both “pro and against,” DCCAH has submitted a revised version of the bicycle sculpture based on the recommendations of the Commission of Fine Arts Board. DCCAH has been meeting this week to discuss the sculpture, so check back Friday for more information on the finalized version.

Image courtesy of DCCAH

UPDATE: Gloria Nauden, spokesman for DCCAH, confirmed on the Adams Morgan listserv that the bicycle sculpture has indeed been tabled. She says, "art is incredibly subjective...and we want to ensure the art is reflective of the Adams Morgan community."

John Little's estate (1856)

Dig up a bit of D.C. - literally - and you might be surprised at how much you find. It's well known that slave labor built the U.S. Capitol, that there were slave pens near the National Mall, and that there was a slave market just across from the National Archives. But a new site of interest - perhaps part of a property owned by one of D.C.'s biggest slave owners - has been discovered in Adams Morgan.

Ruins were recently uncovered in June by workers renovating the public volleyball court in Kalorama Park. Building contractors hit some bricks under a magnolia tree. They called in Louis Berger Group Inc. consultants to dig a bit more.

To the untrained eye, the finding looks like a couple of old walls. But to Jason Shellenhamer, who was part of the archeological team, they are far more, as he explained during a community presentation this week.

After studying maps from the mid-1800s to early 1900s and looking at the type of bricks, he concluded that the walls could be part of a rental house or carriage house attached to the property of 19th century cattle farmer and slave-owner John Little. His estate covered 56 acres, stretching north from Florida Avenue to Columbia Road and west from Champlain St. to Rock Creek.

The archeologist expects that the newly discovered site will be reburied - it's the best way of preserving it.

If you fancy trying to navigate around John Little's world, here are a few other places of interest:

1) Behind Julia's Empanadas, 2452 18th St. NW: Some of Little's slaves were buried here; his best known was Hortense Prout. According to neighborhood historian Mary Belcher, Prout made a daring bid for freedom in 1861. Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the arrival of Union troops, the 20-year-old slipped away from the farm. But she was found in one of the regiment camps, "completely rigged out in male attire," according to a Washington Evening Star article of the time, and returned to her owner.

2) St Margaret's Episcopalian Church, 1830 Connecticut Ave. NW: The church was named after Little's wife, Margaret, according to Lonn Taylor, a curator at the National Museum of American History. Legend has it that, one evening in 1892, Sophia Little, their daughter, was entertaining guests at their home at 19th Street and Columbia Road when she said she would fancy a church in the neighborhood named for her mother. One guest piped up: "Well. Let’s start this thing right now." He passed around the lid of a candy box and, by the end of the night, $5,000 had been raised.

3) The Old Brass Knob Warehouse, 2329 Champlain St. NW : Champlain Street used to be a stream, according to Belcher, and Little's butchery was somewhere on the west bank, in the vicinity of the Old Brass Knob. She suspects there could have been a steakhouse attached. The evidence? When a previous owner, Dominique Kostelac, began to develop the site a couple of years back, his excavations turned up hundreds of old bottles of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.

If only this car could talk. Though it looks like somebody thought it could talk, which is why they shot it full of holes.

In any case, there's gotta be a story behind the black vehicle identified in its temporary tags as a 1998 Land Rover (VIN #391804) now sitting across the street from Pierce Park in Adams Morgan.

There are magic marker-type writings on the windows that seem to indicate somebody from the 5th District of the Metropolitan Police Department marked the car on May 9. That same somebody tried to cover the shot-up windows and put duct tape over the bullet holes. They're big holes.

A neighborhood resident told me some shady-looking fellows who didn't look anything like cops recently dumped the auto off as discreetly as they could. The resident told me the dumpers didn't appear to be happy when they noticed somebody was watching the drop.

Bottom line: Something bad happened with this car.

And now it's taking up a prime parking spot.

The latter's really gotta get folks steamed.

"I have been in media for 30 years, and there's never been a more preposterous story than this one," he says.

When WJLA-TV trained his cameras on him last week outside the John A. Wilson Building, he says, he mentioned nothing of legislation---only that jumbo slice pizzerias happen to be associated with certain problems, he says. "When they turn their speakers to the sidewalk, ramp up the volume, and have terrible fights occur not only outside the place but inside the place, when they provide kind of an unruly boardwalk atmosphere, they become a nuisance." But that doesn't mean legislation! He has no such bill in the works, Graham says.

"It's wrong, it's inaccurate, and it's unfair," he says. "To suggest that this is my point of view is absurd."

LL is currently seeking a response from Channel 7.

UPDATE, 6:10 P.M.: WJLA-TV reporter John Gonzalez says Graham indeed told him, in response to a question, that he was considering legislation. “He said, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve already talked to the mayor.’ And I asked, ‘You mean to revoke licenses?’ He said, ‘I mean, yeah.’”

“I have it on camera,” Gonzalez adds. “I have the raw video!”

If Graham has a quarrel, he says, it might be with the lede-in read Friday night by anchor Leon Harris, which said that Graham “wants to ban the sales of single-slice pizza.”

Says Gonzalez, “I can understand why that made him a little upset…it’s sexy to say that the councilmember wants to get rid of pizza, but that’s not really true.”

Gonzalez adds that many of Graham’s anti-pizzeria comments were left on the cutting-room floor. “I don’t think he realized the kind of reaction he was going to get,” he says. “Apparently people take those jumbo slices very seriously.”

Frozen Tropics believes that H Street/Trinidad just might be safer than Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan:

"I feel safer living here than in Columbia Heights. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like I know too many people who have been robbed in Columbia Heights. And when I say robbed, I mean pistol whipped, punched, or hit in the head with a brick. None of these people were resisting. By contrast, I only know (personally) one guy who was ever violently attacked during a robbery in this area. That was when he resisted (rightly, because the bastards tried to force him into an alley, and you should resist at that point)...."

JDLand has a review (with photos) of the new beer garden (called I believe the "Bullpen"). She is very kind. That place feels like walking through something Clear Channel barfed: bad cover band, dudes, and the smell of stale beer all in a fenced-in slab of asphalt. On second thought, it's not something that Clear Channel barfed. It feels like a prison yard sponsored by Clear Channel. Awesome redevelopment!

Anyway, JDLand writes: "When I arrived around 6 pm, there was a healthy crowd, and the spirits (emotional and liquid) seemed to be flowing well." How....polite.

And Now, Anacostia profiles a historic piece of Good Hope Road property that's set to be auctioned off on Wednesday.

Penn Quarter Living wonders if work has been completed at 901 E Street NW.

After two officers were injured and a suspect was fatally shot early Saturday morning at Champlain and Kalorama streets in Adams Morgan, Councilmember Jim Graham got on the Listserv, of course. Rather than merely informing residents of the incident and investigation, he offered up some pats on his own back for efforts to open Champlain at what he describes as the "NOTORIOUS" spot where it deadends under the Marie Reed breezeway. Graham let us know that he's secured the funding for this project and pushed for bids to go out June 2.

In a phone interview today, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bryan Weaver lifts the veil of tension between him and his councilmember on this issue. "When you use the incident as a way to push...personal agendas, it's not fair to the police officers who were shot and on the scene immediately, who took the life of another human being."

And it's not about Champlain's dead zone being particularly dangerous, he says. "In many ways, [the closed street] is a perfect storm of bad city managment, bad public policy, and conditions of a wildly gentrifying area, cultivated in one area."

But, yes, says Weaver: "It probably is time to open the breezeway."

The original plan of the street---the one that closed it off at Kalorama---was designed so that people could easily walk to a Marie Reed that was supposed to be a catchall community resource: a school, a health clinic, a rec center, a senior center, says Weaver. Now the place comes off as dangerous, at the most, unfriendly, at the least, and it sits close to half-million-dollar condos bought by people who'd be more likely to be look to Mint Fitness than Marie Reed's community pool.

If Weaver had his way, the street would open AND some of that earmark money Graham is famous for securing would go to remaking Marie Reed into the inviting place it was intended to be, "especially at a time when Boys & Girls Clubs are closing in this city....If we're going to do the one thing---opening the street so that traffic can get out of Adams Morgan---why not this? I view it as a win-win. The people who want the reopening will get it and the people who still want a safe, dignified community center could get that, too."

So: Although Weaver's against using the recent shooting as a way to take credit for opening the dead zone of Champlain, he's not opposed to it starting a conversation on improving Marie Reed.

And about that incident: According to Weaver, one of the cops was treated and released after being grazed by a bullet; the other's "going to make a full recovery, but it could take awhile." A low-caliber bullet is still lodged in his tissue and doctors are considering leaving it there, since it's not damaging any major organs.

Photo of "trashy twins" by M.V. Jantzen

This follows Saturday morning's mayhem in Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan. The D.C. Police Department issued a press release concerning the police shootout in which a suspect was killed.

Release after the jump.

The department writes:

At approximately, 3:10 am on Saturday, May 16, 2009, two Third District police officers working a plain clothes assignment were on foot in the area of Kalorama Road and Champlain Street NW. The officers observed a fight and witnessed an individual fire a handgun. The officers approached the individual, identified themselves as police officers and ordered him to drop his weapon.

Instead of complying, the man fled into the 2200 block of Champlain Street NW. The police officers pursued the suspect on foot. As the officers attempted to apprehend the suspect, he raised his weapon towards them and gunfire was exchanged. The suspect and the officers were struck.

DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department personnel responded, but could find no signs consistent with life for the suspect. The suspect was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where he was pronounced dead at 8:54 am. The deceased suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Michael Griffin of the 1400 block of Fairmont Street, NW.

Both officers were transported to a local hospital. One officer was admitted in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the body. The other officer was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg and released.

In cooperation with the Homicide Unit, the police shooting is currently under investigation by the department’s Force Investigations Team. The Third District Detectives office is investigating the offenses leading up to the shooting.

The Heights Life has some Grahamstanding on the fatal Columbia Heights shooting. The councilmember sent out some sort of update:

"The shooting was targeted, and reportedly related to gang beefs that have been ongoing since the murders in Dec/Jan. Another young adult, Paul Jones, was shot and killed by LaFonte Carlton this past January on the 1300 block of Columbia. Carlton is now facing two murder charges.

There has been a constant police presence in this block ever since."

Really? Constant police presence? Are you sure you want to stick with constant?

In addition to the new Safeway coming to Georgetown, the go-to D.C. grocery chain is planning similar overhauls at the Southwest Waterfront and Petworth.

At the Waterfront, preliminary work is under way for the new store, which will go up behind the current building near the Metro. When completed in 2011, the old store will be demolished. And, much to the delight of the lunch-starved masses, it will have an enhanced deli with sandwiches made to order.

Petworth's store on Georgia Avenue NW will follow a model similar to what's going on in Georgetown---a new, expanded store will go up where the existing store stands. That means the old store will close at some point. Also, parking will be moved below ground. The space occupied by the current parking lot will be added to the footprint of the new store, taking it from about 20,000 square feet to about 55,000 square feet. Safeway spokesman Craig Muckle says Petworth's plans are not as far along as the Waterfront's and hesitated to give a projected completion date. "I don't have a good sense right now, but I'd say ballpark will be sometime in 2011. It won't be next year, I can tell you that," he says.

Meanwhile, demo is slightly behind schedule at the Social Safeway, which closed last Sunday and will remain closed for nine or 10 months. Knock-down will happen "in the next couple of weeks," says Muckle, who had previously stated it was going to happen right after the store closed. "I'm not going to call anybody out," he says, on why it's taking longer than planned, but added Safeway is going forward with an "aggressive" plan to open the new store by March 2010.

Renovations are also coming to Columbia Road. Adams Morgan's Safeway will stay open during its facelift. Despite the empty storefronts adjacent to the cramped store, there are no plans to expand. "We weren't able to work anything out," says Muckle.

The Heights Life reminds one and all: the U Street and Mount Pleasant farmer's markets start back up this weekend. The blog has all the relevant info.

Frozen Tropics has an interesting little Car vs. Checkers incident involving the possibility of booze and a fence. A sad scene that you won't see in Bethesda.

Penn Quarter Living reminds one and all that the Humanities Council is offering grants to non-profits whose projects involve the preservation of the city's heritage. Here's one thing we could document: D.C.'s go-go heritage. Could someone build a P.A. tape library?

El Guapo in DC writes:

"Have you made love to a Latino man since we last spoke? Do you long for his touch, his stone washed jeans and magical loins? Bueno.

I do not write to you today with something good to say. In fact, of late, there have been tears slowly dropping and clinging to my mustache. My beautiful mustache that is so lustrous in the spring is now damp with Latino sadness. And trust me, Guatemalan tears are often cultivated by gypsies to keep raccoons away, so this is no good.

What makes this Mayan descendant fall to his knees and sob?

The women of Washington, DC. They have once again conspired to make mi vida hit the brick wall of life."

The 42 notes that some Hooters-meets-Key-West-themed bar was supposed to open up in Adams Morgan. It probably won't: "Remember Splash? The daiquiri bar promising hot, scantily clad wait staff? It was supposed to open in Adams Morgan in the fall of 2007. The space used to be the home of Santa Rosa restaurant which had closed earlier in that year. The address is 2224 18th Street NW, next to Awash Restaurant...."