“The river was seen as a vein of Mother Earth; it was salty, like blood, and it tasted like blood,” says Gabrielle Tayac, a Piscataway Indian (the closest descendants the Nacotchtanks have left) and historian at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. “It was part of the living system.”

In June 1608, John Smith sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to the Potomac and its eastern branch, what would become known as the Anacostia. Buffered by thick forests, the Anacostia was 40 feet deep as far north as what is now Bladensburg, and Smith marveled at its clarity.

Then the Europeans put a crushing end to this Edenic idyll. By the time of the Civil War, the Anacostia was nearly a dead thing. And then it got worse.

There's lots more, like the story of one the country's oldest black yacht clubs, and the young people who work to clean up the river. And it reminds me of the more pragmatic look Alex Baca took at the state of the river earlier this year:

Sure, it's common knowledge that the Anacostia is in bad shape. But the report—a joint effort between the Anacostia Watershed Society and the office of the Anacostia Riverkeeper that will be repeated yearly from now on—makes it clear just how unhealthy the river actually is.

The report contains a Water Quality Report Card and a Political Report Card. The former rates dissolved oxygen, fecal bacteria, water clarity, and chlorophyll in three separate portions of the river (Maryland and upper and lower D.C.); the latter, whether or not jurisdictions surrounding the river are making good strides in environmental policy. (Though a political report card that included a section on fecal bacteria might not be a bad idea.)

Some highlights: Montgomery County has stormwater regulations and has clearly stated an improved Anacostia River is desirable, but Prince George's County and the state of Maryland do not have stable stormwater ordinances and have not expressed interest in cleaning up the river. D.C. has passed the bag tax, but has stalled on cleaning up known toxic sites like Poplar Point. It'll take 4,063 years for water clarity to improve in the upper D.C. portion of the Anacostia, and 55 for fecal bacteria to no longer be in issue in the Maryland portion.

Ten Years Later: It was deja vu all over again this morning, as the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks approaches. Vague, unspecified warnings of terrorist strikes on either New York or D.C., urgings of "vigilance" from authorities, and wall-to-wall freakout coverage on cable news. Will the whole world be blown up this weekend? We suspect probably not. But the warning brought an unwelcome edge to all the retrospectives in the air anyway; we're very much looking forward to Sept. 12, 2011. -2

Scofflaws Unite: Amnesty really works. Or at least, that's the lesson from the first month of the District's forgiveness program for parking tickets: The city took in $976,341 in fees it otherwise wouldn't have gotten (since the people paying them had, so far, successfully dodged collection attempts). Maryland drivers paid the most, $475,360; District drivers paid $282,021, and Virginians paid $155,438. Which is to say, yes, go ahead and key that car with Free State plates. +2

Plants Or Petroleum?: The story keeps changing for what, exactly, the oil slick-looking mess on the Anacostia River was this summer. At first, it wasn't an oil slick. Then it was maybe an oil slick. Then it was silt. Now, the official word from the Environmental Protection Agency, is that it was algae. Rain, which we've apparently had a little bit of recently, helped kill it off. +1

Happy Birthday, Washington!: Our fair city celebrates a milestone today—it was 220 years ago that the nation's capital was named after George Washington and Christopher Columbus. Originally, the District was known as the "Territory of Columbia," and the federal portion was the "City of Washington." No word on whether city workers qualify, by proxy, for birthday drink specials. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 51 Today's score: +2 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 55

Hoya Paranoia: Big East basketball is tough—plays that might be called technical fouls in other conferences barely merit a glance from the refs. But that doesn't mean the Georgetown Hoyas were ready for what they got today in China, in the second game of their "goodwill tour." A bench-clearing brawl ended the game in the fourth quarter, as a crowd of Bayi Rockets fans in Beijing threw things at Georgetown players, who exchanged punches with the Rockets, then left the arena. (One widely circulated photo showed guard Jason Clark being stomped on by two opponents.) Presumably the Syracuse game will look kind and gentle by comparison. -1

Silt Spill: The mysterious substance befouling the Anacostia River (and causing several clean-up attempts by officials worried it was oil) has finally been identified, and it is... silt. Yes, the same stuff that naturally occurs in, oh, just about every river in the world. Evidently there was more of it than usual recently, in part because it rained last weekend for what felt like the first time ever, and it amassed in sufficient quantities to look threatening. No word on whether authorities will be called out next to deal with the sudden presence of odd green plantlife growing on what had previously been patchy bits of dead straw on people's lawns around town. +2

Carsharing Is Carcaring: For years, Zipcar (and before the companies merged, FlexCar) has been able to park its sharable vehicles on District streets either for free or for a $200 annual fee. Those days are about to end; a serious rhetorical battle is about to begin. D.C. officials auctioned off 84 curbside parking spots Zipcar used to use, leaving the company with only 12. The change only affects 10 percent of Zipcar's vehicles, but the Zipcar folks are unhappy enough about it that they've told customers who don't like where the spots are relocated to or what rental rates do to contact DDOT boss Terry Bellamy. What, exactly, does a pack of angry Zipsters look like? We'll find out soon enough. -1

Take Me Out to the Opera: The Washington Nationals won't be playing baseball late next month; they're already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this year. But the ballpark won't be going unused—the Washington National Opera will broadcast Puccini's Tosca to the stadium on Sept. 22, with free seats available in the outfield grass. No word yet on whether Ben's Chili Bowl and Shake Shack will be open. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 63 Today's score: +1 Today's Needle rating: 64

That's No Oil Spill, That's Our River: D.C. officials and the Coast Guard responded last night to reports of an oil spill on the Anacostia River. The good news: There was no oil spill. The bad news: The river is sufficiently polluted that they thought there was. Keep toting those reusable bags. -3

The Rich Are Different From You And Me: The housing market is doing better here than in the rest of the country, but the days when a home doubled as an ATM machine are over. Except, apparently, for the very wealthy, who are swapping property like they're playing Monopoly. Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis literally traded houses with Nextel founder Chris Rogers, accounting for two of the five most expensive residential real estate transactions in the area this year. Meanwhile, in Great Falls, kids are driving Jaguars to high school. -2

Livable, Walkable, Huntable: D.C. Councilmember Tommy Wells is a frequent advocate of policies aimed at getting people out of their cars, and now we know why—his own car is quite dangerous. Wells hit a deer while in Minnesota, totaling his wife's car. No word on whether he'll be setting up a venison stand at a Ward 6 farmers market now. -1

Memorial Day: The original plan for the new memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. set to open later this month would have required tickets for D.C. residents who wanted to take advantage of a special open house just for us. Organizers have since realized that a celebration of King's life should be open to all; now they say they won't turn anyone away on Aug. 23, between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. The main event for the memorial will be Aug. 28, 48 years after the March on Washington; Metro will open early and provide free parking. +2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 67 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 63

"It's not that deep," says Veronica Davis. "All I said was black people don't like the cold."

But the blog post in which the Greater Greater Washington contributor (and Life in the Village blogger) made that observation brought on some criticism. "I was basically called racist," Davis says. In her Monday post, Davis sought to explain why Capital Bikeshare usage is low east of the Anacostia River. Davis, who lives in Hillcrest, wrote the piece in response to a Bikeshare trip map that showed the service wasn't popular on her side of the river.

Responding to the map, some commenters had suggested moving the Bikeshare stations. An African American, Davis pointed to various reasons the community's majority-black population might not have taken to the big red two-wheelers. She listed things like "start-up costs"—the bike renting program requires a $75 annual fee—and topography: "East of the river also has many steep hills, making bicycling along some major corridors more difficult."

The last reason on her list, "seasonal usage," prompted Davis to write a sentence that eventually earned a strikethrough from GGW editors: "In general, African-Americans, which make up the large majority of the residents east of the river, are averse to colder temperatures."

A number of the 120 comments that followed took offense to Davis' assertion, which she followed up with a salient point about the futility of introducing Bikeshare stations during the latter part of the year. "Because relatively few residents were cyclists prior to the introduction of CaBi, the chances that the uninitiated bike rider is going to start cycling in late fall or the winter are relatively low."

As an African American who appreciates both a good cold snap and bikes, I'm not sure about being genetically predisposed to shunning Bikeshare stations during the cold months. In fact, as long as there's a bike available and no snow on the ground, I prefer pedaling to riding public transit.

But Davis explains she wasn't positing a scientific theory when she mentioned African Americans not liking the chill. It's just something that's said among black people, she says: "If I had said that to an entirely black audience, no one would have been offended." The small piece of controversy might have overshadowed the core of Davis' piece, which, more than simply explaining a lack of enthusiasm for Bikeshare East of the River, sought to combat an emerging perception Davis doesn't like– that District blacks are and will remain anti-bike.

One thing that may solve the east of the river Bikeshare problem is adding more stations, as opposed to taking them away. As Washington City Paper's Lydia Depillis points out: "The more stations there are, the more valuable the whole system becomes to its users, since they can access bikes in more places and get closer to where they need to go." According to Davis, currently there are 11 stations east of the Anacostia, with two out of commission.

Another thing that might help marketing Bikeshare to a community with fewer resources than the population as a whole is taking pains to convince potential riders their foray into bicycling won't end with them reeling from a financial hit. Besides the annual fee, a user can end up being charged $1,000 if a bike goes missing.

Photo by James D. Schwartz via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

What do you think? The Anacostia River seems awfully wavy, eh? That allows the top of "RESENTATI" in the word "Representation" to peek out of the water; the plates do try to preserve the "Taxation Without Representation" motto on the District's usual plates. But with the lettering of the slogan in black, that doesn't quite mix well with the blue of the water, does it? A lighter color would have worked better, but a greenish-yellow hue might reinforce the notion that the river is not clean.

In the meantime, it seems that the District's efforts to achieve statehood and expanded voting rights are currently drowning in the Anacostia River.

Toxic sites along the Anacostia River.

The District's waterfront was busy this week. On Tuesday, a slew of politicians attended the ribbon cutting for Yards Park, a $42 million undertaking that boasts sprawling views of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers.

Less than a mile northeast, a coalition of organizations—the Anacostia Watershed Society, Anacostia Watershed Citizens Advisory Committee, Anacostia Riverkeeper, D.C. Environmental Network, Groundwork Anacostia River and the Sierra Club Environmental Justice—released a much less glamorous message at the former location of Washington Gas & Light.

Six land-based sites along the Anacostia River are toxic, and "contribute to contamination of the Lower Anacostia River," according to a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency's Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin. While cleanup efforts are underway at the Washington Navy Yard, the Southeast Federal Center, and Poplar Point, three sites—Kenilworth Landfill, Pepco Benning Road, and Washington Gas & Light—could qualify for Superfund designation.

"If measures to comprehensively address these sites in a transparent and legally enforceable manner are not in effect by mid December 2010, EPA intends to address these sites using appropriate Federal authorities," states Garvin's letter. Brent Bolin, the Anacostia Watershed Society's director of advocacy, emphasized that there has been no response from Mayor Adrian Fenty or his administration.

"The EPA has made it clear that three out of six sites are worth of Superfund listing. The mayor's office has not been enthusiastic... everyone wants to see redevelopment come to [riverfront] communities. They'd like this to be quieter to make redevelopment easier," he stated at Tuesdsay's press conference.

Many officials came from the Yards Park ribbon cutting to the press conference, including Council Chairman Vincent Gray, Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, and Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry. Those in attendance pledged their dedication to kickstart a transparent cleanup process of the Anacostia River by meeting the EPA's December 2010 deadline. The mayor did not attend.

Gray, Wells, and Barry with Brent Bolin of the Anacostia Watershed Society.

Asked about past and present mayoral responses to river cleanup efforts, Jim Collier, a former supervisor of DDOE's Water Quality Division, wrote in an e-mail, "Mayor Williams supported the restoration of the Anacostia River and made efforts to find ways to finance the programs. The last Fenty budget made large cuts in the DDOE stormwater budget..."

Anacostia Riverkeeper Dottie Yunger noted that "The administration has known all along about the toxic sites. At Poplar Point, the administration planned development instead of cleanup. The Mayor signed the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009,  but then tried to raid its cleanup fund to pay for street sweeping in wards that do not border the Anacostia."

Given the Fenty administration's apparent disinterest in the Anacostia's condition, the Sept. 14 primary could determine whether the city meets the EPA's demands or dawdles, forcing federal involvement. An ideal response for organizations working on grassroots river cleanup would naturally be cooperation, said Bolin. "For years, D.C. has asked the feds to step up and do their part. Now they want to, and D.C. is resisting. It defies sense," he wrote in an e-mail. "It is just a weaker foundation to build the cleanup on."

D.C. police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found floating in the Anacostia River over the weekend.

The body of 31-year-old Pierre Williams, of northeast Washington, was discovered at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Officials say there are no outward signs of foul play, but an autopsy will be performed.

Now maybe this makes me a weenie
But dammit, my shower's chlorine-y
I won't get morose
'Cause water tastes gross
Instead, I'll just make a martini

But "east of the river" isn't settling too well with relative newcomers to the area. Some of these people want to call the region "River East," an appellation that summons images of plush, new homes and green pastures. Champions of the new name have coalesced in an organization called (logically) River East Emerging Leaders (r.e.e.l.).

This is a gentrification battle. Old-timers don't like the idea of rebranding the area. The story quotes 35-year Anacostia resident Bessie Brown as saying, “I hate it.”

Though I am not a resident of the territory in question, I vote for "River East." Not on ideological grounds, but rather for the sake of simplicity. It's two syllables shorter. It's simpler. Change can be good for a name.

From the 30 Bus, 1992

LL and ace photographer Darrow Montgomery trekked this afternoon to one of the most isolated spots in the District of Columbia to see if Mayor Adrian M. Fenty would have any comment on the budget passed today by the D.C. Council.

Fenty, after all, had maintained in previous questioning on budgetary matters that he would let the council process run its course before addressing the various swipes legislators have taken at his spending plan.

So now? "I'm going to take a look at it," he told LL at a press conference in Kenilworth Park along the banks of the Anacostia.

Entertaining a veto? "Again, let me just take a look..."

Reaction to having Victor Reinoso's budget cut? $20 million cut from summer jobs? "Again, I haven't looked at the specifics."

Setting aside the fact that local reporters have spent weeks reporting on these "specifics" and that the mayor employs a staff to keep him apprised of said "specifics," LL then asked the mayor how many days he needed to review the "specifics" before LL asked him again. One day? Two? More? "We'll look at it as soon as humanly possible," before suggesting LL get in touch with mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson.

In his vain search for substantive answers, LL pressed Hizzoner on the prospect of the council refusing to grant extra money to the summer jobs program ("I think everyone supports a full summer jobs program") and the firing of longtime mayoral photographer Lateef Mangum ("Can't comment on personnel matters...It's best just to avoid it").

But, hey, here's some news:

LL was treated to the unveiling of the Bandalong Litter Trap, a $55,000 contraption (pictured) that is now floating on Watts Branch catching all sorts of litter. Five days worth of trash had collected this afternoon and was being hauled out by members of the Earth Conservation Corps. The detritus included bottles, bags, and a basketball.

The device, sold by Atlanta's Stormwater Systems, was installed as part of a two-year pilot program to reduce trash in the Anacostia. In addition to the Bandalong, the city's testing screens on storm drains and catchbasins to see what's most effective at keeping trash out of the river.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery