Peter Nickles' average day lasted longer than yours: He got up at 4:30 a.m. and went for his traditaional swim. Nickles, famous for marthoning and triathloning—and also Blackberrying, even at 70!—has had trouble with his knees in recent days, forcing him to quit running. After embarkring on more biking and swimming, however, "my knees are feeling better," he [...]
More on City Administrator Dan Tangherlini's budget powwows. Post lunch, the city's top day-to-day manager had three additional rounds of discussions with agency directors on money—first with the Office of Property Management (OPM). "We need to find savings everywhere we can," said Tangherlini to OPM Director Robin-Eve Jasper. "We're doing to look to you for [...]
No, not on the political front, stupid. On the technology front.
Hizzoner long ago made a name for himself as a BlackBerryholic. One for general city business, one for critical, emergency alerts from police Chief Cathy Lanier and other public safety biz; and a third! for personal stuff.
Now here comes At-Large Councilmember Michael A. Brown, [...]
At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown was committed to going big for the inauguration, in all possible ways.
So he plopped in the lobby of his council office a 61-inch Toshiba television, the better for constituents and staffers to take in the historic occasion. The gigantic device served its purpose, and now it's serving another one. As [...]
Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander has been waiting in the wings, a back-bencher, for nearly two years. While colleagues presided over important council committees, Alexander held no such portfolio.
But today that all changed. Alexander is chairing her first hearing as the new chair of the Committee on Aging and Community Affairs. On the docket [...]
More on the budget discussions of City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. After discussing money and baselines with city contracting managers, Dan Tan got into it with Stephanie Scott, who runs the all-important D.C. Office of the Secretary. Now, that title may suggest that this is some puffy, ceremonial office.
Suggestion incorrect: The Office of the Secretary [...]
Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells is conducting a hearing today on the Department on Disability Services (DDS), among other topics. That means that Judith Heumann is in the building. Heumann is the director of DDS and a wheelchair user. As far as access to these hearings, Heumann has never had a problem getting into the [...]
If it's a work day at the D.C. Council, then you can bet that residents across the District will be asking their councilmembers for some sort of favor. Carolyn Long mans the front desk for Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and also handles liaison with folks that live in the many Ward 2 senior residences. [...]
Venerable WRC-TV correspondent Tom Sherwood, the dean of the D.C. local politics reportocracy, is working on a piece about fire hydrants, and how they don't work. So he's skulking around in the John A. Wilson Building and has managed to collar a couple of residents who live near dysfunctional fire hydrants. Next step is to [...]
The D.C. Council's right there, too!
It's busy times in the office of council budget director Eric Goulet, who has the requisite amount of paperwork in his office—tons!—to prove he's worthy of his title. It's a messy office, but an organized messy. "I'll show you my folders," he exclaims.
And indeed he does. There's the folder [...]
More on the budget talks at the Wilson Building: Janis Quintana, director of the Office of Unified Communications, is feeling the budgetary heat from the District's top exex. But the agency is really, really struggling. In addition to handling all manner of 911 calls, her operation has been burdened with handling calls from other agencies, [...]
Late February at the John A. Wilson Building is a tough time to be a spreadsheet. That's because City Administrator Dan Tangherlini and his budget people are crunching the living daylights out of the District's numbers from early in the morning till late at night, trying to get a document that'll pass muster at the [...]
One staffer at the Mayoral Bullpen at the John A. Wilson Building walked into the office at approximately 8:55 am carrying four Starbucks beverages. The Keurig machine in the bullpen doesn't get much rotation. Says communications chief for Mayor Adrian M. Fenty: "People use it for tea a lot."
Reporting by Mike DeBonis
