Congress Heights on the Rise gives 7D police and Asst. Chief Diane Groomes an "A+." The blogger writes: "The Advoc8te sees the police out in full force in my neighborhood in  response to the carjackings this week. There are about 10 police cars on our street and we feel much safer!  This increased police prescence is MUCH appreciated!" Sure. But what about all the murders in 7D?

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Do The D.C. Police Deserve An A+?" »

Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare expresses early burnout with blogging and possibly teaching! They write:

"Don't know if it's because of Impact (don't think so) or the forever stalled contract negotiations (maybe) or my administration (YES!!!), but I just feel really de-motivated. One thing I can say is that it's definitely not the kids. My kids this year are doing really well, and I've somehow managed to build a really positive culture in my classes. They try hard, and for the most part they're learning a lot. But damn if I'm just not satisfied.

It's getting to the point where I'm thinking about what else I could be doing, and trying to figure out if I want to stay teaching (or at least teaching at my school) next year. On the one hand, I don't like falling into the stereotype of Teach for America teachers who sweep in on a wave of idealism and then leave after we've worked that glassy-eyed naivete out of our system. But on the other hand, do I really want to continue working in a place where I feel unvalued, unengaged, and unhappy?"

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Teacher Burnout!" »

The Issue: Bloomingdale Eckington residents can now find pizza instead of hot wings at the intersection of North Capitol Street and Florida Avenue NE—but they still have to order through bulletproof glass. New York Pizza recently decided to retain the glass after taking over the building from Kentucky Fried Chicken. But some residents are tired of seeing the bulletproof barriers in their neighborhood, and are avoiding restaurants that have it—including the pizza joint. Others argue that the real problem is the crime that leads restaurants to put up the glass in the first place, and that refusing to give business to such places only hurts the community. So who wants free delivery? Read More "Neighborhood Watch: In Eckington, Do You Want Fries—and Bulletproof Glass—With That?" »

DC Teacher Chic stresses about having to monitor at-risk students. A huge number of your colleagues just got canned. And you get to complain about your job on a blog. Maybe you should quit. Here's what they wrote:

"I have the fortunate task of progress monitoring at least three-quarters of the students in my classroom. To progress monitor a student in the intermediate elementary school grades, the assessment takes approximately thirty minutes to complete. And here's the cherry on this hot-mess sundae -- for students identified as high-risk, I have to perform the assessments every two weeks and for the students identified as some-risk, I have to perform them every three-weeks. YIKES!"

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Should Bloomingdale Become A Gated Community?" »

Greater Greater Washington, in an interesting blog post the other day, delved into the use of the word "ghetto" in part in response to the heated online discussion that ensued over a mural that went up in Bloomingdale earlier this year.

After a neighborhood blog pictured the mural of "Boxer Girl," a black woman clad in workout attire with her hands raised in boxer's gloves and sporting a black eye, at least one commenter expressed dislike for it by dubbing it "ghetto" - thus setting off a long (and unresolved) debate over the mural's artistic merits, what, exactly, it said about the neighborhood, and, now, the use of that descriptor.

Read More "“Ghetto”: Just What Do You Mean by That?" »

Frozen Tropics has more info on the recent mugging of Capital City Diner's owners. The owners post their own account here. As many of you know by now, the two claimed they were robbed while walking home on Bladensburg Road NE. This is just a small excerpt from their account (you really should read the entirety of their post):

"We were walking down the street, passed by a group of 4-5 young people (one in a wheelchair), one of which asked if we had any money.  After we passed about 10-15 feet, he quickly approached us, presented what appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun in his pants, and then demanded money from us.  Two of us handed over some money and they fled up L St NE toward Carver/Langston.  911 was called immediately after, but it took some time for a respose and thus the police couldn’t locate them.

It also took a lot of effort to get interviewed by the police.  Frustrated with the slow response, we continued walking home, as the police had Matt’s cell number from when he called.  As we reach home, the police dispatcher calls back, asks for our current location, and Matt gives her the address, which she is heard relaying to the police unit (Trinidad 1) responding to our call."

They finally flag down a detective nearby. But the detective is not interested in filing a report (emphasis added):

"Unfortunately, the detective tried repeatedly to convice Matt out of making a report.  He stated that a robbery hadn’t occurred since Matt “gave up the money” willingly and the suspect didn’t actually reach into Matt’s pockets to steal the money (Matt handed him the robber money when asked for it).  Matt recounted that DC code doesn’t require that a robbery physically touch someone, and that someone using fear (even without a weapon displayed) to take something is considered robbery."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Policing Indifference" »

Quick rant: I've been riding on Benning Road pretty regularly since this past spring. And it is still being worked on. It's a fucking disaster of uneven pavement, narrowing lanes, construction debris. It's an obstacle course. Does anyone know how long Benning has been under construction? Does anyone know how much longer we will have to endure?

Bloomingdale (for now) wonders if there are two Bloomingdales. A letter from a District official confuses things.

The Triangle reports on new developments for a project called the "Yale Complex." This has to be the worst name for new housing development.

Upset the Setup has already determined what the new Common album is really worth.

Southwest...The Little Quadrant That Could previous a really cool X-Mas event: "The Washington Waterfront Association invites all to attend the annual Parade of Lighted Boats in the Washington Channel on Saturday, December 6th, 4:00pm, Flotilla at 5:00pm..." Too bad Duke Cunningham won't be part of these festivities.

Black Plastic Bag reports that the Vinyl District has some big news.

D.C. Foodies tests a recipe for curried carrot and sweet potato ginger soup:

"This is the perfect time of year to create vegetable stocks because there really is only so much you can do with carrots, celery and onions. You can then freeze the stock using freezer bags, a freezer hearty container or in ice cube trays. And since it’s winter, you will need a lot of stock for the many, many, many soups and pot roasts one inevitably makes when it turns cold."

Wonkette has a theory on why downtown smells like shit.

A must read.