Every cop City Desk called seemed to have heard the whisperings. At the Metropolitan Police Department, rumors about budget cuts are flying. Several police sources say they've been told by fellow officers that the department needs to cut 40 million dollars from its budget due to city belt tightening, and that the cuts will either amount to the loss of 300-400 police jobs, or 30 days of "furlough" (unpaid time off) for a large swath or all of the department.

MPD has not responded to an inquiry about the gossip. Doxie McCoy of the mayor's office says there have been no final decisions made about MPD's budget at this point. "We haven't put out any numbers, we're still having budget review meetings," she says.  She says Mayor Vincent Gray will put out firm budget numbers on April 1. But Mccoy also says that in discussions with various department heads about the city's financial future "numbers may have come up."  But she says those numbers wouldn't be "definitive."

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library

The Issue: After the D.C. Public Library announced citywide staff reductions in early June, Cleveland Park residents flocked to their community Listserv last week to gripe about the decision. Residents' anger seems to stem from the seemingly high number of employees dismissed from the Cleveland Park library, specifically. Out of the 40 library employees laid-off across D.C., five worked at the Cleveland Park branch.

The Impact: When coupled with the fact that the branch boasts the highest circulation numbers of all neighborhood libraries in D.C., the decision was bound to be ill-received. "We have indeed been Dewey Decimated," wrote Cleveland Park resident Susie Bennet. Without the part-time employees, Bennet and other residents worry that the library will become understaffed and less useful. "[I] feel that the CP Library is being unfairly targeted by a library administration which seems to believe in process rather than serving the community," Bennet wrote.

The Justification: Library system spokesperson George Williams argued that the lay-offs were necessary. "I would parse it differently," Williams tells City Desk. "The Cleveland Park library actually had more part-time staff than any other neighborhood library. The priority was keeping full-time positions. There were some libraries that lost two, some that lost three, but they didn't have as many part-time staff working."

The lay-offs are only the latest budgetary decision to nip at the heels of D.C. Public Library system. In October 2009, libraries shortened their operating hours, spent less on books, and canceled community programs, such as the Bookmobile, in response to $4.8 million in budget cuts for the 2010 fiscal year. (D.C. Public Library's budget for the 2011 fiscal year shrunk again, less $4.2 million this time around. UPDATE: According to Williams, the 2010 fiscal year budget allocated funded towards "fixed costs such as utilities and telecommunications" in the upcoming fiscal year, which means that the budget cuts amount to $177,000.)

What's Next? Williams tells City Desk that reinforcements are already on their way. Staff members from other libraries are being transferred to the Cleveland Park branch. "We want to ensure that the same level of programming will continue at Cleveland Park," he says.

Photo by drbeachvacation. Creative Commons Attribution License.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—'Robert Wone's 'Meticulous' Habits Contrary to Cluttered Crime Scene," "Voice of Maureen Bunyan Pivotal To Robert Wone Case," "EMS Worker Was Suspicious of Robert Wone Pal Price"

Howdy. Good afternoon. Lots good stuff so let's get to it. First big news on budget transparency. Nonprofits and social service providers won a big victory yesterday. They had been grumbling behind the seems—and to LL—about how the haggling over the budget would be taking place mostly behind closed doors. Well, D.C. Council Chair—and mayoral candidate—Vince Gray responded to those grumblings and has agreed to broadcast the horsetrading on Channel 13 today. Gray wrote to D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute's Executive Director Ed Lazere with the news. The letter was then forwarded to the press by Gray staff. Gray writes:

"I am alerting your organization and others who wrote me on May 13th that I have arranged for the Office of Cable Television to air live on Council Channel 13 (Comcast) the informal Councilmember budget discussion at 10 AM on Wednesday, May 19th. In addition, I have opened Room 123 of the John A. Wilson Building for the public to view the budget talks via the television monitor in the hearing room at the same time they air live. As is standard, the public also can view the live proceedings on the Council web site at www.dccouncil.us. I am pleased to offer this new access to the public, which is in line with my continuing efforts to promote transparency in government.

As you may be aware, all Councilmembers and select staff attend these informal meetings in the Chairman’s Conference Room on the 5th floor of the Wilson Building. Last year, I opened the sessions to the press as very limited space allowed. I have made these sessions more open than ever by allowing press access. The news coverage has generated enormous feedback from the public through emails directly to members and to staff, phone calls and face-to-face conversations. In addition, pages and pages of public witnesses have testified at marathon budget oversight hearings and mark-ups in recent weeks, and have used these opportunities to comment on agency budgets, and on possible cuts and revenue raising ideas they learned about from numerous news reports, neighborhood list servs and other social media.

I hope that by witnessing these budget talks on television or online, District of Columbia residents will be motivated to offer even more feedback to Councilmembers as we face difficult decisions and the first vote on the budget on May 26th. We sincerely appreciate and consider this feedback to be important to the process of formulating a budget plan that meets the needs of our city in very challenging economic times.

Thank you for your steadfast interest in the fiscal affairs of the District of Columbia."

LL loves transparency. You should too.

AFTER THE JUMP: A congressional foe goes down, more from the Wone trial, a mysterious death on the Metro, the D.C. Council fails to address Fenty's fee increases, and much, much, more!

SEE YA, SOUDER: D.C. Wire's Mike DeBonis reports that Rep. Mark Souder's sudden resignation is a boon to the District as the congressman had been one of the most notorious meddlers in city affairs taking particular aim at our gun laws and our needle-exchange program. DeBonis gets great quotes from Councilmember David Catania on the good news. He writes: "Local self-determination advocates will remember Souder 'as one of the more outspoken people who was willing to impose his own views over the objections of the elected representatives and people of the District,' says Walter Smith, executive director of D.C. Appleseed, a think tank that advocates for D.C. voting rights. At least one city official made no attempt to disguise his glee at Souder's demise. 'Ding-dong, the witch is dead,' said At-Large Council member David A. Catania (I) this afternoon. 'You could almost hyperventilate explaining the hypocrisy of this man's career....I'm sorry for his wife, but I'm glad it happened to him. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.'"

BROWN AND GRAY WIN ENDORSEMENTS: D.C. Wire reports that Gray and Brown have won pivotal endorsements from labor: "Council Chairman Vincent Gray picked up the backing Wednesday of the American Federation of Government Employees, a federal and D.C. government employee union that represents 600,000 workers. In announcing support for Gray in his mayoral bid, the group took aim in a statement at Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has had tense relations with city government workers throughout his tenure. 'We understand that this election is a fight for the soul of the District of Columbia. Will this be a city that supports working people or will it be a city that only supports the wealthy and well-connected? That is what we're fighting for and that is why we're supporting Vincent Gray.' Separately, the Service Employees International Maryland/DC State Council announced support Wednesday for Council member Kwame Brown (D-At Large) in his campaign to succeed Gray as chairman.The union, which represents 15,000 workers in the Washington region, pledged to help Brown with mailings and door-to-door campaigning as he faces former council member Vincent Orange in the Democratic primary. The group praised Brown for his support of legislation guaranteeing paid sick time for workers and for a measure that boosted wages for private security officers." D.C. Wire also reports that Brown is getting financial backing from the District's bigwigs.

FEE FIGHT: Yesterday, the D.C. Council decided it wanted to play no part in enacting Mayor Fenty's proposed fee increases as a way of increasing much needed revenue. The Examiner's Alan Suderman reports: "The D.C. Council on Tuesday came close to passing Mayor Adrian Fenty's proposed increases for more than 600 fees and fines — including a tenfold increase for some driving tickets — before having second thoughts and telling the mayor to do it himself. 'If you want to nickel-and-dime residents ... then take full responsibility for it,' said Councilman Phil Mendelson, D-at large. Fenty proposed more than $7.5 million worth of fee and fine increases effective June 1 to close a budget gap in the fiscal year that ends in September. The increases are wide-ranging and include higher fees for businesses and nonprofits as well as raising the fines for 71 vehicle citations." More coverage via D.C. Wire, WTOP, WBJ.

METRO DEATH: WaPo's Martin Veil reports on a man who was found dead riding the Red Line: "As recounted Tuesday by Metro, based on a preliminary investigation, the man apparently boarded the train at the Twinbrook Station about 10:15 a.m. He remained onboard as the train headed south into the District and then on to Silver Spring. After the train turned around there, the man apparently was still onboard as it headed back into the District, and then on to the Red Line terminal at Shady Grove. At Shady Grove, it was taken out of service about 11:55 a.m. and went into the rail yard there. The body, which apparently had remained on the train, in the yard, for three hours, was found at 2:55 p.m. as the train was prepared for afternoon service. According to Metro, emergency personnel were summoned, and the man was pronounced dead. The agency said he was in the last car of eight." More coverage via The Examiner, NBC4.

ROBERT WONE TRIAL DAY TWO: Again, the bloggers at Who Murdered Robert Wone provide a super detailed account of the conspiracy trial's second day of testimony. Robert's widow Kathy Wone testified about the demeanor of the three roommates in the aftermath of the murder—they seemed shell shocked. Neighbors testified about hearing a scream the night of the murder. The big news: D.C. Police detectives waited three weeks to interview them. Then came an EMT worker. The bloggers write:

"EMT Jeff Baker, first to arrive at 1509, took the stand. He relayed his 14 years of experience answering calls in DC, minor and traumatic. He’s seen several hundred violent crime scenes including many stabbings. He described the typical atmosphere he sees as 'chaotic.' He arrived at 1509, saw Zaborsky on a phone at the stoop and proceeded upstairs with a Reeves stretcher. He says he saw the unresponsive Ward even before getting to the top of the stairs. In the guestroom he observed Price sitting on the bed with his back to him, a leg tucked up underneath.

Baker volunteered, '…hair stood up on the back of my neck.' A moment later, the entire defense table seemed to erupt with an objection, as if they’ve been waiting years for that moment. Sustained.... [AUSA] Kirschner asked Baker about life saving measures and was told that in the ambulance on the way to GW, a firefighter was compressing Robert’s chest while his EMT colleague was hooking up an IV. It went into the bend of the elbow while Baker worked Robert’s airway. It was en route to GW that Baker noticed the striations on Robert’s abdomen. 'It looked like it was wiped down,' and that the imprint of a towel’s texture was visible. 'It looked like a light film,'… moist with linear marks.

Kirschner showed Baker a large blow up of an autopsy photo, government exhibit #381, and it was briefly visible to the audience. Members of the Wone family were crying even before that. Baker was asked about other needle puncture marks and said he was not authorized to insert needles into a patient’s chest. He also said there would’ve been no reason for any resuscitative needles in Robert’s feet or ankles. While hooked up to monitors in the ambulance, Baker said Robert was ‘P.E.A’, meaning Pulseless Electrical Activity. Flat line."

More coverage via WTOP, WaPo, NC8, the Examiner.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:
10:45 a.m.
Remarks re: Washington Kastles Season Kick-Off
Location: Old Convention Center Site
11th and H St. NW

So how many humans will it take to form a complete "human safety net" around city hall?

"We've calculated that it is 900 feet around the Wilson building, so with people and banners and nets we expect 200 people will wrap it up nicely," Podschun replied.

What would you say to Jack Evans and Vince Gray to get them to join your human chain? Podschun wrote:

"Jack Evans is just not going to be convinced on this issue. I don't know if he truly believes the preposterous notion that wealthy people will leave rather than pay a few hundred dollars more, but nobody else we've talked to believes it, even the people who object to our proposal because they think the Government should eliminate all waste before raising taxes. The latter is not a position we find to be especially reasonable or moral, but at least it has some sort of logic to it.

Vince Gray has worked in social services for most of his career — he has arguably done as much for our safety net as anyone on Council. In his campaign speeches, he likes to tout the revenue-generating measures that Council took last year — the cigarette and sales tax increases, which all disproportionately affected low- and middle-income DC residents. Here we're proposing to rescue the damaged safety net in a truly progressive way. This would hardly pinch a small portion of DC's population, but it's a major opportunity to demonstrate the leadership that Gray likes to say that DC needs."

How did you decide on a human safety net? Podschun wrote:

"We all benefit from a strong safety net, whether or not we use these services. This action features DC residents from all walks of life and all corners of the city, joining together to form a safety net around the building. It also creates a beautiful demonstration that Councilmembers can't avoid as they arrive for their meetings on the budget. Our city has some of the worst income disparity in the country, and reversing that begins here. So we'll join together to call upon Councilmembers to be smart, responsible, and courageous."

Organizers preview the talking points in a press release:

"A coalition of homeless services providers, advocates and homeless individuals will hold a press conference to share new information on the impacts of the recently-announced budget cut for homeless services in the District of Columbia. They are calling on the Fenty administration to commit to full-year funding, rather than funding for only the five-month hypothermia season. They note that the funds are available in a federal block grant but have been diverted to other programs."

Penn Quarter Living debuts a new column called High Rise Life. The first one is on elevator etiquette. It's not so much a column as bad comment bait of which I am sometimes guilty of. Here's a sampling from PQL's rookie effort on sharing an elevator: "Fob in and offer to push buttons or don’t offer and make sure others belong in the building? Remind neighbors that bicycles and their owners usually ride the freight elevator or zip it? Heel your dog or let him/her sniff around and be friendly? What is good neighborly elevator etiquette?" Fascinating.

Frozen Tropics reports on the breaking news last night concerning the pedestrian hit by a Metrobus in Trinidad. The Post is reporting that the woman has suffered life threatening injuries:

"In Monday's incident, the woman had just gotten off the D-8 Metrobus on Mount Olivet Avenue NE, between Trinidad and Montello avenues. She apparently crossed in front of that bus and then was struck about 6:30 p.m. by another Metrobus traveling in the same direction, Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said.

Two men who said they witnessed the incident told television stations that the woman was thrown a distance down the street, and appeared to be unconscious after being struck. One of the men said that after the woman was hit, the driver of one of the buses 'got down' and prayed."

The Georgetown Metropolitan answers the question: Just what are Georgetown's boundaries?

Do you want to see pictures of people buying records? Someone posted a bunch of pictures from the DC Record Fair held this past Sunday. We wish we could have been there. Meanwhile....Fair sponsor The Vinyl District is giving away tickets to this week's Gossip show at the 9:30 Club.

The New Teacher On the Block offers their take on the hundreds of teachers laid off last week. In the Rhee vs. Gray fight, the blogger sides with Gray:

"Now, of course, this has resulted in finger-pointing, name calling, and a complete lack of transparency on many people's parts (Standard Operating Procedure for DCPS, really). Rhee blames the City Council for not providing the money required to allow all of these teachers to keep their jobs. City Council member Vincent Gray the DC City Council fired back with a press release accusing Rhee of using the council as a scapegoat in executing her master plan of getting rid of large numbers of DCPS teachers.

In this case, I'm in Gray's corner. The numbers just don't lie. It's just another example of the lack of transparency Rhee feels she is entitled to. When I came here, I thought I liked her: I am among the legions of teachers she's supposedly replacing the entire DC teaching force with and I support a lot of the ideas she proposes. But both her behavior and her attitude are counterproductive and arrogant; since I have been here, she has done nothing but alienate, obfuscate, and out and out lie."

Eleven days ago, WEAVE's board of directors decided it didn't have enough funds to keep operating and voted to begin the process of shutting down. The organization is still hanging by a thread: Some of its most loyal donors are scrambling to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to save WEAVE.

"We haven't completely given up hope," said board Chairwoman Marcia Marsh. But they are running out of time.

WEAVE has launched an online fund-raising drive to make up for the loss in city funds. Save WEAVE states that they must raise $85,000 by September 30. So far they've raised more than $53,000. That's a pretty great start.

Tomorrow, the nonprofit will be holding a fundraiser at Topaz at 5:30 p.m. Let's hope they reach their goal.

Save WEAVE writes:

"All donations made through SaveWEAVE.org will be kept in a separate account. When we reach the $85,000 goal, the entire amount raised will be turned over to WEAVE, and you—the donor—will receive acknowledgement for your tax-deductible gift from WEAVE. If we are unable to reach this goal, all donations will be returned to the donors. Your moneys will either keep this incredible organization open, ready to serve the people of DC, or will be returned."

This morning, LL was all over Fenty's announced District gov job cuts. Our aggressive political scribe reported: "Of the remaining 776 employees the mayor is proposing to lay off, 250 are in DCPS—mostly teachers aides and support staff, Tangherlini says." This may not seem like scary news, but it is.

I know what your thinking: teachers aides and support staff seem like easy cuts. What the hell do teacher aides do? What does support staff mean? Let me guess what they do: they help handle over-crowded classrooms, offer tutoring, lesson planning and generally help teachers get through the day. I'm not sure about support staff. But it could mean social workers, guidance counselors, secretaries, and librarians.

Do we really want to cut funding for these jobs? These cuts are coming on the heels of all those school closures last year. Catania made the argument today on the Politics Hour that enrollment is down at DCPS and that more and more kids are going into charter schools. But for every successful charter school, there are stories like City Lights Public Charter which recently had to close its doors before the school year even finished.

It seems like every other week, Colbert King is documenting another screwup with juveniles at DYRS (that few officials care about). If Fenty chooses to make these cuts at DCPS, the safety net for kids will get that much weaker. Do we really want to layoff social workers? Do we really want to cut school personnel that much more? I have met some of these school-based social workers and nobody works harder than they do. Nobody.

Which department should feel some hurt? I think DCPS should be saved from cuts as well as the DMV. Everything else should be on the table.

5:16 p.m. Update: Dena Iverson, press secretary for DCPS, writes in an e-mail: "I just wanted to make a quick but I think important clarification to your post on City Desk about the DCPS reduction of 250 positions.  The reduction in positions is so that we can align staff to lower enrollment.  We expect that the change in the number of staff will happen though staff retirement and attrition." That must be a lot of teacher aids that are retiring.

*photo of Fenty by Darrow Montgomery.