All that changed this week with the new D.C. Circulator site launch. It that looks better, but more importantly, it works better. The Circulator red, so stylish on a bus yet so unattractive on a website, has been replaced by clean white space and functional maps. The NextBus function is now easier to find, which is a handy tool, even if the buses come every 10 minutes.

Around here, we sure do gripe about transit a lot, but we're also happy to give credit where credit is due.

Photo by ElvertBarnes via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic License 2.0

Mall Rats: Complaining about the state of the National Mall is part of the birthright of Washingtonians; the only reason we don't grumble about it more than we do is because there's not much reason to go there unless you're doing touristy things. Theoretically, that'll change, under a new plan announced with much fanfare today. The grass would be improved, the views cleaned up, better paths put in, and cafés and restaurants installed. Just in time, hopefully, for 200,000 Jon Stewart fans to mess it all up again! +3

Circulation Improving: The name may not be that thrilling, but for reliable, cheap bus service, it's tough to beat the D.C. Circulator. Which is why news that District Department of Transportation officials want to add new lines and expand existing ones is pretty welcome. A bus running from Tenleytown to Brookland by way of Petworth and Columbia Heights? Another running from Adams Morgan to H Street NE by way of U Street? Yes, please. Of course, there's no actual money put aside for these wild new bus routes, but so what? A commuter can dream. +4

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday: Buying liquor in Montgomery County isn't easy—as the presence of large, and busy, shops near Western Avenue in the District along both Connecticut Avenue NW and Georgia Avenue NW should tell you. It may soon get a little easier, though, as county officials want to allow sales on Sundays, for at least a six-month test period. Prediction: Sales improve as the Redskins' record worsens. (And D.C. residents no longer have to fight Marylanders for parking spaces when they want to stock their own bars up.) +2

You Ain't Got No Alibi: Congratulations—you live in a city where the residents are marginally better looking than in Anchorage, Ak., Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Memphis. Or at least so declares Travel + Leisure, in its annual ranking of "America's least and most attractive people." The District comes in 6th ugliest, which is better than last year. So look on the bright side—some good-looking folks must have moved in! Go find 'em! +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 36 Today's score: +10 Today's Needle rating: 46

© 2010 Michael W. Hicks

Barry, who said he has already donated $1,000 of his own money to relief efforts, is also calling on Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) to travel to Haiti to evaluate the relief efforts. Barry is dubbing the effort "DC Delivers: Help for Haiti."

"I am asking that the District of Columbia government join me for a citywide crusade to raise funds and supplies on behalf of the people of Haiti," Barry said. "The situation in Haiti has touched my heart so that it has compelled me to personally donate $1,000 of my personal funds to the relief effort."

If ever there was a guy who could make Wyclef credible, Barry may be it. Who really thinks Barry's gonna raise all that cash? Who really thinks that cash will be accounted for?

WaPo is also reporting that a man died after Arlington police used a Taser to allegedly subdue him.

Barry Farm (Re)Mixed notes that the Circulator is not coming to Anacostia. Congress Heights on the Rise has a great recap of recent news from "River East" and may or may not mention a certain coffee shop opening.

Frozen Tropics asks if a new wine shop has opened up on H Street NE.

Renew Shaw reports that there will be a fundraiser tonight for neighborhood activist Martin Moulton to help him pay for legal fees. This is to help Moulton defend himself in a TRO case brought against him by Leroy Thorpe. For more information on the case, you can go here. It's stunning.

Have you thanked a veteran today? What are you waiting for? Technology is only getting faster! That’s right, soon you will be able to thank a veteran by using a technology chip in your mind! (No, there’s no actual link to that…it's just a theory.)

Can’t remember if the Georgetown Circulator exists? Download the new iPhone app! And while you’re at it, you may soon be able to pay for parking at meters with your cell phone! Isn’t technology great? Oh wait, WUSA has just reported that there is a new virus that downloads child porn onto your computer. Does it call Chris Hansen too?

Do you Twitter? Do you use LinkedIn? This was actually a secret intern test to remember not to trust you (because you are obviously over 30, we don't touch that stuff). Anyway, the two companies announced a new partnership yesterday.

Stop the presses (are there any left to stop?)—commenters on Prince of Petworth universally agree that the new mural on Sherman Avenue and Barry Place NW is awesome.

The Advoc8te bemoans the lack of local news coverage in Ward 8, and argues that bloggers have been picking up most of the slack. Looks like print journalism’s fat lady is singing before I even graduate. At least when I’m unemployed, I’ll still be able to get a haircut.

Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service has reportedly placed an online ad for a new dean. A commenter says, “Let’s also put it on Craigslist. Then people searching for DVD players can also apply.”

And two things technology has yet to solve: death and politics. John Allen Muhammad, the D.C. sniper, was pronounced dead by lethal injection last night at 9:11 p.m. EST.

WTOP also reported on Monday that it caught Mayor Adrian M. Fenty biking in Bethesda in (gasp!) a no-biking zone. Oh right, he also used police officers and their handy sirens to clear traffic—apparently a violation of federal law. Evidence of corruption, or political mud-throwing? You decide. But this has to be evidence that we need more bike lanes. Fix that, iPhone.

Photo by Christopher Chan, Creative Commons Attribution License

According to DDOT spokesman John Lisle, this “difficult decision” stems from budget constraints: Although the upper leg carries 2 percent of the Georgetown Circulator’s riders, it is responsible for 15 percent of the overall cost.

After the service is discontinued,  Lisle says, Georgetown residents should make use of Metrobus' “enhanced and improved” 30 lines, which have “eliminated the need to layer additional Circulator service.” The DDOT is also looking into extending the 31 route downtown. The bus currently runs down Wisconsin Avenue but stops short at Foggy Bottom.

The Citizens Association of Georgetown is having a hard time seeing any "enhancement" about it; the group's members have argued that eliminating the upper Wisconsin Circulator route will leave only two buses, the 32 and the 36—half the number available two years ago when the 34 and the Circulator were also running. CAG also says that the two schools now served by the route (Hardy Middle School and the British School) require a transportation link, and traffic will increase after the opening of the newly renovated Safeway supermarket at 1855 Wisconsin Ave. The market's renovations include abolishing the "congested" parking lot, likely increasing the need for public transportation.

More potholes ahead...

We Need the Bus: Hazel Denton of the Citizens Association of Georgetown [CAG] says cutting the Circulator will leave upper Wisconsin residents high and dry: "Eighteen months ago, the mayor said they were going to enhance and streamline transportation, but [if the bus is cut] our service will have been halved in just two years. We feel outraged by this." Some want the Circulator service to extend even farther, to Glover Park.

No, You Don't: Take the 32 or the 36! Asked about the proposed cut, DDOT had no "official response" for now. But according to CAG, it comes down to budget constraints. Drew, commenting online earlier this year, also suggested that probable explanation: "I've never seen one with more than one or two riders. Just what we need, more riderless buses clogging the streets."

Next Step: If you want to keep the route, write the mayor or DDOT and complain. If you don't care, go back to surfing the web.

"Memo to everyone: DC is not a safe place. That home that sold at 14th and Fairmont for $499,999 was not a good deal. In all of these recent shootings, and Oh, I forgot about the murder outside the Mt. Vernon Square metro–the police have been close enough to hear the shots and respond immediately. Still no arrests in any of these homicides. I'm not about to criticize the officers on the scene, but clearly there is a failing at some level of administration here. Obviously. You don't need someone who rarely updates a blog to tell you that.

My speculation is that things are only going to get worse as summer drags on, with the economy still in the pisser, and gang rivalry flaring up. You can tell me that violent crime is down and all of that (and maybe it is), but we'll see how those statistics work out once it's August. I've lived here long enough (in the grand scheme of things, not very long) to know that we haven't done anything magical to put a lid on crime in DC."

In case you don't trust bloggers who rarely update their blogs, how about the latest crime news from Borderstan. Crime is all the blog appears to be reporting on lately. And while we're hating on ourselves, 14th & You would like cleaner streets like they have in London.

New Columbia Heights notes that the Circulator bus is now on youtube. I prefer DCRA on twitter.

The New Teacher On The Block scolds one of their aides for letting one of her students wander off: "Seriously, people, DCPS does not ask much of you...but if you could not lose my students, that would be excellent. And I know kiddos are prone to wander sometimes, but the fact that you didn't even notice one of your kids was gone is awful. Especially because [if] something had happened to him, it would certainly have come back on me."

Congress Heights on the Rise makes more great points about a bad ANC.

Our own Black Plastic Bag breaks big news on the upcoming Sonic Circuits 2009 lineup. And Young & Hungry breaks the news on Spike's eviction from his Cap Hill rental.