A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
Tag, You're It: Park View D.C. looks at the prolific work of neighborhood tagger "nero"—with pictures!—intending to highlight why his graffiti is a blight on the neighborhood. But some commenters feel that publicly shaming the tagger isn't the best [...]

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 [...]

The Issue: It’s elephant feeding time! As tourist season nears, local businesses around the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan Metro station gear up for zoo-goers, leaving eateries and shops near the Cleveland Park Metro out in the cold. In the early '80s, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) designated Woodley Park as the official National Zoo [...]

Speed humps are for traffic control, but they're so much more than that. With throwing people into the stocks out of fashion, humps are the only form of social shaming we have left.
But some drivers on Cleveland Park's Newark Street refuse to accept the concept of "reasonable speeds." Since speed humps (or bumps, if you [...]

The Issue: The never-ending battle (read: 10 years) over construction of a new and improved Giant on Wisconsin Avenue seemed to have finally ended last summer when the Zoning Commission voted unanimously in favor of the project. Not so! There's another twist that has tied things up – potentially for a few more years.

Barry Farm Re(mixed) praises a local dance troupe that gained fame(?) on a reality show: "I'm sad to say that I didn't get a chance to watch America's Best Dance Crew on Sunday, and as a result, missed the final performance of River East's dance crew, Beat Ya Feet Kings. But I will say, that [...]

The other day, City Paper asked: Is Cleveland Park dead?
Well, this blogger submits that it can't be, even if the Starbucks and 7-Eleven did close. Because its neighborhood listserv – #1 in CP's "Best of D.C." issue – now has its own advice columnist! And she, like, used to dole out advice at Playboy [...]

Cleveland Park is starting to look like an old steel town. Last week, Starbucks and 7-Eleven closed, adding to a growing list of shuttered shops: a Blockbuster, a Magruder's, a Cold Stone Creamery, etc. WUSA's Bruce Johnson examined the corpse last week wondering why such an elite 'hood had fallen on hard times. Councilmember Mary [...]

Good Morning, City Desk readers!  While City Paper is busy commemorating Sexist Day here at the office, all sorts of newsy events are happening all over the city, so here it is.

Alexandria Police Chief David P. Baker announced his retirement yesterday afternoon, ending a 40-year career in law enforcement.  This comes in the aftermath of [...]

Another day, another Red Line delay.  This time, it's due to a train striking a man as it pulled into Van Ness/UDC  station around 12:30 this afternoon.  According to Metro's press release,
"A six-car Red Line train headed toward Shady Grove was pulling into the station around 12:30 p.m. when witnesses report the man intentionally placed [...]

Magazine sellers and Bible studiers—especially those who are well-dressed and African-American—beware. The people of Cleveland Park are onto you. For months they've been posting suspicious interactions with you and your efforts this week? They are well-documented on the all-knowing Listserv.
To wit:

Mike and Ginny Spevak, the well-known Friendship Heights couple murdered in their home last November, left behind a daughter and son, their spouses, a grandson, siblings—a loving family. They also left behind three cats they adored. Two of them now need homes.

First up: Fresh stuff right here on this very Web site. Jason Cherkis has the cops, in their own words, explaining themselves for the DeOnte Rawlings shooting. Of special note: why they not only left the boy bleeding from the back of the head, but why they never even checked to see if he's still alive. Stunning.
Tim Carman's [...]

*INDOGURATION UPDATE: Yesterday afternoon, following the President's latest round of cautious optimism, Ted Kennedy presented the Obama famiy with Bo, a six-month-old Portugese water dog .  The Post has video, a bombastic lede, and some Us Weekly-worthy niceties:
About 10 minutes later the First Family emerged again, racing up the hill, with the president doing a [...]