Read More "Photos: Thursday, the Elevator" »

WTOP went digging through Metrobus records and concluded yesterday that D.C. should ride at its own risk. In the last five years, there were over 400 violations for running red lights, and one driver was even disciplined for watching television while driving (are you feeling lucky?). Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham told the station those riders that notice problems should “Just Google Jim Graham” and email him. Just in case I catch my bus driver watching "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia" on the way home, I ran a Google-Graham-drill. Unfortunately, the first item that came up was Graham’s decision to give up oversight over the D.C. taxi industry. Old news, but it’s worth checking out again just to note his scarlet bowtie and fluorescent orange grandma glasses. I may be walking home, but that is one dapper man.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: The “Google Jim Graham” Edition" »

In late August, the Examiner published a piece arguing that the District's low homicide rate might be due to the cooler-than-usual summer temps. The story was one of the dumbest crime stories we've ever read. Even D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the lower-temp theory "idiotic." But the story did at least provoke a little attention on the police department's stunning successes and the city's big drop in murders. When Lanier speculated that the city could see fewer than 100 homicides for the year, she wasn't laughed out of town. Of course, the District's perps did not cooperate.

As of today, there have been 106 homicides. At this point last year, there were 148 homicides. The plummeting homicide rate is still quite impressive. So why is the District experiencing such a huge drop?

Read More "Chief Lanier Deserves Credit For Drop In Homicides" »

The Heights Life is pumped about the new fountain on 14th Street providing  pictures, a slideshow, and a written item. DCist has reporting from the opening of the finally completed plaza. Councilmember Jim Graham did not comment on the on-going-ness of the fed's bribery investigation which has already netted his Chief of Staff Ted Loza. There are more important things to talk about like fountains constructed across the street from a Target.WaPo couldn't get Fenty to comment about the bribery mess either.

Frozen Tropics reports that H Street Country Club will be the site of  a Skeeball League. Is skeeball the next kickball? The next ping pong?

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Hipsters Discover Skeeball" »

Columbia Heights, September 23

More Lunch Hour photos.

The Issue: All eyes are on the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza after the Prince of Petworth posted a sneak preview of construction so far. Engineers were out testing the fountains this morning, and Vincent Kumordzie, resident engineer, says it's all pretty much done. What's left? Planting and landscaping on 14/15 September...completed by 25 September. So how's it looking?

Proponent: 12th and W is pretty impressed: "It looks terrific, will be a lovely place to people watch. I just hope they have installed enough seating."

Opponent: Joni, meanwhile, bemoans the lack of greenery...in verse:

Read More "Neighborhood Watch: Columbia Heights and the Civic Plaza" »

The other day, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham sent word to the Columbia Heights listserv about the possible closure of the Georgia Avenue post office, which became the neighborhood P.O. after the U.S. postal service closed the one on Irving Street. He wrote:

We need a new post office back at 14th and Irving, and we also need to keep the post office on Georgia at Morton. The large number of elderly, alone, along the 14th St. and Ga. Ave. corridors justify these actions! In addition, with its new residential and retail, 14th and Irving is vastly changed since a decade ago.

Please express your views on this to our Congresswoman, Eleanor Holmes Norton, by going to her website and sending an email. Click this link or copy and paste it into your browser's address bar: http://www.norton.house.gov/

One listserv member thought that a self-defeating idea. Buy a stamp! Use one of those blue mailboxes before the USPS takes them all away!

"Do you see the irony in how it is recommended to contact Congresswoman Norton?" the guy asked. "The postal service is looking at closing offices because of the reduction in mail volume. eMail is certainly a big factor in the decline.  Perhaps a First Class letter would send a more supportive message."

(Photo by Darrow Montgomery)

New Columbia Heights posts the highlights from a spat on the neighborhood listserv among ANC Commissioners about paying for cellphones that became a free-for-all. Favorite listserv quote: "The commission has done nothing in the way of administrative housekeeping: mail is not picked up on a regular basis, the phone bill went unpaid until service was disconnected, the rent went unpaid for 6 months--and I'm not sure it's been paid to date, and the ANC website was shut down because the maintenance fees were not paid." At least the commissioners are fighting in public. Let's hear it for transparency!

Borderstan has shocking findings from its latest mini poll: People want affordable restaurants on 14th Street NW. Borderstan has some fun with the number crunching: "My initial read on the results, below, of this very unscientific poll, is that respondents tend to want more food options in the affordable range (lower-priced restaurants and delis) along with places to hang (coffee houses). In addition, people would like to have more general shopping options, including clothing stores. Noticeably, there was no excitement among respondents to this poll for more furniture stores, art galleries or clubs/lounges."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Transparency In Reporting" »

As much local politics as humanly possible. Send your tips, releases, stories, events, etc. to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. And get LL Daily sent straight to your inbox every morning!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT---"Pershing Park Case: Now It's All About The Coverup; Nickles Faces Huge Test In U.S. District Court," and "Councilmember Cheh Calls For Nickles To Resign."

Morning all. LL has biked to Dewey Beach leaving me to takeover the LL Daily franchise for a week. LL was kind enough to e-mail me a handy rundown of what he does to fuel this beast. I am no LL. So please, take it easy on me. It's also August.

Mayor Fenty was involved in a car accident on Sunday evening. Thankfully, he wasn't driving his Le Car. Fox is reporting that "No injuries were reported in the crash on Broad Branch Road in northwest Washington. A spokeswoman for Fenty says he was behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle when another vehicle apparently went through a stop sign and pulled in front of the mayor's SUV. There was minor damage to the vehicles." (WTOP has same).

Columbia Heights is again the focus of a potentially controversial shooting. WJLA is reporting that a Special Police Officer (i.e. a private security guard) shot and killed a resident during a confrontation on Friday night. WUSA9 is also on the story. The D.C. Police Department has issued more info on the shooting via a press release:

"At approximately 9:06 pm on Friday, July 31, 2009, officers from the Third District responded to the 1400 block of Girard Street, NW, to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon arrival they discovered an adult male lying in front of a building at that location suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The victim was transported by personnel from the DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The decedent in this case has been identified as 31-year-old Michael Dwayne Parker of the 4000 block of Livingston Road, SE.

A preliminary investigation into this case indicates that the decedent may have been fatally shot at the above location during an alleged confrontation with a Special Police Officer employed by a private company. It must be noted that all of the circumstances surrounding this case remain under active investigation and that all facts will be subsequently presented to the United States Attorney’s Office for their review."

Last week, the D.C. Council gave its OK on that huge hotel development near the Convention Center. The Post offers a fine rundown of the development's lengthy backstory and its major selling point---that it may revive Shaw. Key graph: "The hotel, promised when the District broke ground on the convention center in 1998, will stretch more than 1 million square feet at Ninth Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW. It will rise 14 stories, a mix of modern glass and steel and brick dating to 1916 in a design that incorporates the old headquarters of the American Federation of Labor, a landmark building on the otherwise vacant property." Honestly, how many major projects does it take to develop Shaw? Not sure if a big shiny hotel is it.

The D.C. Council also voted to increase unemployment benefits (Washington Business Journal, WTOP , WJLA, NC8).

Hope and change remain the main narratives on the education front. The Post's Bill Turque breaks down the different groups taking over a number of District public schools this coming year. NYC's Friends of Bedford is set to takeover Coolidge and Dunbar. Friendship Public Charter Schools is taking over Anacostia High. Key graph: "Experts say one of the lessons learned is that starting a school from scratch is usually easier than taking control of an existing one, where political feuds, bureaucratic inertia and scar tissue from past reform attempts can make change difficult." And then there's this: "Friendship and Friends of Bedford will face that challenge at Anacostia, Dunbar and Coolidge. Although they have autonomy on matters of curriculum, instruction and teacher professional development, the schools' staff." Meanwhile, the Post reports that MOCO expanded its summer school programming.

AFTER THE JUMP: More Fedex Field controversy this time over this past Saturday's Paul McCartney show, an upcoming hearing is scheduled over the fire hydrant-water-flow issues, and so much more!

Read More "Mystery Shooting In Columbia Heights: Loose Lips Daily" »

Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham seems hellbent on naming a small Columbia Heights park after President Barack Obama.

That would require ditching the property's current name: 14th and Girard Park. Prosaic, certainly, but a name's a name, and tossing away a historic moniker to honor the latest hot thing is not a good precedent to set.

So what is the provenance of the name Girard?

Reader and local historian Scott W. Langill writes in, having done a spot of research:

Read More "Honoring Obama With Park Would Slight Stephen Girard!" »

Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham wants to name a small park at 14th and Girard Streets NW after President Barack Obama. "Barack Hussein Obama," to be precise.

Now comes Bob Kabel, chair of the D.C. Republican Committee, who has a suggestion for Graham: "If you feel the need to name a park in your Ward after a famous African American elected official, the DC Republican Committee suggests you consider DC’s native Edward Brooke who served in the US Senate from Massachusetts. Senator Brooke was the first African American elected to the US Senate since reconstruction, is a DC native and retired in the District."

Brooke's name, it should be noted, already graces the DCRC's downtown storefront offices on 13th Street NW.

Read More "Repubs Not Pleased With Jim Graham’s ‘Obama Park’ Plan" »

Read More "Photos: From Before Things Got Interesting" »

(Life) Lessons And Tests From A First-Year Teacher is confused about what to do when a student bites them: "Today i was bit by one of my students...it was sort of inevitable, but damn, hurt nonetheless. and with the classroom not being my own, with few structures in place, i'm not quite sure what to do about it--i'm not sure that the teacher even knew it happened; i didn't want to make it even worse (he wound up biting someone higher up on the pecking order of the summer institute right after, so that sparked a lot of attention)..."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Where Is Pickles?" »