When you’re done Googling that, check out the new property lines feature on Google Maps. The Georgetown Metropolitan did—and seems a little put out that a select few properties in that tony part of town are (shocking!) bigger than the rest.

Peebles rumors (wouldn’t that be a great band name?) are confirmed: The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that real estate mogul Don Peebles is considering running against Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in the election next year. City Paper's own Loose Lips writes: "A real race? Be still LL's heart!"

The blog New Columbia Heights asks: “Is your power out?” Some 400 residents in that neighborhood reportedly went without electricity from Monday night through yesterday afternoon—and according to Pepco's outage map, a few are still sitting in the dark. Unfortunately, we don't know about them, because they can't read this.

Someone wrote to Prince of Petworth concerned about the amount of water being used to hose down the sidewalks every day. Online commenters came up with 10 million alternatives. And I still got sprayed this morning on my way to work.

Finally, don’t forget to clear your calendar for the annual 17th Street Halloween High Heels Race next Tuesday. The crowd this year is estimated to reach 15,000, but true drag-lovers can sit VIP for $40. Interested in tickets? Google it.

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?

In September, Lanier may have squandered some goodwill by stubbornly sticking by and fighting for her All Hands On Deck program. She would do well to let that program drop. It is certainly not worth the money and the on-going petty court fight. In talking with police brass about the drop in homicides, no one mentioned AHOD is a factor. Lanier has initiated a number of other crime-fighting strategies that have both paid off and netted support from the rank-and-file.

Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who is in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau, attributes the homicide drop to a series of Lanier-endorsed initiatives from IT upgrades to personnel moves to a push to investigate not only fatal shootings but non-fatal shootings. "One thing [detectives] are trying to focus on is shootings that don't result in homicides," Newsham explains, "trying to ID [the perp] even when nobody is struck, what the cause of the shooting was, where the victims are from, what types of associations [they may have]."

Sounds of gunshots actually gets a serious response from police. "Even if they don't find anything, we still track that," says Lt. Wilfredo Manlapaz of the homicide branch. "We look at that---especially the chief and patrol commanders. They may deploy officers there to find out if it's true, call intelligence officers out there to find out if there is some type of crew beef. If there's a known crew out there, based on that, who do we know that's beefing and having a problem with this crew?"

This past Friday night's double shooting at 13th and W Streets NW backs up this claim. Two men were shot. Both would survive their injuries. Despite their relatively minor wounds, the police were out in force guarding the crime scene as well as trying to track down the three suspects. A police helicopter roared overhead. Near the crime scene, one man was cuffed and interrogated. Detectives could also be seen interviewing potential witnesses, fanning flash lights on the pavement looking for shell casings, and patrolling nearby alleys.

The police presence was overwhelming. At one point, a detective hollered at a dude for leaning on an unmarked police car. She even got in his face about it. Talk about zero tolerance.

The other big factor Newsham cited was Lanier's push to get homicide detectives and beat cops to share information. "The street officers know more than we do," explains Manlapaz. "They are out there every day. We aren't confined to specific beats. We aren't familiar with the people in the neighborhood."

Manlapaz says the detective-patrol-cop cooperation came into play in a December '08  stabbing death on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. The beat cops knew the victim, knew people who may have been involved and had pictures of the possible perps. Manlapaz says he put the beat cops with the intelligence unit and the detectives.

Manlapaz continues: "It involved gang members and this came into play.... We got the nicknames from the community and passed them on to the gang unit. The beat officers knew the names already and had information---I know that person, I know where they live, as a matter of fact I just saw them. The intelligence unit knew all of them. They went out and picked them up for us so we could interview them."

Manlapaz says the case soon was closed with two men arrested. "We were able to piece together what happened, why it happened, and locate the suspects quickly."

Lanier has heavily promoted and helped ease beat-cop-detective communications. How? Through roll calls, crime briefings and quarterly homicide meetings where detectives present cases to District Commanders, PSA supervisors, vice units, and selected patrol officers.  Lanier has also initiated an emergency session or two when there's been an uptick in violence.

In May, there had been three homicides within a few blocks, Manlapaz says. Lanier called a special meeting to discuss these cases. She brought "everybody together, anybody that could potentially assist with the cases."

Assistant Chief Diane Groomes confirms this new approach. "Anytime there is a spree of violence, pattern of violence not only to include homicides but carjackings/robberies---we gather the important segments together to listen to the cases and brainstorm on what is needed to close out the cases," she wrote in an e-mail to City Desk. "This includes again not just command officials but those from patrols directly---who work the streets and need this information, and we need their input."

Groomes writes that the mission for detectives has expanded: "There is a greater cooperation and the detectives have also been given the mission to also PREVENT crime instead of just investigating it after it occurs."

This greater cooperation between detectives and beat cops may be Lanier's legacy. It surely will not be her much-hyped gimmicks.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

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?

Georgetown Metropolitan reports on the return of a smelly pandemic.

Borderstan warns to watch out for a mugger in business attire (complete with briefcase). Blog also reports crime is way up in Borderstan over the last two months.

The New Teacher on the Block gets a surprise e-mail.

Pop Cesspool thinks Bruce Willis should be noted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Columbia Heights, September 23

More Lunch Hour photos.

The Issue:

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:

They took all the trees
Put ’em in a fountain
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a mosaic style fountain…yah!

Next step: The grand opening - Fenty's office should be deciding on a date soon.

Photo courtesy of DDOT

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)

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."

And Now, Anacostia has pictures from the construction of the new playground at Savoy. Congress Heights on the Rise re-publishes the mayor's office's press release without letting its readers know. Which is bullshit. We love CHOTR and respect their work and their comments on our own City Desk. But you can't cut and paste the mayor's press sheet and not tell your readers. Cite your sources. No big deal.

Metrocurean notes that Taylor Gourmet was featured in the recent issue of Dwell (you know that furniture porn mag at Whole Foods checkout aisles): "The story highlights the rustic industrial look of the renovated building on H Street NE that houses not only the Italian deli but also owners Casey Patten and David Mazza. They built nearly identical apartments on the two floors over the market."

Bloomingdale (for now) posts cool pictures of drawings on dirt.

Greater Greater Washington highlights one misguided marketing campaign from an eco-friendly condo development in Falls Church. They don't offer free bus or Metro passes. The condo folk offer extra free parking: not one, but two spaces for a one-bedroom unit: "Now that green living is trendy, developers are touting environmentally friendly features in many new buildings. That's great. But if the marketers then just default to the same gas-guzzling promotions that assume that more cars and more driving is always a draw, it undermines not only their message but the purpose behind it. Many of those two-bedrooms will go to couples who want a spare room, or families with babies, and they don't necessarily need two cars even in Falls Church."

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!

News Channel 8 reports that another Metro bus driver has been arrested. This time for driving on a suspended license: "Carletta Douglas was arrested Thursday in the District after a traffic accident. Douglas was driving a 92-line Metrobus on Good Hope Road near 25th Street SE when another vehicle hit her bus, police said. A Metro spokesman says 35 passengers were on the bus at the time. One passenger complained of neck pain was taken away by ambulance." This is not Douglas' first arrest: "Publicly available court records show Douglas was charged with second-degree assault in November 2001, nine months after she was hired at Metro. It's unclear how the case was resolved.... Thursday's arrest was the second in one week of a Metrobus operator. On Saturday, Michael Robinson, 41, was arrested on a kidnapping charge after he allegedly refused to allow a passenger to exit the bus."

There were huge issues getting into Saturday's Paul McCartney show at FedEx Field. WTOP reports: "Delays of over two hours forced the concert to start over an hour late so people could get into their seats. Zack Bolno, Executive Director of Communications for the Washington Redskins said the backup was because most people were only using one entrance and that four other entrances to the stadium were under-utilized. 'This was a new audience unfamiliar with the stadium.'"

The Washington Times has a nice puff piece on Legg Mason. Apparently, the tournament is stronger than ever in recruiting tennis' top tier talent.

FENTY TODAY: 2:00 pm
Remarks Hillcrest Play Courts Ribbon Cutting
Location: Hillcrest Play Courts & Recreation Center
3100 Denver Street, SE

3:15 pm
Remarks All Hands On Deck and National Night Out Announcement
Location: 18th and M Streets, NE

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:

I found a 1941 Washington Post article that reported that Harvard, Girard, and Kenyon streets were named for universities at a time when nearby University Place was the site of George Washington University. The earliest reference I could find in the Washington Post to "Girard Street" was in 1880....So evidently Girard Street/Park is indirectly named for Stephen Girard.

Girard College, as it happens, isn't a postsecondary institution, but a primary and secondary institution in Philadelphia serving kids from poor single-parent families. Girard the man was an early 19th-century financier who died the richest man in America, but gave nearly all his fortune away after death. Also, Wikipedia notes, Girard was influential in moving more governmental functions from his hometown of Philly down to Washington.

Worthy of a park naming, no?

Public domain photo of Stephen Girard, hosted at Wikipedia

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.

Graham told Washington Post reporter Tim Craig today that he has no intention of backing off his plan in light of a D.C. law banning the naming of public places after living persons. He noted that Chuck Brown got an honorary street designation last year.

"What I propose will create an exception," he told Craig. "Every legislature passes laws that change earlier laws."

LL thinks the better point was made by civic activist Gary Imhoff, who pointed out that having Obama's name on this particular property "would be something of an insult to any president, since the park is just a basketball court with a seating area, and its most prominent feature is a pair of restrooms."

Kabel's full letter follows:

July 20, 2009

Councilmember Jim Graham
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite 105, NW
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Councilmember Graham:

Recent reports suggest that you are seeking to change the name of Girard Park in Columbia Heights to "Barack Hussein Obama" park. This would violate the city’s code that states "no public space in the District shall be named in honor of any living person." 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.

More importantly then renaming parks, everyone on the Council except you[1] voted for Resolution 18-209 which shortens the Council recess in order to focus on the District’s serious budget shortfall. Your Council colleagues voted for a shorter recess because the District faces a large budget deficit which will require you and the Mayor and the Council to work together and identify ways to reduce the budget deficit. As unemployment steadily increases in the District (over 20% in some areas), District residents and the District of Columbia Republican Committee encourages you to find ways to attract jobs for the District.

Now more than ever, District residents need their Councilmembers to stay focused on the financial problems that face our city. As Chairman of the Metro Board, we strongly encourage to ensure the safety of the Metro system and hope that you will join the millions of commuters and residents who use the Metro Rail on a daily basis to commute to work.[2]

Sincerely,
Robert J. Kabel
Chairman, District of Columbia Republican Committee

[1] Graham was absent on a July 14th voice vote for R.18-209.

[2] As reported in a June 26th interview with WTOP’s Mark Plotkin, Graham has not ridden on a Metro Rail since the Fall of 2008.

(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)..."

New Columbia Heights picks up on an apparent robbery at the neighborhood's Washington Sports Club. A suspected thief is confronted in a locker room. And the chase is on: "The patron started chasing the guy, and during this time, there was a towel person in the locker room who didn't do anything. He chased the guy through the club, yelling "thief!" but again nobody on staff did anything. Then near the door of DCUSA, where the security guard is posted, the patron yelled the man had stolen his stuff. The security guard didn't do anything either, and the man ran outside." Of course, PoP has the narrative from the alert patron.

We Love DC reports on a missing bird named Pickles:

"Pickles’ owner Scott likes to take the bird on his shoulder, pirate-style, for walks around the National Mall on weekends, and on nice days, perch Pickles on tree branches in the Gardens to let him get some nature.

Yesterday, Pickles disappeared. He turned his back for a moment while sitting on a nearby bench, and when he noticed that the normally noisy parakeet had fallen silent, he checked and saw that Pickles was gone.

Now, Pickles can’t fly (wings clipped, of course), and there were no large predators in the area, but there were crowds of people. We’re hoping it’s just a kind soul who saw what he or she thought was a lost bird..."

In related news... A DC Birding Blog reports on an eagle nest threatened by DHS. A pair of Bald Eagles have made part of St. E's their home. Since DHS is moving in, the eagles may be in jeopardy:

"Since this pair has stayed at the site for eight years, they are clearly tolerant of human activity and have the skills to survive and breed in a dense urban atmosphere. However, given that the hospital grounds have seen very little activity for most of that time, it is difficult to predict how the eagles might react to sudden changes..."

Metrocurean turned four this weekend. Congrats!

Pop Cesspool breaks down the rapper Drake.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.