The next local election day might be some 15 months off, but Saturday's Capital Pride parade still had a political charge—mostly due to the recent heat on gay marriage, but also thanks to a mayoral campaign kicking into full gear and possible council challenger in the mix.
LL was there with camera. Behold!
Well, it's out in the open now.
A draft committee that was possibly the worst-kept secret in local politics in recent weeks has revealed itself today, in a press release and Web site urging Clark E. Ray, recently fired Department of Parks and Recreation director, to run for an at-large council seat.
"We believe that Clark Ray [...]
Completely without ceremony or debate, the D.C. Council has just made its final vote to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Actually, the council did not vote specifically on the legislation, but rather voted it through as part of the "consent agenda"—a package of typically uncontroversial bills passed together without objection.
Any member can take [...]
Yesterday, the Washington Post printed some very obvious news to anyone who's been on South Cap. Street in the past year: Nationals Park hasn't sparked much revitalizing in Southwest. The city spent $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades and developers have made huge holes in the ground and left a lot of buildings still vacant.
As the [...]
Well, that didn't take long: Anthony Motley will be running as an independent for an at-large council seat in 2010.
As first reported by LL last month, Motley is the first non-incumbent to declare for the 2010 at-large race, but there was some question over whether he would run as a Democrat or not. Motley is [...]
Washington Blade's Lou Chibbaro Jr. is reporting this afternoon on an e-mail circulated among pro-gay clergy that claims At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania has committed to introducing a gay marriage bill at the April 7 council meeting.
A Catania aide says in the Blade story that no date is certain, but LL can say with certainty [...]
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 [...]
Thanks to the Washington Post's preview yesterday of the city's latest HIV/AIDS numbers, we know know that, with 3 percent of the population diagnosed, D.C.'s rates are "higher than West Africa" and "on par with Uganda and some parts of Kenya."
Those comparisons came from Dr. Shannon Hader, head of the city's HIV/AIDS Administration and a [...]
DCision 2010 begins in earnest: We have our first official D.C. Council challenger.
That would be the Rev. Anthony Motley, the Congress Heights minister and civic activist. Earlier this month, he sent a letter to a select group of friends, informing them that he has "decided to launch a campaign for an At-Large City Council seat [...]
At last week's hearing on the Department of Mental Health, Councilmember David Catania revealed the cost to house one person for one year at St. Elizabeths.
Guess how much?
About $280,000 per year.
"That is an enormous amount of money," Catania said in what has to be the understatement of the day. There are so many reasons the [...]
Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander has been waiting in the wings, a back-bencher, for nearly two years. While colleagues presided over important council committees, Alexander held no such portfolio.
But today that all changed. Alexander is chairing her first hearing as the new chair of the Committee on Aging and Community Affairs. On the docket [...]
Right now, At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania is nearly an hour into a roundtable he's holding on the operations of Whitman-Walker Clinic, the Logan Circle health center that's historically treated the city's gay and lesbian community and victims of HIV/AIDS. The inquiry follows the clinic's decision in December to lay off 26 employees and cut [...]
LL hears it's a done deal: At-Large Councilmember David A. Catania has claimed Carol Schwartz's fab fourth-floor corner digs down at the John A. Wilson Building. The spot is prized not only for its big windows with sweet views of the Willard Hotel and Pershing Park, but its...private bathroom.
Here's what LL had penned on [...]
