The Issue: Some residents aren’t charmed by the odor of female ginkgo trees in Trinidad—and have already had some removed by the city. But according to D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) policy, after a tree is cut down, someone must call again for another one to be replanted  the city will plant another in its place, but the process can take up to seven months. With lax communication, some neighborhoods, like this one, are left with stumps for years. Should the ginkgoes be left alone?

“I Speak for the Trees, for the Trees Have No Tongues”: Hilloholic, writing on the blog Frozen Tropics, says, “Ginkgoes are awesome! Don’t cut them down. I wouldn’t call their smell a huge problem.” There is also a pesticide spray available that halts the production of the smelly fruit—a tactic the Urban Forestry Administration has utilized in the past. Read More "Neighborhood Watch: Smelly Trees or Tree Stumps in Trinidad?" »

The New Teacher on the Block sums up Rhee's testimony last week:

"So it boils down to this: Michelle Rhee intentionally and illegally fabricated a budget shortfall in order to fire teachers. Around the time of the RIF she blamed the City Council for the lack of funds, but all this shows that there was room and time for DCPS to make adjustments (not hiring 900 new folks?) to the system before a RIF became necessary."

Dee Does the District has their own reaction to Rhee's testimony:

"I don't know whether to throw my laptop off my balcony or weep. I think instead I'll just go to bed, speechless."

Read More "Our Morning Roundup Shocker: Teachers Not Pleased With Rhee’s Testimony" »

Yesterday City Desk reported on how the upper Wisconsin Avenue portion of the D.C. Circulator's bus route was on the chopping block. The Department of Transportation has since confirmed: It will in fact be chopped.

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...

The Issue: The DC Circulator route up Wisconsin Avenue may soon be no more. The $1 red bus currently runs from Union Station through downtown to M Street, then eventually up Wisconsin. DDOT has proposed cutting the last leg of the service, leaving only two regular city buses to run to upper Georgetown. Despite a big Metrobus route overhaul last year, during which Mayor Adrian Fenty dubbed the Circulator a "great solution," it looks like the bus faces a bumpy ride.

Read More "Neighborhood Watch: How Far Should the Georgetown Circulator Circulate?" »

Rerouting, ratcheting expenses, delays—the streetcar project is having a bumpy ride so far. The two lines that are planned—H Street to Benning Road in Northeast and Fifth Sterling Avenue to Good Hope Road in Anacostia—are intended to boost economic development. Up to now, they've mostly created frustrations.

So it's time to get the project back on track, D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein said Thursday evening in a public meeting at the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Read More "Streetcar Project: More Bumps in the Road" »

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---"Peter Nickles: I Will Not Call You Back," "Video: Is Cleveland Park Dead?" and "The Pershing Park Case: Did A District Official Commit Perjury?"

Morning all. A big thanks to the local politico reporters and Wilson Building staffers who a) Jokingly thought I had become LL; b) Wished me luck in compiling the must-read briefing on local politics; and c) failed to mention the "resident" controversy from yesterday. A few local heavyweights inquired about LL's bike ride to Dewey Beach and wondered if he had made it to the Rusty Rudder safely. I reached LL via e-mail. Here is what he wrote about his trek:

"Uh, well, we left gonzaga HS at 4:30 a.m. then took back roads to just across the severn river in annapolis where we were bused across the bay bridge to where 50 meets 404. it started out looking like it was going to be cloudy and rain all day, but by the time we crossed the bridge the clouds were gone and the sun was shining. so it was really hot. the route kinda sucked. its exactly the same as driving; we rode on the shoulder of these roads the whole time, trucks whizzing pasy, chickenshit in the air, no real scenery of note. but it was for a good cause--autism research--and it was pretty well run, lots of rest stops with powerbars and water and bananas and all that stuff. The first leg I did pretty fast, finishing 35 mi in about two and a half hours. the second leg was somewhat slower---five and a half hours to do 65 mi to Bethany Beach--but i was among the first half of finishers (at 2:15 p.m.) on my junky old bike. so yeah, it was good."

Now on to the news: Councilmember Phil Mendelson has joined colleague Councilmember Mary Cheh in calling for AG Peter Nickles to resign. Cheh spoke out to City Desk last Friday. So what has provoked the councilmembers? The OAG's conduct in a Pershing Park lawsuit in which police evidence has gone missing and/or has been destroyed, among other discovery problems. The U.S. District Court judge in the case has promised painful sanctions, has called on the D.C. Council to investigate the matter, and ordered Nickles to provide a sworn statement explaining his office's conduct. The Examiner's Bill Myers gets Mendo on the record calling for Nickles to go. Nickles offers his usual bulldog-with-rabies react: "It's politics at its worst. They have no idea what's going on." What's going on is available via transcript. News Channel 8's Bruce DePuyt has Cheh and Nickles on the Pershing Park issue. Nickles says he is "troubled" by the missing evidence, and will follow the law. Cheh stands by her comments and says D.C. needs a new attorney general.

LEAD TROUBLES: WaPo is reporting that House investigators have found many more children than previously reported had high levels of lead in their blood during the drinking water crisis from a few years ago. Key graphs: "Local officials could not say Monday whether some children with unsafe lead exposure have gone without intervention to reduce their health risks. The CDC and city health department had reported dangerously high lead levels in 193 children in 2003, the worst year for high concentrations of lead in city tap water. But lab data gathered by congressional investigators this year show that the actual number was 486 children."

AFTER THE JUMP: More public transpo issues, D.C. Police are getting some federal dough, Legal Seafood is fighting to stay inside National Reagan National Airport, WaPo stands up for press freedoms(!) and much, much more.

Read More "‘Politics At Its Worst’: Loose Lips Daily" »

The FY2010 budget proposal submitted by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty on Friday contained a number of fee hikes. Many of those are intended to fall on businesses, but there was one that will fall broadly on District residents: A "Street Light User Fee," intended to "cover the costs associated with the operation and maintenance of streetlights in the District."

Details of the fee have been reveled in draft legislation submitted to the council today: The fee will be assessed on your Pepco bills. Residential customers, under the proposal, will pay $4.25 a month ($51 a year); commercial customers will pay $16.75 monthly ($201 yearly), and all others $42 monthly ($504 yearly).

Now, the proposed legislation pumps all of this money into a separate streetlight fund to be held separate from the city's general operating fund---so there's little danger the city will use your streetlight money to, say, pay for potholes. Also, the language provides that low-income residents can get assistance paying the fee from the city energy assistance office.

The D.C. Council, of course, has to approve this. Don't like it? Call your home councilmember, and you might also drop a line to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, who oversees the transportation department---(202) 724-8181.

Yesterday, we saw dudes in plows idling. The snow hadn't started falling. It would be hours. But, there, on the Virginia toll road to Leesburg, there was a plow ready to go.

This morning at about 9:00 a.m.., Mount Pleasant Street NW hadn't been plowed. And Irving Street was only partially cleared. Within an hour, they were looking a lot better?

How are your streets looking? Which streets need a plow?

The streets are clear, the schools are open. But guess what, all you flinty former Chicagoans and tough-skinned others? D.C.'s still whining about the weather. This time it's about the ice. On the Listservs, on the forums, in the streets, on the phone, folks want to know what's up with clearing it. Spots where the sun doesn't hit are still frozen over in a thick layer or, worse, black ice. Pat Collins' definitive report on Obama dissing D.C. did offer excellent advice (take baby steps, wear proper shoes). But still. D.C. needs someone to blame. How about the Dept. of Public Works?

Read More "We’re Not Flinty When It Comes to Ice, Either" »

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty today named a bunch of new executive honchos to new jobs. He's tapped Gabe Klein to head up DDOT; Lee A. Smith III to take over the Department of Small and Local Business Development; Bridget Davis to take over his policy and lobbying shop; and Tracy Sandler to replace Davis at the Office of Boards and Commissions.

The most attention-grabbing choice is his pick to lead the Department of Transportation. Probably more eyes were/will be on this pick than any of the others because of the ongoing campaigning by planning geeks/urbanists to put someone in charge who's at the cutting edge of urban transit trends. In a perfect world---barring somehow convincing current NYC transpo commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan to slum it in the District---they'd like to see a clone of Sadik-Khan, someone with a proven record of advocating for multimodal transit options, not just finding the most efficient ways to move cars through the city.

Is Klein that? Doesn't look like it. [UPDATE, 2 P.M.: LL may have spoken too soon; a "gabe klein" signed David Alpert's form letter asking for a "visionary" DDOT leader, adding these personal comments: "I agree, love Michelle Rhee, Harriet Tregoning, and of course Dan Tangherlini. Lets bring someone of that caliber in to take over DDOT, a hugely important position in Washington. For instance, without Dan Tangherlini's vision, carsharing would not be what it is in Washington (one of the top carsharing cities in the U.S.)"]

Read More "Fenty Names Four New Agency Heads" »