Convention Center, September 3

Maybe our earthquake wasn't quite as dramatic as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake in Seattle.

Morning, readers. Let us celebrate the fact that Friday is upon us.

That wasn't a rumble in your stomach this morning: That was an earthquake. The 3.6 magnitude quake struck at 5:04 a.m., and its epicenter was in the Germantown-Gaithersburg area. The quake was the largest to hit the area since the U.S. Geological Survey created a database to record such activity in 1974. Folks from as far away as New York and Georgia reported the quake to the USGS.

As if traveling isn't inherently stressful enough. A power outage yesterday at Reagan National Airport, caused by a fire at an electrical substation near the headquarters of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, delayed 20 percent of flights at the airport for most of the day. It's the third power outage at Reagan this year.

Homicides in D.C. in 2009 dropped by nearly 25 percent from 2008. The District experienced a reduction of all violent crime, a trend the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments attributes to new technology and better inter-jurisdiction sharing of information. Whadayathink the chances are that Fenty is going to try to use this to his advantage in his re-election bid?

Bad news for those of you looking forward to seeing 'Dreamgirls' at the National Theatre in two weeks: Producers have canceled the D.C. leg of the tour due to disappointing ticket sales. The production, which opened at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem last November, is still slated to make stops in San Francisco, Memphis, and Miami through the end of the year.

Photo: washington.edu

"Vincent Gray and the constituents of ward 8 enabled Barry for decades. I doubt anything has changed. Barry stole from the people that needed him most. But the people still love him..."

Super-commenter Rick Mangus offered up some of his typical poetry: "Vincent Gray is a PUSSY!" Friend of the Friends wrote us yesterday with this bit of knowledge: "First, let me say that I know Skinner. I was in those marathon study sessions...that he never came to. Sinclaire is full of shit. He will tell anyone that listens that they should pay him to help you get with Fenty."

Maybe we just have conspiracy nuts for readers. Or maybe there's something going on here—a sense that people that do wrong never get truly punished. Today, the Examiner's Michael Neibauer has a sweet story that may only deepen your distrust in the District government's ability to properly adjudicate bad behavior.

Neibauer reports that the District was ordered to pay $3.4 million in 2009 to more than three dozen city employees who had successfully appealed their terminations. Among the employees receiving a fat payout is a cop who had been busted and jailed for drunk driving. The cop lost his license, but not his job. So why did these appeals cost so much? The District appeal process took so long that when the employees won their jobs back they were entitled to back pay and benefits.

"The Office of Employee Appeals has a backlog of 533 cases, only four administrative judges on staff and finances so depleted that it can't even hire court reporters, agency leaders say. Cases stemming from basic budget-related layoffs to terminations for cause often drag on for years, and those workers who successfully appeal are ultimately paid 'to take a long vacation,' said Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh, government operations committee chairwoman."

What the city's employee appeals office should have known is that the lawyers handling these cases aren't dumb. The lawyer who handled the drunk cop's appeal was Robert Deso, an accomplished veteran with a long track record as one of the police union's main advocates. The union's president, Kristopher Baumann is no slouch either. These are guys that don't back down from any fight.

It's troubling that the city can't even fire people correctly.

OK. On to a topic that isn't going to melt away any time soon.

It's hard to please the Washington Post's best columnist Colbert King. He has routinely hammered DYRS and the local politicians who meekly respond to his queries or who fail to muster his level of outrage. Councilmember Tommy Wells, who helms the council's Committee on Human Services, must be a frequent target of King's calls. After all, DYRS falls under Wells' watch. So it was all the more surprising that Wells actually impressed King with his response to the columnist's questions concerning the apparent racial divide over the bag tax.

A recent poll showed that 75 percent of white residents support the bag tax. Only one third of black residents support it. King asked Wells to respond.

Wells keyed on all the plastic found in the Anacostia River. He wrote King:

"The issue of a racial divide is often more complex than it appears on the surface of a poll . . . Often the experience of living in our city is described or explained according to which side of the Anacostia you reside, serving as a physical symbol of a racial divide in D.C. Representing a ward that includes the river, I wanted to do something substantial to help improve it...

I conducted formal presentations at four senior wellness centers about trash in the Anacostia and then fully described my bill, placing a 5 cent fee on disposable bags. The presentations were held at centers in Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8. I engaged the council members for the wards, including Marion Barry, who is a strong supporter of the bill. The vast majority of the participants were black. A group of seniors from one of the centers even came down and testified in support of the bill."

Finally, environmental degradation is often accepted as the norm in lower income neighborhoods, but I never assumed that black citizens living along the Anacostia found the state of our river acceptable. In fact, many of the older black residents I talked with remember swimming in the river and fishing with their parents, and they still boat on it."

I'm actually only quoting a portion of Wells' response. You should read King's whole column linked above (it also includes a wonderful look back on Barry's dreadful response to a historic snowstorm in the mid '80s). King's own response to Wells was short and sweet:

"Wells said a cleaner Anacostia River will show the wisdom of the bill. I agree."

Maybe the two can focus some energy on the unemployment crisis in the District. In another town, maybe 12 percent unemployment would require a press conference, a summit, a series of hearings, and emergency legislation. There were tons of benefits around town to support Haiti. Those were awesome. I'd love to see more benefits directed at supporting the nonprofits and social services that support our unemployed and homeless residents.

WaPo has a strong story on the crisis and comes up with some not-so-surprising stats on which jobs are being lost:

"From November 2008 through November 2009, about 27,000 jobs were created in the Washington area, among them positions for lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, federal workers, educators, health professionals and government workers, according to an analysis by Fuller. Of the 42,000 jobs lost, about 16,000 were in construction, 9,000 in retail and about 11,000 in financial and information fields that have been in decline since before the recession.

The losses contributed to the news last month that unemployment shot up to 12 percent in the District — nearly double the rate in Virginia, more than 4 percentage points higher than in Maryland and above the national average of 10 percent at the time. It renewed criticism by city leaders who have long complained that government jobs too often go to residents of neighboring jurisdictions. Advocates say there could be a long-term impact for the District and the entire region, creating a permanent gap in the kinds of jobs that have historically provided less educated workers a chance to move up the social ladder."

CHRIS MATTHEWS PLAYED HARDBALL last night with the District, pounding Fenty like back-to-back snowstorms. D.C., said Matthews, has "the weather of Buffalo with the snowplowing capability of Miami." LL dispatched Matthews nicely last night; for a more nuanced take check out yesterday's Kojo NnamdeNnamdi, on which I heard DDOT head Gabe Klein remind people that you can't fund snow removal with the expectation that you'll get 15 inches a year, then freak out when that isn't enough money to deal with 60.

MORE SNOW MONDAY? Parents region-wide will freaking contemplate suicide if this happens. Today will be my kids' seventh day in the house, and when you find yourself shaking your head knowingly at a Petula Dvorak column, you know it's grim. Not "Johnny Damon looking for a job" grim, but close.

BY THE WAY DO YOU KNOW HOW SERIOUS THIS STORM WAS? It sort of affected New York City!

WHAT'S THE BUZZ? Google Buzz! I'm not sure what it is, but I have 31 followers on it and am following 45 others. Seems like a good way to keep up with my friends' bon mots, even if it has a "huge privacy flaw." We still get to care about privacy? Some things I learned in Google Buzz yesterday: Genius CP alum Mike Riggs has decided to consolidate all his information there: "Hey Buzzers! Welcome to my Google land, where everything tastes like John Mayer's regret!" and stalwart contributor Aaron Leitko is organizing a videoshoot on the CP parking deck. "Aaron, is this offer only good while there's snow piled up? How many cameras?" asked Tom Carrico at 10:07 p.m. Sorry if that's a flaw in your privacy, dudes.

ALLEZ LES HABS! (Sorry.)

The above snow plow met its end at the intersection of 5th and Kennedy Streets NW, where the snow doesn't take kindly to being pushed around by ANYONE. From the looks of it, the poor thing caught on fire and its drivers fled, possibly on foot. The neighbors love this stuff–someone said that salt gets rid of ice, or something, which I can't confirm because I am from Florida–and they broke out trash bags, paint buckets, and garbage cans, got in line, and committed to salting their streets by hand.

Looks like an electrical fire. Then again, I do not know what I am talking about.

As of 4 p.m. on Saturday, this truck cab did not smell like cat piss. It will.

Barrel o' salt.

Don't call it looting.

Photos by Mike Riggs

On this MLK Day, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has declared that some 30,000 residents are doing volunteer work across the District. Four hundred of those volunteers are passing out food and clothing to the neediest outside MLK Library. But one thing the city needs is affordable housing for homeless families.

The latest report on homeless families conducted by the District—for the week of Dec. 28 to Jan. 3—showed that there were more than 200 families on the waiting list for housing services. That's way down from the more than 400 on the wait list in early November.

One reason for the lower numbers: D.C. General has added more beds for homeless families. One advocate recently reported that the need has been so great that the staff has started letting families sleep in the cafeteria.

The advocate also noted that there are reports of mold along one stairwell, and long lines at dinner time.

On January 12, the census showed that D.C. General had housed 109 families which included more than 200 children.

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.

What I want to know: Has Gray's very public waffling on the subject hurt him? Has it slowed down legislation as everyone at the Wilson Building waits for Gray to make his decision? And what other local leaders should people be pushing to run? Yesterday's Post story on Gray sure didn't help him. What was he thinking, what were his advisers thinking?

The Washington Teacher gives a thumbs down to Rhee's interview with Anderson Cooper last week [video link]. Blogger writes:

"Just more of the same of Rhee on her soap box with unedited teacher bashing . Many who watched Michelle Rhee on Cooper's Thursday evening show were infuriated about the production of 'What's Next -Education ?' If you were watching, the answer to that question is more of the same. Stay tuned for more firings, more firings and more firings by Chancellor Michelle Rhee."

And Now, Anacostia reports on the opening of Big Chair Coffee. DCist was there too. And so was our resident real estate expert! The shop looks like it sure beats the grocery-store Starbucks.

The Heights Life has the rundown on Columbia Heights' top Netflix rentals. Pretty mainstream! Benjamin Button? WTF. Seven Pounds? Slumdog Millionaire? Not very hipster! Where's the fuckin' mumblecore!?

Frozen Tropics has the agenda for tonight's PSA 102 meeting covering youth violence.

Full gallery After the jump.

The Issue:

Now Hold On a Just Minute Here: When Pepco goons with chainsaws showed up and began chopping down the 400 trees, the Palisades Citizens Association (PCA) was pissed. "Pepco was springing it on the neighborhood without any prior consultation," Spence Spencer, the association president, said. He and his neighbors were concerned that losing the trees on MacArthur would "de-nude whole blocks" of a street that is one of the few in D.C. with a tree canopy. He says a letter of concern to Pepco went unanswered. It was only after Mayor Adrian Fenty made a visit to the Palisades in October that Pepco began to listen. According to Spencer, Fenty "basically" said: "Look, Pepco, you guys have gotta come up with a more tree-friendly approach." Fenty imposed a moratorium on tree work until a plan was approved by the PCA.

It's All Good: According to Pepco, the Palisades tree canopy was responsible for over 100 hours of lost power in the neighborhood in 2007 and 2008. Pepco media representative Clay Anderson said that the District asked Pepco to improve reliability, and that Pepco has been paying attention to the community all along. "We're pretty much okay with the folks out there now," he says of the beef. The company submitted two plans to the PCA last week—one that had little tree pruning on MacArthur, and one that had none.

What's Next: It's up to Palisades residents to decide. "We're evaluating what on the face looks like a positive proposal, even though it took Fenty to get them to pay attention to community," says Spencer. For the moment, Palisades folks are assuaged, according to Spencer, but "there needs to be a long-term dialogue about this. They've got a two-year cutting cycle on trees," he says, "so best case, all that we've done is forstalled what might be another round of mass cutting of trees in the Palisades two years from now."

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

"For a few hours there it actually looked like Bobby Pittman (a well known local gadfly) might be able to stop the Festival through last minute bureaucratic tie ups (NB, [nothing] is wrong with checking signatures, but this was a dirty Bobby move at the last minute). In the end Bobby did not get his way, and the Mayor's office allowed the Festival to proceed. But I'd like to send out a personal Evil Eye to Bobby on this one.  If you really hate seeing all this great stuff on H Street, maybe you should just move dude. Bobby, you have gone on some Don Quixotesque crusade of harassing local businesses (including, but not even close to limited to: Rock and Roll Hotel, the Pug, and the Atlas Performing Arts Center [!]). Aside from the one time I saw you planting flowers on H Street, acting as the PSA 102 Coordinator, and a few other very isolated incidents, I've yet to see you do anything to positively contribute to life on the H Street Corridor, or on Linden. It's one thing to want the laws enforced, and to want good neighbors (both admirable qualities and pursuits). But what you are doing is unacceptable in my opinion, and I hope that others who agree will tell you so to your face. I certainly intend to do so the next time I see you. Until then, Evil Eye to you Pittman."

Barry Farm (Re)mixed expects water rates to go up starting October 1.

Greater Greater Washington has the three finalists up for a public art installation in Adams Morgan.

The Georgetown Metropolitan is urging a Save the Circulator campaign:

"GM was informed that Jack Evans has stepped in to give it another chance and try to convince the Mayor to keep the Wisconsin branch of the Circulator. But now it really is up to us. Please, if you have just one minute, email the Mayor at Adrian.Fenty@DC.gov and let him know that Georgetown has suffered more than enough cuts in its bus service, cutting the Circulator in half would be unfair and short-sighted."

The New Teacher On The Block reports on cutbacks in teacher aides in their classroom:

"However, DCPS is bent on not being able to do anything right, and, as such, they made a decision today that immediately negatively effected my classroom. DCPS has decided to discontinue contracts employment agencies held to supply aides to DCPS classrooms.

These contracts came about in the summer of 2008, when the requirements for assistants changed and many aides were fired for not meeting the requirements. It is my understanding that DCPS was scrambling to find qualified people in a short period of time, and therefore turned to these contract agencies to find aides for the classrooms. All of my classroom aides last year were contractors and 3 of my 4 this year are contractors. However, for whatever reason (probably money) DCPS has decided mid-stream to discontinue this relationship and they want the contractors out. Thus, they are moving them to the most high-need schools in an effort to cover until they hire more people, and then they're getting rid of them. Not sure how this makes sense...but whatever. It's DCPS- who the crap knows?"

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan had ordered the city's attorney general to submit a sworn statement explaining the evidentiary problems in a Pershing Park case. Nickles and OAG attorney Tom Koger submitted their statements on August 12 [read their statements in full].

This week, Patterson sent a letter to Sullivan outlining the various factual problems she had with Nickles' statement. Now comes Mendelson writing to Nickles. Mendo points out several mistakes in Nickles' statement to Sullivan.

All of the errors are both obvious and unnecessary. The take away:  Does Nickles really care about the Pershing Park case? Should he be the one leading an investigation into the missing and botched police evidence?

Mendelson tells City Desk that he is undecided on whether to open an investigation. But he says there will be oversight hearings on the controversy.

"What troubles me besides the hot water the city is in with Judge Sullivan, what troubles me is we repeatedly have these problems with getting accurate information," Mendelson says, citing the DeOnte Rawlings shooting case and the Fire Truck dustup.

Mendelson says the council will be looking into the missing evidence in the Pershing Park case.

Now on to the letter.

Nickles had claimed to Sullivan that the D.C. Council had rebuffed efforts by the Fenty Administration to allocate money for a "District-wide document management system that also would have addressed OAG document management needs."

In his letter, Mendo points out that his Judiciary Committee oversees the OAG and, well, the need for a new document system has never been brought to his attention during oversight hearings.

Mendo goes on to quote Nickles' own statements during oversight hearings from April 4, 2008 and March 26, 2009. In the March testimony, the AG concluded his statement with this: "We are grateful that the Mayor, the Committee, and the Council support our important work and that this budget allows us to continue our operations."

Mendo points out that on page "A-162 of the FY 2009 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan for the Office of the Attorney General," there is a one-line entry for an electronic management system costing $400,000. He writes that the proposed $400,000 managment system was left in tact by the Council. "It is funded in the current fiscal year," Mendelson states.

Another graph in Nickles' statement stumped Mendelson. Nickles wrote to Sullivan:

"I am disappointed to report that for Fiscal Year 2009 the Council reduced the OAG budget by over two million dollars, and for Fiscal Year 2010, the Council reduced the OAG budget further by almost three million dollars, which certainly will result in a reduction in force of present staff."

Mendo's response: "These statements are also incorrect." He points out that the council adopted Fenty's FY2009 budget request for the OAG "without reducing it one cent." Even the revised budget did not reduce Nickles' budget. He goes on to detail the FY2010 numbers:

"The Council's actions regarding the FY2010 budget are more complicated, but the total OAG budget will be about 3.5% greater than FY2009. This increase includes $315,000 which the Council added—above the Mayor's request—to fund non-personal expenses related to litigation support."

Mendelson goes further. But the conclusion is this: Nickles' claims that OAG's budget got cut or will get cut are false. "The bottom line is that the Council did not cut $3 million from the OAG's FY2010 budget, the OAG's budget will grow in FY2010, and the OAG's litigation support budget will grow," Mendelson wrote.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Councilmember Barry: What Did Sharon Bowen Actually Do?"

Morning all. First, local legendary singer Eddie Daye passed away late last week. Our own music blog has posted a sweet tribute to the man and his talents. He was 78. Key graph: "While those online and crate-digging fans may cherish copies of his obscure singles (some of which have been reissued on cd), I will just keep my memories of those fun late nights out seeing him sing bluesy soul and my conversations with him about his musical career and his take on 50 plus years of r’n’b history."

SUMMER FINALLY COMES TO D.C.: The heat is upon us; today, temps are expected to climb into the triple digits. WTOP reports that the District is opening up several cooling centers and extending hours at area pools. WJLA and NBC4 also has a story on the heat wave. AP has another story, this one one the opening up of a new aquatic center in Tenleytown.

A MUST READ FROM COLBY KING: On Saturday, Colbert King published an eye-opening column on disorderly conduct arrests by D.C. Police officers. Citing records from the Office of Police Complaints, King produces a few stunning accounts of police abusing "disorderly conduct" charges against District residents. One of the many key graphs: "Residents are arrested in D.C. for disorderly conduct in large numbers: nearly 5,000 in 2007, more than 4,200 in 2008 and 4,469 this year as of Aug. 5. Many are probably arrested for good reasons: noise violations, blocking public spaces, etc. But, as in the Gates arrest, some busts never make it to court."

FENTY'S DRIVING RECORD: WaPo cites several sources critical of Mayor Fenty's insistence on driving himself to various ribbon cuttings, press conferences, etc. Nikita Stewart notes in her lengthy piece that no other big city mayor drives themselves around. Key quote: "I think it's curious that he's driving himself," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. "Why not have the security detail . . . when you have an accident like this past week?" Outside experts from other cities say security should be a top priority, and we're not paying Fenty to drive around, we're paying him to make decisions and think critically about the city's needs—we don't want him spending his time worrying about getting across town.

AFTER THE JUMP: More revelations on the Metro front, Jonetta sticks up for AG Peter Nickles, and much, much more.

HAWK ONE: The ubiquitous private security firm is trying to save its District contracts, the Examiner's Michael Neibauer reports. Expect some kind of media blitz by Hawk One managers to save their contracts. A bit of news in this story: "Ward 6 D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells, a former school board member, said he wanted to consider hiring security officers as employees of the city government, rather than as private contractors."

METRO PROBLEMS: Here's some quick links. WaPo continues to be all over this story. The crash system failed in June during a near crash: "The crash-avoidance system suspected of failing in the recent deadly accident on Metro's Red Line malfunctioned three months earlier, when a rush-hour train on Capitol Hill came 'dangerously close' to another train and halted only after the operator hit the emergency brake, newly obtained records show." AP follows up. Metro's oversight panel has little sway, WaPo reports. Key graph: "The committee has no direct regulatory authority over safety and cannot order Metro to make changes. It has no employees of its own and no dedicated office, phone or Web site. It borrows space for its monthly meetings, which officials said no member of the public has ever attended." WaPo also reports that a Metro worker died Sunday after being struck by a piece of track equipment.

Jonetta Rose Barras stands up for AG Peter Nickles. This is one of the more phoned-in columns I've seen in a while. Key graph: "He has aggressively defended the city against lawsuits, saving taxpayers tons of money. He has protected citizens against corporations and individuals who have attempted to rip them off or deny them their rights. His office battled CareFirst over its alleged failure to invest profits in the health care of low-income people. He jacked up slum landlords and private companies scamming black churches. He pushed for improvements in Child and Family Services and, with the council, defended the city’s gun control laws." Nickles may or may not have pushed for improvements with CFSA—but he has most certainly pushed to get CFSA out of its court oversight as the agency continues to fail to meet its benchmarks.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:

10:30 a.m. Remarks
Alice Deal Middle School Ribbon Cutting
Location: 3185 Fort Drive, NW

2:00 p.m. Remarks
Bruce Monroe Elementary School Demolition
Location: 3012 Georgia Avenue, NW

6:30 p.m. Remarks
2014 Gay Games Kickoff Rally
Location: Stead Field
1625 P Street, NW

After the jump: more things that happened yesterday, but with bullet points!

• Like the swallows to Capistrano, so return corrections to the New York Times' Cronkite obit.
• Kappa Alpha sigh. Next year: Vegas!
• It would be funnier if this said "GREGRY"
• Bad teams...win close games?
• Also: It's raining!