Whither Ximena Hartsock?

The soon-to-be-ex-director of the city parks and recreation department might have been rejected by the D.C. Council, but Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has made no bones about declaring Hartsock to be a model municipal administrator deserving of continued government employment.

And yet, the confirmation battle has soured relations between Hartsock and several councilmembers, making any appointment to a council-confirmed post a futile exercise. But a solution may exist.

The rumblings are this: Hartsock's next stop in municipal government is likely to be as chief executive of the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp. That is a quasi-governmental nonprofit that partners public and private entities to fund and oversee various youth programs. Crucially, the president/CEO post is appointed solely by the nonprofit's board.

Read More "Ximena Hartsock Headed to Youth Trust?" »

Just in case you thought the Fenty administration might play nice with the D.C. Council's investigation of the $120 million in parks contracts sent to the D.C. Housing Authority, think again.

Interim parks director Ximena Hartsock and her capital projects director had been asked to come to today's hearing on the matter, but they did not show.

That prompted Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., chairing the inquiry, to announce at the hearing that he will be issuing subpoenas for the witnesses and related documents.

Only two holdouts left.

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. was a guest on NewsChannel 8's NewsTalk program this afternoon, and the gay marriage bill expected to pass through the council later this year was on the agenda. While he did not make a pledge on camera, anchor Bruce DePuyt reports that in a conversation afterward, Thomas told him that he will indeed vote for the bill, "despite grief he will get from some constituents, clergy in his ward."

The promise comes after months of sometimes agonizing fence-straddling on Thomas' part. With Thomas on board, only the two east-of-the-river ward councilmembers---Yvette Alexander and Marion Barry---have declined to come out for the bill.

For the second year in a row, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray is hosting a snazzy affair at the Park at 14th to celebrate the Congressional Black Caucus' annual legislative conference. Ultra-slick invites to this evening's event have been handed out to councilmembers for distribution.

Gray spokesperson Doxie McCoy confirms that the arrangements are the same as last year: Park at 14th owner and prolific campaign contributor Marc Barnes is paying all the expenses, with the understanding that he'll make them back in bar receipts.

There is one delicious political twist this time.

Read More "Council Hosts CBC Reception Tonight" »

Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. has been walking a mighty fine line the past couple of weeks.

When you're representing a ward that contains both quickly gentrifying (and gayifying) areas like Bloomingdale, Eckington, and Brookland, in addition to the generally conservative Bungalow Belt and many of the city's most politically active churches, same-sex marriage would be one of those issues you might wish would go away.

Thomas veered heavily to one side of that line when he voted this month to recognize other states' same-sex marriages here in D.C. He leaned even further when the Washington Blade reported last Friday that Thomas was on the record in support of a full gay marriage bill—-a story LL had highlighted in his Friday news roundup.

Leaned too far, perhaps: That afternoon, Thomas spokesperson Victoria Leonard called LL to say the Blade story, by Lou Chibarro Jr., wasn't true. Her boss, she said, wasn't committed either way.

Read More "Behold Harry Thomas Jr.’s Nuanced Position on Same-Sex Marriage Legislation" »

LL has spent the last week poring over the budget reports submitted by the 12 D.C. Council standing committees. With hundreds of pages of text, there's bound to be a few slip-ups. Here's two of LL's favorites:

Holy Pork: From Muriel Bowser's public services and consumer affairs committee: "$500,000...is transferred to the Department of Parks and Recreation...for the sole and exclusive use of beatification of passive parks within the boundaries of Ward 4" [emphasis added]. Now Bowser's Catholic and all, but does she have enough pull with the pope to sanctify her parklands?

Dept. of Me: From Harry Thomas Jr.'s libraries, parks, and recreation committee: "Redirect $1M from General Improvement (RG001) to Harry Thomas, Jr. Recreation Center Project, created in the 2009 Capital Budget." The height of narcissistic legislating? Probably not: There is a Harry Thomas Sr. rec center in Eckington, named after the current councilmember's father and predecessor as Ward 5 councilmember.

*Big presser from the President last night.  The New York Times says, basically, farewell orator, hello professor; the Post has video and the transcript; Wonkette live-blogged; I just watched.

*10 months after the brutal murder of Jasmine McCray in the 4800 Block of G Street SE, D.C. Police announced yesterday that they have made an arrest in the case:

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Clouded Leopard Cub Edition!" »

D.C. Councilmembers Harry Thomas Jr. and Yvette Alexander are elected officials. People must have seen something in them that they liked. Maybe in Thomas' case, it was his famous name. Maybe in Alexander's case, it was her sunny personality. But since joining the council, both have gained reputations as lightweights.

Last Wednesday, on February 18, Thomas and Alexander earned their reps.

Read More "Councilmembers Thomas And Alexander Make Fools Of Themselves" »

When Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. runs for reelection in less than two years, he'll be touting his work on snow-free automobiles. This week the D.C. Council approved his proposal to allow the cops to pull over motorists who've failed to clear snow and ice from their vehicles, though the law at this point doesn't authorize any penalties.

Thomas told the Washington Post: "It's a common sense issue. Snow flies off and hits someone else. . . . When it snows, the safety rules go out the window." According to the Post, a woman was killed in Pennsylvania in 2005 when a big chunk of ice hit her windshield.

Safety always comes first. A couple of caveats, however: This'll be a great pretext for bad cops who just want to mess with someone whose car they don't like. Sir, were you aware that your car had snow on it? they'll say to some sad sack.

My second thought: My dad would've been screwed if the police in my hometown of Schenectady, N.Y. had had such a regulation in place. After deep snowfalls--12-inchers, even--Pop would walk out of the house, approach his Chevy Monte Carlo, clear a tiny hole on the driver's side of the windshield, then get in and drive on down Van Antwerp Road. If some snow fell off the driver's side door when he closed it, then fine. But he'd never clear more than a six-inch by six-inch window space for the drive to his office.

Now, Schenectady County is no D.C.: Pedestrians are few, so Pop merely had to look out for the oncoming traffic, and perhaps the McGarry's dog, Fresca.

But if the local cops been empowered to bust snowy cars, Pop would've been nailed before he got to Balltown Road!

The economy may be going to hell and inauguration fever might be the issue of the day, but it's still Christmastime. Which means Wilson Building denizens are doing their annual gift exchange. Many opt for the classics: David Catania opted for his usual Godiva chocolates. Jack Evans is doling out classic works of literature. Yvette Alexander is giving out personalized holiday ornaments.

Others take it to another level. To wit, At-Large Councilmember Kwame R. Brown, who is distributing to his colleagues custom bottles of hot sauce:

Yep, that label features Brown together with the president-elect, along with the inscription: "OBAMA-BROWN: The Year We Made History!!!" The sauce is actually produced by local outfit Uncle Brutha's---it's their Fire Sauce No. 10---but it carries a custom label. It reads, in part, "A Change to Uncle Brutha's™ is a Change to the BEST!...As an advocate for change in this historic election, Uncle Brutha's™ wants to show its support for Councilmember Kwame Brown and Senator Barack Obama, and help them bring a 'Brand New Flavor' to Washington, D.C."

Read More "Wilson Building Gift Grab Begins" »

The council just voted to require gun owners to undergo safety training before they can register weapons in the District.

At the last council meeting, Councilmember Mary M. Cheh had proposed the measure as an amendment to the bill governing the regulation of handguns. Since then, the mayor's office raised concerns about the possibility that such a requirement, shared with very few other jurisdictions, would attract new litigation from the gun-rights crowd. Phil Mendelson, the at-large councilmember who chairs the judiciary and public safety committee and has taken the lead on writing the city's new gun laws, agreed with that assessment and opposed Cheh's amendment.

Today, Cheh again introduced her amendment, and a short debate ensued, the highlight of which was Chairman Vincent C. Gray sharing a story from his youth to explain his support for training. As a child, he explained, his father had kept a gun in the house, and one time "my parents went out, and my brother decided he was going to quote-unquote 'clean his gun'....I had to go to the bathroom, and while i was in the bathroom, this loud noise went off. My brother did not realize that there was a bullet in the chamber. It went right through the furniture and right through where I was standing."

Said Gray, "God must have decided it wasn't my day to go....I remember it as vividly today as when it just occurred."

Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., who co-introduced the training amendment with Cheh, also shared an anecdote about the accidental firing of a firearm around the home. The stories seem to have made an impression: The amendment passed 10-3, with Mendelson, Jack Evans, and Carol Schwartz voting against. The amended bill then passed by acclamation.

D.C. Wire barely scooped LL on this one: Plans are in place to throw a "51st State Inaugural Ball" within the confines of the John A. Wilson Building, the seat of the District government.

The mastermind is Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr., with the support of council chair Vincent C. Gray and Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry.

"Why not use the people's building for a people's purpose?" is how Thomas poses it to LL. "We needed to have some local event for local people to be part of this."

How exactly a ball at the Wilson Building would work, LL has no idea. There's no real large room in 100-year-old edifice suitable for a "ball" in the traditional sense; the center atrium sometimes hosts small receptions, but not much beyond that. The biggest rooms otherwise are the council chamber and Room 412, a council hearing room.

Thomas lays it out: Each of the building's five floors, he says, will become a "suite" for music, food, or other purposes. The first floor, for instance, will host the band---"That will be our whole entertainment suite," he says. (Thomas wants Chuck Brown.) Revelers will be able to break off into various rooms to relax, and councilmembers, virtually all of whom will host receptions in their offices earlier in the day for the inagural parade, will again be permitted to host people in their individual offices.

The 51st State ball won't be the only inaugural shindig with a local focus. LL has learned that the D.C. Democratic State Committee is putting together an event for the night of Jan. 18 to be held at Department of Transportation headquarters on New Jersey Avenue SE. Tickets to that event, sources tell LL, are likely to reach into the hundreds of dollars (still quite a bit less than the four-figure rates at some of the most exclusive balls). DCDSC chair Anita Bonds hasn't returned calls for comment.

LL was present at the creation of the city hall event, but he didn't know it at the time; at a Nov. 18 breakfast meeting prior to a council legislative session, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham proposed to his colleagues holding some sort of "people's event," perhaps at the Wilson Building, but his colleagues initially poo-pooed the idea.

Thomas says he took Graham's idea and ran with it.

Many details, it seems, are yet to be hashed out. A council source tells LL this is "not a done deal." For this to happen, there would have to be a plan to raise funds for the event, and security and cleanup concerns would also have to dealt with. Thomas says all that will be taken care of; he says he plans to seek private donations to cover the difference between the event's cost and the revenues raised by the $51 ticket cost.