Meridian Hill Park, NW.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

Mount Pleasant, October 31

A full gallery.

Bon Voyage, Burro: FoBoBlo reports that The Burro, Foggy Bottom's only non-chain Mexican restaurant, will be closing its doors today. Apparently, "a handwritten sign posted on their door makes the sad announcement.  I spoke with the cashier inside, who told me that once they’re gone, the place will be empty. He cited too much competition and changes to GWU food services as reasons why they’re calling it quits." Given the dead zone of quick, affordable, but still enjoyable restaurants in Foggy Bottom, it's hard to blame the commenter who writes, "i’m heart-broken. incolsolable."

Weed 'Em Out: "What I’ve learned since having my own yard to tend to is that April showers bring a massive invasion of weeds that can grow as tall as me in the blink of an eye.  And in front of each of our houses, at the edge of the sidewalk, is a lovely box of dirt that, while on city property, is the homeowner’s responsibility to care for.  Meaning you need to tame those unruly weeds.  So do you do it?" asks the Hill is Home. A poll reveals that most Hill dwellers are apathetic toward their tree boxes, but feel a deep sense of responsibility stemming from them nonetheless. Currently, about 39% of those polled say, "I don't love it, but it needs to be done."

Multibottle Graveyard: A commenter on New Columbia Heights has suggested formal rules to create a "street booze" game, following up on the blog's tendency to post shots of empty liquor and beer bottles. As follows: "My roommates and I have started a game that you can play while commuting to/from the CH metro: 1 point for every street booze-related mixer or insinuating drinking (arizona tall boy fruit punch cans, black liquor bags, etc), 2 points for beer(40's, cans, bottles, 30 rack boxes, bottle caps, etc), 3 points for liquor (plastic vodka bottles, occasional patron bottle), and 4 points for witnessing someone in the act of street boozing, not on private property. So far I've gotten up to 14 points in 3 blocks. Try to beat me!" One commenter suggests, "anyone who walks on the north side of Harvard Street, 700 Block, automatically will win. it's a real multibottle graveyard in front of one of the houses. fancy, expensive booze too!" But remember, the real winners are the ones that actually pick up and properly dispose of the trash.

Brookland, ISO: On the Brookland Kids email list, a parent is "ISO wallet friendly puppeteer." The query, in detail, says: "A friend of mine has a soon to be 5 year old girl with a budding interest in puppet shows.  Friend wanted to hire puppeteer for birthday party but the $300 pricetag she's encountered so far is not leaving her with a smile. Does anyone know of puppet people who have lower prices? She is open to amateurs, high school/college student, etc. as long as they are entertaining enough for the kiddies."

Shaw Howard Metro Entrance.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

Germantown, November 6

Mount Pleasant, October 31

14 minutes ago... "6th and I SW I had child trapped on monkey bars – has been freed and transported."

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan did what no one else in the city seemed to be able to do: He ordered CFSA to come up with a plan to fix itself. He gave the troubled child welfare agency a two-week deadline.

Hogan's directive spells certain trouble for the already troubled agency! CFSA has definitely heard the words "plan" and "deadline" before Wednesday. It's understanding those words that's given the agency fits, according to Marcia Robinson Lowry, the executive director of Children's Rights, the national advocacy group that has watchdogged the agency for decades. Children's Rights spurred this latest round in U.S. District Court after filing a contempt order in late July.

It is the concept of deadlines and plans that caused Children's Rights to take action in U.S. District Court.

“We had certainly been concerned for at least the last four or five months," Lowry told me in early August. "CFSA was supposed to have agreed to an acceptable 12-month plan in January. It became clear they were not going to be able to do that…They couldn’t come up with a satisfactory plan. Finally, we withdraw our objections to [a] six month [stabilization] plan. It was March already and they did not have a plan that we thought was adequate. Since the period was half over, we decided to do a 12-month plan starting on July 1. We expected to have an adequate plan by the end of June. We did not get an acceptable plan by the end of June.”

Lowry's group met CFSA officials several times to express its dissatisfaction. Those meetings, Lowry says, were disappointing and failed to address the agency's lack of progress on righting the agency. The meetings sometimes included D.C.'s top lawyer Peter Nickles.

Nickles did confirm to City Desk that Children's Rights' main beef with CFSA concerned the agency's failure to address its issues in a systematic way. The agency just never could get specific enough to satisfy Children's Rights, Nickles says.

[Nickles told the Post in July: "I had looked to Marcia and the plaintiffs as partners to improve the agency," Nickles said. "This has sort of taken my invitation and said we'll hold you in contempt."]

Lowry says that given the agency's bad marks in a November '07 review and the handling of the Banita Jacks case, the agency should have been more aggressive.