Is Our Deer Learning?: Maybe it's not too late to change the award-winning designs of some of the new libraries around town. Because, apparently, the local fauna have trouble with lots of windows. A deer crashed through the plate glass in the interim library in Washington Highlands today, shattering the window; the deer had to be put to death, after breaking its jaw. No word on whether it was rushing to return books to avoid an overdue fine. -1

McPherson Square, Preoccupied: Yesterday's deadline for Occupy D.C. to abide by rules banning camping in McPherson Square passed without too much trouble, as many protesters agreed to ditch things like stoves and sleeping gear in order to keep the U.S. Park Police from raiding the site. Today, the Occupiers failed to get a restraining order against the enforcement of the rules—but they did get a promise of advance warning before a bust. Which, among other outcomes, guarantees extensive media coverage if the cops ever do move to clear the park. +2

History Of Fiction: Republican presidential candidate and would-be moon colonizer Newt Gingrich has compared himself to everything from Moses to "a Viking." So it's almost understandable that Post reporter Stephanie McCrummen might have thought Gingrich was referring to another historical figure when he said he was a student of "the Japanese samurai warlord Toranaga." Unfortunately for McCrummen, Toranaga is a character in Shogun, a James Clavell novel published in 1975, not an actual historical figure. Fortunately for the rest of us, the correction noting that fact is quite amusing. +2

Save Us, Peyton Kenobi, You're Our Only Hope: Two seasons ago, the Washington Redskins signed Donovan McNabb amidst great preseason hype. Before the 6-10 2010 campaign was over, McNabb had been benched for Rex Grossman. So the news that the team is now doodling Peyton Manning's name and drawing burgundy and gold hearts on notebooks in Ashburn, Va., doesn't exactly inspire great confidence. Of course, the modern era being what it is, there is already a petition to bring Manning to town and a Twitter feed to promote it, complete with PhotoShopped images of Dan Snyder posing with his new QB. -1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 38 Today's score: +2 Today's Needle rating: 40

Bring Out Your Books: It's finally safe to return that copy of What It Takes that you got from the library to brush up before the 2000 election. The D.C. Public Library will run an amnesty from Dec. 5 to Feb. 5, forgiving all fines for overdue, lost, or damaged books, CDs, DVDs, or other things you checked out. It worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles, which got 35,000 people to pay overdue tickets during a recent amnesty program. +1

Fugazi Goes Phish: Unedited archives of live shows have been a treasure trove for jam bands over the last few years. The pitch, basically, boils down to this: "Now you can finally go buy that Widespread Panic concert you don't really remember because you and your frat brothers ate too many mushrooms! Sweet, bro!" D.C.'s Fugazi, thankfully, doesn't have much in common with Leftover Salmon, and with its straight-edge ethos, the band isn't quite after the same crowd. But even so, Dischord is now selling live Fugazi shows online. Added bonus: They only cost $5, just like the tickets did. +3

I Bleed, You Bleed, We All Bleed For Redskins Tickets: Once upon a time, getting into RFK Stadium for a Redskins game was a tough ticket. These days, of course, the team stinks, and plays in a stadium with nearly twice as many seats as the old place did. Seeing the last home game of the regular season, on Christmas Eve against the Minnesota Vikings, would only cost you $19. Or you can just give blood! The American Red Cross and the Redskins are giving tickets away to every donor at some upcoming blood drives. No word on whether Rex Grossman will be serving as phlebotomist. +1

So Long, Mozfather: There's a changing of the guard today at DCist, a friendly rival to Washington City Paper. Editor Aaron Morrissey is leaving, four years after posting his first item for the site. (Martin Austermuhle is running the show for now.) British tabloids have an old tradition known as "banging out," where everyone in the newsroom pounds on their desks to salute departing Fleet Streeters; here in the States, the term would seem to imply something different, so instead of calling our tribute to Morrissey that, we'll just tick the quality of life index up in recognition of his work, one for each year at DCist. +4

Yesterday's Needle rating: 61 Today's score: +9 Today's Needle rating: 70

#Losing: Being a celebrity has its perks. Not included among those perks, apparently, is the right to get a police escort through downtown D.C. when you're late to your own performance. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier says there's no way Charlie Sheen's police escort this week was appropriate under police rules. Which, of course, means Sheen will pay the city back for whatever the escort cost... right? -2

Please Tip Your Bartender's Lawyer: The flood gates protecting Georgetown's Washington Harbour complex would have been enough to keep water from inundating the bars and restaurants there this week—if they'd been set up, which they weren't. How much money are the employees of the closed establishments missing out on? $5 million, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against the owners of the complex. That's a lot of Bud Lites. -1

No Porn, Please, We're a Library: A fight broke out recently at a Brooklyn library between a guy who wanted to watch pornography on one of the library's computers and a guy who wanted to use the computer for something else (possibly to watch his own porn). District residents can rest easy; porn is generally blocked from libraries here by a systemwide Internet filter. Presumably, if the library hadn't blocked it, Congress would have forced them to by now, anyway. -1

Bagged: D.C. is, officially, a national trendsetter. At least when it comes to bag taxes. Virginia Rep. Jim Moran, a Democrat, wants Congress to pass a national 5-cent-per-plastic bag surtax, inspired by the success a similar policy has had in reducing use of bags here in the District. Of course, since one of the first thing Republicans did upon taking control of the House this year was ditch the compostable cups and utensils being used in cafeterias, Moran isn't likely to have much luck. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 65 Today's score: -3 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 64

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Councilmembers To Nickles: WTF,"Poll Shows Fenty Beating Gray In Ward One," "Thieves Loot Argonaut," "Runaway Horse Dashed Through Cap Hill"

Good morning. D.C. Council Chairman and Mayoral candidate Vincent Gray didn't let the Monday break go to waste. He held a Q & A with prominent local bloggers at Ben's Chili Bowl (points off for cliche setting). Gray took questions from DCist, Borderstan, We Love DC, Greater Greater Washington, and The District Curmudgeon; the bloggers covered everything from the streetcar flip-flop and education reform to small business regulations and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier. The bloggers walked away impressed by Gray's—what else?—penchant for detail and his ability to admit when he screwed up (streetcar flip-flop). But let's just get to the news that warms this substitute LL's heart: IF ELECTED, GRAY HAS PROMISED TO BRING BACK THE WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE.

DCist's Martin Austermuhle reports: "On education, Gray spoke proudly of his ambitious plan to create a comprehensive birth-through-24 system. He pledged to be more transparent and hold weekly press conferences — something Fenty has been strongly criticized for. He agreed that the District's Summer Youth Employment Program — which 'has been about a numbers game' — needed reform, as did the District's Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services. He promised that economic development would be one of the things he tackled in his first year, using regulatory reform to improve the "Byzantine system" currently faced by the District's small businesses. And yes, Gray emphasized that he was in favor of streetcars, though he did worry that not enough planning had been done before tracks were laid down on H Street NE. When asked about the budget kerfuffle which saw funding for streetcars stripped from the city's budget and then restored, Gray admitted that 'it was a misunderstanding.' 'I'm really sorry that it happened,' he added."

More coverage via Borderstan. Greater Greater Washington's Dave Stroup summed up his impression of Gray: "Any skilled candidate will provide thoughtful and compelling answers at a session such as this. The real questions are always in the nitty-gritty. There's no doubt that Vincent Gray loves the District and wants to see things change for the better. This campaign will be won or lost on Gray's ability to convince District voters that he can make these things happen. The wisest thing Gray said on Monday was that this campaign will not come down to who has the most money. Fenty has a large war chest, and a record of results. He also has vulnerabilities. This will be an extremely close race, and it will be interesting to see whether the idealistic campaign plan of Vincent Gray can weather the long, hot DC summer."

AFTER THE JUMP—Fenty friend fails and yet still succeeds, D.C. Council pissed at Peter Nickles (again), Mary J. Blige may be enrolling at Howard University, and much, much more!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED: The Examiner's Bill Myers breaks some news on the Parks-and-Rec-Fenty-Frat-Bro narrative with today's must read: "A D.C. board issued an engineering license to a co-founder of a company with ties to Mayor Adrian Fenty even though the man has never passed the professional exam, The Washington Examiner has learned. Abdullahi Barrow has emerged as a key figure in the ongoing investigation into millions of dollars' worth of parks contracts awarded to companies owned by the mayor's friends and fraternity brothers. One of them, Sinclair Skinner, has said publicly that he relied on Barrow's expertise to win public parks contracts for Liberty Engineering and Design, a company founded by Skinner and Barrow. But Barrow failed his engineer's exam seven times since 2002, sources said and documents obtained by [The Examiner] show. In 2008, the Fenty-appointed Board of Professional Engineers unanimously granted Barrow the professional license because of his 'eminence' in the field, board spokesman Clive Cooks said. There are three ways to obtain a professional engineer's license in the District: passing the exam, having already obtained a license in another state, or for eminence. The board rarely issues eminence licenses, Cooks said. Since 2005, only four have been given out — including Barrow's, Cooks said. Barrow's lawyer, A. Scott Bolden, said any suggestion that Barrow wasn't qualified as an engineer was 'nonsense.'"

Of course, Fenty may also have his own fence problem. Myers goes on to report: "Barrow was deposed last month. Sources familiar with his testimony said that Barrow, like Skinner, had trouble recalling basic details about his company, including its first client and the last name of a third man, 'Chris,' who initially started the business with Skinner and Barrow. Barrow said, however, that yet another company co-founded by him and his wife was paid by Liberty Engineering, the sources said. The company, Providence Construction, has also been given a contract to build a fence for the city's real estate agency, sources said."

MORE PARKS AND WRECK: WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports that several D.C. Councilmembers are ticked off at Attorney General Peter Nickles, for paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars to one Rec Center developer/Fenty pal: "D.C. Council members aren't taking well the news that the city reached a $550,000 settlement last week with Banneker Ventures, the company overseeing Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's controversial parks construction. Democrats Mary Cheh (Ward 3), Phil Mendelson (At Large) and Harry Thomas Jr. (Ward 5) have jointly taken exception to the settlement — in particular, the decision by Attorney General Peter Nickles to sign an agreement while the council's investigation of the parks contracts is ongoing. 'Your decision to settle at this particular time appears to be poor judgment and motivated by something other than the best interests of the District of Columbia,' the members wrote in a letter to Nickles delivered today. It goes on to suggest that the agreement was signed 'for no other reason than to bring this matter rapidly to a close.' Cheh was still more explicit about said motivations in an interview this afternoon: 'To make something that's problematic for the mayor go away.' She said the move was of a 'similar nature' to when the Housing Authority cut a check for $2.5 million to Banneker on Christmas Eve — when no one on the D.C. Council, which was already investigating the matter, could have stopped it." Nickles tells DeBonis that everything was above board. Of the councilmembers' complaint: "They really don't know what they're talking about." More coverage via Washington City Paper's new Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman, and WBJ.

JONETTA ROSE BARRAS: The Examiner columnist thinks Gray's education plan reads too much like Fenty's education plan (which she likes). Still, she argues that the plan "lacks freshness and innovation." Barras concludes: "Undoubtedly, Gray and his campaign have deliberately exploited the reality that most voters aren't intimate with the details of education reform. But those who have closely followed such events won't find any substantial difference between Gray and Fenty's plan — except the council chairman offered his with a warm smile and the promise of tons of town hall meetings. There's one more thing: Fenty has been implementing his plan for the past three years."

POLLING: D.C. Wire's Tim Craig digs into the numbers behind the Graham campaign poll showing Fenty with a slight edge over Gray among Ward One voters: "According to the poll, the incumbent mayor leads Gray in Ward 1 by a margin of 43 percent to 37 percent. Despite that narrow lead, many observers believe Fenty needs a much greater margin in Ward 1 on Election Day to overcome Gray's expected advantage in communities in Northeast and Southeast Washington. Ward 1, the city's most diverse, is home to many of the new District residents that the Fenty campaign has been heavily courting. On July 4, a few hours before the fireworks, Fenty was spotted campaigning door-to-door in Mount Pleasant. In his successful 2006 campaign, Fenty won 61 percent of the vote in Ward 1, his best showing outside of his home base of Ward 4. Still, Graham's poll demonstrates that Gray still faces a challenge in becoming better known. Only three out of four Ward 1 residents recognize Gray's name, compared with the nearly 100 percent who knew Fenty's. And with 18 percent of Ward 1 residents undecided, there is still a path for Fenty to match his 2006 numbers in Ward 1."

HIV-AIDS: Amanda Hess writing over at WCP's The Sexist tries to figure out what Vincent Gray means when he says he won't "over promise" on this issue: "Is Gray suggesting that the District couldn’t deliver on its promises to its last HIV/AIDS director? A recent op-ed in the Washington Blade posits that Hader received 'little support' from the District, and that her 'hands were tied' by a 'local government that lacked the funds and the vision to realize the full potential of a more integrated, multi-agency approach needed to address this public health emergency.' It’s certainly going to be difficult to sugarcoat D.C.’s HIV/AIDS crisis for potential candidates. Without promises of additional resources, will the District be able to snag a director that’s nearly as effective as Hader?"

METRO MESS: The Examiner's Kytja Weir reports that the cheaper SmarTrip Cards will be ready in late August: "The agency is planning to drop the price of the cards from $5 to $2.50 to encourage riders to use the reusable plastic cards. But the change isn't slated to occur until Aug. 29, according to a Metro report. Consider this the latest confusing fare change at Metro. The transit agency boosted fares on June 27 but plans to increase other aspects of fares — including charging 25 cents extra per rail trip for users of paper fare cards — starting Aug. 1. But it won't reduce the cost of the SmarTrip cards until just before Labor Day. Other SmarTrip card changes are expected this fall. So riders may want to do some calculations as to what makes the most sense: buy the plastic fare cards before Aug. 1 if planning to take more than 10 rail trips before the end of the month? Or wait until the price drops? Bus riders already pay a 20-cent differential when they pay cash instead of using a SmarTrip card — and they lose out on the transfer discount when switching from bus to bus or train to bus if they pay cash. So buying a SmarTrip card now makes sense for frequent riders."

CITY POOLS: The District is extending pool and library hours, reports NC8: "District officials say they want to ensure residents have a place to get out of the heat. One of the places they recommend are public libraries. a location on m street was open until 9 Tuesday night and people stayed inside until the doors closed trying to cool off."

MARY J. BLIGE: NC8 reports that the singer may be enrolling at Howard University: A well-known singer could be packing more into her busy schedule to get a college degree from a well-known D.C. university. Mary J. Blige may have eight multi platinum records, nine Grammys and several number one hits. Now she's after her college diploma. 'I got accepted into Howard University for the class of 2014!! Cheers...' said Blige. That candid comment caught on stage for Good Morning America Friday is causing a big buzz on Howard University's campus in Northwest D.C." University officials refused to comment on whether Blige has enrolled. Doesn't this sound like a reality-show premise?

WE HAVE A DEAL: On the convention center hotel.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE: No public events.

D.C. COUNCIL'S SCHEDULE: Confirmations of funeral boardmembers and public service commission, rent-control roundtable discussion at 11 a.m., hearing on Community Service Block Grants at 2 p.m.

Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library

The Issue: After the D.C. Public Library announced citywide staff reductions in early June, Cleveland Park residents flocked to their community Listserv last week to gripe about the decision. Residents' anger seems to stem from the seemingly high number of employees dismissed from the Cleveland Park library, specifically. Out of the 40 library employees laid-off across D.C., five worked at the Cleveland Park branch.

The Impact: When coupled with the fact that the branch boasts the highest circulation numbers of all neighborhood libraries in D.C., the decision was bound to be ill-received. "We have indeed been Dewey Decimated," wrote Cleveland Park resident Susie Bennet. Without the part-time employees, Bennet and other residents worry that the library will become understaffed and less useful. "[I] feel that the CP Library is being unfairly targeted by a library administration which seems to believe in process rather than serving the community," Bennet wrote.

The Justification: Library system spokesperson George Williams argued that the lay-offs were necessary. "I would parse it differently," Williams tells City Desk. "The Cleveland Park library actually had more part-time staff than any other neighborhood library. The priority was keeping full-time positions. There were some libraries that lost two, some that lost three, but they didn't have as many part-time staff working."

The lay-offs are only the latest budgetary decision to nip at the heels of D.C. Public Library system. In October 2009, libraries shortened their operating hours, spent less on books, and canceled community programs, such as the Bookmobile, in response to $4.8 million in budget cuts for the 2010 fiscal year. (D.C. Public Library's budget for the 2011 fiscal year shrunk again, less $4.2 million this time around. UPDATE: According to Williams, the 2010 fiscal year budget allocated funded towards "fixed costs such as utilities and telecommunications" in the upcoming fiscal year, which means that the budget cuts amount to $177,000.)

What's Next? Williams tells City Desk that reinforcements are already on their way. Staff members from other libraries are being transferred to the Cleveland Park branch. "We want to ensure that the same level of programming will continue at Cleveland Park," he says.

Photo by drbeachvacation. Creative Commons Attribution License.

Like this: The D.C. Public Library has an iPhone application. And it's great!

It lets you search the library catalog, place a hold on a book, and have it sent to the branch of your choice. Don't know how to get to that branch? You can search a list of branches, get maps, hours, and direction—and even a picture of the building.

Chris Tonjes, DCPL's chief information officer and the guy who came up with the idea back in November, says his is the first library system in the nation to do an iPhone application. "I thought, wouldn't it be fun if we had our catalog on the iPhone? So we started playing around with it."

So far, Tonjes says, at least 3,500 folks have downloaded it since it debuted Jan. 8—enough to make it, as of last week, the 66th most popular free educational app. All that interest came without much more than word-of-mouth; no media's noticed outside of a few library bloggers.

Tonjes says the library's got some new interesting tech items in the works: For one thing, the iPhone app might be seeing an upgrade in the future—perhaps to add the library's Live Homework Help online feature or to directly download videos and music. A Facebook application is in the planning stage, he says, and shortly the library will share thousands of rare photographs through Flickr's Commons project.

And there's some hope for LL, who is not an iPhone user. A BlackBerry version, he's told, is in the works.

DCPL says it will make up for the loss by... asking people to go elsewhere or wait for new libraries:

A new 5,000 sq. ft. Sursum Corda library will be incorporated into Northwest One which also includes a recreation center and school.  The new Deanwood Recreation Center will include a 10,000 sq. ft. library about one mile from the Deanwood Kiosk.  In addition, discussions are underway that would merge the Langston and R.L. Christian kiosks in the planned Rosedale Recreation Center a half mile away from both libraries.

Chief Librarian Ginnie Cooper says the Plexiglas and metal kiosks, which were built in the '70s and '80s in underserved neighborhoods, were only supposed to last five to seven years. Now the people have Metro to take them to better, bigger libraries. Plus, there's a recession. Says Cooper:

During these times of fiscal uncertainty with people scaling back on buying books and enrichment classes for their children, we especially want to be sure that the library offers the free quality services that the community needs and wants. Frankly, we are not able to do that in the kiosks.

More reasons to follow. Especially if Council tries to keep kiosks open.