Whether it’s by the councilmembers, the hotel association, passengers, or the taxicab commission, drivers feel put upon.

Everyone, it seems, has done the drivers wrong: There are too many cars on the streets. License fees are too high. Customers have a chip on their shoulders. The hack inspectors are assholes. Get rid of the Taxicab Commission and bring on more hack inspectors! Testimony from a pro-medallion system advocate was met with muttering: "Go back to Chicago!" The list goes on. (And on: More than 80 people signed up to testify at the hearing. As of mid-afternoon, Chairman Mary Cheh hadn't even called the first quarter of the witnesses.)

In the hearing, the drivers are a vocal bunch. Scores of them line the walls, bursting out with frustration frequently enough for Councilmartyr St. Tommy Wells to shush them thus: “If the room is quiet, we won’t notice it’s over capacity.”

Wells was asking them to stop praising him; during his questioning of Taxicab Commission Chair Ron Linton, he was a recipient of cheers as he bore into the reasons why Linton wants to pay for the new meter, GPS, and credit card system with money from a customer surcharge. Not that the drivers want to pay for it themselves, mind you—they simply cheered any criticism of the plan because they want it dead.

And they're still unhappy about the end of the zone system. During testimony, drivers went after Wells for praising the Uber model of cab dispatch—one 30-year veteran said the abolished zone system allowed for higher fares (better for drivers, and thus, service) through shared riding. In response to a complaint from Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser that her constituents can't catch cabs right now, the zone system was brought up again: a driver insisted that picking up multiple fares was the best way to hit underserved areas.

Wells acknowledged this, wondering if allowing shared rides east of the Anacostia River at night would help residents there catch cabs home. Only if shared rides were allowed everywhere, the driver said: "If you're going to have it east of the river, you need it west of the park."

And on it went, with each driver bringing up a different gripe. With such scattershot complaints—and, likely, diversity of opinion among drivers—it's hard to evaluate their claims. But the anger is obvious, and to listen to the cabbies, everyone else is to blame.

Photo by Shani O. Hilton

One respondent to the survey had a comment that reminded me of why I rarely take cabs (and getting a driver to take you to Truxton Circle isn't nearly as hard as getting to other parts of the city like sections of Northeast and east of the Anacostia River): "I would like to see strict penalties and a better reporting system in place for when a taxi driver refuses to take me to my destination. It happens to me all too often."

Of all the issues with cabs in the city, I'd say this is one of the biggest (it's perhaps edged out by drivers who profile potential riders and refuse to stop). Cash-only, busted-looking cabs are an annoyance, yes. But not being able to get where you want to go because the driver has chosen to break the law—and why not, since it's unlikely they'll face any consequences—can be hugely upsetting. Cheh says, "That’s very demeaning to people, and it makes us consider whether we’re doing enough now."

While a car-hiring service like Uber eliminates the worry about why the driver is keeping the door locked until you tell them where you're going, you shouldn't need a smartphone and $20 to guarantee you'll get home safely. So it's fair to say, no, D.C. Council, you're not doing enough now.

Photo by Matt Dunn

City Paper

City taxi drivers: Hire an accountant. A new taxicab industry reform proposal backed by Mayor Vincent C. Gray offers lots for cab riders but also an innovation cabdrivers would rather do without: Real-time tracking of trips and fares sent directly from cabs to the D.C. Taxicab Commission, which would replace the current system of paper-based, easily doctored manifests. D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) argues that the new system will make it more convenient for drivers, who would no longer have to maintain paper records, and for riders, who would see service patterns improve based on the data collected. But if the data make their way to government revenue collectors, drivers can expect a whole lot more attention from the tax man in the years to come.

Do you have resolutions for this year's notable Washingtonians?

Photo by Wayan Vota via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

[Ward 3 councilmember Mary] Cheh, chairman of the transportation committee, said the public, including drivers, would have multiple opportunities to weigh in on the legislation. But as she described the details of the bill, one driver interrupted her, shouting, “I haven’t heard anything that is going to benefit me.”

The man, who complained the measure would make cab-driving a “minimum-wage job,” was later escorted out of the mayor’s briefing room. A few minutes later, another driver verbally sparred with [Vince] Gray after the mayor said he had previously met with drivers to discuss some of their concerns. “No, you didn’t, Vincent,” said Larry Frankel, an advocate for some D.C. taxi drivers.

“Don’t tell me what I did,” Gray responded.

After the briefing, Frankel told reporters that the legislation would cost drivers too much. “I don’t know of a single company that wants to put these instruments in [cabs] for free,” he said. “You are talking about close to $3,500 per cab.”

Drivers are also concerned that the new rules will lead to a de facto medallion system like the one in place in New York City.

Meanwhile, Gray is pushing legislation that would add a surcharge of up to 50 cents per ride to create a fund to help drivers pay for improvements to their cabs.

Photo by Wayan Vota via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

Why are gas prices so high at the infamous Watergate Exxon? The District’s gas king, Joe Mamo, turned out for a D.C. Council hearing Friday toting a slide show aimed at answering that question—or at least deflecting allegations that his company, Capitol Petroleum Group, is to blame.

On June 12, when the Watergate station was peddling its black gold for a pricey $5.09 and $5.29 a gallon, the franchisee who rents the locale from Mamo was pocketing “pure profit” of $1.18 to $1.25 a gallon, compared to a national average of just 16 cents a gallon, according to Mamo’s lawyer, Al Afano.

“Here’s your answer. Take a look at what they’re making,” said Alfano, who also offered CPG’s estimates of the profits being made by five other Northwest gas station operators he characterized as part of “the leadership group” pushing for legislation that, if passed, could force Mamo to sell some of his 45 D.C. stations, which make up nearly half of the city’s total.

There was plenty more, er, fuel poured on the rhetorical bonfire at Friday’s D.C. Council hearing on the legislation. But after six hours of testimony, the only thing that was clear is that gas prices have been rising faster in the Districts than they have both regionally and nationally.

John B. Townsend II of AAA Mid-Atlantic testified that in 2007, when the council repealed the measure it’s now thinking of reinstating, D.C. gas prices were only about 5 cents higher per gallon than the national average. For several months that year, the price split between the District and the greater Washington metropolitan area was as little as 2 cents. Today, however, the average gallon of gas sold in D.C. costs 41 cents more than Virginia’s statewide average, and it’s 27 cents and 28 cents, respectively, more expensive than the Maryland and U.S. national averages, according to AAA’s price tracking data.

What has also changed in that time frame is Mamo’s business. Through a series of acquisitions, he purchased more than 200 ExxonMobils and Shells in Greater Washington and New York City, ending up with a quarter of all stations in the D.C. region and about 42 percent of the District’s gas stations.

For Team Mamo, the June 17 hearing must have had elements of déjà vu-meets-Twilight Zone. Ward 3 councilmember Mary Cheh, who led the charge to repeal the 2004 law four years ago after a lobbying campaign by Mamo, is the author of the new measure Mamo desperately opposes.

Perhaps the single most persuasive piece of evidence presented in 2007, a letter issued by the Federal Trade Commission, came under heavy attack from AAA and antitrust experts last week. The letter had provided independent backing to Mamo’s argument that the so-called “divorcement law” would lead to higher gas prices.

“It’s great to predict, but they were simply wrong,” David Balto, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former F.T.C. anti-trust lawyer, said of the position laid out by the commission four years ago.

Balto testified that the city’s gas industry is not “competitively healthy” today because repealing the earlier law had allowed jobbers to acquire the oil companies’ “market power,” a legal term referring to the extent to which a single firm or a few firms can influence the price of a product.

During a particularly vigorous faceoff with At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange, Townsend declared that not only had the FTC gotten it wrong, but so had The Washington Post in a May 27 editorial Orange quoted repeatedly throughout the hearing, which defended Mamo as a victim of “blatant example of political scapegoating and opportunism.”

Only three councilmembers showed up for the hearing: Cheh, Phil Mendelson (who wrote an earlier version of the legislation) and Orange. Cheh and Mendelson seemed to side with the operators. But Orange, who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and other support from the Mamo and his companies, said he hadn’t heard anything to convince him that the District needs a new divorcement law or that Mamo’s company has anything to do with surging gas prices in the District.

Orange and Cheh did clash, though, over race, prompted by letter the Rev. Jesse Jackson sent to D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, other black councilmembers, and Mayor Vince Gray.

In the letter, Jackson praised Mamo as a role model for minority entrepreneurs and accused the council’s white members of seeking “to put in place onerous and inequitable business restrictions.”

When Orange echoed Jackson’s view, Cheh turned toward Orange, raised a finger and said the racism allegation was “deeply offensive, and I reject it.”

Orange, his voice rising, tried to continue, but Cheh cut in: “It is also perfectly clear that my legislation has nothing to do with race.”

Later, when Mamo and his entourage testified, Cheh demanded to know who had “ginned up” Jackson’s letter, in a heated exchange with Mamo’s longtime lobbyist, former councilmember and mayoral candidate John Ray.

“No one,” Ray said, “no one puts words in Mr. Jackson’s month.” Cheh responded: “You, Mr. Ray, or you, Mr. Mamo, ginned up this letter, and I want to know who it was.”

“You are using words you shouldn’t be using. No one ginned up this letter,” retorted Ray, accusing Cheh of disrespecting him.

That got Cheh to back down, saying, “Perhaps ginned up was not the right phraseology.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier is earning about $20,000 more than everyone thought.

As City Paper reported in April, the city's top cop got a 5 percent raise this year that brought her $219,755 salary to $230,743. That seemed like a choice paycheck, considering her boss, Mayor Vince Gray, makes just 86 percent of that haul.

But now The Washington Examiner reports that Lanier is actually making $253,000 a year, and an April 29 letter from the District's Department of Human Resources to Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chairs the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, obtained by City Desk, confirms it:

At the time of her appointment, Chief Cathy Lanier was paid a base salary of $175,000. Since the time of her appointment, Chief Lanier has become eligible and received tenure pay based on her years of service with the Metropolitan Police Department. The current salary for Chief Lanier is $253, 817 (base salary $230, 743), which includes tenure pay based on twenty years of police service.

The letter, which responds to an inquiry Cheh's office made regarding how much several of D.C.'s department heads are being paid, notes that Lanier earns 118 percent of the average pay of other area police chiefs.

It's a mystery where the extra money comes from. Police union boss Kris Baumann says "tenure pay" usually refers to the "basic retention deferential" and "longevity" pay cops earn. He says that's figured into base pay. He's not sure where the additional $20,000 Lanier earned would come from "outside of some kind of bonus."

Lanier's contract does allow for performance bonuses. In the past, the city has also given Lanier added pay in order to settle up with her because of a mistake they made in connection to her retirement package, so that’s something else to consider.

MPD hasn't responded to multiple inquiries about the money yet.

The mayor's office seemed to be unaware that Lanier was making  more than her base pay. "Do not know where Examiner got $250k from," mayoral spokesperson Doxie McCoy emailed earlier. City Desk informed her that the number was accurate according to the letter from DHR. We're waiting on a response.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

The robber barons are back!

Or at least, the specter of them was back this morning, as a group of ExxonMobil station operators, led by their lobbyist Bruce Bereano, called on city officials today to free them—and District drivers—from gas mogul Joe Mamo, whom the operators and their lobbyist accused of price gouging.

“You have absolutely no competition in the District of Columbia," Bereano said at a press conference at the Watergate Exxon, a station best known for having the highest prices in the city. Standing behind him were the operators of half a dozen other independently run Exxons. "What you have is a modern day John D. Rockefeller." (The reference was, at least, historically apt; Rockefeller's Standard Oil went on to become Exxon.)

The press conference came as Mamo suddenly faces pressure on multiple fronts from a District government he had previously shown some skill in befriending. D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced a bill last week that would restore 2004 legislation barring gasoline distributors like Mamo’s Springfield-based Capitol Petroleum Group from both owning and operating gas stations in the District. Attorney General Irv Nathan is also investigating Mamo's business to determine whether he's unfairly driving up gas prices. (And for what it's worth, Bereano contributed to both Cheh's last campaign and to Mayor Vince Gray's.)

Mamo owns 45 stations in D.C., which gives him about 42 percent of the total. In the greater Washington region, his company owns about a quarter of the stations, as well as dozens in New York City.

Bereano and his clients applauded Cheh for the new legislation, which would restore a measure she had been instrumental in repealing in 2007. They said they were “fully cooperating” with Nathan's investigation, as well. But Bereano said restoring the city’s 2004 divorcement law won’t go far enough and could take too long to provide relief from what he and his clients characterized as Mamo’s excessive profits. As soon as the D.C. Council wraps up its work on the city budget this week, Bereano will contact Cheh and other councilmembers to urge them to expand the proposed legislation; they also want the measure to allow station operators to shop around for the best wholesale prices for Exxon-branded gasoline, instead of having to purchase it exclusively from Mamo.

If the stations weren’t locked into purchasing gas from Mamo, Bereano said, they could cut costs and pass the savings on to drivers in the District, where gasoline prices are among the highest in the country. “All my clients want is a competitive world,” Bereano told reporters. “They don’t want any exclusive privileges. They just want to compete.” (Of course, they could also cut costs and keep the savings for themselves.)

Mamo’s company purchased the properties as part of a bigger deal with Exxon three years ago. Along with the real estate, Exxon assigned Mamo exclusive rights to supply the stations with Exxon-branded gasoline. Since then, the station operators say Mamo has jacked up their rents and stretched the profit he tacks onto every gallon of gas he sells. They, in turn, have no choice but to pass the price hikes on to drivers, they say.

Mamo has denied the allegations of price gouging and said he has reduced his profit margin in the last year to keep his Exxon stations competitive with other stations in the region. In response to a request for comment, he sent the following statement by email:

We disagree with the proposed measures because we believe they are anti-competitive. The measures would allow only franchisees, who set their own prices at the pump, to sell gasoline to consumers in the District of Columbia, rather than distributors and other entities. If these measures pass, D.C. would be the only jurisdiction in the country with these kinds of measures in place. The reason there is no similar legislation anywhere in the country is that it would be detrimental to consumers. When the 2004 bill was repealed in 2007, the [Federal Trade Commission], in supporting its appeal, released studies that demonstrated these types of measures would drive up gasoline prices by restricting competition. I simply do not understand why Councilwoman Cheh would now be proposing a law that she herself repealed in 2007 for the stated reason it was anti-competitive.

Mamo also took issue with allegations that his company has overhauled the longstanding business relationship with operators since taking over from Exxon.

"The contracts that we have with our dealers are the same ones we assumed when we bought the properties from Exxon Mobil—they've been in place for decades. The only difference is that now a self-made Washingtonian business man owns their properties,” he wrote.

Cheh said in an interview last week that she expected the council to consider a range of options, including language that would let station operators choose their gasoline suppliers. She didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mamo, a 44-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, got into the gas business a couple of decades ago with a single station in Northeast D.C. He gradually built a gas station empire, then branched out into distributing gas to his and other stations in the area. The experience as a distributor, or “jobber,” put him in a position to grow rapidly in the last few years, as the big oil companies got out the retail gas business, unloading large blocks of stations to regional distributors.

This is the latest skirmish between the independent operators and Mamo in a long-running dispute that dates back at least two years before the 2009 Exxon deal. After that acquisition, several independents sued Exxon and Mamo, arguing that they should have been given first-refusal rights to purchase their stations. They say they have also offered to purchase the stations from CPG. But they say Mamo has rebuffed their overtures.

“He doesn’t even want to talk about that, because he is having a free ride now,” Raj Gupta, who owns the Exxon at 22nd and M streets NW, said of the attempted purchases. Gupta said his profits have plummeted, forcing him to sell three other suburban Washington stations since Mamo’s company took over from Exxon in 2009.

Another operator, John Johnson, who said he has operated an Exxon station on Capitol Hill for 22 years, said he’s not looking for sympathy—just a level playing field.

“I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I just want to compete fairly in this business,” Johnson said. “When it all comes out, you’re going to see what’s really happened in D.C. in the last three years.”

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Millions and Millions: A month ago, Mayor Vince Gray’s team released their new, terrifying estimate of the budget gap facing the District in fiscal 2012: $600 million. But today, chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi declared the actual shortfall will be $312 million. The difference, apparently, is due to higher than expected tax revenue from commercial properties; real estate taxes are expected to be up 16 percent next year. If the budget is really getting healthier at a rate of $70 million a week, maybe the city can lease a Lincoln Navigator for everyone by the fall! +3

Go Ride a Bike: At times during last year's mayoral election, you could be forgiven for thinking it was, instead, a referendum on bike lanes. New Census data makes clear, though, that the lanes are good for something—they get people riding bikes. Rates of Washingtonians commuting to work on two wheels are highest in neighborhoods where the city has installed good bike infrastructure. (No word on whether the Census findings have been adjusted to take former Mayor Adrian Fenty's job teaching at Oberlin into account; for a commute that far, you'd need to use a SmartCar, not a bike.) +2

One (Healthy) City: If the only thing hold the D.C. government back from greatness is junk food, greatness will soon be upon us. (Of course, that could be a big if.) Councilmember Mary Cheh is introducing legislation to replace the vending machines in city and federal buildings with offerings that have at least one ingredient besides high fructose corn syrup. Last year, Cheh brought veggie burgers to DCPS lunch menus, so she's probably serious. City workers can now look forward to vending machines always being out of celery around 4 p.m. every day. +2

Riggo Goes to Kenya?: The perfect gift for a football-loving wildlife photographer can be hard to think up. Nature and the NFL don't always go together perfectly, after all. Fortunately, John Riggins has solved the problem. The Washington Redskins career leading rusher ran a sweepstakes for a Kenyan photo safari on his website, which is now closed, but you can still purchase a trip for the low price of $2,995. On closer examination, it's unclear whether Riggo will necessarily accompany the winner on the trip, but so what? Remember: To get a reclusive cheetah to pose for a picture, just whisper to it, "Loosen up, cheetah baby." +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 21 Today's score: +8 Today's Needle rating: 29

One City Under a Logo: An iconic image or logo can set the tone for how the world sees your brand. That's what Madison Avenue marketers tell corporate clients every day; it's also, apparently, what Mayor Vince Gray deeply believes. How else to explain the news that the District is printing up new stationary, business cards, and signs with Gray's former campaign slogan, "One City," plastered on them, despite a $600 million budget deficit? We suppose things could be worse; at least Gray didn't follow in Baltimore's old footsteps and declare D.C. "The City That Also Reads." -3

Council Cuts Itself?: Signs of intelligent political life on the fifth floor of the Wilson Building! After a week in which various members of the D.C. Council made the news for their fancy cars and Lady Gaga tickets, Mary Cheh has proposed a 10 percent cut in the legislators' salaries—salaries which, at $125,583 for all but the chairman, are the second-highest in the country and the highest per capita. (And they can also hold down outside paying jobs.) Ordinarily, we find the routine demonization of public employees and their benefits that's become prevalent in American politics to be cynical and misguided. But this week? We'd probably go along with anything short of burning D.C. Council members at the stake. +2

Get on TV!: The lousy real estate market can make life tough for people trying to sell their homes. Chances are a sale right now could mean a long wait that just ends with losing money. But hey, at least you can be on television in the process. HGTV, continuing their economy-driven transformation from housing boom cheerleader to housing bust handholder, is looking for D.C. homeowners in need of help for a program whose title says it all: The Unsellables. +1

Blowin' in the Wind: No, that's not a train passing by your office; it's a 60 mile-per-hour wind gust. Weather advisories that sound like they were lifted from The Wizard of Oz have been issued for the region, and there are already reports of downed tree branches, which, inevitably, will mean power outages. Should you find yourself caught in a dangerous breeze, just remember: To get home, click your heels together, mutter, "There's no place like home," and hope your SmarTrip has enough cash on it to get out of the Metro system. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 30 Today's score: -2 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 30

As mad as some of you might be after Pepco’s recent missteps restoring power following the Jan. 26 thundersnow event, don’t worry: some members of the D.C. Council would like you to know they are even more angry.

Speaking at public hearing of the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs late Friday afternoon, several councilmembers did not mince words about their feelings toward Pepco.

Mary Cheh of Ward 3, a member of the committee, said Pepco had no reason to fear the fines she wants to impose on it, as "Pepco itself is doing quite well."

"They're doing really nicely, thank you, while we sit in the dark," Cheh said. "It’s an understatement to say that we have woefully inadequate service in the District of Columbia."

Cheh also said she had trouble believing Pepco’s claim that D.C.’s tree canopy was a huge obstacle that hindered the utility's ability to restore power. "Pepco tries to make the trees responsible," she said. "The trees are not primarily responsible for the outages."

But even if the trees were a huge factor, Cheh noted Pepco has yet to use up all the funds it has to prune D.C.'s trees. Nevertheless, Cheh said, Pepco has complained to the city about difficulties with the tree canopy.

"Talk about hypocrisy," said Cheh, who did not reserve her vitriol for just Pepco. She also singled out the D.C. Public Service Commission, which she likened to a "fat little puppy."

"The Public Service Commission has failed us," she said. "The chief sheriff has to be the Public Service Commission...both entities—Pepco and the Public Service Commission—need a push in the right direction."

To her credit, the committee’s chairwoman, Ward 7's Yvette Alexander avoided going off into extended speeches about her displeasure with Pepco. Instead, she focused on asking questions of the members of the public who showed up to testify.

Similarly, Ward 4's Muriel Bowser said she had come to the hearing only to listen to what her fellow residents had to say. "I just wanted to join you and thank you for calling this hearing," she said, in lieu of an opening statement. "All of us are concerned about improving reliability for our residents."

Ward 5's Harry Thomas Jr. also showed up, ostensibly to listen to the public as well.

"While I’m not a member of your committee, Chairwoman Alexander, this is an issue which is very important to me," he explained. "We want to make sure our utilities are doing the right job.... we need to figure out what obstacles we can remove to expedite our services."

Although Thomas started his remarks by saying “I’m here to listen,” he went on to argue the city needs to change the way it deals with events like the January snow event.

"We need a coordinated effort that I have always been saying needed to exist," Thomas said. "We need to solve this problem once and for all."

While it did take some time to get power fully restored following the storm, Thomas did note that his post-storm calls with the utility were returned promptly. "I got responses that were expeditious in a personal manner," he said. "But the citizens didn’t see this."

Thomas then ended his remarks, and began taking notes on each public witness’ testimony. At one point, he expressed his surprise at the number of witnesses who showed up to testify. "I bet many of you would rather be at happy hour.”

Photo by William F. Zeman

Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Jan. 2. © 2011 Matt Dunn

How do I know that? Because D.C. Public Schools have put together a fun virtual video tour of the school, set to the soothing sounds of Antonio Vivaldi's "Spring." It kind of makes you envious. Did your school have a Rose Garden with some sort of solar powered greenhouse pod? (Mine didn't.)

When you walk into the school's main entrance, be sure to note how easy it is for a person to proceed through the metal detectors without slowing down much. At least if that person is operating a DCPS video camera. But who exactly is that guy standing to the right? Is he a security guard? Does DCPS allow security guards to wear distressed denim while on duty? The video doesn't provide many answers.

In the cafeteria, you might notice there's an entire section labeled "Pizza." Considering this is the home territory of Councilmember Mary Cheh—who pushed the D.C. Healthy Schools Act through the D.C. Council—that better be an entire section devoted to flatbread with mozzarella and tomatoes!

It seems like at the new Wilson, the architecture has the power to bend your conception of time and motion. In the gymnasium, for instance, note how there are basketball players frozen in action as others casually stroll down the sidelines. The physics curriculum ought to be fascinating.

Metro riders aren't the only ones scared by Friday night's incident on the Green and Yellow lines—with elections fast approaching, some politicians are trying to figure out if the brawl carries some risk for themselves, too.

The incident involved as many as 70 teens and young adults underground on Metro. The Associated Press notes that no weapons were found at the scene of the fight, which started at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station and ended at the L'Enfant Plaza station. One witness reported that one person used a "cane-like weapon" to beat someone on the ground. Three teens were charged in the incident.

The Washington Post does a good job detailing how scary the situation was for some of those caught up in the "hysteria" and "pandemonium." At least one person thought it was a terrorist attack! "I turned the other way, and I was trampled," 27-year-old Chris Davis tells the Post.

The violence provided another opportunity for Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells to talk up his proposal for an earlier curfew. Back in June, the D.C. Council voted down Wells' bill that would have mandated an earlier curfew for juveniles. Some councilmembers, including Ward 3's Mary Cheh and Ward 8's Marion Barry, said that there's no empirical evidence that having earlier curfews actually makes a dent in juvenile crime.

At-Large D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, tells the Post an earlier curfew would not have prevented Friday's fight. So there aren't any magic solution to curb these types of incidents, aside from more police patrols and better communication between Metropolitan Police Department officers on the streets and Metro Transit Police inside the system. (There will be some Green Line patrols by the D.C. Guardian Angels, however.)

Since 2005, Metrorail crime has increased.

One matter that is worth closer observation: Could the group violence on Metro be a version of the "flashmob" brawls police in Philadelphia were dealing with earlier this year? (There is some debate, however, whether Twitter, text messaging and other social networking really sparked the threatening gatherings on Philly's South Street, which drew big national media attention at the time.)

Certainly, though, phone-savvy teens and young adults are able to exchange real-time information while they're out and about, something they would have had difficulty doing just a few years ago. Flashmobs can also do this, and this, which is scary in its own way.

Lest anyone think this is a D.C.-specific concern, it's important to remember that large groups of angry people can turn violent quickly. Two weekends back in Brooklyn, I stumbled upon a grizzly sidewalk murder scene where a "mob" of 20 young men, armed with crowbars and tire irons, killed one and sent another to the hospital with serious stab wounds—in the end, a far more severe incident than Friday's Metro brawl.

Photo by thisisbossi via Flickr under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license

The Issue: A decade after residents of the McLean Gardens residential community started lobbying for a dog park on Newark Street, construction has finally begun. But can the new dog park and the established, strictly pet-free community garden co-exist in the same place?

The gardeners have had a history of problems with some dog owners who, according to Newark Street Community Garden Association President Linda Blount Berry, have allowed their pooches to poop on the garden's land and have ripped out the signs barring canines from the area. To Berry, the dog park represents "rewarding bad behavior."

After 10 years of fighting Berry for their park, though, the dog park's proponents say she's being a sore loser—and hijaking the Community Garden Association.
Under Construction: Berry says the contractors and their crews have done a good job on the construction, but the nascent dog park is already having an impact on the community garden. The garden plots closest to the dog park are "devastated," Berry says, and when the contractors discovered that they had miscalculated the water supply, they were forced to dig trench through the community garden.

"If they had chosen an appropriate site in the beginning, they wouldn't be going through all these unexpected [problems]," Berry says.

The construction of the dog park has brought a number of other changes to the Newark Street Park, including new fences and a service road—additions that Berry, a landscape designer by trade, feels undermine the open space ethos of the park.

But Kathy Silva, a long time advocate of the dog park, says the fences and service roads are necessary improvements. Silva says the new road will make the park accessible to the disabled, bringing the park into accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (now 20 years old). Furthermore, one of the main areas that will be fenced in thanks to the dog park is the tot lot located at the northwestern corner of the park, which Silva says should have been fenced in long ago.

"I have been horrified at the number of times the little children have been running toward the street," Silva says. "I'm glad there's going to be a fence around the playground, it was an accident waiting to happen."

Sticker Shock: The project's big price tag—about $400,00 under current estimates—has also attracted criticism, with some wondering on local listservs why so much money is being devoted to dog parks in a year when the Council struggled to balance the budget. In addition to the construction costs, the dog park will require daily trash pickup.

Silva says the dog park proponents have paid their fair share through taxes and fundraising. The Newark Street Park K-9 Friends have raised $25,000 for amenities such as benches and a shade cover and have received grants from the local ANC, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh's constituent fund and nearby animal hospitals.

"We are not taking money out of the mouths of anybody," Silva says. "We have a memorandum of agreement with the city, we've raised money, we're not freeloading."

And while the construction costs may sound inordinately high, Silva is quick to point out that much of the money is going to improvements to other areas of the park, such as those fences and that ADA ramp.  "I'm looking forward to the final figures and the breaking down of what cost what. The dog park is substantially less than the total figure," she says.

Discord in Community Garden: While Berry has insisted that there was an "unbelievable" amount of opposition to the dog park among the community gardeners, not everyone agrees with her assessment of public sentiment. ANC Commissioner Trudy Reeves, whose Single Member District includes the Newark Street Park, says that Berry and her husband, Lew Berry, the current president of the Community Garden Association, have stifled pro-dog park voices within the community garden.

"Many people at the garden are in favor [of the the dog park], they just didn't show up because they were afraid of retaliation," Reeves says.  Reeves herself was a member of the Community Garden Association's board of directors until she was "kicked off" in 2003.

"it's more of a dictatorship," Reeves says. "They feel they own the park, but the park is public property."

A Political Park: For all the neighborhood quarrels it has caused, the dog park has been connected to a fair number of city politics headlines, too. The dog park was one of the dozen projects sketchily assigned to Banneker Ventures through the D.C. Housing Authority. After those contracts were put on hold by the Council, the dog park's construction was taken up by Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization.

The dog park also played a key role in securing D.C. Council At-Large candidate Clark Ray one of his most high-profile endorsements. As director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, it was Ray who loosened the regulations for dog parks in 2007, largely at the urging of Newark Street Dog Park proponents like Silva. A few years later, Ray received an enthusiastic endorsement from Madeline Albright, Silva's sister.

Most recently, the dog park has drawn the Council's attention due to the asphalt road built to service the dog park. At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson and Ward 3's Cheh co-sponsered legislation to remove the recently constructed roadway and disallow the future construction of paved roads or pathways in the park. At a July 13th vote, the bill was passed unanimously.

Reeves says the councilmembers' main objections to the service road were aesthetic. "Mendelson and Cheh's only stated reason for wanting the road taken out is that they think it is 'ugly. ... In addition to providing ADA access, the road provides access for the trash trucks to pick up the trash cans," Reeves wrote in an email. "I don't think any of us want overflowing poop cans around the dog park."

Next Step: If construction continues on schedule, the dog park is set to open in August—with or with out the service ramp, though, remains to be seen. At their Monday night meeting, the ANC passed a motion to petition the D.C. Council to allow the service road to remain at the park and not to delay further dog park construction.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

• Harry Thomas v. Student Loan Debt
• Go-Go loses one more venue
• Who speaks for the trees?

Good morning sweet readers! LL gave birth to his first column today. Thesis statement: "One of the first things apparent to a new reporter in the Wilson Building is how spectacularly dysfunctional Mayor Adrian Fenty’s press shop is." 'Nuff said. Pick up the paper.

AFTER THE JUMP: Test Scores; Where's Adrian; Uncle Sam Pays the Rent...

Dear Lord, Please Veto This Bill, Amen: Fenty ally Ron Moten is back in the news after getting national attention for comparing Fenty to Jesus. Moten called on the Post's Tim Craig to denounce the D.C. Council's approval of a bill that "would make it a local crime to pay someone to vote. ... The bill, sponsored by council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), enshrines in the local code the federal prohibitions against paying someone to vote or register to vote, or accepting payment to vote or register to vote. It also makes it a local crime to use a false name to register to vote. Violators could be fined as much as $10,000 and face five years in prison. 'Now the District is going to have a parallel law to the federal law," Cheh said. "We do this in a lot of areas because it provides a backstop.' But Moten reached out to the D.C. Wire today to say he wants Fenty to veto the legislation. Moten worries that the council, led by Fenty rival Vincent C. Gray (D), is trying to quash the mayor's go-go concerts, which are designed to get low-income African American residents registered to vote. At the concerts, the Fenty campaign encourages participants to register to vote in exchange for entrance, free food and T-shirts featuring the mayor pictured with go-go artists."  The Gray campaign couldn't resist blasting a response: “It's beyond disappointing that one of the mayor's top campaign cronies would oppose a measure to stop vote-buying. But I'm not surprised. The mayor and his cronies have had no problem bringing pay to play politics to city government. Now it looks like they want to bring it to the voting booth,” said campaign spokeswoman Traci Hughes. LL, like a sucker, has been voting his whole life for free.

Fail-o-lizer 5000: The Examiner's Freeman Klopott covered yesterday's hearing on MPD's faulty breath analyzers, and reports that the District is now facing nearly $1 million in civil suits from a dozen drivers who say their civil rights were violated. "The 12 drivers were among 400 who were convicted of driving while intoxicated in the District since October 2008, when city officials say police Officer Kelvin King inaccurately calibrated three of the police department's 13 Intoxylizer 5000s. An outside contractor discovered the improper adjustments on Feb. 4, 2010, officials said during a D.C. Council hearing on Wednesday. Since then, the District has replaced the 15-year-old Intoxylizer 5000s with a newer version that's deemed more accurate."

Let's Not Freak Out Here, People: A WaPo editorial attempts to administer some balm to the this week's news of dipping test scores for D.C. elementary school students. "District schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee knows better than anyone the value of data, so she's not discounting this year's disappointing dip in elementary math and reading scores. 'We have to own this and figure out how to move forward' she said in a forthright admission of the need to redouble efforts. But, by the same token, Ms. Rhee is right to note and celebrate — the undeniable improvement of the public schools in the past three years. Despite the latest results, the larger trend in achievement is upward." (Please note: most of what LL says is a "forthright admission of the need to redouble efforts.") D.C. Watch's Gary Imhoff called out the Post even before they wrote their editorial.  Says Imhoff: "Within a day or two I expect to see a Washington Post editorial contradicting all its previous editorials that claimed that small gains on the standardized test scores proved Rhee’s genius, admonishing readers that standardized text don’t prove anything, and that they should not pay any attention to them." Gee, it's almost like the Post editorial board has some kind of well-known soft spot for Rhee!

Whither Adrian?: In a piece called "Mayor Fenty plays hide-and-seek with voters," the Washington Times' Deborah Simmons has more on Fenty's recent no shows to candidate forums. "Mr. Fenty was a no-show for at least three public forums in the past week and a half, including the most recent debate on Tuesday night at Israel Baptist Church in Northeast. Whatever the reason for his absences, the mayor has offered no explanation and voters are starting to notice." The Georgetown Dish airs a note of concern from the Citizens Association of Georgetown that Fenty won't come to their upcoming forum. Uh dude, you might wanna, like, I don't know, go to these things.

Uncle Sam Saves the Day: WBJ's Jeff Clabaugh reports that commercial real estate vacancy rates in the District are falling, largely thanks to the federal government that "continues to propel the District's recovery."

Educated Doesn't Equal Smart: The Washington region is the best-educated region in the entire universe, Daniel de Vise reports for WaPo. Money quote: "'To put it crudely, Washington, D.C., is parasitic on the rest of the country,' said Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California. 'Most of those people were educated somewhere else.'" Yes, like zombies (and LL's editors), D.C. feeds on brains.

Anger at Pepco [News8]

Wanted: Grocery Ambassador [WBJ]

More on D.C.'s Statues in Congress [WAMU]

More Toilets for the Mall [WTOP]

MPD Back in Mosque Controversy [Examiner]

A Look At D.C.'s Newest Pediatric ER [NBC4]

NTSB Confirms Meeting on Last Summer's Metro crash [Post]

Premature affirmation [Capital Land]

Fenty dissing charter schools? [D.C. Schools Insider]

DON'T MISS: Fenty and Gray on Jonetta Rose Barras's radio show. 11 a.m. to noon, 89.3 FM or WPFW.org. (Or, if you work at City Paper, just downstairs.) Leo Alexander is on at 10 a.m.

Mayor's schedule: Nada.

Council's schedule: Nothing.