Today, the D.C. Wire reported that a five-member council delegation met with Mayor Adrian Fenty last night to discuss the standoff over Ximena Hartsock. A symbol of testy council-mayoral relations, Hartsock is Fenty's choice to helm the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. Following some discord among the council, Hartsock, and Fenty, however, the council voted against confirming Hartsock. The mayor responded by keeping Hartsock in place.

According to a source familiar with the meeting, the prevailing sentiment among the councilmembers in attendance (Chairman Vincent Gray and councilmembers David Catania, Mary Cheh, Harry Thomas Jr., and Muriel Bowser) was that Hartsock had to go.

Fenty, according to the source, assured that he was looking for her replacement but stressed that the search wasn't an easy one. The meeting ended with a promise: The mayor would replace Hartsock by Dec. 1, the source recalls.

Still, Fenty still couldn't help being Fenty.

Read More "Fenty Promises To Replace Hartsock By Dec. 1" »

Good morning readers. And, while I have your attention, let me take a minute to join the long list of public officials and say: I’m very saddened by the Metro crash. Condolences all around. But, jeesh, it’s not the only thing to go down Monday night.

Petworth residents are perturbed by a possible new round of gang warfare that broke out in their hood hours after the Red Line crash. Just before midnight Jun. 22, police say, there was a double shooting on the 600 block of Quebec Place, N.W. A woman suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and a man – who police believe was shot at the scene and fled in a car that crashed – later died of his injuries, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser told her constituents yesterday.

About three hours later, police responded to an apparent shootout on the 500 block of Shepherd Street, N.W. They reported finding cars riddled with bullet holes but no victims.

Read More "Petworth Shootouts – Possibly Gang Related – Spark More Recriminations Over Defunct Crime Bill" »

Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser is now being interviewed on WRC-TV about the deadly train crash on the Red Line. "We have seen the police department and the fire department respond in a very coordinated way," says the councilmember, who represents the area in which the collision occurred.

The next local election day might be some 15 months off, but Saturday's Capital Pride parade still had a political charge---mostly due to the recent heat on gay marriage, but also thanks to a mayoral campaign kicking into full gear and possible council challenger in the mix.

LL was there with camera. Behold!

Read More "LL’s 2009 Capital Pride Reviewing Stand" »

This is so nitpicky, it was made for City Desk. This was NIMBY complaint was found on the Shepherd Park listserv. We love Ralph Blessing as much as the next reporter, but jeez does he have to write Councilmember Bowser to complain about summer camp signs? And does have to hate on old globe posters?

Dear Councilmember Bowser:

Is there anything that your office can do to rid our roadways of those ubiquitous signs for summer camps, in particular those for the martial arts camp located in Silver Spring just a stone’s throw from the DC line? Over the weekend I spotted dozens of their signs (plus a few touting other camps, some event in Puerto Rico, etc.), in particular along Georgia Ave. and North Capitol St. The latter was the worst, starting in the area around Kennedy St. and continuing all the way down to Michigan Ave. The median strip near the Old Soldiers’ Home was covered with them nonstop. I saw them on both sides of the park, even out on Rockville Pike! Most are stuck in the ground, but many are looped around utility poles, and some are even nailed to our street trees.

I know that Marc Loud, in his capacity as head of the Gateway Corporation, has informed the owner of the Silver Spring camp that posting signs on DC public property is illegal and has repeatedly pleaded with him to stop littering our roadways with the signs, but year after year the problem returns. Is there anything you can do in conjunction with your Montgomery County counterparts to rein in this behavior? For instance, could the county threaten to withhold operating permits if the problem continues?  Or how about the novel ideal of the DC govt actually enforcing its laws and levying a fine for each violation?

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, many of us spent a lot of time ridding our trees and utility poles of those day-glo concert posters, only to see them replaced now with signs for other commercial enterprises, in clear violation of DC law. Sure, we can call 727-1000 whenever we see them, or even yank them down ourselves, but that doesn’t address the overall problem. Anything you can do to in that regard would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Ralph Blessing

Not too often these days that you see overt displays of executive-legislative interbranch friendship. Yet, this was one of those days, with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Attorney General Peter J. Nickles, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, and two members of the MPD brass joining legislators Muriel Bowser, Jack Evans, and Jim Graham on a Ward 1 street corner this afternoon.

The ostensible purpose was to urge passing of a sprawling anti-crime bill before the start of the traditional summer crime season. The clear subtext, however, was that the parties were taking a shot across the bow of At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, who as chair of the public safety and judiciary committee holds the legislative fate of the bill in his hands.

Each of the parties urged that the 56-page bill, encompassing a number of crimefighting proposals, be passed on an emergency basis (meaning the bill goes into effect immediately for 90 days upon mayoral signature, bypassing congressional review) at the Council's June 2 legislative meeting. Mendelson has committed to getting an emergency bill through by the council's summer recess, which kicks off in early July.

"We need the new tools in this legislation," said Graham, citing recent shooting on the 1400 block of W Street NW (full disclosure: also LL's home block). "We need the tougher approach."

Evans was even more strident: "If we do not act...this bill going through the regular process next March. Next March!...That is unacceptable!" Later he added, in a swipe at Mendelson's meticulous ways, "What's process? It's the enemy of progress!" and "I want this thing moved pronto!"

OK, "pronto." Question is, where was Mendo?

Read More "Fenty & Friends Take a Shot at Phil Mendelson" »

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.

As noted earlier this afternoon by Nikita Stewart at D.C. Wire, the D.C. Council's economic development committee spent their afternoon carving up a pool of money known as the Neighborhood Investment Fund into little pieces to disburse to various favored groups.

To be fair, councilmember did not start the trend. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's budget proposal, LL was first to report, divvied up the NIF money into places seemingly not in keeping with the fund's original purpose of stimulating development in 12 target areas. Rather, Fenty wanted to money to go for capital improvements at a pair of Ward 2 nonprofits and a passel of arts grants---not to mention a hefty subsidy for the DCUSA parking garage.

Brown proposed dropping most of those directives and putting $10 million of the fund toward competitively bid grants in keeping with the NIF's original intent. But his colleagues had other ideas: Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans started by proposing to restore much of the mayor's proposed earmarks (most of which benefited Ward 2, unsurprisingly). So did Ward 4's Muriel Bowser. Then Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry got in on the action. And Ward 7's Yvette Alexander. Brown was the lone vote against each addition.

Barry tells LL: "I believe in earmarks...as long as there's accountability and transparency."

LL has gotten his hands on the list. He's still plowing his way through the earmarks contained in Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham's committee budget report. Will update with that soon. But this should be enough to get you started.

Read More "D.C. Council Porkfest 2010" »

This week, D.C. Auditor Deborah K. Nichols released a report on something called the "Certified Capital Companies" program. It was a scheme created in 2004 by the D.C. Council whereby insurance companies would get a tax break in return for providing seed financing for small businesses in the District, thus "stimulat[ing] the creation of high-wage jobs," as the program's Web site puts it.

Since the law was enacted, according to the report, $76 million has been invested the program---including $50 million in foregone city tax money. For that investment, 31 jobs were created. Allow LL to do the math: That's $1.6 million in lost city revenue per job.

Nichols says the CAPCO program has had a "negligible impact on economic development" in D.C., and she recommends the council end the program.

Read More "D.C. Auditor: $76M Jobs Program Created 31 Jobs" »

Earlier this month, three D.C. Councilmembers---Mendelson, Cheh, and Bowser--- introduced legislation that would significantly beef up the oversight powers of the Office of Police Complaints. The bill would expand the authority of the Police Complaints Board to monitor complaints filed with D.C. Police and Housing Authority cops. The bill would remedy the on-going problem of the D.C. cops investigating their own without much if any kind of outside oversight. The OPC was so elated with this bill, the agency wrote a press release.

This is big news. The D.C. Police have always shielded its investigations into misconduct from FOIA laws, claiming these investigations as work product. I addressed the issue years ago in a piece about four Sixth District cops with a stack of citizen complaints. This bill may finally shine some daylight on police-led investigations of excessive force.

The bill states that the board "shall have unfettered access to all information and supporting documentation of the covered law enforcement agencies..."

Read More "D.C. Council Introduces Bill To Expand Office Of Police Complaints Oversight" »

Last night at 6:45 p.m., Keith Jarrell convened a neighborhood round table at MPD fourth district headquarters to discuss the Petworth shootings with high-ranking police officials. Chief of Police Cathy Lanier, Councilmembers Muriel Bowser and Phil Mendelson, and Lieutenant Will Manlapaz of the homicide unit addressed a packed room of concerned citizens in an occasionally contentious, mainly symbolic gathering.

"The last three or four days have been pretty gruesome," Jarrell said in his opening remarks. Fourth District Commander Linda Brown agreed, calling the past weekend "a little brutal."

"We've saturated the area," Brown said. "We've questioned a number of people, and we're trying to weed through what testimony is true and what's wrong."

Brown also expressed confidence that forensic analysis of the 9mm shells found on the Georgia and Crittenden scenes would lead to a more definitive link, and alluded to a meeting with Bowser to ensure maintaining that police presence in and around the scenes.

Read More "MPD Fourth District Headquarters: a Night at the Round Table" »

TheWashCycle, which is really just the greatest thing, put questions to Council candidates about bike policy. Here are the people who responded (links when I could find them):

• Jack Evans
• Cary Silverman
• Muriel Bowser
• Baruti Jahi

And here are the lame-o's who didn't:

• Patrick Mara
• Carol Schwartz
• Yvette Alexander
• Marion Barry
• Charles Wilson

And here is the candidate whose e-mail box was too full to receive the questionnaire:

• Villareal Johnson

Silverman, who says cycling is his primary MOT, said he's in favor of striping bike lanes, adding bike boxes, increasing the number of racks, among other things. Evans likes bike lanes and thinks cycling should be taught in public schools. Bowser blew a bunch of hot air about encouraging cycling blah blah blah. Jahi said he used to be an avid cyclist but doesn't have much time for it these days.

Fair warning: The word Klingle is used frequently in this post.

You can read Loose Lips' primary endorsements here.