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.

At one point in the meeting, Fenty apparently told the councilmembers: "I want you to understand something---anything we agree to will not dictate my actions as mayor."

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

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.

Bowser says police are investigating a link between the two incidents as a “suspected gang beef.”

Monday night’s wee-hour gunplay was just the latest street violence in Petworth and prompted a new round of recriminations over the D.C. Council’s failure to pass legislation aimed at cracking down on the city’s allegedly growing gang problem.

“Having lived in petworth my entire life and having seen Petworth at its worst, all I am simply saying is lets come up with solutions period! Whether a neighborhood beef or a gang or just someone randomly in the neighborhood shooting. It all needs to stop. We already know the problems in the area lets do something about it,” Roneal Josephs posted to the MPD-4D Listserv. His was one of several comments on the shootings.

Elsewhere in the city, debate also continues over the crime bill torpedoed earlier this month over concerns that the proposed measures could lead to racial profiling. The Washington Post had a story Monday quoting “youths” who say they need more and better extracurricular activities to lure them away from the streets.

But how to create successful programs is an ongoing challenge in D.C. and around the country. Anyone who works with teenagers knows getting them to consistently show up for structured and constructive afterschool time is an uphill battle. It’s a well-known fact that nonprofit organizations often end up vying for the same pool of kids willing to give these activities a try. Sadly, the ones who choose to participate rather than hang unsupervised on the streets are not necessarily the ones most “at risk” for gangster life.

When I was a reporter covering gangs in the Boston area a few years ago, a high school principal made an observation that gets to the heart of the matter: He said combating the spread of gangs is like fighting against the tide. Every year, a new generation rolls in.

LL was there with camera. Behold!

Adrian Fenty, Mr. Smart Car, opted for something a bit larger than his signature everyday conveyance for parade purposes: a white Hummer. Not a mini-Hummer, either---the big one. Gotta support American automakers these days, right? (What's that? Hummer's been sold to the Chinese? Whatever.)

Before the march, Bill Rice and John Falcicchio engage in high jinks:

No one tosses beads like Hizzoner:

After the parade, Fenty and his 30-some marchers (including sons Matthew and Andrew) gathered for pictures:

Vincent Gray's wheels were even less fuel-efficient. But his giant truck at least carried a couple of dozen staffers supporters:

Gray again handed out custom beads with a "One City" pendant:

Jack Evans and family (that's companion Michelle Seiver) hanging out pre-parade:

Evans had 25-plus in his retinue:

Eleanor Holmes Norton showed off her signature parade pose:

Phil Mendelson showed LL his campaign-ready tough-guy look:

Mendo alone among politicos opted for leis over beads. Gal pal Carol Mitten helped hand 'em out:

Mendo couldn't ask for a better advertisement than this homemade banner, which led his entourage:

And just so you know Mendo means business, his retinue was followed by a black Cadillac driven by his "muscle" (aka staffer Mike Battle):

Mendelson's likely challenger, former DPR chief Clark Ray, was also marching, but near the back, with local Gay Games promoters:

A smattering of "DC NEEDS CLARK RAY" stickers (in Fenty green-and-white) were spotted in the crowd:

David Catania printed up custom marriage equality signs---one of the most popular items along the parade route:

Once again, Catania had a special guest rider: Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, aka the Queen of Green. LL asked Catania if he was king of anything: "The King of Queens, honey!"

Kwame Brown, however, was the king of bling, riding in a Porsche 911 Carrera:

Staffer Enrique Fernandez Roberts captured the hipster demo however, with his Kwamefied scooter:

Kwame brought a bubble machine, but LL did not see it in use:

Fenty wasn't the only politico to somewhat de-green. Tommy Wells traded in the Zipcar Mini Cooper he had last year for a Toyota Tacoma pickup:

For the second year running, couple Michael Ulrich and Paul Cooper, whom Wells joined in marriage, participated:

After missing the Pride parade for the first time in decades last year, Jim Graham was back in the saddle this year:

In one of the more eardrum-unfriendly developments, Graham marchers sported whistles:

Muriel Bowser brought a strong crowd:

Gay rights legend Frank Kameny, among the festival honorees:

D.C. For Marriage:

Gertrude Stein Democratic Club:

D.C. Democratic State Committee:

Ward 7 Democrats (Juan Thompson, right):

Ward 8 Democrats (Phil Pannell and Charles Wilson):

UPDATE, 4:20 P.M.: A couple of addenda:

Doxie McCoy, spokesperson for Gray, writes in to point out that "more than staffers were riding with the Chairman. We had people from GLOV/Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, DC for Marriage, Metro TeenAIDS, and Gertrude Democratic Stein Club, in addition to reps from DC Vote, Pre-K for All DC, State Board, etc."

And Charles Allen, Wells' top aide, notes, "Just for the record, Tommy had rented a Mini-Cooper again. Zipcar notified him on Friday that they were cancelling his reservation because the car had to be taken into the shop for repairs. The Tacoma was the only open top (-ish) vehicle left in the Zipcar fleet on such short notice."

OK, green cred's intact!

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?

If everyone's so committed to making this happen, wouldn't you want to have the chair of the relevant committee in attendance?

LL asked why he wasn't invited. Fenty said "everyone's been invited." Evans said that he had called Mendelson. Mendelson says he got a phone call this morning from Evans, but he didn't leave a message.

Furthermore, Nickles acknowledged that he and his staff have been meeting regularly with Mendelson and his staff to produce a workable bill. Is that, LL pointed out, what the legislative process is all about? Not calling a press conference and throwing a fit?

"The legislative process is not working," Nickles said.

Replies Mendelson, reached after the presser, "Of course, we know that Peter Nickles doesn't seem to believe in the legislative process."

Mendelson reiterated his pledge to have the bill ready for the mayor's pen by the council recess, and added that he's happy to pass an emergency bill at that time---it could happen even earlier, he says, if parties come to an agreement by the time the bill comes out of committee in June. As for Evans' "next March" statement, he says, "he needs to do his math."

Crime, Mendelson says, "lends itself to grandstanding....It just seems that there's this desire to grandstand and score points over this," he says. "I would rather do it correctly."

LL asked those in attendance if they thought they had the nine votes necessary to pass an early emergency bill---a tough sled for Fenty when his relations with eight of 13 councilmembers are strained at best, nonexistent at worst.

"You have my vote," Nickles said.

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.

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.

From mayoral proposal (totaling $2.9 million, via Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans):

• Rachael’s Women’s Center: $350,000
• D.C. Center: $500,000
• Bread for the City: $250,000
• D.C. Central Kitchen: $250,000
• CityDance: $250,000
• D.C. Jewish Community Center: $250,000
• Duke Ellington Jazz Festival: $250,000
• Kennedy Center: $250,000
• Washington National Opera: $250,000
• Washington Performing Arts Society: $250,000
• Dakshina Dance Company: $75,000

From Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser:

• Riggs Road reconstruction project: $2.1 million

From Councilmember Marion Barry (totaling $2.695 million):

• UNIFEST: $100,000
• Sasha Bruce Youthwork Inc.: $300,000
• Woodland Tigers Youth Sports: $100,000
• Jobs Coalition: $50,000
• Institute for the Prevention & Eradication of Violence: $50,000
• C.H.O.I.C.E. Inc., $100,000
• Concerned Citizens on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Inc.: $100,000
• Calvin Woodland Sr. Foundation: $100,000
• Behavior Environmental Academic Program (BEAP): $75,000
• Alliance of Concerned Men: $100,000
• ROOT Inc.: $100,000. Melvin Deal: $250,000
• the Parklands Community Center: $100,000
• Cultural Tourism D.C.: $100,000 ("for expanding the Anacostia Initiative, which will focus on education and leadership for Wards 7 and 8 youth, and build upon the African American Heritage Trail")
• Greater Washington Fashion Chamber of Commerce: $100,000
• Greater Washington Urban League: $100,000
• Ward 8 Clean and Sober Inc.: $75,000
• Ward 8 Clean & Green Inc.: $75,000
• Ward 8 Youth Leadership Council Inc.: $75,000
• Ward 8 Business Council: $100,000
• DC VOICE: $100,000
• Byte Back: $50,000
• Turning the Page: $100,000
• Cabel Foundation Inc: $45,000
• Byte Back: $50,000
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington: $300,000 ("for programming at Anacostia High School")

From Councilmember Yvette M. Alexander (totaling $1.8 million):

• East River Family Strengthening Collaborative: $100,000
• National Kidney Foundation: $100,000
• Marshall Heights Community Development Corporation: $100,000
• Ward 7 Arts Collaborative: $100,000
• Lifepieces to Masterpieces: $100,000
• Northeast Performing Arts Group: $50,000
• Ward 7 Business and Professional Association: $100,000 ("on the condition that a new Executive Director and Board of Directors are appointed")
• GreenSpace: $200,000
• Groundwork Anacostia DC: $50,000
• Fort Dupont Kids on Ice: $250,000
• East of the River Boys & Girls Steel Band: $50,000
• Washington East Foundation: $50,000
• Ward 7 Education Initiative: $50,000
• Lifting As We Climb Foundation Inc.: $50,000
• African American Music Association: $100,000
• Keeley's Boxing: $100,000
• Set Point, Inc.: $50,000
• Champs: $50,000
• Fiesta DC: $50,000 ("through the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities")
• Latino Economic Development Corporation: $150,000
• Educational Organization for United Latin Americans: $50,000

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.

The full report, done per a request from councilmember Mary M. Cheh and Kwame R. Brown, has yet to be posted to the Auditor's Web site, but the executive summary obtained by LL paints a dismal portrait of the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking's oversight of the program. Nichols writes that the agency [f]ailed to verify information"; "[f]ailed to conduct mandated annual reviews"; "[c]ertified businesses to participate in the program that did not meet CAPCO requirements"; "[f]ailed to encourage CAPCOs to invest in businesses that complied with CAPCO's investment strategies"; and "[f]ailed to establish a standard to measure the economic impact of the CAPCO program."

This program has had some winners: Three venture-capital firms tasked with administering the program---Advantage Capital, Enhanced Capital, and Wilshire DC Partners---have netted more than $5 million in fees for their lackluster efforts. And clearly an unknown number of insurance companies got significant tax breaks thanks to the program.

What does it all mean? Well, for one thing, DISB chief Thomas Hampton can expect some tough questions from Muriel Bowser this afternoon when he appears before her Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs for a performance oversight hearing.

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..."

Seems like the bill has teeth. Expect a huge fight over the unfettered access line.

OPC Executive Director Philip Eure sees the bill as necessary.  "The upshot is we are trying to update the authority of our agency to be able to provide even more effective oversight of police complaints," he says. "We want to promote greater police accountability....We need to know how MPD deals with citizen complaints."

Eure's sentiments are shared by Wire-creator and former Sun Journalist David Simon. In the piece I wrote in 2000 on those Sixth District cops, then-Executive Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer agreed that these citizen complaints should be made public. Here's what I wrote back then:

"Gainer says he believes police misconduct investigations should be open to public scrutiny, but claims that the department is bound by union contracts to keep the information private. MPD officers claim that the PD-99s, as the complaints are called, are exempt from disclosure even though they represent the citizens' only avenue for redress for police misconduct.

'While I respect the contractual and legal right of the officers to have those shielded [from] the press, I believe there ought to be a little more daylight shed on how we all behave,' Gainer says. 'Given that we are public servants, the public has a fundamental right to know what I'm doing and how I'm doing....If we're talking about administrative matters for which I'm being disciplined, it strikes me as being in the public domain. If I had it within my power, I would share that information.'"

Police union chief Kristopher Baumann agrees in principal to more openness but would like this openness to include high-ranking officials and not just the rank and file. But he says  the OPC is a failed model. "What I think we should have here is a body, a board that reviews any complaint about the police," he says.

"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.

Officers present also confirmed a second fatality from the weekend: a body found in the park on 13th and Emerson Streets, NW. In the Emerson case, though, police say there is no sign of suspicious activity. We're still waiting on autopsy results.

"All indications point to a natural death," said Lt. Jude Waddy of the fourth district vice unit. "There was no trauma to the body."

Manlapaz offered a few new details on the weekend's violence. The victim gunned down on the 4500 block of Georgia on Saturday night around 9 p.m., Manlapaz said, had been in and out of jail, and was arrested most recently on the 800 block of Crittenden.

"Based on geography and the people we've seen involved, we're looking at neighborhood rivalries," Manlapaz said, stating with "reasonable certainty" that the shootings on Georgia and Crittenden constituted "retaliatory violence" on the part of dealers seeking more operable turf.

Manlapaz also offered qualified optimism, observing that of sixteen homicides in the fourth district since january, "four are closed and two are on their way." (Eleven of the sixteen, he says, involved firearms. The average age of the victims was twenty-four.)

Mendelson, chair of the D.C. Council’s committee on public safety and the judiciary (on which Bowser also serves), discussed a three-pronged legislative approach to handgun crime in light of District of Columbia v. Heller: clarifying the law vis-à-vs operable and inoperable weapons, relegislating gun registration requirements, and looking into a proposal by the mayor to make it a crime to discharge a firearm.

The MPD has pulled almost 3,000 guns off the street so far this year.

Mendelson also discussed using programs like Gunstat to identify "cracks in the system" that enable repeat offenders.

One woman expressed outrage with recent cuts to the MPD budget. (In an email to me, Jason Shedlock, Special Assistant to Mendelson, characterized them as "spending freezes.") Another woman complained that police were unresponsive to a series of calls on Saturday.

"At 1 a.m. on Saturday there were shots fired in my yard, and nobody showed up except for the Hands Together Neighborhood Club," she said. "We saw gunflashes. It was terrifying. And not one officer came until the next afternoon."

"I am not a very happy taxpayer," she added. "And I do not want this neighborhood to turn into the wild wild West."

Lieutenant Brown promised to investigate the slow response and to get back to the woman "before the evening's up."

Citing her tenure as Fourth District Commander, Lanier countered complaints from residents that the Marlboro block constitutes an undersurveilled, "hot" zone.

"Marlboro is a quiet street," she insisted. "When I was here, Marlboro was the test. It's a short block, and very quiet. If you're a rookie cop, and you know where Marlboro is, then you're good enough to be certified."

Lanier reminded residents that the MPD presence wasn't only about the uniforms. Equally important are the plainclothesmen.

"We have to have visible uniforms to send the message," she said. "But when you don't see the response, it's because you're not supposed to see the response. The vice unit's all over that area. We're making strong headway—and you'll see the results of that very shortly."

Several residents objected that a visible police presence only displaces the dealers and results in fresh pockets of territorial violence. Lanier acknowledged the pattern.

"Every time we have a success, we have a new problem," Lanier said.

***

MORE FROM PETWORTH:

The ANC 4-C November meeting is tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. in the community room of the MPD Patrol Services Bureau on Shepherd Street.

The cops are touting their new anonymous text-tip number: 50411 ("Give 5-0 the 411," as they say). 1-888-919-CRIME remains the phone tip-off line.

Lt. Waddy is taking drug-related tip calls at work (202-715-7501) and on his cell (202-497-1401).

• 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.