The Issue: The owner of the Takoma Theatre is planning a five-story apartment building for the historic spot. The theater has occupied the corner of Fourth and Butternut Streets NW since 1923; Milton McGinty bought the building in 1983. But the low-density neighborhood of Takoma has not been kind to a privately owned arts building that puts on plays, and McGinty wants to head to a greener pasture—real estate. In 2007, he petitioned to turn the theater into an office building, catalyzing the formation of Takoma Theatre Conservancy, a nonprofit that wants to purchase the property; he was ultimately denied by the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB). But now McGinty proposes razing the theater and replacing it with an apartment building—with a tiny theater on the ground floor. With the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and the Conservancy up in arms, will HPRB still pull an Atropos?

Save the Theater: According to the ANC 4B resolution against the demolition passed Oct. 15, “there is strong and active support among people in the community to keep the Theatre, with the prospect of at last having an active cultural arts and education center.” The resolution notes there are no other theaters in Ward 4, and only one in Ward 5—at Catholic University. Ward 4B Commissioner Faith Wheeler told City Desk, “The Conservancy has had engineers look at the building, surveys and analysis done, and interviews with people from various walks of life to determine the viability of a cultural arts center. We’ve had a an extremely positive result.” The Conservancy would like to host everything from film showings and theater performances to educational lectures.

Time is Up: According to Capital Community News, the empty lot is worth $2 milion more if the floundering theater is demolished. McGinty told the paper, “I threw caution to the wind, and I didn’t consider location and all the financial issues that could apply.” A commenter on the blog DC Mud points out, “What is the purpose of saving something that has no viable economic alternative? We cannot have these museums of public space. It is time to move on.”

Next Step: At an Oct. 22 meeting, HPRB unanimously voted against the demolition, a step that Wheeler says “they were bound to do anyway by regulation.” McGinty has appealed to the preservation board. In the meantime, nail-biting theatre-nostalgics can contribute to the Takoma Theatre Conservancy. If the building is demolished and rebuilt, McGinty promises at least to keep the theater's sign and facade, for posterity.

Photo by Mr. T, Creative Commons Attribution License

Confirms nine fatalities, the final count. "As a government and as a city" there are only four people whose identities have been confirmed.

Three of the four are residents of the District of Columbia. One lived in Hyattsville. Fenty contacted three of the four families personally. Says can't imagine the "horror and disbelief" of the families.

Fire department has completed its work as the lead agency. Debbie Hersman and the NTSB will now become the lead agency in this matter. Fenty thanks the feds for making all kinds of resources available.

Next up at the mic is D.C. fire Chief Dennis Rubin. He says that fire and EMS and various agencies have done an "absolutely incredible job" of doing their thing. Highlights---timeline begins at 5 pm, had units on location within six minutes. "Obvious this was going to be a major national event." Then they did coordination with inbound agencies. First injury person was transported 21 minutes later; last person was transported 6 hours and 51 minutes later.

Command was transferred at 1 pm. Fifty-one people that fire department treated.

"We've been busy," says Rubin, noting that there've been other fire events over this period.

Rubin, on an editorial comment here, handles himself pretty well in these moments. He has stumbled in a lot of ways since taking over the fire department but does well in front of the press.

Fenty back at the mic, saying that a grand total of eight of the nine fatalities have been identified. Two of them were David F. Wherley, Jr., former commanding general, Joint Force Headquarters, District of Columbia National Guard, and his wife Ann. Fenty said of David F. Wherley: "As fine a public servant, dedicated to the United States of America" as you'll ever find. Military is in "complete shock," says Fenty.

Now it's Metro General Manager John B. Catoe on the spot: He's saying mostly procedural stuff, talking about handing over all information to NTSB and thanking fire department for quick response. Not much here.

Now it's Jim Graham, talking about the 2 pm meeting today. He's saying there'll be another meeting Thursday. First specific action is that there's an amergency hardship relief fund and dedicated $250,000 to the kitty. It's for responding to immediate human needs. Graham says that it's not about a settlement. Will be "refining" this matter in the coming days. Also, statement: We are aggressively seeking to replace the 1000-series rail cars, which were purchased between 1974 and 1978. Also calling on the feds to make good on the commitment of $150 million per year for capital expenditures. Capital needs remain substantial, high hopes that in FY '10 budget the feds keep up funding.

Up now is Debbie Hersman, who has been easily the most interesting and informative speaker at these events. Hersman expresses condolences, sends out prayers to those who remain hospitalized. Nineteen NTSB personnel are on the case trying to determine what caused the accident.

Hersman now going into some thank-you moments for other instrumentalities that have been doing a "great job" and so on. Standard bureaucratic stuff here.

Teams have been out today collecting evidence. Summary of the work here: Track group, working closely with FBI, checking locations of the track, equipment, damage to the equipment. They're seeking an outline of what the crash looked like.

Hersman says the crash occurred on a curve, not a straightaway. It's a one-degree curve. Track speed limited to 59 mph. Feds are working to determine exact point of derailment. Once they're able to move the trains, they may be able to determine exact location of derailment.

Team is working to preserve records and collect perishable evidence. Majority of our team has been out on scene putting information together. Will need time to go through those records. Operation of the train---documentation of some of the control surfaces....now she's talking about stuff that I have no idea about, something about a dial, toggle switch in the on position. All relates to whether it was in automatic mode or manual mode---OK, I get that.

Toggle switch, dial and master controller confirm to NTSB that the train was in automatic mode. Hersman addresses braking issues---emergency mushroom was found in a depressed condition---it was pressed in. The "mushroom" she's talking about here must be the little switchy thing that hits the emergency brake.

Have conducted some interviews and Metro's ops center about the striking train's operator. The original hire date was January of '07. Was hired as a bus driver. She started training as a train operator in January '09 and started driving in March '09.

Hersman is going to be seeking all kinds of documents on the operator's employment history as well as the "72-hour history," to see whether the operator had sufficient rest-work balance. Will be looking for those records. Toxicology samples have been taken on the train operator and have been sent off for analysis.

Standing train---looking to see if there is usable data on the recorders. Pulling apart the married pair of the trains. WMATA is going to bring in a flatbed to pull stuff apart.

Striking train---Train 112---they're looking at the lead car, which sustained extensive damage. Fifty feet of the 75 feet in that car were lost to the accident. That is, two-thirds of the survivable space was gone because of the impact.

Cars and their age: Average age of Metro fleet is 19.3 years old. How compare to other transit operations: Metro ranks 6th among 15 transit agencies in terms of car age. 1000-series cars comprise 300 cars of Metro's 1115-car fleet.

Now she's going into all the other series, and I've totally lost her. 192, 50000, 2 million, whatever. We'll get those details later.

Accident sequence: There was a train at Ft. Totten. Were servicing the platform. The struck train was waiting on the tracks as a result. The striking train---there was a report that there was an announcement that there was a train ahead and then the striking train started again. Looking into that, says Hersman.

Know that the community is anxious to get service back. Track is safe.

Hersman appreciates support from city and other people too. Including Sal Army, which has helped with water and stuff. Also appreciates people in the neighborhood. Look forward to wrapping up this part of the investigation.

Now taking questions:

Question is about trains reported two months past due on brake service.

Hersman has seen reports to that effect and will review records. Interested in looking at those records, but interested in looking at all of those records. Just in first 24 hours of investigation.

Question: What implications of the aging of the fleet has to the rest of the system.

Hersman says agency has no position on that. Will work closely with WMATA if NTSB finds something that is an acute safety problem.

Question: Is the location of the fatalities and whether they were in the striking or struck car.

Hersman says it's premature to comment on that.

Question: NTSB's request for texting records and the like.

Hersman says hard to say. Not really sure exactly what the point is on this question, though Hersman is saying that operators of vehicles and the like should not be texting or talking on cell phones and the like.

Question: Missed it.

Hersman is responding to the question, but I don't know what the question was, so can't really figure out what to type here.

Question: What OCC might have seen displayed about the location and position of the trains in the system.

Hersman says hasn't gotten with her people on this just yet. Says they will provide additional factual information when it's available.

Fenty now back in front, celebrating the accomplishments of the first responders to this calamity. Talks about the "heroic job" of all these responders. Fenty is not so great in situations like this. Nor is he terrible. He just doesn't project the image of a feeling person. A bit robotic. He gets all the information out there, so that's good. He covers all the bases like a good mayor, including crediting the front-line workers and nodding to the feds and other agencies that have assisted.

HOWEVER: When it comes to shifting to a higher civic and emotional gear, Fenty just doesn't have the equipment to go there.

"The Metro train car that slammed into another on the Red Line yesterday evening was two months past due for scheduled maintenance on its brakes, and the car was an older model that federal officials had recommended be replaced because of concerns about its safety in a crash, officials said today....

According to a Metro source knowledgeable about railcar maintenance, the first car of the striking train was two months behind on a scheduled maintenance for changing out brakes and brake components."

The identities of some of the dead have also been identified. According to WTOP's account:

"Metro has identified them as: 59-year-old Mary Doolittle of Northwest D.C.; 40-year-old Ana Fernandez of Hyattsville; 64-year-old Dennis Hawkins of Southeast D.C.; 23-year-old Lavanda King of Northeast D.C. and 42-year-old Jeanice McMillan of Springfield, Va., the operator of one of the trains involved in the collision.

Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith says four bodies were recovered from the wreckage Monday after the rush-hour crash. Five more were removed Tuesday.

The crash sent 76 people to hospitals. Metro officials said two men and seven women, all adults, were killed."

So how did the Red Line metro crash death toll jump to nine last night then fall back to seven this morning and then back up to nine? Last night, City Desk reported that three news outlets---WUSA9, WTOP, and WJLA---had confirmed that nine had died in the crash. WTOP cited the D.C. Fire Department as its source. WJLA had cited Metro.

This morning, Fenty stated that the number of confirmed dead was actually seven. That number soon increased back up to nine.

At least one fire department official is trying to figure out how and why there was so much confusion. One reporter City Desk contacted speculates that it may have to do with just the gruesomeness of the scene.

Deputy Fire Chief Kenneth Crosswhite says the death toll should not have gone up to nine last night. "I don't know how that number got out there," he says. "I'm very disappointed. We had no idea that there was nine. I called the command post and said, 'Are we at nine?' They said, 'No, we're at six.'... [They said] we have not recovered any more bodies."

Crosswhite is trying figure out who leaked the increased death toll last night. "Maybe you could help me out," he says. "Where should I look? I talked to Metro's PIO and I talked to NTSB, their PIO. I don't know where that number came from. If you find out please let me know so it doesn't happen again."

The Fire Department's own spokesperson, Alan Etter, says he isn't the source for last night's number. "I didn't talk to anyone at all last night," he says. "Nor did I get any new information---they might have talked to someone at the scene."

Dave Statter, the runs the STATter 911 blog and is a reporter with WUSA, says it may have come down to body parts. "My impression is that last night's information which came from sources around 11:20 PM was based on what the camera saw or parts of bodies being seen," Statter says via e-mail. "They had not gotten to those bodies in time for the 8:00AM press conference so the official count was left at 7. After the press conference access was made and five bodies came out bring the official toll to 9."

Councilmember Jim Graham appears to side with Statter for an explanation on the confusing death toll numbers. "I think it has to do with the way the car was crushed," he says. "There was a lot of uncertainty about what was in that crash. That's just pure guess work on my part having been on the scene."

Graham says he plans on asking about the death toll issue at this afternoon's Metro Board hearing on yesterday's crash.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery

"The number of people killed in last night's deadly Red Line crash has risen to nine, Metro's general manager said this morning, shortly after five bodies were removed from the mangled wreckage...

Several of the dead were crushed, their bodies not located until a crane removed part of the striking train this morning."

Last night, three local news outlets had reported that nine had been confirmed dead. The news orgs had cited the fire department and Metro as sources. [The Fire Department refused to confirm that number late last night when City Desk called]. The Washington Post would only say the death toll was expected to rise to nine.

The owners of Haydee’s Restaurant, who fought a nasty battle last year over live music and late hours at their flagship fajita joint in Mount Pleasant, are poised for a new go-round over their other location in Brightwood. The restaurateurs will be at the Advisory Neighborhood Commission’s 4B meeting next Monday night seeking support for turning the Georgia Avenue N.W. establishment into a nightclub. But don’t expect Haydee’s trademark Mariachi bands or even salsa. On its website, the restaurant is advertising upcoming Saturday nights with Sugar Bear, the "GoGo King," and his band EU.

Mona and Valentine Davies, the husband-and-wife team that operates the Culture Shop next door to the vacant locale, are teaming up with the owner of the liquor store across the street to open the Cedar Crossing Tavern and Wine Bar this summer.

The place may provide some competition to the Takoma Station Tavern, the jazz joint down the street, which, for years, has had a monopoly on nocturnal cultural offerings in the Takoma nabe.

But there is no news on whether the new bar will live up to the Culture Shop’s ethical standards. The shop, described as “a fair trade retail boutique,” specializes in “ethically sourced” clothing, gifts, coffees, and other merchandise. Their partner, Sarbjit "Mr. Singh" Kochhar, who operates S&S Liquors, runs the average city liquor store; he sells beer, wine, the hard stuff at the usual markup and with no givebacks to, say, save the pandas or free child laborers toiling in Côte d'Ivoire cocoa plantations.