The Orange Line's Chili Bowl?: Until Nationals Park opened, there was only one place in the world to get an authentic Ben's Chili Bowl half-smoke, and that was on U Street. Now, of course, there's the ballpark stands, but the real change may come in a bit; Ben's is thinking of expanding to Dupont Circle, H Street NE, and Clarendon, Springfield, and Prince George's County. Maybe the Clarendon spot makes sense—U Street, after all, was once known as "the Black Broadway," and Clarendon could now easily be called "the Bro Broadway." Still, if the expansion means Ben Ali's surviving relatives make more money, we're for it. +2

Peanuts For All: Yes, the District has a cash flow problem. And yes, any money to help open new parks helps. But we're beginning to worry a bit about the precedent set by the new Planters Grove section of Marvin Gaye Park, sponsored by Planters Nuts and shaped like Jimmy Carter's favorite legume. It's not so much the corporate branding of public space, as it is the photo of Mayor Vince Gray giving a giant peanut mascot a high five. This is the nation's capital here, folks; can we try to retain some dignity? At least make the peanut doff its cap before greeting our elected leaders. -1

I Speak For The Trees: The outrageous heat sweeping the city isn't just bad for people, it's also bad for trees. So District officials want help keeping some of the youngest ones hydrated—and they'll give you the tub to do it with. The more trees, of course, the more shade there is, which makes this program a win for everyone. At least until the fall comes along. +1

Tacos For Some: The battle between food trucks and restaurant owners isn't the only one that hinges on whether portable food businesses have an edge over the bricks-and-mortar ones. In Adams Morgan, local restauranteurs are objecting to the Latino market that sets up in Unity Park, saying some of the food vendors don't follow proper permitting regulations. As a result, the market now only operates on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays; Saturday hours hav been canceled, pending a resolution. No taxation without tacos! -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 48 Today's score: 0 Today's Needle rating: 48

Virginia, May 29

Outfoxed: When President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama went to Shiloh Baptist Church for Easter services, it should have been a boon for the Shaw house of worship—publicity is always nice, after all, and a presidential visit brings a lot of good publicity. And also, apparently, a lot of hate mail. After the Obamas visited, Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity apparently decided to make Shiloh Baptist's pastor, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, into the next Jeremiah Wright in the right-wing imagination. The church has now received death threats, faxes with monkey images, and vulgar phone calls. Happy Easter! -3

Twist and Shout: The horrific weather responsible for killing more than 100 people across the South moved through the D.C. region last night and today; tornadoes were spotted in Virginia and Maryland counties, and a watch extended over the entire area for most of the day. Mayor Vince Gray sent condolences on behalf of the District. If a tornado had devastated D.C., we don't think it would make us feel much better if the mayor of Huntsville, Ala., sent along a note. But it's always nice to be polite. -2

Mow the Lawn—Or Else: The smell of freshly cut grass isn't just a nice luxury in the summertime; starting this weekend, it's also mandatory. D.C. government officials can fine homeowners whose lawns reach heights of 10 inches or more up to $500. A few years ago, the District issued 1,400 citations. (Note: Mowing the Gray administration's "D.C. One City" slogan into the lawn, while encouraged, is technically optional.) +1

Trick or Tree: Meanwhile, though the city is quite careful to patrol your treatment of your lawn, it's not so good with its own flora. Casey Trees just gave the District a C for its tree care, dropping from last year's B- mostly because D.C. officials took $539,000 from a tree fund to cover budget shortfalls. The city's records have apparently lost track of 10,000 trees planted since 2002—so no one even knows whether they're alive. Or for that matter, if they were planted at all. Which reminds us of the famous Zen koan: If a tree is planted in the city, and no one writes it down, does it make a sound? -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 68 Today's score: -6 Today's Needle rating: 62

Bon Voyage, Burro: FoBoBlo reports that The Burro, Foggy Bottom's only non-chain Mexican restaurant, will be closing its doors today. Apparently, "a handwritten sign posted on their door makes the sad announcement.  I spoke with the cashier inside, who told me that once they’re gone, the place will be empty. He cited too much competition and changes to GWU food services as reasons why they’re calling it quits." Given the dead zone of quick, affordable, but still enjoyable restaurants in Foggy Bottom, it's hard to blame the commenter who writes, "i’m heart-broken. incolsolable."

Weed 'Em Out: "What I’ve learned since having my own yard to tend to is that April showers bring a massive invasion of weeds that can grow as tall as me in the blink of an eye.  And in front of each of our houses, at the edge of the sidewalk, is a lovely box of dirt that, while on city property, is the homeowner’s responsibility to care for.  Meaning you need to tame those unruly weeds.  So do you do it?" asks the Hill is Home. A poll reveals that most Hill dwellers are apathetic toward their tree boxes, but feel a deep sense of responsibility stemming from them nonetheless. Currently, about 39% of those polled say, "I don't love it, but it needs to be done."

Multibottle Graveyard: A commenter on New Columbia Heights has suggested formal rules to create a "street booze" game, following up on the blog's tendency to post shots of empty liquor and beer bottles. As follows: "My roommates and I have started a game that you can play while commuting to/from the CH metro: 1 point for every street booze-related mixer or insinuating drinking (arizona tall boy fruit punch cans, black liquor bags, etc), 2 points for beer(40's, cans, bottles, 30 rack boxes, bottle caps, etc), 3 points for liquor (plastic vodka bottles, occasional patron bottle), and 4 points for witnessing someone in the act of street boozing, not on private property. So far I've gotten up to 14 points in 3 blocks. Try to beat me!" One commenter suggests, "anyone who walks on the north side of Harvard Street, 700 Block, automatically will win. it's a real multibottle graveyard in front of one of the houses. fancy, expensive booze too!" But remember, the real winners are the ones that actually pick up and properly dispose of the trash.

Brookland, ISO: On the Brookland Kids email list, a parent is "ISO wallet friendly puppeteer." The query, in detail, says: "A friend of mine has a soon to be 5 year old girl with a budding interest in puppet shows.  Friend wanted to hire puppeteer for birthday party but the $300 pricetag she's encountered so far is not leaving her with a smile. Does anyone know of puppet people who have lower prices? She is open to amateurs, high school/college student, etc. as long as they are entertaining enough for the kiddies."

The Issue:

Now Hold On a Just Minute Here: When Pepco goons with chainsaws showed up and began chopping down the 400 trees, the Palisades Citizens Association (PCA) was pissed. "Pepco was springing it on the neighborhood without any prior consultation," Spence Spencer, the association president, said. He and his neighbors were concerned that losing the trees on MacArthur would "de-nude whole blocks" of a street that is one of the few in D.C. with a tree canopy. He says a letter of concern to Pepco went unanswered. It was only after Mayor Adrian Fenty made a visit to the Palisades in October that Pepco began to listen. According to Spencer, Fenty "basically" said: "Look, Pepco, you guys have gotta come up with a more tree-friendly approach." Fenty imposed a moratorium on tree work until a plan was approved by the PCA.

It's All Good: According to Pepco, the Palisades tree canopy was responsible for over 100 hours of lost power in the neighborhood in 2007 and 2008. Pepco media representative Clay Anderson said that the District asked Pepco to improve reliability, and that Pepco has been paying attention to the community all along. "We're pretty much okay with the folks out there now," he says of the beef. The company submitted two plans to the PCA last week—one that had little tree pruning on MacArthur, and one that had none.

What's Next: It's up to Palisades residents to decide. "We're evaluating what on the face looks like a positive proposal, even though it took Fenty to get them to pay attention to community," says Spencer. For the moment, Palisades folks are assuaged, according to Spencer, but "there needs to be a long-term dialogue about this. They've got a two-year cutting cycle on trees," he says, "so best case, all that we've done is forstalled what might be another round of mass cutting of trees in the Palisades two years from now."

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery.

Click image to enlarge

Someone just called me, from Germany (!) to say that there are 22 ghost bikes in Dupont Circle today to honor Alice Swanson. Great!

AFTER THE JUMP: Trees, eagles, bells, weird traffic circles, Giants fans, Beatles, Big Star


Yesterday at the circle on the western end of Memorial Bridge, which I have written about before, police were ticketing motorists for an offense I can't quite figure out. (A Park Police spokesperson is looking into it for me.) My totally uninformed take, then: That circle is a magnet for crazy, sure, but it's also the worst-marked and least intuitive traffic hazard in the region. Instead of penalizing people for not knowing what the hell to do there, how about re-engineering the whole shebozzle?

Mosquito farms appearing around trees on Champlain Street NW. I don't have a call out on this one. Anyone know the score?

BIKE COMMUTING TIP: The weather is glorious, and people who had been in hiding from the heat are once again taking their jogging clothes out for walks. This is a concern if your ride, like mine, takes you on bike trails. You simply must have a bell. Local bike stores have fine bells, but Annapolis' Velo Orange offers classy Japanese bells that you can mount to your handlebars or, if you're even a little handy, to your stem. Your bike will look great, and you will receive shrugs rather than glares when you pass people walking in Lycra.

POWERPOP UPDATE: It is a good week to be a sad geezer. While I save up for the mono Beatles reissues, I've been listening to the Big Star box set, which Marc Hirsh did a great job of reviewing/destroying in this week's paper. (Hirsh wrote this marvelous piece for the Boston Globe, and I'm really glad to see him in our paper.) Like Hirsh, I am not convinced of the necessity of this box set, which I should add I got for free so take that for what it's worth. But it has made me re-listen to the Big Star albums I already had, as well as Chris Bell's I Am the Cosmos, which still sounds sooo good.

GIANTS FANS: This is a big week for you. (1) (2) Embrace it. Also: Wemple is one of you. Dumbasses.

EAGLES TERRIFY SUBURBAN RODENTS: Morning Roundup's previously unnewsworthy neighborhood of Del Ray was the site of an eagle attack yesterday, reports Mrs. Morning Roundup, who watched one of the grand birds fall out of a tree and bounce off our sandbox with a baby squirrel in its beak. The eagle gathered itself and flew off with its lunch, leaving behind a bereft mama squirrel, who ran around our yard making weird noises. Circle of life!

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Chenille Spencer, once a regular ladyfriend of Marion Barry's—and a regular with him at Player's Lounge—described her connection to Barry in 2006 as "loyal." She remains so. In a phone call to Washington City Paper to "speak on the the police and the way Mr. Barry was treated," Spencer defended her former flame and current friend.

"Mr. Barry is like a tree and all of us are the branches and leaves," she says. "I am just one of the apples that never fell off." Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, the woman at the center of the latest Barry scandal, "needs to know that she has to accept certain things. She will never be able to have a public dinner with him....She needs to accept the fact that Mr. Barry is loved by reverends, bishops, friends, me....You'll never have him all to yourself."

But in speaking of Watts-Brighthaupt, Spencer got off track after prefacing her comments with: "I have nothing to say about Donna whatsoever."

Her main concern, she says, is how Barry was treated by the U.S. Park Police, who arrested and booked him for stalking Watts-Brighthaupt on the night of July 4. (The charge was later dropped by the U.S. Attorney's Office.) "When he came home from jail, he did not have any shoestrings [in his shoes]. They still have his car. They still have his cell phone....It's been a major inconvenience for him."

The ex-mayor and Ward 8 councilmember was detained for "well over an hour" and did not get home until 4:30 a.m., she says. "They took it too far. It was jut a simple domestic dispute," Spencer continues.

Watts-Brighthaupt didn't understand that and didn't understand Barry. "When you're with that man, you want him all to yourself," she says, but that's not how it is going to be. "That's just his personality."

Spencer signed off with a label previously given to her—"arm candy"—and a final message for Watts-Brighthaupt: "Tell her to come correct or don't come at all. We want a drama-free life. Believe me she is going to be scrutinized."

*Reported by Mike DeBonis. Photograph by Darrow Montgomery.