IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Fenty, Transparency, Scrutiny: The Political Fallout of FOIA Reform," "Council Ices Statehood Committee," "Mount Pleasant NIMBYs Battle Over Haydee's," "Photos: Strasburg's Debut @ Nationals Park," "Triple Shooting Near Howard University"

Howdy. D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols finds that the District rarely enforces laws providing that city contractors hire local workers and pay living wages. Along with the city's high unemployment rate, and staggering homeless problem, LL wonders where is the mayor on this issue? Michael Neibauer reports: "District laws requiring that developers of taxpayer-funded projects hire D.C. residents and pay their employees a living wage are poorly monitored and rarely enforced, a new audit finds.The failure of multiple District agencies, primarily the Department of Employment Services, to manage or even implement the 'first source' and living wage programs has cost hundreds of D.C. residents potential jobs and the city government millions in potential tax revenue, D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols concluded in the May 18 report. District residents, Nichols reported, 'may not be receiving an equitable hourly wage rate.'"

Neibauer goes on to report: "Meanwhile, of the 700,000 jobs in D.C., 72 percent are held by non-District residents, said Councilman Michael Brown, D-At large, who has oversight of DOES as chairman of the Housing and Workforce Development Committee. 'When you’re looking at these high unemployment numbers,' he said, 'I don’t know what is a higher priority.' Only four of 16 development projects that Nichols reviewed met the 51 percent hiring requirement. The 12 that did not, including DC USA, Kenyon Square and the Mandarin Oriental hotel, amounted to 361 jobs and $14.3 million in earnings lost. While that is an estimated figure, Nichols wrote, 'it shows the type of economic fortune that could have occurred for the District and its residents had District agency officials and developers been more committed to FSA laws and processes.'"

More coverage via the Examiner's Alan Suderman: "Nichols found that Mayor Adrian Fenty's office had essentially ignored the city's Living Wage Act of 2006, which requires city contractors to pay workers at least $12.10 an hour. Nichols also noted that Fenty's administration, including Attorney General Peter Nickles, refused to allow her access to all the documents she requested for the audit. The mayor's spokeswoman and Nickles could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday."

And Nickles wants to toughen the city's FOIA laws making it that much harder for reporters and citizens to access government documents. If he won't turn over materials to the city's auditor, do you think he'll turn over materials to you? This LL bets our AG has spent more man hours stonewalling Pershing Park plaintiffs attorneys or suing lawyers in special education cases than going after contractors who fail to live up to their obligations to city workers. Council Chair Vincent Gray won't need a focus group to realize he needs to make this a campaign issue.

AFTER THE JUMP—Politics and Prose owners say store is for sale, more Tax Office Troubles, Trey Joyner's family speaks out, Fenty addresses Hadar resignation, and much, much more!

POLITICS AND PROSE: WaPo's Michael Rosenwald reports that the beloved bookstore is up for sale: "The store's owners, Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade, both 74 and so in synch they often wear the same colors without planning to, said they are simply too tired to keep steering Washington's most prominent non-chain bookstore — a premier stop on top-shelf author tours and a frequent setting for book talks on C-SPAN — through the uncertainty of an industry threatened by e-books. Cohen is also seriously ill. 'It's time for us to stop and let somebody else take over for the future,' Meade said in the 26-year-old store's cramped office. Cohen, eyes reddening, said, 'I just don't have the energy like I used to.' Meade and Cohen said that their 60 employees are nervous but that the sale should not be perceived as the store's final chapter. Despite doom and gloom in the industry, Meade said, 'there are no financial problems here. We make a good profit.'" More coverage via WBJ, DCist. On their blog, the bookstore's owners promise: "Although we are contemplating retirement, we anticipate maintaining a regular presence during the transition, and hopefully afterward. Our goal is to find new leadership to operate the business in the spirit which has been our hallmark. As always, we'll see you at the store!"

TAX OFFICE TROUBLES (AGAIN): The Examiner's Scott McCabe reports that a D.C. tax office investigator and a Bethesda businessman have been indicted on bribery charges: "Shelly-Ann N. Wicker, an investigator for the Office of Tax and Revenue, and John F. Craul, owner of a corporate tax consulting firm, were indicted on 28 counts of bribery and forgery charges. The alleged scheme lasted between 2005 and 2007, ending mere months before the FBI uncovered a different $50 million scandal in the same office. Reached by phone Wednesday, Craul called the charges ridiculous. 'I have never bribed anybody, and they don't have proof,' Craul said. 'If Shelly did it, she did it on her own.' Craul said he and Wicker were good friends, and he loaned her money and she paid him back. 'I wish I could afford to bribe somebody,' Craul said, 'but I don't have any money.'" The scheme cost the District roughly $106,000.

D.C. STATEHOOD: WaPo's Mike DeBonis assesses the District's failed efforts to win voting rights in Congress and where to go from here. Vincent Gray offers a simple solution: fight for statehood. DeBonis writes: "Gray and others explain their frustration as rooted in political reality: The Democratic Party has majority control of Congress, plus a Democratic president in Obama. But still the voting-rights compromise has failed. 'If we can't get it now, then when?' asked Gray, who is running for mayor. 'Why don't we just go for the whole enchilada?' 'There's a greater understanding that it's not any more difficult to get statehood than it is to get a single House vote,' said Michael D. Brown (D), one of two shadow senators elected by District voters to advocate for statehood. And that new understanding has been accompanied by second-guessing. 'Statehood is the big fish, and I think we should have put more effort in that originally,' said member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7), who heads up the council's voting-rights advocacy efforts. 'We would have made much more headway if we have just focused on that.' The failure of the one-vote compromise has also emboldened longtime statehood activists who have been overshadowed by the voting-rights establishment. 'It's an I-told-you-so moment,' activist Anise Jenkins said. 'A lot of people put a lot of energy and money into this effort, and it was a total misdirected waste of time.'"

METRO MESS: Unsuck Metro reports that Transit Union boss Jackie Jeter invoked slavery in an e-mail defending a Metro bus driver who punched McGruff the Crime Dog.

TRIPLE SHOOTING: Last night, three people were shot near Howard University, NC8 reports: "It happened shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday at 8th and V St NW, a block from the 930 Club. DC Councilmember Jim Graham says two vehicles met up at the spot and fire was exchanged. One witness said he heard two gunshots while leaving a building, then saw people disperse and one man squirming on the ground after being shot. Other people say they saw a victim running toward Howard University, then fall to the ground near the McDonald's." More coverage via WaPo, NBC4, WTOP.

Meanwhile most of those troublesome traffic lights have been fixed.

FENTY ON NEWSTALK: The mayor stopped by NewsTalk for an interview. WaPo's Mike DeBonis took notes: "Fenty also addressed why his well-regarded HIV/AIDS czar, Shannon Hader, abruptly left the city health department. He noted that Hader spent more than three years on the job, 'easily the longest-serving HIV/AIDS administrator by at least double,' he said. But would not address why she left—including rumors of a clash with health director Pierre Vigilance— saying only that 'for professional reasons, she's moved on.' DePuyt noted that Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), chair of the health committee and usually an ardent Fenty supporter, called Hader's departure 'catastrophic' in a Post story today. But Fenty wouldn't directly address the claim: "We have momentum. We're on a upward trajectory," Fenty said, noting that Hader's replacement, Nnemdi Kamanu Elias, has a resume 'every bit as exciting and robust as Dr. Hader's was when we hired her.'"

TREY JOYNER: WaPo reports that Trey Joyner's family held a news conference demanding answers into his death, and for the park police officers to be held accountable: "Almost a year to the day of the June 8, 2009, incident, the family and supporters held a news conference Wednesday outside the John A. Wilson Building to say that the investigation is taking too long and they are looking for justice. 'It does take time to take care of business,' said Brenda Joyner, Trey Joyner's mother. 'But it shouldn't take this long.'"

INTRODUCING THE STRASBURGER: Perhaps nothing got more coverage than BGR's tribute to the Nats pitching phenom. Certainly more reporters covered this burger than the Nichols' audit on jobs. Here's just one story on the now-famous burger.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:

7:10 a.m. Guest
Fenty on Fox
Location: Fox 5

9:30 a.m. Remarks
Frank Kameny Way Naming
Location: 17th and R Streets NW

3:00 p.m. Remarks
Ribbon Cutting for Tewkesbury Condominiums
Location: 6425 14th St. NW

Yet, as Johnny Barnes of the American Civil Liberties Union points out, "the only homicide in Trinidad last year was at the hands of the police."

It's a year and one day since Trey Joyner, 25, was mowed down by police bullets, and family members of the slain Trinidad resident are still waiting for an update on the investigation. Relatives, along with some fuming local activists, gathered in front of the John A. Wilson building on Wednesday to point out as much.

Dressed in the coveralls of his workplace, Travis Joyner wanted to know why authorities had yet to reveal what they'd discovered about the circumstances surrounding his brother's death. The family only knows that on June 8, 2009, Trey Joyner was killed by plainclothes park police, allegedly after he pulled a gun.

Eyewitnesses have contradicted an assertion made by cops that after a struggle in an alley, Joyner turned a gun on a group of U.S. Park Police officers who were in Trinidad as part of an inter-agency task force led by the FBI. Witnesses' claim that Joyner was shot in the back would also seem to contradict the cops' account.

"I'm to the point that I'm very frustrated, that our family hasn't gotten any answers," Joyner tells City Desk. "To me it's very sad, because I feel as though if it had happened in another area of Washington, D.C. like Dupont Circle of Upper Northwest, I believe that the investigation would have been over."

Joyner says the local U.S. Attorney's office, which was investigating the tragedy, contacted the family a week after the shooting, but not one time after. The investigation has now been taken over by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia.

Joyner says his family has tried to contact Mayor Adrian Fenty to see if he could help get answers, but the mayor wasn't interested. Cousin Patrice Lancaster hounded the Mayor's office about her deceased relative, and says she was hung up on three times. Eventually, someone who identified herself as "an administrative assistant"  to the mayor told her "that Mayor Fenty didn't want to have anything to do with my cousin's case," she says. 

"Not true," mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson says of Lancaster's story via email.

Trey Joyner's father, Walter Joyner, his voice wavering, called for an end to the violence: "I would just like to say, put yourself in my place and all of our brothers and sisters need to ban together and stop this police brutality that is happening on our streets killing our youth. That's all I have to say right now."

Staff photo by Rend Smith

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT—"Will DC's Silly Scalping Rules Be Enforced For StrasburgStock?," "Photos: Demonstration at BP Headquarters," "D.C. Teachers 'Livid' About Union Election Debacle," "What About Ward? Robert Wone Case Continues to Perplex," "D.C. General's Family Shelter Back At Capacity"

Howdy. Shocking news out of the Fenty Administration. Yesterday afternoon, it was announced that HIV/AIDS Administration Director Shannon L. Hader—one of the city's best-and-brightest officials—suddenly resigned. WaPo's Darryl Fears has the story:  "After working to turn around a District agency that one city official described as 'dysfunctional bordering on comical' before her arrival, Shannon L. Hader abruptly resigned as director of the HIV/AIDS administration, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced Tuesday....Hader's three-year stint made her the longest-serving director in almost a decade, as other leaders came and went amid criticism for poor management and incompetence. Although Hader is departing to praise, the announcement of her resignation struck some as strange....In his remarks, Pierre Vigilance, director of the city's Department of Health, barely acknowledged the woman who had addressed the District's top health priority, fueling speculation that there had been tension between them. Hader's most ardent supporter in city government, D.C. Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), did not attend the news conference. Catania said he had a prior engagement and he would not address speculation that he was deeply upset at Fenty and Vigilance for allowing Hader to resign and accept a position as vice president of a health organization, the Futures Group. 'Her loss is catastrophic,' Catania said." [emphasis added].

METRO MEMORIAL CONTROVERSY: WaPo's Ann Scott Tyson reports that families of the Metro crash victims are upset over their lack of input in the upcoming memorial. Tyson reports: "'All of us are angry and disappointed,' said Kenneth Hawkins, whose brother, Dennis, died in the crash that left nine dead and 80 injured. 'I would have thought the interim general manager would have stepped up to the plate and embraced the families.' Hawkins and other family members only learned of a Metro remembrance service planned for June 22 at the Fort Totten Station when told about it by a reporter. Metro officials said that the families would be invited but that planning is still underway. 'We definitely will be extending an invitation,' said Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein. 'We are still firming that up.' Farbstein said a 'logistics meeting' on the event was planned for later Tuesday. 'When the plans are in place, the very first people we will invite will be family,' she said. 'At that time, we will share with them details of what we are planning and how we would like them to participate in the service.' Family members questioned why Metro did not ask well in advance for their input for the ceremony."

AFTER THE JUMP—Michelle Rhee becomes focus of campaigns, Nickles wants to relax FOIA law, Fenty uses focus groups to develop campaign message, and much, much more!

MICHELLE RHEE IS TOPIC A ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL: The Examiner's Alan Suderman notes that Michelle Rhee—and what her future would be under a Gray administration—is becoming a main issue in the mayoral race: "Rhee, who was hand-picked by Mayor Adrian Fenty, has become a shining star of the school reform movement and a major selling point in Fenty's re-election campaign. Under Rhee, test scores have trended higher and teachers recently approved a contract that sets the foundation for the nation's most robust teacher-incentive pay program. But Gray supporters are trying to deemphasize Rhee's role in the future success of the city's schools, saying the school reform laws Gray shepherded through the D.C. Council that gave the mayor control of schools are more permanent and transformative than Rhee's tenure as chancellor. 'He believes strongly that school reform cannot be wrapped around one person,' said Gray strategist Mo Elleithee."

FOIA REQUESTS: AG Peter Nickles fights government transparency with a whiny letter to D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray asking for major leniency in handling Freedom of Information Act requests. The D.C. Wire reports: "Nickles sent a letter to Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) last week seeking immediate legislation to extend the amount of time the city has to respond to FOIA requests. Under current law, the city has 15 days to respond to a request with an additional 10 days allowed for 'unusual circumstances.' But Nickles, whose office often processes requests sent to the administration, said he's increasingly unable to meet that deadline. He wants the city to adopt the provision of the federal FOIA law that allows for agencies to request 'unspecified additional time for a response in unusual circumstances,' Nickles wrote." In other words, if Nickles has his way, you can forget about your FOIA request being fulfilled anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the District's convention center hotel lawsuit is back on.

FENTY FOCUS GROUPS: The mayor, WaPo's Mike DeBonis reports, has turned to focus groups to help him develop his campaign message: "The groups, where a dozen or so voters discuss a topic with the help of a moderator, are common to modern, well-financed campaigns. But Fenty has prided himself on embracing the shoe-leather approach above all else, and the new tactics reflect the challenges he faces in moving from an insurgent, outsider campaign to defending his three years as mayor. The utility of the groups, campaign sources say, is seeing how voters react at length to what Fenty is saying and what he's doing."

CAPITAL BIKESHARE: DCist's Sommer Mathis doesn't seem to approve of the name for Arlington and D.C.'s bike sharing program. WaPo's Martin Weil reports that the name selection wasn't so democratic: "After taking a survey, officials in Arlington County and the District have decided on the name for a program that will make it possible to borrow a bicycle in one jurisdiction and leave it in the other: Capital Bikeshare. In what might be viewed as an affront to democracy, Capital Bikeshare did not garner the most first-place votes among the 1,164 people who took part in the online survey. Officials said Tuesday in a statement that 'George' was the favorite of 279 participants, with Capital Bikeshare the top choice of 199. But the survey also asked for second and third choices, and Capital Bikeshare received 512 total votes to 453 for George."

JOYNER SHOOTING: The Examiner's Bill Myers gets D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton to comment after Philly prosecutors have been brought in to investigate the Park Police shooting death of Trey Joyner: "Frankly, what I wanted from the beginning is an independent investigation," Norton said. "The history of police brutality [in D.C.] makes it hard for many communities to believe even in independent investigations....There is a very long and torrid history [of brutality] that has to be taken into account." LL wonders where Norton has been on the issue of police shootings before the Joyner case. It would have been nice to see Norton stand up for David Kerstetter.

Meanwhile, NC8 reports on one Northeast neighborhood plagued by burglaries.

MOCO SCHOOLS: May become a global brand, according to WaPo's Michael Birnbaum: "The school system will be paid $2.25 million to develop an elementary school curriculum that an education company will augment and sell around the world. The school system will also receive a small percentage of sales revenue once the curriculum is completed. The deal, rare in size and scope in the United States, was approved by the school board 6 to 2 Tuesday. Under the terms, Pearson, the world's largest education publisher, will acquire the expertise of one of the nation's top school systems and the right to use its name and its top employees as sales tools. 'I tend to look at it from the standpoint that we are broke,' Montgomery Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said. 'You have to have new ways of doing things when you don't have money.' School officials say that the money from the deal will allow them to double the dozen people who have been working on the curriculum, speeding its completion and saving money on implementation. The curriculum gives more attention to subjects that have been played down in the past."

HOLLOWAY SPONSORS CRIME FIGHTING TOOL: AP reports: "Beth Holloway opened the Natalee Holloway Resource Center at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington. Holloway said it will provide services that she initially lacked when her 18-year-old daughter vanished, such as access to government and media contacts and missing persons posters. 'I feel confident that it will serve as a point of light for all missing,' she said while standing in front of two photos of her daughter."

JONETTA ROSE BARRAS: Narrates one particularly painful mayoral candidates forum in which she is compelled to mention a certain bugle-playing candidate. LL feels Jonetta's pain.

WHAT WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DOG PARKS: Andrew Lightman, the managing editor for the Capital Community News (Hill Rag, East of the River, etc.) sent out an e-mail yesterday to us media types venting that he's plenty sick of reporters believing/implying that streetcars and dog parks=stuff white people like. We thought his point was worth sharing. Lightman writes:

"I hate the recent use of the words 'streetcar,' 'dog park' and 'rec center' as race/class code words. So, I am going to rant to all you, since they have made a recent appearance in each of your respective publications....

Why is that folks can't just say WHITE PEOPLE? I guess it must be because there are no African-American dog lovers. I find that a bit strange being as a frequenter of DC parks and a dog walker at the Congressional Cemetery, both of which are filled with folks of all ages and races. I even work for a black man, who owns a canine. Recently, when I checked the Greenleaf Recreation Center, it was filled with residents from nearby public housing. Turkey Thicket's and Hillcrest's patrons are overwhelmingly African-American. I guess black folk like rec centers too.

Lastly, if you listen to the mostly white elders at the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, there is a perfectly lucid preservationist position against streetcars that focuses on overhead wires. I would suggest you talk to Monte Edwards, but I suspect that none of you has that much time to burn."

This LL is still confused about how dog park can cost $400,000.

MAYOR'S SCHEDULE:  No public events planned.

D.C. COUNCIL SCHEDULE:

10 a.m.
Committee on Finance and Revenue (meeting)
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 120

1 p.m.
Committee of the Whole (Hearing)
Bill 18-801, "Closing of Public Streets and a Public Alley and Dedication and Designation of Land and For Street Purposes in Squares 3765, 3767, 3768, and 3769 Act of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 412

2 p.m.
Committee on Housing and Workforce Development (Round Table)
PR18-0860 the "Whitelaw Disposition Approval Resolution of 2010"
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

3 p.m.
Committee on Housing and Workforce Development (Round Table)
District Funded Affordable Homeownership Programs: Long-Term Housing Affordability Restrictions
Location: John A. Wilson Building, Room 500

Norton, after talking with Park Police Chief Salvatore Lauro, had been under the impression that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division would be leading an inquiry into the incident. She told residents as much at a community meeting last month at Mount Horeb Baptist Church.

"Last week, my staff was informed that the Civil Rights Division is not leading the investigation of the shooting, but that the U.S. Attorney's Office will be the agency leading this investigation," Norton wrote to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder this week.

More from the July 27 letter:

It was clear to me that the involvement of federal police officers in a local shooting required a federal investigation. At the meeting, Chief Lauro told me that the Civil Rights Division had called him and that he had been told they would be taking over the investigation, according to notes taken by my staff at the meeting.  There appear to be no federal procedures in place for an incident involving a shooting of a local resident by a federal police officer.  Therefore, the use of a third party federal authority with no involvement with the city or local police seemed to me to be appropriate, especially since the Civil Rights Division has a long and credible history of investigating police departments and incidents around the country.

... This incident has raised considerable consternation here, but one thing I thought had been settled was that an independent body would be investigating the Trinidad shooting.  I seek immediate clarification and I believe that such clarification is due as well to the family and to the citizens I represent.

Six Park Police officers were placed on administrative leave after the shooting. Lauro told the Washington Post last month that the officers were not part of an FBI-led "Safe Streets" task force, which is what Park Police had initially said.

Read the full text of Norton's letter here.

Frozen Tropics draws some heated debate/angst over the candlelight vigil for Trey Joyner held this past weekend. Joyner was recently shot and killed by U.S. Park Police. The vigil was held at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Among the comments:

"What a crock. I'm sorry but candle-light vigils should be reserved for true tragedies – those wherein actual innocents are caught in the crossfire of violence that people like Trey have inflicted upon our neighborhood."

And this:

"As of 10 pm, the "vigil" is now a go-go party. There are about 75 people (that can be seen from my angle anyway– there could be even more out of my eyesite) hanging out in the alley with a live band with a LOUD drum set. I fail to see how this honors anyone's death. It is just disrespectful to the families in the neighborhood."

Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space opens up a discussion calling for stricter demolition rules: "What the problem is that there aren't adequate remedies in DC law, other than designation as a landmark, or existence of a historic district, to prevent demolition." Don't just read the quote. This is a must-read blog post.

And Now, Anacostia has some sweet pictures of a corner home renovation. The house looks like something out of Disney.

The New Teacher On The Block tries to cope with the closing school year:

"It has obviously not fully hit me yet that I will not be teaching again until August. I am floating around in a surreal world; my life has focused so strongly on my kids for the past 10 months that its hard to think about anything else!

Maybe Thursday, when I'm lounging on a North Carolina beach instead of: lesson planning, doing ABA, managing nap time, taking kids to the bathroom, and trying to sooth chair-throwing temper tantrums, it will become more real...."

Upset the Setup gets nostalgic for the Goodie Mob.

The U.S. Park Police has one story. And a WJLA story with interviews from potential neighborhood witnesses has yet another version of events. Let's break it down.

In an interview with City Desk, U.S. Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser, the department's spokesperson, lays out this simple scenario.

"Yesterday detectives received information about about a man with a gun, located the subject," Schlosser says. "While they were making the arrest, a struggle ensued. The suspect was shot. The suspect did have a gun and the gun was recovered at the scene."

According to WJLA account, Trey Joyner never pointed a gun at the cops:

On Monday night, four U.S. Park Police officers moved in when an informant reportedly made a call about a man with a gun. The plainclothes officers are part of the multi-agency Safe Streets Task Force.

Trey Joyner apparently got of a car and then something occurred which prompted the officers to fire repeatedly. Witnesses say they heard at least seven gunshots.

Investigators say they recovered a gun at the scene, but some who say they witnessed the shooting are adamant Joyner never brandished a gun or threatened the officers.

"He never pointed the gun at him," said a witness.

The diverting narratives could simply be due to the fact that the case is still very, very fresh. One hopes the D.C. Police Department were able to do a thorough canvas and that residents came forward with whatever they saw. The D.C. Police Department is handling the case.

Schlosser says: "We are cooperating completely with them."

This afternoon, the Partnership for Civil Justice announced that it had filed a FOIA request today seeking answers concerning this shooting. [You can read a PDF of the FOIA].

In a release, the Partnership writes:

"In response to reports that a resident of the District was shot in the back and killed last night in the Trinidad neighborhood by undercover federal law enforcement agents, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund filed a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) today demanding disclosure of the directives and policies authorizing and implementing the program through which the officers were operating.

Few D.C. residents are aware of the existence of this FBI-led undercover law enforcement operation through which plain-clothed Park Police officers opened fire in the midst of a D.C. neighborhood. The fact of this operation, shrouded in darkness, came to light in reports published today that the officers involved in the above-referenced incident were working as part of an MPD and federal “inter-agency task force dubbed Operation Safe Streets, which addresses violence throughout the region and is overseen by the FBI.” (See Debbi Wilgoren and Martin Weil, The Washington Post, June 9, 2009, online edition)

The FOIA request was submitted to the MPD, the Mayor’s Office, the FBI and the National Park Service’s Police."

U.S. Park Police were last involved in a shooting on April 13 of this year at 2nd and K Street NE. Schlosser says that investigation is still on-going.

*Correction: This reporter in a previous post was completely confused about this police shooting. He mixed up the earlier police shooting from yesterday morning with the Park Police shooting from last night. Item has been fixed. Embarrassment remains.