On May 19, 1993, the D.C. government lost one of its early Home Rule-era leaders and most accomplished legislators. D.C. Council Chairman John A. Wilson was found dead in the basement laundry room of his Southwest home by his wife, Bonnie, and chauffeur. His death, ruled a suicide by the Metropolitan Police Department, sent shock waves through the D.C. political scene, of which Wilson was a 20-year veteran. The longtime Ward 2 councilmember, who assumed the council chairmanship in 1991, was known for his own brand of brazen politics.

Wilson, who died at age 49, helped bring the civil rights movement to nation's capital. In the 1960s, he was one of the "po boys," as Jet magazine wrote in an obituary, that also included future D.C. Mayor and Councilmember Marion Barry and future Georgia Congressman John Lewis, to fight alongside Stokely Carmichael's Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. When the battles turned bloody in the South, Wilson and his fellow activists shifted their efforts to Washington.

Jet wrote that Carmichael had warned them that "[b]lacks can't change the system." But Wilson didn’t listen and moved to the predominately black city with the hopes of helping black residents in their fight for an equal vote in Congress and more autonomy for the D.C. government in the federal city, fights which continue today.

Shortly before his death, Wilson opened up about his political woes, saying that he might retire, despite pressure to run for mayor the following year. The Washington Post reported at the time that trouble at home may have also fueled his chronic depression. In 1992, Bonnie Wilson learned of her husband's infidelity and threatened him with divorce. She moved out of their home, until Wilson convinced her to move back.

The Post also reported that Wilson sought medical treatment and counseling for his depression six months before committing suicide. A funeral service was held at St. Augustine Catholic Church. Barry, who was no stranger to personal turmoil, offered tearful words. "I'm not concerned about how John Wilson died, I'm concerned about how he lived," Barry said at the time. "He was daring. He had so much courage." Lewis, a veteran of the Freedom Rides, said Wilson's death was a "tragic loss. He was my friend and I will miss him terribly."

In 1994, the seat of the District government, at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, was renamed in Wilson's honor.

Photo by Flickr user m.gifford using an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

One of the biggest costs putting the city in the red: the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services' continued insistence on placing youths in out-of-state residential treatment facilities. The juvenile justice agency is projected to spend $8.4 million more than originally allocated for this outsourcing. In a recent cover story we outlined reasons why this is an outdated, extremely costly, and ineffective use of public funds.

The DC Behavioral Health Association raised similar concerns about DYRS' emphasis on residential treatment in a 2010 report.

The hostage-takers, led by the founder of the Hanafi Movement in the United States, Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, threatened to kill more people—in all, 149 hostages were held at the District Building, the D.C. offices of B'nai B'rith, and the Islamic Center of Washington on Embassy Row—unless a movie they deemed sacrilegious to Islam was destroyed.

Opponents of Khaalis, including two members of the Nation of Islam, had killed members of his family four years earlier. They had been convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but that wasn't enough for Khaalis, who was seeking vengeance. As Time magazine wrote at the time:

That five of the killers of his family were eventually convicted and given life sentences did not satisfy Khaalis. His religion, he felt, demanded justice in a jihad—a holy war. For years he brooded; then last week he struck....

Armed with rifles, shotguns, and machetes, the Hanafi terrorists, under Khaalis' personal command, first struck the B'nai B'rith offices on Rhode Island Avenue NW around 11 a.m. on March 9. They seized dozens of hostages, "shooting at some, slapping and cutting others." Just after 12 noon, three gunmen entered the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Avenue NW, taking 11 hostages but not firing any shots.

The third assault, on the Wilson Building (then known as the District Building) was much more violent. As Time wrote:

The last and bloodiest attack took place at 2:20 p.m., when a pair of trigger-happy gunmen invaded the District Building, two blocks from the White House and only 300 yards from the Washington Monument. They began shooting indiscriminately. A black radio newsman, Maurice Williams, 24, was hit and killed instantly. A city councilman, Marion Barry, was shot in the chest. Two other people were wounded.

"It's been a long time, but some things you never forget," Barry, who would go on to be mayor and is now a councilmember again, told The Washington Post on the 30th anniversary of the standoff. "That's one of them."

Barry helped unveil one of two memorial plaques in the Wilson Building’s press room, which is now dedicated to the memory of Williams, the WHUR radio reporter killed during the assault. Barry, wounded in the attack, had to be removed through a window before being taken to the hospital. A police officer wounded on the fifth floor, where Barry and Williams were also shot, died a few days later.

In addition to the handover of those convicted of killing his family, Khaalis demanded the film Mohammad: Messenger of God removed from theaters, as well as a meeting with boxer Muhammad Ali.

Ali didn't come. The stand-off finally ended when ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Iran appealed to Khaalis' faith. Thirty-nine hours after the standoff started, Khaalis and his comrades surrendered. Then–U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance later praised the three ambassadors for their efforts ending the siege.

"To these three ambassadors—humanitarians and diplomats in the highest sense—we offer the gratitude of the U.S.," he said.

Khaalis ultimately received a prison sentence between 41 and 123 years. He died in a federal prison in Butner, N.C., in 2003.

They've tried civil disobedience. They've tried legislative maneuvering. Now D.C.'s frustrated statehood activists are threatening to employ a new tactic: Cartographic sabotage.

D.C. Council member Michael Brown is holding a meeting this evening at the Wilson Building to ponder renaming the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue NW in front of the city government's headquarters. The idea is to pick a name that shames the powers that be by reminding visitors of the capital city's marooned political status.

This isn't the first time a government has used its thoroughfare-naming powers to tweak a rival. In the Indian city of Kolkata—long ruled by a Communist party—the road outside the American consulate had its name changed from from Harrington Street to Ho Chi Minh Sarani during the Vietnam war. Right here in D.C., Soviet diplomats during the Cold War suddenly found that their stretch of 16th Street NW had become Andrei Sakharov Place.

Vietnam won and the Soviets lost, right? Alas, Brown's renaming ambitions have at least one problem: Other than Marion Barry—whose name would presumably not be helpful in winning out-of-towners to the statehood cause—the District doesn't boast many household names among its political stalwarts. It's a pretty good bet Brown et al won't want to honor the local government veteran with the highest national Q ratings by turning the avenue into Michelle Rhee Boulevard.

Which means visitors will be puzzling over, say, Alexander Shepherd Place, Hilda Mason Trail, or Ron Brown Parkway—names that do little to insert Washington's non-democratic status into the national conversation. Instead, they'll smack of yet another lame statehood stunt.

Or worse: Out-of-town types regularly gripe about how frequently they get lost in D.C. after finding that a street's name has changed. We locals laugh about the rubes' geographic cluelessness. But when they panic after suddenly going from Pennsylvania Avenue to Mark Plotkin Boulevard, where do you think they're going to turn for help? That's right: To Congress.

Photo by Mr. T in D.C. via Flickr/Creative Commons

"DC plan for homeless families is to provide apts. $1,500 per.Should there be limit on number of fams hsd from other states? NY Times says no"

"Overflow for homeless families is DC Gen. 135 fams now at capacity. Should DC provide unlimited capacity for other states. NY Times says yes"

More tweets after the jump!

Wells goes on to tweet:

"Fams and individs in DC have right to shelter during cold. Surrounding states do not. % of fams in DC shelters from Md has tripled.

To bal our budget we must cut foster care, pub ed, disability pymnts, juv justice, TANF, pub safety and raise taxes to get to 175 mil

Mont co and PG co have a residency req. for shelter. We shld hse when freezing but not provide apt and shld return to home state when safe.

NY Times recommends DC expand shelter capacity if needed and dun Congress for the cost. Good luck with that.

CFO said no cost savings b/c of current waitlist for homeless services. DC residents should have dibs, no?"

But instead of focusing on the city's dwindling shelters and the poor conditions at D.C. General, the city's emergency family shelter, it chose to take a non-stand on Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells' residency-requirement proposal:

"The District is right to want to do something about surrounding jurisdictions that take advantage of its safety net by directing their needy residents to cross the border. At the same time, it needs to be careful that new rules don't create insurmountable barriers for those it wants to help.

We are glad that Mr. Wells pulled back on plans to push the legislation through as emergency legislation. More needs to be learned about the scope of this problem. Advocates for the homeless have legitimate concerns about the ability of people, with complex problems and troubled lives, to meet bureaucratic requirements. There are also constitutional concerns that need to be addressed concerning residency and equal treatment. Mr. Wells says that he is confident a workable solution can be found."

Wow. A public hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8 on Wells' bill. One question that still needs to be sorted out: Do we trust the city's claim that 10 percent of the 180 families seeking emergency shelter this past summer were from non-District residents? And if the number is true, so what? How are District officials preparing for the sure-to-be crowded shelter system come winter?

Late October census data shows shelters are at or near capacity. At D.C. General, there are already 132 families and 217 children.

Though I never made it close to the rally itself, I positioned myself outside the John A. Wilson Building next to the electronic “Taxation Without Representation” sign that displays the amount of federal taxes we District residents pay to the federal government and flashes messages supporting D.C. statehood. Certainly, there would be some interesting reactions from the anti-Washington crowd walking past the seat of the District of Columbia government, the one that is still home to Marion Barry, our most recognizable local D.C. official to the rest of the nation.

As I sat and waited for something interesting to observe, hundreds of people displaying various Old Glory fashions, carrying “Don’t Tread on Me” flags and wearing a Jesus version of Shepard Fairey’s “HOPE” poster walked by. I sat for more than a half hour waiting for some profound moment that demonstrated how outsiders just don’t understand the city that is home to their national government.

Nothing much happened aside from a bearded man in cut-off jeans and Harley Davidson shirt who stopped in front of the Wilson Building, saying in a dumbfounded tone: “They got this nice building? Why did we give them this beautiful building?”

While the man, who quickly moved on in the direction of the U.S. Capitol, never articulated who “they” and “we” are, you can probably take a decent guess as to his stance on D.C. statehood. His comments made me feel, as someone whose family has resided in the District for 150 years, as if we here in the District are second-class citizens who must bow down to those who might claim they are the only ones with the rights to say “We the People.”

It's been pointed out that many Tea Party folks complain about how they don't have a voice in Washington, D.C., but yet don't take up our cause for full and equal representation in Congress.

Then again, we are living in a “cesspool,” don’t forget.

So, just how people turned out today? Josh Marshall of the liberal news site Talking Points Memo tweeted: “Major headline outta DC is that turnout so big at Beck event that numbers probably won't need to be fabricated.”

We’ll never know for sure because the U.S. Park Police won’t be doing a formal crowd estimate. (Since a dispute over crowd estimates from the 1996 Million Man March, the Park Police has only gauged the turn-out for the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama as president.)

The best indicator of turn out may be Metrorail ridership for Saturday. Those numbers won’t be immediately available, but it seems like the all-time record, Obama’s inaguration day, where there were 1,120,000 rail trips, will be hard to top.

Regardless of the turn-out, the rail system was certainly crowded. Following the rally’s conclusion, people “crammed in like sardines.” During my Saturday afternoon ride from the L’Enfant Plaza station to the Foggy Bottom-GWU station on a Blue Line train, a man in a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” T-shirt made that observation following every station stop. Welcome to Washington! We deal with sardine-like living and discomfort daily!

Despite the less-than-ideal riding conditions, everything was civil until Metro Center, when two younger African-American women were trying to make their way out through the crowded train car. Some fold-out chairs were blocking their path.

“Move! You gotta move! Don't you get it?” one of the women screamed. If the volume didn’t get everyone’s attention, her yelling of “Jesus Christ!” certainly did.

“You can get through. Just shimmy on by,” a white women, with a scowl on her face, yelled back.

“Shimmy” you say? I would have liked to have witnessed an act of shimming in the crowded conditions.

Outsiders unfamiliar with standard transit etiquette are nothing new to D.C. It’s one of our major complaints about living in the nation’s capital. But it goes with the territory. We expect such disconnects.

But sometimes, it seems, we locals are never going to understand the outsiders. And those outsiders are never going to understand us.

Weaver still probably has a long way to go. Yes, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce decided not to back Graham, either—but they went with Jeff Smith, another challenger. Still, the video's worth watching again, no matter who winds up winning the election:

Graham campaign poo-bah Chuck Thies had this reaction via e-mail:

"Not surprising at all. What has the Chamber of Commerce ever done for Ward One?  They represent downtown business interests. Maybe Jeff Smith should move downtown.  He really doesn't seem to like living in Ward One."

You'd think Graham's close ties to the taxicab industry would have put him over the top. Zing! OK, that was a cheap shot. Apologies.

So how many humans will it take to form a complete "human safety net" around city hall?

"We've calculated that it is 900 feet around the Wilson building, so with people and banners and nets we expect 200 people will wrap it up nicely," Podschun replied.

What would you say to Jack Evans and Vince Gray to get them to join your human chain? Podschun wrote:

"Jack Evans is just not going to be convinced on this issue. I don't know if he truly believes the preposterous notion that wealthy people will leave rather than pay a few hundred dollars more, but nobody else we've talked to believes it, even the people who object to our proposal because they think the Government should eliminate all waste before raising taxes. The latter is not a position we find to be especially reasonable or moral, but at least it has some sort of logic to it.

Vince Gray has worked in social services for most of his career — he has arguably done as much for our safety net as anyone on Council. In his campaign speeches, he likes to tout the revenue-generating measures that Council took last year — the cigarette and sales tax increases, which all disproportionately affected low- and middle-income DC residents. Here we're proposing to rescue the damaged safety net in a truly progressive way. This would hardly pinch a small portion of DC's population, but it's a major opportunity to demonstrate the leadership that Gray likes to say that DC needs."

How did you decide on a human safety net? Podschun wrote:

"We all benefit from a strong safety net, whether or not we use these services. This action features DC residents from all walks of life and all corners of the city, joining together to form a safety net around the building. It also creates a beautiful demonstration that Councilmembers can't avoid as they arrive for their meetings on the budget. Our city has some of the worst income disparity in the country, and reversing that begins here. So we'll join together to call upon Councilmembers to be smart, responsible, and courageous."

City Desk asked two such experts for a rally preview. Here's what they had to say via e-mail:

Patricia Mullahy Fugere, Executive Director of the Washington Legal Clinic For the Homeless:

"Because of the challenging economy, more DC residents are facing poverty and homelessness than ever before. This is exactly NOT the time to be cutting vital safety net programs. The District need not address its own financial woes solely by slashing funding for these important services.There is growing community support for a range of revenue enhancements—including an increase in income tax on the highest income earners—that, if effected, would allow for the safety net to be preserved. Even those who stand to be impacted by such a tax increase are saying 'Tax me more. It's what justice requires of me.' We are calling on the DC Council, as it makes its final decisions on the FY 2011 budget, to do right and do justice."

Robert Egger, founder of DC Central Kitchen:

"Nonprofits aren't just nice–we are necessary. We are one of the biggest employer in DC, and our work sets the stage for businesses to thrive. From now on, we stand together."

What I want to know: Has Gray's very public waffling on the subject hurt him? Has it slowed down legislation as everyone at the Wilson Building waits for Gray to make his decision? And what other local leaders should people be pushing to run? Yesterday's Post story on Gray sure didn't help him. What was he thinking, what were his advisers thinking?

The Washington Teacher gives a thumbs down to Rhee's interview with Anderson Cooper last week [video link]. Blogger writes:

"Just more of the same of Rhee on her soap box with unedited teacher bashing . Many who watched Michelle Rhee on Cooper's Thursday evening show were infuriated about the production of 'What's Next -Education ?' If you were watching, the answer to that question is more of the same. Stay tuned for more firings, more firings and more firings by Chancellor Michelle Rhee."

And Now, Anacostia reports on the opening of Big Chair Coffee. DCist was there too. And so was our resident real estate expert! The shop looks like it sure beats the grocery-store Starbucks.

The Heights Life has the rundown on Columbia Heights' top Netflix rentals. Pretty mainstream! Benjamin Button? WTF. Seven Pounds? Slumdog Millionaire? Not very hipster! Where's the fuckin' mumblecore!?

Frozen Tropics has the agenda for tonight's PSA 102 meeting covering youth violence.

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.

Barry never got into detail with council staff. But it was enough for Brighthaupt to get barred that night from a Wilson Building event. At 10:30 that night, Barry left a voicemail on his ex-girlfriend's cellphone apologizing for his actions. He goes on to state that Delonta Brighthaupt was now free to go anywhere he wants.

This wasn't the end to this love-hate triangle between Barry, Donna Watts-Brighthaupt and Delonta Brighthaupt which we detail in this week's cover. On July 1, Barry wrote a letter to Donna apologizing further. Barry's staff provided the letter to Washington City Paper this week.

In the letter, Barry writes: "In an effort to resolve this situation in an amicable manner, I sincerely apologize to you, Brew and to Mr. Brighthaupt."

Full letter after the jump.

Dear Donna,

There has been a lot of controversy and confusion related to the situation surrounding the screening last night.  I urged you several times on Tuesday not to bring your ex-husband to the screening at the Wilson Building that night because his presence made me feel threatened.  You arrived at the Wilson Building with your daughter and Mr. Brighthaupt was denied entry, I can see how this was embarrassing to each of you.

Continuing to go back and forth on this issue is not in the best interest of you, Mr. Brighthaupt and me.  In an effort to resolve this situation in an amicable manner, I sincerely apologize to you, Brew and to Mr. Brighthaupt.  Furthermore I am not going to pursue any further actions related to Mr. Brighthaupt.

In order to put this to rest and resolve it amicably, I am asking for you to agree with me that going forward we will not defame or seek to injure each other’s reputation in any form or manner.  I ask that you respond to me by letter indicating that you agree to these terms.  Following your written response we will also agree that there will be no interaction, conversations or contact between us going forward.

I look forward to your swift response, please call me regarding this letter.

Sincerely,

Marion Barry