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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
All Eyes on Alexander
Christopher Barry Arrested on Drug Charges Committee Staff Should Not Be Political Hires
Good morning sweet readers! It’s Thursday, and you know that means Washington City Paper has offered up another sacrifice to the fickle gods of alt-weekly journalism. In this week’s dead tree edition, LL takes the pulse of the Ward 7 D.C. Council race, which has incumbent Yvette Alexander fending off unrest from the old guard, the new guard and one dude named Ron Moten, who says, “What I get erections from is helping my people.” A quote that LL’s wife says “is a really weird thing to say.” Sure is, honey. D.C.’s hardest working reporter, LDP, asks why Congress can’t be a better neighbor and get rid of all that above-ground parking. News time:
Freeze, Or I’ll Spray: Freeman Klopott of the Examiner has the scoop that the District’s firefighters are being deployed ’round town to make sure summer youth job participants don’t get mugged on payday. Fire Chief Ken Ellerbe‘s spokesman says having a “uniformed presence” at “hot spots” around the city would help keep trouble away. Klopott has emails that show the mayor’s office was coordinating the plan. Naturally, fire union folks say they are concerned about the plan and police union boss Kris Baumann says woe to any firefighter that has to put up with being treated like a cop. For more on the problems associated with payday at the summer jobs program, be sure and read Jason Cherkis‘ cover story from a year ago.
AFTER THE JUMP: Alpert v. Kwame; Barry Not Worried; Find Some Other Mayor To Testify…
No, You’re Wrong: Greater Greater Washington’s David Alpert pushes back against Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown‘s contention that Alpert is playing fast and loose with the facts surrounding Brown’s decision to shuffle committee assignments. Alpert says Brown’s explanation, that he shuffled committees to put like subject matters under the same umbrella, is full of holes, which, of course, it is. “I’m sorry that Kwame Brown, citywide elected chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, feels he isn’t able to properly communicate with reporters who spend much of their time in his building. This underscores [LL’s] point yesterday that one of the clearest lessons from this saga is that Kwame Brown is bad at media relations. Or, maybe, the local press corps is just smarter and more penetrating than Brown would like.” Related: smart-growth advocates discuss the long pedestrian and bike-friendly road ahead before becoming a more significant political force in the District, and D.C. Watch’s Gary Imhoff pours salt in the wounds.
What, Me Worry?: GGW’s John Muller also takes a look at whether there will be a serious challenger to Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry next April. Money quote: “If Barry is worried, he is not letting on. His inconsequential rhetoric might use different clichés, turns of phrase, and doubletalk, adroitly changing as the day-to-day or week-to-week wind blows, but the crux of his message has not deviated: You know me, I know you. We know each other, so let’s keep this party going. What do you say?”
So Much For Jail Solidarity: Mayor Vince Gray is fighting a subpoena to come testify at the trial of one of the 40 other people he was arrested with outside the Capitol protesting the District’s lack of budget autonomy, DCist reports. At issue, the attorney general doesn’t want the mayor to have to testify every time some crackpot sends him a subpoena, reports Martin Austermuhle. A judge is currently considering what to do about the mayor’s objection, and a city attorney called the subpoena a “publicity stunt,” which is rich, because you might say the same thing about Gray’s arrest.
Those Triathlons Should Help With The Ambulance Chasing: Former Mayor Adrian Fenty is joining the medical malpractice law firm Klores Perry Mitchell.
More on Kaya: Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson gets a profile treatment in TWT. The Henderson doctrine: no excuse, just produce. “I don’t control what happens in my children’s community … I don’t control what kind of parents they get. I don’t control how much money they make, their families make. But what I do control is the quality of education that we provide to them within the eight hours a day and five days a week that we have them.”
Mary Cheh Emailvite: “Tomorrow, July 14 at Cactus Cantina (corner of Wisconsin and Macomb) I will be holding my annual Constituent Services Fundraiser and birthday party at 6:30p.m! The event will raise funds for worthy individuals and organizations in Ward 3 as well as community projects and events. It will also be an opportunity to enjoy the company of your neighbors at one of Ward 3’s best restaurants. I hope to see you there.” See also, the G-Town Dish’s take on Cheh’s political ascent.
In Other News:
- White House Office of Management and Budget says D.C. budget abortion rider “undermines the principle of states’ rights and of D.C. home rule.”
- Anacostia and Congress Heights residents to get their first look tonight at plans for east St. E’s.
- Director of Department of Small and Local Business Development resigning after seven months to take job with Magic Johnson Enterprises.
- Council to vote on designating SE/SW Freeway as “Martin Luther King Drive.”
- Metro announces long-range track work program.
- Gun ban solution on the way?
- New transportation committee boss Cheh also thinks the taxi medallion bill is dumb.
- City to present plans for East campus of St. Elizabeth’s.
- Council fixes foreclosure law.
- People’s Counsel calls Pepco rate hike “shameless.”
- OIG report says nothing illegal with Charlie Sheen escort.
- Former mayoral candidate Leo Alexander: “The Post hides their money grubbing hands and acts as if they weren’t complicit in steering voters to make poor decisions to cast their ballot for these common hustlers.”
Gray sked: desk work.
Council sked: Judiciary committee hearing on fire hydrants, Room 412 JAWB, 10 a.m.