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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
It’s Not Easy Being Green. Meet Vince Gray’s Closest Friend Republicans Think Harry Thomas Jr. is Dangerous Marion Barry’s Car Stolen Kwame Brown Sued Over Credit Card Debt, Again
Good morning sweet readers! It’s Thursday already? Well, time flies when you’re eagerly awaiting the birth of your first child, who is now one day past his official due date. In this week’s column, LL profiles Almost Mayor Vince Gray‘s closest friend, Lorraine Green. Man, did she dish some super embarrassing details about the next mayor. For instance: did you know that he borrowed one of her DVDs and never gave it back! Be interesting to see if Gray can recover from such an explosive revelation. On a more serious note, Green did set up a tête-à-tête between Gray and developer Don Peebles to avoid both of her buds getting in the race and splitting the vote against Still Mayor Adrian Fenty. Read about it here. News time:
Rest Easy: Mayor-for-life Marion Barry‘s stolen Jaguar has been returned. Barry’s old flame Donna Watts mocks the Ward 8 councilmember via her private Twitter account for leaving his keys in the ignition: “Chuckle, w/ keys left in ignition, more like offered.”
Appointment Day: NBC Washington is reporting that sources close to Gray say the next mayor is going to announce he’s keeping Police Chief Cathy Lanier in his administration. A presser on Gray’s public safety picks is set for this afternoon. Gray is also going to announce that former Assistant Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe, who currently heads the Sarasota County Fire Department, will be his new fire boss, according to NBC’s story. In more cop news, The Examiner‘s Freeman Klopott reports that an assistant police chief has been getting an extra $20k a year because of payroll “glitch.” Question: if you’re employer accidentally overpays you, aren’t you morally bound to tell them? And a crime spree in historic Anacostia has residents feeling nervous.
AFTER THE JUMP: Hildum Out at DYRS; Height Act Needs to Go; The Graham Empire to Expand?…
Ch Ch Ch Changes: The law-and-order juvenile justice boss Robert Hildum announced yesterday he’s leaving his gig after a very brief stint to go back to work for his old boss, Attorney General Peter Nickles.Hildum is the third Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services boss to leave in a year. Why leave? Well, Hildum didn’t feel like he was wanted by the Gray team,Nickles told the Examiner. “He didn’t get an emphatic endorsement from the incoming administration.” The Times reminds us that Hildum really wanted to keep his job. Hildum’s legacy, summed up in two grafs in the Post: “Juvenile justice advocates saw Hildum’s background as a prosecutor as a threat to the direction of juvenile justice reform and blamed him for an increase in overcrowding at New Beginnings, the long-term detention center that opened last year in Laurel to replace the notorious Oak Hill Youth Center. But Hildum also had supporters inside and outside DYRS, who said he brought a new focus to the agency and in particular to the long-standing lack of high-quality services for the hundreds of young offenders being supervised in the community.” And if you are a cynic who thinks that Hildum is moving back to his old job at the AG’s office to boost his chances of keeping a job in the Gray administration, Klopott’s got you covered. As LL was about to publish, Jason Cherkis posted another story on Hildum, who apparently thinks people who leak critical information to reporters are “cowards.” Listen up Hildum, DYRS has leaked like a sieve for as long as LL can remember. And that’s a good thing, because DYRS would probably be in even worse shape without the strong media attention its gotten. So get a grip, dude, and focus on making the government work better, not on who is forwarding e-mails to reporters.
The Height of Folly: City Paper‘s Lydia DePillis, who is about 5 foot 2 inchesin case you were wondering, argues in this week’s cover story that the District’s Height Act has got to go. Her arguments: 1) Renting commercial space in downtown D.C. is ridiculously expensive. The District should capitalize on that demand and quit losing business to the suburbs. 2) Housing prices in the District are ridiculous. D.C. should build up, and create more affordable housing. Plus, there would be more room for parks. 3) Tall buildings can look awesome, despite what old people say.
Harry Thomas Jr. Fights Back: Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr. pushes back on the Post editorial board today, telling them to get their facts straight before attacking him about his youth sports non-profit, Team Thomas. Thomas says the Post‘s suggestion that there’s any link between developers donating to Team Thomas and Thomas’ favorable votes for the developer as a councilmember is “ludicrous.” Thomas also curiously criticized the ed board’s “unrelenting and inappropriate venture into investigative journalism.” It’s not inappropriate to investigate public officials. The Post already noted one small error in its last editorial, before Thomas’ letter ran.
Redistricdon’t: The good folks over at Greater Greater Washington play the always fun “let’s guess about redistricting” game. In their numbers crunch of the last five years, Ward 1 is the only population loser, with a drop of 3 percent (which seems weird, right?). That means Ward 1 CM Jim Graham could be the big winner, in that he’ll get to expand his empire. Also, Wards 7 and 8 might not need to expand, afterall. Caveat: These aren’t the real numbers, things could change, don’t everybody freak out.
Curious about the latest plans for the McMillan Sand Filtration Site?
More on the breathalyzer (the machine is actually humorously misnamed the “Intoxylizer”) brouhaha.
Check out Ward 2 CM Jack “The Nutcracker” Evans.
Does the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute support the tax break for the Adams Morgan hotel that will force LL to move offices? Unclear!Just kidding, they don’t support it.
Ward 4 CM Muriel Bowser, who was just tapped to lead the Transportation Planning Board, will be on Newstalk with Bruce Depuyt.
Council: Gov Ops and Enviro, at 2 p.m.
Gray: Public safety appointees presser, 1:30 p.m., Wilson Building.
Kenneth Ellerbe is chief of the Sarasota County Fire DepartmentKenneth Ellerbe is chief of the Sarasota County Fire Department..