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Good morning from Washington City Paper! It’s Thursday, and our print edition is hitting the streets any minute now. Go pick one up! The cover story is Tom Anderson‘s profile of Michael Sindram, who you may not have heard of unless you’re a frequent attendee of D.C. public meetings—in which case you’ll know him as the guy who testifies all the time. Also in print: LL on Vince Gray, Ashley DeJean on a mysterious tribute on a bench in a park, Y&H on ramen, and other great stuff.
LEADING THE MORNING NEWS: Today the District bids farewell to Chuck Brown. [Post, NBC4] Montgomery County officials charge D.C. man on 1984 warrant in 1975 murder-for-hire case. [Post] Kenyan McDuffie sworn in. [Post] Judge throws out ex-gangster Cornell Jones‘ lawsuit against the District. [Times] Beltway repaving near Wilson Bridge likely to make commuting even more pleasant! [WTOP] Armand’s Pizza on upper Wisconsin Avenue NW closing after 37 years. [NBC4]
YOUR DAILY QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASUREMENT: Yesterday, City Paper‘s Needle rose three points. Highlight: D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is pushing to make August 22 Chuck Brown day, a measure that even her Republican nemeses would be unwise to block. On the other hand: The Associated Press’ request for MPD help in rousting the prostitutes from in front of the wire service’s 13th Street offices suggests there are limits to D.C.’s recent face-lift. Take a look here.
CITY PAPER STORIES FROM THE LAST 24 HOURS TO HELP YOU MAKE SENSE OF YOUR DAY:
Citizen Sindram: Writer Tom Anderson‘s feature story introduces readers to Michael Sindram, perhaps D.C.’s most persistent witness at public hearings. Just what makes someone trundle down to city hall, or out to far-flung ANC meetings, in order to speak up on issues like electric power and government ethics legislation? Find out here.
The Vince of Silence: The good thing about lawyers: They keep you out of jail. The bad thing: They make lousy PR strategists. That’s a problem forMayor Vince Gray, reports Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman. Gray, who was in the habit of making forthright denials back when alleged 2010 campaign shenanigans first became news, has lately stayed mum, declining to even express disappointment when top aides pled guilty. A former U.S. Attorney tells Suderman that any lawyer would make a client do the same. Besides, Suderman says, “what could Gray possibly say to reassure anyone at this point? There was corruption at the very core of his campaign, and he either knew about it or didn’t. That makes him either a crook or an incompetent leader, and it’s hard to tell which is worse.”
First They Came for the Used-Book Vendors…: Last month, when word broke of city raids on used book- and record-stores, it became a brief anti-government cause celebrate: Didn’t city bureaucrats have better things to do than enforce poorly conceived regulatory rules on the guy selling you a $2 copy of Van Halen II? Put down your pitchforks, folks! Arts Editor Jonathan L. Fischer reports that a significantly less heavy-handed regulatory fix is on the way.
The Rent is Too Damn High (Even for College Types): A new survey ranks Washington as America’s best city for recent college graduates. One drawback: The nearly $1700-a-month average cost of a one bedroom apartment. Stephanie Haven calls some experts who say that price tag requires a $26-an-hour job, or $54,000 a year, well above the District’s rather impressive $39,000 average pay for entry-level college grads. “Maybe the ranking should have been ‘Best City for Recent College Graduates with Above-Average Income,'” Haven says.
Red (Bike) Scare: A Washington Times column labeling Capital Bikeshare a socialistic step on the bike-path to serfdom was breathtaking in its stupidity. Or so much of D.C.’s Twitterati agree. But, City Paper Assistant Editor Alex Baca notes, author Charles Hurt also displayed some good old-fashioned sexism to go along with its retro red-baiting. Lowlight: “The bikes are shaped like the old-timey ‘girl bikes’ without the crossbar, making them suitable for un-liberated women in skirts as well as these so-called ‘metrosexual’ males everybody keeps talking about in these parts.”
Pho in Adams Morgan! It looks like Pho 14 is coming to Adams Morgan, reports Jessica Sidman, which is good news for City Paper‘s lunch options but bad news for staffers’ waistlines.
PHOTO OF THE DAY: Man on Platform, by Mike Hicks.
LINKDUMP BELOW!
LOOSE LIPS DAILY POLITICS LINKS, by LL columnist Alan Suderman (tips? lips@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- This Michael Sindram cover story is awesome. [WCP]
- Kenyan McDuffie makes it official, is youngest councilmember at 36. [Post]
- City workers, prepared to get paid. [Times]
- Vince Gray says that he’ll talk about Sulaimon, someday [Examiner, NBC4]
- Tom Brown to run a write-in in Ward 7? [Informer]
- Leo Alexander sounds off on Gray, Lorraine Green. “It’s going to be a long hot summer.” [Informer]
- AP bureau in D.C. wants anti-prostitution law that’s probably unconstitutional enforced [Romenesko]
- Secondhand sellers to get reprieve [WAMU]
- LGBT community still backs Gray [Blade]
- Anti-Walmart protest today to mock Gray [Post]
- Tom Sherwood has a feeling something something big is about to happen [@tomsherwood]
REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT LINKS, by Housing Complex columnist Lydia DePillis (tips? housingcomplex@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Condo conversion time on 11th Street NW. [Urbanturf]
- Can’t they just find another public building to name after William Lockridge? [Post]
- Shaw-Dupont Citizens Alliance gears up for a fight. [Borderstan]
- Cutting down on deer. [Post]
- Why bike stores shouldn’t worry about Capital Bikeshare’s helmet sales. [Washcycle]
- Designated drivers, on demand. [TBD]
- NoMa gets a cycletrack! [GGW]
- Explaining Brutalism. [Archpaper]
- Urbanist book club! [NextAmericanCity]
- With bins like this, who needs garbage? [ASLA]
- Today on the market: Uber-cool loft apartment.
ARTS LINKS, by arts editor Jonathan L. Fischer (tips? artsdesk@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- The Eisenhower family still opposes the steel tapestries in Frank Gehry’s design for the Eisenhower Memorial [Post]
- President and CEO Neal Perle will exit the Washington Performing Arts Society at the end of the 2012-2013 season. [Classical Beat]
- Talking with artist Robin Bell about his outdoor projections at the Monseñor Romero Apartments in Mount Pleasant [20kUnderDC]
- On the jazz-for-twenty-somethings evangelism of CapitalBop [Post]
- Our favorite visual-art Tumblr-er picks the best most exciting exhibitions of the summer [D.C. Docent]
- Leo Villareal (reviewed in WCP!) prepares to light up San Francisco [Experiment Station]
- Mike Daisey vs. tech journalists. Oh boy. [Media Decoder]
FOOD LINKS, by Young & Hungry editor Jessica Sidman (tips? hungry@washingtoncitypaper.com)
- Wine bar, bakery, raw bar, wood-burning ovens, and more coming to Bryan Voltaggio‘s $10 million project, Range, in Chevy Chase [Bethesda Magazine]
- Quench beverage director let go as Rockville restaurant favors suburbs over city style [Washington Post]
- 3 Stars Brewery opens DC Homebrew Shop on Friday [Thrillist]
- Goodbye for good , Sauca. [Eater]
- Absinthe and rum ice cream float at Bar Pilar [Urban Daddy]
- Check out the view from 1905 Bistro and Bar‘s new rooftop [Borderstan]
- Rumor has it Rumors is getting a (much needed) makeover [PoP]
- Tomatoes have more genes than humans [NYT]