While others have taken on the Primary election financial data, I spent yesterday combing through the financials of those Ward 5 Council candidates who have declared their intent to run. I’ve compiled my initial data into a read-only spreadsheet that you can use to dissect the race, and I welcome corrections either in the comments or via email. Using the campaign filings with the Office of Campaign Finance, I have examined closely the filings of the 12 candidates who returned the forms to OCF.  I’m surprised that there are at least eight who have taken out petitions who have yet to return file with the OCF, but there are provisions that would allow a candidate not to return forms right away.

There are four campaigns that have made efforts to fundraise in the first reporting period, representing approximately 20 days of fundraising time.  Delano Hunter leads the pack with just over $20,000 across 119 donors, followed by Kenyan McDuffie with just under $17,000 across 76 donors.  Frank Wilds made a $10,000 loan to his own campaign, but tracked no donations. Bloomingdale ANC Commissioner John Salatti was fourth with $7,600 or so.  No other candidate raised more than $550.

Looking at the data in detail, it was surprising to see so much of Delano Hunter’s contributions come from outside of the District, with more than half his donors coming from zip codes outside of DC, despite some clerical errors in his filing that lists DC state marks for many addresses in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and other states. More than 55% of the money for Hunter came from outside of DC.  Kenyan McDuffie showed similarly strong fundraising capability, bringing in over $10,000 in online donations during the three days before the filing. In addition, McDuffie lead the candidates for donations coming from both DC residents and Ward 5 residents in both donor numbers and total dollars raised. McDuffie did receive approximately 40% of his funding from outside of the District, to the tune of nearly $7,000.

Coming in fourth, John Salatti saw donations from primarily his base in Bloomingdale, with few donations coming from outside the reach of the 20001 zip code that contains Bloomingdale.

When it came to corporate money in the race, Hunter lead the pack, accepting 10 corporate donations totaling over $4,000, including bundled donations from the owners of the controversial Stadium Club gentleman’s club, and former Prince George’s County Executive Wayne Curry and his Consulting practice.  John Salatti was tied for second in corporate donations, which included a pair of bundled donations from a construction management firm and its owners, and a Development firm and its owner. McDuffie’s campaign said in a press release that they will not accept bundled donations in this race.

Full Disclosure: I am a volunteer for the Kenyan McDuffie Campaign, and a financial contributor to the campaign. No information not given to the public is available in this article.

Welcome to the last moments of your life… in 2011.

Did that briefly fill you with fear that you’ve misspent your time on this fair earth? (If so, why? Do you think I have kill-you-through-the-internet powers? Worry not, you’re wayyyyyy down on the list for when I get THAT superpower) Or did you just think “crap, I need to make some more tax deductible donations before the clock ticks over!”

Either way, we got you covered. The We Love DC team spent some time spitballing their favorite locally-focused and/or locally-based charities and came up with a prodigious list. All will allow you some way to donate to them for the 2011 tax year, if you’re fortunate enough for such deductions to matter to you. All will be similarly delighted to take your cash from Jan 1 onwards too.

Keep reading for the list and feel free to suggest your own in the comments. Most of the places below are in the District but some are in surrounding areas; charity doesn’t stop at the boundary stones, after all.

If you want to concentrate on the most basic of needs, keeping body and soul united requires food. We’re home to several fine organizations that work to feed the needy.

DC Central Kitchen has gotten some love here in the recent past and Marissa profiled Chef Allison about a year ago. DCCK’s combination of providing nutrition as well as training folks in culinary arts is a clever approach.

Bread for the City is closing out the last few years of their fourth decade. They provide comprehensive services including clothing and social services but I always think of their nutritional contributions first. It’s right there in the name, after all.

So Others Might Eat also goes beyond meals, including substance abuse counseling, elderly care, medical services, and housing. On top of all that they serve more than 1,000 meals a day in their dining room and via outreach.

Some of these operations focus on homelessness and poverty, others provide advocacy:

WEAVE provides legal services and education on violence issues. No one should have the suffer at the hands of another and WEAVE’s attorneys help bring that idea closer to reality.

N Street Village provides support to homeless and low income women. Women among the homeless are vulnerable in additional unique ways beyond the challenges all the homeless already face. Increased vulnerability to HIV is one of those ways, and in recognition of that N Street created Miriam’s House just a few months ago to help homeless women living with HIV and AIDS.

Safe Shores received some backpacks from some of you a few years ago but we haven’t mentioned them recently. Thankfully they don’t do it for our adulation. This children’s advocacy center helps children who have come into crisis situations suffer as little chaos as possible, as well as providing education and outreach. If the first rule of finding yourself in a hole is “stop digging” then the first rule of helping a child in need is to stabilize the situation and make them start feeling safe.

DC Legal Aid Society recognizes people below the federal poverty line may still find themselves needing legal representation. Their staff helps make that happen, whether it be providing housing related legal support or protecting the vulnerable from being exploited.

Doorways for Women and Families in Arlington uses a comprehensive approach to work with families to address domestic violence and homelessness.

Building folks up and helping them become better able to help themselves through job training and other advancement:

Empowering Center works with students on education and employment.

College Bound tutors motivated students in 8th through 12th grade to help them improve their grades and work towards getting into college, as well as providing some scholarships.

Habitat for Humanity of DC builds homes. Habitat is pretty well known these days and there’s a lot to be said for their “sweat equity” concept that gets residents involved before they move into their new home.

The soul needs nourishment too. Some local operations that work through the arts:

Art Enables works with folks with developmental issues to help them express themselves through art, often providing them an avenue of expression they lack in other areas.

Choralis Foundation works to bring music into people’s lives, both as creators and listeners.

DC Arts Center provides a space for the visual and performing arts in the Adams Morgan area. I’ve seen a number of shows in their black box theater that wouldn’t have had a chance to be made if they hadn’t had access to that performing space.

Supporting people’s health takes a lot of forms. Sometimes it’s advocating for healthier options and environments, sometimes it’s providing medical services.

DC Greens works to improve access to fresh food in the city and advocates for healthier options in schools.

Phoenix Bikes works with local youth to provide training and provides bicycle services to the community.

Children’s National Medical Center is a pediatric-only operation that’s been working in the DC area for over 140 years. They’ve touched countless lives, including one of WLDC’s own, Brian Mosley, whose niece was born there earlier this year. If you want an example of what makes them special you can read about little Addison’s entrance into the world and the thirty-two person team who helped her here and here. Children’s has a Food Lion Challenge Fund matching donations through the end of today, so you get double the bang for your buck.

Some of the most vulnerable among us are those who have been separated from their support structures. Several local operations endeavor to help immigrants and refugees, as well as victims of trafficking.

The IRC in Silver Spring goes on-site to provide relief, both here and abroad. Domestically they help settle refugees, abroad they assist in different ways. The rundown is extensive and can be found here.

NoVa’s Migration and Refugee Services is a Catholic charity helping refugees and asylum-seekers in the Northern Virginia area. They’ve helped over 20,000 in 35 years – well more than one every calendar day.

Courtney’s House provides shelter and counseling services to children 12 to 18 who have been sexually exploited.

HIPS provides assistance via harm reduction programs to sex workers.

Tahirih Justice Center provides legal services, advocacy, and education for immigrant and refugee women suffering gender-based violence.

And of course, there’s everyone else.

Our list doesn’t scratch the surface of the people doing good work in and for the area. There’s some clearinghouse sorts of sites out there to help you find worthwhile places if nothing above strikes your fancy. You can look at  the Catalogue for Philanthropy who highlights a number of smaller charities, like DCAC, or simply look at GuideStar and search for a topic close to your heart.

My advice is to give and be careful; it feels so good that it gets to be addictive.

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If your company participates in Metro’s SmartBenefits program, Congress has likely given you an unexpected pay cut. Those who participate in the program get pre-tax dollars put on their SmarTrip card each month, up to a maximum allowable limit that has been up to this point $230/month. Because Congress did not extend the ceiling, the new pre-tax ceiling is a little more than half that, at $125/mo.

So, when the changes come in a week, remember that it’s not WMATA’s fault, for once, and that the Congress that DC has no vote in snipped your transit benefit in half.

This is Our DC reports that they, as well as some folks from OccupyDC, are camped out in Senator McConnell’s office looking to petition him on the Rebuild America Act. They’re for it and identify it as something that would bring almost 400 million in infrastructure spending to the area.

Whether you’re on their side of this or not it’s a pretty interesting event. Anyone with an opinion on the bill who lives in the 50 states has two numbers they can call and indicate how they’d like their senator to vote. DC residents have none.

Or do they have 100? @OurDC is using their time in McDonnell’s office to phone bank and call other senators. As District residents they didn’t get to vote for any of them but many have felt they should weigh in on how the District conducts its day to day operations. Maybe they should start expecting to hear more from DC’s citizens if they don’t want to provide them with representation of their own to call…

Remember that horrible, awful, snow-addled commute we had back in late January when the feds closed at 3, just in time to send people off into the beginning of an ice storm? Yeah. The feds remember it too, and they’re updating their inclement weather procedures to prevent it from happening again.

The updated procedures basically involve two main categories:

1. Stop dithering and make a decision about whether to close/have unscheduled telework/whatever a lot faster. I think anyone who has ever sat up at night, refreshing the OPM status page can get behind this one.

2. Encourage employees to shelter in place if they can’t get home before it gets bad outside. This one seems… less enforceable, since you can’t exactly require people to stay at the office, but if offices can be prepared to accommodate employees for a little while longer at the office, and encourage them to wait out the worst of it, this could potentially make a difference.

The policy is expected to be approved on November 9th. If you work for the government, you might check to see what “shelter in place” would look like at your office. If, like me, you work for a company that follows the feds’ lead with office closures, you might check with your HR department to see if this will change anything for you.

And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to keep a bag with some spare hygiene supplies and some energy bars locked up in your cubicle, hm?

Late yesterday, it was revealed that longtime DC Fire & EMS public information officer Pete Piringer, the name behind the amazing @dcfireems, had been shuffled around in a personnel move. Piringer will be moving away from the @dcfireems handle, recently embroiled in a bit of controversy, which saw the account taking a break, and a lot of concerns and accusations flying about the role of the twitter account.

For me, the account’s purpose is simple and obvious: provide realtime information about serious fires and other emergencies in the DC area, as well as contact information for the media to get updates. Piringer has done the job with incredible aplomb for the last few years, keeping the media and public, alike, abreast of the situations

This afternoon, Mark Segraves from WTOP broke the news that the mayor’s office may have been involved in Piringer’s ouster: “Piringer was prolific in his tweeting of breaking news and information, but sources inside the mayor’s office say there was blowback from other agencies that Piringer’s tweets were making them look slow and unresponsive.”

While everyone involved is saying the right things, this move stinks to high heaven of transferring a popular and effective member of the staff to an exile they don’t deserve under the guise of a promotion or temporary assignment. Piringer will move from the DC Fire & EMS department to the rough and tumble excitement of the Office of the Secretary.

If you, like me, had no idea what the Office of the Secretary is, well, read this delightful description of their mission: “The Office of the Secretary provides protocol, authentication and public records management services to the Mayor and District government agencies.  In addition to managing the District of Columbia’s Archives, commissioning all District of Columbia Notaries Public, and publishing the District of Columbia Register and the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), the Office of the Secretary is responsible for maintaining official records of mayoral actions, receiving legal process for actions against the Mayor, and preparing executive orders, proclamations, directives, and administrative issuances.“

Sounds riveting.

No question they need a top-notch PIO, who can respond at a moment’s notice about…the latest proclamation from the Mayor honoring someone.

Right.

This is another move by the Gray Administration that has to leave me scratching my head. While I’m sure any city agency could use the likes of Piringer (with the exception of perhaps DDOT, who has John Lisle, and DCRA, who has Helder Gil, both of whom are as good as Piringer has been at DC Fire & EMS), it seems odd to move him to the obscurity of the Office of the Secretary. Though, with him there, I expect to see a high profile for the newest notary publics and mayoral proclamations that are likely to come down the pike.

Otherwise, the picture is a whole lot less rosy, making it appear that the Mayor and his cabinet love lazy cronyism more than we had already thought.

So far, the new @dcfireems leaves a lot to be desired.

While Piringer would often toss in reminders to change your smoke alarm batteries, there was about 90% meat and 10% fluff in that account, while now it seems to be photo ops and cloying preparation tweets.

So, with everyone saying the right things, but doing the wrong ones, I suppose all we can do is say, “if this is really a matter of making this other place great, let’s see it be great, and if you think you can do it without making @dcfireems suck, prove it. So far Gruff the crime dog is not convincing us.”

Don’t fuck up a good thing, Mr. Mayor. You’ve done enough of that already.

There’s been a few news tweets about the SlutWalk that happened this weekend and unsurprisingly several of them – maybe most – have touted photos. I’m not condemning that – I like looking at provocatively dressed women myself. But don’t miss the very serious reason it’s called SlutWalk and involves protesting while scantily-clad: to combat a perception that dressing a certain way is in any way permission or a valid reason for other people to use your body against your will.

If that seems implausible in 2011, well, the whole impetus for this now nation-wide and multi-country phenomenon was the somewhat astonishing statement from a Canadian officer of the law during a lecture on health and safety.

“You know, I think we’re beating around the bush here,” he reportedly told them. “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised.”

I’m (sadly) not surprised that someone would say a version of “If you wear that skirt you’re just asking to be raped,” but I can’t say I expected to hear it from a police officer.

Holly Kearle writes very eloquently here about the point of SlutWalk and why she participated. She’s also the force behind the excellent Stop Street Harassment blog. If you’ve got the time to look at some skin you’ve got the time to read what she wrote about this event. I’d encourage you to keep up with the SSH blog as well.

It’s easy for us men to be blind to the reality of the million little shitty things that happen to women in our society – we’re not the target of the harassment. We might not ever see it going on, but it does. Constantly. Take ten seconds at Holla Back DC and see the sort of unbelievable crap that happens all the time, ranging from crappy inappropriate talk about mustache rides to stalking and physically threatening behavior against a fifteen year old girl.

SlutWalk might not be how you want to confront this sort of thing in our society – Holla Back DC’s Chai Shenoy didn’t feel like it was a productive thing for her – but the women who stood up and told their fellow DC residents that how they look or dress isn’t cause to mistreat them have good cause to think making the statement is necessary. Make their sacrifice of their time worthwhile and look past just the pictures.

You want to do it tomorrow? DC Central Kitchen needs people to be the muscle in helping to try to make use of the 50 tons of food that might otherwise go to waste when the Fancy Food Show closes. You’d be working with them from 2pm to 9pm and you can find more details here.

Not free till next month or more of a morning person? Registration for Beautification Day has begun. From 8am till 1pm on August 20th volunteers will help DCPS spruce up the exteriors of all the public schools in the district. That means everything from landscaping to picking up trash to painting. Unlike DCCK’s thing it’s on a Saturday so if you’re stuck in the M-F grind you can still chip in.

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Society6, an organization that connects artists with unique opportunities and empowers them to make their artwork available for sale without giving up control of their rights, recently completed an innovative project titled “50 And 50.” The idea behind this endeavor was to recruit 50 designers, one per each state, and have them illustrate their state motto using the same color-scheme. The results are modern, yet historical grounded, designs that would make any wall fit for oversized art proud.

Fortunately for us, although not part of 50 states, DC was included in the project and represented by Oliver Munday, whose  illustrations and designs have graced bookcovers, TIME, The New York Times, Wired, etc. And for those of us completely naive to DC’s “state” motto, it’s “Justice For All” or as the Romans prefer “Justia Omnibus.”While the DC motto is definitely on the design, it takes a huge back seat to the neon sign inspired “Cash for Gold,” which I can only assume is Munday’s cunning and subtle commentary that DC’s motto may as well be ‘Cash For Gold” because it’s impossible to have “Justice For All” when citizens lack full government representation. I also think the usage of “Cash For Gold” and the small campaign button-esque DC state flag are a commentary on the DC political scene; more specifically how the money and power of the federal government overshadow DC on both a local and national level.

Love or hate Munday’s execution, there is no doubt that he put some thought into the piece and that he’s definitely trying to make it more than just a pretty piece of wall art.

On a lighter note, as DC was included in the project, we’ve come up with a few alternative project names:

50 And 50, +1

51* And 51*

Any others out there?

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WUSA reports that prosecutors in Bristow, VA have indicted Karen Murphy on felony murder and felony child neglect after her son died June 17 as a result of being left in a vehicle. It’s not terribly surprising that the grand jury would agree to the charges but it’s disappointing that the prosecutor would ask for them.

Gene Weingarten wrote on this subject two years ago in his excellent piece Fatal Distraction. It’s so good that if I had to choose between you finishing this article and you clicking away to read it and not coming back… I’d have to pick that you go. It’s a moving and difficult read and worth every second.

I suspect that if anyone on that grand jury had read it they’d have refused to indict on a murder charge and possibly on child abuse. Without that empathetic insight into what these cases typically involve it’s not too surprising they’d choose to indict. The death of a child works us into a rage that rivals any other and the instinct to find someone to blame is hard to resist.

Not impossible, though. Weingarten’s piece quotes a Virginia prosecutor from another area of the state who describes why, in a case tragically similar, he opted not to seek any convictions.

In Portsmouth, the decision not to charge Culpepper, 40, was made by Commonwealth’s Attorney Earle Mobley. As tragic as the child’s death was, Mobley says, a police investigation showed that there was no crime because there was no intent; Culpepper wasn’t callously gambling with the child’s life — he had forgotten the child was there.

“The easy thing in a case like this is to dump it on a jury, but that is not the right thing to do,” Mobley says. A prosecutor’s responsibility, he says, is to achieve justice, not to settle some sort of score.

“I’m not pretty sure I made the right decision,” he says. “I’m positive I made the right decision.”

I’m sad that Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert lacks the same certainty. Absent any new information – which doesn’t seem to be forthcoming – it looks like this case is just going to drag another already suffering soul in front of a court for nothing.

Poorly handled by the demonstrators, that is.

The above video splices together several perspectives on yesterday’s arrests at the Jefferson Memorial of Adam Kokesh and others who were there to demonstrate against restrictions on personal expression at the memorial site.

The BoingBoing crowd is making a lot of the way Kokesh is brought to the ground, which is a highly unfortunate distraction from the more important issue of “free speech zones” in modern America. You can skip forward into the video to about the 2:20 mark and see the two more physical arrests. The first is of an unidentified individual; the arrest starts out with little physicality until another individual runs in and attempts to pull the first man away from the officer. Both are taken down to the ground and restrained.

The third arrest is of Kokesh and starts around 3:00. Viewing from there and listening to the audio it’s clear that the officer first attempts to tell Kokesh to submit to arrest without touching him, then endeavors to turn him around and detain him. Kokesh ignores the requests, continues to walk away, then refuses to kneel. It’s at that point that the officer lifts him and throws him to the ground to restrain and arrest him.

The selectively edited highlight reel – James O’Keefe would be proud – doesn’t show the first man interfering with the other man’s arrest nor do you see the officer attempt to arrest Kokesh without violence. It’s hard to tell to what extent anyone is resisting against the officers once they’re prone; while they don’t get any limbs free it’s clear they were physically resisting before that point. They could be straining against the hold the officers have on they – it’s impossible to tell from the video.

I’m personally a big supporter of civil disobedience against unjust laws and I was all the way behind Kokesh and the others… till the second the officers attempted to arrest them. The law against peaceful non-disruptive demonstration is baloney, but it’s the current law of the land. Getting charged with it and fighting it – although this is pretty pointless since there’s already a case in play that may be further appealed above the circuit court level - is great, but resisting that arrest is not.

Changing the law and changing public opinion via non-violent demonstration and challenging the constitutionality of an arrest is fine, but the additional escalation in this circumstance is entirely on Kokesh and the other demonstrators. They had the opportunity to get arrested for that they believe in and show the world the status quo – the arrest of the couple gently swaying, for example, is a perfect demonstration of how silly this restriction is. Forcing the encounter to be violent by resisting arrest cheapens the whole thing and distracts from what should have been the core issue.

Kokesh and the others could have chosen to go limp and non-violently resist the arrest. Instead they made this mess. Too bad.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In their search to find Sass, the owners have uncovered both the positive and negative facts of recovering their dog, including:

1) The city department charged with disposing of dead animals, does not notify pet owners even if the dead animal has tags and other easy identification.

2) While many area shelters post pictures of animals brought to their shelters online, the DC shelter does not, even though they have the capability.3) There are good people at the animal shelters.

4) There are trackers across the country that can be brought into help. Sassafras’ owners have had two in, one from Georgia and one from Baltimore, and others have provided advice.

5) There are many people willing to help out and complete strangers have done great things. Many of the volunteers who’ve helped are searching for their own lost animals or are just simply compelled by the story.

6) Social media really is active in DC – in addition to rescues and other dog groups that have posted, tweeted, and facebooked, there are many local neighborhood listservs and blogs that have responded. The above video, created to help with the search, now has more than 1100 views and the blog has more than 5200 page views.

7) Unexpectedly, and disgustingly, there are many crank callers who have made this painful situation much worse for Sassafras’ family.

Should you have any information about Sassafras, please contact Jeff and Beth at findsassafras@gmail.com or  call (202) 664-2301. Also visit the  “Find Lost Beagle Sassafras” blog to spread the word about Sassafras, and help this story have a happy ending.

Last weekend Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) sat down with We Love DC for conversation over a number of topics particularly  focusing on the recent federal budget negotiations and the resulting protests.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is still angry.  After weeks of negotiations between the White House and both Congressional Republicans and Democrats over the federal government budget narrowly averted a shutdown, Norton believes the District became a pawn in the negotiations with the inclusion of two policy riders in the budget agreement.  These riders banned the District from using local funds to provide abortions primarily for low-income residents and authorized the continuation of the school voucher program which helps pay for private school tuition.  ”Congress is too busy messing with the DC code,” said Norton.

Norton blames a schism between the White House and House of Representatives Democrats during budget negotiations for the final trade: a lessening of the dollar value of the budget cuts in exchange for changes to policy which included the two District-specific riders.  The main goal of Democrats during the negotiations was to “keep health care out of it,” said Norton.  She also credits the “expert bargaining of [Speaker of the House John] Boehner” and the lack of bargaining by the Democrats over the 48 votes needed to pass the budget agreement after Republican defections.  ”The White House had a card and they never played it,” said Norton.

Despite relations with the White House which have been perceived as healthy, Norton acknowledged that “other things have gotten in the way, like the economy,” of a meaningful and productive relationship with the Obama Administration.  Norton has been working to improve this relationship by establishing new procedures with the White House to discuss the issues of the District.

For the Congresswoman, compounding the problem of the renewal of the school voucher program is the proposed method to pay for it.  With no additional funds in the House Republican’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Resolution to pay for the renewed school voucher program, the budget proposes elimination via means-testing of the funding for the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program in order to offset the additional cost.  DCTAG provides college tuition assistance for District residents in order to simulate the in-state tuition programs of large state university systems throughout the country.  Norton worries that elimination of the program will cause families with children to “move out of the District to Maryland or Virginia where they can take advantage of in-state tuition.”

‘2011 04 11 – 7907 – Washington DC – DC Rights Protest – Yvette Alexander’
courtesy of ‘thisisbossi’

Congresswoman Norton of course is not the only person who is angry.  The resulting rally and protest of the budget deal on April 11th led to the arrest of forty-one individuals including DC Mayor Vincent Gray as well as Councilmembers Muriel Bowser, Yvette Alexander, Tommy Wells, Sekou Biddle, Michael A. Brown, and Council Chair Kwame Brown and brought additional attention to the issues facing the District.  ”Arrests are exquisitely important,” said Norton echoing her remembrance and direct involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  Norton feels that Congress will not take the issues of the District seriously without the type of vocal protest demonstrated on Constitution Avenue because “these people are not accountable to us.”  However the message that she wants to resonate among those considering participation is that all they have to do is “show up.”  ”DC Vote has done a miraculous job of getting people to show up,” said Norton but “we need a continuing consciousness raising in the city” to continue the momentum of the recent protests.

Despite yesterday’s fears, the 9pm high tide came and went without the Georgetown waterfront breach reaching K Street. As of 8:30am this morning, the Georgetown Waterfront is still completely shutdown with very, very limited access. The K Street side of the Waterfront is filled with emergency flood repair vehicles, workmen, Pepco vans, etc., all awaiting instructions from site surveyors. Local buildings continue to monitor their basements and lower level garages for flooding and seepage.

I managed to gain access to the 31st Street walkway that leads to the waterfront, and saw a heavily pumping Potomac river and the front side flooding. While the flood barricades along 31st street were all in tact, I could see where the waterfront walls leading into the fountain area had been breached. At that time the river was below fountain area level, and I could see some evidence of water being pumped out of the fountain pool back into the river.

I was in Union Station this morning, waiting for a train and zoning off, when I noticed a striking difference between the Acela’s DC, Philly, NYC and Boston overhead posters. While all the posters feature a stylized Acela train speeding through each city’s unique skyline and all hang from the rafters in very similar positions, the New York City poster was the only one covered in bird poop, especially towards the bottom of the poster.

Upon noticing this difference, I began looking for some simple explanation for this avian vandalism. Perhaps the NYC poster was simply, and unfortunately, hanging in an already popular bird hang out? No. No birds insight. Perhaps the NYC poster featured some sort of bird attracting color? Nope. Posters were all fairly similar in color scheme.

After surveying the poster scene, I could come to no other conclusion then that the Union station pigeons, sparrows and starling clearly dislike Amtrak’s NYC Acela poster, and NY by association, and they have decided to express their 2nd amendment rights by strategically bombarding it with their poop. Case solved.

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Using an extensive and scientifically valid procedure, Men’s Health ranks DC as the top socially networked city in the US, and gives us an A+.

While Mashable may find this ranking surprising, those of us insiders (of the beltway) won’t be, as this city’s economic life blood hinges on who you know both professionally and personally.

The Committee on Public Works and Transportation, chaired by Council Member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), has completed the initial investigation into the District’s fleet management practices, launched as a response to the controversy surrounding Council Chair Kwame Brown’s city-provided, “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigator.

In 2002, the District passed a law forbidding the procurement of SUVs or any vehicle rated at less than 22 miles per gallon, unless it’s for emergency, security, rescue, or an armored vehicle. Since that time, the District has obtained 42 such prohibited vehicles, including the two involved in Navigatorgate.

The report, released this morning, also calls for additional investigation into who is driving these vehicles. Under District law, only the Mayor may have an on-staff driver, and any other assignment of District employees to act as chauffeurs must be approved in writing either by the Mayor or by the appropriate agency head, depending on the situation.

I encourage you to read the report for yourself; it’s only a few pages long, and is pretty hair-raising stuff when it gets to the part about how many vehicles remain unaccounted for.

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Don’t know who Sulaimon Brown is? That’s not a surprise. He was a Democratic Candidate for Mayor in this past summer’s mayoral primary with a penchant for speaking his mind about Adrian Fenty…and then telling everyone to vote for Vince Gray.

“Wait, what?” you say. Yeah, you heard right. He pushed for Vince Gray, despite appearing on the dais at debates and at other events as a candidate himself. I’m just as baffled as you.

It was revealed by the City Paper’s Alan Suderman, that along with Kwame Brown’s SUVs and the growing salaries in the Mayor’s office, Mr. Brown received an auditor’s position in the DC Department of Health Care Finance, making $110,000 per year.

This morning Brown was let go, and escorted by police out of the office of the DHCF by police after troubling remarks made during his termination arrangements.  Then he decided to show up for Mayor Gray’s afternoon press conference. That’s when things got hilarious.

Although I’m not THAT far out of high school, my memories of cafeteria lunches are fairly limited, which leads me to believe that the food served was…well…unmemorable. That is, it wasn’t good enough to be noteworthy and it wasn’t bad enough to be permanently seared into my mind. I have foggy images of square pizza, sloppy joes, grilled cheese, lasagna, and a salad bar which in the 1990s (and I’m dating myself) was a groundbreaking, yet sadly disappointing and unappetizing, addition.

Given my, and I’m supposing most people’s, middling school lunch experience, I was extremely inspired when I learned about the DC Farm to School Network, a coalition of advocates working to connect Washington, DC schools to local farmers to get more healthy, local foods into school cafeterias. With the ultimate goal to improve child health, reconnect students with where food comes from, provide health, food, and environmental education opportunities and support the local food economy.

‘EJ Brown School FFVP boys eating cauliflower 011311′
courtesy of ‘USDAgov’

The DC Farm to School Network is our local lead for the National Farm to School Network, a nation-wide organization established in 2007 that focuses on serving healthy meals in school cafeterias, helps establish waste management programs like composting, and offers experiential education opportunities such as planting school gardens, cooking demonstrations and farm tours.

There are currently a wide variety of farm to school programs up and running because of the DC coalition. DC Central Kitchen‘ s Fresh Start Catering provides meals to 7 DC public schools, Next Step Public Charter School, and Washington Jesuit Academy. These meals are made from scratch using as many local products and ingredients as possible. CentroNia’s pre-school programs and DC Bilingual Public Charter School receive 600 fresh meals everyday featuring produce from Kilmer’s Farm and Orchard in West Viriginia. The schools also have a garden, overseen by City Blossoms, that provides nutritional diversity as well as educational opportunities. The network also facilitates meetings between DC School officials and local growers/suppliers/distributors, so nutritional needs and budgets can be met.

‘10di1522-49′
courtesy of ‘USDAgov’

As this week marks the first anniversary of DC resident Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative, it’s important that in tackling America’s childhood obesity problem, we not only get kids to be more active but get them to eat healthier. The DC Farm to School Network recognizes this challenge and to meet it is hosting workshops to educate school and food service vendors to explain the Healthy School Act, and offer best practices, tools & resources to help schools comply.

As a lover/supporter of the DC region’s fantastic local produce and a believer that instilling healthy eating and living habits at an early age is extremely important, the DC Farm to School Network is truly a great organization with a truly great mission.

Yes, you read that correctly.

D.C. Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-at Large) is considering running for D.C. Council in the upcoming special election to fill Kwame Brown’s soon-to-be-vacant at-large seat. Brown, who was elected to the Council as an independent in 2008 has been itching to switch his party affiliation back to the Democratic party. Everyone in the world knows that Brown is actually a Democrat, and his father, the late Ron Brown worked for the Clinton Administration and served as chair of the DNC. Brown shed the (D) from his name two years ago to run for one of the two seats reserved for minority parties.

So what does this mean for the special election? If Michael A. Brown entered the race, he’d have a pretty strong advantage out of the gate. He’s got pretty strong name recognition across the city and has the advantage of incumbency. However, that ignores the fact that this entire maneuver is completely ridiculous, self-serving and most of all, absurd. If Brown were to win and “switch” seats, that would result in yet another special election, this time reserved for minority parties. That would also cost the city at least another $500,000. Money the city does not have.

This does call into question the whole idea of seats being set aside for minority parties, and the process of switching party affiliation. Everyone in the world knows that Brown is a Democrat and for him to hold one of the reserved non-Democratic seats is also absurd. This maneuvering is likely to help pave the way for an eventual mayoral bid for Brown, possibly as soon as 2014. Sources close to Brown told me back in November he had decided against pursuing the vacant seat, because a loss could result in him losing his current seat. It appears at present no one is sure if that is the case or not. How no one is sure, I don’t know, but yet another reason why we need to reform how D.C. Council elections work.

If Brown wants to switch parties, he should resign his current at-large seat and run for the open seat. This could allow both special elections to occur on the same ballot, and show that Brown is willing to take some sort of political risk to rejoin the Democratic Party. If Brown runs for the seat while staying on the Council, it will be a campaign that will be very hard to take seriously. Remember, at least Michael D. Brown ran as a Democrat, his true party affiliation.