The end result

DC is special in many ways, and one I’d like to say is related to our non-State status is the eviction process.

In most states, evivictions are handled by the county sheriff’s office. In DC, a U.S. Marshal is present to enforce the eviction, but landlords are responsible for providing labor for the eviction.

And in a great twist of logic, guess who eviction companies in the area and independent landlords have been calling on to provide the mover muscle to toss boxes on the street for the last six years? Homeless men!

According to the Street Sense’s great article Homeless People Hired To Evict Tenants, while two companies, All American Eviction and East Coast Express Evictions, deny the practice, several homeless people, including many Street Sense vendors and a good number crunching of the companies’ financial data, say otherwise. In addition, they’re accused of being cheap and paying way below minimum wage.

I’d say that Caroline Lansford, the CEO of All American, and Nelson Terry, CEO of East Coast, deserve a good spanking or a whole house full of irony. Either way, and no matter who they hire, persons employed in private industry in the District of Columbia receive at least a
“>minimum wage of $7.00 per hour, effective January 1, 2006.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

…they won’t even play softball together. Seriously, the Republicans aren’t playing softball with the Democrats anymore after a dispute over the playoff format for the summer softball league. I am literally without words. So much of this town is becoming charged with the rancor between the parties that there seem to be no shelter for those who wish to seek it. So much for coming to DC to settle the differences like gentlemen and ladies, and come to appropriate compromises to suit the needs of the people.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Mark your calendars, drunkards, as DC’s Beerlympics is right around the corner. This year’s event sponsored by NAKID is going to take place on May 13th at a bar to be named later. Of course, you could just save yourself the hangover by chugging ipecac…but that’s not nearly as much fun as flipcup, boat racing and beirut. Stay tuned for more details.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

It’s hard to believe that a day that ended so beautifully started out so disgusting, but it did. This is Eastern Market yesterday at noon when we were in the middle of our Seattle impression. Luckily most of us had tents up, though dead in the middle you can see where woodturner Aaron has simply thrown tarps over all his stuff and gone off for coffee.

However if you don’t like our Spring weather, just wait an hour. By 2:00pm my darling girlfriend and I were pondering taking the tent down completely. We probably would have if it wasn’t so unwieldy. Here’s hoping all of you got to enjoy all the sunshine and suffer less of the rain.

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Steel flying in

If you’re hoping for smooth right turn off K Street eastbound onto 15th Street southbound this afternoon, good luck to ya.

The fiber optic cable layers are slowly rebuilding the street and to protect their newly poured concrete, will be laying big steel plates on the street right in front of CVS.

Tomorrow – no parking in front of Georgia Browns.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

This might explain why some people feel such a need to have an SUV to navigate the bumpy wilds of their development community – more room for ribbon magnets.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Hasbro is retooling the classic board game Monopoly to add landmarks from various US cities, including Washington. They’re allowing folks to vote on three choices from the District: The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial and The White House. Reducing any one city to a single location seems to me to be a fairly interesting choice to make. Are we more than just the memories of single great leaders? Why not choose the Capitol, which is the house of the people? The Supreme Court, which is the seat of Justice? Union Station, a great transportation hub?

That said I voted for Lincoln.

Go Vote!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Have you ever seen people sold for charity? Do you know if it’s legal? I’m not really sure, but I do know I am for sale!

See, 20 talented, smart, charming Babes will be up for auction to the highest bidder this Wednesday to raise money for breast cancer research. So if you have a hard time approaching Babes without getting shot down, avoid the embarrassment and BUY your date – cash, check or charge!

Preeti for sale!

Winning bidders will receive not only an introduction to the Babe, but a bona fide DREAM DATE. Each Date is sponsored by a local business, including free passes, dinner or special deals. Me, I come with DC Improv tickets!

You can even join a pre-auction “Babe Mixer,” at 7pm when you will be able to meet-and-greet the Babes. Then get your game face on, and be ready to bid!

Babes for Boobs
Wednesday, April 26th @ 7:00 PM
WHERE: Whitlow’s on Wilson, Clarendon, VA

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Summer. How do you know that’s arrived in DC? Maybe tourist hordes? Or what about sticky, sweaty hot? Hmm… No, I think the best way to say when summer starts in DC is to look on the Mall.

If you find kickball on the National Mall, it is summer alright. And if you hear of a kball controversy then you know its Washington DC.

This week you can find these two to the right on the National Mall, kickball in hand, smile on face. Summer is here!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Well, Arlington County has finally gotten around to looking at the real estate tax for 2006, and their choice to decrease the rate by $0.06 per $100 to 81.8¢. Last year, my tax bill was $2,370.60, roughly, and with my new assessment and the new rate, I’ll be paying a whopping $2,854.82. Thanks for raising my taxes, Arlington. Adding insult to injury, they also raised the Personal Property Tax Rate from $4.40 to $5.00 per $100 of assessed value. Though, it’s not all bad news in Arlington, as the Homeowner’s Grant Program will put an additional $100 in the pockets of households whose income is less than $77,407.

Fairfax county lowered their tax rate by 11 cents, though their rate is a good 7 cents more than Arlington. However they also voted themselves a $16,000 pay-raise for elected officials. Alexandria is expected to vote their budget tomorrow, with real estate tax rates looking to come down there, as well. However, with rising assessments, we’re still looking at effective tax hikes for residents in most of these communities.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

After appearing on the Post’s Saturday Morning Radio Show, former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox has an editorial in today’s Op-Ed section of the Post. Is Cox parlaying her career as a blogger to a job at the new Washington Post? It does certainly make me wonder…

Either way, good to see Ms. Cox getting some much-deserved placement. Better still, though, is her comparison of Scott McClellan to a baby panda:

I ‘ve always had a soft spot for departing White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Watching him give his choked-up goodbye on the White House lawn last week, I realized why. The jowls he’s grown, the hair he’s lost and the dark circles that have grown under his eyes in two years and nine months on the job have made him resemble Washington’s other helpless diplomatic pawn: Scott McClellan is the baby panda of the press corps.

That said, who would win in a bamboo eating contest?

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Check out the Americorps progress!

On Eye Street between 14th and 15th, they’ve added new trees to the sidewalk mix. Aww.. how nice! They even supplied the water bags that allow you to water a tree over hours, slowly.

Now if only our building management can remember to water the trees, some day, long after I leave this job, there will be shade on Eye Street.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Lewis Black played two sold out shows at the Warner Theatre tonight, as part of a recording deal with HBO that will bring a new Lewis Black Live special to the network on June 10th, 2006. The show tonight was an absolute riot. Black hails from Silver Spring (though he generally claims DC as his hometown, primarily because he said acknowledging that you’re from Silver Spring makes you a pussy.), and so tonight he brought all of his hometown stories to the audience.

I managed to grab a set of seats about two months ago when it was nearly sold out, and even though they were listed as “potentially obstructed,” they were nearly perfect. We were all the way to the left of the ornate and gold-plated orchestra section, just two rows back. We were close enough to smell the anger. It was perfect.

Apparently, they initially were in discussions with the Kennedy Center to host the Special. Then the Kennedy Center figured out who Lewis was. Apparently, they’re not big on the swearing, as his 42 utterances of the tetragrammaton put them over the edge. Sure, he could do his show there, HBO just couldn’t ever mention the Kennedy Center in the promotion of the event.

There’s something great about seeing a performer in their hometown, they step it up just a notch further, and turn a great performance into something epic. Thanks for a great show, Lewis.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Stardust is a tasty little restaurant just off North Washington in Alexandria that apparently has a social conscience. This Sunday, from when they open at 4:00pm through closing closing time, they’ll be donating 25% of the evening’s proceeds to SCAN (Stop Child Abuse Now) of Northern Virginia.

Did you know it was National Child Abuse Prevention Month? I didn’t, though I’m personally in favor of banning it year-round.

I’d recommend Stardust even if there wasn’t a little charitable payoff to the meal.The decor is neat (although I think their selection of funky mirrors is at short at least one more nice mirror), the service friendly and the food excellent.

Stardust, 608 montgomery st. alexandria, va. 22314

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Hurrah! I can barely contain my excitement! The Yellow Line will be expanded to Fort Totten in a trial program starting in January!

For me this means no more getting off at Mount Vernon (which can be a bit sketch at night) and waiting forever for a Green Line train on trips home to U Street from NATIONAL (sorry Jeff, couldn’t resist) or Pentagon City.

Fantastic! I only wish I didn’t have to wait til next year for it to start…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Matt for sale!

Think ahead. Think all the way to next week. Think of your dating life. Think how empty and barren it is. Think of a fun date. Maybe a night at the Improv? Or a canoe trip down the Shenandoah? Or dinner at Whitlows? Any of that make you pause? Now add in a cute and interesting date. Got your attention yet?

Now add in an auction! For charity no less!

That is what we have a’ cooking with the Fourth Annual Babes for Boobs next Wednesday. A charity auction to raise money for breast cancer research, Babes for Boobs is your chance to bid on ten hotties of each sex.

That’s right, twenty hotties in all, and all can be yours, for a buck or fifty. Better yet, each comes with a Dream Date for the top bidder. What might you do? How about:

Kristen for sale!

• Cooking class for two: Simply Indian
• Cha-cha or swing class for two: Elena Torbenko Studio
• Canoe rental for two: Shenandoah River Outfitters
• Tickets for two: DC Improv
• Golf for two, with cart: Jefferson Golf Course
• Wine tasting class for two: Greater Washington Wine School
• Dinner for two: Whitlows

And that is just a partial list. Best yet, I’m even up for sale. Yeah, you scrounge in the couch for change and you could take me out, take me in, or just take me!

But no matter your relationshipal status, be at Whitlow’s on Wilson next Wednesday, April 26th at 7pm. The bidding starts promptly and if you snooze, you loose!

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Sometimes it feels like the city is rapidly revitalizing, with the potential to finally become a truly vibrant international metropolis. Other times it feels like the forces of retroactive resistance threaten to strangle that dream in vitro, and keep us in the clutches of special interests that have long ceased to be of any true value.

Two particular stories have highlighted this for me lately – the ongoing battle over the religious parking policy, and the battle over a bar’s liquor license. Both affect my Shaw neighborhood and strike at the heart of my personal hopes for the city I’ve called home for half my life – space for all.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs Continue reading →

In the heart of Shaw, across from a Church, two guys decided they wanted to open a bar. Apparently, the Church took umbrage to the fact that not only did they serve the demon liquor, the owners are also participating in an alternative lifestyle, but the best moment out of all of us this comes to us from the Washington Post who highlight:

“A bar ? Across from my church?” asked Barbara Campbell, who lives on Georgia Avenue NW and for three decades has gone to Scripture Cathedral in Shaw, where she works as a cook in the church’s day-care center. “Don’t they understand that there is a day-care center in the church?”

All of a sudden I have an image in my head, a toddler with a sippy-cup full of rum.

Aren’t the hours of a bar and a day-care center just about antipodal? But that’s a whole other situation, especially when you consider the City Vs. The Churches fight that’s heading through the city like wildfire. Churches in the District are frequently exempted from parking regulations, much to the ire of the residents of the neighborhoods, and find their cars parked in by Maryland and Virginia plates. Worse still, the Mayor has granted a nearly blanket exemption for them, despite the laws on the books being clearly enforceable and enforcement being called for by the residents.

Is there a Church and State Marriage here in DC that’s restricting development and preventing the enforcement of regulations? I think that’s going a bit far, but I have a feeling the owners of Be Bar, or anyone who lives near a DC church on Sunday might disagree.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

photo courtesy of Eye of Einstein

Surplus koi fish? Apparently. I guess when you’re in a pond you eat, swim and breed. And, eventually, breed yourself too many kids for the pond when there’s no predators. So this Saturday the National Arboretum will be selling off some of their koi to relieve crowding. If you have yourself a koi pond or perhaps a spare bathtub* here’s your chance to get yourself some government fish.

* Kidding! Please don’t get a pet you can’t give a good life to. Though I have to admit my white trash roots make me think that a clawfoot bathtub koi pond in the yard would be AWESOME.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs