PoP Weekend Picks (From Weekly Emails)

Prince Of Petworth April 17, 2009 at 5:00pm

Mother and Justin Jones at Rock n Roll Hotel (H Street, NE) Tonight!

In other music news Milkmachine will be playing Solly’s (11th and U) tonight! Continues after the jump.

District Government “Monster Trucks” Compete Saturday, April 18, at RFK

Public Invited to Free Exposition of Safe and Savvy Driving Techniques

The District Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Department of Transportation (DDOT) invite the public to their 11th annual professional equipment “Roadeo” competition Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at RFK Stadium in parking lots 6 and 7 (Benning Rd., NE and Oklahoma Ave., NE). Nearly 70 DPW and DDOT employees will showcase their precision driving while operating heavy road equipment used to maintain the city’s infrastructure. This event is free and open to the public.

“This Roadeo is a test of our drivers’ skill on complex vehicles, under some pretty unusual circumstances, and it’s a lot fun,” said DPW Director William O. Howland, Jr. “This city has some of the most reliable drivers removing snow and ice, repairing roads, collecting trash and recyclables, and keeping our roads and alleys clean and this event showcases their skills.”

The competition consists of several obstacle courses and time events that focus on operational requirements and emphasize safety. Light and heavy snow plows, bucket and tow trucks, front end loaders, and other heavy equipment will be used in the competition, which will kick off with a celebrity “drive off” that will include both DPW and DDOT directors, Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, and local television and radio personalities.

“The public will get a chance to see these vehicles do things they’ve never seen done before,” said DDOT Director Gabe Klein. “Displaying this level of skill on equipment—some of which stands taller than 10 feet and weighs more than 10 tons—requires special skills. This event shows that our employees definitely have them.”

The winners will be eligible to compete in the American Public Works Association’s Regional Equipment Roadeo, to be held May 7, 2009, in Roanoke, Virginia.

For more information about the Roadeo, contact DPW at 202.673.6833.

The Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) and its partners invite you to help us clean the Anacostia River during the 15th Annual Anacostia River Cleanup & Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 18, 2009.

Trash cleanups will take place from 8:30AM to 12:00PM at sites throughout the watershed. If you would like to become an Earth Day cleanup volunteer, keep reading below. All volunteers will receive a free 2009 Earth Day tote bag. This year, our new bag—we’ve done t-shirts in the past—will feature children’s art and poetry winners from our 2009 River of Words competition. We decided to give a tote bag this year (instead of a t-shirt) in order to support initiatives in Washington, DC and Maryland seeking to reduce plastic bag waste on the Anacostia River and promote the use of reusable bags for shopping and carry-out purposes.

Following the cleanups, all of our volunteers and the public at large are invited to help us celebrate the day with food, live entertainment, and community spirit at our Earth Day Celebration at Bladensburg Waterfront Park in the Bladensburg, MD. The rally runs from 12:00PM to 2:00PM. Click here for more information about the rally.

Thanks go out to all of our 2009 Earth Day Sponsors and Partners for making this event possible! To become an event sponsor or partner, call AWS at 301-699-6204.