DC Government

“Dear PoPville,

I was trying to rent a car with the new temporary license the DMV emails residents while processing our new permanent licenses. It’s a paper printout, but that’s how the new system works. But the car rental says it’s not a real license and they can’t accept it — the manager of a CAR RENTAL OFFICE had NO IDEA that the District changed it’s system last month. Thankfully after I stood on the sidewalk in tears for an hour they rented the car to me. One of the 311 operators I spoke to said they’ve been getting a lot of complaints from people experiencing the same problem. And a customer who watched the ordeal unfold told me his friend had the same issue last week. So if anyone out there does want to rent, they might want to hold off on converting their out-of-state license.”

Ed. Note: Last week we looked at the new DC Drivers Licenses and learned: “You will receive a temporary license or identification card valid for 45 days, and the new credential will be mailed to you.

Photo by PoPville flickr user yostinator

“Dear PoPville,

Since PoPville runs a lot of content complaining (with justification) about aspects of DC’s government, I thought it might be worth highlighting a positive interaction I had. As a new homeowner, I learned from my inspection that my property had a lead service line. I was concerned about potential lead content. A little research showed that DC Water had a Voluntary Testing Program that would conduct laboratory tests for free.

I expected a lengthy process and a lot of paperwork. Instead, I made one quick phone call, and two days later a test kit appeared on my doorstep. The same kit disappeared from my doorstep less than 24 hours after I notified DC Water that it was ready for pick-up, despite the fact that it was snowing at the time and the government had shut down for inclement weather. Ten days later, my lab results were e-mailed to me. All in all, the experience was quick and painless. It’s nice to see my tax dollars put to such efficient and helpful use.

I don’t see the program publicized, so I don’t know how familiar people are with it, but I’d recommend any new (or old) homeowner with questions about their water quality give it a shot.”

This is pretty sweet – from District of Columbia Department of the Environment:

“DDOE unveils its state-of-the-art rooftop solar analysis tool, with the aim of advancing solar education and promoting rooftop solar adoption in the District. Crisp graphics and a simple but powerful interface make this new solar analysis and mapping tool a welcome addition to the District’s renewable energy toolbox. It reveals the relatively untapped solar potential of over 160,000 buildings, identifying over 2.5 gigawatts of high performance solar photovoltaic potential, or over $10 billion in potential local business. This would be enough to power the homes of 1.5 million American families while offsetting carbon emissions equivalent to planting 37.5 million trees. Explore this powerful new resource here.

From a press release:

“The District of Columbia has selected Citelum to manage and upgrade the city’s 71,000 street lights to a state-of-the-art, sustainable system. The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced today that it has awarded Washington’s streetlight asset management contract to the company, which already manages urban lighting for some of the world’s most recognizable cities.

Citelum’s unique approach and experience will enable it to turn D.C.’s lighting from a reactive system to a proactive one, based on real-time information, which will greatly improve system management, public safety and cut use of electricity by more than half.

“We thank DDOT for its selection of Citelum and its confidence in us,” Citelum North America Chief Executive Ricard Ivern said. “With this decision, Washington, DC will have better lighting, safer streets, faster repairs and a smarter, more sustainable lighting system — all at a significant cost savings.”

A key part of the project will be Citelum’s installation of LED lighting in every Ward of the District, which will help to build Washington’s reputation as one of the greenest cities in the U.S. and add momentum to Mayor Vincent Gray’s Sustainable D.C. Plan.

Citelum will bring its global experience working in such cities as London, Paris, Venice, Madrid, Mexico City and Shanghai to the U.S. capital. The Paris-based company established its U.S. headquarters in the District in 2012. This project is expected to create 40 new jobs.”

“Dear PoPville,

On December 3rd (last week) I saw your notice regarding the Silver Alert for 82-year-old John Jeffers, missing from Columbia Heights. I work downtown by McPherson Square, and vaguely remembered seeing someone who fit that description by my office.

Figuring I should call it in, I dialed the MPD number listed (202-727-9099). The person who answered did not seem to know what I was talking about, asking me repeatedly which police district I was referring to. As I don’t know the geographic districts off the top of my head…I stated again that he was missing from Columbia Heights and I was calling in a possible sighting by McPherson Square. Finally she gave me the number for the Third District police station (she couldn’t transfer me because apparently the main MPD phone system was down).

When I called the Third District Station at 202-673-6815, the call was not answered, so I left a voicemail stating my name and phone number (twice!) and that I was calling in a possible sighting of missing John Jeffers.

A week and a day has passed, and nobody has called me back. I’m writing to ask, is this standard? If it were my loved one missing I would want (and expect) the police to follow up on every lead and take every bit of information seriously, or at least get some specifics before using or dismissing the information. To my knowledge, John Jeffers is still missing.”

Thanks to a reader for sending. Like how the new ones turned out?

You can learn more about them from the DMV brochure below:

Final DMV Brochure (PDF)

“Dear PoPville,

I unfortunately had to call 911 a couple of days ago as a witness to violent altercation and had to wait about 3 minutes to get a 911 operator (was put on hold).

Any thoughts as to how to look into this issue that could be a matter of life and death for future 911 callers?”

Ed. Note: On the Office of Unified Communications website there is a 911 Customer Service Satisfaction Survey, unfortunately when I checked it this morning there was a The page cannot be found error message.

Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99

“Dear PoPville,

In my 6 plus years living in the District, I have usually shrugged off others’ claims of DC government incompetance as overblown, as I had yet to experiance it first hand; that is until Wednesday November 27th.

On that morning, I walked out of my apartment on 16th St around 745AM to get in my car and make the trek up to New England to visit my family for the holidays. Only when I got outside, my car was gone. Knowing that DPW often courtesy tows vehicles for unexpected street closings/repairs, I went to the DMV site to see if that had happened. When I entered my plate number into the site, it indicated that my car had been towed and impounded. The peculiar thing was that my car had been legally parked and I had no outstanding/defaulted parking tickets.

I cabbed down to DMV adjudication services to figure out what was up, and after speaking to multiple individuals, a very polite and professional supervisor indicated to me that my vehicle had been towed and impounded in SW. The best explanation they could come up with was that DPW had seen that I had multiple tickets (which were all under appeal and were later thrown out), and mistakenly towed my vehicle. The supervisor indicated that unless multiple tickets have been adjudicated or doubled, and are over 60 days delinquent, DPW has no legal right to tow my vehicle. Seeing that none of those conditions applied to me, I was shortly thereafter ushered to an administrative hearing where the original tickets were dismissed, as well as the tow and storage fee. Although the DMV employees gave me a half-hearted apology, no one could ultimately explain to me why DPW towed my vehicle in the first place. Additionally, when asked what could be done by others in the future to prevent this from happening to them, DMV could not come up with an explanation.

To put it mildly, this is not acceptable. DC not only delayed my trip by four hours, but they also cost me over $40 in cabs fees getting down to DMV and to the impound lot, that I will never get back. To make matters worse, when I visited the DMV site on Friday, the site still said my car was impounded and was accumulating additional storage fees (this was later corrected as well by a supervisor). Hopefully this post will encourage DMV and DPW to fix there process so that someone else’s car isn’t mistakenly towed as well.”