DC Government

Explanation about 911 Service Interruption Saturday Afternoon

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

From a message sent to the neighborhood listservs:

911 Service Interruption

This afternoon at 1:53 p.m. 911 service was interrupted. Service was restored at 2:16 p.m. It appears there was a PEPCO feeder problem that resulted in multiple electrical surges that knocked out power to the Unified Communications Center (UCC) on Martin Luther King Ave., SE., and the surrounding area. The multiple electric surges in a concentrated time period also affected UCC’s ability to switch to its on site backup generator. Staff from UCC were dispatched to the off site emergency operations center where 911 services were restored. From 1:53 to 2:16 UCC implemented it’s emergency protocols and switched to receiving and dispatching emergency calls from the Metropolitan Police Department Command Information Center (CIC). During this time period we were able to communicate with Police and Fire units to respond to emergencies.

UCC staff members will remain at the emergency operations center where they have full access to the 911 and 311 systems until we are confident that all power issues have been resolved. We apologize for the disruption in service to this critical emergency service. We will continue working with PEPCO to ensure uninterrupted service to our residents and visitors.

Residential Street Sweeping Season Starts March 1st

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user bajidc

From DDOT:

The 2012 residential street sweeping season begins Thursday, March 1, announced the DC Department of Public Works today. Signs are posted that identify the days of the week and hours of the day when parking restrictions will be in effect so the sweepers can clean the streets effectively. Parking enforcement of residential sweeping violations will begin Monday, March 12.

Mr. Howland noted that the sweeping program runs from March 1 through October 31 and some signs have been changed since last year’s sweeping season. “This year, we are revising signs in residential neighborhoods with commercial interests to support their customers’ access to curbside parking spaces during the day. For example, DPW posted new times in the 1400 block of P Street, NW where Whole Foods and several restaurants form a commercial island within a residential neighborhood.”

He cautioned motorists to avoid parking along sweeping routes before that day’s restriction ends. “A supervisor follows behind the sweeper and may require the block to be swept again, so no one should park until the end of the posted sweeping period,” he said.

For more information about street sweeping, go to http://1.usa.gov/DPWstreetalley.


Photo by PoPville flickr user djdc in petworth

MPD Chief Cathy Lanier, “There’s no trick to DC’s homicide closure rate”

By Prince Of Petworth


Chief Cathy Lanier

Chief Lanier sent out via the listservs:

On Feb. 19, The Washington Post published a front-page article headlined “The trick to D.C.’s homicide closure rate,” suggesting that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was somehow tricking the public by announcing that it had a 94 percent homicide closure rate. To support its slanted claims, the article used misleading and inflammatory quotes from ill-informed sources. Furthermore, the writer left out information supplied by my department that would have invalidated the assertions contained in the story.

As chief of police, it is my duty to respond, to explain the truth and to defend the tireless work of the members of the MPD.

My Editorial in response to the article can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-no-trick-to-dcs-homicide-closure-rate/2012/02/24/gIQAgtFYYR_story.html

She writes:

“The fact is, last year the District realized the lowest number of homicides and highest clearance rate in almost 50 years.

Oh, and by the way, in 2011 we closed 103 homicides, for a UCR closure rate of 95 percent. Regardless of how The Post would like us to record the rate, this is still approximately 40 percent over the national average for comparably sized cities.”

Dear PoPville – Stolen Car Gathers Parking Tickets

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Wayan Vota

Dear PoPville,

My car was stolen during the Super Bowl this past Sunday. I immediately contacted the police to notify them that it was stolen. The police performed a canvass of the area where it was stolen and checked their database to make sure that it wasn’t towed away. The police told me that the car would be entered into a national database of stolen vehicles and that I would be notified as soon as they knew anything. The police also informed me that they didn’t have any leads and there wasn’t much hope for the Creedence. I contacted my insurance company shortly thereafter and they informed me that the car was entered into the database as well and that 90% of the time stolen cars are recovered. .

I received a call Thursday night notifying me that my car had been located. I went to assess the damage at the lot it was towed to today (Friday) and to my surprise there were parking tickets from Tuesday and Thursday on my windshield citing the location where the police found my car.

If my car was ticketed Tuesday morning why did it take until Thursday night to get in contact with me?

I asked the guy at the tow lot about the tickets and he told me that pretty much every single stolen car he gets comes in with multiple tickets on it. Why isn’t the system parking enforcement inputs their ticket info into synced up with the stolen vehicle database? That’s ridiculous.

I only had to wait a couple of days and I applaud the police department for finding my vehicle but some people have to wait even longer and gather even more tickets when their vehicle is stolen. I came across a story from August 11, 2011 in which the same thing occurred and the car racked up $300 worth of parking tickets. According to the story my tickets will be expunged if I provide proper documentation but that requires me to go get a police report and then to have to go dispute the claim in person. If the police and parking enforcement were synced up properly I would have never received a ticket and my car would have been located earlier.

In short, this seems like an easy fix. However, if the police and parking enforcement don’t fix this problem then I suggest that victims of car theft in DC go online to see if their car has any outstanding tickets while it is missing if they want to find their car faster.

The 5pm Post – One City Summit Feb. 11th

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99

From an email:

On February 11, 2012, hundreds of DC residents will gather at the Convention Center to provide Mayor Gray and other public officials with feedback on what can be done to help unify our city and make sure that our government works as effectively as possible to meet the needs of all the residents.

Topics to be discussed will include jobs, housing, public safety, and education. The Summit will be a highly interactive meeting where citizens do most of the talking and the elected officials will listen. Everyone who attends will participate in table discussions, recording their ideas on networked computers and voting on priorities through the use of keypad polling. Those who have lived in DC a while might recall similar citizen summits held by Mayor Williams.
It is essential that the views of all parts of the city be represented at the One City Summit so please spread the word and sign up today at www.onecitysummit.dc.gov or call 202 709-5132 for more information. Get involved and have your voice be heard!

DC rush hour to begin today at 1 pm

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

From DDOT:

The full DC Snow Team is deploying today, applying salt to major roadways and residential streets, as needed. The District also will move rush-hour traffic signal timing up to begin at 1 pm to facilitate the movement of traffic as employees leave work earlier to reach their destination before conditions can hamper travel.

The weather forecast is for rain and snow, becoming all snow after 4pm and a high temperature near 41F. Less than half an inch of snow is predicted to fall during the day, but snow is likely to continue falling until 9 pm tonight and perhaps another half inch of snow is possible.

The District Snow Team had more than 180 plows on their routes at 11 am today. These crews will work through the night, into tomorrow morning’s rush hour.

Motorists are reminded to drive carefully on wet roadways and give the snow plows ample room to work. Other safety tips for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists can be found at www.snow.dc.gov.

Dear PoPville – DCRA Proactive Compliance Inspection?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Brandon Kopp

Dear PoPville,

I returned home last night to a notice on my door announcing a “DCRA Proactive Inspection” has been scheduled for next week.

It goes on to say, “DCRA Inspectors can only enter units for which building owners or managers have secured a tenant-signed consent form (attached)”

Has anyone had any experience with this? I generally think the less number of strangers walking through my house when I am not there the better but wanted to see if I was missing something. I have no complaints or concerns about my apartment.

DC Food Trucks Association Calls for District to Pass New Food Truck Regulations

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

From a DCFTA press release:

The Washington, DC Food Trucks Association (DCFTA) today announced its support for Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposed new vending regulations and asked the District to quickly pass the new rules.

“Overall, the proposed regulations are a significant improvement to the current rules,” said Che Ruddell-Tabisola, Executive Director of the Washington, DC Food Trucks Association. “We are asking our followers and fans to express their support for the proposed rules to the District before February 18, when the public comment period concludes.”

However, Ruddell-Tabisola said, the proposed rules also contain regulations that need to be addressed to ensure that they do not threaten new and innovative small businesses in the District:

Limiting Sweets Trucks to 10 Minutes: The proposed regulations allow dessert trucks to be open for only 10 minutes if there are no waiting customers. Sweets food trucks should be allowed to be open as long as savory food trucks.

Zoning of Food Trucks: The new regulations propose to create Vending Development Zones. The goals of these zones are worthy. However, Vending Development Zones must not be manipulated by special interest to create “Food Truck-Free Zones” that eliminate consumer choice or fair competition.

Shorter Hours for Food Trucks Than for Restaurants: The proposed regulations require food trucks to close at 10 pm on weekdays and 1 am on weekends. Food trucks should be allowed to be open the same hours as restaurants.

Do you agree?

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