DC Government

Dear PoP – SUV Scandal

By Prince Of Petworth


Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

“Dear PoP,

I am absolutely livid that we, as DC taxpayers, are paying nearly $100,000 per year to lease four luxury vehicles for Mayor Vincent Gray and Council Chairman Kwame Brown. Why do our elected officials need the most expensive luxury cars available, especially when Washington is facing a $400 million shortfall. (As a point of reference, top-of-the-line Mercedes S-Class sedans only cost $1,300/month to lease, whereas the brain trust’s Lincoln Navigators almost cost $2,000/month….) I was wondering if your other readers are similarly outraged?”

The Washington Post reported:

“Several weeks after Kwame R. Brown was elected D.C. Council chairman in November, city officials were asked to order for him a “fully loaded” Lincoln Navigator L with a DVD entertainment system, power moonroof and polished aluminum wheels.”

I imagine (and certainly hope) most readers are similarly outraged. This is outrageous. And quite frankly embarrassing for our city. What do you think Chairman Brown needs to do to make this right? Zip car or metro for a year?

Dear PoP – Elimination of the “Green Team” in Wards 1, 2 and 4

By Prince Of Petworth


Georgia Ave, NW on Saturday Feb. 12 in Parkview Ward 1

“Dear PoP,

I know that you have posted plenty on the issue of illegal dumping and trash removal in the past. My neighbors and I learned of some very sad news last night that affects us all. Funding for the District’s “Green Team” has been completely eliminated. This DPW team had been tasked with taking care of the following services in Wards 1, 2 and 4 for the past 4 + years:

• Trash Collection & Bulk Trash Removal• Street Cleaning• Beautification Services• Landscaping & Green Space Maintenance• Graffiti & Illegal Sign Removal• Snow Removal

The services that this team provided were invaluable to us as we battle illegal dumping in our alleys, and in making sure that our streets remain clean and safe. In addition, the loss of this team means the loss of meaningful jobs for those who really needed them to support their families as well as reach personal and professional life goals. This team and this service enriched us all. Over the past two weeks, my neighbors and I have encountered illegal dumping of items on an enormous scale in our alley.

Today a press conference was held to discuss this very unfortunate turn of events in our community. CM Graham has been instrumental in making this program work and the loss of finding is truly devastating. If at all possible, can you post this so that other residents can send a note to CM Graham or their own CM?

These city services are crucial to making our city a beautiful, livable place. We neighbors get together to pick up trash and follow the rules when putting out bulk items, but many, many people just do not care. Without the extra support of the city we face an uphill battle. The cost to the former Green Team members is even greater.

We know there are so many city issues out there that need to be addressed – crime, education, etc. But living in a clean environment is essential to making our lives healthy and safe.”

This is horrible news. You can find contact info for your Council Member (and at large members) here.

Dear PoP – Handicap Parking Discount?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP:

I work in a large building downtown, between George Washington University, a park and several Federal government buildings. Due to medical appointments about twice a month I drive to work and pay to park at parking meters, moving my car several times a day to avoid being ticketed.

It used to be quite competitive finding a space until DC raised its hourly meter rate to $2 an hour. After that most people seemed to give up on the street parking and instead parked in garages or took Metro which I guess was the point of it. However, in the past few months more and more of the parking places are taken up by those with handicap placards and most of them are from Virgina and Maryland. DC allows 4 hours of free parking at a meter if you have a handicap placard so if these people move their cars once (and I rarely see the parking control officers monitor this) they get free parking for 8 hours valued at $16!

At lunch today I did an informal survey and noticed about 75% of the cars parked on my block were getting free on-street parking at meters. Has anyone else noticed this in other areas? Is it fair that DC allows out-of-state commuters this free parking benefit if they have a handicap placard? From my observation most drivers seem to be heading across the park to Federal office buildings, so should the Feds be paying DC to accommodate the parking needs of their handicapped employees?”

I think the bigger questions is whether or not the people are really handicapped. I remember the Post had a story (and a number of follow up stories) about this after a women complained that her car was towed but she said it had a handicap placard then it turned out the placard was for her husband (who wasn’t there).

But to the original question – do you think there should be a discount for handicap parking?

Your Input Wanted in Making DCRA Rental Housing Licensing Easier

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour

This morning I received an email from DCRA’s Helder Gil asking if I could ask for readers’ thoughts on how the city could simplify the licensing process for someone looking to rent out their home/condo/basement. I think it’s great DCRA is soliciting feedback like this:

“Dear PoP,

“Generally, we have different license types depending on whether renting out a multi-unit building, a condo unit, an entire house, or a basement. We list the info on requirements here.

We often hear complaints from small landlords about the time and hassles it can take for them to get a rental license from us. Partly that’s because we require the property to pass an inspection before we’ll issue a license. One idea that’s been suggested to us is to issue the license and conduct a property inspection afterwards (we also conduct inspections any time we receive a tenant complaint). I’m interested in gauging people’s reaction to that idea, as well as to try to get other thoughts on how that process could be simplified.”

How would you like to see the process changed?

DC residents to be excluded from paying federal taxes?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user fromcaliw/love

The Hill is reporting:

Florida Rep. Allen West (R) said he’s unsure whether the District of Columbia should be a state, but suggested its residents be excluded from paying federal taxes.

“If you live in the District, perhaps an exclusionary zone should be set up where District residents do not pay federal taxes,” he added.

I think we may have discussed this once before – but I’ll ask again – would you trade representation in Congress if you didn’t have to pay federal taxes?

How Many Government Cameras are too many?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

Yesterday TBD reported:

The District of Columbia currently has a network of around 50 red-light cameras and 30 speed cameras, nabbing thousands of drivers for traffic violations while putting millions of dollars into city coffers.

The D.C. police are hoping to install smaller, more mobile cameras in neighborhoods around town, catching drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks, block the box at intersections, or even fail to fully stop at stop signs, among other potential violations.

If you add in the crime cctv cameras, well, that’s a lot of cameras around town. Do you feel that these cameras (either crime or traffic enforcement cameras) have been effective? At what point, if any, do you think there will be too many cameras?

Do you support the addition of more cameras to catch traffic offenders who “fail to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks, block the box at intersections, or even fail to fully stop at stop signs”?

Would you support the addition of more CCTV cameras in hopes preventing street crimes?

Are these two (street crime/traffic enforcement) totally different issues that should not be mixed into one discussion?

If you object to more cameras is it because of privacy concerns or something else? Where do you think the balance between privacy and the public good rests?


Photo by PoPville flickr user sciascia

Dear PoP – What Type of Education Reform Would People Like to See?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user BrennaLM

“Dear PoP,

I’m wondering if you could throw up a question some time this week asking residents for their thoughts on substantive education reform. I’m not looking for people’s responses to Michelle Rhee or Kaya Henderson, I’m wondering exactly what sorts of changes they’re looking for in District schools. I’m out and talking with people, but your site offers the unique opportunity to observe people talking openly and honestly with one another.”

The following question was sent by a candidate for Ward 4 Member of the DC State Board of Education. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken about education reform. It’s an interesting question for me, because I’m far from an expert on education reform (or anything really except tropical fish and the Drive by Truckers) and all I hear is that many of the public schools leave a lot to be desired, to put it nicely. Obviously Michelle Rhee was a controversial figure but I understand she took some difficult (if not politically sensitive) moves. I don’t think it’s possible to answer this question without weighing in on Michelle Rhee’s decisions but power to you if you can.

So what type of education reform would you like to see in the coming years?

Worst Marketing Campaign in DC History?

By Prince Of Petworth

Saw this on the side of Irving Wine and Spirits in Mt. Pleasant. I think I’ve seen one in Adams Morgan as well. I dare you to stare at the photo for three full seconds without laughing.

Can you think of any worse health/gov’t marketing campaigns?

Dear PoP – What to Do When Wires Down? (Not Necessarily Pepco Wires)

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

What do you do if you have a downed line on your block? We have a downed line that has been in that state for maybe 3-4 weeks. I’m guessing, based on the appearance of the line, that it is some sort of cable line (verizon, comcast, direct tv, rcn?) and likely from a disconnected service since it clearly hasn’t been reported due to an outage of some sort.

In my experience after the snowpocolypse, the companies wouldn’t come out to check on the lines without confirmation that I was a service user and that the downed lines were in fact for my service. Some of them even tried to charge me for the visit!

So, yeah… what do you do?”

If it is a power line of course call Pepco at 1-877-PEPCO-62 but it sounds like you’re talking about cable. How would you guys advise this reader?

Also on a related note, I just had a big branch come down (call 311 if a tree or big branch came down in last night’s storm) and take out some landline telephone wires. I don’t use a landline – so who should I call to take care of these telephone wires? Verizon?

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