Friday Question of the Day

Friday Question of the Day – DC Voting Rights, At What Cost?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo from PoPville flickr user noahdevereaux

In Thursday’s Washington Post there is an article titled Deal on DC vote in House to be revived:

Congressional leaders intend to resurrect a D.C. voting rights bill as early as next week, despite opposition from many city leaders to an amendment that would eliminate most of the District’s gun-control laws.

The final details of the bill were being worked out Wednesday, but House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said he expects the legislation to clear the House and to include some version of the pro-gun language that has bogged down the measure since last year.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), the city’s non-voting House member, and congressional leaders said they are negotiating to weaken the gun amendment language. But Norton said she is unwilling to sacrifice the opportunity to win a long-sought voting seat for the District by insisting on a stand-alone bill.

[Ed. Note: We’ve since learned that Sen. Orin Hatch from Utah may filibuster the Bill anyway if it gets to the Senate because he doesn’t like the way the extra Utah representative will be voted in (state wide vs district wide election).]

But the question still remains – should the District of Columbia sacrifice it’s gun legislation in exchange for getting a vote in Congress?


Friday Question of the Day – Will DC’s Nightlife Suffer From Late Night Metro Service Cuts?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo from PoPville Flickr user Jess J

Thanks to a reader for sending in a link to this story from WAMU radio:

“U Street, H Street, Adams Morgan,” he (Bill Duggan from Madams Organ) says. “All these areas are driven by the hospitality industry. That’s what gets the neighborhoods going and that’s the economic piston that’s driving this thing. And I think that they’ll grind the wheels to a halt.”

If that happens, the fallout wouldn’t be limited to Adams Morgan. The pain would be felt anywhere restaurants and bars are clustered near Metro stations, places like U Street, Chinatown, Dupont Circle–even some suburban areas like Clarendon and Bethesda. It’s a move that could be detrimental to many businesses, especially if it prompts the region’s night crawlers to spend their evenings at home.

What do you guys think – would bars and restaurants be severely affected by late night metro cuts? Do you think places would start to go out of business? And this might generate a biased result given the location of many readers but would you rather see late night cuts or the elimination of the Yellow Line north of Mt. Vernon Square?

Friday Question of the Day – Any Idea Who You’re Gonna Vote For?

By Prince Of Petworth

2009 DC Caribbean Carnival parade
Photo from PoPville flickr user quigley brown

Lots of action happened this week on the DC Political front. Looks like we’ve got a race for Mayor and a new race for Council Chairman. I know it’s early but I’m just curious how folks in PoPville feel about a few races. First the Mayoral race:


Council Chair:


And At large Council Member:


Special April Fools Question of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour

Looks like I likely fell for an April Fools post (see below) but I’m not gonna take it down because they got me fair and square. So I thought I’d ask – what’s the best April Fools prank you either delivered or fell for?

Have fun today.

Friday Question of the Day – At What Point Do Dress Codes Go Overboard?

By Prince Of Petworth

I’ll admit it right away – I hate dress codes. But when I saw this sign on 18th Street in Adams Morgan I couldn’t believe it. “No timberland boots”? How can they possibly single out a brand like that? I mean why not say – no boots? I suppose I can understand places that want to maintain an air of class by banning sneakers and shorts but Timberland Boots? Am I thinking too deeply on this? Or does this seem a bit odd? I know it’s going to go there so I’ll just straight up ask it – is there a racial element to this?

I’m waiting for them to say anybody with their hair parted to the left will not be allowed in. Specifically banning Timberland boots seems that arbitrary to me.

Friday Question of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth

Yesterday afternoon when I tweeted about how cool the Corehaus Design store is, it got me thinking about the best non restaurant/bar stores that have recently opened up in DC. It seems like every week we are talking about new restaurants and bars opening up in the city, which I think is great. But I also like to discover other cool new retail options. Personally, I think Corehaus is the coolest to open up in a long time. Kultura is pretty sweet as well.

So my question to you guys is – what’s the coolest non restaurant/bar to have recently opened up in the city? If none have opened recently – what are some cool retail shops that fall below the radar? Could be house stuff, a hardware store, clothing, other furniture, used books, comic books etc.?

Ed. Note: And on an unrelated note because the weather is going to be so nice this weekend I wanted to share a previous FQoTD where we discussed nice things to do around the city outside.

Metro Transit Police Warns of Robberies/FQoTD

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Jess J

We’ve spoken about metro robberies and other safety issues many many times. It’s nice to see the Transit Police address the issue (albeit unintentionally comically). The following stats were just released by WMATA in a press release:

“The transit system has seen an increase in robberies recently. In 2009, there were 894 robberies reported, up from 581 reported robberies in 2008. In January, there were 122 reported robberies. Metro Transit Police officers made 142 arrests in January, including 19 robbery-related arrests.”

So my Friday Question of the Day is a rather simple – do you feel safe on metro?

Friday Question of the Day – Name this Future Neighborhood

By Prince Of Petworth

When walking to Chinatown last week I noticed that the old convention site is referred to by the Mayor as CityCentreDC. Who knows when this huge project will be built but whenever it does get built it’s gonna need a better name than CityCentreDC. It’s not quite Chinatown and not really Penn Quarter either. So what a great opportunity for us to name it. I know folks haven’t been happy with some recent new neighborhood names like NOMA.

So hopefully we can get something really good that will stick. Unless you like City Centre? Maybe some history buffs can nominate a name from back in the day? Any suggestions?

Friday Question of the Day – “Do Our Neighborhoods Offer Enough Things To Do?”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

I work on public health policy and am seeing a trend across the nation that is especially obvious in DC. It is getting harder to find things to DO. The new development is always focused on condos, bars, and restaurants. Love to live in a home, and am a huge fan of drinking and eating . . . but people need something to do. There is this notion that going to the gym and getting on a machine or lifting heavy items with an ipod on is the only activity that people need. It is not a winning strategy for building a happy healthy society.

Look around– where are the bowling alleys, arcades with skeeball and air hockey and foosball, driving ranges, live music venues with dancing . . . etc.? Where are the racquetball courts? Nobody works 9-5 anymore . . . and when people get home at 7, there are no lights in the parks (or they are just scary). There are gyms with basketball/volleyball courts in every school in DC, but they are chained up at night. Once-a-year street fairs are nice, but having places where people can consistently go to find a band and a dancing mass is better. (Love Madam’s Organ and Wonderland for that but such places are oddly few and far between)

We need to make sure there are fun things to do in every community– things that lure people out away from their TVs and computers, that bring them together to meet each other, and use their bodies in some way besides eating and drinking. People seem to be yearning for it. Look at the popularity of H St. Country Club and Comet Ping Pong– goofy fun. Look how much people are willing to pay to bowl at that crappy place in Chinatown. How can there not be a reasonable bowling alley in a city this size? I know we can find a spot for one in the GaP. The good DC tennis courts (like Howard/Banneker) are packed all day until the dusk . . . why not put in some lights, and maybe with a pay-meter to defray the costs?”

What do you guys think – are there enough “things” to do in our neighborhoods (especially at night)?

Friday Question of the Day – Should Mayor Fenty Be Held Responsible if Your Street Wasn’t Plowed?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user SMWieland

Well DCist covered the harsh words from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews yesterday. And I was personally surprised to see the following tweet Tues. night from At Large Council Member Kwame Brown:

“Mayor needs to clear residential streets of snow now. Only getting worse with today’s storm.”

Believe me I wish all the streets and alleys were plowed but that is simply impossible with back to back storms like this and a limited number of plows.

I’m not trying to be naive but it seems like a simple calculation. Paving all the streets is going to take time. (Especially given the delay due to the whiteout.) But my question is simple – is it fair to blame the mayor if your sidestreet wasn’t plowed yet? When do you think it is fair to assume that all the sidestreets will be plowed?

Overall how would you say the city/Mayor did given this is the most snow the city has ever seen?

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