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Articles
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Latest News
| Call Boxes |
VOICE writes, "BY BEN WEINSTEIN
The city says it has accounted for two of three historic emergency call boxes recently reported missing from street corners around the new Nationals baseball stadium.
Until late last summer or early this fall, the three police and fire call boxes stood on sidewalks along 1st Street SE at the corners of L, N and O streets. Fort Meyer Construction Corp., a company contracted by the city, removed the cast-iron fixtures to facilitate street and sidewalk work around the ballpark, according to the District Department of Transportation. "
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Posted on Nov 09, 2007 14:00pm.
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| Dilapidated fire stations post safety hazard |
VOICE writes, "Dilapidated fire stations post safety hazard
By IAN THOMS
The city's fire stations have deteriorated to the point that they pose a threat to the health and safety of firefighters, according to a report released last month by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General.
In stations throughout the city, inspectors discovered evidence of asbestos, inoperative smoke detectors, exposed electrical wiring, broken windows and damage to interior and exterior walls. They found flaws in all 31 stations that were inspected. The fireboat facility also had deficiencies. Two stations were not examined because they were under renovation.
The report concluded: "Building conditions at numerous fire stations threaten the health, safety, and comfort of FEMS employees and negatively impact the work environment and employee morale." "
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Posted on Nov 09, 2007 13:53pm.
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| City officials push to bring golf courses closer to D.C. control |
VOICE writes, "City officials push to bring golf courses closer to D.C. control
By SELBY MCCASH
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced legislation last week calling for stronger local control over the federally owned public golf courses in the District -- two bordering Capitol Hill and a third in Rock Creek Park -- in order to "rescue" them from what she describes as a long history of neglect.
"These are historic places that are unworthy of the nation's capital in their present condition," Holmes said in an interview this week. "Federal government responsibility has never worked for these courses for nearly a century, and almost certainly it will not happen in the future." "
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Posted on Nov 09, 2007 13:48pm.
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| City officials struggle to sort out tax relief |
VOICE writes, "City officials struggle to sort out tax relief
BY ELIZABETH WIENER
D.C. Council members are vowing monetary relief for small businesses hit by soaring property-tax bills. They just need to figure out how to divvy up and deliver the $11 million they set aside last spring for commercial property-tax relief.
Last week, the council’s Committee on Finance and Revenue heard ideas on how best to target the money to small local firms. The funding became available at the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1, and despite a lack of consensus, the council hopes to find a way to distribute checks by the end of the calendar year, according to council aides.
A major stumbling block is that even $11 million won’t go far, spread among the District’s approximately 22,000 small businesses. “If we gave each an equal share, everybody gets $500, which is no help to anybody,” said Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, who pushed for the property-tax relief effort.
Another problem is setting up a new program, which will require new rules, a new bureaucracy and possibly new contractors. And the issue is complicated because many small-business owners rent their premises and absorb the property tax hit in a domino effect when their landlords pass it on."
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Posted on Oct 18, 2007 18:29pm.
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| Police units get familiar leader |
VOICE writes, "Police units get familiar leader
BY IAN THOMS
Sgt. Brett Parson led the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit to accolades and praise during his six years at the helm, but in January he left the unit for patrol duty. Shortly thereafter, Police Chief Cathy Lanier said she was considering decentralizing the department’s liaison units, a plan decried by many activists and political leaders.
Now, Parson is back, this time in charge of all the city’s liaison units — Gay and Lesbian; Latino; Asian; and Deaf and Hard of Hearing. And Lanier has backed away from decentralization, instead placing them under a single official who reports to her.
Parson said though he would prefer patrol work, which he was doing in the Third District before his reassignment, he looks forward to continuing the success of the units.
“I don’t think I’ve made it a secret that my preference right now in my career is to be out in the field,” Parson said. “[But] I’m happy to do whatever the chief wants me to do.”"
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Posted on Oct 18, 2007 18:29pm.
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| Dog park advocates praise new DPR regulations |
VOICE writes, "Dog park advocates praise new DPR regulations
BY KATIE PEARCE
Former critics of the Department of Parks and Recreation's proposed dog park regulations have praised the latest version of the rules, released last Friday, as more accommodating and realistic.
“When I got to the department and looked at the regulations as they were, they were not conducive to creating dog parks,” said Clark Ray, acting director of the parks department. The new rules use a “common-sense approach” that should get two to three parks up and running within a year, he said.
“I'm really excited,” said Bill Schultheiss, member of a task force that worked with the department to revise the controversial original regulations. Schultheiss, also a member of the Northeast Capitol Hill advisory neighborhood commission, said he believes the new regulations “meet the intent of the [D.C.] Council legislation that was passed almost two years ago” authorizing creation of off-leash dog parks."
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Posted on Oct 18, 2007 18:28pm.
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| Single-sales moratorium begins on H Street |
VOICE writes, "Single-sales moratorium begins on H Street
BY BEN WEINSTEIN
H Street business owners affected by a newly enacted single-sales liquor moratorium say the measure is already hurting sales. But advocates behind the temporary ban say business should rebound.
The three-year ban, which took effect Oct. 1, covers stores from the 700 to the 1500 blocks of H Street, NE, and prohibits sales of single cans and bottles of beer, malt liquor and ale, as well as spirits in containers half a pint and smaller.
"They don't care about another block," said David Shim of Me & My Supermarket. Shim, echoing a common complaint among liquor storeowners, said it's not fair to single out businesses on just one part of H Street. "They should do the whole street. ... If you have problem, it's same problem all over the ward.""
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Posted on Oct 08, 2007 21:34pm.
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