News & Politics

Robert Devaney • June 18, 2013

Driving near his home on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, Thomas Strike observed a suspicious character on 37th Street, who then walked up to a house and took a delivered package off its porch. Strike got out of his car and shouted at the man: “Sir, is this your box?” The suspect threw the parcel at Strike and ran. Strike then tackled the perpetrator, who had other stolen items on his person, and held him until Metropolitan Police arrived. Strike lives on 39th Street with his wife Sarah and their three children. The neighbor got his package back, and residents are calling Strike a neighborhood hero. “The suspect is going to be charged with assault (on me), theft and trespassing,” Strike said. Yes, we’d call that the Luck o’ the Irish and a Lucky Strike, too.

Robert Devaney •

Brittany Norwood, alleged murderer of fellow Bethesda Luluemon Athletica employee Jayna Murray, was held without bond by Montgomery County, March 21. WTOP reports that it “has learned police were told that Norwood was transferred from the Georgetown Lululemon store to the Bethesda location because of concerns she was stealing merchandise. The company is not commenting, and it is not clear when the transfer happened or if it was proven Norwood had taken anything.” WTOP added that Montgomery County Police were investigating whether Norwood had been accused of stealing merchandise from the store before she allegedly killed Murray on March 11. (There was no other independent source for WTOP’s report at press time.)
Norwood’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for April. Norwood had also worked at the Willard International, according to WUSA.

Georgetowner •

After decades in limbo, the river stairway design for The Kennedy Center is again in play, and major city players are not impressed.

The Potomac River Pedestrian Access Improvement Project plans a direct connection to be built between the Kennedy Center terrace and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway trail at the river’s edge. “Physical barriers and safety concerns currently discourage pedestrian traffic between these two resources,” according to the National Park Service, Federal Highway Administration and the DC Department of Transportation.

First seen as a grand staircase—as are the real Watergate Steps near the Lincoln Memorial—the latest design displays two glass ramps turned right and left and two elevators. Nearby Watergate resident Arthur Cotton Moore, architect of Washington Harbour, submitted a more monumental design in 1987. (It is important to note that Moore’s Georgetown work brought the Potomac River back to the people as a real waterfront to be enjoyed.) Moore has said he supported a more dignified stairway design for the Kennedy Center, as envisioned by its architect Edward Durrell Stone.

Expressing skepticism is Jonda McFarlane, a leader in the creation of Francis Scott Key Park and the Georgetown Waterfront Park. “When did this firm get asked to do a new design?” McFarlane said. “We need something that will be appropriate both in design and history (honoring the memory of John F. Kennedy). This latest design does neither. We don’t need a little tacked-on thing.”

“We should take our time with it,” neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels cautioned about the proposed design. “We have waited long enough, and we need to make it worthy of the Kennedy Center, the Nation’s Capital and Georgetown.”

“I would love a beautiful gateway to and from Georgetown,” said Jennifer Altemus, president of the Citizens Association of Georgetown. “But I do not like the fire escape design.”

Robert Devaney •

Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Interim Director Terry Bellamy today launched PotHolePalooza, the District’s annual campaign to aggressively repair damaged roadways across the city, which runs through April 21.

How to Report a Pothole: Residents and commuters can notify DDOT in a variety of ways: 1.) call the Mayor’s Call Center at 311, 2.) use the online Service Request Center at 311.dc.gov, 3.) text message or Tweet to twitter.com/DDOTDC, or 4.) e-mail to PotHolePalooza@dc.gov. Callers must identify the location including the correct quadrant (NW, NE, SE, SW) in the city and as much detail as possible about the hazard, including the approximate size and depth of the pothole. DDOT crews will also be out and about proactively identifying potholes.

DDOT will be posting numbers and overall totals of potholes filled. This information will be updated daily and can be found at ddot.dc.gov/potholes.

Robert Devaney •

With past donations from the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Francis Scott Key, it surprises few that St. John’s Church Capital Campaign to raise than $2 million—for improvement in the Episcopal church’s interior, electrical upgrades, pipe organ replacement and stained glass window restoration—has already more $1,000,000 pledged. Campaign chair Patricia Parson was delighted along with fellow parishioners who heard the news on March 18 in Blake Hall from St. John’s rector, the Rev. Dr. Albert Scariato, who added his pep rally phrase, “With God’s help, we will!”

The audience listened to musical selections and honored the memory of beloved rector, Rev. Margaret Graham, who died five years ago. Donations will also assist shelter and community programs and the Bishop Walker School in Anacostia. [gallery ids="99216,103506,103503" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

It seems that people cannot fail to be charmed by former Providence, R.I. mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, who held court at Cafe Milano, March 22, as guest of Bill Shields of the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Thomas Quinn, top lobbyist at Venable Partners. Cianci is on a book tour for his memoir, “Politics and Pasta: How I Prosecuted Mobsters, Rebuilt a Dying City, Advised a President, Dined with Sinatra, Spent Five Years in a Federally Funded Gated Community, and Lived to Tell the Tale.”

Shields, one of D.C.’s “Rhode Islanders in exile”, introduced the longest-serving mayor of Providence, who ended his first term (1975 to 1984) after pleading no contest to assault of his wife’s alleged boyfriend with a lit cigarette, an ashtray and a fireplace log—and his second term (1991 to 2002) after being found guilty on one charge of racketeering. He was acquitted on 26 other charges brought by the feds’ “Operation Plunder Dome.”

“I thought I got railroaded,” said Cianci, who is credited with cleaning up and revitalizing Providence (even making appearances on the TV show of the same name). The radio talk show host and unapologetic “two-timing mayor” spoke like an updated combo of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and comedians Henny Youngman and Jerry Seinfeld.

“So, CIA Director Bill Casey is at the airport and asked me ‘Who are you?’ And I said, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be the head of the CIA?’ ”

“Sinatra called” about getting his mother’s doctor’s son into Brown University and wanted an answer before his second show of the night. “So, I called the president of Brown. He wasn’t home. So, I sent the cops to find him.”

One of Cianci’s nephews was on the waiting list at Brown, which needed zoning approval for construction of a hyperbolic paraboloid. So, the mayor got the zoning commissioner to “put it on the waiting list.” “I heard there was a hyperbolic paraboloid in Georgetown.” (Yes, it is called Yates Field House.)

Taking advantage of five years in prison in Fort Dix, N.J., Cianci read a lot of books. “Don’t let the time do you—you do the time…And don’t change the BET channel.”

Sounds like reading “Politics and Pasta” will be time well done. [gallery ids="99217,103504,103507" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

President Barack Obama outlined his administration’s energy policy, termed “America’s Energy Security,” at Georgetown University’s McDonough Arena, March 30, before a thousand-plus crowd of students, faculty and VIPs — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, among others.

After a few acknowledgments, especially to basketball coach John Thompson III on the Hoyas’ loss to Virginia Commonwealth University, Obama leapt into a history of energy use and proposals, imported oil, more drilling, biofuels, wind and solar:

“We’re going to have to think long term, which is why I came here, to talk to young people here at Georgetown, because you have more of a stake in us getting our energy policy right than just about anybody. … Richard Nixon talked about freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. And every president since that time has talked about freeing ourselves from dependence on foreign oil. Politicians of every stripe have promised energy independence, but that promise has so far gone unmet… And today, I want to announce a new goal, one that is reasonable, one that is achievable, and one that is necessary. When I was elected to this office, America imported 11 million barrels of oil a day. By a little more than a decade from now, we will have cut that by one-third. That is something that we can achieve… Other countries are now exporting technology we pioneered, and they’re going after the jobs that come with it because they know that the countries that lead the 21st century clean energy economy will be the countries that lead the 21st century global economy. I want America to be that nation. I want America to win the future.”

Then the president appealed directly to the youth: “We need you to dream big. We need you to summon that same spirit of unbridled optimism, and that bold willingness to tackle tough challenges and see those challenges through that led previous generations to rise to greatness – to save the democracy, to touch the moon, to connect the world with our own science and our own imagination.”

Students waited for tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis, which caused long lines, and many were turned away. Some have proposed going back to the lottery system used for Obama’s 2009 address at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall.

Robert Devaney •

Mayor Vincent Gray signed an executive order last Friday authorizing a $1.00 fuel surcharge for all taxicab rides originating or terminating within the District of Columbia, the D.C. government reported. The charge took effect Monday for all fares originating and ending in the District. It has been extended, effective today, to trips that begin in the District and end in other jurisdictions. The action followed a recommendation from the D.C. Taxicab Commission to offset the impact of the steady rise in fuel prices in the metropolitan area on taxicab operators. As originally adopted, the surcharge—just as a similar surcharge that the D.C. Taxicab Commission adopted in 2008—was intended to apply only to fares originating and ending within the District. However, the rulemaking action was revised yesterday to make it applicable to all taxicab fares. As revised, the charge will remain in effect until July 27, 2011, unless terminated earlier by the chairperson of the Taxicab Commission.

Robert Devaney •

Two students arrested at Georgetown University in October 2010 for creating a drug lab in a Harbin Hall dorm room will spend three years on probation and perform community service, according to the Associated Press. Charles Smith and John Perrone were sentenced in federal court here, March 18. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced the pair to six months in jail, but suspended the sentence and ordered them to complete three years on probation and 200 hours of community service, the AP reported. The two pleaded guilty last month to manufacturing the illegal hallucinogen DMT. The sentence was recommended by prosecutors and the teens’ attorneys. At the time of their arrest, Smith was a freshman at Georgetown University and Perrone was a freshman at the University of Richmond.