Town Topics

Lisa Gillespie • June 18, 2013

The American Lung Association issued a report giving DC and Arlington ‘F’ grades for smog, DCist reports. According to the American Lung Association, the Washington area has the 14th highest ozone/smog levels in the country. The District averages 10.7 high ozone days a year, while Arlington has an average of 9.8.

Though this may seem bleak and make one want to move to cleaner air in the country, air quality in the DC area is getting better: the average number of high ozone days in DC fell from an average of 40 in the years 1997 to 1999. Arlington is fairing better as well, after achieving a high of 32 from 1997 to 1999. As for particle pollution, DC got a D, while Arlington was given a C.

Lisa Gillespie •

During the sixth annual DC Yoga Week, Washington, DC area yoga studios offer free and $5 classes. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Yoga Association, DC Yoga Week gives people a chance to try a yoga class at a reduced cost without making a longterm commitment. Held between Sunday, May 15 and Saturday, May 22, the main highlight is “Yoga on the Mall,” which will take place on Sunday, May 15 between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. This year, a yoga flash mob will be held May 21 from 10 to 11 a.m. at John Marshall Park in conjunction with the Asian Heritage Foundation, Saturday, May 21, 10-11 am at John Marshall Park near the Mall.

Participating studios include Captiol Hill Yoga, Flow Yoga Center, Tranquil Space and Somafit. For more information, go to dccy.org.

Georgetowner •

Washington Post newsies are demanding raises after Post publisher Katharine Weymouth collected a 16.4 percent pay increase despite the company’s recent 66 percent plunge in profits. “It’s amazing how [Weymouth] can accept a 16.4 percent salary increase plus over a million dollars in bonuses in April while most Guild-covered Post workers haven’t received an increase since 2008,” says Rick Ehrmann of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild/CWA 32035, noting that the workers’ contract is set to expire on June 7. “When the Guild asked for the same 16.4 percent, she sent the Post’s attorney to the bargaining table to cry poverty.”

Fred Kunkle, an 11-year staff writer and co-chair of the Post Guild local, told Media Matters that the union understands the paper’s financial problems. But he said it does not accept such an imbalance in salary increases.

“It is obviously unfair,” he said of Weymouth’s raise. “We appreciate very much that the Post is facing a difficult economic climate. But why should everybody in the rank-and-file, everyone in the newsroom, suffer for it and bear all of the hardship for it? We are willing to work with management and find a way to move the newspaper into the 21st Century. It can’t be by us alone giving all of the sacrifices.”

Georgetowner •

Health care reform is well underway in the District. Many have been working on creating exchanges, developing medical home models, discovering changes to home and community based services and thinking through medical system changes. In celebration of the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and as a way to reenergize reform after transitions, AARP DC is working with Families USA, DCPCA, and other consumer groups to provide an update on reform efforts in the District. A panel will give updates on various parts of reform and there will be a question and answer period.

The audience will include both providers and concerned residents and is open to anyone. Held on Friday, May 20 from 10 a.m. to noon, it will be at The George Washington Hospital in the Auditorium off 23rd St. NW.

Georgetowner •

The sentencing for a Maryland woman charged in a fatal crash in Adams Morgan last year has been postponed after the judge presiding over the case recused himself. Chamica Adams, of Mitchellville, Md., will be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter stemming from the Sept. 8 incident. Police say she was going to turn left onto Florida Avenue from 18th Street in Northwest when her car went over the center island and struck pedestrians Julia Bachleitner and Melissa Basque.

Bachleitner, of Austria, was a 26-year-old student at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. She died six days after the Sept. 8 incident.
Basque was injured and later released from the hospital. Adams’ car also crashed into the front of Keren Restaurant on Florida Avenue, according to WTOP.

As part of a plea agreement, charges for DUI and DWI against Adams were dropped.
Adams was scheduled to be sentenced last Friday, but D.C. Superior Court Judge William Jackson recused himself. Jackson’s daughter was in the same Hopkins exchange program as Bachleitner, although the students were in different locations during the program and the judge’s daughter did not know Bachleitner or her family.

The child of one of the judge’s aides also has an alleged connection to Adams.
The case was transferred to Judge Gerald Fisher. Sentencing is now scheduled for Monday.

Georgetowner •

On Wednesday June 1 from 7 to 10 p.m., Whitman-Walker Health will hold it’s first dance party fundraiser in support of their programs. Held at Room & Board, an American furniture and home furnishings company on 14th St. NW, tickets are $45 a person, which includes a raffle, refreshments, music and dancing. Room & Board, currently a few blocks down from the clinic, opened in early Summer 2010 in the 1919 building, known as the R.L. Taylor Building, which was originally a Ford Motors Showroom that assembled and sold Model T cars. For more information, call Mary Ann Mahoney at 202-966-9200 x300 or e-mail mmahoney@specialtiesinc.bz

Georgetowner •

The National Association of Letter Carriers held their food drive to combat hunger last Saturday, May 14. Letter carriers collected non-perishable donations from homes as they delivered mail along postal routes. As the 19th annual NALC National Food Drive to stamp out hunger, the one-day drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in 10,000 cities. Last year, 77.1 million pounds of food was collected, pushing the total to more than one billion pounds of food since 1992.

Participants were encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods such as canned soup, vegetables or pasta next to their mailboxes before regular mail delivery. This year’s estimate has yet to be released, but NALC President Frederic V. Rolando said that about 50 million Americans live in families that lack sufficient food, and one in every three is a child. “In every corner of this country, there are people and families who are hungry, including children,” Rolando said. “As letter carriers, we have the privilege of serving communities six days a week, of getting to know people, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to serve them in this way as well.”

Georgetowner •

Workers have been hired and the signage has been installed at Shake Shack at 1216 18th St. NW. At press, the burger joint was scheduled to open on May 17 at 11 a.m. and will be open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The District’s first Shake Shack (there are also locations in Miami, Westport, Ct. and New York) will be located on the corner of Connecticut Avenue and 18th Street, the former site of Fuddruckers. Unlike the original Madison Square Park location, where the owners introduced the Shack Cam to make up for endless lines, the D.C. location will not have a video feed to alert customers of potential lines, Shack spokesperson Theresa Mullen told WTOP.

The District’s second Shake Shack location will open later this season at Nationals Park. Mullen says the Nats Park location will likely open before mid-Summer. The owners also plan to open three other restaurants later this year: Blue Smoke, El Verano Taqueria and Box Frites.

Georgetowner •

Metro is suggesting cutting increasing weekend hours and bus service because of budget cuts. They’ve recently released an online survey to get Metro riders’ opinions on the best strategy going forward on the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget. The online survey will be accessible until next May 20 at noon.

A series of six public hearings will also be held in the District, Maryland and Virginia between May 16 and 19, regarding the budget, in which WMATA is facing a $66 million deficit. During those meetings, members of the Metro Board of Directors and executive leadership team will be available to talk with riders about the proposed cuts to service. The 2012 budget will be finalized by the board in June and will take effect in September. The WMATA board of directors said yesterday that spending during the current fiscal year is $38.7 million below budget to date, according to DCist. Access the survey at Survey.wbanda.com/BudgetSurvey.