Archive: March 2006
Linda Cropp Owns an IPod
Here's the most surprising thing from last night's Ward 6 Democrats mayoral forum: Linda W. Cropp (D) owns an iPod. The 58-year-old chairman of the D.C. Council held up the credit-card-sized digital audio player when answering a question to candidates...
By | March 31, 2006; 2:49 PM ET | Comments (15)
A Right to Learn
In 48 states, children have a constitutional right to a public education. The exceptions: Alabama. Iowa. And Washington, D.C. Now, a group of education activists is proposing to change that in the District, by amending the D.C. Home Rule Charter...
By | March 31, 2006; 7:55 AM ET | Comments (3)
Tenants See Red
The D.C. Council is set to turn into landlord-tenant court tomorrow as a council committee holds a roundtable on revisions to the city's nobody-can-figure-it-out rent control system. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) and Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) each...
By Eric Weiss | March 30, 2006; 4:12 PM ET | Comments (2)
And the Winner Is...
Now there finally comes a mayoral candidates forum that promises, without a doubt, to be fun. The Ward 6 Democrats are taking a straw poll tonight. Sorry, you probably can't vote in it-- registered Ward 6 Democrats only -- but...
By Yolanda Woodlee | March 30, 2006; 7:00 AM ET | Comments (20)
D.C. Statehood: Popular as Dirt
All those folks pushing for D.C. statehood -- the mayor, our shadow "senators" and a host of dedicated activists -- have apparently been laboring for naught. A new Washington Post poll of 1,011 randomly selected adults nationwide found that 58...
By | March 24, 2006; 6:52 AM ET | Comments (63)
The Embrace Felt Around Ward 8
Marion Barry and Rev. Willie Wilson had been friends for more than a decade before they had this very public "falling apart," as the Ward 8 council member called it. There was finger-pointing. Name-calling. It was on television and in...
By Yolanda Woodlee | March 17, 2006; 7:00 AM ET | Comments (42)
The Attributions of Leadership
At a breakfast fundraiser for the Ward 5 constituent services fund this morning, Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) complimented council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5) with a quote he attributed to President Abraham Lincoln: "A leader will take...
By Marcia Slacum Greene | March 16, 2006; 2:54 PM ET | Comments (5)
Barry Still Draws A Crowd
Council member Marion Barry's (D-Ward 8) State of Ward 8 address last night was an awkward campaign stop for the city's mayoral hopefuls. By showing up, a candidate gives credibility and visibility to an elected official who has brought shame...
By Marcia Slacum Greene | March 15, 2006; 4:09 PM ET | Comments (15)
Are Developers Running the City?
The sharp exchange, between the social worker and the D.C. Council chairman, came toward the end of a council hearing yesterday and lasted about 10 minutes. But it woke up the room and neatly distilled one of the complicated debates...
By Marcia Slacum Greene | March 15, 2006; 7:00 AM ET | Comments (39)
Latinos for Brown?
Mayoral candidate Michael Brown's breakfast endorsement by a national Latino organization headquartered in the District has raised more than a few questions, particularly from other Latino organizations. Last week, the Post's District political column reported that Robert de Posada, head...
By Yolanda Woodlee | March 9, 2006; 7:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
The End is Near
Anything could happen -- and often does! -- at the John A. Wilson Building. But it looks like the end is in sight for the long and endlessly divisive battle over baseball. On Sunday, as you may recall, MLB signed...
By | March 7, 2006; 2:35 PM ET | Comments (14)
Light at the End of the Baseball Tunnel
For baseball fans and for those of you who are just sick of baseball dominating the city's political agenda, let's hope the light is not yet another train. Major League Baseball has agreed to the District Council's demand to cap...
By | March 6, 2006; 5:45 AM ET | Comments (24)
Baseball Tax Tussle
The Council is drawing yet another line in the sand after learning about the Mayor's latest baseball stadium proposal. The mayor's aides were confident yesterday that they will get MLB to say yes to the spending cap, perhaps by tomorrow...
By David Nakamura | March 2, 2006; 11:03 AM ET | Comments (22)
Traveling Tony, Redux
Fresh from a four-day culinary vacation in Iceland (no word on whether he dined on that Icelandic delicacy, rotten shark), Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) is already planning his next big trip: a 19-day jaunt to Africa. The "cultural and...
By | March 1, 2006; 9:51 AM ET | Comments (11)
More Money, More Problems
So the mayor thinks he has found a solution to the baseball stadium drama. But the council members are already making noise that the $20 million he has identified for cost overruns will take the project over the council's $611...
By Eric Weiss | March 1, 2006; 9:20 AM ET | Comments (54)
