In the first of what will be regular ANC 2E wrapups, we’re proud to bring you the events of last night’s ANC meeting. (But between Issue Rundowns, GUSA Roundups, and ANC Wrapups, it grieves me to report that we’re running out of summary nouns.)

Last night’s local government rumble had a considerable many high points:  the ANC’s communal chastisement of WASA Director Louis Jarvis, the Dixie Liquor owner’s truly pathetic request for an exception to the singles ban, a resolution of gun stores in Georgetown, Apple’s store redesign, and a visit from the wardmaster himself, Jack Evans.

Details to follow, but the Safeway on Wisconsin will be closing for construction for over a month this Spring.

WASA: Jarvis felt the fury of the ANC when he admitted that 30% of Ward 2 hydrants, still need maintenance nearly two years after bum hydrants stymied firefighter’s efforts to rescue the burning Georgetown Library.

Ed Solomon, who recently watched from his tuxedo shop as a dumpster fire at Addison School required a second pumper truck (the nearby hydrant, tagged as “needing maintenance” but still supposedly in working condition, was in fact a dud), noted that this amounted to 59 hydrants and called the situation “unacceptable.” Later in the meeting, Jack Evans agreed.

Dixie Liquors: Next, Dixie Liquor’s Jody Kurash stopped by to request an exception to Ward 2′s singles ban, saying the store projected a $38,000 loss in sales for this year based on 2008 figures.

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Thanks to the legislative aftermath of District of Columbia v. Heller, the D.C. Zoning Commission is allowing gun shops to open within the District. So where will they set up shop? Maybe Georgetown, says DCist.

Due to zoning restrictions (that aren’t set in stone until March), space for gun shops is “limited to industrial zones and commercial corridors not zoned for neighborhood retail. Additionally, no gun shop will be allowed within 300 feet of a school, library, home, playground or church.”

That leaves a few parcels in Georgetown. And we may not be talking out-in-the-boonies East-of-Wisconsin Georgetown:

There’s also a tiny plot along Connecticut Avenue NW in Van Ness, a cluster of parcels off Wisconsin Avenue just north of McLean Gardens, another plot off Wisconsin near Observatory Circle, and a small piece of M Street in Georgetown, again near Wisconsin Avenue. Downtown, between Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street as far west as 20th Street also is available for potential gun store business — though either side of 16th Street is off-limits.

Quips DCist, “It’s either hilarious or heinous to think that Georgetown might see a gun shop before an Apple store.” But I’m not laughing.

Via SaxaSpeak.

At the University of Texas, Georgetown new Director of Public Safety bought 10 semi-automatic AR-15 rifles (in action here), and justified them by referring to a sniper attack 40 years ago. The guns are one of my favorite parts of the Jeffrey Van Slyke Parade of Infamy . The student informants are chilling and the alleged police brutality is disturbing, but Van Slyke’s guns have an unbeatable visual flair. According to weapons receipts from the University of Mississippi obtained under an open records request, Van Slyke’s fondness for huge guns didn’t end in Austin.

A summary of the receipts, sent by Ole Miss’s attorney Lee Tyner, includes 8 purchases of Bushmaster M-4 rifles while Van Slyke ran the department. The M-4 is modeled on the AR-15, and has great ratings on Police Link.com (“Pretty Heavy Duty. This is good weaponry for war in the jungle.”).

To Van Slyke’s credit, the open records request did not turn up any serious police brutality complaints. But seriously, “war in the jungle”?

Everyone’s got Van Slyke fever, and the only cure is more handguns. GW now has a task force looking into whether to give its police force handguns, and the kids don’t like it.

Now’s a good time to point out that, thus far, no one’s been hurt from DPS pepper spray and batons. Watch this space, though.

Here are the guns he bought for UT, according to this report from a public records request.

A shotgun, for when pro-choice students plan peaceful protests

I kid you not, Georgetown

You can buy a hat, you can buy a rat, but you still can’t buy a gat in the District, no matter what the Supreme Court says about the gun ban. The Wall Street Journal says DC will try to use zoning and a helpful (for once) dose of NIMBYs to keep people from opening gun stores.

None of the eight wards are interested in a gun store, and the government is happy to oblige them. This will hamper the imports of guns from other states, as guns ordered from out-of-state gun merchants are mailed to other gun stores for customer pick-up instead of directly to the customer.

The government is just being a sore loser. Let the neighborhoods fight if they don’t want gun stores, but forcing gun sales across the state line just takes money out of DC.

What do you think?

Flickr photo from user barjack used under a Creative Commons license. Article via The Goodspeed Update.

Supreme Court strikes down Washington’s handgun ban. Sad stuff for DC, but how much gun crime did the gun ban deter, considering that Maryland and Virginia gun stores are only a Metro train away? It was probably more useful for getting charges against people wanted for other stuff, Wire-style.

On the bright side, I guess this means we can all go to more firing ranges.

The Supreme Court announced today that it will consider a challenge to Washington, D.C.’s strict gun ban laws, marking the first time the Court will consider the basic meaning of the 2nd Amendment. We’re glad the court took up the case, but we hope they follow the rest of the advice in our recent editorial on the subject, which urges the Justices to uphold the ban. Given the rightward lean of the court, it’s hard to say if the justices will agree with our interpretation, but as the Times notes, “court-watchers who try to predict outcomes in advance do so at their peril.” Right.

The Voice has covered the controversy since the get-go last spring and into this fall’s decision by Mayor Adrian Fenty to appeal the case. No doubt we’ll keep you posted on this issue; look for Voice reporters to be in the court for oral arguments in the case, expected this spring.

—Tim Fernholz, Editor in Chief

A certain high-ranking person in Washington’s government doesn’t leave home without his or her Glock, according to WUSA anchor Bruce Johnson. This is especially newsworthy since the Supreme Court is going to consider Friday whether to hear a federal appeals court decision that overturned DC’s ban on handguns.

Johnson saw the official’s gun but was told it was legal. He’s making the lame decision not to say who it is until he finds out more about whether the official has a permit. If there is no permit, that official definitely won’t be wearing their gun after seeing Johnson’s post, so he killed the story before it became anything. At least his blogging is crazy:

It’s information that I have been wrestling with for days now. I learned…no make that…I saw for my own eyes… a gun hidden in the backside of a DC Government official…

At this point I’m not sure that it’s necessary to reveal the name or position; I’m seeking advice on this; but I will say this person holds a visible high ranking public position and comes in contact with the public as part of the job. This city official heads an agency that makes decisions that affect us all at some point.

Did the official really have the gun in their back pocket, like Johnson seems to mean? That’s not working under the gun laws–that’s flaunting them.

-Will Sommer, blog editor. Flickr photo from Greenmelinda.