D.C. Council recycles old legislative material
In preparation for their first major meeting of 2013, several lawmakers on the D.C. Council reintroduced old propositions, which were previously not passed.

The tactic is a classic attempt by legislators to seem active and appeal to their constituencies, without actually having to contribute genuinely new legislation and garner support for it.

According to the Washington Examiner, however, some council members are defending this practice, saying that it is a normal part of the legislative process.

“It’s not just window dressing to introduce things yet again. We went over bills that we had that didn’t make it, and we picked out the ones that we think are important and want to fight for again,” said Councilwoman Mary Cheh, who reintroduced five bills to the Council.

Councilman David Catania isn’t buying it. “I’ve always found that empty drums beat the loudest,” he said. “Sometimes, these feel-good measures will capture people’s attention for a minute and leave the impression that these people are actually working.”

Political consultant Chuck Thies attributes the lackluster legislative efforts to last year’s scandals: “On the whole, most council members are still going to try to keep their heads down.”

Metro on track for improvements, while trains derail in the yard
Metro recently announced a proposal to add 327 new positions in the next budget year, according to the Examiner.

The workers will be split up among a variety of positions, but most will be put towards the new Silver Line, which will open in December 2013, and towards improving bus services. Metro intends to hire an additional 1,776 more workers during this calendar year, as part of their planned construction and expansion.

The announcement comes at an inopportune time. A train derailed in the train yard over the weekend.

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After anti-Muslim ads were posted in several D.C. Metro stations, two Georgetown students, Nabeel Zewail (SFS ’15) and Saaliha Khan (COL ’13), petitioned the D.C. Subway Commission to remove them. The ads read, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” Despite the fact that, as of now, over 1,850 people have signed the petition nationwide, the D.C Subway Commission has chosen to keep the ads posted. Zewail and Khan, along with other students, have turned to other means to oppose the advertisements.

The advertisements were paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group which, according to its own website, “acts against the treason being committed by national, state, and local government officials, the mainstream media, and others in their capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism.”

Zewail highlighted his two current goals. “First,” he said, “we are continuing to engage with the D.C. Subway Commission so that they will understand that these ads are hateful and have no place in our Metro. And, second, we are trying to counter the AFDI’s message of hate with one of compassion. A group of students went to the various Metro stops where the ads were posted and distributed flyers for peace, and other groups in DC are raising funds to run ads that will counter this message of hate.”

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This week in D.C. news, featuring the MPD’s acknowledgement of the First Amendment, more on Mayor Gray madness, and the latest Amtrak upgrade.

Yes, the First Amendment still holds.

Washington, D.C.’s Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued an order earlier this week specifically permitting citizens to photograph metropolitan police officers while they are present in a public space, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their police work.

“The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) recognizes that members of the general public have a First Amendment right to video record, photograph, and/or audio record MPD members while MPD members are conducting official business or while acting in an official capacity in any public space, unless such recordings interfere with police activity,” the official order reads.

The general order clarifies police policy regarding photography, and even goes as far to say that police cannot ask that individuals stop recording, detain individuals for exercising this right, view photos on a camera without a warrant, or intentionally block cameras. However, the policy does not permit bystanders to enter an area taped off by police simply by virtue of having a camera.

The order stems from a case last year when in Alexandria, a man accused MPD of wrongfully arresting him for photographing a traffic stop in Georgetown. With the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, he sued and the matter was settled out-of-court. Even so, MDP officers allegedly illegally confiscated a citizen’s cell phone last Friday—one day after the order went into effect.

Gray’s 2010 campaign used database of residents in public housing.

The Washington Post reported last Sunday that they had uncovered a list of D.C. public housing residents in a cache of campaign documents that they had obtained from former campaign officials. The list includes the private information of residents names, addresses, and phone numbers. Use of this information by a political campaign could constitute breach of local and federal privacy law.

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Starting tomorrow, the south entrance of the Dupont Circle Metro station will be closed while the three escalators leading into and out of the station are completely replaced. The entrance has to be closed for safety reasons because each escalator must be removed via crane. The project is expected to last 8 and a half months.

Because the current escalators are not standard, and their manufacturer no longer makes escalators, it is virtually impossible for WMATA to find replacement parts. The entrance shutdown will allow the city to install standard, industrial-grade escalators that have a longer lifespan and are easier to maintain.

During construction, safety concerns during peak times may provoke WMATA to shut the north entrance of the station or to direct Red Line trains to bypass the station. In case of an emergency in the station, one of the south escalators will always be kept available as an evacuation route.

The project is part of a system-wide effort to modernize Metro stations. Over the next seven years, WMATA plans to completely replace 94 escalators.

While the south entrance is closed, Metro customers are advised to use the station’s north entrance at Q Street and Connecticut Avenue NW or the Farragut North station’s L Street NW entrance 1/2 mile down Connecticut Ave. Minor construction work has been halted at both of these entrances for the duration of the escalator replacement.

Map: WMATA

Photographer and developer M.V. Jantzen has created a new way for D.C.’s Metro travelers to visualize our rapid transit system. Based on the Travel Time Tube Map that does the same with London’s system, Jantzen’s map adjusts to reflect travel times from a particular station, in addition to allowing its users to distort the map in funky ways. For example, click 1 while viewing the map to reverse the Orange line. The HTML 5 application prioritizes travel time between stations, not distance. A comprehensive guide to using his program is available on his blog, but you can also just open it up and start clicking the number keys and F1-F8 to see what insane maps you can create.

Jantzen also built a version of the Ms. Pac-Man game into his map. While viewing the map, click P to start playing. Use the arrow keys to move and the ROYGB keys to transfer lines. More complete instructions for gameplay are available on his blog.

Vox has put together some interesting iterations of Jantzen’s map for our readers. None of them place a Metro stop in Georgetown unfortunately.

h/t: GGW

Metro is in a poor economic state, and it seems that Washington’s commuters are about to bail it out. The transit agency currently predicts a budget deficit of $124 million for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. Rising pension costs and increased expenses associated with the new Silver Line to Dulles International Airport explain some of the shortfall.

On Thursday, Metro’s finance committee presented its preliminary proposals to close half of the budget gap through fare increases. Greater Greater Washington has the breakdown on Metro’s various proposals.

The proposal that would generate the most revenue is an increase in rail fares. One suggestion is to increase peak fares to account for inflation, effectively a 10 cent increase on the base fare and further increases based on distance traveled, and to raise off-peak fares by 50 percent (they would then be 75 percent of the peak fare), a change that would raise $57 million. The other suggestion was to increase off-peak fares to 90 percent of the peak fare, and leave the peak fare as is. This would raise $48 million, but some committee members voiced concerns that this second proposal would not encourage off-peak travel, increasing the strain on the system during peak times.

The proposals also include an increase in the Smartrip bus fare to $1.60 and the regular bus fare to $2, and an increase in the price of reserving a parking spot in Metro’s high-demand lots.

Metro is certainly due for a fare increase, regardless of the exact details of it. Kytja Weir of the Washington Examiner noted last week, ”The transit agency’s current policy calls for fare increases every two years, even without a budget gap. That means that, after fare increases in July 2010, another round is due.”

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Metro announced yesterday that the G2 bus, which runs from Georgetown’s main gates to Dupont Circle and Howard, will not go past Wisconsin while the District Department of Transportation conducts road maintenance on O & P Streets near the University.

DDOT will continue the work it began this spring repaving the streets and replacing the historic streetcar tracks that line P Street. The O&P Streets Rehabilitation Project will also allow DC Water to replace aging water mains in the corridor. The project is not expected to be completed until Fall 2012.

The G2 is rerouted “until further notice” according to signs posted at the main gates. Metro officials were not able to say when G2 bus service would return to the University’s front gates.

It’s the end of an era, folks. No longer can you put off refilling your SmarTrip when you’re running late for your internship.

Metro turnstiles will no longer let you exit the station if your SmartTrip balance dips below zero. Exitfare machines will be upgraded to the SmarTrip touch system soon, but with a catch—the machines will remain cash only. (So, if you only have a credit card on you, be prepared to beg for money.)

The price of the SmarTrip card recently dropped from $5 to $2.50, benefiting those who don’t yet have the card. This comes after a recent hike in peak charges as well.

So overall, SmarTrip use has become more complicated, more expensive, and less convenient, making the commute out of the Georgetown bubble even more annoying.

h/t We Love DC

Last Thursday, Metro’s board of directors approved an $109 million array of fare increases that will impact all forms of public transportation in DC.

The fare hike, which is the largest in Metro’s history, cannot go into effect until August at the earliest, according to the Washington Post.

During peak riding times, Metrorail’s boarding fare will rise to $2.20, while the cost for SmarTrip users will become $1.95. Off-peak boarding fares will increase to $1.85 for paper cards and $1.60 for SmarTrip. And sadly, riding Metrorail after midnight will soon come with peak fare charges.

The price hikes even reach to Metrobus fares—$1.70 for cash, $1.50 for SmarTrip.

In other words, the time is nigh to get yourself a SmarTrip card. Still don’t have one? The nearest CVS stores on Wisconsin Ave. and M St. both sell the plastic cards.

Enjoy those cheap Metro fares while we still have them, because next semester it’s going to be a bit pricier to leave Georgetown. (Which is something students do all the time, right?)

Photo from Flickr user chrisdag used under a Creative Commons license.

OK, so this isn’t something you need to watch out for at the moment—dozens of Metro stations are closed and even if you’re using the underground rail, where are you going?

But when D.C. pulls itself back together, keep an eye out for potential thieves on the Metro when you’re riding to a basketball game or internship. The Washington Examiner reports that in the first 11 months of 2009, robberies on the Metro skyrocketed to 805 thefts from 538 over the same period in 2008.

And 2007, the same period saw only 397 thefts—which means that robberies on the Metro have essentially doubled in two years.

Driving the rise in theft, Chief of Police Jeff Delinski told the Examiner, are suspects who grab electronic devices like iPods and BlackBerries out of people’s hands.

“In many cases, a robber will grab an iPod or cell phone from a rider just before train doors close at a Metro station,” the article says. “The crime isn’t reported until the victim reaches the next station and by then, the robber has gotten away.”

In April, transit police began placing undercover agents on Metro cars to arrest criminals who snatched electronics (or committed other crimes) but they can’t be everywhere. So watch your iPhone.

Via DCist.

Photo from Flickr user WisDoc used under a Creative Commons license.