Thursday, July 12, 2012
Mayor Vincent Gray's 2010 Campaign is under federal investigation
Councilmembers David Catania, Mary Cheh and Muriel Bowser have each said Mayor Vincent Gray should resign after recent revelations of fraud and a $653,800 shadow campaign bring into question the validity of his election in 2010. Gray donor Jeanne Harris pleaded guilty to running a "shadow campaign" by obscuring and not reporting campaign expenses and contributions. In an interview with Fox 5 news Wednesday, Councilman David Catania was the first to call for Gray's resignation. Catania said if he were in Gray's position. "I would have said 'Regardless of whether or not I knew anything, and I didn't, such a cloud has been placed over my government and my legitimacy as mayor that I believe it's in the best interest to end this distraction and…
Two bills would require PEPCO to place power lines below ground.
Councilwoman Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) and Councilman Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) both put forth legislation Tuesday that would push PEPCO to bury power lines underground to help prevent widespread outages caused by tree branches. Georgetown proper has almost all of its power lines below ground, but nearby neighborhoods like Glover Park and the Palisades are less lucky and have far more frequent power outages. During the recent derecho storm, a few hundred Georgetown homes lost power for a brief period of time, but much of Glover Park was without power for days. Cheh's proposal would form a commission that would explore where exactly underground wiring would be possible. The installation, which has been estimated to cost upwards of $5 billion, would …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Councilwoman Mary Cheh withdrew her amendment in response to strong outcry from District residents.
The Uber Amendment died Tuesday, less than 24 hours after an application-based sedan car service Uber rallied its fans and users to oppose the amendment that would set the minimum fare for the service at five times the normal taxicab rate. Councilwoman Mary Cheh decided to withdraw her amendment Tuesday morning before the legislative session began. Overnight she and other members of the District Council received a large number of complaints about the proposed limitations to Uber service, DCist reports. WTOP tweeted that Cheh said she was "flabbergasted but flexible" on Uber. DCist reports that Cheh had thought she had an agreement with the sedan service when she wrote the legislation. Uber allows users to reserve vehicles with a smartphone…
The sedan service, Uber, allows users to reserve vehicles with a smartphone application and to pay entirely with credit card.
The District Council will vote tomorrow on a proposed amendment that would keep the Uber sedan service from lowering its rates to compete further with taxicabs. The amendment offered to the Taxicab Service Improvement Amendment Act of 2012 would set the minimum rate for the sedan service for hire to five times the drop rate for the District's taxicabs. Uber are sedan cars for hire that can be ordered through a smartphone application. As DCist explains, the sedan service is under the gun for its pricing: "Uber's pricing model—a $7 base fare plus $3.25 for each mile traveled and 75 cents for each minute a car is hired—is out-of-sync with the DCTC's approved meter rates...". Uber went directly to its users to push them to oppose the amendment…
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
He will serve as the interim chairman until a special election Nov. 6
Phil Mendelson walked into the Wilson Building an at-Large member of the District Council, but will leave with the title of Chairman. He was selected by his colleagues to take over temporarily the role vacated by Kwame Brown, who resigned last week before pleading guilty to federal bank fraud charges. A permanent replacement for Brown will be voted into office in November during a special election; the candidates will appear on the general election ballot Nov. 6. Since Brown's resignation, Councilwoman Mary Cheh has been acting in the his stead because of her role as the chairman pro tempore. She put forth the motion to select Mendelson, making him only the second white Council chairman since homerule, according to the Washington Post. …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Tommy Wells got to check out Google’s new driverless car.
Google's new driverless car took to the road Thursday downtown with Councilmembers Mary Cheh and Tommy Wells each taking a turn behind the wheel. The Google car, which uses data collected through Google's street view map network, video cameras, a rooftop sensor and artifical intelligence software to navigate, is not yet legal in D.C. But the Department of Motor Vehicles gave a special permission for the Thursday test-drive. The car does have options for a driver to take control by stepping on the brake or turning the wheel. Just last week Google's blue Toyota Prius, tagged with California license plates, was parked on 30th Street in Georgetown. The Nevada state legislature was the first in the country to permit testing of driverless cars, …
Monday, May 7, 2012
Council member Mary Cheh and DDOT Director Terry Bellamy will discuss Ward 3 transportation issues tonight.
Monday night residents will have their chance to ask questions and get some answers about Ward 3 transportation issues, including the Glover Park Streetscape Project on Wisconsin Avenue. Council member Mary Cheh and District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Director Terry Bellamy are hosting a town hall meeting Monday at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. "The Glover Park and Cleveland Park transportation projects, in addition to the Ward 3 Livability Study, will be among the key initiatives to be discussed" according to a press release. The Glover Park Streetscape Project will widen sidewalks, create a center median and reduce the number of traffic lanes on Wisconsin Avenue. The project will reduce the…
Friday, April 20, 2012
Now that D.C. Public Schools have proven cafeterias can have healthier food, the challenge now is to scale it across the entire system.
The food in D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) is better. But there are those who want more. Namely, they want DCPS to get back in the kitchen and get cooking. Andrea Northup, the director and founder of D.C. Farm to School Network, believes that a for-profit contractor running the school food program will “inevitably” have a “conflict of interest” between healthy food and healthy kids, and the company bottom line. For Northup, DCPS getting back into managing its food services is the best way to provide healthy, local options at affordable prices. Council member Mary Cheh is on the same page. In her Healthy Schools Act she called for a “central facility” where DCPS could “prepare, process, grow, and store healthy and nutritious foods for schools …
Thursday, April 19, 2012
With healthier food items, more students are choosing cafeteria meals.
Food in D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) has changed. Local apples appear on trays. International food days introduce children to a range of cuisine from Nordic to Panamanian. Cafeteria workers are making lasagna from scratch. The tray no longer includes a strawberry milk with as much sugar as a soda. For many, this is proof that the revolution is at hand. “I can say that we make lasagna in all the Chartwells kitchens and the cafeteria ladies love making lasagna and the kids love eating it. And I definitely think there’s a connection,” said Jeff Mills, the food services director for DCPS. Chartwells, the food vendor that manages operations for most of DCPS, has been under intense pressure and scrutiny from Mills to provide fewer processed foods …
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
'Healthy food doesn’t have to be bland or tasteless. It can taste good, but you really need to take the time.'
Leaders, individuals and groups both within and outside the school system have been working to change the way food is bought, distributed, consumed and valued in D.C. schools. Their foes take on differing forms, but can be summed up as the status quo. “So many things have to be in place for a kid to put a bite of local sweet potato in their mouth,” said Andrea Northup, the founder and director of the D.C. Farm to School Network. This sweet potato is a great way to understand the various challenges of school food: buy-in that the sweet potato should be there in the first place; money, vendor sourcing, logisitics of preparation within the school; and kids’ willingness to eat the items on their trays. It is “difficult to even start making a …
NancyCarpenter
12:48 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Capitalism says let them compete! I hear the DC taxi system has fallen to corruption. Shame. more ›