The Alexandria sidewalk enforcement is two days late. The statutory requirement is clearing the sidewalks within 24 hours. What I have noticed is car oriented businesses and churches with large parking lots are the primary offenders at this point. The City defends the slow pace of removal from sidewalks by citing the prioritization of street clearing, which makes some sense as that is where the storm drains are. However, the whole point of having a requirement that property owners clear sidewalks is to enlist their resources, delaying enforcement until the City is ready to step in makes no sense.

by S.B. on Dec 23, 2009 4:11 pm  

Sean and Pierce Homer are very close friends going back to working together for Prince William govt. I don't believe their philosophies differ to a great extent. I would not be surprised to see Homer return to PW in some capacity.

Sean's Maritime Administration experience is a plus, most people forget that the Secretary's oversight includes the ports in Hampton Roads and all the rail systems as well, and that in fact there is a separate Commissioner that runs VDOT.

by Lou on Dec 23, 2009 4:41 pm  

Hurray on 600,000 residents! I hope that by 2010 we can get back to 750,000 residents, like DC had back in the 1970s.

by tom veil on Dec 23, 2009 8:39 pm  

When are they going to start enforcing sidewalk snow clearance in the District? I just walked by the gas station on the southeast corner of 15th and U Streets ... and while all the lot around the pumps was cleared of snow ... as were the two entrances into the lot ... Not one inch of sidewalk had been cleared ...

by Lance on Dec 23, 2009 11:28 pm  

I read the examiner article on the Garber robbery. The piece did not call Anacostia unsafe or suggest this was "yet another" crime in river east. It merely said the crime took place in Anacostia then described the incident using quotes from Garber. Those who feel Mr McCabe wrote an "Anacostia is horrible" article are oversensitive and reading things between the lines that aren't really there.

I don't think the article warranted a set of crime statistics that show Anacostia has less violent crime than other places. If the crime happened in Brookland or Tenleytown would we also expect the Examiner to include such statistics? No.

The real disappointment here is that the Examiner went back on their word to Garber. The rest to me is people having an unrealistic set of standards as to how the press should coddle a community's insecurity.

by Jason on Dec 24, 2009 8:40 am  

The whole Alexandria get-tough on lazy property owners not shoveling their sidewalks is a joke. The city offices are closed today and tomorrow so no one answers the number. So, Unless you called to file a complaint between noon and 4pm yesterday, you can't file a complaint until Monday. If I haven't slipped and broken a bone by then, the snow/ice will have melted on its own. Thanks a lot, Alexandria.

by Annoyed on Dec 24, 2009 9:30 am  

@Jason. May I ask where do YOU live? Since you have taken it upon yourself those of us who have taken offense to the Examiner article (as is our right), "over-sensitive and reading things between the lines that aren't really there", please let us know what qualifies you to be an expert on the subject? It's kind of like a white person telling a person of color there is no such thing as racism. It's insensitive and it trivializes someone else's experiences.

Do you live in Anacostia? Do you live in Ward 8? Do you live in River East (what you may call "Southeast")? For those of us that actaully live here and deal first hand with the effects of sloppy, one sided and most times inaccurate reporting you bet your socks we are paying attention and we are calling reporters out on their BS and if that makes us "over-sensitive" then I think we will take that risk. What we will not do is keep allowing the cookie cutter template when it comes to reporting things East of the River. Historically, when it comes to media attention directed at River East communities, these sensationalized and over-generalized stories about "Southeast" (which btw is inaccurate label on it's own as East of the River is composed of NE, SE and SW) always seem to focus on the negative (crime, poverty and Marion Barry) and almost never on the really positive things that we have here - even the hope that a community still has after bad things happen (like this robbery). There is more to River East than crime, Marion Barry and poverty. It would be nice to see that reported in the news occassionaly. That is why there has been an explosion of River East blogs. People are tired of mainstream media either ignoring our story or reshaping it to fit the typical "more crime in Southeast" slant that we almost exlusively see. It has gotten so bad that most Washingtonians think Anacostia is the name of all of Ward 8 - they don't realize it is a neighborhood among other neighborhoods in Ward 8. Ask your neighbor to name two neighborhoods in "Southeast" and I bet they can't. For us who live here its nor surprising considering you almost never see a River East neighborhood name in the news - everything is referred to as "Southeast" or "East of the River". Entire neighborhoods have been robbed of their identity because of ignornance or lazy reporting.

One thing I will agree with you on is that if Mr. McCabe promised David (who I know and respect) one thing and didn't follow through then he sucks. Unfortunetly it is nothing new, those of us who live in River East and who have given interviews have found out the hard way that reporters may promise one thing to get the story and will do another when it comes time to writing it. That is why personally I always audio record all my interviews to avoid any "confusion".

I write a Ward 8 blog, Congress Heights on the Rise and last week's Poll of the Week question was "Do you think that media coverage of "Southeast" is fair and balanced?"

64% of my readers responded NO.

Then again perhaps they too are "over-sensitive".

The Advoc8te
www.congressheightsontherise.com

by The Advoc8te on Dec 24, 2009 12:28 pm  

Correction: 65% of my readers responded "NO".

by The Advoc8te on Dec 24, 2009 12:33 pm  

@The Advoc8te - honestly, I can only chuckle at your response and your bit about being offended is "a right". There was nothing offensive in McCabe's article if you focus just on the written words. You're applying all your baggage and looking for a reason to be offended. Hence all the extraneous justifications you included in your response.

by Jason on Dec 24, 2009 1:11 pm  

@Jason - I think you just answered my question. :)

by The Advoc8te on Dec 24, 2009 1:59 pm  

I think it's ridiculous that Garber would only give the Examiner his story if they posted some statistics, and equally dumb of the Examiner to agree, and worse if/that they broke their word. Either tell your story or don't. "Oh, our entire party got rolled by thugs with guns, but our neighborhood is safe". That's the story.

BTW, can somebody explain Garber's reference to the thugs expecting Grey Goose? I don't get that specifically, if there is some back story to it.

Also, I've lived in DC for over 40 years. We all know where Anacostia is.

by Jimmy on Dec 24, 2009 2:36 pm  

Just for shits and giggles, I traveled over to CHOTR.

I took a screenshot

"Teen's Body Decomposed"

"Two Suspects Wanted"

"Driver Hits, Kills Woman"

"Two Shot in Southeast DC"

Either your part of town sucks, or you're just biased as the mainstream white media.

by MPC on Dec 24, 2009 2:59 pm  

I haven't seen so many references to "mainstream media" since Sarah Palin's last speech.

That is NOT, in case you were wondering, a compliment.

by dcd on Dec 24, 2009 4:28 pm