The idea of “green roofs” is one that I first learned about several years ago in grad school. I was on a team that had to put together a communications/roll-out plan for a city-wide initiative to improve environmental standards and esthetics of the DC area. Good project – good idea. Green roofs – buildings and companies that plant trees, shrubs, and other greenery on their roof however many stories up they might be – help to improve energy prices, looks, and make great places to increase community within companies because many times they serve as a central location for employees to have lunch and take breaks.

Recently the DC Council has been considering legislation that would put regulatory grime on new businesses trying to come in to the city. For a city that is always in need of revenue for legitimate fund-spending needs, putting up major barriers to entry like additional new business regulations isn’t smart. I’m in support of green consturction and think that more building management companies should look in to it. If they really save as much money on energy as proponents say, then the market will decide and these folks will go ahead with it.

The DC government has nothing to win in requiring this – and I’m actaully liking what Williams’ spokesperson said, it at least a little more moderate. Why not make it a tax incentive program instead of making it a demand that could very likely mean less business growth in DC?

This is one of the more absurd things that I have ever taken part in, but the Borf story reminded me of it so I thought I’d share. I used to hate those permenant marker taggers with a passion but I never went the Trevor Goodchild route instead I did something…else.
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This week’s edition of the CityPaper includes features on John Tsombikos, better known as Borf and his nemisis, Trevor Goodchild. Tsombikos is less than contrite about his crimes:

Tsombikos could have lightened his sanctions with a courtroom plea for mercy, but he couldn’t play the role of contrite convict. “I have no fucking remorse,” he says. “That’s why I wouldn’t apologize in court to Lynn Leibovitz, that piece-of-shit judge.”

Yet this remorseless tagger is disavowing future spray-painting on D.C.’s public furniture. Instead of hitting the streets upon his mid-March release, Tsombikos will try to get his message out via legal means, including art shows, though he hates the word “art,” calling it a “passive and innocuous” concept. He creates vandalism, he says.

On the other side is Goodchild, who began a one man crusade to remove Borf’s vandalism:

The Anti-Borf is Trevor Goodchild, a 46-year-old office assistant for a court-reporting company. Over the 2004 winter holiday, he complained to his brother and sister about how Borf had taken over the city. By New Year’s Day, Goodchild had resolved to start a one-man crusade against the vandal who’s defaced street signs, mailboxes, and newspaper vending boxes in D.C. and across the country.

According to his count, Goodchild has since eliminated 103 Borf tags.

“I’m an Eagle Boy Scout,” he says. “I’m just doing my good deed for the community.”

So, who do you think is making the District a better place?

I totally cheated tonight! My office mate and I are attempting the decorating thing. I’ve recently been sweating the whole wall-drape thing and wanting to put one on the back wall of our office, so I headed to Georgetown after work to get me one. Unlike what seems to be a great majority, I totally enjoy Georgetown. I don’t mind the crowded sidewalks because that’s part of the atmosphere for me, and to be completely a brat I seriously always find parking. My friends have been known to [in jealousy, I say] call me Parking Queen because I seriously drive up to most places I want to go and there’s my little spot, perfect size for my city-loving SUV.

Anyway, it happened again tonight and I got a spot right in front of the store I wanted to pop into tonight, but for the life of me I couldn’t understand the parking machine. I want my freaking meters back! The kind that normal people can use! I don’t like technology (no surprise!) and I’m not a huge fan of change (not the coin kind), and I know these machines have been there for months and months and I’ve seen them but I usually park on the side streets and have never used them.

Long story short, I chanced it, ran into the store, didn’t pay the machine and was in there for a cool 25 minutes without a ticket. I feel a little bit bad, though. Maybe when I do figure it out next time I’ll put an extra quarter in.

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i just found a really good interview with Ian McKaye in the January issue of Street Sense. now this is a guy who loves dc and has done more for this city than any of the politicians who have done time on the hill, who too often become the public “face” of dc. (or the hordes bar hopping and shoe shopping in georgetown, for that matter.)

if you aren’t familiar with Street Sense, i really recommend checking it out.
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So, I know this cartoon stuff has gotten just bizarre, and that rioting and violence seem to be all the rage among the extremist population, but what about supporting Denmark? Slate Columnist Christopher Hitchens is putting together a Denmark Support Event at the embassy on Mass Ave this Friday at noon. If you have the inclination, check it out:

Please be outside the Embassy of Denmark, 3200 Whitehaven Street (off Massachusetts Avenue) between noon and 1 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 24. Quietness and calm are the necessities, plus cheerful conversation. Danish flags are good, or posters reading “Stand By Denmark” and any variation on this theme (such as “Buy Carlsberg/ Havarti/ Lego”) The response has been astonishing and I know that the Danes are appreciative. But they are an embassy and thus do not of course endorse or comment on any demonstration. Let us hope, however, to set a precedent for other cities and countries. Please pass on this message to friends and colleagues.

Because, well, if we’re not going to stand with them for speaking their mind, who is?

You know how this one goes, I assure you. Get in cab, tell the cabbie where you’re going, say a little prayer, and hope to God he’s not on his phone. Now Marc Fisher says that in Montgomery County, Barwood Cab is banning cellphone use by their cabbies during rides. Ayyyyy-men. I wish, wish, wish this was the case all over the area, but even though it’s illegal to talk on a handset, I see cabbies doing it constantly.

Like many a long-term DC resident, I have obnoxious seasonal allergies. I try hard not to whine all the time about it, but occasionally I succumb to some self-pity, like today when I went for a spot of lunchtime shopping to escape Dreary Day Syndrome.

Once upon a time, cosmetics salespeople sprayed you without warning as you wandered the aisles, momentarily blinded. You ended up leaving the department store smelling like the Botanical Gardens on Speed, and sneezing your head off as well. Then came Perfume Correctness, where they only delicately waved the little scent slips at you. Ah, what a genteel time, but apparently that epoch has ended….
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Ask, and ye shall receive! Nationals Journal is back in action. Sadly, Barry Svrluga isn’t down in Viera yet, he’s in Turin, the lucky bastard, so daily reports from Panera Bread are highly unlikely. Matt Lee, though, is doing a bangup job. No word if he’ll become a Panera addict, too.