15th street closed

Good luck on that drive home tonight. Bush is at a meeting on 15th street and its closed between K and M streets NW. As you might expect, downtown is a parking lot as a result.

The Washington Times, in an occasional piece of halfway decent journalism, has a great article about DC’s speed camera program, which raises a boatload of money for the District, mostly on the driving habits of Marylanders, and doesn’t seem to curb any of the traffic issues. According to the article, traffic fatalities went up to 49 in 2005 from 45 in 2004, despite the addition of new speed and red light cameras.

The District has already collected $5 million in fines this year alone (Note, $100 of it was mine.) on pace toward $30 million in revenue.

So yes, I’m prejudiced against them because I got caught, but I guess I’m more upset that instead of just $50 (my fine), I didn’t get notified until the fine was already due, so I had to pay $100 or face more serious consequences while I fought the District’s commissioner of the revenue on the issue. But, if they’re not improving safety…and there are more fatalities…are the cameras doing any good except raising money for the District?

Friend of Metroblogging DC (yeah, I said it) and occasional MBDC contributor Erin Myers was featured in the Sunday Source this weekend as one of five local DJs profiled for the Source’s cover story.

DJ Lil’e, as the kids call her, spins an 80s alt-pop dance party called “Right Round” at the Black Cat monthly, appears monthly at Saint Ex and is also a regular at Felix, where you may also remember her from Metroblogging DC’s First Birthday Party.

If shakin’ it on the dance floor is your thing, or if you just love Robert Smith, the next Right Round is on April 15. Only $6! What a bargain!

Made a dawn patrol trip down to the Tidal Basin this past Sunday, hoping to get a great preview of the sakura before the hordes of tourists arrived to make photographing the blossoms a bit more difficult, but apparently my timing was way off and the pictured blossom was about as good as I could get. I arrived at the Tidal Basin around 6 am and there was hardly anyone there besides a couple of photographers. At 7 am, the hordes started to arrive… 7 am!!! Talk about some serious tourists.

As if it weren’t enough to tap our phonelines, screen our emails, monitor our internet usage, and squash our right to peacably assemble by setting up “free speech zones”, our Federal government is up to no good again. This time, they’ve set up an agreement with Fairfax County to monitor the county’s sewage for cocaine use. From the Washington Post article:

If government studies are a reliable guide, about 25,000 residents of Fairfax County — 2.5 percent of its population — have used cocaine in the past year. The same data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health suggest that about 9,000 have partaken within the past 30 days.

Those estimates, based on personal and computer-assisted interviews, rely almost completely on the candor of the respondents. The Bush administration, hoping to someday broaden the government’s knowledge of illegal drug use, is probing the mysteries of Fairfax’s sewage for a clearer picture.

Apparently, we’re not satisfied with the candor of general populace, but I’m perplexed as to why the White House would stoop to these measures. What’s the catch? Are we really going to gain anything from this other than to confirm the fact that people tend to be less than honest about their use of illegal drugs in a survey?

George Mason University has WON their game against number 1 seeded University of Connecticut Huskies, in an Overtime Thriller at the Verizon Center. Tied at 74 after regulation, the Patriots charged through the Overtime period, beating Connecticut 86-84, becoming the first double-digit seed to ever make the Final Four.

The big story? Mason’s distance attack. Shooting 9 of 18 from outside the 3 point line, Mason was well over their usual 37%. The din from the Verizon Center is coming through loud and clear over the radio, and I would imagine Chinatown is bedecked with yellow and green fans running through the streets!

On to Indianapolis and the National Championship! Gooooooo MASON!

Some random observations from last night:

1) The downstairs bar at Local 16 on a Saturday night is packed so full it’s impossible to navigate with a full martini.
2) Everyone at the inexplicably packed bar looked exactly the same. No diversity. I was even the only girl with short hair.
3) Despite said fetchingly modern haircut and killer jeans, a twentysomething rugby player called me “ma’am”
4) 3am crullers from 7-11 will assuage ageist humiliation and stave off impending hangover
5) A night on the town isn’t complete until you’ve seen a car burst into flames mere steps from your house

…Would you find a Maternity-wear store, next to a tobacconist.

Only in Virginia.

I went out to the Farmer’s Market in Courthouse to check out my options for some good local produce and products. I love the idea of a farmer’s market, allowing me to buy direct from the producer with no middle man; my inner capitalist does a little dance whenever I go.

Sadly, though, I wasn’t impressed with what I saw at the market. Yes, I know it’s only the end of March, but the showing was dismal. Bread and pastry, sure. Sorbet, sure. But hardly any produce at all. Some mushrooms, yes, but not much in the way of anything fresh. While I was tempted by the peaches in bourbon, I ended up with some Polyface sausage and a few Fuji Apples. Definitely, it’s still early, but I was bummed. I guess I just want it to be Spring so badly….

One last vignette from the market. Tiffany arrived at the market around the middle of the morning, and two men with t-shirts and clipboards were collecting signatures to put former Secretary of Defense Webb on the ballot for Senator in Virginia. We both looked up at him, not knowing off the top of our heads who he was, I said “Hm. No, I think I’ll pass.”

The look on the guy’s face could best be described as “astounded.” He was shocked that someone would turn him away. It made my day, entirely.

Ah, this explains all the road closings and police presence today here in Prince Georges. Sure, I don’t watch much television, but I do listen to the radio quite a bit and I don’t ever recall this one being announced on the radio – NPR, WTOP, CSPAN, or DC101. Wow, so does that make it two marathons in the greater DC area?