Anti-Putin protests hit Glover Park this weekend. I saw this scene outside the Russian embassy on Wisconsin Avenue.

The funny thing was from a distance, it looked like they were protesting the Christmas tree lot. I’m very glad I was wrong about that one.

Though, I’m pretty sure this guy was just waiting for the bus:

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

Andy uploaded a bit of a provocative question to the forum yesterday:

Many of us yuppies you see on PoP have decided to make DC home, long-term. And many of us are politically savvy, heck, many of us even work in politics or public affairs or communications work professionally.

But not a ton of people you see represented here are involving themselves politically in the District.

And you know many of us roll our eyes at the thing we read about or see ourselves every day, whether it’s business permitting headaches, bike lanes or DC council ethics. So I think we should all consider where we belong in making the District a better place. If not now, when?

So, what should we do to get involved? What is appropriate? Are there rules of thumb for diving into DC politics?

From an email sent by DC Shadow Senator Paul Strauss:

“Actress and Activist Hayden Panettiere will be the guest of honor at a fundraiser supporting the D.C. Statehood Fund this Friday Evening at “Cities” restaurant and lounge, located at 919 19th Street, NW. Please come out and meet a talented woman supporting a worthy cause.”

We last saw Hayden Panettiere back in Oct. ’08 when she spoke about the Save the Whales Again! Campaign and her Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts.

Photo by PoPville flickr user elliotmitchell

From the New York Times:

“President Obama and Congressional leaders of both parties said late Sunday that they had agreed to a framework for a budget deal that would cut trillions of dollars in federal spending over the next decade and clear the way for an increase in the government’s borrowing limit.”

“Dear PoPville,

What do folks think is the likely impact of the outcome of debt ceiling (and related) negotiations on the development of DC?

Should we be worried about significant layoffs in the Federal Govt as a result — and follow-on impact on demand for DC real estate and the like?

Interested in getting the perspective of PoPville…

Thank you.”

Photo by flickr user thisisbossi

Dear PoP,

I’m surprised you haven’t reported on this already.

I am infuriated by our current leaders’ corruption. Council Chair Kwame Brown is removing Councilman Tommy Wells from his Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Works & Transportation and the metro board. This sort of demotion is unprecedented in DC.

Tommy Wells has been outspoken in fighting for improved bike lanes in the Committee. He criticized DC’s DOT for potentially cancelling the L/M St bike lane plans recently–and asked why they’re prioritizing suburbanites over a transportation route for many DC residents. A leadership replacement would further delay any bike infrastructure plans.

Also, Tommy Wells’ committee reported on Brown’s leasing of two fully-loaded luxury SUVs this year ($24,000/yr for each one–we pay for them). It was Wells’ committee’s responsibility to investigate this. Did he really expect Wells to lie for him and try to hide it?

Either Kwame is worried my bike lane is too intrusive–he needs extra room to get down the road with his black-on-black SUV and the gray-on-gray at the same time. Or he’s sending a message to his Council–speak out against Kwame and his corruption and you’ll be stripped of your power.

The shameful acts just don’t end. Tommy needs to stay. Kwame needs to go.

Please let readers know they can contact DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown (kbrown@dccouncil.us) and urge him to change his mind–or the rest of the City Council so they can tell him he’s gone too far.

Also, on L/M St bike lanes–Tommy Wells said that they may be cancelled.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist

According to DCBOEE Orange (28%) beat out Patrick Mara (25%) who took second and Sekou Biddle (20%) who took third (Weaver came in 4th with 13% and won Ward 1). Only 12% of the electorate voted.

D. Kamili Anderson won State Board of Education seat for Ward 4.

Trayon White Sr. won State Board of Education seat for Ward 8.

On twitter last night there was a lot of discussion that Mara had lost the election because the white vote was split – do you feel like there was a ‘Ralph Nader ala 2000′ candidate(s) in this election?

Thanks to a reader for sending. And a good reminder – don’t forget to vote today!!!

Photo by PoPville flickr user Faucetini

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday. So anything good happen to you this weekend?

And I’ve been getting lots of emails to remind people to vote tomorrow for the at large Council Candidate seat and state board of education seats. This is not a primary – the results will permanently fill
an at-large Council seat. List of candidates and statements are here. So don’t forget to vote tomorrow, Tues. April 26th!!!

“Dear PoP,

They just walked past our building at 14th and H St. NW [around 12pm]. They are heading down H Street towards Chinatown. Signs read – “POWERSHIFT. CORPORATIONS OUT OF DEMOCRACY.” “1%.” They have some paper mache people with signs that read “Exxon” and “Chevron” and “Coal is over.”

Photo by PoPville flickr user thisisbossi, Andrew Bossi

Bossi writes:

In response to the Congressional budget debacle which proved that DC is but a colony — prone to being singled out unlike any other city in the country — a number of activists, elected officials, and general citizens came out in force upon the grounds of Capitol Hill.

The crowd first formed on the sidewalk, but after some opening remarks by elected officials and activists: they quickly spilled into the street. The Capitol Police had been on hand & I’d thought it amusing that a couple were taking photos & videos… it wasn’t until I saw the wristbands come out when I realised these weren’t officers enjoying the moment; they were recording evidence.

With many minutes of warning, large portions of the group shifted over the sidewalk; whilst a core of dedicated supporters — including our Mayor, a number of councilmembers, and members of DC Vote — remained behind to block the roadway. The officers began to surround the group & repeated their warnings to get back on the sidewalk or face arrest.

Now in all fairness to the Capitol Police: they were doing their job. They were quite courteous about it & the protest was similarly jubilant right back. One woman was first to be bound, soon followed by several other activists. Then came Muriel Bowser: first councilmember to be arrested.

In general, I tend to dislike political grandstanding… but this was different. If our council was being arrested by our own police, I’d think it a cheesy photo op… but now our locally-elected officials were being arrested by the very forces we were out to protest: the Feds. This wasn’t a mere photo op arrest; this was actually a legitimate arrest… the kind of thing that goes on your record; the kind of thing you spent a night in jail for.

Now granted, I don’t expect anyone will be in jail longer than tomorrow; I’d be surprised if any were still locked up by midnight tonight. But it was Councilmember Bowser’s arrest which really hit a moment… you could see the look on her face was of some worried concern: someone who had never been arrested before & didn’t show up here today expecting to be arrested. As she was placed into the police van: her look of concern changed to a bit more worry. I mean this as no knock against Councilmember Bowser’s committment; rather I felt it really help to humanise the entire event. It made me respect her all the more.

Yvette Alexander stood right beside us for quite some time, complicated in that she didn’t have her ID on her. While it was entertaining to see our top officials being frisked, it was also quite entertaining that our easily-recognisable councilmember needed her ID… prompting a standerby to call one of her staffers with the best introduction I’ve ever heard over a phone: “Hi, your councilmember has been arrested.” Also, kudos to Councilmember Alexander for going to jail in high heels!

There is a lot I can complain about with the council in general; and certainly with individual councilmembers & even the mayor. Heck, that’s what politicians are for: you’re not supposed to always like them. But this was an opportunity to set aside some of those issues (frankly, I’d say DC was glad to have a unifying moment after the past couple weeks) and cheer on our own brothers & sisters as they stood up in support of our rights.

It was certainly a proud moment to be a DC resident and a fine boost to our collective esteem after several weeks of turmoil within our local & federal levels of government. It’s aggravating that my support for small & local government is inhibited by those in Congress whom advocate small & local government. If I wanted to live in a colony, I’d have moved to Williamsburg.

What do you think the Mayor and Council Members should do next?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Brandon Kopp

The Post reports:

The spending deal agreed to Friday night to avert a government shutdown includes a provision banning the District from spending its own funds to provide abortions to low-income women as well as funding to continue a controversial school voucher program.

Leading Democrats said repeatedly in the hours leading up to the deal that they would not accept a larger prohibition on federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and they appear to have been successful in that goal. But District activists have feared for weeks that Democrats might concede on the D.C. ban in order to pave the way for excluding the Planned Parenthood ban.

@mayorvincegray tweets:

“Anti-DC-autonomy riders on budget bill on abortion rights, vouchers shameful violation of our right to govern ourselves.”

Thanks to all who sent emails about this. From a Facebook page titled, If Boehner shuts down the government I am taking my trash to his house, they write:

Speaker John Boehner is ready to shut down the government, including DC city services like trash collection.

Well, if he won’t allow us to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to pick it up, maybe we should just BRING IT TO HIM.

Update, 8:37am, 4/7/11: Thanks everyone for your excitement and enthusiasm for this civil action. We’ve seen this really take off in less than 12 hours. If the shutdown does occur, and we move forward with this event, we’ll provide details on location(s) and we’ll make sure it’s done in a sanitary and respectful way. Please don’t list any personal addresses for members of Congress on this page.

Do you think this is a good idea?

“Dear PoP,

Just a heads up on the Graffiti Removal Program under Fenty. When someone tagged buildings in the past, you just needed to call 311 and Fenty would have it removed within a day. This was great because when graffiti is not removed immediately, a “tag war” often occurs where a competing vandal then tags the building, and so on. As always, the Fenty administration was extremely responsive whenever we called. We have called three times in the last 2 weeks about the graffiti in our alley (and yes, a tag war has erupted by now) and were finally told today that “The Mayor’s Office no longer removes graffiti.” I’ll leave the editorializing about Gray to the commenters….”

In early Feb. I asked if DC’s graffiti problem had reached epidemic proportions? Unfortunately, I don’t think the question can be debated anymore. Unfortunately I hear some of these jackasses who are doing the tagging don’t even live in DC. Anyway, have others noted a more difficult process to have graffiti removed?

Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist

Sorry for the short notice but if folks still haven’t made plans tonight – from an email:

The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force (GACDTF)will host a Candidate’s Forum today – March 14, 2011 from 7-9pm at the Bruce Monroe @ Park View Elementary School auditorium at 3560 Warder St. NW.

The Georgia Avenue Community Development Task Force’s mission is to advocate the voice of the community in order to enhance the quality of life along the Georgia Avenue corridor. Currently, several major projects are underway on Georgia Avenue and community input towards the revitalization plan will help to ensure that the community’s needs are met.

Georgia Avenue’s long-term revitalization efforts include improving upon community needs, economic stability, and environmental stewardship. The Task Force is also working in collaboration with the Columbia Heights Shaw Family Support Collaborative, ANC 1A, ANC 1B, the Pleasant Plains Civic Association, the Park View/United Neighborhood Coalition, the Emergence Community Arts Collective, the Howard University GADGET Center, and other organizations to make lower Georgia Avenue a better place to live, shop and work.

We have commitments from the following candidates:
Sekou Biddle
Tom Brown
Dorothy Douglas
Josh Lopez
Patrick Mara
Alan Page
Bryan Weaver

For more information call Sylvia Robinson at (202) 462-2285 or sylvia@ecacollective.org.

“Dear PoP,

I finally visited Star and Shamrock on H Street NE last weekend, and absolutely LOVED it. Friendly staff, relaxed atmosphere, great beer selection, and there’s Russian dressing right on the menu! However, I was kind of turned off by their beer coasters.

Similar to the Black Squirrel, I am not a fan of mixing political views with bars I visit. This just seemed odd to me and kind of put a bad taste in my mouth. I know you’re also a huge fan of this place and wanted to see if you knew about this.”

I wonder if this sorta thing is just inevitable in DC? I wonder if these coasters were dropped off and the managers/bartenders didn’t even see the political message. Personally, in this particular instance I’d much rather the bar stick to pouring a perfect Guinness and frying a perfect latke…