Sponsored During leaf season, this page will provide weekly updates on Department of Public Works’ current locations and where it’ll be collecting leaves next.
At Washington City Paper, we’re small and scrappy—and we make the most of every dollar from our supporters.
Rather than throwing up a paywall or charging a subscription fee, we believe there is another way to fund local news. Your contribution today powers the reporting our city depends on and ensures we’re ready for whatever comes next.
If you value our work, will you support our newsroom today?
Good Monday afternoon, D.C. It was a winning weekend in local sports: The Commanders beat the Philadelphia Eagles last night with a final score of 27-10; earlier in the day, the Washington Spirit concluded its regular season with a 2-0 win against Chicago. Next Sunday is the team’s first playoff match against Portland here at Rowdy Audi.
Washingtonians, along with Americans across the country, head to the polls tomorrow. But here in D.C., a few races are all but officially won. After clinching the June primary win to become the Democratic nominee for mayor, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George has spent the past five months meeting with voters and businesses, gathering feedback, and getting her bearings to be the city’s first new leader in more than a decade.
“I’m ready,” Lewis George told the Washington Post. “I’m feeling great going in. I want people to continue to get out the vote and let people know, this is our time.” She’s had several meetings with outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser and says she’s asked for Bowser’s advice “on everything.”
A new report from the D.C. Neighborhood Parks Task Force is urging the city to gain more control over its 8,398 acres of parks—90 percent of which are currently owned by the National Park Service. “This continued federal control is a relic of the transition to Home Rule in the 1970s when the city had too much on its plate to worry about municipal parks management. Now the District has the capacity to do more,” former Mayor Anthony Williams, who co-chairs the task force with Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin, tells the Washington Sun.
As Axios’ Cuneyt Dil puts it, NPS owning most of our local green spaces—from Rock Creek Park to many of the little pockets of grassy lots across the city—results in “a bureaucratic logjam for creating new community parks.” And parks under federal control often lack amenities—the Sun reports that there are “105 playgrounds on land operated by the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation.” NPS’ land houses only 19 playgrounds. Basketball ball courts, dog parks, and spray parks largely exist on city-owned parcels.
The report concludes with four suggestions: Transfer locally serving parks from NPS to the District; build District park management and coordination capacity; explore sustainable park financing and cost recovery; and foster community management of small neighborhood parks.
Our regular column from staff photographer Darrow Montgomery.
Hands off: Hundreds attended Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s Hains Point Hoopla 4.0 protest and parade, the group’s fourth rally against convicted felon and President Donald Trump’s plans for East Potomac Park and golf course, on Saturday. Meanwhile, Beltway Golfer publisher Alex Dickson, golfer Dave Roberts, and the D.C. Preservation League are suing the Trump administration over the plans. Plus three points for protesters, lawsuits, and judges trying to stop it. +3 [WTOP]
Arching back: On Saturday, Virginia and D.C. sued to stop Trump’s 250-foot arch; Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered a joint briefing schedule for this and the other arch-related lawsuit she’s overseeing. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones argue that, for three years, “the Arch project will inevitably snarl traffic between the jurisdictions, produce pollution and stormwater runoff in the Potomac, interfere with emergency services, and pose numerous other challenges.” They seek a temporary restraining order that would slow the plans to move ahead with construction. On Friday, the administration submitted a 106-page plan for the arch showing it would be 12 stories high with an observation deck, an “occupied roof,” and two mezzanines. Inside it would have program space, offices, a staff lounge, circular staircases, multiple elevators, and a “fire command center.” Plus two points for lawsuits and judges. +2 [AP News, Post]
Center back: In a court filing on Friday, lawyers for Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, who is suing to block Trump from closing the Kennedy Center, say documents show the closure is intended to mask the center’s decline since Trump took over the board. They say records demonstrate that officials overstated the cost of keeping the center open during renovations and tried to hide the fact that Trump caused its financial collapse. The lawyers accused center management of carrying out a “sham process” by withholding materials from the board that did not support its agenda and closing it to “hide the ongoing mismanagement of this once vibrant institution and to placate its current chairman.” Judge Christopher Cooper is expected to weigh in this week. Minus one point for trying to ruin our public spaces that our tax dollars built. -1 [NYT]
Pool boy: Daily Show correspondent Michael Kosta had one of our fave Halloween costumes this weekend: He dressed as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Speaking of which, Trump chose the “slow, expensive and problem-plagued” landmark as an appropriate symbol of his failed regime to deliver his closing midterm pitch this afternoon (there will be road closures). Plus one point for Kosta turning a botched job into a holiday victory. +1 [Instagram, NBC4]
24 hours … until the midterm elections. Plus 24 points for hope. +24
Local restaurants are getting slammed for using AI-generated images in their marketing materials. Backlash prompted some owners to apologize; others are doubling down. Wagshal’s owner Bill Fuchs tells the Post his five-decades-old deli can’t swing spending $8,000 a month on marketing and content creation anymore, so he’s sticking with AI—Reddit backlash be damned. [Post]
After working in the kitchens at The Salt Line, ilili, and Cranes, chef Augusto Salazar Calderón plans to open two Peruvian restaurants in the former Shilling Canning Co. space in Navy Yard next spring. The Lima-born chef is partnering with his wife to open Ceferina, a wood-fired eatery, and Chapla, a cafe serving up pastries and sandwiches. [WBJ]
If a beloved celebrity dies (RIP Patrick Stewart), you better bet local outlets will start digging into how or when that celebrity once touched D.C. In this instance, Chris Klimek recalls when Stewart played the titular Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company 29 years ago. The good news is he didn’t do it in blackface, but rather “Stewart’s big idea was to invert the casting schema of the play: He would play Othello, while Black actors would play Iago, Desdemona and all the other parts.” [City Cast DC]
Bad Brains and Trust Records are preparing for December’s official release of the band’s first demo recording of Are You Ready (captured at Inner Ear Studio in March of 1979). There are plenty of events and articles happening in advance of that release, including a Thursday conversation between Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye and Bad Brains’ Darryl Jenifer, an art exhibit (which we’ll share more about later this week), and an interview with the band in the Guardian. [DCPL, Trust Records, Guardian]
Considering there were at least two local sold-out midnight release parties for A Court of Splintered Harmony last Tuesday—two of about 2,000 such events worldwide—I’m guessing some of our readers are invested in (Sarah J.) Maas Mania. [NYT]
