DC FRIDAY

Gary Imhoff, DC Watch - [Jim Graham's anti-loitering bill] criminalizes even a couple's taking a stroll in their neighborhood, as long as their neighborhood is designated as a hot-spot and a police officer accuses them of having a criminal purpose for being on the street. Of course, supporters of the bill would say that we can rely on the good intentions and good judgment of police officers to use the law only against bad people. But the point of having written guarantees of our rights is that we shouldn't have to rely on hope that police officers will have good intentions and display good judgment.

Washington Business Journal - The Washington Post Co. income dropped 77 percent during the fourth quarter, largely as a result of a hefty impairment charge related to an underperforming business.. . . As with many papers struggling with falling print ad sales across the U.S., the Post's print advertising revenue declined 17 percent in 2008 to $410.4 million. Daily circulation declined 2.6 percent last year to 633,100. The paper's major money generator in 2008 was its Kaplan education unit, which accounted for 52 percent of revenue during the year, and was up 15 percent.

DC Examiner D.C.'s chief financial officer warned city leaders that budget deficits could reach $1 billion in three years because of the worldwide recession. Natwar Gandhi said credit, stock and real estate woes are contributing to a "deep, long and lasting recession" on a national and local level. He retracted previous statements that Washington was immune to the economic downfall. . . He said revenues from taxes and other sources will fall about $400 million short of earlier projections in fiscal year 2009, $800 million short in 2010, $967 million short in 2011 and $1.1 billion short in 2012. Real estate tax collections are down and will continue to decline through 2012, Gandhi warned. Property owners have filed 4,300 appeals of their 2009 assessments; this accounts for about a $100 million decline.

Dorothy Brizill, DC Watch - [At the] District's Board of Elections and Ethics, the term of Dr. Lenora Cole expired in July of last year. District law states that Dr. Cole would continue to serve on the Board until her replacement was confirmed by the council and sworn in by the mayor. On February 5, Mayor Fenty nominated his jogging pal, Omar Nour, to replace Cole. To date, Councilmember Mary Cheh, whose Government Operations Committee oversees BOEE, has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Nour or publicly asked the mayor to withdraw his nomination. Against this backdrop, Dr. Cole today submitted her letter of resignation, effectively immediately. . . As a result of Dr. Cole's resignation, the BOEE is now down to two members. Should the mayor decide to dig in his heels in support of his unqualified nominee, council consideration of Nour could be long and protracted.

WTOP - The clanging of streetcars hasn't been heard in the District in nearly two generations, but WTOP has learned the city's department of transportation is ready to get streetcars rolling once again. "You will see an announcement in the next few weeks," D.C. Department of Transportation Director Gabe Klein tells WTOP. . . Streetcars last ran in the city in 1962, with several lines heading into and out of Maryland and a few running through Virginia as well.

Gary Imhoff, DC Watch - Peter Tucker opposes the use of Gardasil, a vaccine against cervical cancer that he believes is dangerous, experimental, and untested for use in young girls. Councilmember David Catania is a champion of Gardasil, and sponsored legislation that requires sixth grade girls to be vaccinated with it. Tucker wants to testify about Gardasil at an oversight hearing for the Department of Health that Catania will hold. Tucker signed up as a witness at Catania's hearing and was placed on the witness list. He was then told that he would not be allowed to testify under any circumstances, and that he would not be given any reason for being barred. Here is the relevant rule of the city council, Rule No. 504(b): "If a committee, in the publication of notice of a public hearing, sets a deadline before which a member of the public must contact the committee to be permitted to be a witness at the public hearing, then at the time that the public hearing is held, each member of the public who complied with the committee's requirements shall be given an opportunity to testify." Catania is not just insulting Tucker, and by extension all citizens, by commanding that someone who disagrees with his policy preferences not be allowed to testify before his committee; he is also flouting a rule of the city council.

DC Examiner - A northwest Washington home regarded as the epicenter of the city's gay rights movement has been designated a D.C. Historic Landmark. The home belongs to 83-year-old Franklin E. Kameny, considered the "father of gay activism" by the Historic Preservation Review Board. . . In 1961, Kameny argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that a federal policy calling homosexuals a security risk was "no less odious than discrimination based upon religious or racial grounds." It was the first civil rights claim in a U.S. court based on sexual orientation.