SYMHM: No Pants, Bike Lane Tickets, History Experts Needed
DC Police are promising to issue more tickets to people in park in bike lanes. (Luis Gomez Photos)
From Maggie Barron. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @maggiebarron.
More Tickets for Blocking Bike Lanes
With new bike lanes (hopefully) on their way, it looks like Policy Chief Cathy Lanier is on board to support them. “We’ve quadrupled the number of tickets we’ve issued for people who block bike lanes,” she told WTOP in an interview last Thursday. Lanier says that they issued 2000 tickets in 2011, but “it’s going to take a while for the culture [shift] to kick in.”
Look Metro, No Pants!
I avoided Metro all weekend due to the single tracking, only to realize that I also missed the 5th annual “No Pants Metro Ride DC.” For those of you unfamiliar with this yearly occasion, run by Capitol Improv, the name is fairly self-explanatory. On Sunday afternoon, several hundred Metro riders boarded trains and rode around without pants on (though PG-13 underwear is encouraged).
During this season of protest, organizers on the event’s Facebook page were quick to remind people that the No Pants Metro Ride is not political. The page says, helpfully, “the point of the day is not to ‘protest pants.'” Good to know. The event came full circle to our neighborhood with an afterparty at Nellie’s.
DC Historic Preservation Review Board Lacks Members
As a history major, I get excited whenever I read about history professionals being in demand. Last year Mayor Vince Gray dragged his feet on nominations for the Historic Preservation Review Board, and it looks like those delays are about to cause some big headaches. According to City Paper, two of Gray’s nominees have said they don’t want the position.
With other members’ terms expired or expiring, the nine-member board might be left with only one current representative. In a recent letter to the Mayor, Councilmember Tommy Wells reminded him that by law, the board must have experts in history, architectural history, and archeology, or risk losing its federal funding. “With our significant number of landmarks and historic districts, the critical role of the HPRB cannot be overemphasized,” Wells wrote.
