Just how many people will descend on our fair city for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States? That's the question on everyone's mind this week, and much like all other matters inaugural right now, no one has any friggin' clue what the answer is. Yesterday's lead Metro story from the Post was about how Mayor Adrian Fenty wants to open up the National Mall to spectators, something that's......

If you work anywhere near the intersection of Connecticut Ave. and K Street NW, you've been following the spectacular demolition of the two buildings formerly located at 1701 and 1725 K Street NW earlier this year. Now that the corner is a big, gaping hole in a prime downtown location, we've been eagerly awaiting the word on when construction would begin on the new 12-story office complex that is planned to replace it. But this......

To follow up with those of you who reacted strongly to our photo gallery yesterday of the abandoned St. Elizabeths West Campus and the plans that are in the works to relocate the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard there, Mayor Adrian Fenty and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton held an impromptu press conference this morning to unveil the city's plans for its share of the nearly 200 acres of land in Southeast......

While the East Campus of St. Elizabeths hospital is owned by the District and still in use as a mental health facility, the West Campus, built by Congress in 1852 (originally under the name Government Hospital for the Insane), was by and large abandoned by 2002. It's still under the control of the U.S. General Services Administration, but few people these days get a chance to explore the abandoned 176 acre hospital grounds, which through......

Arlington institution Dr. Dremo's closed its doors and auctioned off everything that wasn't nailed down back in January, but the building and its neighbors (the old Taco Bell, etc.) have stood empty since then, awaiting demolition to make way for a new condo development. Well George Whelan sent in these photos showing that demolition has finally begun. Most of the surrounding buildings are being taken down today, and one construction worker said he had been......

Flickr user erin_m noticed the new fencing and signs up around the U.S. Capitol, 118 days before the 2009 inauguration. Indeed, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) is scheduled to ceremoniously hammer the first stake into the inaugural platform today, the first step in a four-month construction project. Feinstein heads the Senate's inaugural panel. Every four years, the District gets turned upside down by plans for the presidential inauguration. Construction has already begun to repair sidewalks......

For those of you headed out of town for the weekend, take note if you plan to drive out the city over the Francis Case Memorial Bridge after 9 p.m. tonight. Just got this from DDOT:The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is scheduled to install a new overhead sign on Interstate 395, at the Francis Case Memorial Bridge, on Friday, September 19, 2008. All of the work will be conducted overnight, between 9pm and 4am,......

If you ran in to a lot of backed up traffic downtown early this morning, the Post explains why: D.C. firefighters rescued a construction worker on the ninth floor of an 11-story building at 1999 K Street NW. The worker fractured his right ankle after a fall at about 7:30 a.m., and because the building does not have working elevators, fire crews had to use a construction crane to get the man down to the......

Photo of cranes in the D.C. skyline by Rich Renomeron WTOP is reporting that emergency crane inspections are already underway in the District after a deadly crane collapse in New York City this morning. The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is asking construction companies with cranes to call (202) 442-9557 to help schedule inspections. In what could be seen as an upside to D.C.'s building height restrictions, none most of the 42......

Photo by Sommer Mathis Last fall we reported that builders in the District would be required to construct covered pedestrian walkways beginning in October. Since then, we've definitely seen a few of the new, safer passages around town, but we've also run into more than a handful of others, such as the one pictured above at 11th and K Streets NW, that still force pedestrians to cross the street to use a proper sidewalk......

Major roadwork is scheduled on the Outer Loop starting Friday night and lasting until Sunday afternoon, which will reduce traffic to one lane in preparation for next week's shift to moving traffic onto the second span of the Wilson Bridge. In addition to the lane closures, ramps at the Route 1 Interchange to and from the Outer Loop will be closed, and detours from the Telegraph Road Interchange and the Springfield Interchange will be in......

Image on the left, taken the morning of the Eastern Market fire, April 30, 2007. At right, the same view in the evening on April 15, 2008. Both photos by erin m It was one year ago today that District residents awoke to the sad news that a fire had torn through Eastern Market's South Hall, displacing the many food vendors who called the historic building home and shuttering a favorite weekend destination. And......

In the department of bad timing, at the end of last week the Department of Parks and Recreation sent around a press release notifying the community that the play courts, plaza, and playground at the Stead Recreation Center at 1625 P Street NW will temporarily close beginning April 30, 2008. The city plans to construct a brand new playground, but the rec center itself as well as the athletic field will remain open during construction......

Not a lot of details on this just yet, but Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes just sent around an email alerting neighborhood lists that T Street NW is closed to traffic at and around 14th Street due to a construction worker having fallen off the roof of a building he was working on. Units from the MPD are already on the scene. If you're nearby and see anything that might be relevant to our readers,......

Another holiday weekend, another total mess on Metro revolving around fixing the sagging platforms at Metro Center. WMATA is alerting customers to add an additional 30 minutes of travel time to every trip on the Red, Blue and Orange lines this weekend due to the Metro Center platform work. As you may recall from the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend, this means all Red line trains will share one track between the Farragut......

>> The 1930s-era Hecht's building in Northeast has been bought by a Philadelphia developer who plans to incorporate the historic structure into a new retail hub off New York Avenue. [WaPo] >> D.C.’s State Education Office established new criteria for free- and reduced-price-meal programs in an effort to increase enrollment. [Examiner] >> Construction has begun on Alexandria's 167-acre Potomac Yard development. [Washington Business Journal] >> The death of musician Casey Calvert last month outside......

The Metro board didn't spend their entire day on the fare hike issue Thursday. They also voted to spend $450,000 to develop a proposal to add an eastern entrance to the Rosslyn station. Metro says the new entrance would include three new high-speed elevators, an underground station mezzanine and passageway connection, and an emergency stairway. Since the preliminary plans are still to come, the precise location of the entrance is still unknown, especially considering how......

>> "More than 50 nonunionized workers rallied against the new Nationals ballpark this morning, angry that more District residents did not receive construction jobs." [WaPo] >> "I saw firsthand the fragile relationship that exists between Mayor Fenty and the City Council Members. I heard tales of a delayed Comprehensive Annual Financial Review , rising murder rates and a Chief of Police who feels burdened by a system that won't help her, proposals to close......

After a fire gutted Eastern Market last April, the stretch of 7th Street SE adjacent to the market building was closed off on weekends to accommodate vendors, construction of the temporary East Hall and reconstruction of the South Hall. In an interview on WTOP (link to audiostream) last week, Ward 6 Council member Tommy Wells said he wants to keep 7th Street that way. The Hill picked up the story on Wednesday, and the Hilleast......

The folks over at Dulles Metro extension are breaking out the construction tools … and the credit cards. $900 million of the $2.83 billion price tag of the initial 11.6-mile leg is in that Transportation Department spending bill tied up in Congress and under threat of veto by President Bush. But with or without the money, officials plan to start work, reports The Examiner. Is it just us, or does this violate everything you ever......

Good Morning, D.C. Remember the news we told you about back in August, about an investigation into a potential prostitution ring at D.C. firehouses? Well D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin acknowledged yesterday under fire from the D.C. Council that "sex for overtime" allegations in his department are "potentially true." The Council also expressed concern about the abnormally high rate of disciplinary action against African American firefighters in the department. African Americans were the subjects of......

Good morning, Washington. Not too upset about the coming Metro fare hike, are we? WJLA is reporting that only four people showed up to last night's hearing on the measure. Of course, the meeting was held way out in Reston and was only the first of six opportunities that Metro riders will have to voice their opinion on the price increase. Maybe you're just biding your time. Tax Scandal Grows Even Bigger: This is......

Exciting things are happening to the Nationals this off-season. As you can see from Clark Construction Camera, the new baseball field is complete. The grass is Kentucky Bluegrass, which "is cut a bit longer and slows the ball." Hopefully the team didn't choose this type of grass because they refuse to acquire a quality center fielder this off-season. According the Mayor Fenty, the new stadium is both on time and on budget. Season ticket holders......

Good morning, Washington. In case you didn't believe us when we first told you that this tax office corruption scandal was going to get bigger and badder as the week went on, just check out the trio of stories on offer from the Post this morning on the widening scandal. First and foremost, it turns out Harriette Walters and Diane Gustus allegedly worked together to steal $4 million more than originally thought, bringing the grand......

Local LGBT activists are upset over a document distributed by the Washington Nationals, according to City Desk. The document details the team's Vendor Procurement Program and features Major League Baseball's affirmative action policy, which includes this portion:The Licensee shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment or against any service recipient or applicant for services because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disable veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status,......

>> The Nationals might go ahead and pay to change the name of the Navy Yard metro stop themselves. [WTOP] >> Foxhall Road is closed to through traffic from Reservoir Road to Nebraska Avenue until Thursday, October 25, 2007 due to construction. [DDOT] >> Police make arrest in ten year old murder case. [WaPo] >> President Bush called the Dalai Lama a “universal symbol of peace and tolerance” during his ceremony to receive a......

>> A police officer from the Seventh District is claiming his commander ordered him to give special treatment to a member of Mayor Fenty's staff who was caught talking on her cell phone while driving. [Examiner] >> "District Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials are investigating the death this morning of a recruit who became ill during training exercises yesterday." [WaPo] >> AOL plans to cut 2,000 more jobs, including 750 from their Dulles offices.......

Written by DCist contributor Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Last week in our “revisiting sites we’ve walked by a hundred times" series we presented the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This week, we’ll look at that huge phallus in the exact center of the original D.C. map -- the Washington Monument. Screaming nothing but glory and testament, it is the classic D.C. monument. But we know its background isn’t as simple as its geometric profile. The National Park Service commissioned......

Once again Penn Quarter Living is on the ball with a newsworthy neighborhood post. They link to a Downtown Neighborhood Association announcement that Douglas Development has been negotiating with Whole Foods Market to lease them store space on 7th Street between E and D Streets NW. This is the same space that Balducci's was briefly considering before deciding against the move last year. Balducci's retreat from the location was met with a lot of desperate......

Good morning, Washington. We have to admit it — we have a soft spot for cheerleader-related crime. And this is a good one: the AP (via WTOP) reports on the case of Anna Lois Miles, a cheerleading coach who is charged with holding an illegal gambling event to raise money to... wait for it... repay bail money she borrowed from the parents of a girl she coached after being arrested for writing bad checks!......