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DC'S $415 MILLION BUDGET SURPLUS: TOPIC "A" AT TUESDAY'S Q&A CAFE

The cat's out of the bag. That cat being the announcement Mayor Vincent Gray planned to make tomorrow in our interview at The Q&A Cafe: DC has a $415 million budget surplus from 2012. It will be Topic A in our interview, which begins approximately 12:15 at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown. Please join us. And please, between now and then, send me your suggestions how the city should use the money. Spend it? Save it? Invest it? Truth is, the law may determine its fate. But why not discuss? Speculation is a lot of the money comes from photo enforcement tickets, the sizable inheritance tax paid by a Georgetown woman's estate, commercial property tax and a few other sources.

Again, what do you think?

DOES PRESIDENT OBAMA OWE DC A CHANCE AT STATEHOOD?

Where has President Obama been for the last four years on behalf of statehood for the city where he lives most of the time? A lot of people would tell you "in hiding." Sure, it's not his hometown, but after a first term here he must notice that it's a real American city with a citizenry denied the privileges that belong to all other Americans: elected representatives in the House and Senate who have votes that count. 

For the second term, Obama put the "Taxation Without Representation" license plate on his armored car, but is that as far as it will go? This will be one of the main topics we discuss on Tuesday with Mayor Vincent Gray at The Q&A Cafe. Seating begins at noon at the Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, the interview will begin between 12:15 and 12:30, and it will be wrapped up by 1:15. The fee is $38, which covers food, soft beverages, tax and tip. For reservations please send an email or phone Esmaralda Prifold at the Ritz. 202.912.4122.

Here's Harry Jaffe's take on the statehood issue for Washingtonian. 

MAYOR GRAY HAS AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Mayor Vincent Gray told me Sunday night at an inauguration party that he has an important news-making announcement which he'll discuss when I interview him next week at The Q&A Cafe. So, please make a reservation to be there. Smiling, he told me it is positive news, but he did not go into the details. He did say he hopes DC Cable will do a quick turn around to air the show, to which I said, "that's up to you. It's your channel." He laughed.

The Q&A Cafe tapes next Tuesday, January 29, at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown Hotel.  We begin seating at noon and generally wrap by 1:15. The fee is only $38, and that includes all food, soft beverages, tax and tip. For reservations, please email or phone Esmaralda Prifold  202-912-4121.

 

COUNTDOWN TO INAUGURATION 2013

In four days it will all be over and Washington can get back to slugging its way through winter, not to mention the partisan slugging that goes on hither and yon. But this weekend will be most of the time one big party that stretches from this evening through to the wee hours of Tuesday morning. There's something for everyone, including those of you who prefer to stay at home and watch it on TV. Back in the day, we'd go to Florida and do just that -- watch it on TV, when not sunbathing or splashing in an aquamarine pool. Not an option this year. The photo above is what Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House looked like on Wednesday at about noon. 

DO DC GOVERNMENT WORKERS PUT IN THE HARD HOURS?

                                            

On New Year's Eve, according to WRC-TV and other news reports, as many as 100 DC firefighters called in sick. A man died reportedly after waiting forty minutes for an ambulance. Now administrative changes have been ordered. What does Mayor Vincent Gray think of this episode, and what will he do about it? Were all the fire department employees actually ill, or does it speak to some other problem in the DC government? Do enough DC workers put in the hard hours? We will discuss this and more when Gray appears at The Q&A Cafe on Tuesday, January 29. Join us.

Seating begins at noon at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown. The fee is only $38 and that includes lunch, soft beverages, tax and tip. Dessert is courtesy of Georgetown Cupcake.  We will be done by 1:15. 

For reservations please write to Esmaralda Prifold. Or phone 202-912-4121.

ARE PHOTO ENFORCEMENT CAMERAS FAIR?

                      

What do you think of photo enforcement cameras? Are they safety devices or money makers? Mayor Vincent Gray has adjusted the fine rates, but is that enough? We'll discuss the issue with him at The Q&A CAFE on Tuesday, January 29. That and much more.

Seating begins at noon at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown. The fee is only $38 and that includes lunch, soft beverages, tax and tip. Dessert is courtesy of Georgetown Cupcake.  We will be done by 1:15. 

Am I begging you? Not exactly, but close. I can't do it without you. 

For reservations please write to Esmaralda Prifold. Or phone 202-912-4121.

 

Is DC Mayor Vince Gray Right to Take On Dan Snyder Over The Redskins Name?

Come to the Q&A Cafe on Tuesday, January 29, when we put that question to Mayor Vincent Gray. Can he win a name change and get the team back to DC, where it  belongs? Or does Dan Snyder have all the power, and do whatever he wants? Does Gray want to burden RGIII with this responsibility, too, as Mike Wise proposed (unfairly, I think)?  Among many other  questions. 

The date is Tuesday January 29. Seating begins at noon. The fee is only $38 and that includes lunch, soft beverages, tax and tip. Dessert is courtesy of Georgetown Cupcake.  We will be done by 1:15. 

Am I begging you? Not exactly, but close. I can't do it without you. 

For reservations please write to Esmaralda Prifold. Or phone 202-912-4121.

 

THE Q&A CAFE ON TUESDAY, JAN 29 W/ MAYOR VINCENT GRAY

MAYOR GRAY AT THE Q&A CAFE 3 YEARS AGO

Please make your reservations now for our first Q&A Cafe of 2013, when the guest will be DC Mayor Vincent Gray, who is beginning his third year in office. There is so much to talk about, including the Redskins, photo enforcement tickets, downtown redevelopment, crime, education and coping with a Justice Department corruption investigation. 

I hope you'll make it. We need an audience to keep the show going. The Ritz Carlton doesn't do this for me as a charity case. I need to produce bodies in the chairs, and I also need to give you a good show. I will that. So please come.

The date is Tuesday January 29. Seating begins at noon. The fee is only $38 and that includes lunch, soft beverages, tax and tip. Dessert is courtesy of Georgetown Cupcake.  We will be done by 1:15. 

Am I begging you? Not exactly, but close. I can't do it without you. 

For reservations please write to Esmaralda Prifold. Or phone 202-912-4121.

THANK YOU. Sincerely. 

Richard Nixon's 100th Birthday Party

HARRY SHEARER AND ED NIXON

Only in Washington. Ed Nixon, Richard Nixon's younger brother, at the Mayflower Hotel bar with Harry Shearer, who portrays Nixon in a British television production, "Nixon's The One." Shot this after we attended Richard Nixon's 100th birthday party. A dear friend, Harry traveled to DC from Santa Monica to be my date for the occasion. It was a reunion of the Nixon Administration, or at least those who are still with us. Harry and I ended up in the Mayflower Bar with Nixon, Steve Bull, Steve's wife, former Navy Secretary John Lehman and others from that time. Oh, what a night. 

Fred Thompson and Harry Shearer, the only two professional actors at the dinner, "professional" being the relevant world. Fred's a long-time friend, and a sports fan, and so we talked RGIII. What he had to say will be on washingtonian.com tomorrow. 

Henry Kissinger at the pre-dinner cocktail party. Later, after he ended the conversation,  I asked him who he had been talking to. He said, "my former secretary." Kinda sweet. When I wanted to talk some more, he said, "walk with me." And I did, because it's one of the great "I'm in charge" lines. I then used it twice myself over the course of the evening. "Walk with me," and they did. 

Talking Inauguration 2013 on NewsChannel 8 Today

 

A good TV conversation with Natasha Barrett about the inaugural festivities that are just around the corner. Today is the first day in 6 weeks  that I have not felt the effects of a lingering cold or sinus infection. I still look under the weather, but don't feel it anymore. After many different remedies it was the Z-Pak that knocked it out. Hooray. 

Who's To Blame for #RGIII's Knee Injury? We Have A List.

 

WATCH THE FANFARE WHEN RGIII WAS INTRODUCED AT SUNDAY'S GAME

In today's citywide and, among sports fans, nationwide debate, there's a lot of fingerpointing at who's to blame for Robert Grffin III's knee injury. I have the list of cited culprits here at washingtonian.com. Please post your comments there.

Troubling End to Terrific Season

Just because he's gifted it doesn't mean we have to kill him. It was such a terrific season -- over all -- and will be even better in the fall. But still, I was at the game, RGIII was limping in the first half. Shanahan should have pulled him at the half -- no matter what Griffin wanted. Kirk Cousins would have had a moment to prepare mentally, as would the team. 

It's over. A lot of Washingtonians will be in a bad mood tomorrow, and then they'll snap out of it and realize the Redskins had a booming run, and spring training is just around the corner, and any day the Caps may be back on the ice. 

The Year of the Staycation

THE CHESAPEAKE BAY CAN BE AN EXCELLENT STAYCATION

For several weeks I've been thinking that this is the year the Staycation will be the trend across the country. This morning, in a report on rapidly rising travel costs, NBC News as much as said the same thing. Having just returned from a week-long trip, I can testify to how ambitious and expensive it is to have even a modest journey. After making monthly payments on the mortgage, the car, utilities, insurance and a few other essential bills, I barely have money left to buy food, and certainly not clothing or other indulgences, much less consider a holiday. Hey, but at least I'm employed. No small thing. And I created a college fund for my son 15 years ago. (Phew!) Honestly, I don't know how people get by who have 2, 3 or 4 children. I can't imagine.

The trip to Austin and New Orleans was possible because I raced to consignment and sold as much of my stuff that would sell, used points for airline tickets, got a good price on a good hotel in Austin (the Stephen Austin Intercontinental) and we stayed with friends in New Orleans. For meals we sought affordable quality. We did the $20.12 prix fix lunch at three of NoLa's "grand dames" - Galatoire's, Antoine's and Commander's Palace - and these meals were delicious. Also, martinis were 25-cents. So we had that and it was good. But one step over the line of restraint and the trip would have been unaffordable.

I know I'm not alone. At a recent lunch with a successful Washington business owner I was frankly shocked to learn that her current financial plight is the same as mine: simply not able to make ends meet due to the rising costs of everything. What we're each earning is good, but income is not enough, and in her profession -- the food industry -- the forecast is not promising. She's put her home up for sale.

This brings us back to the Staycation. Done right and well it can be as rewarding as any lavish getaway.  Certainly innovative. The secret is to be into it, to embrace it as an opportunity, a bounty of possibilities. And by Staycation I don't mean take a week off but at home, doing chores and watching "America Idol" at night. You gotta go away from the zone of routine ... only not too far away, and nothing that involves planes or trains. 

If I were a DC hotel manager, rather than going overboard in promoting ridiculous $40K+ inauguration suite packages that aren't the draw this time around, I would be thinking of ways to lure in the many residents of the Metro area for an affordable but quality spring or summer holiday spree. A three-day weekend at the right place, at the right price, with a few perks, can fully rejuvenate the body and mind without slaying the wallet. 

There are borders to a Staycation. For me the measure is any getaway that is down the street or within a 2-3 hour drive. So, that could include Colonial Williamsburg, Annapolis, Middleburg and environs, a cabin on Skyline Drive, the region around St. Mary's or Solomons Island, Maryland; Baltimore, the Eastern Shore; journeys that can involve raft trips, canoeing, hiking, climbing (Old Rag remains a fun challenge), sailing, antiquing, good food and drink, historic touring, and plain old chill time, reading a good book. 

If a person were to decide to do an at-home Staycation there would be rules. For example, no chores. No going through the mail. Turn off the smartphone. Treat the house as if it is a rental, and behave as a tourist in one's own home, neighborhood and town. Movie matinees. Theater.  Maybe some meals out -- but at new places -- and stock up on some fun foods and appealing recipes to indulge in with a little time on your hands.

Every time I get together with a friend who is also trying to survive this Great Recession, we say, "it has to be over soon." And then it just seems to get worse. That's because businesses that weren't raising prices now have no choice but to make up for their losses. It's like the payroll tax. It's make-up time. As people have less  expendable income, the cost of living is more. We're living through a time that will be looked back on the way we look back on the Great Depression. People got through that - somehow. We will get through this - somehow, too. But a Staycation might help to preserve sanity.

(I'll have more on this theme in coming weeks.)

What the Redskins and the Nationals Have in Common

JAYSON WERTH AT BAT

It's a big weekend for Washington sports fans, because the Redskins are in the NFC play-offs. This reminds me of October, when the Nationals won the NL East pennant. Today for Washingtonian I took a look at what the Redskins and Nationals have in common, and how we as fans benefit. Please give it a read. 

DC's Most Expensive Gas Station "Is Coming to Georgetown."

My source on this is good and so I'm going to go with it. Let me take you back to November and the closing of the Watergate Exxon, also known as -- depending on the newspaper -- Washington's most expensive gas station, the world's most expensive gas station or, in The Washington Post, "The World's Most Famous Gas Station." (their caps). 

My source, an "industry" insider, said the owner has signed a lease to take over the empty gas station at the corner of Wisconsin and Q Streets in Georgetown. "The most expensive gas staton is coming to Georgetown," said the source Or, at least the owner of same. The Wisconsin Avenue space formerly was Georgetown Auto Service, before a fire gutted the building. 

John Kelly in April wrote a wonderful backstory about the Watergate Exxon and its history of ownership. My source said the high gas price at the Watergate was based on sky high rent. Georgetown's not known for low rents. That corner could go for upwards of $20-25K a month. 

Apparently the new service station won't be an Exxon -- because it will be across the street from the long-time Georgetown Exxon. I'm told it may be a Shell franchise. Whatever. What matters is: will the price of a gallon of gasoline be the highest in the city, the nation, the world?

We should know soon, because the new owner hopes to be open well before spring.

Ice Skating In Georgetown W/ The Penguin

If you don't love this photo you have a hard heart. It's a young person, new to ice skating, finding her legs with the help of a big plastic penguin. According to a mother, the Georgetown Waterfront Park skate shop has only a few of these help mates, but they do help the beginning skater. I wish they made them for big people, too. 

 

Georgetown Waterfront on New Year's Day

I worked hard on this photo (to begin, I woke up...). Actually, all credit goes to the iPhone 4S Hipsta app. Does it need a caption? No. Just a beautiful New Year's Day morning at the Georgetown Waterfront Park. Not windy, not too cold, moody sky, still some color in the landscape because we have not yet had a hard freeze. Thus, the rower below out in his scull. 

Happy New Year w/ Oysters and Lobsters

Despite few dollars, the fiscal cliff and other omens of woe,  and thanks to the collective spirit of friends, we began the New Year appropriately - with full-on decadence. Sliced Scottish Smoked Salmon on toast points with condiments of chopped egg, onion, and capers, accompanied by Russian vodka; Malpeque's on the half shell with caviar, accompanied by premier cru French chablis, and home steamed lobsters with lots of drawn butter and lemon, accompanied by New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Side dishes were homemade corn pudding, and kale with sausage and apples. Dessert: chocolate cake, of course. The oysters and lobsters came from Cannons and were delicious. The sausage, also yummy, from Stachowski's. The eggs and kale from the Palisades Farmers Market

ONE OF THE GUESTS, A MAINER, DID THIS WITH THE LOBSTER, A BUTTER BATH

ONE END OF THE TABLE BEFORE WE WERE SEATED

Huffington Post ran a terrific health story in which it said the secret was to enjoy the holiday indulgences with abandon, accept the bothersome "holiday bloat" and then return to healthy eating habits after today, or tomorrow. That's one of my New Year's plans.