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| Haydee's sans tree. |
***What is a Tree's Least Favorite Month?: The tree box controversy in Mount Pleasant took a turn towards normalization last week. The mysterious removal of a tree in front of Haydee's Restaurant on Mount Pleasant Street was unexpected, to say the very least. And let's just say it wasn't removed by the city arborist. Anyway, not only was the tree removed, but so was the entire tree box. Just bricked over completely. No trace to the unaware.
But it appears that an attempt at amends is being made by the restaurant owners. The tree box (or something resembling it) has been rebuilt. And a tree will again inhabit the space sometime later this year. Hopefully after the month of Septiiiiimber. See that. See what I did there. September. You got it.
***Cabbies strike back: Taxi drivers in DC still dislike the time and distance meters which determine the cost of a cab fare. It's been just over two years since taxis in DC were forced to operate by the meter: you pay more for each incremental increase in distance and amount of time spent during travel. The meter system replaced the antiquated zone system in the summer of 2008.
Cabbies fought it and generally have lost every round with the city. But, they're aren't done. They've delivered over 1,000 petitions to United States Senator from Michigan, Carl Levin. They essentially want to revisit the genesis of the statute which gave the mayor authority to make the change. It was authored by Levin and embedded in the 2006 District Omnibus Budget Authorization.
***Pay More to Ride the Rails.... Eventually: I'm all kinds of confused about this, but essentially, Metro's new set of fare increases will not take full effect today as planned. Those of you using paper farecards won't won't incur the 25 cent "fee" for all rail trips until Tuesday. And the 20 cent peak-of-the-peak increase (for everyone) won't begin until Tuesday. And even then, we'll only be paying for the afternoon peak, 4-6:30pm. The software update dictating the morning peak increase won't be installed until later this August. Got all that?
