The Atlantic has a short (true!) story about DC politics:

“It’s almost like the government’s imposing its will on its residents,” Trayon White, the D.C. council member for Ward 8, said at the council’s June 6 legislative meeting. He wasn’t talking about a proposed highway, a subway station, a power plant, or—perish the thought—an apartment building. He was talking about trees: specifically, three linden trees on Xenia Street planted a few years ago by D.C.’s Urban Forestry Division. To my surprise, the legislative body of a major American city experiencing escalating homelessness and a serious spike in violent crime dedicated a quarter of its time that day to discussing three trees.

To be clear, he wants the linden trees removed! For context: Ward 8 has a single grocery store which may be closed due to increasing costs of security.

ᔥMarginal Revolution

Back when I had to commute from Baltimore to Bethesda via DC’s Union Station every day (don’t ask) I would obsess about which train car I should enter so that I exit just in front of the right escalator. Yesterday, a Good Samaritan and fellow commute optimizer posted the layouts of every DC metro station to the Washington DC subreddit. If only I could send this back to my 2014 self!

A tornado warning for DC, and another day of 80mph winds. The one las week was a doozy! What was the micro.blog climate emoji, again? 🧨?

Update: It was fine.

I’ve been down on D.C. recently so I’d like to make one thing clear: it is a great city to live in, work in, and visit, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise (you know who they are).

One of the biggest culture shocks international visitors have when coming to the US — myself from 15 years ago included — is the tipping culture. Sure, I would round up the bill to save myself from carrying coins, or if I was feeling particularly generous leave a small bill or two, but it was neither expected nor required back home. So I cheered when DC voters passed Initiative 82 which would eliminate the “special” minimum wage for tipped workers — a whooping $5.05 per hour — as a step towards one day abolishing tipping altogether. Of course, some people are not happy about the consequences.

Walking through Hillwood yesterday was too much so I had to tone it down.

In a scene right out of The Wire, a man was shot while watching a soccer game in Adams Morgan, right next to our kids' old elementary school. In fact, had we not moved a few months ago, it would have been their current ES — this happened not 500 feet from our old back yard, as the crow files.

So anyway, if you cut the police budget, crime goes up. Who knew? (And yes, this continues to annoy.)

“A fixer-upper in Georgetown is on sale for $50,000. It’s a wall."

The perfect headline for the perfect DC story. Washington real estate, ladies and gentlemen.

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is a favorite spot of ours which we have visited frequently but never when the lotus flowers were in bloom. Well, until now.

And it was OK — having a new phone helped — but we have not, in fact, been missing much except for the crowds. April is still the best month to visit, especially for those suffering from trypophobia. Not to be confused with trypanophpobia, as the Wikipedia article notes helpfully.

Pictured below is Nelumbo lutea, or the American lotus, North America’s only native lotus species.

The ceiling of underground D.C. Metro stations is the rare piece of brutalist architecture I enjoy. It’s the commuters’ cathedral.