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Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 9:18 a.m.

A Georgetown student assaulted in second suspected anti-gay incident

by Amy D'Onofrio

After a female Georgetown student was allegedly assaulted last week over her perceived sexual orientation, a male student is now recovering from another bias-related attack, The Hoya reported yesterday.

According to a Public Safety Alert from the Georgetown Department of Public Safety, witnesses told DPS they saw a student walking near 36th and N Streets assaulted by an unknown male early Sunday morning.

“Immediately prior to the assault, the suspect asked the victim several times, ‘Are you a homo?’ The suspect fled the scene after physically assaulting the victim,” the report states.

The student was taken to Georgetown Hospital and has been treated for his injuries and released. Witnesses reported the incident around 1:32 a.m. Sunday and  the suspect in the crime is described as a white male wearing red and white face paint and a black leather jacket.

Metropolitan Police were notified of the incident and the incident summary from DPS says an investigation is ongoing.

About 50 students held a demonstration at Georgetown’s Red Square Sunday night to protest the reported assaults, according to The Hoya. Members of GU Pride also held a meeting to discuss campus security and the University’s response to the incidents.

Anyone with information about this incident or others can contact DPS at (202) 687-4343.

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Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 8:16 p.m.

Georgetown student assaulted while wearing gay rights shirt

by Amy D'Onofrio

A female Georgetown student was harassed and assaulted earlier this week while wearing a t-shirt supporting gay rights, The Hoya reported.

Georgetown’s Department of Public Safety categorized the crime as a “Hate or Bias Related incident.” According to the DPS Public Safety Alert, two unknown white males made derogatory comments to the student based on her perceived sexual orientation.

The assault occurred Tuesday night just after 9 p.m. while the student was walking on Canal Road near the entrance to the Georgetown campus.

“The complainant reported that she was wearing a shirt with a logo indicating support for gay rights. The suspects would not allow the complainant to pass by, then took her book bag and taunted her. They hit her on her upper torso, pushed her to the pavement, and struck her with the book bag. The suspects left the scene heading west on Canal Road towards Foxhall Road,” according to the alert.

The complete version of the PSA is available on the DPS Web site.

GU Pride members and other students planned to wear t-shirts Friday supporting gay rights similar to the one the student was wearing at the time of the attack.

Metropolitan Police is now in charge of the incident’s investigation. MPD’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit will be brought in to help with the investigation, WJLA reports.

The incident occurred just a day before President Barack Obama signed a bill to extend hate crime protections.

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Friday, Oct. 23, 2009 5:45 p.m.

A handful of local streets will close for weekend races

by Amy D'Onofrio

Two races in the area will block off some roadways near campus temporarily.

The Sister Cities 5K race will start at 9 a.m. Saturday morning, impacting several roads around campus, according to a GW campus advisory.

Runners will use 19th, 20th, 21st, E, F, Eye streets and Pennsylvania and Virginia avenues, NW. A map of the course route is available here.

The race starts and ends at the intersection of 21st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. A festival is scheduled to follow the race from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On Sunday, runners in the Marine Corps Marathon will also create street closures near Foggy Bottom and Mount Vernon campuses.

Part of Foxhall Road near the Vern will be closed, and runners will make their way down Constitution Avenue, a few blocks from the Foggy Bottom campus. A map of the full course is available here.

As noted in an e-mail advisory to students, the Vern Express will alter its schedule on both Saturday and Sunday.

Between  8 a.m. and noon Saturday and 6 a.m. and noon on Sunday, the Vern Express will likely bypass the stops on E Street, G Street, and in front of the Hall on Virginia Avenue.

The e-mail notes that alternate routes may be used and delays are possible.

The Fulbright Hall stop at 23rd and H streets will be the main pick up and drop-off stop in Foggy Bottom, and all Mount Vernon Campus stops will stay in use.

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Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009 5:50 p.m.

Ben of Ben’s Chili Bowl dies at 82

by Sarah Scire

Ben Ali, the founder of landmark D.C. restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl, passed away from congestive heart failure on Wednesday night.

bens

Ben Ali opened Ben's Chili Bowl with his wife in 1958. Anne Wernikoff/Assistant Photo Editor

Ali, who was 82 years old, opened Ben’s Chili Bowl in 1958 and the restaurant has served as a gathering place for U Street’s vibrant black community ever since, with the walls covered with photographs of celebrities and politicians enjoying the diner’s signature chili, hot dogs and half-smokes.

The Hatchet has named Ben’s Chili Bowl as a “must see” and their chili-topped half-smokes as a “must try” for students for years, most recently in August. Reporters and photographers also captured the reactions of Ben’s Chili Bowl patrons when Barack Obama won the presidential election and the eatery’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The Washington Post also has an interesting article on Ali and the history of Ben’s Chili Bowl here.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 10:53 p.m.

D.C. Circulator route through Georgetown will stay intact

by Amy D'Onofrio

Planned cuts to the D.C. Circulator bus route into Georgetown have been scrapped, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) is expected to announce tomorrow morning.

According to The Washington Post, Fenty is scheduled to go to the Circulator’s stop at Whitehaven Place in Northwest D.C. and make the announcement to preserve the stop and others along the Georgetown-Union Station route.

Plans to stop service Oct. 4 on Wisconsin Avenue north of M Street were met with objection from neighbors after it was announced by the District Department of Transportation last week.

The cuts were intended to save money, but neighbors said the reduction of the Circulator’s bus route would hurt the area that has no Metrorail stop and limited Metro bus service.

Rides on the Circulator cost $1.

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Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009 11:27 a.m.

National Airport, Pentagon City Metro stops will close Labor Day weekend

by The GW Hatchet
If you were planning on going to Pentagon City Mall or taking a flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this weekend, you won’t be able to ride a Metro train to your destination.
From 9:30 p.m. this Friday until 5 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, the Metrorail stations for Pentagon City, Crystal City and the National Airport on the Yellow and Blue Lines will be closed for track work, according to a Metro press release.
Work includes replacing switches and 2,000 feet of rail, as well as performing concrete and deck joint repairs to the National Airport’s aerial structure.
Free shuttle bus service will be available to take customers from the Pentagon Transit Center to the three closed Metro stops, as well as to the Braddock Road station and Franconia-Springfield station.
On Labor Day, Metrorail will operate on a Sunday schedule, with stations open from 7 a.m. to midnight.
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Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 2:45 p.m.

Metro will begin wireless expansion this weekend

by Gabrielle Bluestone

Metro riders will soon be able to carry their phone calls underground, thanks to hardware installations beginning this weekend that will enable Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile to provide coverage at Metro stations.

The installations will occur in phases, beginning at the 20 busiest stations, and are part of a $1.5 billion stimulus bill passed by Congress last year. The first 20 stations are expected to be outfitted with coverage by Oct. 16, according to the Metro Web site. The entire Metro system is expected to be completed by October 2012.

Currently only Verizon customers and Sprint customers who pick up the Verizon signal get service underground. For other users, the expansion may be spotty at first because the signal will only be available at the 20 stations, leaving the other 27 stations and tunnels without coverage.

The wireless signals will be provided from “large, cabinet-like enclosures that will house the hardware at the ends of station platforms or on mezzanines, in areas that will not impede the flow of customers or impact the safe operation of the Metrorail system,” according to a Metro statement.

The first 20 stations that will receive coverage  will be the Ballston-MU, Bethesda, Crystal City, Columbia Heights, Dupont Circle, Farragut West, Farragut North, Federal Triangle, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, L’Enfant Plaza, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian, and Union Station stops.

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Saturday, July 25, 2009 2:06 p.m.

Foggy Bottom Metro station affected by faulty train detection circuit

by Gabrielle Bluestone

Metro officials are monitoring train control circuits at the Foggy Bottom Metro station and five other stops after the system failed to detect the presence of trains, the Washington Post reported earlier this week.

The Metro system has come under intense scrutiny following a Red Line collision last month that killed nine passengers. The circuit at the site of the accident had been malfunctioning since September 2007, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Metro officials have now identified six problem circuits, including one located at the Foggy Bottom stop, and disabled some of them, according to the Post’s report.

Disabling the circuits causes delays up and down the lines because the trains must pass through one at a time at maximum speeds of 15 miles per hour, according to the Metro Web site. Trains still communicate with and are visible to Metro controllers in the Operations Control Center, according to the site.

Metro has posted a video taken at the command center to illustrate how trains pass through disabled circuits.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:31 p.m.

Water main break closes part of 23rd Street

by Gabrielle Bluestone
A water main break occurred at the corner of 23rd and I streets early this morning. Repairs are expected to be completed by 4:30 p.m. Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

A water main break occurred at the corner of 23rd and I streets early this morning. Repairs are expected to be completed by 4:30 p.m. Andrew Nacin/Hatchet photographer

A water main break occurred outside the Foggy Bottom Metro station sometime early this morning, D.C. Water and Sewer Authority officials said Tuesday.

Twenty-third street is currently blocked off to cars between H Street and Washington Circle, where a firetruck is parked to block incoming traffic. Pedestrians can still travel around the site, and the Foggy Bottom Metro station is operating.

The exact time that the eight-inch water main broke is unclear, but WASA safety specialist David Lyles said it occurred before 6:00 a.m. University Police Department officers on the scene said they got a call around 6:45 a.m., though they believe it may have occurred before that time.

According to a GW campus advisory, repairs are expected to be completed around 4:30 p.m. Lyles said it may be hard to estimate the time because the WASA employees will have to break up the asphalt on the street, dig down to the main break, assess the situation and replace the pipe.

Though buses that operate on 23rd Street are currently impacted by the break, the Ross Hall parking garage is open, according to the advisory. It must be entered from the H Street side of 23rd Street and may require GWorld identification. The University parking garage is also open.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:20 a.m.

Foggy Bottom Metro station will receive update in Red Line overhaul

by Gabrielle Bluestone
The escalators at the Foggy Bottom Metro station, which have often been out of service in the past year, will be renovated next year. Shown above, commuters wrapped around the block in November as only one escalator was in service. Anne Wernikoff/assistant photo editor

The escalators at the Foggy Bottom Metro station, which have often been out of service in the past year, will be renovated next year. Shown above, commuters wrapped around the block in November as only one escalator was in service. Anne Wernikoff/assistant photo editor

The Foggy Bottom Metro station will receive new escalators, a staircase and a canopy over the entrance as part of a $177 million Red Line rehabilitation project.

Though the station is not on the Red Line, the updates were included because of necessity, said Metro spokeswoman Taryn McNeil. The Blue Line phase of the Metro overhaul won’t take place for another three to four years, McNeil said.

“We’re adding it to the Red Line phase instead of waiting for the Blue Line phase because the escalators are breaking down,” McNeil said.

The project is slated to begin early next year, spokesperson Candace Smith said.

The Foggy Bottom escalators have often been out of service in the last year, and Metro spokespersons have previously said they are hard to fix because replacement parts are hard to come by.

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