Wednesday, September 15, 2010

what's up the pike: it's all over now

UniTher Stools

Finally, the primaries are over! The results from the Board of Elections are still unofficial, and it looks like several races are still very close. (I've got my fingers crossed for you, George!)

My apologies to former D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, who either flubbed his campaign - or, perhaps, the schools in D.C. are so bad that people can't tell things have actually gotten better - and former Republican gubernatorial candidate/cake purveyor Brian Murphy, who lost to former Gov. Bob Ehrlich. And here's hoping that Bobby Haircut remains a former governor.

In the meantime, though:

- Have you ever wanted to run a 5k on a highway? Now's your chance, on the InterCounty Connector this October before the toll road finally opens early next year. Better lace up your running shoes, because this is the only time you'll be on the ICC for free.

- HowChow reviews Soretti's Ethiopian Cuisine in Burtonsville, one of my most-frequented eateries in East County and one of the only reasons to head down Route 198 anymore.

- Cyndy at Photo-Cyn-Thesis admires the bright skies over Glenmont.

- Jerry McCoy wonders if he should move due to MoCo's restrictive liquor laws. Prince George's County never looked better!

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2 comments:

Cyndy said...

Hey Dan, thanks for the shout out. I like your photo of the stools!

Bossi said...

Now that I'm a DC resident I get to care about them there mayoral things... except I'm also not a Democrat, helping to remain more-or-less neutral on the primaries.

I like Fenty because he's had a good track record of action & simply getting things done, which is great for smaller-scale projects which can be easily adjusted or removed if it turns out they weren't as good idea as hoped for.

I also like Gray for the exact opposite reason: he gives the persona of being more organised around thinking through things first... which may be aggravating for the aforementioned smaller-scale projects; but could be a good thing for larger-scale investments such as some of the more complex infrastructure projects going on (the streetcars being among them).

Ultimately I find it tough to really discern where each varies on the issues, hence it's their processes and style of communicating with the public which (in my opinion) were where the votes really mattered.

My only strike against Fenty was that over the past couple years it seems that they've picked up a more closed door position on a variety of issues. In that sense, Gray had the upper hand in he hasn't had the chance (yet) to demonstrate his communications style... hence we could be in for a continuation of a more closed door sentiment; or perhaps we may now be returning to what Fenty back when he was first elected.

In my opinion, it's the communications & processes which were really the deciding factor; and from speaking with friends & neighbors (which I'll concede is hardly a statistically valid sample size; nevermind its inherent bias), it seems I'm at least not the only one with this mentality.

The question of Rhee is certainly a valid one, but I'm a bit surprised to see so many fingerpointing her as the *sole* reason when it's not even yet determined how Gray will run the schools. If he keeps Rhee, then the schools argument pretty much goes right at the window.