It’s so clichéd, but the passage of time is… something. Today is July 15, which means we’re halfway through the first month of the second half of the year. Next thing you know, you’re going to start seeing Christmas decorations on sale. Okay, what’s going on in this flaming dumpster town?
The Council of the District of Columbia has been very busy ahead of vacay, working on the budget (which was quite late because of, you know, *everything*) and there have been two very hot items on the docket: Initiatives 82 (on tipped wages) and 83 (on ranked choice voting and open primaries). For I-82, Martin Austermuhle shared a very interesting summary on both Ex-Twitter and BlueSky. Sharing a link from ThreadReader App so you can read it all in one cohesive place.
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen’s office shared an update today on the budget and you may want to read it (link here). Need a tl;dr? I got you: Paid family leave is spared, ranked-choice voting is in but open primaries are not; priorities include sustainability, fully funding DC Fire and EMS, MPD and the (beleaguered) Office of Unified Communications (a.k.a. 911). There is a whole section on what’s getting funded in Ward 6 that you don’t want to miss (yay, Eastern Market, Lovejoy Park and Rumsey are getting the updates they desperately need!).
A little bit of Eastern Market at the airport? You love to see it. Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the ribbon on the shop, featuring some of our favorites from the Heart of the Hill. WJLA
Double-Up Burger is open in the former Hiraya space in the 1200 block of H NE. PoPville
Eater takes a look at Sushi Sato, which recently opened on H Street NE.
And Della Barba is planning to use their patio for outdoor seating. Hill Rag
Real ones know Maketto is simply the best– so we’re not surprised by this paean to their chicken sandwich. WJLA
Funding for Throne bathrooms is gone and apparently that’s a free-for-all on toilet puns. Crappy groaners from the Washington Post and Axios.
And okay, this piece of news is mostly for those obsessed with reality TV, but the guy from Owning Manhattan, Ryan Serhant, is expanding his real estate business into Northern Virginia and the District. Approrpiately, Northern Virginia Magazine
Leaving you with a cartoon made by my younger kiddo, which illustrates the feeling of this week and this entire summer perfectly. On mobile? Pinch and zoom. On desktop? Zoom into the image!