Breakfast links: Trees and tickets

Save your trees

Casey Trees urges you to water your trees, which need 25 gallons of water a week to stay alive and haven’t been getting it.

Business cuts tree

Haydee’s Restaurant in Mount Pleasant cut down a tree on the sidewalk without permits, possibly to make room for a sidewalk cafe. On the Mt. Pleasant forum, some have called for a boycott of Haydee’s, while Jack McKay suggests better lighting and a cafe would be better than the somewhat anemic tree. (Prince of Petworth)

DC leaders and traffic infractions

Vincent Gray had an unpaid ticket for driving on the shoulder of the Beltway, which he cleared up just before the current campaign and claims he thought had been paid (Post) … Adrian Fenty got pulled over for not signaling before a turn at 8th and H (DeBonis) … But far worse, Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. has five unpaid speeding tickets in Maryland. (City Desk)

Kwame in the hole

Kwame Brown might not have a lot of traffic tickets, but he has $50,000 in credit card debt due to overspending. “It just trickles and trickles,” he said. Will the same happen with DC tax revenue? (DC Wire)

Remembering Swanson’s death and inaction

It’s been two years since a garbage truck and driver killed Alice Swanson at 20th and R, NW. Friends placed handmade remembrances at the site. DCist also runs down the history of the removed ghost bike memorial; someone re-added a ghost bike as well. Mark Blacknell posts the police report, which MPD has still never officially released after two years; WashCycle analyzed how the report blames Swanson and says the driver broke no laws even though he did.

Your house in an 8-bit video game

Clever programmer Brett Camper made an interactive map of DC that looks like old 8-bit video games. You can zoom in and out and search by address. He also has other cities. (DCist)

And…

Mayor Fenty wants to charge for inactive liquor licenses, which Georgetown Metropolitan likes but thinks doesn’t go far enough … Douglas Jemal wants to build some rental housing in the Mount Vernon Triangle (WBJ) … Glen Echo Park may have integrated in 1960, but blacks and whites still largely vacation in different places. (Dvorak)