Here in DC, the nation’s capital, which has enjoyed Home Rule since 1974,
but remains ultimately under the thumb of Congress and the President (thanks
to Art. I, Section 8 of the Constitution), one never knows what surprise
awaits each new day. These days, one need not be addicted to social media
or even tea leaves to hypothesize what’s around the corner. Something as
politically innocuous as an “Alley Restoration” could be a harbinger of
things to come.
A few weeks ago, as I turned the corner into my alley, I was struck by signs
announcing an “Alley Restoration” and a change in our calendar. Not since
Pope Gregory XIII or even Julius Caesar …… (except for the brief
anticlerical calendar of the French Revolution). Don’t blame Marion Barry;
he has passed to his reward.
