Council Plans A Hearing On Hydrants

A D.C. Council committee will hold a public hearing on the maintenance and repair of fire hydrants by the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, spurred by a fire last week that destroyed the home of arts patron Peggy Cooper Cafritz.

Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, announced that he would hold an oversight hearing Sept. 16.

The council goes into summer recess next week; public hearings are not permitted until the legislative body returns next month.

Since the fire July 29 at the home in Northwest Washington, the Water and Sewer Authority and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department have pointed fingers about low water pressure, a dispute similar to one in 2007 in an Adams Morgan blaze.

"There are very serious questions about available water pressure for that fire," Graham said in a news release from his office. "This oversight hearing will get facts on DCWASA and D.C. hydrants including those near the Cooper Cafritz residence."

Fenty Fetes Frat Buddies

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty welcomed his fraternity brothers to the District on Monday night with a swank affair at the Historical Society of Washington, also known as the City Museum, near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The $37,000 in taxpayer dollars used to put on the event was reimbursed to the city the next morning under orders from Attorney General Peter Nickles. Unidentified employees were also chided for authorizing the payment, which Nickles said Fenty did not know of until Tuesday morning.

But before that faux pas and rollback, Fenty (D) was giving Kappa Alpha Psi members a proclamation and plenty of praise.

The fraternity, founded by African American men at Indiana University in 1911, is holding its 79th Grand Chapter meeting in the District this week. Residents should expect to see lots of men in red and white (the official fraternity colors are crimson and cream).

Fenty listed fraternity brothers who are leaders in his administration: Greg O'Dell, chief executive of the convention center authority; Erik Moses, chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission; Lee A. Smith III, director of the Department of Small and Local Business Development; and Andrew T. "Chip" Richardson, general counsel to the mayor.

Fenty told the crowd that the fraternity taught him about taking care of family, God and how to be a good role model.

Heated Earmark Remarks

The tense relationship between D.C. Council members Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and David A. Catania (I-At Large) is getting worse.