⛔ Drug-free zones are here

What's CITY Talking About?

Police Begin Enforcing Drug-Free Zones

MPD has designated drug-free zones in Chinatown, Benning Road NE, and Garfield Heights SE, following the passing of the Secure DC crime bill last week. The enforcement allows police to break up groups of two or more people they suspect to be dealing narcotics. Critics of the bill say that drug-free zones are “performative,” “ineffective,” and will disproportionately criminalize low-income people of color. [NBC4, City Cast DC 🎧]

Bus Lane Fines Galore

2,692 fines have been issued for driving or parking in bus lanes this year, as part of the Clear Lanes initiative to improve traffic safety and speed up bus transit. The city says the fines are to help “change behavior” and that citation numbers usually drop after the first few months of implementation. [WTOP]

Artomatic Temporarily Shuts Down

The installation Artomatic will be closed until further notice after opening just last week. The free pop-up turned an office building downtown into an art gallery with workshops and musical performances. The gallery hopes to reopen for its entire seven-week stint, after solving unforeseen permitting issues. [Washingtonian, City Cast DC 🎧]

What To Do

DC Insider Trivia

Welcome back! It’s time for this week's trivia challenge, where I test your local knowledge by asking little-known facts about D.C. The answer will be revealed next week. No cheating! 😉

Submit your own D.C. trivia questions here!

Let’s Start With Last Week’s Question:

D.C. is divided into four quadrants, where do they meet?

1. The National Mall
2. The Capitol ⭐
3. Union Station
4. The White House

This one was too easy! Yes, D.C.’s four quadrants meet at the Capitol, or more specifically, the medallion located in the Crypt under the Capitol. This means the quadrants vary greatly in size. Northwest encompasses over a third of D.C.’s geographical area, while Southwest is little more than a few neighborhoods and the Potomac.

In three instances, the boundaries are formed by streets North Capitol Street, South Capitol Street, and East Capitol Street. The west axis is the National Mall through the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

Streets and numbers radiate out from the Capitol resulting in several identically named addresses and cross streets, which can trip up even the most adept Washingtonians.

🏆 Nice work to Hey DC readers Monica P., Mike A., and Christine L. for answering correctly first!!

Now Onto This Week’s Question:

D.C. was home to the first roundabout in the U.S. How many are in the District now?

1. 15
2. 23
3. 36
4. 52

Today on City Cast

Fare Evasion, Baseball Tax, and Pricey Parking Spaces

City Cast Contributor Dan Reed and our senior producer Julia Karron are here to give us the latest on Metro fare evasion, the future of Nats Park, and the outlandish cost of parking spaces.