B4
Metro takes another rap, this time set to music
Popular YouTube poster pokes fun at subway in video
by Ashley Halsey III What we’re trying to do here is
convey the aura of art with mere words. Not just any work of art, but one about riding on Metro, the subway operated by the Washing- ton Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a name that does not roll off the tongue like poetry. So you might be dubious that
anyone could produce a hilarious rap song about Metro, the system that so many riders love to hate. So much has gone wrong of late, and none of it has seemed funny.
We sent a man to the moon and brought him back two weeks later,
Apparently not as long as it takes to fix an escalator.
Remy Munasifi, the Clarendon rapper whose YouTube videos
R
KLMNO
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
MetroAccess firm probes hiring policy
Investigation follows sex assault allegations against four drivers
by Ann Scott Tyson The contractor that operates
Metro’s transit service for the disabled has launched an inquiry of its hiring and training policies after a string of alleged sexual as- saults by MetroAccess drivers. Former Federal Transit Ad-
NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST “Metro is so quirky that I’m sure a lot . . . say somebody should write a song,” Remy Munasifi says.
have gotten nearly 50 million hits, posted the “Metro Song” on Tuesday morning, and it’s a safe bet that everyone who has ridden the system will get a dozen or more e-mails about it from friends, relatives and fellow suf- ferers.
People stopping at the bottom of the escalator makes you think.
Can a person with no brain ever truly stop and think?
These days, Munasifi mostly
rides Metro in to get his hair cut on K Street or to visit friends, but he grew up in the District and knows Metro cold.
The one thing on my mind that surely has me torn, Is can you have body odor at 8:30 in the mornin’?
“Riding on the Metro is so
quirky that I’m sure a lot of peo- ple say somebody should write a song about this,” Munasifi said. “The difference between me and them is that I have a lot of spare
851 Prince Georges County
Trustee Sale Notices 851 Prince Georges County
852 Anne Arundel County TRUSTEE'S SALE
Trustee's Sale of valuable fee simple property improved by premises known as 4841 HURON AVENUE, Suitland, MD 20746. By virtue of the power and authority contained in a Deed of Trust from MARSHA JEAN BATES KARI, dated August 6, 2007, and recorded in Liber 28501 at Page 057 among the land records of the COUNTY OF PRINCE GEORGE'S, in the original principal amount of $252,000.00 with an interest rate of 6.875% . Upon default and request for sale, the undersigned trustees will offer for sale at public auction at the front of the Courthouse for the COUNTY OF PRINCE GEORGE'S, 14735 Main Street, Bourne Wing/Commissioner's Entrance, Upper Marlboro, Maryland, on September 28, 2010 at 3:08 PM, all that property described in said Deed of Trust including but not limited to:
LOT NUMBERED FIFTEEN (15) IN BLOCK LETTERED "F" IN THE SUBDIVISION KNOWN AS "CROSIER GARDENS" AS PER PLAT THEREOF DULY RECORDED AMONG THE LAND RECORDS OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND IN PLAT BOOK BB7 AT PLAT NO. 81.
Said property is in fee simple and is improved by a dwelling and is sold in "as is condition" and subject to all superior covenants, conditions, liens, restrictions, easement, rights-of-way, as may affect same, if any.
TERMS OF SALE: A deposit of $25,000.00 cash or certified funds shall be required at the time of sale. The balance of the purchase price with interest at 6.875% per annum from the date of sale to the date of payment will be paid within TEN DAYS after the final ratification of the sale. Adjustments on all taxes, public charges and special or regular assessments will be made as of the date of sale and thereafter assumed by purchaser. If applicable, condominium and/or homeowner association dues and assessments that may become due after the time of sale will be the responsibility of the purchaser. Title examination, conveyancing, state revenue stamps, transfer taxes, title insurance, and all other costs incident to settlement are to be paid by the purchaser. Time is of the essence for the purchaser, otherwise the deposit will be forfeited and the property may be resold at risk and costs of the defaulting purchaser. If the sale is not ratified or if the Substitute Trustees are unable to convey marketable title in accord with these terms of sale, the purchaser's only remedy is return of the deposit. Trustee's File No. 09-143841P. CAE10-20328 LOAN TYPE = Conventional.
John S. Burson,William M. Savage, Gregory N. Britto, Jason Murphy, Kristine D. Brown and ErikW. Yoder, Substitute Trustees.
SHAPIRO & BURSON, LLP, 13135 LEE JACKSON HWY., SUITE 201 FAIRFAX, VA 22033 (410) 769-9797
852 Anne Arundel County TRUSTEE'S SALE
Trustee's Sale of valuable fee simple property improved by premises known as 628 EVERGREEN RD, Crownsville, MD 21032. By virtue of the power and authority contained in a Deed of Trust from CHRISTINE A. BONNEFOND, dated July 29, 2005, and recorded in Liber 16748 at Page 0154 among the land records of the COUNTY OF ANNE ARUNDEL,inthe original principal amount of $327,348.00 with an interest rate of 5.125% . Upon default and request for sale, the undersigned trustees will offer for sale at public auction at the front of the Courthouse for the COUNTY OF ANNE ARUNDEL, 7 1/2 Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland on October 1, 2010 at 4:32 PM, all that property described in said Deed of Trust including but not limited to:
BEING KNOWN AND DESIGNATED AS LOT 701, AS SHOWN ON A PLAT ENTITLED "SUNRISE BEACH, SECTION 5, PLAT 1" AND RECORDED AMONG THE LAND RECORDS OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND IN PLAT BOOK 22, PAGE 18.
THE IMPROVEMENTS THEREON BEING KNOWN AS NO. 628 EVERGREEN ROAD.
Said property is in fee simple and is improved by a dwelling and is sold in "as is condition" and subject to all superior covenants, conditions, liens, restrictions, easement, rights-of-way, as may affect same, if any.
TERMS OF SALE: A deposit of $25,000.00 cash or certified funds shall be required at the time of sale. The balance of the purchase price with interest at 6% per annum from the date of sale to the date of payment will be paid within TEN DAYS after the final ratification of the sale. Adjustments on all taxes, public charges and special or regular assessments will be made as of the date of sale and thereafter assumed by purchaser. If applicable, condominium and/or homeowner association dues and assessments that may become due after the time of sale will be the responsibility of the purchaser. Title examination, conveyancing, state revenue stamps, transfer taxes, title insurance, and all other costs incident to settlement are to be paid by the purchaser. Time is of the essence for the purchaser, otherwise the deposit will be forfeited and the property may be resold at risk and costs of the defaulting purchaser. If the sale is not ratified or if the Substitute Trustees are unable to convey marketable title in accord with these terms of sale, the purchaser's only remedy is return of the deposit. Trustee's File No. 09-157284P. 02-C-10-152499 LOAN TYPE = Conventional.
John S. Burson,William M. Savage, Gregory N. Britto, Jason Murphy, Kristine D. Brown and ErikW. Yoder, Substitute Trustees.
SHAPIRO & BURSON, LLP, 13135 LEE JACKSON HWY., SUITE 201 FAIRFAX, VA 22033 (410) 769-9797
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time.” He got that spare time by quit-
ting law school when he discov- ered YouTube. Before YouTube, wannabe comedians (and Mu- nasifi had the hunger) had to wait for good fortune to bless them with a big break. Now, any- body with a camera can post al- most anything. “Fifteen percent of YouTube is
grainy home video of dogs, cats and babies,” he said. He’s in the tiny percentage on the other end of the spectrum. With almost 50 videos posted, he’s a “content partner” on You- Tube. That means he gets more than half the revenue generated by advertising that appears when people click on his videos. “Metro Song” is one of six on “The Falafel Album,” his new Comedy Central release.
Walk left, stand right, I want to shout to the tourists, Just stand to the left while you figure out where the zoo is.
“Most of the time, it’s just me and a tripod. Sometimes I have somebody hold the camera, but usually it’s me holding it,” he said, recalling that he filmed a parody of Arlington County by himself.
The fares just got bumped high so you know I’m gonna take a beating, What do they do with all that cash? Well, not replace orange seating.
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www.hwestauctions.com SEPTEMBER 9, 16, 23, 27, 2010 11178107
www.hwestauctions.com
A00114, A00181, A00182, A00296 SEPTEMBER 16, 23, 30, 2010
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TRUSTEE'S SALE
Trustee's Sale of valuable fee simple property improved by premises known as 420 KNOTTWOOD CT, Arnold, MD 21012. By virtue of the power and authority contained in a Deed of Trust from MARK SEWELL, dated January 16, 2008, and recorded in Liber 19828 at Page 0528 among the land records of the COUNTY OF ANNE ARUNDEL, in the original principal amount of $243,600.00 with an interest rate of 5.75% . Upon default and request for sale, the undersigned trustees will offer for sale at public auction at the front of the Courthouse for the COUNTY OF ANNE ARUNDEL, 7 1/2 Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland, on October 1, 2010 at 2:04 PM, all that property described in said Deed of Trust including but not limited to:
BEING KNOWN AND DESIGNATED AS LOT NO. 173, AS SET OUT ON THE PLAT OF "REVISION OF LOTS 93 THRU 162, BLOCK r. KIMBERLY WOODS VILLAGE, PLAT THREE" WHICH PLAT IS RECORDED AMONG THE LAND RECORDS OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND IN PLAT BOOK 78, PAGE 28.
Said property is in fee simple and is improved by a dwelling and is sold in "as is condition" and subject to all superior covenants, conditions, liens, restrictions, easement, rights-of-way, as may affect same, if any.
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TERMS OF SALE: A deposit of $25,000.00 cash or certified funds shall be required at the time of sale. The balance of the purchase price with interest at 6% per annum from the date of sale to the date of payment will be paid within TEN DAYS after the final ratification of the sale. Adjustments on all taxes, public charges and special or regular assessments will be made as of the date of sale and thereafter assumed by purchaser. If applicable, condominium and/or homeowner association dues and assessments that may become due after the time of sale will be the responsibility of the purchaser. Title examination, conveyancing, state revenue stamps, transfer taxes, title insurance, and all other costs incident to settlement are to be paid by the purchaser. Time is of the essence for the purchaser, otherwise the deposit will be forfeited and the property may be resold at risk and costs of the defaulting purchaser. If the sale is not ratified or if the Substitute Trustees are unable to convey marketable title in accord with these terms of sale, the purchaser's only remedy is return of the deposit. Trustee's File No. 09-162579P. 02-C-10-152835 LOAN TYPE = Conventional.
John S. Burson,William M. Savage, Gregory N. Britto, Jason Murphy, Kristine D. Brown and ErikW. Yoder, Substitute Trustees.
SHAPIRO & BURSON, LLP, 13135 LEE JACKSON HWY., SUITE 201 FAIRFAX, VA 22033 (410) 769-9797
S576 2x6 852 Anne Arundel County
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SF 852 Anne Arundel County
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A00114, A00181, A00182, A00296 SEPTEMBER 16, 23, 30, 2010
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“Metro Song” was filmed all over the Metro system. The guy with bad odor is a friend of Mu- nasifi’s and not some hapless va- grant he chose to pick on. Most of it, however, the rapper filmed by himself. “There is a palpable way that people act when there’s a crazy person riding with them on Met- ro,” he said. “I realized after a while that that is exactly how people were reacting to me as I went around filming myself.”
halseya@washpost.com
ministration chief counsel Pat- rick W. Reilly has been appointed to lead the inquiry, which is aimed at determining how the contractor, California-based MV Transportation, can provide “ad- ditional protections to passen- gers,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.
On Sept. 5 a Gaithersburg man was charged with sexually as- saulting a woman in a MetroAc- cess vehicle, becoming the fourth contract driver this year accused of assaulting a passenger using Metro’s service for the disabled. Metro Transit Police said Sam- uel E. Kingston, 59, grabbed a woman’s breast Aug. 27 while helping her out of the vehicle at a facility where she volunteers in Silver Spring. The woman, who is in her mid-30s, has cerebral pal- sy and uses a scooter, police said. “We’re developing a little bit of
a history now with MetroAccess drivers,” said Metro Transit Po- lice Deputy Chief Jeff P. Delinski on Monday. Police are develop- ing a more detailed hour of train- ing for MetroAccess drivers, in addition to existing sensitivity training, to teach the drivers how to properly and safely interact with customers, Metro officials said.
Delinski said Metro is also looking into installing additional camera systems in MetroAccess vehicles as a preventive measure. Some vehicles already have cam- eras to capture the behavior of drivers, such as abrupt braking. “These are very serious offens-
es,” Delinski said. “We will pros- ecute them with the full extent of the law.” MV Transportation requires background checks for the 1,100 MetroAccess drivers and re- quests a 10-year history for every applicant, company spokeswom- an Nikki Frenney said. Depending on the local laws, the information supplied may go back only seven years, she said. MV Transportation does not re- quire fingerprinting for employ- ees, but “that could full well be something that comes up” in the inquiry, which the company ini- tiated, she said. “The recent accusations of drivers abusing passengers has caused great concern not only for the passengers, their caretakers
LOCAL DIGEST THE REGION
Wilson Bridge opening scheduled
An opening of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday and is expected to last about 15 minutes. —Robert Thomson
MARYLAND
Teen shot, wounded in Prince George’s
A teenage male was shot and wounded Wednesday in the Ket- tering area of Prince George’s County, a police spokesman said. The shooting occurred about 3:45 p.m. near Bennington and Castleton drives, said Cpl. Clinton Copeland. The victim, who Cope- land said is 18 or 19, was taken to
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a hospital, where he was said to be in serious but stable condition. Copeland said the shooting stemmed from a dispute between the teen and an adult male whom the teen knew. Copeland said po- lice are searching for the man. The area where the shooting
occurred is used by youths going to and from Largo High School, though Copeland said the shoot- ing was unrelated to the school or to a fight between youths, pos- sibly students, that occurred nearby at about the same time. —Matt Zapotosky
Hospital expansion decision deferred
A Montgomery County zoning appeals board said Wednesday that it needs more time to decide whether Suburban Hospital
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should be allowed to tear down 23 hospital-owned houses as part of expansion plans that are op- posed by an adjacent neighbor- hood. The board scheduled a work session and vote for Oct. 20. During two hours of oral argu- ments Wednesday before the board in Rockville, lawyers for Suburban objected to a hearing examiner’s ruling in June that the Bethesda hospital should change its $200 million expansion pro- posal to abide by long-standing county plans to keep a residential feel along Old Georgetown Road. A lawyer for the Huntington
Terrace Citizens’ Association, which includes 300 homes mostly west of Suburban, said the group supports Suburban’s need to ex- pand but believes it can do so without tearing down houses. Either side can appeal the five- member board’s decision to the Montgomery County Circuit Court.
—Katherine Shaver
Prince George’s bus drivers still on strike
A little more than half of the buses in the Prince George’s pub- lic bus system were in service Wednesday, the third day of a bus drivers’ strike. Ruth Otte, a spokeswoman for
Veolia Transportation, the com- pany that contracts to operate the service, said 31 of 60 buses were operating. The service normally transports about 14,000 passen- gers a day. A list of the routes af- fected is available at www.
princegeorgescountymd.gov un- der the Transit Services option. Negotiations between Veolia
and Teamsters Local 639, the union that represents the drivers, broke down Tuesday. —Ovetta Wiggins
and the community, but for me personally and our dedicated workforce,” Kevin Klika, presi- dent of MV Transportation, said in the statement. “While we take several measures during the hir- ing process to ensure drivers have clean backgrounds, there is always room for improvement.” Frenney said company exec- utives were meeting with Metro officials Wednesday to provide details on the scope and focus of the review.
Reilly has a relationship with
MV Transportation, having ad- vised the firm on FTA issues and other legal issues related to tran- sit for a number of years. “We have taken measures to assure that Mr. Reilly will be able to operate independently,” Fren- ney said. “He will be deciding on the scope of the inquiry, will de- velop his own team to conduct the inquiry and will write a re- port for MV with findings and recommendations independent of any MV direction or review.” Reilly will start the inquiry
Monday and is expected to com- plete it in 30 to 90 days, Frenney said. “Metro appreciates the height- ened emphasis that MV is plac- ing on this issue and its commit- ment to considering outside-the- box solutions,” Metro spokes- woman Cathy Asato said Wednesday. “Metro and MV are partners in ensuring the safety of our paratransit customers, and the resources of both organiza- tions will be devoted to this ef- fort.” The state attorney’s office in
Montgomery County is prepar- ing an international arrest war- rant for Tanveer Fayyaz, 31, who was a driver for MetroAccess subcontractor Regency Cab. He is accused of raping a 36-year-old mentally disabled woman after he picked her up from an adult- care center in Silver Spring on July 8. Delinski said police think Fayyaz fled to Pakistan. Jose Del Castillo, 55, of Gai- thersburg, another MetroAccess driver, was charged in April with sexually assaulting a female pas- senger in Prince George’s County on Jan. 28. Police said Del Castil- lo pulled over and fondled the woman after picking her up from her Temple Hills home. He is scheduled to go to trial in Prince George’s this month, police said. Another MetroAccess driver,
Harry Delain, 31, of the District, was fired in February after he was accused of sexually assault- ing a woman on a bus. Delain was not charged with a crime. MetroAccess passengers can
report suspicious or unsafe be- havior by calling Transit Police at 202-962-2121.
tysona@washpost.com
Staff writer Katherine Shaver contributed to this report.
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