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New York City's Michael Bloomberg might be the self-proclaimed (but maybe not-all-that-accurate) "subway mayor," but Washington, D.C.'s Adrian Fenty has joined ...

New York City's Michael Bloomberg might be the self-proclaimed (but maybe not-all-that-accurate) "subway mayor," but Washington, D.C.'s Adrian Fenty has joined the ranks of the rail-riding pols -- well, temporarily:

The mayor's advisers were stumped. No one could agree on the savviest way to handle the sensitive political situation.

How would Mayor Adrian M. Fenty travel 2.1 miles from the John A. Wilson Building to Cardozo High School on Clifton Street NW for a news conference in which he was to tell residents to protect the environment and leave their cars behind?

Showing up in his usual gas-guzzling, government-issued Lincoln Navigator seemed politically incorrect. The Metro was an option, but Fenty was running late and would have to walk several blocks. Someone offered a vehicle from the city's fleet of hybrids, but the mayor ruled that out. He countered by offering to hop on the expensive Cannondale bicycle he uses for triathlons, but then aides reminded him that he might become sweaty in his navy business suit.

So he walked up 14th Street NW and took the No. 52 bus north.

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
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