Eric Falquero
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ericfalquero.bsky.social
Eric Falquero
@ericfalquero.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.3K following 180 posts
DC community journalist: ericfalquero[at]51st[dot]news.

Co-founder of the worker-led nonprofit @51st.news 📰. Past professional lives at WAMU/DCist and Street Sense Media.

Appalachian, Llanito, bird nerd 🦅, @footballclubgroup.com member / owner / fan ⚽
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ericfalquero.bsky.social
"Looking to the future." I see a vibrant network of better-resourced local newsrooms (us included) working together to make life easier and more just for all the amazing communities that make up DC.

Let's start here. Can you help more people find @51st.news ? 51st.news/lost-51-000-...
"Over a year ago, we approached WAMU about the possibility of acquiring DCist’s newsletter list and social media accounts. Last week, we received a final answer: No. There’s a lot to unpack about the decision, but we’re looking towards the future instead. We’ll just have to find those readers ourselves. Are you able to help us?"
November 27, 2025 at 2:26 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The party has grown.
4 men in tan, one on a phone, standing on either side of a rifle leaning in the corner of the roof. Two of the men leaning on the roof, near a rifle leaning on the same ledge A zoomed out photo showing all four men, both rifle points, and the iconic blue chicken statue on top of the National Gallery
October 18, 2025 at 5:32 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Looking down on the No Kings rally from the top of the National Gallery of Art: what *appears* to be one security staffer, two military folks, and a rifle.
October 18, 2025 at 3:47 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Continuing (⬆️) my list of how many people it would take to reach the last 9%(‼️) of our goal, unlocking the $100K match
givebutter.com/SsQ8CG

-66 $151 donors (sticker pack + 1-year new membership or gift membership)
-196 $51 donors (sticker pack)
-400 $25 donors, the most common amount thus far
Giving Levels + Perks: $50 and under: Our unending gratitude and your enduring pride in supporting our city. Seriously! Unless you check the box to be anonymous when pledging your support, we’ll list your name as a donor to this campaign on our website. $51: A sticker pack so you can show the world you invest in community-driven local news. $151: The sticker pack, plus a free one-year membership FOR NEW MEMBERS (or a gift membership if you’re already a member) and a tote so you can carry your belief in democracy, accountability, and community power with you anywhere. $300: Everything above, and an invite to a happy hour to celebrate hiring Christina and Martin! $510: Everything above, plus an invite to a walking photo tour led by Shedrick Pelt, photographer for the recently published 22 Walks in Washington, DC That You Must Not Miss. $1,500: Everything listed above, plus the opportunity to be a featured supporter with a Q&A published on our site! $5,100: Everything above, plus a Lifetime Membership at the Believer tier. $10,000: Everything above, and two tickets to an exclusive dinner with the 51st team and other major donors at The Fountain Inn. We will organize in person pick-up days in D.C. for supporters to collect their rewards but won't be shipping. The crowdfunding push is one piece of our larger fundraising effort to sustain these two roles.
August 10, 2025 at 9:26 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The @51st.news is ~$10K from the finish line 🏁
givebutter.com/SsQ8CG

Any of these would get us there:
-1 $10K donor (Fountain Inn dinner)
-2 $5K donors (Lifetime, top-tier membership)
-6 $1.5K donors (Featured on our website)
-20 $510 donors (Walking tour)
-33 $300 donors (private happy hour)
August 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Last week, as part of the @51st.news campaign to fund full-time workers for our newsroom, we asked community members to do what they can to help—whether that's spreading the word or donating, and whether donations are $5 or $500: 51st.news/doubling-dow...

We've made GREAT progress, but not enough:
Screenshot showing the text "Time to Grow The 51st" and a progress bar showing $70,353 raised out of the $125,000 goal, from 935 people
August 7, 2025 at 6:51 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Flying into my next lap around the sun like this waxwing: laser-focused (and food motivated!) 🥳🎂

Can you help me celebrate? We're building more local news capacity for D.C. as fast as we can @51st.news. Monthly membership, or a one-time gift, would mean the world to me: 51st.news/support-the-...
Photo showing two cedar waxwings. One perched in a tree with berries, the other flying at straight toward the camera (blurry)
May 22, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Here's what the deck over will look like:

A "curbless street" with concrete planters and barriers separating the plaza from the service roads.

No permanent furniture or greenery is planned, envisioning an "open canvas" that can be reconfigured for many purposes. Power+water lines built-in.
An overhead view of the tunnel ramp area that will be "decked over." A diagram of the final deck area. Highlights of the existing areas where work will be done. A diagram highlighting where work will occur.
April 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The streetscape features included ADA ramps; improved drainage, water mains, and fire hydrants; protected bike lanes, connected to other existing routes like Columbia Rd; more landscaping and lighting; and multi-space parking meters.
Slide listing streetscape project features: "AGENDA Opening Remarks Introductions (DDOT, CM & Contractor Team) Project Overview Project Scope (Achieving Project Goals) Construction Schedule Construction Phasing, MOT, Closures and Detours Stakeholder & Community Engagement Q&A" Rendering of a segment of the final streetscape, seen from overhead Rendering of the final streetscape at eye level
April 23, 2025 at 10:33 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The "streetscape" part of the project will stretch down Connecticut Avenue from the California St. NW intersection to Q St and focus on safety improvements benefiting all modes of transportation.

The "deck over" will cover the underpass ramp to expand usable public space.
Agenda slide: "AGENDA Opening Remarks Introductions (DDOT, CM & Contractor Team) Project Overview Project Scope (Achieving Project Goals) Construction Schedule Construction Phasing, MOT, Closures and Detours Stakeholder & Community Engagement Q&A" Map of the project area
April 23, 2025 at 10:24 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The meeting is being recorded and that recording will be posted online several days from now.
Title slide labeling this as a pre-construction public meeting Photo showing most pews in the church space filled with 1-2 pews each.
April 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Meeting notes potentially threaded here re: tonight's public meeting about the Connecticut Avenue Streetscape and Deck Over Project. ddot.dc.gov/release/conn...
Photo of the church doors with both a handwritten sign and printed sign about the meeting. Photo of DDOT's demographic survey handed to attendees
April 23, 2025 at 10:05 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Can we get six more subscribers (free!) before tomorrow's weekly newsletter goes out mid-day? 51st.news/signup
A screenshot showing "All Members >> 9,494 newsletter subscribers".
April 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The ones that got away 😭
Photo of a taxidermied muskrat in a display case at the Dorchester County visitor center. Photo of an illustration and description of the Delmarva fox squirrel from an informational brochure for the Wildlife Drive
March 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
....for any of the @wikipedia.org editors out there who also value local news.

I'm all about looking forward this year, building with my colleagues @51st.news and our community.

But while we're remembering DCist, note the only entry for it on the Internet's encyclopedia is a REDIRECT to WAMU. 🧵
Screenshot showing WAMU's wiki page, noting I arrived there via a redirect for searching DCist.
February 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
On my way to the DPR compost co-op I belong to, I opened today's @730dc.bsky.social for the "Democracy dies in markets" subject line (🤌🏼) and stayed for the food waste info. It was super easy to find and use the Marie Reed drop-off bin! (if you have a smartphone) zerowaste.dc.gov/foodwastedro...
"Say 👏🏻 no 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 food 👏🏻 waste 👏🏻 Interested in composting? (you should be). DC is making it easier than ever to get started by installing new smart drop-off bins around the District, hoping to reach the lofty goal of diverting 80% of waste from disposal. The bins are “rodent proof” and accessible using a digital key through an app, so you can drop off at a bin near you at any time. Learn more about how to compost in DC. (Hint: it’s extremely simple)" A map showing dozens of dropoff bins in the District, and how full those closest to me are. Marie Reed was 25% full. Before you can unlock the bin, a popup in the app displays what should and should not be deposited there. A photo looking down inside the bin.
February 27, 2025 at 1:14 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
"When the government is supportive of media, you get stronger media. When the government undercuts the media, you get weaker democracy," says Margaret Talev, Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, at this month's Journal-isms roundtable.
Photo of the speaker on an elevated platform, with a screen behind them
February 10, 2025 at 11:55 PM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
That's a wrap. Very interesting volunteer projects driven by this community of data scientists, programmers, researchers and organizers.

www.civictechdc.org
"Event Planning Event Hosting Administrative Support (AI?) Funding and Sponsorship Community Outreach - non profits / experts / govt Social media Photos (volunteer tonight?)"
January 23, 2025 at 2:24 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
CORRECTION: The ballot initiative work was the penultimate project.

The final project suping up data review for the Election Administration and Voting Survey (EAVS).

www.civictechdc.org/projects/eav...
"Election Administration and Voting Survey / Campaign Legal Center Use the data from the biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey to identify trends and outliers in voter registration, voter roll maintenance, mail ballots, and other aspects of US elections. Tech/tools/needs: Data Modeling (Snowflake/Star schemas) Data visualization
January 23, 2025 at 2:15 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
The third project ingests street-level images (think Google Maps), assess what the image shows -- a proof of concept was greenery/vegetation -- and map that analysis onto an OpenStreetMap.

Training more advanced algorithms, such analysis could be used to flag risks, such as poor building integrity.
Photo showing vegetation on a map, first identified via street-level imagery from Mapillary. Slide title that shows Red Cross logos and says "street view green view"
January 23, 2025 at 1:28 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Next up, DARIA - which started with the DC Abortion Fund and grew to spin off as its own nonprofit.

Now supporting 12 abortion funds, and has helped more than 70,000 patients.

Focused on data anonymization and security, regularly conducting "hackathons to test its strength.
"DARIA's Impact Running in production at funds since 2016 Currently supporting -12 funds across the country 70k+ patients assisted Several million dollars pledged"
January 23, 2025 at 12:45 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
First up, a project to identify ways misinformation and disinformation move through social media networks.

They're building tools for researchers, journalists, activists to analyze social media data and identity inauthentic ways that info is pushed (such as by bots).
"The Problem Online watchdogs - from content moderators to social science researchers and journalists often have access to large sets of online data but lack the technical skills to uncover CIB within Without the tools to uncover CIB among healthy online discourse, these watchdogs cannot fight back against this malicious influence CIB Mango Tree provides these tools for non-technical users to identify inauthentic behavior, ban fake accounts, and raise awareness through news stories"
January 23, 2025 at 12:24 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Big turn out at Civic Tech DC's first project presentation event: 30+ people.

www.civictechdc.org/slack
Photo showing an organizer speaking next to a projection screen and a room of people seated.
January 23, 2025 at 12:15 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
And here are the alternative/unaffected resources ⬇️

Disruptions are noted here in the message this is replying to ⏫

And here's the thread link again, for any updates throughout the weekend: x.com/annemariecuc...
Most low-barrier shelters are open 24/7 as usual: 801 East, Adams Place, Emery, and New York Avenue for men, Harriet Tubman and Pat Handy for women, Living Life Alternatives for LGBTQ+, and The Sanctuary for youth. Additionally, the following winter shelters will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. each night: Community for Creative Nonviolence and Salvation Army for men, and Eve’s Place, Community for Creative Nonviolence, the KBEC Family Life Center, and the Hypothermia Swing Space for women. On Sunday, the 801 East Day Center will be open from 9:30-3. On Monday, the Downtown Day Services Center will be open from 8-5. Both will be open Tuesday, in addition to the Adams Place Drop-In Center. All D.C. Public Libraries will be closed on Monday. On Sunday, the 801 East Day Center will be open from 9:30-3. On Monday, the Downtown Day Services Center will be open from 8-5. Both will be open Tuesday, in addition to the Adams Place Drop-In Center. All D.C. Public Libraries will be closed on Monday.
January 18, 2025 at 1:57 AM
ericfalquero.bsky.social
Over on the bird app, Street Sense's editor in chief is posting updates about how the inauguration is affecting access to shelter for people experiencing homelessness in downtown D.C.

Here's their thread: x.com/annemariecuc...

Here are the known disruptions (click images to enlarge/read) ⬇️
Anyone sleeping outside downtown/by road closures is “highly encouraged” to move to a shelter or area outside the highlighted zone. According to one flyer, “you may be displaced and required to temporarily move all your personal belongings.” We've followed up for more info. One hypothermia shelter for men, at the Church of the Epiphany downtown, will be closed on Sunday and Monday night. The shelter hotline - (202) 399-7093 - will be open throughout the weekend, but vans may not be able to get to all locations Sun. - Tues. because of road closures. There will be no vehicle access to the Federal City/Community for Creative Nonviolence shelter, near Union Station, from Sun. morning through Tues. morning. For transportation from the shelter, meet at 2nd and Mass. This is more than two blocks away. There will be no vehicle access to the Downtown Day Services Center from Sunday morning through Tuesday morning. For transportation from the shelter, meet at 12th and G streets.
January 18, 2025 at 1:41 AM