Report: Former D.C. parks director lied about residency, hired friend

A former interim director of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation hired a close friend while living rent-free in the friend’s basement in the city, then claimed D.C. as her home when she was actually a Virginia resident. Those findings by the D.C. inspector general in a recent report serves as late vindication for the D.C. Council, which voted Ximena Hartsock out of office in October 2009. At the time, several council members said they believed she was breaking the law by continuing to operate DPR day care centers Mayor Adrian Fenty had sought to outsource. Fenty appointed Hartsock in April 2009.