MAY 19TH
FORT MCNAIR OFFICERS CLUB
7 PM
FEDERATION HONORS LIST OF WASHINGTON ACHIEVERS
CABARET ENTERTAINMENT
SURPRISES
ASSOCIATIONS SHOULD BEGIN BOOKING TABLES NOW
FOR INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS
202-338-5164
202-201-3203
202-265-5961
Back to top of page
Ninety-fourth and counting toward 100! Wednesday, May 19 is the
reserved date for the gala 2004 Federation Awards banquet. As in past
years, the Ft. McNair Officers Club will be the elegant venue. The savvy
banquet committee of Jim Jones (Crestwood), Kay Eckles (Residential
Action Coalition), Phyllis Klein (Dupont Circle), and Guy Gwynne (Burleith)
is finalizing arrangements, which stand to be on a par with those of
previous years' blowouts.
Once a year the venerable Federation decides to take a break and have
some fun, in considerable style. Last year's success fou was the best
ever, and things just keep getting better. Joining us this year will be
members of the cutting-edge Hexagon Club cabaret troupe no less
educational than entertaining.
Association action alert: now is the time to form up and reserve
association tables. Tables this year will be for ten persons. The cost
is a bargain $40 per person. Associations are encouraged to collect in
advance and thereby bypass the busy check-in table, as well as
simplifying the accounting process. Tables will, as usual, bear signs
identifying the sponsoring association. (The cheerful result is the
appearance of a political nomination convention.) Individual delegates
and guests may of course register with a banquet committee caller, and
there is always a lot of individual placement at various cheerful
tables.
Several associations occupied two tables each last year. These
we-love-a-party sponsors were Crestwood, Oldest Inhabitants, and
Burleith. Sharing went on: the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly shared
with table host American University Park Association, and there was
table sharing (or was it table hopping) between the Palisades and
Hillcrest associations. All the resulting happy hubbub makes for a
lively tout ensemble that has made background music impossible in the
past. This year already promises to be bigger and better than ever!
Every association is encouraged to come in swaggering, with a sign on
its separate table. For information or just to chat about the banquet,
call the Banquet Hotline, 202-338-5164.
Back to top of page
PAPER TAGS
Ann Renshaw (Chevy Chase), Chairman, DMV Citizens
Advisory Council
The DC city council recently held public hearings on three bills
covering used car lots. One of the big problems, as Federation President
Carroll Green recently testified, is the criminal activity surrounding
the theft, loan, or trade of paper tags, which have a street value of
approximately $150.
How bad is the problem? According to Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) Director Anne Witt, it's "out of control." "We are
very concerned," she admitted. Stolen, loaned, or traded paper tags
are used to avoid parking enforcement, as well as to mask vehicle
ownership and/or the lack of insurance coverage.
On any given day, there are 232,000 DC registered vehicles. Paper
tags, in one of three colors (red, blue, or pink) and embedded with a
special hologram, are issued on a temporary, 20-day basis. Red paper
tags, issued by DMV directly to customers, remain constant at 30,000 per
year. Pink tags denote "new" cars that do not require
inspection. Blue paper tags, however, are distributed ten at a time to
the 242 active used-car dealerships in the District, which then disburse
them to clients. It is "less clear if used car dealers are selling
the cars or the tags," said Ms. Witt.
Dealers can issue paper tags to anyone. In calendar year 2002, 36,000
paper tags were issued; in 2003, 79,000, only 16 percent of which
(12,640) went to DC residents. The rest (66,360) were given out to
non-DC residents, more from Maryland than Virginia, who supposedly
purchased (perhaps marginal) cars in the District. If the 2004 trend
holds true, 85,000 paper tags will be given out this year. Hard, or
permanent tags supplied directly to car dealers is "not the
answer," according to DMV's Ms. Witt. Ms. Witt said she is
encouraged by the Federation's interest in DC's alarming paper tag
problem, and noted that remedial action by DMV is pending.
Back to top of page
Many are now familiar with the story of new OIA requirements in place
in DCRA, Public Access to Records. Requirements that were conceived
under the cloak of darkness, without public discussion and without
highlighting the change to the Council during DCRA's testimony last
year.
We understand that DCRA and the Building Code Advisory Committee are
discussing several possible amendments to the Building Code. Ms.
Ambrose, Chair of the Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, is
asking the DCRA to put the new FOIA requirements under review and find a
way to resolve this matter other than by simply using the FOIA.
It has been, and continues to be, the position of the Federation that
administrative problems require administrative solutions, not the
misapplication of the Freedom of Information Act, that stifles ANC and
citizen participation in the process of governance. While we expect to
work with the Committee to revoke, repeal, and otherwise eliminate this
onerous rule, it is becoming increasingly more important that we step up
our vigilance in monitoring proposed legislation in our respective areas
of interest.
When the public servant adopts the attitude that public concerns are
not required nor desired, it is indeed time for change. It is time for
us to demand accountability, to highlight these acts of public defiance,
and to insist that government for and by the citizen remains first and
foremost. While it is time consuming and taxing to track and to
influence proposed legislation, it is much more desirable than the
alternative of attempting to repeal or revoke a statute or simply
watching our agencies cave in to special interests at the expense of our
citizens.
We urgently need to raise the decibel level of our concerns. There
should be no doubt among our elected officials where we stand on
citizen participation and on government for and by the people not
now, not ever.
Back to top of page
The River Terrace Community announces that it will hold a
demonstration and rally on Saturday, April 24, at 11:00 a.m., at 3355
Benning Road, NE, to protest the proposed construction of a Shell Oil
Co. hydrogen fueling station next to the community elementary school.
River Terrace is a cul-de-sac community over fifty years old, comprising
1,000 individual houses and two apartment complexes, an elementary
school, and a church.
The Newsletter has noted earlier the presence in the community of an
electric power mega-plant and a trash transfer station. A River Terrace
Coalition press release lists as its concerns permit application
misrepresentation, the extreme flammability and explosiveness of
hydrogen, and plans to locate the hydrogen refueling station near a
large school.
Individuals or associations interested in this matter may call River
Terrace Coalition spokesman George Gurley at 202-399-1722 (o).
Back to top of page
Robert Andrews
Foxhall Citizens Association
Allen E. Beach
Chevy Chase Citizens Association
Francis M. Clarke, III
Cleveland Park Citizens Association
George Clark, Esq.
Forest Hills Citizens Association
Dino J. Drudi
Michigan Park Citizens Association
Kathryn A. Eckles
Residential Action Coalition
Elizabeth Elliott
Foggy Bottom Association
Carroll Green
Manor Park Citizens Association |
Guy Gwynne
Burleith Citizens Association
James H. Jones
Crestwood Citizens Association
Ann Loikow, Esq.
Cleveland Park Citizens Association
Sally MacDonald
Woodley Park Citizens Association
Ann Renshaw
Chevy Chase Citizens Association
Laura Richards, Esq.
Penn Branch Citizens/Civic Association
A.L. Wheeler, Esq.
Association of Oldest Inhabitants
|
Back to top of page
Legal Times (March 22, 2004) reports that, "If you want
to become a local DC judge, you'd better do community service work,
develop a local court practice and please pay your taxes."
This was among advice and tips to 35 would-be judges at a March 19 forum
on "Uncovering the Judicial Application Process" at a Judicial
and Bar Conference. A member of the DC Judicial Nomination Commission
noted that her panel looks for community service. "If you don't
have any, do some, and then come forward," said another panelist.
Well and good, as far as these wholesome impulses go; but
unfortunately in the District context aid to a minor charity or helping
clean the Canal on Earth Day count about as much as legal advice to
citizens associations or serving on association boards and task forces
much less prosecuting association lawsuits for community protection.
The Federations needs to define in the media what its take is on what
comprises real community service on the part of attorneys, aspiring
judges, candidates for office, and other prospective District notables.
Back to top of page
E-MAIL EXCHANGE IN VIRGINIA CITY
COUNCIL IS NO MEETING
An E-mail exchange among three Fredericksburg city councilmen did not
amount to an electronic meeting under the state's Freedom of Information
Act, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in March. Three members of the
Fredericksburg city council exchanged E-mails regarding a possible
nomination to the local library board, varying in time of transmittal
from four hours to two days apart. Opponents filed suit under FOIA,
claiming that the correspondence amounted to an electronic meeting,
prohibited at the local level. A trial court ruled for the plaintiffs,
saying that the councilmen had used the exchange to conduct public
business.
The Virginia Supreme Court reversed the lower court, however, because
the E-mail was not a near-simultaneous discussion. Instead the
correspondence was more like an exchange by letter, courier, or fax,
because there was no "assemblage" of members, part of the
statutory definition of "meeting." (Virginia Supreme Court,
Beck v. Shelton, No. 030723, from the National Law Journal, March 15,
2004.)
Back to top of page
Five members of the House of Representatives have submitted or will
introduce legislation to afford the District representation in Congress.
The bills are:
- Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), to expand the House by two members; DC and
probably Utah would each get a new house seat.
- Rep. Dennis Kucinish (D-OH), to make the District the 51st
state.
- Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), to create two Senate seats and
at least one House seat until the next reapportionment.
- Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), to return the District to Maryland.
Congress would keep legislative control over the Capitol, federal
monuments, the White House, the Supreme Court, and federal office
buildings adjacent to the Mall.
- Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), to treat DC residents as Maryland
citizens for purposes of representation; provides for the election
of Maryland senators and at least one DC-based House seat until the
next reapportionment. Both DC and probably Utah gain a new House
seat.
Meanwhile, DCVote reports that over 43,000 residents of the nation's
capital cast ballots in the first-in-the-nation primary election on
January 13. One can only wonder, and hope, as to where all this will go.
(Data for points 1-5 from Roll Call, January 20, 2004.)
Back to top of page
The powerful Bar Association is turnings its face toward the
community, in its recent revival of its Speakers Bureau. It notes that:
"Upon request our lawyers are prepared to visit your association or
place of employment. Our members are ready to conduct free seminars,
conferences or lectures on almost any legal topic of your choice."
Among topics cited as possibilities are: 1) advanced [sic] medical
directives, 2) exempt organizations, 3) taxes, 4) civil rights, 5)
wills, 6) your rights in a nursing home, 7) tenant problems, and 8)
landlord law.
For more information or to schedule a speaker, associations may
contact Paul D. Pearlstein, Co-Chair, 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW,
#505, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 223-5848 or merraul@aol.com. Or Robert
A. Cazzola, Co-Chair, Quinn Racusin & Cazzola, Chtd., 1400 V Street,
NW, #1010, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 842-9300 or rag@grg-law.com.
Back to top of page
The major, countrywide law firm of Piper Rudnick LLP announces that
it has an immediate opening for a pro bono administrative assistant.
Responsibilities include providing administrative and clerical support
to the firmwide pro bono partner and pro bono manager in the areas of
database maintenance, event/meeting coordination, case management, and
pro bono resources maintenance. The candidate must be proficient with
PowerPoint and Excel, possess excellent organizational skills, ability
to coordinate events, materials, and people, follow-through and
initiative. The firm offers a competitive salary and an excellent
benefits package, and is Metro accessible. Interested applicants should
send a resume and cover letter regarding salary requirements to: HR
Manager, 1200 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. No calls.
Here is a major-player law firm seemingly on the right track with
regard to civic-minded pro bono operations. What better candidates for
the specialized position than qualified civic activists, in touch with
the community and predisposed to assist law firms carry out a perceived
give-back-to-the-community mission? As things are now, community
associations and major law firms in the District are strangers to one
another and, short of a jump-start by an able pro bono company officer,
seem likely to remain that way.
Back to top of page
April 27, 2004
May 19, 2003, Annual Awards Banquet
June 22, 2004
July No Meeting
August No Meeting |