New System for Announcing EventsDear Neighbors: Despite my nagging, the problem is getting worse. Please sign your postings. First and last name. Then your email address. Please just follow the pattern you see below. ***** Please save this message for future use. In another effort to limit the size of each dc.story, Phil Shapiro has pitched in to help publicize events. If you can’t keep your events messages to fewer than 25 words, please read his following message carefully. The same system—if it works for us—will be used for classified ads as well. ****************** Hyperlinked Announcements from dc.story Jeffrey Itell provides an valuable community service with the dc.story newsletter. To help extend that value, I’m happy to volunteer time to create web-based hyperlinks for announcements by dc.story members. This is how the web-based hyperlinks work: You send me the full text of the announcement you wish to have hyperlinked from dc.story. I will place that text on the web and send back to you a web page address for that text. You can then include the web page address at the end of your short announcement in the dc.story newsletter. Rules: Kindly limit the length of your announcements to five paragraphs or less. I reserve the right to not post any announcements that I think are not community-building (i.e. I will not aid and abet the distribution of spam). I do require that anyone sending a detailed announcement be a resident of the Washington DC metropolitan area, and be a current subscriber to dc.story. This volunteer initiative is intended to help keep the announcement messages within the dc.story newsletter short and sweet, with further details provided on the web. Further details about this volunteer initiative can be found at: http://www.his.com/~ pshapiro/dc.story/announce1.html/ Phil Shapiro pshapiro@his.com ////\\\\\////\\\////\\\\\/////\\\\ Also free! dc.movie: Free movie passes, short movie reviews, and movie discussion. Send an email message to story@intr.net to subscribe. Cheers, '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' ANC A little over a week ago I made a posting about a racial incident at my local Civic Association elections. The story was picked up by the "City Paper" and they ran a story in Thursday’s edition. The story was quite anticipated in the neighborhood — the reporter called many people who were at the meeting, and word got out that something was up. Evidently our ANC Commissioner was concerned about the content of the forth-coming article — he stood to look bad, as he had sparked the incident by saying a number of irresponsible and inflammatory things and using racial epithets. On Wednesday night, he distributed a letter in the neighborhood attacking the Civic Association and the "Racist City Newspaper" (sic). The letter follows. I believe that this letter was paid for using ANC funds. If that is true, it is inappropriate and I want to object to the city. Does anyone know who the oversight body is for the ANC’s ?Our ANC has claimed for years he gets no money from the city. Can anyone corroborate or deny that? Or is this another one of those "Don’t go there" areas of DC government? *****
------ Cable Television Amidst the furor over channel changes, has anyone focused on the fine print in the "Products, Services, and Pricing" leaflet included with the last bill? On page 3, under "Other Important Information Relating to Your Service", is the promising headline "Variety Package - Coming Soon!" I need to quote the notice in full, because otherwise you may think that I have made it up: "Certain programming services may be moved from the Expanded Basic Service to our new Variety Package on or after March 1, 1997. Channels may include AMC, USA, MTV, HTS or other designated migrated Expanded Basic Services. This will be a separate, optional level of service available to Basic Service customers for an additional, separate monthly charge. Look for additional information in the coming months. Such programming on or after the February date will not be offered as part of the Expanded Basic Service Level." This sounds like a vague plan to offer four very popular services as a separate package to present an attractive option for Basic Service subscribers to buy more (okay up to here), but to make Expanded Basic Service subscribers pay even more yet to get the very signals which may have enticed them to go Expanded in the first place. A separate bill stuffer on "New Products & Pricing" mentions the (maybe) coming Variety Package and tells us to "rest assured" than there will be no billing increase in March for the services which move from Expanded Basic to the Variety Package (who thinks up these names anyway?). Sounds to me like we’ll see the increase in April. ---- Parking Meters I work in downtown at 10th and Penn. I walk from Metro Center past what used to be Woodies down 11th St. to E St. etc. About three years ago I noticed that nearly every car parked at the 24 meters I passed had handicapped plates or permits hanging from the rear view mirror. These 24 meters were regularly occupied with a minimum of 80% handicapped permits. I learned that these handicapped folks had parking keys to the city. No money in the meter. No limit on time. I thought that someone at last would take advantage of all the handicapped ramps installed at nearly every corner of dc. But, if there are handicapped people that belong to the handicapped cars, they are real fast. I have never seen one, at least one with a physical handicap. Just for the record, most of the handicapped vehicles are from MD, followed by Va. with the fewest from dc. My personal favorites are the handicapped vans that park (at least during tourist season— haven’t seen them in the nasty weather) at the corners of 10 and E and 10 and Penn. They arrive early, set up their sidewalk vending stand, hang their handicapped sticker on the rear view, and settle in for a day’s rent free business. ----- Parking Meters Unless meters work differently in DC than every other city I’ve parked in, the two hour limit is independent of the meter fee. In other words, you don’t get to park all day by shoving money in the meter; you pay for your two hours, and then you move on. The idea is to allow for turnover of spaces throughout the day. So the broken meters shouldn’t cause any increase in 2-hour violations being written; those should be violations even if the meter is functioning. Another parking issue: what do people think of the way the resident parking scheme works? I was amazed when I got here to find that resident parking regulations didn’t apply during nights and weekends (when residents tend to be home and need to park their vehicles). Coming from a city where resident parking is in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I find the DC system really weird. ---- UDC Austin (Digging an underpass to the 21st Century) Kelly austinj@cris.com In my Van Ness neighborhood, we are concerned about what happens to UDC (the buildings) if/when UDC (the institution) is scaled back or closed. Sending everyone home and leaving the physical plant vacant would be a disaster. Washington is full of part-time programs from out-of-town schools, such as USC and Syracuse. What about turning at least part of the UDC campus over to a consortium of schools, and let them centralize their operations. They would get regular classroom buildings, a library, academic computing, athletic facilities, etc. And it would all be on top of the Van Ness metro station. I can imagine such a consortium actually paying money to the District (how’s that for a concept?), or some combination of cash and in-kind help in return for some space. Maybe the universities upgrade the facilities in return for using part of them? Or maybe they offer need-based scholarships to UDC grads and get a hunk of real estate? Better than letting the pipes freeze. ---- Commuter taxes With all the talk about new tax plans and other assorted ways to save DC, the subject of a commuter tax seems to be coming up more often (in the context of "DC subsidizing suburbanites") .I'm kind of shocked that anyone thinks this is really a good idea in a city where so many businesses have fled to the burbs. Do we really want to make DC that much less attractive as a place to locate a business? Do we want to make suburbanites that much less willing to take jobs in DC? While it is a serious problem that so many people who work in DC don’t live here, this strikes me as a spectacularly bad approach to the problem. ----- Radio Per recent discussion over the possible loss, or transfer of WDCU to wherever, I want to alert readers to the 10-watt University of Maryland FM station WMUC 88.1, all the way at the very left of the dial. Remarkably, I can pick it up in Cleveland Park at Connecticut and Macomb. Sure, the reception ain’t the greatest, but it’s everything a college radio station should be: clever, entertaining, fun, stupid-at-times, and a free-form alternative to everything else. I’m curious if anyone else in DC can pick it up? Switch your receiver to mono. Use a dipole FM antennae, that real cheapo plastic thing usually included with your stereo. Hold it aloft. Stand on one foot if you have to. It’ll be worth it. ----- Travel Tips Those travel tips on DC are great — I thought I should point out that, if memory serves me (which it often does not), those were responses to a Washington Post Style Invitational. I was glad to see them again — a lot of tourists seem to have taken the last one [congregating at the bottom of Metro escalators] to heart! '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' dc.queries Anyone know if one can recycle toner cartridges for a Canon BJ-200e bubble jet printer, and if so where? Francine Krasowska madrobin@ix.netcom.com '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' dc.events All D.C. Story readers are invited to attend two DC Bar programs sponsored by the D.C. Affairs Section. Lawyers and non-lawyers are welcome. To register, call the DC Bar Sections Office at 626-3463. **** The first program features Anthony Williams, the District’s CFO. The program is part of an ongoing series entitled: The District of Columbia in Crisis, Where Do We Go From Here? Details: Brown Bag Lunch and Discussion featuring Anthony A. Williams, Chief Financial Officer Wednesday, January 29, 1997 12:00-2:00 p.m. Hogan & Hartson, LLP Litigation and Conference Center Lower Level, Columbia Square 555 13th Street Washington, DC The cost is $10 for members of the DC Affairs Section of the DC Bar and $15 for non-Section members and non-lawyers. Drinks and cookies will be provided. **** The second program will take place at the DC Bar’s Mid-Winter Convention on February 26, 1997 at the D.C. Convention Center from 4-6 PM. The program is entitled "Governing the District: What’s Best? Statehood, Retrocession, A City Manager, the Status Quo or Something Else?" The program will be moderated by WAMU’s Derek McGinty and will feature Michael Rogers, D.C. City Administrator; Pauline Schneider, D.C. Agenda Project, Hunton & Williams; Kenneth R. Bowling, Co-Editor, First Federal Congress Project; Lawrence Mirel, Mirel & Alegi; Jamin Raskin, Professor, Washington College of Law, American University and George S. LaRoche, Attorney-at-law. This program has been designated a part of the "Presidential Showcase" and likely will fill up quickly. Call the Sections office at the number above to register. Karen Hardwick KMH@DC3.HHLAW.COM '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' dc.market For sale 1989 Isuzu Trooper RS 4WD sport utility. Rare two-door, 5-speed, 2.6L fuel injected engine, all black, a/c, p/s, p/b, cruise, alloy wheels (and spare!), towing, Alpine CD, Clifford security, super clean. Approx. 92,000 miles, fully serviced, must see to appreciate. MUST SELL! $6,600 negotiable. Call me at work (202) 434-6294, or home (202) 667-2996. If you are looking for a great sport utility vehicle at the best price, please call or e-mail! R.J. Fox rfox@aarp.org ------------------- Home PC Computer Assistance I’ll help you choose and buy the best model for the lowest price, get your computer up and running, teach you the ins and outs of Windows 95 and applications, show you how to maintain your system, build special applications for you, and get you up and running on the Internet. $60/hour. 202.244.4163. Jeffrey Itell Story@intr.net ================= dc.story is a discussion group. The opinions stated are the sole responsibility of the authors. dc.story does not verify the information provided by readers. ---------------- For fast, reliable Internet services and cutting edge Websites contact Michael Mann at Internet Interstate mmann@intr.net. Web: <http://www.intr.nethttp://www.intr.net ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ dc.story—Your Electronic Backfence http://www.dcstory.com Kibitzing by Jeffrey Itell (story@intr.net) Copyright © 1997 by Itell Communications, Inc. All rights reserved |
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