Knowledge and Foresight
Dear Founts of Wisdom:
Herein may be found several answers to questions previously asked in
themail, and reliable predictions are revealed to guide you in the future year. Please add
your wisdom and prognosticatory ability to the next issue.
Aw, c'mon. Whadya think 's gonna happ'n in DC in '99?
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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1999 Predictions
Victor Chudowsky, vchudows@meridian.org
February 1, 1999 — Upon the collapse of his Africa trade consultancy,
Marion Barry follows the example of Ed Koch and his acting debut in “Slam” and
becomes star of a new “People's Court” type TV show, “Magistrate
Marion.” Presiding over cases involving the last, the least, and the lost, he tends
to acquit. “Sounds like you were set up," he tells defendants in his first three
cases.
March 15, 1999 — Cora Masters, formerly Cora Masters Barry, follows her ex-husband's
example with a career in entertainment. After glowing, angelic portrayals of her in the
fawning Washington Post, she lands the star role in “Touched by an
Angel.”
April 3, 1999 — Continuing his tour of successful U.S. cities, Anthony Williams meets
with policy planning officers in the Office of Policy Planning in the Planning Division of
Bad Axe, Michigan. They explain how procurement officers were able to cut back on sponge
and water costs by converting to an electronic postage system, saving Bad Axe $35.73.
“This again shows how far behind our nation's capital is in procurement policy
planning,” he says.
May 31, 1999 — Scandal erupts when it is found that DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes
Norton actually lives in Montgomery County, Maryland. “I moved because of the poor
schools and lack of services in the District,” she explains. “My Capitol Hill
townhouse had rats underneath the backyard.”
September 2, 1999 — Former Senator Lauch Faircloth announces he is moving to the
District and opening a business here. Capitalizing on his connections in the pork
industry, Faircloth opens a snack stand at the MCI Center, “Lauch's Half
Smokes.” Also on the menu are barbecue, bone fish, and chili. “DC is great
— I loved my six years here. Love the people. North Carolina is a backwoods hellhole,
for crying out loud.”
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Margaret A. Siegel, masiegel@consultingwomen.com
Leaf pickup for Fall 1998 will be completed by May 1. Our local garbage
men here in Cleveland Park explained that the project had been contracted out, the
contractors had not worked out, and the garbage men were taking leaves with regular trash
and trying to separate yard waste from garbage. It may not be the case in the rest of the
city, but contracting out trash services here in this neighborhood would be a loss —
the men are helpful, polite, accommodating, and reliable!
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Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
The Microsoft antitrust case comes to a close, and one of the remedies is
that every email message Microsoft executives send gets courtesy copied to the U.S. Dept.
of Justice. If Microsoft is above-board in their practices, this would cause no hardship
on the company.
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Mike Mann, mike@byteback.org
In April commentators worldwide will begin to prognosticate on the rapid
turnaround in the legitimacy of the DC government — based on improvements in the
beginning of 1999 which are widely attributed to Tony Williams.
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Natural Gas Providers in the District
Ed Kane, ermk@aol.com
As have all the other residents of the District, I would imagine, I have
recently received a brochure from Washington Gas entitled “The Choice is Yours,”
which lays out the alternatives to receiving natural gas from that company. Two of the
three alternatives all appear less expensive than Washington Gas itself. Does any reader
have an informed view on this? Are there hidden factors of which we should be aware before
making the switch? All advice will be gratefully received.
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DC government and Year 2000 compliance
Holly Olson, Olson_h@bls.gov
Does anyone know how the DC government is progressing with year 2000
compliance? I haven't heard anything in the news about it.
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Buy, Buy, Big Brother
Steph “Alias” Faul, steph@intr.net
For those concerned about the privacy issues of owning a Safeway discount
card, there is a quick, easy, and painless solution: provide a false name and address.
They don't ask for any identification when you hand in the application and the card itself
has no name on it. If you pay cash (as I do), there's no record of your own personal self
ever having purchased anything, but you still get the discounts. Be creative! Register as
Holden Caulfield, or Natty Bumppo, or Calista Flockhart (naaah — that one sounds made
up), and buy whatever you want! Personally I don't shop at Safeway at all any more, in
part because whenever you go there's always a line, and Giant gives you the discounts just
for walking in the store.
Wait! We should all use our Safeway cards as an instrument of local
development! Here's the plan: everyone go to your local Safeway and get a savings card,
using an address and telephone exchange in Southeast. Use your card as often as possible.
After a while Safeway will realize they have lots of customers in an undeveloped part of
town and open a store there. Other retailers will observe this and open stores, too.
Before you know it, you'll have a thriving retail corridor in Anacostia! Well, it's worth
a try.
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The REAL Problem in DC is Not Our Inability to
“Suck It Up”
Larry Seftor, Larry_Seftor@csi.com
Rich Rothblum demonstrates the absolute worst of DC (and I'm including our
outgoing mayor), long time residents who are willing to settle for less than citizens get
elsewhere. In his posting Mr. Rothblum states that residents should “suck it up”
rather than expect streets to be treated to deal with winter weather. The fact is that the
role of city Government is to collect taxes and then provide services to the residents.
Since DC taxpayers pay more taxes than surrounding residents and get less back, the DC
Government has got the collection part right but the services part wrong. What we do have
in abundance in DC is waste, malfeasance, and citizens willing to “tough it out”
rather than demand good Government. (And for those offended by their neighbors who demand
good Government, sorry — it is the American way.) When I looked at the DC budget
several years ago, there was something like $5,000,000,000 for around 500,000 people.
There is plenty of money, Mr. Rothblum. I suggest that you demand a little of it back in
your share of services.
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Data presented recently in the post clearly show that the population of
our fair city is declining at a pretty good rate. Over the last seven years the population
has declined by over 70 thousand folks. There have been some years when the decline was a
little below the average of 10 thousand per year and some years when the decline was above
the average of 10000 per year. But the trend is clear. A simple extrapolation of the
population decline trend will show that by the 2050 Dodge City will be a ghost town.
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Eleanor Holmes Norton
Lisa Valentino, lisac@poboxes.com
In response to Ed T. Barron's email regarding Congresswoman Norton, I fear
that Mr. Barron is unaware of the relentless lobbying the Congresswoman does to push for a
a voting Congressional Representative for the District. She is the leader in this fight.
The very day the Republicans took over the House of Representatives, they stripped the
District of a voting Member of Congress. Most recently, the Congresswoman made a
passionate statement before the House requesting that the District be granted (at least) a
vote on the matter of President Clinton's impeachment articles recently passed in the
House. Rep. Norton serves on House committees, participates and works as hard as any other
Congressperson and hence will have a record of achievements and losses just as any other
US Representative.
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I have no advice but to be honest in the interviews. But I've known people
who have done it 3 times in their live times; how many have you done? Work is very
important, I know that well, but where is your sense of involvement, civil duty? There is
more to the citizens' responsibility besides paying taxes and “upholding the
law.”
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Research on Barry, the Early Years
Alex Johnson, Night editor, washingtonpost.com, johnsona@washpost.com
Matthew Gilmore, mgilmore@clark.net
, asks about research material on Marion Barry's early career. Barry left Fisk University
in Nashville when he headed to D.C. I would suggest getting in touch with the Fisk
registrar's office, the Nashville Public Library research division and, especially, the
library staff of the Nashville Tennessean, which should also have archives from the old
Banner. I would try similar sources in Memphis, where Barry attended LeMoyne College as an
undergraduate. If you can find it, Charles Guggenheim's 1967 documentary, "People and
the Police," focuses on a '60s-era program called Model Police Precinct. Barry served
on its board, and the movie highlights him. Milton Coleman wrote a long analysis/biography
of Barry for the Washington Post upon Barry's first inauguration in 1979. The
profile touches at length on Barry's activist years and could spark some research ideas.
It's archived at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/dc/barry/79change.htm
Sam Smith (yes, that Sam Smith) worked with Barry during the SNCC years.
He writes about it in the Progressive Review at http://emporium.turnpike.net/P/ProRev/barryx.htm
. I would track him down. Phone numbers, addresses, etc., are in the masthead. Much of the
Mississippi Humanities Council's Oral History on the Civil Rights Movement interview
project is online, and Barry's name appears scattered throughout. http://www-dept.usm.edu/~mcrohb/
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Affordable Hotel
Danilo Pelletiere, dpelleti@gmu.edu
Recently an Aunt and Uncle stayed at the Holiday Inn Capitol Hill on New
Jersey Avenue for about $100 a night. It is very near to Union Station and Judiciary
Square Metros, the Capitol, and the Art Galleries. They found the staff helpful and the
room comfortable and clean. It is near the CCNV homeless shelter but the neighborhood is
largely hotels and Georgetown law.
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A friend from Northern Ireland was planning to visit DC for a week, and
asked me to help him find a bed and breakfast “near the White House.” My first
response was to scoff, but I soon discovered that such things existed and were affordable,
even on his student's budget. He stayed at a b&b at 19th and Swann Street, and they
even made him a European style breakfast. I located this b&b by contacting the Bed and
Breakfast League of DC at 363-7767. You can also find them on the Washington Post Yellow
Pages. For a hotel, I would recommend the Clarion New Hampshire on NH Ave. at Dupont
Circle. It is affordable and has a very nice, affordable restaurant, the Peacock.
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Chartering a Bus
Julie Newman, jnewman@fbr.com
Ahh, the DC Metro area. Home to kazillions of associations —
including, yup, the United Motorcoach Association (UMA). What will they think of next?
Give them a ring at 703.838.2929 or 800.424.8262. Tell them that you are interested in
recommendations for a motor coach (don't EVER say bus to them!) in the Silver Spring area.
They will recommend a company that is a member of their Association. Membership has
certain saftey/regulatory requirements that I don't know off the top of my head — but
you can certainly ask. Anyway, even if none of their recommendations match up with your
list, I'd go with one of theirs — hands down.
FYI, there's also a National Limousine Association out there, which can do
the same thing for you. Don't have their number off-hand, but the toll free directory
(800.555.1212) would have the number — or ask the people at UMA — they used to
know. If they ask how you found out about this, tell 'em I sent you. I was an intern for
them about 3 years ago, so they may or may not remember me. Sigh. Happy trails!
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Cleveland Park Library Weight Loss Program
Jill Bogard, Jill_Bogard@ace.nche.edu
Need to lose some weight? It's a weight loss jungle out there! Registered
dietitian Janis Jibrin wants to guide you through it safely. She'll share her findings
from her new book, “The Unofficial Guide to Dieting Safely” (Macmillan), which
surveys the weight loss scene. Come find out which approaches work best and which ones to
avoid. Among the topics: are high protein diets safe and/or effective? What are Weight
Watchers and other commercial weight loss programs like? Which approaches work best? Can a
supplement help you burn fat? How much can you blame on genetics? Ms. Jibrin will also
answer questions from the audience on weight loss and nutrition. Cleveland Park Library,
Connecticut Avenue & Macomb Street, NW, Tuesday, January 19, 1999, 7:30 pm. Call the
Library at (202) 727-1345.
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Ice Skating In Georgetown
Bill Starrels, points@erols.com
The opening of the Ice Skating Rink in Georgetown was delayed due to
technical problems. The rink will be operating New Years Weekend. It is located on the
waterfront in Georgetown, K Street between Wisconsin Ave. and 31st Street, west of
Washington Harbour. Hours from early morning to midnight. $5.00 for ice time. Ice skate
rental for $3.00. Special packages available for parties and Schools. If you have a school
that would like to use the rink as a fund raiser, call Bill Starrels at 202-338-1450. Rink
phone number is 202-861-5839.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES WANTED
My daughter is not getting a foreign language in elementary school, though
my husband and I are otherwise very happy with her instruction. Does anyone know of a
Spanish instructor willing to teach both mother and daughter (a 3rd grader) together? We
are seeking an instructor with an established curriculum and proven experience. We want to
augment our daughter's regular day school, since some junior high schools require foreign
language training. Native speakers preferred. We are willing to consider instruction at
either a business location or in our home. We'd both enjoy learning Spanish, as we live in
the Dupont/Adams Morgan area, and could actually practice it!
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