Christmas Traditions
Dear Carolers:
The windows of the empty Woodies building downtown have been decorated
with Christmas scenes as a way of pretending that there still is a shopping district in
downtown DC. Remember Christmas shopping in past decades in DC, when you could walk from
Hechts on 7th Street to Lansburgh's to Woodward and Lothrop and down to Garfinkels on 14th
Street? That was when downtown shopping offered a variety and quality that no mall could
begin to match, and when people still went downtown for something other than visiting a
lawyer's office. Wouldn't it be wonderful if any of the various “economic
development” schemes being offered to revitalize downtown held any promise of
bringing back the excitement holiday shopping on F Street once had?
Does anyone have favorite memories of Christmas in Washington to share
with the group? Let's get in the holiday mood.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Four Deputy Mayors: The Pyramid Gets Taller
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
Another insulating layer of bureaucracy has been added by the mayor to the
already top heavy “management” structure of the city. This will cost us only
about $700K per year in salaries and bennies. It's like adding more overseers on a
plantation. These overseers won't produce a single product and they likely won't make
things any better for us or for those who really do make things happen, those on the front
line. Instead of making the bureaucratic pyramid higher, Mr. Mayor, you should be striving
for a flatter and more responsive team based, empowered, organization with full
accountability at every level. Adding more people on the top just insulates and distances
you from what is really happening and makes the chain of command even longer. A shout from
the top, cheering those who make things happen, will never be heard on the front lines.
Sure would be nice earning one of those big salaries just watching others work and telling
them to move faster.
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On Tuesday, Nov. 30th, the Judiciary Committee held hearings on David
Catania's proposed bill that will require Chief Ramsey to deploy 2/3 of his officers on
the streets. Chief Ramsey testified about the effect the bill will have on the police
department and later citizens testified as well. Chief Ramsey was very upset with the
Committee's proposed bill and made his feelings known. He grumbled, “The type of
micromanagement proposed by this legislation threatens to undermine the record of reform
that we have begun to put in place.” He told the Committee, “No other major city
police chief in America operates under this type of legislative edict.” David Catania
and Sharon Ambrose were unmoved. Catania answered the Chief's criticism by stating,
“I think this is the stick we need to encourage the police to do their jobs. Schools and safety are the two things people point to as most important to
them. Much of the flight from the city concerns public safety fears. If we are going to
lure people to return, we have to convince them this city is not only safe but safer than
where they're coming from.”
Six citizens testified at the end of the hearing. They were Sam Bost from
Ward 7, Roland Chavez of PSA 510, Bryce Suderow of PSA 510, Carl Rowan Jr., of Georgetown,
Nancy Fiedler of Dupont Circle, and Jim Lively from the 2nd Police District. All of them
told the Committee that Catania's bill was essential to putting cops in the neighborhoods.
The Chief would not post the officers of his own free will.
In his testimony, Roland Chavez recounted how Ramsey had met with him and
other citizens and had promised to take officers from behind desks and put them on the
street and also guaranteed he would close open air drug markets. “To our sheer horror
we now see that the opposite is happening in our PSA,” Chavez said. He told the group
that Ramsey's promotions last February had reduced the officers in the PSA from 17
officers to 13 officers. Chavez explained, “This means that on average we have only
three officers per shift. . . . This means that an officer must take into consideration
when he is seeing a law being broken whether it is worth being taken off the street and
leaving the neighborhood short or being covered by the neighboring PSA (which are also
short staffed). This effectively means that our zero tolerance for crime in our PSA is
over." The long honeymoon with Chief Ramsey also appears to be over.
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Freedom of Speech Regarding Charter Schools
Peter Luger, lugerpj@gunet.georgetown.edu
Although I have no children and never will, the story about not being
allowed to discuss charter schools on public school property pissed me off (I apologize if
that's considered inappropriate language). I immediately went to the DC Public Schools web
site. I found that: there is no way to contact anyone via E-mail; if you look on the
policies page, there is no mention of the “gag order”; and if you choose the
link to solve a problem, the problem solving page is not found.
This policy reminds me of when unions were forbidden from organizing. I've
been against the idea of vouchers for some time. However, I am compelled to change my mind
with the fantasy that within about two weeks, there will be five students left in DC
Public schools and then Arlene Ackerman and all the other brain surgeons can go find
another job. The woman should be fired, pay her off the whatever astronomical figure she's
probably been promised for doing a bad job and move on already. And, Mayor Williams and
Councilman Chavous, don't bother setting up a commission or reviewing everything ... call
her office, ask if this policy is true and tell her to change it by midnight tonight. It
ain't that hard, folks. (I know I'm being simplistic, but I feel much better now.)
###############
Ackerman is furious about the charter school movement, I've heard.
Charters get about the same funding per pupil as regular DC schools, but they don't bring
in funds for the central bureaucracy. So for Ackerman, it drains resources and seems like
a slap in the face. Recently she announced that Paul Middle School, which is trying to
convert to charter, will lose its building — DCPS is converting it to a technology
center, so the charter would have find its own building.
If Ackerman thought about the long-term, wouldn't she support the
charters? She spends most of her time putting out incredible fires and dealing with
politics that perhaps prevent her from putting children first and ruling with insight.
Charters that succeed will do so in spite of the DCPS leadership.
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Journalistic Malpractice at the Post
Philip Blair, Jr., pblair@worldbank.org
On November 29, the D.C. Council held a hearing on proposals to
“reform” the Board of Education. Today's assignment in Journalism 101: compare
and contrast these headlines and leads:
The Washington Post (30 November): “Smaller Board Gains
Support. An aide to D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday that the 11-member
Board of Education should be reduced to seven or fewer members, a recommendation offered
at a sometimes rancorous D.C. Council hearing on proposals to shrink the panel and change
how its representatives are selected.” The Common Denominator (6 December --
it's a weekly): “Council Urged to Slow School Board Changes. Mayor Anthony A.
Williams' chief policy advisor and numerous education activists are urging the D.C. City
Council to slow its fast-track efforts to change the city's school governance
structure.” The Washington Times (30 November): No coverage.
If you read only the Post you would not know that the two premier
parent groups in the city — the DC Congress of PTAs and Parents United — both
oppose Chavous' and Patterson's legislation. (Both stands were noted by the Common
Denominator.) You wouldn't know that the Mayor — burned badly in his proposals
to move UDC and Ellington High — is being very cautious on Board of Education
“reform.” You would not know that Council member Catania is backing off from his
initial support of Chavous' bill. The Denominator noted both situations. You
would think that Barbara Lett Simmons supports all of Chavous' legislation when, according
to my recollection, and I was there, her enthusiasm was for the the city-wide election of
the President of the elected Board, an idea for which Chavous gives credit to the current
members of the Board of Education. You would think that the Big Deal was a typo in the
testimony of a Board of Education member when he lost the first “l” in
“public school” — titter, titter.
I give the Common Denominator an A- and the Post an F. I
mark the Times truant.
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Although I've never had a close encounter with one of the new Metro buses,
I'm not surprised that there are problems. My basis for this observation is that I
intermittently rode the Red line to Dupont Circle several years ago. This was during the
time when the South escalators at Dupont Circle were replaced. Metro has always had
trouble with escalators, supposedly since they are exposed to the elements. However, given
20 some years of escalator experience, I expected these new escalators to be specified,
purchased, and installed to provide a new level of escalator reliability. Unfortunately,
they started failing soon after installation. I assume that the same Metro acquisition
process used for these escalators was used for the new buses. Pulling back a little from
these sad details, I'm struck by how our D.C. Government and our non-D.C. Metro management
seem able to spend so much money with such poor results. I've lived elsewhere and, while
stupid problems pop up, it is simply not this consistently bad. All I can assume is that
it is either something in the water or, with a tip of the hat to Ed Barron, we are seeing
the performance of graduates from poor schools.
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How come Jon Desenberg, who says he was in the courtroom on April 19,
1999, doesn't recall that there were two cases heard that day. The suit brought by
Covington Burling is not a citizen action case and will not result in full, equal, and
effective citizenship rights for District of Columbia residents. Only the Adams v. Clinton
case — filed nearly three months prior to the case Jon referenced; crafted by a
single, activist attorney (George LaRoche) on behalf of twenty genuinely involved,
activist citizens — will do that, because it is the first and only lawsuit to ask for
equality for DC residents. The second suit, to which Jon refers as “the case,”
is worthy of our interest, but would provide in effect only a version of Home Rule with an
enhanced status for our Congressional representative(s). Please visit the web site for our
landmark civil rights suit at http://www.dccitizensfordemocracy.org
to get the facts.
For those of us who are passionate about full enfranchisement and rights
equal to those enjoyed by all other US citizens, the continued misrepresentation and/or
confusion about the two suits — whether by intent or honest ignorance of the real
deal — is as frustrating as our wait for the decision of the three-judge panel of the
US District Court for the District of Columbia. Our plaintiffs are prepared to go on to
the Supreme Court with our cause, which has much less to do with politics than with equal
justice, and will offer the only permanent, legal solution to our plight. We need your
support, Jon -- moral (yes, in the real sense of the word), financial, and grassroots! We
need and deserve the attention and support of any and everyone who cares about real,
substantive democracy in the nation's capital! It is crucial that we get it right,
because, (with apologies to the major daily that has yet to do so) “If you don't get
it, WE don't get it!” As in, “We, the People....”
Kathy Carroll's point about postal identity is well taken, but her facts
are a bit askew. The Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland contributed the
land originally used to create the District. When President Abraham Lincoln, in the very
first bill he signed, outlawed slavery in the District, Virginia rapidly (I think it took
two days in Congress) took back its portion, so the booming trade in African people out of
the port of Alexandria could continue, unabated by any moral considerations. Had the
Virginia retrocession not taken place, the heinous inhumanity some of us call the American
Holocaust might have gone out of business during the first half of the 19th century. It
may also interest you to know that it was the influx of Free Persons of Color into the
safe haven of the District — not the ineptitude of Boss Shepherd — which caused
Congress to take away the rights of residents of the District to elect both national and
local government representatives. If the civil rights lawsuit of Adams v Clinton is
decided in favor of the Plaintiffs, that 200-year-old injustice will be corrected.
###############
Kathy Carroll is right that Arlington and Alexandria used to be part of
DC, but I think she may be off on the history of Arlington's name. Arlington Heights still
exists; it's a neighborhood in Arlington. When Arlington was retroceded back to Virginia,
it was Alexandria County. At some point, Alexandria City tried to annex it, over the
objections of residents of Alexandria County. The whole thing eventually wound up in
court; the City lost and Alexandria County became Arlington County, as it's known today.
But it was indeed SW DC at one point.
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Pepco in their radio ads promote a new phone number that one calls during
a power outage. The automated system uses caller-id to figure out where you are and take
note of your call and your power problem. I may be simple, but I don't understand why
power lines, which run through the trees, fail, and phone lines, which run through the
trees, stay up. The phone lines are so reliable, in fact, that Pepco relies on them for
this notification system. (Cell phones don't provide the location information needed, so
Pepco isn't relying on them.) Answers anyone?
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AAA, DC, Skyscrapers, 911, DCPL
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org
Kathy Carroll writes: “The Pentagon and National Airport are within
the District of Columbia.” Not according to the AAA maps, which place the border at
the VA shoreline, perhaps yet another reason not to belong to AAA. Gosh, if they can't
even get the maps right. Phil Greene writes: “isn't [the ease of finding the
Washington Monument] the whole point of the 'no skyscrapers' law?” Actually, the
“no skyscrapers” law resulted from erection of the Cairo. The neighbors thought
that was about as high as a (DC) building oughta grow, so they got a law passed to prevent
the construction of any building taller than the Cairo. On calling 911, my 2 cents: I've
tried twice on my own behalf (from SW) in recent years. Both times they've responded
within 5 or 10 minutes.
Thanks to Roxanna Deane, Diane Mohr, and everyone else who helped with
interlibrary loan through the DCPL. Ironically, the book that prompted my original
posting, the book that my branch twice insisted they couldn't get for me, turned out to be
on the shelf, in the collection, at MLK all along. Once folks like Roxanne and Diane got
on the case, MLK sent the book to my branch in less than a day, demonstrating yet again
the value of a posting in themail.
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DCPS Catalogue Online
Roxanna Deane, RDeane1110@aol.com
On December 29, 1999 we expect the D. C. Public Library catalog to be
available for searching on the Internet. There will be a link to the catalog from the
library's home page, http://www.dclibrary.org. As
this note is being typed the library is installing a new integrated online library system.
In an effort to show appreciation to library users while the we convert to the new SIRSI
system, all fines and fees are being waived for materials returned by Saturday, January
15, 2000.
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What’s the Story on Virginia Tags?
Kathy Chamberlain, Hillcrest, kechamber@erols.com
At a recent police/community meeting, our police noted that there is an
increase in the number of cars with Virginia tags parked in our neighborhood and probably
throughout the city. They said this is because DC residents can go to Virginia and get
their tags. There's no requirement that they live in Virginia; a DC address will do. Does
anyone know if this is true? If so, it's obviously lost revenue to DC. What's the
advantage? Is it cheaper to register in Virginia? Is it a way to get cheaper insurance?
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Hamburger Helper Tips Needed
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
With the penalty phase of Microsoft's lawsuit rapidly approaching, Bill
Gates has put out a general call for “hamburger helper” tips to help him better
extend the value of his money. (Approximately $108 billion. http://www.webho.com/WealthClock.) If you have
dollar stretching tips that could help Bill Gates, do please share them with the rest of
us here in themail.
I'd suggest the following tips: 1. Use disposable razors more than once.
2. Buy bananas when they're sold in the discounted paper bags. 3. When parking your car,
drive around the block a few times to find the lowest price parking garage. (See the
fascinating biography, Hard Drive, by James Wallace, to learn why Bill Gates
already follows the third tip. Available in paperback from Amazon.com for $12. — Tip
number 4.)
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WASA and Catch Basin Cleanings
Libby Lawson, WASA Public Affairs Director, Libby_Lawson@dcwasa.com
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority has the responsibility
for cleaning the city's 25,000 catch basins. We know that a number of customers and
residents get annoyed when it appears WASA's response time is lagging. Last fiscal year
(FY99), WASA cleaned approximately 18,000 catch basins — the most catch basins
cleaned in many years. This year our goal is to clean virtually all 25,000 catch basins
during a 12-month cycle, as opposed to an 18-month cycle — the cycle time for the
past several years. This fiscal year has an allocation of approximately $2 million for
catch basin operations and maintenance. We also have realigned crews and ordered
additional equipment to ensure our stepped-up cleanings.
Our citizens, too, can assist in this regard. Unfortunately, very often
people and businesses think of catch basins as large public trash cans and throw all types
of imaginable items in them. Leaves also contribute to the clogging of catch basins. All
of this debris ends up either in the river (if thrown into a storm drain) or the Blue
Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant (if in a combined storm/sanitary sewer). If you see
anyone throwing trash down a catch basin, please report it and, if practicable, ask them
to refrain from this activity.
Incidentally, a number of comparable cities do not perform catch basin
cleaning on an annual basis. In fact, some cities only clean them every 3-6 years. In some
of our neighborhoods, it may seem this is the case for us. However, WASA performs a
complete cleaning cycle every 18 months. This will now change to every 12 months. There
were a number of critical concerns that existed when WASA was created three years ago. All
issues have not been completely resolved but there is a capital improvement plan in place
— not the case in early 1996 — and WASA's financial position is much improved.
Our customers should also know that WASA is collecting old delinquent accounts from
property owners. This activity had been neglected for many years. For more information
about WASA or, if we can make a presentation at a community meeting, please call WASA's
Public Affairs Office at 787-2200 (new number). Also, for emergencies call 612-3400 24
hours a day. Customers with billing inquiries can call the Water Bill Action Line at
354-3600.
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This week's issue of themail contained an invitation to the Clean City
Summit posted by Vincent Spaulding, vincent_spaulding@dcgov.org.
For those who don't know him, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Clean City himself. Vince
Spaulding was one of the early participants in the Draft Tony Williams Campaign. But he
and his wife had already made plans to move out of the city before the campaign got
underway. Although they had sold their house and already moved out of town, Vince came
back home to DC to keep helping the campaign. He stayed on after the election and worked
as a team leader on the Transition Planning Team under Marie Drissel addressing the DPW,
Police, Fire and Emergency Departments. And then he convinced Mayor Williams that this
city needed somebody to facilitate the efforts of the multitude of city departments with
some aspect of responsibility for the cleanliness and order of the city. So the Mayor
appointed Vince Spaulding to that job. We can thank Vince for his quiet, enthusiastic,
effective leadership in cleaning up neighborhoods throughout the city and supporting
groups like the recent Mt. Pleasant street-and-alley clean-up efforts. Here's a round of
applause for Vince Spaulding — an exemplary Good Citizen-Good Bureaucrat-Good
Neighbor! Thanks, Vince for coming back home and staying to help out!
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Watch Where You Park
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
On Monday: There's been no sign of “Linda L.,” the leaf
swallowing truck, up here in AU Park/Spring Valley and the leaves are still lying in piles
along the curb. This creates a potentially hazardous situation for those who might be
parking along the curbs. The catalytic converters on new cars (even those that are
shielded) get mighty hot and can set the leaves that you park in on fire. In a short time
a roaring blaze of that leaf pile could consume your car. The only leaf clean up that I
have seen up here was four guys shoveling leaves into a small pick up truck. Perhaps they
were cleaning up some debris that was clogging a storm drain sewer entrance.
On Wednesday: Linda L., the leaf sucker-upper, appeared on Massachusetts
Avenue (a first) just a few minutes ago and is now headed into AU Park. The caution about
parking over a pile of leaves still stands.
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AAA Stories Surprise
Kerry Jo Richards, krichards@verio.net
I must say that I was surprised to hear stories of bad AAA service! I've
been a member my entire driving life (ok, that's only 10 years) and have had only
excellent experiences! Just a few weeks ago I accidentally locked my keys in my car —
don't ask — and a locksmith showed up within an hour, did a little magic, and minutes
later I was driving. I even got a call on my cell phone 15 minutes before he showed up to
let me know he was coming. They've towed me and they've given me directions for long
trips. I've found that without fail my membership pays for itself every year whether it be
through trip tics or tows. Once they even got a tow to my car during my lunch hour so that
I was only about 15 minutes late. Hopefully I won't experience any of the problems that
others have had, but right now I would highly recommend AAA.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Lessons and Carols Service
Bob Andrew, rdandrew@erols.com
Are you a closet Anglican? Well, clear out the cobwebs on Sunday December
12th, 10:30 am at Grace Episcopal Church, 1041 Wisconsin Avenue (between C&O Canal and
Whitehurst Freeway). Enjoy the traditional alternating cadences of readings and music,
plus hear the choral rendition of Bach's Cantata 142 “Unto Us a Child is Born.”
Bring a friend and revel in the rich full sound of the classic mechanical stop and
keyboard action of our A. David Moore pipe organ. Call 333-7100 between 10 am and 2 pm
with questions.
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Ho, ho, ho, our second weekend selling Christmas Trees is coming up fast.
Please consider buying your tree, wreath, and roping from the John Eaton Elementary
School. (We raise money to pay for co-teachers to lower the student/teacher ratio in our
classrooms.) Our school is located at 34th and Lowell Streets, NW. The sale is Saturday
and Sunday from 10-4. See you there!
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The ABC’s of Buying a Home with Government
Assistance
Pamela Johnson, PamelaJ@homefreeusa.org
On Thursday, December 16, 1999, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 pm, the Mt.
Pleasant Library will host a free home buyers' seminar to assist DC residents with
accessing monies set aside to help them become homeowners. The seminar, 10 Homebuying
Secrets Everyone Ought to Know. is sponsored by HomeFree USA, a non-profit, HUD approved,
homeownership organization. Do you know that you can earn as little as $14,000 and as much
as $92,200 a year (based on household size) and qualify for up to $20,000 in government
assistance? In addition, there is a $5,000 tax credit, free home inspections, 50% Discount
on HUD homes for police officers and teachers, and much more. All D.C. residents are
encouraged to attend. Please call 1-800-BUY-IN-DC for more information and to RSVP.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Short Term Housing/Housesitting Opportunity Needed
Judie Guy, gpgazed@aol.com
Some friends (a middle aged married couple with no children) will need to
move from their District condo for about 3 months January through March, while major
renovations are done. They are looking for an apartment or house they could rent or
house-sit during that time, preferably in NW DC (they now live off Connecticut Avenue).
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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED
Information Technology Instructors
Jerry LeNoir, Jerry@admin.dup.gwu.edu
I am currently in search of qualified teachers to teach classes in the
following IT subject areas — MCSE, General Networking, UNIX, C, C++, PC Hardware
Trouble-Shooting. If you'd like to teach in a great facillity with strong support, contact
me via e-mail.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Looking for a Masonry Contractor
Don Squires DSquires@erols.com
Can anyone recommend a good masonry contractor? We need to rebuild a brick
retaining wall. Also, does anyone have any experience with retaining walls constructed
with pressure treated wood timbers?
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The amount of spam I get seems on the increase. My ISP suggests
“trying to figure out what service the message came from and send an E-mail to
abuse@service.com, where service.com is the name of the service, asking them to do
something about it.” Do folks think following this suggestion worth the time? Any
other ideas? Any legislation pending, or is any legislation even possible or useful on
this? I'm thinking, for example, of a law that would require each commercial message to
provide a real E-mail address for “no spam” replies, and a law (like the
telemarketing law) giving us the option to place an address on a “do not spam”
list. Any First Amendment implications here?
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CLASSIFIEDS — CITY PAPER PREVIEW
Dave Nuttycombe, webmeister@washcp.com
From washingtoncitypaper.com's LOOSE LIPS column, appearing this Friday:
DEMOCRACY FIRST! OR SECOND: About the only action item left for D.C.'s elected school
board is which member will deliver its eulogy. Born by act of Congress in 1967,
temporarily suspended by the control board in 1996, the city's oldest elected body —
in its original form, at least — died this fall, even as the city officially debated
its future. Just months before the board is to regain its powers, everyone has an opinion
on the future of educational governance. It's just that none of those opinions favor the
board as we know it.
Read the entire Loose Lips column here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/lips/lips.html
From washingtoncitypaper.com's CITY LIGHTS page, here are a few early
warnings for upcoming events:
SATURDAY: “Working and Playing with Robots” from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the
National Museum of American History's Information Age Theater, 14th and Constitution
Avenue NW. Free.
THURSDAY: Galapagos: The Enchanted Voyage, a 3-D IMAX film, at 6:30 p.m. at the National
Museum of Natural History's Johnson IMAX Theater, 10th and Constitution Avenue NW. $15.
More details and more critics' picks are available online at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/pix/pix.html
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