Goodbye School Board
Dear Witnesses:
The dismantling of democratic institutions in the District is far from
over, and the elected school board will be the next and chief victim. Tony Williams's
political power grab has failed only temporarily. The composition of the Board of
Education is determined by the Home Rule Charter, and the Charter can be amended only by a
bill passed by the City Council that is then affirmed by a public vote. Only two City
Councilmembers supported the Mayor's bid to abolish the elected school board and replace
it with a board that the Mayor would appoint. The Council, however, has given preliminary
approval to a mixed plan, in which a school board with fewer members would continue to be
elected, but the Mayor would appoint the school superintendent. The Mayor has said he will
veto this bill, and there aren't enough votes for it on the Council to override a veto
— only seven Councilmembers voted for the Council plan promoted by Kevin Chavous. And
were the Council plan or the Mayor's plan to come to a public vote, either one would
probably fail, since neither has excited any public interest, and neither Kevin Chavous
nor Tony Williams has explained how his plan is going to improve education for the
District's children.
It looks like a stalemate, but it probably won't be. Alice Rivlin, chair
of the Control Board, has said that she will keep power in the hands of the inept and
secretive “Emergency Board of Trustees” until and unless the democratically
elected school is abolished, and Congress is ready to give the Mayor his wish in the face
of Council and public opposition. So it doesn't matter what you or I want; or whether the
Mayor has public support for his plan. My bet is that we're going to lose the elected
Board of Education, along with any remaining shreds of parental control and public
accountability of those responsible for education.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Trying to drive down Wisconsin Avenue during Wednesday's snowstorm traffic
was backed up worse than I had ever seen it. It took me two hours to go from Calvert to R
Street. The obstruction turned out to be five Metro busses taking up both lanes going into
Georgetown. The busses were located halfway between Calvert Street and the Safeway. They
had left just enough room to go between them very slowly one car at a time in an intricate
z blockade pattern. There were no visible Metro personnel about trying to correct the
situation. This was the traffic obstruction that blocked Wisconsin Avenue from Bethesda to
R Street. I've heard rumors that many Metro bus drivers walked off their busses at the end
of their shifts in mid route. Does anybody in themail know any more about the wonderful
service Metro gave us during the recent storm? Is there anybody from Metro out there that
would like to comment on blocking Wisconsin Avenue?
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Snow Emergency and Taxis
Joan Eisenstodt jeisen@aol.com
I called Yellow Cab today, January 20, and they said there were no snow
emergency fares. I tried to call the Taxi Commission, and no one answered. Two drivers
today told me two different things. One said no, as long as the City was operating, there
was no emergency fare basis; the other wanted to charge me double. I refused. How is one
supposed to know? What IS the guideline, or is it arbitrary?
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Malcolm X / Meridian Hill Park
Jon Desenberg, JonDes@hotmail.com
As a neighbor and frequent visitor to Meridian Hill Park, I was surprised
to hear that some are asking for a playground, community center, and other projects on the
top level of the park. The park is gorgeous, and a playground and other development would
rob it of its beautiful character. The field on the top level is wonderful, and there's
plenty to do in a well maintained open space. I understand the need for playgrounds, but
trashing the historical beauty of this special place with jungle gyms and swings seems
akin to placing them on the Mall downtown. Are the Friends of Meridian Hill behind this
proposal?
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Imagine Something Could Change
Mark-David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
For three weeks I've not heard much English spoken, haven't listened to
any “news,” or paid attention to the time or date. I returned yesterday from
Brazil and today find it weird to put my backpack on the snow at the bus stop instead of
on the sand at the beach. I've been scanning the foot tall pile of newspapers and reading
themail to see what's new. I read there are three racist white women on the majority white
DC Council. How interesting. I know one of these white women, Carol Schwartz, and laugh in
disbelief: this assertion seems so silly, so mean, so careless, so small. Maybe that's why
nobody said much when this poison arrow was shot. I still have images of the thousands of
people of so many skin tones, so mixed, many poor, who meet on the beach after work in Rio
to watch the sky churn and the sun set, and stand, clap and cheer as it drops below the
horizon. “Goodbye sun until tomorrow, we will miss you!” The samba starts, and
the dance begins. One man with dark black skin showed me his tan lines and told he was
getting white, losing his tan. In Brazil, people who seem light may say they're dark, some
black say they're white — it's not clear how anyone knows, or if many people care.
Yes, they had 400 years of slavery, and still have racism, like everywhere. One well
traveled Brazilian complained to me that too many Brazilians think small: the country has
so many resources, but hasn't made the economic progress of US. Standing in line after
line is common — DC looks efficient. But in some ways I envy these “small
thinkers,” for at least they are alive and spirited. Walking around Salvador, Bahia,
and Rio, people look at one another -- really look -- from head to toe. They acknowledge
one another, reinforce one another's presence: their eyes say, “I like you!” or
“You're interesting!” or “Who are you?” They seem to live for the
moment, with the attitude “Lets see what happens next. . . .” It is warm,
reassuring, and life-giving.
I read an article by a Brazilian writer questioning whether the new
Millennium would be a time of advance toward the dream or the eternal return. For DC, the
perpetual race "discussion" (hardly! — it's more like throwing a pipe bomb
than a discussion!) makes me think we live the eternal return. I don't want to trivialize
the historic injustices — they were real. And the current ones perpetrated by people
of all tones, and unjust systems . . . yes, they are real, there is so much to do. But to
generalize too much is to drift from the truth. Accusations and assertions are diversions
from facts and solutions; they breed hopelessness and bitterness, and without hope people
give up. If one isn't careful, anger and bitterness grow like plants in a greenhouse, and
poison ideas colonize whole communities like viruses. Tonight, a big snow is said to be
coming. I recommend running into it, clapping, dancing to the sky, and shouting “free
at last, free at last, thank God, I'm free at last!” Why not? I dream of an
anti-virus for this poison that haunts DC and brings us all down. I dream of having an
American Indian on the DC Council. And a Hispanic. And an Asian. An Ethiopian. A Peruvian.
A Brazilian! For the next week, look into the eyes of everyone you see — from the
deepest black to the palest pink — and just smile or nod affirmatively. See how many
people look away fearful, wondering what you want . . . and how many cannot hold back a
smile, beam, and look away a bit stunned. You've just touched someone's soul. And they're
going to do the same thing, too. They won't be able to help it. The future is ours to
make, and or repeat. A warm smile passed to a stranger is like feeling the warm sun on a
cold winter day. We can all bring more warmth to DC, and it costs nothing. That's my wish
for the new year.
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I apologize if I offended anyone but Ed Barron with my recent posting
about UDC. I did not get any spam in response (which I expected), but I did get a little
carried away there at the end, and I deserved Bob Donahue's reprimand. One step forward
and two steps back seems to be the story of my life. In the meantime, UDC recently held
the Faculty Convocation that starts every semester. One of the speakers was the director
of the UDC Aerospace Program, which trains airline mechanics. This is apparently a very
well regarded program, with 100% job placement of graduates, and many of these graduates
work for major airlines in our area. If you have ever flown out of any of the local
airports, there is a good chance that at least one of the people who serviced your plane
was a UDC graduate. Perhaps Ed Barron might want to consider flying under an alias next
time he travels. . . .
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Evaluating the post nomination debate with respect to the recent mayoral
nominations to the UDC Board, I take the liberty of sharing an observation on the general
tenor of the debate both pro and con: it appears that as we focused and crystallized
political issues during the course of debate, some of us tended to become a bit too
strident. We must be ever mindful of the language we use to stimulate political debate
lest that same language be construed by some as personal attacks. As advocates for
political and social change, most of us have no desire to be part of or to engage in
personal attacks. While we may well differ on issues as we move along the path to a
restructuring and revitalization of our City, those architects of the debate ought not
personalize it. The many complex problems confronting our city and the solutions to those
problems will require our full time and attention.
However, there is at least one sophomoric person out there who added
nothing to the debate but apparently derives some warped sense of self flagellation from
sending racially derogatory threatening, and offensive material through inter state and or
intra state wire communication. I suspect that sometime very soon, one “Harold
Goldstein” aka Harold Goldstein, dcbiker@goldray.com,
will get a knock at his door from federal authorities with a warrant in hand.
###############
Willie Wilson, Continued
Bonnie Gantt, bonnie@wamu.org
Since my last posting about Rev. Wilson and the incident that resulted in
the boycott for which the reverend is being labeled a racist, I heard an interview with
Rev. Wilson on a local radio station in which he gave the full details of what actually
happened. A black woman bought a soda in one store and entered another to buy food. The
Asian storekeeper objected to the woman buying a soda in someone else's store and bringing
it with her into his carryout. When she protested, she was run out of the store by
gunpoint. Around the same time, an Asian storekeeper at another location beat a young man
to near death with a bat. From my own FIRST HAND experience there is a pattern of
disrespectful behavior on the part of some Asian shopkeepers towards black customers.
Especially children. On the other hand, I know of other Asian shopkeepers that are cordial
towards all their customers and they have the respect of their black customers, as well as
all others. So, I still say, Rev. Wilson is not a racist simply because he speaks up for
justice.
[Even were we to accept at face value Rev. Wilson's self-serving and
distorted account of the incident that served to ignite his protests, the fact would still
remain that he stereotyped all Asian merchants in his Ward, led protests against them as a
group and class, and called for a boycott against their stores based solely on their race.
You call that justice; I call it racism. — Gary Imhoff]
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I signed up with Starpower for cable TV and telephone service about nine
months ago and, while I still haven't been connected to Starpower's telephone service, I
am very pleased with the basic cable service. With the discounts I was eligible for, my
total bill is $35/mo and this includes many good independent films on The Sundance
Channel, The Independent Film Channel, and Bravo, as well as more commercial films on TNT,
TMC, The Comedy Channel, etc., and it includes sports from ESPN, ESPN II, and a few other
sports channels. I think that there are about 70 “basic” channels in all.
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A Tourist Guidebook to Washington City 130 Years
Ago (1869)
Mark Richards, East Dupont, mark@bisconti.com
My dad gave me The Sights and Secrets of the National Capital: A Work
Descriptive of Washington City In All Its Various Phases, a 512-page hard cover
tourist guidebook published in 1869. It introduces Washington City as “the pet child
of the Republic,” and reports that the capital is “unknown to the majority of
the American people.” A chapter titled “The Social Evil,” explains that
“It is commonly supposed throughout the country that Washington City is the most
immoral place in the land. That there is a frightful amount of immorality prevalent in the
city is true, but it is not fair to charge it to the citizens. . . . There is . . . an
average floating population during the sessions of Congress, of from ten to twenty-five
thousand persons . . . [with] a vast amount of leisure time . . . the usual consequences
of such promiscuous intercourse follow.” And, if promiscuous intercourse wasn't
enough to convince readers to visit, “Washington is the paradise of gamblers, and
contains many handsome and elegantly fitted-up establishments. It is said that at least
one hundred of these 'hells' were in full blast during the war. . . . The majority . . .
are located on 'Pennsylvania Avenue'. . . . You may recognize them by the
heavily-curtained windows through which gaslight shines dimly. . . . The table and wines
are free to all, and you can play or not, as you please.” The guide tells that the
city is governed under the authority of a charter derived from Congress, with a Mayor and
an elected Common Council that carries on municipal business at the City Hall on Judiciary
Square. “Congress showed a decided unwillingness to contribute anything towards it,
and even begrudged the sum necessary to make it habitable. It is at present a plain,
awkward building, situated in one of the handsomest parts of the city.”
On schools: “The public schools are, as yet, in their infancy. There
are five large 'public schools' as they are called, which correspond to the 'high schools'
of most other cities, and a number of primary schools. They systems is still incomplete,
and capable of great expansion and reform.” On the press: “The city has no
first-class newspaper, such as the Capital of a great nation should have, and its press is
so entirely local in its character as to be utterly devoid of interest to any but
residents of the city.” On the Freedmen: “. . . it became evident to all that it
was the purpose of the General Government to receive and protect all slaves from the
surrounding country who sought an asylum in the District. This conviction spread rapidly
among the negroes in Maryland and Virginia, and they abandoned their masters and old
homes, and came into Washington in great numbers — to such an extent, indeed, that it
seemed the city would be overrun by them. . . . Fresh from the bonds of slavery, fresh
from the benighted regions of the plantation, they came to the Capital looking for
liberty, and many of them not knowing it when they found it. Many good friends reached
forth kind hands, but the North is not warm and impulsive. . . . The change was indeed too
sudden, and the poor creatures were utterly unprepared for it. . . . The colored people
proper of the District, by which term we mean those who were born in it, or have lived in
it many years, are very different from the refugee freedmen. . . . They are, as a class,
intelligent, respectable, and industrious. Nearly all of them have some steady, honorable
employment, at which they work faithfully. They hold themselves aloof from the freedmen in
the camps or villages, and consider themselves vastly superior to them, and justly
so.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE
1992 Jetta GL Sedan, only 83,500 miles. Good condition: 5-Speed, AM/FM
Cassette Bensi Box Pullout Radio, Moonroof, AC, Cruise Control, Tilt Steering Wheel,
Velour/Cloth Seat. Many new parts. Black, grey interior. Valued at $5,780 by Edmunds.com,
for sale for $4,500. Tel: 757-622-5993 or birdanderson@hotmail.com.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS SOUGHT AND GIVEN
ISO Reputable Car Mechanic and/or Oil Change Place,
Preferably in NW DC
Lonna Shafritz, lshafrit@aed.org
New DC car owner looking for reputable car mechanic and/or place to change
oil for Buick. Prefer Dupont/Adams Morgan area, but willing to consider any highly
recommended place (even MD or VA). Please E-mail or call me at 202-884-8784. Thanks. (Last
issue had wrong phone number. Sorry if you tried to reach me!)
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My better half and I were very pleased with the services of Jeff Jackson
of Tutt Taylor Rankin, who worked with us for about six months to find a house in Dupont
Circle. Work: 202.939.1233, Home: 202.829.8910, Fax: 202.265.6156, Main: 202.234.3344,
Work Address: 1755 S St NW, E-mail: jjackson@tutttaylorrankin.com.
We were in the house, not condo, market, so I can't speak to his familiarity there. But he
was able to get us into a number of houses before they went on the market, vital to the
hunt in these crazy times. He also was extremely responsive to our needs and desires, and
I was very impressed by how “close” to what we wanted each place he showed us
was — he truly does listen and saved us a lot of time in avoiding properties in which
we had no interest.
Another friend of mine has recently passed the realtor exam and is working
his way up through the small property route. A lifelong Washingtonian, he can be a real
help in finding neighborhoods that match your ambition and your budget. Scott Purcell,
Realtor, Long & Foster, Work: 202.483.6300, Home: 202.387.4905, Fax: 202.483.8876,
Mobile: 202.277.5892, 2601 Connecticut Avenue NW. Best of luck in the hunt!
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