The Play’s the Thing

Dear Playgoers and Playwrights:

Whether you are a fan of farce or slapstick, you have to admit that the staging of “The School Governance Comedy” has been full of laughs. Oh, the first act may have been slow to build and a little tedious, but the second act curtain has ended on a high note of forgotten and misunderstood motives, confusion, mistaken identities, and everyone playing the fool. Hilarious, and a perfect marriage of Moliere and the Three Stooges. The Mayor and the Council, aided and abetted by the bad advice and orders of Alice Rivlin and Eleanor Holmes Norton, have dug a deep hole for themselves and for the hapless citizens of the District.

At the beginning of the play, everyone pretended to be motivated by the best interests of the students; by the end of the second act, everyone has dropped the pretense and admitted that all they care about is a political compromise, no matter how idiotic and distasteful it may be, and no matter how bad it may be for education. “I don't like this bill,” said most of the Councilmembers, outdoing themselves at the sport of double-talk, “and I can't see how it will do any good, but I'm going to vote for it anyway because I'm a good compromiser.”

The third act may be a bit of a problem, however. The Mayor and the Councilmembers who have behaved so foolishly in act two now have to try to act respectable, and to invent reasons to support a plan that they denounced throughout act one and the first half of act two. (Nobody has thought of any reasons yet, so there will have to be some frantic late night writing sessions to make this part of the play believable.) There's no reasonable way for the plot to work out with the happy ending that a comedy deserves. I suppose that we'll have to settle for a deus ex machina that will intervene at the third act curtain to set everything right. Probably we voters will have to do that ourselves, coming in at the last minute and voting this sucker down by such a large margin that the politicians will have to stop making DC's schools a playground for power grabs and start paying attention to the needs of our students. Alternatively, we could wake up some morning and be told by the Mayor and the Council that the whole first and second acts have just been a bad dream sequence. Or does that just happen in Dallas? Let us know for the next issue -- how would you write the third act of this comedy so that it doesn't turn into tragedy for our children?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Raze Permits Issued to Historic 900 Block of F Street
Michael Berman, mberman@his.com

The Archdiocese of Washington wants to tear down a row of 19th century buildings in the 900 block of F Street and replace them with yet another ordinary office building. The existing buildings are three stories high and represent the last group of old commercial storefronts. They also contain the last permanent artist's studios in the Downtown Arts District. In November, 1999, an historic preservation administrative law judge rejected the Archdiocese's office tower as being totally inconsistent with the Historic District Protection Act. But lawyers for the Archdiocese found a loophole: the Regulatory Reform Act of 1998 added a clause to the preservation law to require judge's rulings within 60 days of a record's close. The judge's ruling was late due to an office that was understaffed and over-burdened. The church appealed on this sole technicality and — to the horror of the artists, preservation groups, and many members of the D.C. Council — the Corporation Counsel decided not to challenge the appeal and directed the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) to issue demolition permits, without public notice.

On Monday, February 14, the DCRA had to explain why it had issued the permits at an oversight hearing of the DC Council's Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Committee, chaired by Councilmember Sharon Ambrose. DCRA Director Lloyd Jordan tried to reassure the Committee that demolition could not take place until the Archdiocese had received several other construction permits. The Downtown Artists Coalition, an organization representing the artists in these buildings, of which I am President, was not comforted, since there is already heavy equipment on site behind the buildings — reconstructing another church property. In this city, developers have demolished historic buildings in the middle of the night — like Rhodes Tavern and the Circle Theater — with just a slap on the wrist. We are urging that both the raze permits and this 60-day mandate provision be rescinded, now!

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The School Board
Harold Foster, hfoster@mncppc.state.md.us

A few things about this Big Ender-Little Ender dispute in Lilliput about the fate of the school board: 1. Councilmembers whose children are enrolled in private schools should recuse themselves from further involvement in this matter, unless they are prepared to publicly commit to enrolling their children in public schools if the school board governance they want to see is approved in the referendum. 2. The Council should not agree to any electoral reconstruction of the school board that they would not want to see next applied to the Council. 3. If the Mayor is this keen on having effective administrative oversight of the Board, he should be willing to resign if the voters took him up on his original idea of having a referendum on his appointed school board four years after it was created.

(As a third generation native Washingtonian, I am applying to have Clinton place me on the Endangered Species list as his last act before leaving office.)

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Public Won This Round, Kids Need to Win Next One
Mark David Richards, dupont east, mark@bisconti.com

My grandfather had beautiful hybrid plants, some of which he “engineered” himself. Two individual plants, grafted together, grew into one with characteristics of both. Today (2/19), all in one editorial, the Washington Post editorial board called the consensus-child of DC's elected officials a “mixed bag,” a “cut-and-paste scheme,” a “split-the-difference political deal,” and “a tough sell.” Perhaps not a surprising response from one whose favored idea (to strip DC citizens of all voting rights on their DCPS board) has been cast aside by both the Mayor and Council. That idea is dead unless Congress steps in and does the dirty deed. The Mayor assured an angry citizen at the Kalorama Citizens Association (where 60 Minutes was filming) that however DC citizens vote — either to keep the current 11-member elected board or to try a 9-member majority-elected, minority appointed board — he will back their decision either way. That's good news. Bottom line: the all-appointed board idea has been shown to the door, and I thank the Mayor for playing a key role. (True, I wish he hadn't put that train on the tracks to start with, but it couldn't have been an easy decision to derail his own train. “Who will sell the 'hybrid'?” the Post asks today!). Where are we now? The Superintendent is, I'm guessing, afraid an elected board will show her to the door and derail her reform efforts. (And the record shows that having a strong Superintendent and keeping her/him around for a while is a key to success.) The Mayor still wants to be involved in fixing the public schools, but he won't have full control either way — his people will have to be approved by Council, and negotiate with a majority-elected group. If citizens choose the “hybrid,” they will be formally instructing the Mayor and Council to play an active role in setting school policy. For it to work, the board will have to be designed to, and make an effort to, work together. Over 32 years, the elected board hasn't done that well. And they haven't worked with the Mayors office, regardless of who is in that role. A mixed DCPS board is one of the few things that has never been tried in DC (just read the governance history). So I'm not ruling it out yet — I want to see comparative diagrams.

Look at the latest options considered: 9-member/5 elected, 4 appointed/ won with the support of the Cropp, Chavous, Schwartz, Ambrose, Graham, Evans, Jarvis, the Mayor, Control Board, and Eleanor Holmes Norton (public loses 6 direct elects, Mayor/Council gain 4 on board); 7-member/5 elected, 2 appointed supported by Patterson, Catania, Orange, and Mendelson (public loses 6, mayor gains 2). The 5-appointed supported by some in Congress, Washington Post editorial board, Federal City Council, Mayor, Patterson, and probably Ackerman (public loses 11, mayor gains 5) was off the table (thanks to Mayor). Their compromise isn't too bad — it was a good decision to narrow citizens choices to keeping the current arrangement or replacing it with one they're going to invent. (Looking at the way they're mixed up by race, gender, and sex preference, they couldn't have planned a better mix to keep the pundits from claiming the decision was about any of those issues.) Now, they should be in this together (not exactly “a razor-thin majority,” as the Washington Post editorial board claims). A plan must be laid out in a coherent way. DC citizens deserve a timeline: how long does the Mayor and Council need to lay out the roles, responsibilities, and structural issues? They should start by hiring a facilitator, laying out the principles they agree on, followed by the outcomes they are aiming for, and finally, the methods (roles, responsibilities). The fact that DC's board and Superintendent combine the roles of both state and local is an issue to think through. Even though it is “an elected-official proposal,” parents, teachers, and the public should be involved (Brazil's right on this) in crafting the details of the hybrid design — this will require a carefully thought out public involvement plan, not just hearings or town hall meetings, and clear public information (put on Internet!). Maybe DCWatch can start a running list of advantages and disadvantages of the current vs. proposed board. Key issues that must be addressed: how each of the structures (hybrid and current board) can be (re-)designed so that the Mayor, Council, and board work together, and the kids get the resources and education they need to have a fighting chance to succeed in a mean world that mostly doesn't give a damn about them. Most of the kids in DCPS are short on resources to begin with. They need their adults, including the pundits, to calm down for a few months and seriously think this thing through. Lay both options out for the voters to see. (And, let's put the abolition of all our other Congressionally imposed education boards on the ballot, too.)

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Reply to Mark Richards on the Williams Administration
Ellen Cole, lymegarden@aol.com

Mr. Richards seems a bit quick to credit the Williams government with the successful removal of a dead tree in front of his property. First, he called last summer — and they're just cutting it down in February? Next, a private company shows up to do the job — with all the trees in the city, doesn't the DC government have any tree crews? And the company is from Maryland, why not the District? (Perhaps the Maryland company bids a better deal, in which case I would agree that they should get the contract.) But said company had to come back four times to cut down the tree because of parked cars — no doubt at four times the cost to the city, when the city should've towed the offending vehicle the first time! I would be a little slower to sing the mayor's praises in this particular instance!

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Proposed Mayor’s Mansion
Kenan Jarboe, kpjarboe@erols.com

As you might have read in yesterday's Post, there is a Council proposal to turn the Old Naval Hospital on Capitol Hill into the official Mayor's Residence. While many of us in the neighborhood are excited about the possibility (especially about the possibility of finally restoring that fine old building), I wonder how others feel about the proposal? I also wonder about any downside to having the mayor as a next door neighbor? Any comments or experiences anyone could share?

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Negative Comments Regarding Southeast
G. Bonita Franklin, miyake@pop3.smartworld.net

This city still is a city divided. I have been a resident of Southeast Washington for 10 years. Just recently, I purchased a home in the Randle Highlands area. Of course, I was truly excited about my purchase, but you know there is always one, “Why do you live in Southeast,” or, “Those people in Southeast!” This is a beautiful area of the city with a lot of good history to be read. I am very proud to live in this city and even more in the Southeast sector. When will the negative undertones regarding Southeast end?

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What’s the Policy?
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

Roomie and I frequently take our two year old granddaughter, who lives right here in D.C., for excursions to places around our fair city. We always take either Metrobus, or Metrorail. She, like many kids from NW D.C. would never be exposed to these forms of transportation by most SUV loving parents. When we go I carry the babe and roomie carries the light stroller (which we won't need much longer). I walk through the turnstile or pass by the coin/bill box on the bus, putting in only my own fare. My question is, when do I have to start paying for my granddaughter? What's the Metro system policy? I don't want to risk an embarrassing arrest with handcuffs and all, right in front of my neighbors.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

The Brew Bus Tour
Fadia Jawdat, fadia.jawdat@wholefoods.com

Saturday, February 26: a tour of Baltimore's finest breweries and brew pubs. Breweries to be visited: Clipper City Brewing Company, Baltimore Brewing Company (DeGroens), Brewer's Art, The Wharf Rat (Olivers). $45.00 fee includes bus trip, brewery tours, samples at all breweries, snacks, lunch at BBC, and door prizes. Seating is extremely limited. Reservation deadline is Thursday, February 24th. Interested parties should contact fadia.jawdat@wholefoods.com or call Fadia or Jeff Wells at 333-5393.

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Upcoming Events at Longview
Connie Ridgway, Kaniru@aol.com

Longview is a beautiful place in nearby Accokeek Maryland, with a view of the Potomac River, the Washington Monument and Mt. Vernon from its backyard. It is located on 130 unspoiled acres. We offer workshops and retreats to renew the spirit, while surrounded by beauty and a sense of being Home. Through the creative arts, spirituality and community building, we encourage people to take risks and imagine possibilities. The following are events in March:

March 11, 9 am-12 pm: Creative Wellness, combining music, chi kung (a Chinese healing art), guided imagery and art to help people center, relax, focus and energize. $25. March 11, 1-4 pm: Free Open House! Food and live music (performance and signaling). Bring shoes/boots you don't mind getting muddy and walk down to the river. March 25, 10 am-4 pm: Anger, Passion and Forgiveness workshop. When energy can flow, it can transform anger into creative passion and ultimately forgiveness. Learn how to let go of the past and open your heart to compassion through forgiveness. $85. Call or E-mail Connie for details: 966-1485, Kaniru@aol.com

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ANC 3C Meeting, February 28, 2000
rgm55@aol.com

On February 28, ANC 3C will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at the 2nd District Police Station, 3320 Idaho Avenue, NW, beginning at 7:30 p.m. MPD will give a report for PSA 204 and 205 at 7:30 and take questions from the public. Commission business will immediately follow. The agenda includes a presentation by Starwood Urban Investments on their plans in Cleveland Park and Woodley Park, update on Alban Towers, request for variance for 2947 Macomb Street residence, application of Cafe Ole to change class of liquor license, finalization of ANC committees and committee chairs, proposed endorsement of efforts of Coalition for D.C. Representation in Congress, and authorization for ANC testimony on upcoming budget and oversight hearings before the District of Columbia Council regarding DPW, DCRA, Zoning and Planning, Libraries and Education.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Apartment Sought
Jason Ziedenberg, (202) 678-9282, jzdc@cjcj.org

Recently converted DC urbanite looking to cast the transient life aside and to settle in DC in a one bedroom apartment in Columbia Heights/Mount Pleasant. Cool, community minded and responsible tenant looking for a place in the $700-800 range with access to a deck or yard, within walking distance of the Columbia Heights Metro. Trying hard to roll into a new place without losing last month's deposit (so, looking for someone planning on leaving DC, or who has an apartment coming on line the end of March, or end of April).

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Room Available March 3
Kerry Jo Richards, kjr1@yahoo.com

Cleveland Park — Room in beautiful and spacious house on Tilden Street. Conveniently located between Van Ness and Cleveland Park Metro Stations. We are friendly, clean, female non-smokers — we prefer the same. Rent is about $500 plus utilities. Need someone soon! Call 202-237-2723 or E-mail kjr1@yahoo.com.

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In Search of . . . Parking
Rick Rosenthal, rrosenthal@aarp.org

Help! Can anybody suggest a way to rent or buy parking in Dupont Circle? As a first time home buyer, I keep turning down fantastic condos for lack of dedicated parking. Ah, such is our marriage with the horseless carriage.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

Opening at ITI
Annie McCormick, amccormick@itic.org

Anyone know of anyone looking for work? My department, Industry Statistics Programs, is looking for a secretary. I'd be happy to tell anyone about the position if they'd like to call or E-mail me. Annie, 626-5748.

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Incorporator Wanted
Susan Donahue, boss1@gainaday.com

I am looking for someone to help register (incorporate) a small business in DC — someone to help me work through the procedures and get things done correctly. If you are that person or know of someone, please E-mail boss1@gainaday.com or call Susan at 202-210-2313.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

VW Beetle for Sale
Jim Schufrieder, Jim.Schufreider@hdq.noaa.gov

I'm selling my red 1998 VW Beetle for $16,300 or best offer. According to www.edmunds.com, the retail value of the car is $17K. It has 16,700 miles, has ABS, AC, cruise, AM/FM cassette, power doors, locks, remote entry. Good shape. If someone is interested, they can call me at 234-3944 (Home) or 482-4298 (work).

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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE

Encyclopedia Donation
E. James Lieberman, ejl@gwu.edu

I have proof pages of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Psychology, eight volumes (March, 2000, American Psychological Assn. and Oxford University Press). This will sell for about $1,000. Would like to donate to library or non-profit org. The pages, printed on one side, can be punched and placed in binders. For information call 362-3963.

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