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March 12, 2000

Christopher Lynn

Dear Riders:

Undoubtedly you've been following the biggest news in local government over the past three days, the fiasco of the Mayor's aborted nomination of Christopher Lynn as Chairman of the Taxicab Commission. Three quick thoughts about this episode.

First, if you've just been reading the editorials and articles in the Washington Post, you've missed half the story that has been published so far. The Post has been concentrating on Lynn's poor managerial reputation, which should have been enough alone to disqualify him for the position, but it has downplayed or failed to report much of the sleaze in his background that The Washington Times has covered. Second, the unanswered question is how Lynn got through any kind of screening process. When Dorothy learned Lynn's name last Tuesday, we looked him up on the Internet with a couple standard search engines. Within ten minutes, simply through the number of page hits and the titles of the pages, we knew Lynn meant trouble. Within three hours, we had printed out a stack of hundreds of pages that clearly showed his professional and ethics problems — and we don't have access to Lexis/Nexis, and didn't call any contacts in New York City government. Who in the Administration failed to do this elementary research, or did the research and buried it?

Third, a little bit of inside gossip. The Mayor's Chief of Staff, Abdusalam Omer, is publicly taking the hit for the decision to name Lynn to the position, but the choice of Lynn and the push behind him came from Eric Price, the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and it's really his judgment that is called into question here — the Office of Personnel and the Office of Boards and Commissions were told simply to process the paperwork. On Tuesday, after initial press inquiries, Price issued a press release strongly supporting Lynn, reinforcing the suspicion that he was aware of Lynn's personal and professional problems, and chose to ignore them. Price is now the lead person in the Administration choosing nominees to the National Capitol Revitalization Corporation, the long delayed semi-public, semi-private corporation that is designed to hide most of the city's important economic development decisions from the public's view, and remove them from any remaining public control.

If you want to know more about Lynn, by Tuesday there will be an article about his nomination, complete with links to the most revealing articles available on the web, at http://www.dcwatch.com/dorothy/ .

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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In Search of Election Turnout Data and Bastille Trivia
Mark Richards, Woodley Park, mark@bisconti.com

I am searching for trend data showing the percentage of D.C. registered voters (or the percentage of eligible voters) who actually voted in the primaries and general elections beginning in 1975 to present, and also for School Board elections from 1968 to present. The Board of Elections and Ethics provided me with a printout, but they do not have trend data of this nature. The task of grinding the numbers is bigger than I can handle right now, and I find it hard to believe nobody has developed this data. Is it possible that in the capital of democracy nobody knows the proportion of the population who bothered to vote over time? Can anyone help? If not, I have a project for someone who can deal with numbers and has a few days.

Two years after the Treaty of Versailles (1785), George Washington wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette: “Democratical states must always feel before they can see: it is this that makes their governments slow, but the people will be right at last.” Lafayette gave Washington the key to the Bastille after the French Revolutionaries stormed it in 1789 (the year of the Commune in Paris — a sort of Home Rule and workers rights event from which Marx got the word Communism). The key today hangs on the wall at Mt. Vernon, along with a portrait of the French King, Louis XVI, who supported the American Revolution and was beheaded in 1792. My understanding is that Jefferson supported the King's execution. Not that D.C. is the Bastille, but the imagery of these events and their connection to our founders is the material that literature is made of. I hope Mayor Williams mentions D.C.'s disenfranchised status to world Mayors on his upcoming meeting with them in Paris. This could be VERY helpful, and I'm sure they would find the fact that D.C. is the only capital excluded from the nation's legislature quite ironic, and perhaps even unacceptable.

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Potholes and Damage to Automobiles
Elizabeth Buchanan, liz@fenton.com

Recently I have heard people mention that you can be reimbursed by the city if your car was damaged by a pothole. Could this possibly be more than a hallucination? If anyone has information about this, please let me know.

[Call the Office of the Corporation Counsel, 737-3400, and ask for the person in charge of DPW claims. This has worked, but be sure you have documentation. — Gary Imhoff]

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What a Contrast
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

The DPW folks finally, after a full year, replaced the lamp post that fell onto a passing Volvo during the early morning rush hour. About a month ago, I called to tell DPW that the light pole looks fine in the daytime, but there was no light coming from the lamp at the top of the pole at night. Last week three trucks were there for a while, but there is still no light. So much for he improvements in customer services that were promised by Mayor Williams during his campaign.

What a contrast to the customer services here in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. One call to the customer service folks about a cracked wine glass or the need for some dishwasher detergent brings a response in minutes. Nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Dodge City to hurtle headlong down the slopes at breathtaking speed. At last as exhilarating as anything else (and you can repeat that feat thirty times in a day).

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Jump Out
Toby Sheppard Bloch, Tsheppar@aflcio.org

Does anyone else have experience w/ MPD jump out squads? I witnessed a very disturbing incident on my street last evening. Sometime around 6:00 pm on March 8th, I heard a car stop quickly on the street. Concerned that someone might have been in trouble, I moved to a second story window to observe the incident. What I saw was quite disturbing. Four non-uniformed Police officers jumped out of an electric blue late 80's American sedan (it looked like a Cavalier) and confronted two men who were standing on the sidewalk. They made the men stand spread eagled against the hood of the car as they frisked and shouted at them. The officers were both rude and issued instructions to the men that were obviously not clear to the “suspects,” and were equally unclear to me. Both of the men had identification, and after a few moments the officers started to pile back into the car. They were so unclear with the “suspects” that the men were not sure if they were being released.

These men were clearly not doing anything wrong. The officers failed to cite the man who had an open container. (I am not suggesting that they should have, but pointing out that the officers failed to act on the only possible pretense for confronting the men, suggesting that the interrogation was as random as it appeared.) No resident of the District should feel apprehensive about spending time outdoors for fear of being approached by the police. Furthermore, I believe the use of plain-clothes cops in this manner only heightens tensions between police and the residents they are supposed to be serving. This is certainly not what community oriented policing should look like.

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Legalize Them
Thomas Smith, smith1965@hotmail.com

It is interesting that some people say that the police never come. I have seen lots of police all over the place. Of course I think that people need to understand that this “problem” is a combination of unenforceable laws (vis-a-vis alcohol prohibition) and economics. I think we citizens need to read some of the studies and research that has been done by independent scholars about illicit drugs and those who use them, not the propaganda of the drug warriors. It is becoming abundantly clear that, just like alcohol prohibition in the 1920's, the enormous profit is what drives most of the violence among the users and sellers that we speak of. The other factor that drives the violence against non participating citizens are the draconian drug penalties that we have on the books. You mix all of that together and you get what we have today. Now I would propose that the single most effective thing that we could do would be to decriminalize drug usage the same way alcohol has been decriminalized, with the same strictures; i.e., it is illegal to operate vehicles while impaired, etc. Obviously, some folks will have problems with overusage/inappropriate usage, just like with alcohol. For those folks I would use the billions that we are spending on the drug wars today to help them deal with the problems that cause them to act so. This idea would take the perceived need for violence out of this situation. We then proceed to treat folks with this problem as the social/medical/economic problem that it has always been, not as the criminal problem that we have made it.

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Freedom to Speak
Larry Seftor, Larry_Seftor@compuserve.com

Anyone who has read my postings in themail (and its predecessor) will know that I am not shy about expressing my feelings. However, there is one issue that I feel I cannot talk about, and that is race. That concerns me. It is not that I have anything particularly important to say on this issue. (I happen to think that all people should be treated the same, regardless of race.) But it is important that I feel free to say it — and I don't. After seeing people and institutions subjected to firestorms of protest, often based on misunderstandings, misinterpretations, or minor lapses of judgment, I've decided to shut up. But that is not what this country is supposed to be about and it is not what the bill of rights guarantees us. I don't like it, and I wonder whether anyone else is similarly concerned.

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Campaign Posters
Arthur Spitzer, artspitzer@aclu.com

Ralph Blessing's post on Maryland campaign posters says: “According to Vince Spaulding, DC's Clean City Coordinator, citizens should feel free to tear them down, since only political posters for DC candidates are permitted in the District.” The regulation apparently relied upon by Mr. Spaulding is 24 DCMR 108.5, which provides that posters “shall not be affixed [to lampposts] for more than 60 days, except for the following: (a) posters of individuals seeking political office in the District ....”

The obvious meaning of this regulation is that posters for non-DC candidates, like posters generally, can only be up for 60 days. Unless there is some other law of which I'm not aware, there is no ban on posters for non-DC candidates. Such a ban would also be unconstitutional, in my humble opinion.

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Campaign Posters on the Mayor’s House
Adam J Marshall, adam.marshall@yale.edu

Ralph Blessing's note about non-DC campaign posters appearing on our streets reminded me of my fury at the Ralph Neas campaign (for Connie Morella's seat in 1998). After seeing dozens of his campaign posters on Connecticut and Wisconsin Avenues, I called his campaign HQ, only to hear some snot say, “well, Ralph has a lot of friends and supporters in DC too.” I responded that Ralph can have friends wherever he wants, but that he can't use our public works budget to clean up after him. I then spoke to a supervisor who promised that the signs would be removed. Of course, they weren't, and duly rotted and made our streets look terrible. However, if all the readers of themail took up this issue when abuses are spotted, I bet we'd get a far better response!

Finally, I wholeheartedly agree with Stephanie Faul that “Ward 3 bashing” needs to end. Yes, people in the ward are the city's richest residents, blah, blah, blah. But the bashers should realize that Ward 3 contributes an enormous portion of the city's income and real estate tax base, and that the ward is the only area of the city which has grown in population since 1990, thereby ensuring that its contribution to the city grows. Do I think the Mayor should live in Ward 3? No — I like the idea of a Mayoral Residence on Capitol Hill (Ward 6 is beautiful and very centrally located, after all), and the property in question seems like a great one. We should have an official residence, unlike Marion's house, which was a stone's throw from the PG County line (sound central to you, residents of wards 1-5?) and was renovated/improved with city funds. A permanent mayoral residence will give our city stature, pride, and the opportunity to prevent Barryesque abuses.

Anyway, Tony lives in Ward 2 now — so the critics who dislike his current neighborhood should stop all their whining about Tony living/moving into 3. In any event, don't we have better things to do than bash our fellow city residents?

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Non-DC Campaign Posters
Shaun Snyder, Chevy Chase, DC,

In 1998, I spoke with two people at the Ralph Neas campaign (Democrat running against Connie Morella) about the signs they put up in DC. Neither one could understand why it was inappropriate to advertise a candidate outside of the district, let alone state, that they were running in. They were more interested in the Maryland voters commuting into DC seeing their signs. I think the best course of action is to call the offending campaign, tell them that they are not permitted, nor welcome, to put signs in DC and warn them that you will tear down any that you see. That's what I did!

[Since there is no law against postering for out-of-state election campaigns, but there is a law requiring posters to be removed after sixty days, perhaps the best way to discourage out-of-state poster campaigns would be to leave as many posters as possible up for sixty days, and then to get DPW to fine the offending campaigns for each and every poster. — Gary Imhoff]

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Party Insults, Dogs and Their Servants, and Social Etiquette
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com

Maybe I'm too hard on President Clinton because my expectations were too high. Like Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, Clinton has not used his power or bully pulpit even to make Americans aware of the DC issue. (Ok, so maybe D.C. dropped the ball a few times.) To top this off, this week I received an insult from the DNC. It was titled “Democratic National Committee 2000 Confirmation of Voter Data, for updating voter lists and for providing better information on the issues that matter most to you.” If this excuse for a survey is how they're going to understand my priorities, they might as well save the postage. But, the real purpose of this DNC FRUG (fundraising under the guise of polling) came just after they insulted D.C. residents by asking for which party they will vote in the upcoming congressional elections. To push pollsters right over the edge, they conclude their bogus "survey" by asking for $7 to help defray the cost of processing. Here's my message to the DNC: may the whole D.C. delegation walk out of the Convention when it's our turn to vote, as Mark Plotkin suggests, a made-for-TV event. After eight years of Clinton/Gore and NOT ONE speech about D.C., I'm sure Al will understand (wink, wink). I like Gore, but what is he going to do for D.C.? I'm not getting my expectations up; what did he do as VP? But, what's the alternatives? Bush, who just found out the meaning of “Home Rule” and decided he can live with it (it means the feds can give D.C. a whoppin' whenever they damn well please!), and who clarified his position on political equality for D.C.: get lost, it's a done deal, the forefathers were schmucks who meant to screw you over. Or Ralph Nader. The main barrier to D.C. becoming a state or getting equal voting rights is probably rivalry between the political parties.

I observed dog walker behavior back when I had time to look out my window (those were the days). Here's how I saw it: dogs walk their owners around the neighborhood, barking at other dogs (and sometimes ferrets and other domestic animals) they don't like, while their servants (who sometimes think they're the owners) attempt to hold them back or pick them up to avoid a nasty little run in. More often, the dog runs over to another dog they like and want to sniff. So the dog decides who their servant gets to meet, like some sort of personality compatibility test or something. While the two dogs sniff each other, the two servants reach over and rub the back of the other dog and ask something like “What's her name?” This starts a conversation, and that's how people meet one another in the city. The downside of this social integration mechanism is that the cost is shifted to the gardeners in the neighborhood. (I wonder if dog owners and gardeners are mostly exclusive categories?) For some reason, many dog owners think their bundle of joy's poop is fertilizer. They just don't seem to understand that while little Fifi's poop and urine probably won't kill all the beautiful flowers that took the gardener hundreds of hours to nurture, when you add up all the dogs in the neighborhood, those same flowers don't have a snowballs chance. And some dog servants just WON'T scoop. They try to be sneaky, because they know they should scoop. One of my neighbors got so mad (a small business owner ... they do watch the 'hood) he scooped it, followed the guilty party, and to their shock (with doggie wagging tail by his side) plopped it on the reception desk where he was getting the mail. To be practical, DC probably need some fenced in areas for dogs to run and play like in New York so they don't take over whole parks. Speaking of techniques to get to know ones neighbors, in my area where there are few children a baby can draw a whole crowd and lead to group encounters. If you're alone without dogs or children, good luck.

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The Mansion
Mark Sibert, TREBISK@aol.com

I have a comment of Thomas Smith's comment of The Mayor's Mansion. Executive jobs should have a few perks to keep them satisfied personally. For some, this is their main source of income and since the mayor is a temporary position, by votership appeal, a beyond-the-ordinary compensation package is all right to me. When you are followed by the media from the moment you put on slippers in the morning to when you go to the john at night a secured place from them for a brief period can be comforting. It was recently calculated that the President's position for all that he has to maintain and the stress that comes with it, if it was calculated at a private corporation's system of compensation valuation, would be worth a couple of billion, not the mere $200K in salary, no cash incentives, and the free maid and security service is not enough to compare. Although a mayor's job is considered small to the nation's leader, free housing isn't too bad of a deal in my opinion. Since the mayor's mate is independent of the political scene she (he, if the mayor is a woman) can be responsible of the usual house duties and children, if any. Because the mansion is for a mayor not a president I believe any domestic staff can be supplemented at the mayor's choice.

Oh. and as far as the, “our elected officials only have as much money as the average household and they have to use the educational and public facilities as we do...” line, except for Williams the past three were residents of the city. That's why they complained and applied for office.

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Public Flogging in themail
Kirsten “Dupont Circle” Sherk, ksherk@yahoo.com

I'd like to respond to Stephanie's public flogging of my approval for a centrally located mayoral residence. I think it is a fair statement that there are large parts of Northwest Washington that are extremely wealthy and far removed from Capitol Hill, Judiciary Square, the District Building, or the White House. I think that a residence in the center of the city keeps the mayor in the middle of ALL the people he serves, not just the (likely to be) wealthier ones in NW (Barry lived in Ward 8 near the folks who elected him too, and as I recall from this forum, people in NW often felt neglected).

And while Williams was raised in modest circumstances, doesn't he make over $100,000/year? And that does not include his wife's income, and I believe she works as well (but I could be wrong). That is more than modest by the standards of this city. However, it is not extremely wealthy, which is why I support public financial assistance to maintain a residence that a city can be proud of, rather than calling on Williams to pay for these things himself. Thanks, Steph, for being understanding and gracious.

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Leave (Their) Home Alone!
Anne Drissel, drisselab@aol.com

Based on a reading of the vitriolic message exchange about the possibility of a Mayor's Residence in Washington, I'm thankful that Mayor and Mrs. Williams have had the wisdom and modesty to retain a simple, private residence in the same relatively unknown apartment building they occupied before he was elected Mayor. I don't think we're ready to consider an honorable residence for our city's Mayor until we as a community reach a point of respecting the role of our city's highest official and valuing their contribution to the point where we'd provide a reasonable housing allowance commensurate with the cost of maintaining a quasi-public Mayor's Residence. Until then, I hope the Williams's stay put!

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D.C. Executive Mansion
Mike Livingston, livingstonm@earthlink.net

Though an official residence for the Mayor funded by private benefactors is a thin smokescreen for political contributions in excess of legal limits, I must say it would be nice if the Mayor lived in an official building that could be picketed. (With all due respect to the folks who demonstrated outside Alice Rivlin's house last year to restore the Tenant Assistance Program, I don't condone picketing private residences. Besides, picketing an apartment building is kind of silly.)

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An Official Residence for DC’s Mayor
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

The USA is the world's most successful — and envied — democratic market economy. It provides almost limitless opportunity, and handsomely rewards earned success, competence, and popularity in all its forms. Americans greatly admire — and covet — the material symbols made possible by success. The mayoralty of the core city of the soon-to-be world's greatest national capital metro area probably does not need its own Air National Guard. But it surely deserves an official residence as a symbol of the rightful authority and dignity befitting that elected office. It can be an important instrument for carrying out valid official responsibilities which are now being neglected — to the city's comparative disadvantage. I would opt for an official residence located squarely on Capitol Hill, and have no qualms about asking 120 million American taxpayers to foot the bill (about two bits apiece).

[Let's compare. Does anyone want to do the research to find out how many cities of any size, and how many cities of DC's size, have a Mayoral Mansion, and whether having Mayoral Mansions has made citizens of these cities prouder of themselves? — Gary Imhoff]

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At Least It’s Not Colombia Redux
Judith Turner, judith@turner.net

Bryce Suderow's title brings to mind a recent dinner at a downtown restaurant favored by tourists. A nearby table of out of towners was asking the staff why DC is called “The District of Columbia.” The historian at our table gave the origin of the “District” part — 1789 — Washington — etc. Why “Columbia”? they asked. We told them about Christopher Columbus, revered then and now. “Oh,” they said, “we thought it was because of the Colombian drugs here.” (Proof that out-of-towners can't spell.)

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High Gasoline Prices
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

There is much palaver by both congressmen and senators railing against the high gasoline prices. What will this jabbering do? Absolutely nothing. If Congress really wants to help those who are being hurt by the high gasoline prices, then they should knock twenty-five cents off the Federal taxes on gasoline until oil prices come down. This would be a fast and very effective way of letting the consumers keep a few more bucks in their pockets.

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Look Not Just at What He Says, But Where He Says It From
Larry Seftor, Larry_Seftor@compuserve.com

Daniel Pelletiere responded to a posting by me with a long diatribe about the importance of DC. However I must point out that Mr. Pelletiere's posting comes from George Mason University, which I can assure everyone is in Northern Virginia.

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DSL
Steven B. Davis, sbd@compuserve.com

Check out http://www.dslreports.com. The Post listed it, and it has lots of reviews of lots of providers. A provider that I was looking at is capu.net. Good prices and good reviews (but a small provider). The comments on Bell Atlantic are HORRIBLE.

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DSL Providers in DC
Robert Andrew, rdandrew@erols.com

COVAD is placing DSL equipment in all the local area phone exchange buildings, and works through local installers to hook up the bridge modem at your home. (See http://www.covad.com for more details). I used west-coast based http://www.internetconnect.com to get to Covad's equipment because they were offering a $79/month special for 786kB SDSL service, but even they used local company Northpoint to do the setup, which went fine. There are many weeks backlog of demand for DSL, so once you order it be prepared to wait for their confirming E-mail on the date it will be installed. Make sure you are home during the 2-hour time window worked it with them for the installation, or even more days or weeks can go by to reschedule. My particular setup uses a separate phone line for SDSL, not combined with voice, but that option is available. Start with the Covad web site and Information Week's availability table: http://www.iw.com/extra/AvailabilityTable.htm.

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StarPower Still Hasn’t Figured Out Customer Service
Brian Reeves, brian.reeves@starpower.net

Outages are a part of life. We all know that... whether it's electricity, cable TV, internet service, phone service or whatever. The REAL PROBLEM with the StarPower outage was not the actual outage itself. It was the abysmal customer service that preceded and accompanied it. I'm at a loss to understand why this company can't figure out that they have a real customer service problem and how to fix it. As stated in the Washington Post article that appeared in Tuesday's Business section, they didn't even announce that they were going to perform a “network upgrade” at 2 am Sunday morning. They just did it. And when things went wrong, they ended up having to pay dearly for that initial (of many) mistake.

I've been very happy with the quality and reliability of product from StarPower. I have cable TV, cable internet and local/long-distance phone service. This was my first outage in any of them. But as I've stated in previous postings, their whole concept of customer service really needs an overhaul.

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Vernor’s and Other Favorites
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

'Member the discussion about where to buy Vernor's ginger ale in the DC area, and the frustration at being able to get it only sometimes? Found a great web site for that and other favorites (Moxie, Bosco, etc.): http://www.hometownfavorites.com.

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DC-Area Opera Singer Takes to the Web
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

An opera singer friend of mine, Donato Soranno, who has sung at the Kennedy Center and at other locales in the DC-area, recently told me that he received a not-small royalty check from the web site MP3.com. One of the first opera singers on MP3.com, Donato has sold his CD's to people from such exotic locations as Norway, Italy, Korea, Japan, Austria, and New Jersey. You can invite Donato into your living room by going to http://www.mp3.com/soranno or http://www.mp3.com/cantanti. And he loves getting fan E-mail.

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Donna Brazile Story
John Vaught LaBeaume, jvlab@yahoo.com

An interesting story with a local angle: http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage1.htm.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

ACLU Bill of Rights Dinner, March 30
Art Spitzer, ArtSpitzer@aol.com

On Thursday, March 30, the ACLU of the National Capital Area will hold its annual Bill of Rights Dinner, honoring Judge Patricia Wald and volunteer lawyer Stephen M. Block, and celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Home Rule in Washington, DC, at the Washington Hilton Hotel at 6:30 PM.

I invite you to attend this exciting event (at your own expense, of course). Individual tickets are $135 (discounts are available for low income people), or you can be a Sponsor of the dinner and have your name printed on the program for the low, low price of $375 for two tickets. We are also seeking generous people who will sponsor students from local colleges and law schools to attend the dinner at cost — which is $50 per student (a table of 10 is $500) — entirely tax-deductible to the sponsor. (So you can have your cake and a law student can eat it, too.) Please call me or Liz Fanning at the ACLU office (457-0800) to reserve your tickets or for more information.

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Gardening in Chevy Chase
Evelyn Wrin, evbobwrin@aol.com

If you are thinking about gardening and plant care now that spring is almost here, you will want to come to the March program of Chevy Chase Citizens Association. Mitch Baker with American Plant Food will speak about gardening and plant care in the D.C. area. Topics are expected to include pruning hints, plants that do well in this area, mowing grass, pest management, composting, and other gardening subjects of interest to residents in the Chevy Chase D.C. area. The program will be on Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 P.M. at the Chevy Chase Community Center (corner of Connecticut Avenue and McKinley St. NW). For further information call 244-5744.

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International Storytelling Festival
Robert Revere, washstorytellerstheater@erols.com

Washington Storytellers Theater proudly presents its second annual International Storytelling Festival on Saturday, March 18. This year's program, “Ancestors, Immigrants, and Time Travelers,” includes some of the best storytellers from around the country and the world, telling personal stories and traditional folktales of being lost and then found, of standing on the edge of two worlds, and of simply surviving. These artists will perform stories and music representing the cultures of Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Uganda, China, Brazil, and Canada. Performances are suitable for adults and children who can listen like adults.

Storytellers will include Roslyn Bresnick-Perry (Eastern Europe), Namu Lwanga (Uganda), Antonio Rocha (Brazil), Folke Tegetthoff (Austria), Dan Yashinsky (Canada), Clara Yen (China), and the musical group St. Patrick and the Snake Charmers. Saturday, March 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court NW, just off Van Ness Street between Connecticut Avenue and Reno Road. Limited street parking is available. The nearest Metro station is Van Ness/UDC (Red Line). Admission to the festival is free.

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Trash Force Does Takoma Park This Saturday
Paul Nahay, pnahay@sprynet.com

Trash Force's next outing will be this Saturday, March 18. We'll be joining some neighborhood groups to help clean up in the vicinity of Opal Daniels Park in Takoma Park, MD. If you don't feel like picking up trash, there will be other gardening and “fixup” tasks available to help with. Directions and info are at http://home.sprynet.com/~pnahay/tforce.htm#Mar18. If coming by Metro, meet at the Takoma Metro by 10:15 am; we'll then carpool or walk over to the site (about a 20 minute walk). If coming by car, meet at 10:45 am at the park. Please tell me specifically if you're coming via Metro, or meeting us at the Park.

There is supposed to be some sort of picnic there afterwards, to which Trash Forcers are invited. We'll either partake of lunch there, or at the Takoma Park Food Coop just up the street. Please let me know if you're planning to attend (and also if your plans change), and don't forget to bring lots of plastic bags (at least a dozen) and gloves, if you want them!

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOME AND OFFICE

Office Sublet Sought
E. James Lieberman, M.D., 362-3963, ejl@gwu.edu

Need small office with waiting room 3-4 days/wk between Dupont Circle and GW.

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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS

Million Mom March
Helen Hagerty, Helenmhag@aol.com

The national headquarters for the Million Mom March are now open here in DC and the office needs volunteers. The march is Mother's Day, May 14 at 12:00 on the Mall to demand common sense gun laws that protect our children. If anyone has time to help, please call 888 989-MOMS. The office is at 1050 17th St., NW, Suite #600. The web site is http://www.millionmommarch.com. We need your support!

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Scholarship Funds Sought for DC Student
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

The grandmother of a 5th grade student in a South East DC school has applied for admission for her granddaughter at a NW private school. The girl, an excellent student (who is looking for more challenge), has been accepted, but the school doesn't currently have enough money for the full scholarship she would need. Anyone have ideas on where to look for scholarship funds?

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