Thoughtful
Dear Deep Thinkers:
Does anyone have any reaction to today's article in The Washington
Post about the street cuts? It traces the city's long refusal to charge utility and
high-tech companies for digging up our streets, as well as the current plan to drastically
undercharge them, directly to Mayor Williams. It says that blocked these charges both in
his current position and formerly as the Chief Financial Officer. If Mayor Williams
opposes the earned income tax benefit for poor Washington residents because the city needs
every dollar it can raise, how can he justify bypassing tens and hundreds of millions of
dollars of income from wealthy, mostly out-of-state corporations? Incidentally, with
regard to the proposal that the city pay a million dollars toward renting pandas for the
National Zoo, one writer who can't sign her comment because of her work reminded me that
the gift shops and restaurants at the the Zoo and other Smithsonian facilities are tax
free. She suggests that the District pay for the zoo's pandas in exchange for the right to
collect sales taxes from their sales.
There were so many thoughtful challenges to what I wrote in the last issue
of themail that I have relaxed (for this time only) the usual space limits on individual
messages and on themail as a whole. You have encouraged me to try to write something
thoughtful in response. You know I hate to do that; so don't make me try it again. My
response is among the contributions below.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Not in the Washington Post
Kathy Patterson, kpattDC3@aol.com
Here is one in a series of reports on public affairs news you didn't read
in the WashPost — belated due to a heavy week of budget markups. On April
13, there was extraordinary testimony before the Council's special committee on special
education by Elise T. Baach, the court-appointed special master in special education cases
against the D.C. Public Schools. She explained that she had declined heretofore to testify
before the committee because of separation of power issues. She asked to appear, however,
because “my reluctance in this regard is outweighed by my view that class members
[i.e., special needs kids] can not be well served unless their elected representatives are
fully apprised of relevant issues.” She then reviewed DCPS statements made in
hearings on November 4, 1999, and March 9, 2000, and by Superintendent Ackerman at a late
March press conference, to demonstrate that DCPS “is unable or unwilling to
accurately describe applicable Court Orders.” She summed up the erroneous statements
made by Ackerman and others thus: “but for the pesky court case, transportation
services would be better and costs lower.” She then tied each special ed
transportation problem back not to a court decree but a DCPS policy or a management
failure. She quoted her own May 1999 report that DCPS has failed to develop a
transportation training program for secondary students, expand satellite locations for
DCPS programs, and encourage private schools to place programs within the District.
“It is regrettable,” she said, “that DCPS continues to place responsibility
for its fiscal problems with the Court and the students and parents who initiated the
action.” Her final point: “The Superintendent should have the sensitivity to
refrain from blaming children with disabilities and the parents who are trying to raise
them.” The WashTimes ran the story the next day. The Post had the
testimony and declined to use it.
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Preliminary Results from Tourist Guidebook
Evaluation
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
I've received a number of responses from travel publishers acknowledging
the evaluation — including Berlitz, Lonely Planet, and Guide to Black Washington.
Here is an encouraging letter from Michelin that makes the time invested seem worthwhile:
“Dear Mr. Richards: Thank you for your letter dated March 7, 2000, in which you bring
to our attention your recent evaluation of 26 tourist guidebooks on how well they tell the
story of the District of Columbia. Our office in Paris had already informed us of your
E-mail and the web site, and we had visited the site to look at the results. The study
made interesting reading and we are gratified by our rating but we realize that there is
room for improvement in the telling of DC's fascinating history. At a time when the trend
is to less detailed and less comprehensive treatment in guidebooks, in favour of the
visual aspect, I believe we can still find the space to correct some of the omissions
(perhaps more information on some of the 114 neighbourhoods, on the self-government issue
and the socio-economic importance of DC) and to differentiate more clearly between the
local DC and the federal government. We are always interested by studies such as yours and
we thank you for taking the time and trouble to inform us about the study and the web
site. Yours sincerely...” Wouldn't it be nice to have a description about each
neighborhood and what people who live there say distinguishes it from other areas, with a
listing of notable things to discover. This is a big project that would require a
coordinator and editor, but perhaps someone will do it one day! As we all know, ideas flow
faster than time and resources.
[The study is at http://www.dcwatch.com/richards/000126.htm.
— Gary Imhoff]
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At Long Last
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
The Mayor has finally released a set of time oriented measurable goals for
the District. Each of his top aides has a scorecard with a set of goals listed that must
be completed by December of this year. You can see all the scorecards on the District's
Web Site at http://www.washingtondc.gov. By
setting goals and keeping score, the Mayor and all of the D.C. residents can see just how
well, or not so well, the D.C. Government is doing. This is a good first step. It would
also be nice to see a top level Mission Statement from the Mayor that sets the tone for
how he wants the District to evolve over the next several years. Then it would be great to
have all the major functional organizations of the District to establish their own Mission
Statements in support of the District' Mission. From these Mission Statements long term
(strategic?) goals can be derived and the District Government can become pro-active
instead of operating by the seat of the pants and reacting to one crisis after another.
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The 8 Is Enough Project
Nick Keenan, Shaw, nbk@gsionline.com
There is evidence that in the past there has been significant
participation in District elections by voters who are improperly registered. These voters
have earned the nickname “Ward 9.” The purpose of the “8 is Enough”
project is to allow residents to inspect the voting rolls of their own neighborhoods, in
the hope that broad public scrutiny will lead to more accurate rolls. The first step in
this project is complete — a complete list of District registered voters, organized
by ANC, is available online at http://www.conexos.com/anc/INDEX.HTM.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who has specific advice on what to do when a
questionable registration is encountered.
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George Magazine
Steve Leraris, Ward 4, Leraris@aol.com
Has anyone else seen the April Issue of George (http://www.georgemag.com) with Bono on the cover? On
page 18, they have a map of the USA showing which states get more or less back from the
Federal government than they pay in taxes, but of course Washington, DC, isn't listed!
Letters to the editor: georgeletters@aol.com
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Gore and DC
Steve Leraris, Ward 4, Leraris@aol.com
Does anyone have an idea how much DC Residents pay in Federal Taxes a
year? For those who would like to show their displeasure with Al Gore on DC Representation
and have mentioned voting for Bradley or no one for president on May 2nd, how about on or
about that date sending E-mails/faxes to Al Gore's campaign regarding this issue? Does
anyone know if Al Gore will be making any appearances in DC on May 2nd asking for our
votes? He met with some senior citizens in PA on their primary the other week.
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In her posting this past Monday (April 17), Stephanie Faul noted that red
light cameras are also able to show when a car is making a turn. I hope that statement
doesn't mean the cameras won't be documenting those drivers who turn right on red without
even slowing down, much less stopping, as required by law. That particular violation is
much more common than running the light while proceeding through the intersection, but is
just as much a threat to pedestrians and to passengers in cross-traffic vehicles.
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A few weeks back I wrote about the mysterious phone poll on DC candidates
and issues I received at home. This week I ran into Bill Rice, DC's own perpetual
candidate, and he confessed that he recently conducted a poll and he's considering running
again for Council. Doesn't this guy know when to quit?
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Does IMF=“I Won't Move?”
Tom Matthes, tmatthes@vais.net
The media kudos for DC Police conduct during the IMF/World Bank protests
is based almost entirely on the force's claim that they prevented another Seattle. But
Seattle admits it wasn't prepared for the demonstrations and, over time, the abusive side
of how DC Police handled things will come into perspective.
This is just a thought, but wouldn't it have been easier to bus the
IMF/World Bank delegates to a resort in Ocean City or West Virginia, instead of turning
downtown DC into a four-day reenactment of Stalingrad? I know you can't always do that,
but in this case I think asking the delegates to move wouldn't be any more expensive than
the $5 million security claim being presented to Congress, not to mention the disruption
to the life of a major city.
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DC’s Cops Deserve our Gratitude
Naomi J. Monk, NMonk10501@aol.com
I cannot thank and compliment Chief Charles Ramsey and the entire DC
Metropolitan Police Force enough for an outstanding job in protecting our city and those
in it. They protected our city, citizens and protesters from harms way during the World
Bank and IMF meetings. It was great that the World Bank and IMF held scheduled meetings
and the protesters demonstrated. All parties civil liberties were upheld because of the
DCMP's great works.
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The World Bank and the Demonstrators
Lenora R Fuller, Lenora.Fuller@GTE.net
I understand that while demonstrators were attempting the take over the
streets, that other more dangerous threats were being made against our government and the
city in general. During this week for example, we witnessed the 5th anniversary of the
explosion of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City (a former colleague of mine survived
but was seriously injured in the blast), and the anniversary of the shootings at Columbine
High School. With the agencies operating under heightened security alerts, it is possible
that police and security forces overreacted at times. Perhaps I am in the minority in more
ways than one, but I am glad we did not experience the same terror and havoc wreaked upon
the people of Seattle last year.
I have worked in a number of 3rd World Countries over the course of my
career. I am not an apologist for the World Bank, however, I have seen first hand some of
the positive benefits resulting from implementation World Bank funded programs. I cannot
speak about the IMF. Yes, much much more work must be done to improve the quality of life
in these remote places. I sincerely hope that a dialogue between critics and supporters of
World Bank policies will be established. However, I sense that while some demonstrations
were conducted in earnest, others were perpetrated by anarchists simply intent on
destruction.
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I live and work in DC. My office is located at 20th and K St. NW and
although the building management asked us to close, my company remained open. I came in on
the Sunday and Monday of the protest via Metro with no problems. The only
“inconvenience” was that the Farragut West station was closed, but Foggy Bottom
remained open. On Sunday I decided to walk around and see what the protesters/police were
doing. Everything I observed was peaceful, the stage and vendors on the Ellipse had more
of a concert feeling than a demonstration. The only real act of violence was when the
protesters came into the streets at 17th and Constitution Avenue Sunday afternoon. The
Park Police on horseback were brought in and there was a lot pushing and bumping. One
protester was standing on the bumper of a van and was pulled off by a uniformed police
officer. As the protester turned to walk away, two undercover officers (unknown to the
crowd at the time) grabbed him and one of the them pulled something out of his pocket and
began hitting the protester in the back of the head. This was completely unwarranted!
People in the crowd started yelling at them and they let the demonstrator go and slinked
back into the crowds.
That was really the only act of police violence I witnessed. All in all, I
believe the Metropolitan Police Department did an excellent job with a situation that
could have been much worse.
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Let us put this issue into a somewhat different focus, and perhaps
understand it better. The IMF's primary mission is the stability of the international
monetary system. For that, it makes resources available to countries, essentially
expanding their access to reserves, to be drawn upon for such purposes as minimizing
currency fluctuations. It places conditions on making those resources available. It also
makes direct loans for similar purposes, and provides limited technical assistance in both
the monetary and fiscal areas. In the MICRO sense, each IMF agreement is intended to
stabilize the situation in the country with whom the agreement is made. In the MACRO
sense, stabilizing the international monetary system primarily benefits those countries,
and individuals within those countries, with financial assets — the wealthy of the
world. In sum, poorer countries are asked to endebt themselves in order to safeguard the
interests of the wealthy.
With rare exceptions (e.g., Bosnia), the World Bank (IBRD) will not lend
to countries unless they have an IMF agreement. As a result, IBRD projects to benefit the
poor in country X may be undercut by IMF conditionalities to constrain government
expenditures. The IMF and IBRD may not tell a country to cut its safety net to stabilize
the monetary and fiscal situations — indeed there may be understandings to limit this
impact — but the net impact usually falls hardest on those with few resources, such
as pensioners. IBRD staff success goes to those who successfully lend money. The success
of the projects that the Bank funds, and the success of the Bank in obtaining repayment,
is of less professional relevance to these staff. The size of the IBRD lending dwarfs that
of the IMF — the IBRD is the largest private borrower in the world.
Whatever its intent, the whole system is geared toward maximizing the
indebtedness of the poor of the world in the interests primarily of the wealthy. It makes
sovereignty in most countries essentially impossible. In the U.S., automatic stabilizers
automatically benefit States with weaker economies — their citizens pay lower taxes
on lower incomes, and their governments receive higher levels of reimbursement for such
programs as Medicaid. There are no such automatic structures among countries -- states
must approach the international community with a tin cup. The world must build into its
finance system automatic stabilizers much like those which many countries have internally.
These stabilizers, like today's IMF and IBRD agreements, will benefit wealthy countries
like the U.S. more than the current system — management of chaos.
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DC Police and the Protest
Kerry Jo Richards, kjr1@yahoo.com
Regarding the protest, I thought the police handled the situation very
well. The disrespect the protesters showed to the police was extraordinary! Throwing trash
at them, taunting — in the face of all of this I thought the police showed tremendous
restraint. I saw a clip of a girl who repeatedly attacked a police officer — he would
knock her back with more force each time she came after him and eventually she stopped.
I'm sure that she's citing her example of police brutality to all of her friends. But what
exactly was the officer supposed to do? Let her attack him? Is that her civil right? Saw
another clip of a single police officer backed up against his car, alone, surrounded by
advancing protesters. It seemed imminent that he would be attacked when fellow officers
rescued him. This is a peaceful protest?
We all remember the Seattle protest and the images of violence that
splashed across our screens. If our officers hadn't done what they did, would that have
been repeated here? Non-violent protest is admirable, and sometimes necessary. But the
actions of the protesters last week didn't always strike me as non-violent. I consider
myself something of a bleeding heart, and have marched on Washington before — but
never have I seen a group of protesters so antagonistic to the community and the police.
The city made it though with very little violence. The Chief and his officers should be
congratulated.
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I have to weigh in with an opinion on the conduct of the MPD during the
World Bank / IMF protests. In the weeks before the protests the rhetoric of the protesters
was that they were going to 1. Close down the World Bank, 2. Close down the IMF, 3. Close
Washington DC. This does not sound like a call to peaceful protest to me but sounds more
like a call to civil insurrection.
The protesters twice closed Pennsylvania Avenue, that I know of, with
vehicles once by handcuffing themselves to a panel van and then by dumping a dump truck
load of manure in the middle of the road. Police had to patrol the bridges into the city
because of threats made by the protesters to blockade the bridges. By the way, I have to
use some of those bridges to commute to my non-IMF non-global capitalistic job and would
be very peeved to have them blocked. Sunday, according to the WP, the police arrested a
young man with bottles of gasoline in his backpack. I found the rhetoric and actions of
the protesters to go well beyond free speech. The constitution does not allow or encourage
insurrection. The right to free speech stops well before the forcible closing of public
institutions by protesters. While I do feel that the police exceeded some of their
standard procedures they managed to minimize the damage done to our city by these
protesters and did it with no loss of life and minimal damage to property. I found the
closing of the Convergence Center a masterstroke of strategy. The legality of the act can
be decided in civil court should any of the protest groups want to sue the MPD or MFD. Of
course even if the court rules in the protesters' favor, which I would doubt, the protest
group still wouldn't have their headquarters during the recent near riot to plan and carry
out the blocking of our streets, closing our public institutions and threatening our
bridges. Congratulations for once to the MPD and lets add a note of thanks to whatever
higher power you might care to believe in for raining on the protesters parade.
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MPD and Demonstrators
John Cleave, JHCLEAVE@aol.com
To blame the MPD rather than the demonstrators for the recent disruptions
to city traffic and infringements of citizens' rights has to be the best definition yet of
chutzpah. The restraint shown by the officers in the face of taunts and deliberate
infringements of the law, whilst they ensured that the IMF and World Bank delegates
exercised THEIR right to peaceful assembly, was commendable. Had the media shown the same
restraint and not given the mob the publicity they wanted by lingering on — and
tediously replaying — the few cases where force had to be used to uphold the rule of
law, the largely irrelevant demonstration would have been an even greater fiasco.
As it was, the kindest that can be said of most of those taking part was
that they are naive. Perhaps, instead of criticizing efforts to aid development in the
third world, they should be demonstrating against the profligate use of resources in the
first. When we hear them campaigning for higher taxes on the gas their SUV's guzzle, THEN
we can believe they have environmental concerns. And before they try to deny it to the
world's poorest, perhaps they should study the benefits free trade has given them as the
world's major consumers. Then they might be more guarded about supporting their
protectionist allies’ self-serving stand. They had the wrong messages, and certainly
the wrong targets. As someone succinctly put it, blaming the World Bank for poverty is
like blaming the Red Cross for war.
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Fate, Indulgence, Symbolism, and CommUnity
Mark Richards, mark@bisconti.com
Elian will have gained an understanding of the U.S. federal system, and
will carry powerful images etched in his memory about our national police forces. Will he
think of them as heroes or villains? By fate, he has been forced to grow up too quickly
with firsthand experience about forces that are out of his control. A politicized child.
I'm hearing that our local police forces are still holding a large number of IMF/WB
protesters in our jail. They too will leave Washington with memories about the rule of
law. D.C. citizens have always been well aware of powerful forces over which they have no
control, whether poverty or “the mood” of the nation. On their own, neither D.C.
citizens, the IMF/WB protesters, Elian, his relatives in Miami, nor his father hold enough
power to stabilize their journey on a stormy sea. Citizens are often reminded of their
powerlessness. But they can anchor themselves in principle, and vigilantly watch for surf
to ride them toward their goals.
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I have to disagree with the MPD critics, at least as far as the World
Bank/IMF protests go. I live at 21st and F streets, and between the activities
concentrated on 21st street on Sunday and the overall disruption to the neighborhood for
the entire protest period, I'm glad the police took the stance they did. I hate to sound
like a capitalist (really) and I suppose I've transformed into one of the “bohemian
bourgeoisie,” but if my car (parked in a residential permit spot) had been damaged by
French-Canadian anarchists, I wouldn't have been happy. The fact that I was a prisoner in
my own neighborhood — prohibited from walking down my own street not by the police
but by protesters — was bad enough, however good the cause was overall. And while I
certainly do not condone any police actions that truly deprived anyone of their civil
rights, the laws we live with allow them to be regulated to a certain extent. Civil
liberties do not mean we can do whatever we want whenever, with no regard for anyone else.
No one should be surprised that if they try to break through a police line that the police
will react. Indeed, a GWU police car was smashed up, and the vandals that did so reacted
with outrage that they were arrested for doing so. That's not the way reality works. So,
to the protesters who asked “whose streets are these,” for this one, at least, I
say “mine.”
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All the generalizations about MPD are wrong; there are distinctions to be
made. Chief Ramsey and Asst. Chief Gainer did a great job — a great job of
restraining some officers who were behaving like belligerent thugs. One MPD officer drove
his motorcycle into a non-threatening citizen on purpose, as I witnessed at approximately
11 a.m. April 17 on I Street between 19th and 20th; that was criminal assault. Later, at
20th and Pennsylvania, some officers removed their badges — an act that can only be
construed as a sign of intent to break laws and skulls. Ramsey and Gainer showed genuine
heroism in defusing this situation. Their guys wanted blood.
Fortunately, the dozens of officers who thus abused police power were a
minority among hundreds of officers who did their jobs properly and well. One of my
favorite moments from the protests came when some young Wobblies from Canada realized that
the cops facing them across a barricade all day were themselves union working folks, and
the Wobblies started chanting “Go have lunch! Go have lunch!”
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Cut the Chief Some Slack
Kathy Smith, Ksmith1804@aol.com
Twenty-twenty hindsight is great. However, if you're a police force whose
immediate job is to keep the demonstrators from shutting down the meetings and those
demonstrators have vowed that they will shut down those meetings, you do what you gotta
do. Let's cut the Chief and the police some slack. They did a really good job, taking it a
step at a time, in the face of some very difficult and volatile situations. If you want
perfection in this type of circumstance, this planet and its very human inhabitants are
not for you.
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I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. Anyone who attended the rally
against the Ku Klux Klan a number of years ago remembers what it's like when the cops get
out of control — and people who've been around longer say that was nothing compared
to the anti-Vietnam demos. So even though the cops were pretty rough with some people at
the IMF/World Bank demonstrations, at least they didn't charge the crowd or chase
protesters down the street, whacking them with their billy clubs after they had fallen
down and were begging for mercy. And the fact that Ramsey was down there with his
“troops” instead of in Florida on vacation or even back at the office is
certainly a change in standard operating procedure.
Ramsey said over and over again that his goal was for the IMF/World Bank
meetings to take place. He achieved his goal. It doesn't matter to him that the Department
had to trample on people's civil rights to meet that goal. I couldn't believe the c**p the
police department, in an effort to justify its bogus searches, was telling the press about
Molotov cocktails and homemade pepper spray (they seized onions, garlic, and pepper that
were stored next to a propane stove — dinner anyone?). Preposterous. Now that the
organizers know what tactics the cops will resort to, I would expect things to go a little
differently next time around. The protesters will no doubt change their tactics —
like storing their equipment in Baltimore or something. I think the cops' heavy-handed
violations of civil rights this time could lead to bigger problems in the future.
Finally, if you beg to be arrested and thereby create extra work for the
cops, you can't expect them to be all smiles when you refuse to give your name and sing
off-key protest songs in central cell block. That doesn't make maltreatment right, but you
shouldn't be surprised at it. I don't know that the protesters were treated all that
differently from the average petty criminal who manages to piss off the police while
getting arrested. Or the average African American tourist who gets strip-searched by
Customs because he or she fits a profile. (But being young, college-educated, middle-class
white kids, most of them probably had no clue that what they experienced happens all the
time — or that it could happen to THEM.) Maybe the experience will encourage some of
the demonstrators to shift their focus to the big problem here in the US of ongoing abuses
of civil rights in the name of the Drug War and the fact that we have a higher proportion
of people in prison than just about every other country.
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False Arrests and Unlawful Detentions
David F. Power, pp002945@mindspring.com
I am an attorney and a member of the D.C. Bar with an interest and
training in civil rights law. I have handled only a few civil rights cases in D.C. There
are many local and national non-profit organizations and area law firms that specialize in
prosecuting civil rights violations by police (recall recent huge verdicts against D.C.
and Prince George's County for wrongful deaths caused by police shootings). It is probably
too early to draw final conclusions about the legality of the MPD tactics during the
recent demonstrations. I plan to stay tuned for further revelations. I was generally
familiar with the MPD's “General Orders” as of a few years ago. It was clear a
few years ago that the MPD violated its own General Orders in arresting and detaining
persons within the city when such persons had committed only infractions or violations of
licenses or permits. The General Orders required in plain English that arrestees must be
released immediately after booking and may NOT be detained overnight, when they were
arrested for charges that constitute merely administrative violations. Unless those
General Orders were revised or repealed, the MPD violations of its own internal policies
would be evidence supporting claims of violations of civil and constitutional rights.
Is there a legal rule against “parading without a permit?” There
is a large collection of administrative “law” called the “D.C. Municipal
Regulations” (DCMR). Title 24 DCMR Chapter 7 governed “parades and public
events.” Title 24 DCMR sections 700.1 through 709.1 contained the rules governing
speeches and public addresses, mobile sound units, outdoor religious services, display of
the flag, parades, parade permits and revocations of parade permits. Title 24 DCMR section
707.7 stated as of February 1985 that “Notwithstanding failure of an applicant to
receive notice of rejection [of a permit], no parade shall be conducted without issuance
of a permit.” Section 708.4 appears to allow the MPD to “revoke a parade permit
immediately prior to or during a parade” and in that event states “notice of the
revocation may be made orally by the [MPD] official responsible for monitoring the
parade.” Nothing in title 24 DCMR chapter 7 sets a penalty or fine for parading
without a permit. The DCMR is the city's “regulations” and regulations are law.
An Internet site suggests that the foregoing title and chapter numbers are still current
through December 1996: http://pw2.netcom.com/~aflowers/dcmrlist.htm
The city's “laws” are contained in the D.C. Code.
Lexsislawpublishing.com runs a very nice, free web site allowing browsing or searching of
the D.C. Code. According to that search engine, there are nearly 800 mentions of the word
“permit,” but none deals with “parades.” That search engine provides
only two sections in the D.C. Code mentioning both “parade” and
“permit.” One deals with presidential inaugurations and the other deals with the
“horse drawn carriage trade.” Neither is in the criminal offenses title. Title
22 of the D.C. Code contains criminal offenses. Title 22, section 1107 makes
“unlawful assembly” a criminal offense if it includes (among many other things)
“engag[ing] in loud and boisterous talking or other disorderly conduct.” D.C.
Code title 22 section 1121 makes “disorderly conduct” a separate offense. D.C.
Code section 4-143 requires the city to provide legal counsel to an MPD officer “in
any civil action for damages resulting from an alleged wrongful arrest by such officer or
member.” It is not clear which “infraction” or “criminal offense”
may be alleged in any of the arrests which occurred during the recent demonstrations.
Many eyewitness accounts, television videotapes, radio reports, letters to
the editor and accounts on the Internet have been published about the demonstrations and
MPD conduct during the week of April 10-17. If those reports turn out to be true, many
persons were wrongfully arrested, detained unconstitutionally, falsely accused, libeled or
slandered, had their persons and property searched and seized unconstitutionally, and were
deprived of liberty and property without due process, all in violation of the first,
fourth, and fifth amendments to the U. S. Constitution.
As more facts emerge, it appears likely that some or all of the published
reports will turn out to be true, and understated. If the reports turn out to be true,
D.C. and some individual MPD employees will eventually be sued for wrongful arrests and
may be ordered to pay damages for wrongful arrests. Press reports included facts tending
to show that dozens of persons were stopped and frisked, seized and searched, had their
property unlawfully seized, searched and destroyed, and were wrongfully arrested. The
clearest violations appear to be those described in published reports claiming that many
persons who were not “in” a “parade,” were not “disorderly”
and were not even “assembling,” were arrested and detained overnight. Many of
those wrongfully arrested were also clubbed, beaten, gassed, pepper-sprayed, were
subjected to choke holds, carotid holds and other restricted or unlawful weapons, were
falsely accused, unlawfully detained overnight, libeled, or slandered by the MPD during
the week of April 10-17. The city paid large damage awards for mass arrests and detentions
of anti-war demonstrators a generation ago. The same tactics found unlawful then will
probably be found unlawful now, if any of the victims choose to file civil rights lawsuits
in federal court. The tactics used by MPD were deliberate and pursuant to official city
and federal government policy. In many of the incidents, MPD will probably be found to
have known it was violating clearly established civil and constitutional rights of U. S.
persons, while acting under color of state law. Although the courts have recently
restricted the scope of municipal liability for such deliberate and knowing violations of
civil rights, if such violations are established under 42 U.S.C. sections 1983, 1985 and
1988, the city may be liable to pay the damages awarded.
Usual disclaimers: The foregoing is not legal advice, but a general
description of the constitutional and legal rights of persons interacting with police,
including bystanders and witnesses who were not “parading” who may have been
arrested by the MPD for “parading without a permit.” The foregoing is not a
solicitation of clients, claims or legal business. This is not an advertisement. Please do
not E-mail me seeking legal representation. Citations to specific regulations, laws or
general orders may not be current and are not to be relied upon. Persons planning to
participate in public activities may wish to consult an attorney for specific advice about
how and where to participate in such activities.
###############
Imhoff’s Rules for Demonstrations
Gary Imhoff, themail@dcwatch.com
First, let me say a good word for the Metropolitan Police Department.
There was not a police riot in Washington last week, while last year in Seattle there was
a joint police-demonstrator riot. But the MPD didn't do everything right; they did several
things wrong, and in their current mood of self-congratulation those mistakes are being
celebrated as much as their successes. Here are my few rules for handling future mass
demonstrations in the District of Columbia. 1) First and foremost: don't be violent.
Demonstrators shouldn't beat up the police; the police shouldn't beat up the
demonstrators. When the demonstrators initiate violence, they should be arrested. When the
police initiate violence, they should also be arrested. There have been several credible
accounts of police officers beating demonstrators, not in self-defense, during the World
Bank/IMF demonstrations. Some of these incidents can be substantiated by witnesses'
testimony and others because they were filmed by news crews; since every other person on
the streets carried a video camera, other incidents were also likely to have been filmed.
Chief Ramsey has expressed his disbelief in these reports and shown no interest in
investigating them. That is unacceptable. If the officers are praised instead of punished
for beating up citizens, they will do it again. If the police can break the law with
impunity, we are all in danger. 2) The job of the police force is to prevent violence and
to minimize disruption to the city, not to disrupt demonstrations or to act as antagonists
against demonstrators. The police should prevent demonstrators from being violent and (if
they are particularly unpopular) protect them from violence by others. But too many
actions taken during the World Bank/IMF demonstrations, such as closing their
headquarters, confiscating their signs and props, and making transparently false arrests
for “crimes” such as possession of PVC pipes and chicken wire, were designed to
frustrate and disrupt the demonstrations and not to prevent violence. On Saturday, The
Washington Times editorially congratulated Chief Ramsey this way: “Mr. Ramsey
managed to keep the protesters off balance. At least one well-timed raid early on kept
protesters from coordinating and planning their efforts. Later, more than a dozen police
cars staked out Dupont Circle, foiling a planned early morning meeting of hundreds of
protesters.” The Post and other news sources also found this behavior
admirable. But the role of the police is not to be the enemy and antagonist of
demonstrators; it is to keep demonstrations from becoming violent. Chief Ramsey has shown
pride in the police force's ability to spy on the demonstrators so that they could disrupt
their plans. That pride is misplaced. 3) The World Bank demonstrations, at least in the
rhetoric of the demonstrators, were aimed at closing down or preventing the World Bank/IMF
meeting. This has been treated as through it were a unique and unthinkable aim that
justified the MPD's counter-actions. In fact, shutting down some facility is the aim of
nearly every strike or picket line. As long as a demonstration, strike, or picket line is
carried on nonviolently, and as long as people are given the opportunity to cross the
picket line or defy the strike, attempting to shut down a facility is an ordinary,
acceptable, and normal aim.
4) Demonstrations should be handled evenhandedly, without favoritism,
regardless of their political aims and the popularity of their cause. The World Bank/IMF
demonstrations were opposed by the political establishment; the upcoming Million Mom March
has the endorsement and encouragement of this city's political establishment. Does anyone
believe that the police force will use any of the disruptive tactics on Mother's Day that
it used last week? When pro-abortion and anti-abortion forces demonstrate on the same day,
should the MPD be told which demonstration to aid and which to disrupt? The police force
should not allow itself to be used as a tool of political parties or platforms. 5) The
police officers handling the demonstrations should always wear visible identification. On
at least one night, many police officers removed their badges or covered their badge
numbers. Chief Ramsey's first response was to excuse this as caused by police officers'
concern for their own safety. This is nonsense, and he knows it. Police hide their badge
numbers for the same reason demonstrators wear ski masks and scarves over their faces
— because they're up to no good, and don't want to be identified. 6) The civil rights
of citizens are not suspended during demonstrations. Of course, streets can be closed off
for marches and parades, but people should not be denied access to their homes and offices
or treated with anything less than respect. During this episode many members of the public
and the press have shown that even a small threat of civic disturbance is enough to make
them quite comfortable under all the restrictions of a police state. When we recover our
balance, let's remember that a police state is a bad thing.
###############
The March 2000 on-line edition of the InTowner has been up-loaded
and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com.
Included are all community news stories, editorials (including prior months' archived),
restaurant reviews (prior months' also archived), and the text from the ever-popular
“Scenes from the Past” feature. Also included are all current classified ads.
The next issue will publish on May 12. To read the lead stories, be sure to click the link
on the home page to the following headlines:
Guarded Optimism Heard for Tivoli Theater Fate; Columbia Heights House
Tour to Show Neighborhood in May; Troubled Liquor Store Booted by Landlord As U Street
Gets New Life; Adams Morgan-U St. Shuttle Still in Test Phase; Metro to Decide Fate Next
Fall.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Upcoming Gala Theater Production
Cynthia Benjamin, cm_benjamin@yahoo.com
“La Noche de los Asesinos” (“The Night of the
Assassins” or “The Criminals”) by Jose Triana, featuring Cuban guest
artists Broselianda Hernandez and Harold Ruiz, will be at GALA Theater, 1625 Park Road,
NW, from April 27 through May 28, on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and on
Sunday afternoons at 4:00 p.m. In this masterpiece of modern Cuban theater, three siblings
concoct a murderous plot, pushing parental authority to the limit. In Spanish with
simultaneous English interpretation. Reservations: 234-7174.
###############
Hyde Elementary School Auction May 5
Bill Starrels, hydeauction@hotmail.com
The Hyde Elementary School, a DC public school located in Georgetown is
holding its annual auction Friday, May 5th, at the Third Edition in Georgetown from 6 - 9
PM. Please enjoy fun, food, and bid on great auction items. Items include meals from
Georgetown restaurants, autographed items from General Powell, George Will, Cal Ripkin,
great sports tickets at MCI & FEDEX / Redskin stadium. All proceeds benefit the Hyde
PTA. Call Liz at 202-338-1547 or E-mail for information or advance tickets.
###############
Ward 2 and 3 Democrats Joint Meeting
Budd Lane, Ward 2 Democrats,
The Ward 2 and 3 Democrats will have a joint public meeting on the DC
Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Guy Mason
Recreation Center, 3600 Calvert Street, NW. City Administrator Norman Dong, DCRA Director
Lloyd Jordan, Building and Land Administration Director Armando Lourenco, and the
Neighborhood Stabilization Officers for Wards 2 and 3 will attend.
###############
Each summer, the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, just north
of the famous falls and only an 8-hour drive from DC, produces plays by George Bernard
Shaw and his contemporaries. The festival has “one of the finest acting ensembles in
North America” (Cambridge Guide to Theatre). This summer Footlights, DC's
only modern drama discussion group, is organizing a trip to the Shaw Festival. We'll be
leaving Thursday, August 17, returning Sunday, August 20th, and attending 4 plays: Shaw's
witty and provocative “The Doctor's Dilemma” (1906), the sweet Jerry
Bock-Sheldon Harnick musical romance “She Loves Me” (1963), Luigi Pirandello's
influential “Six Characters in Search of an Author” (1921), and J.B. Priestley's
thoughtful “Time and the Conways” (1937). Total cost: $500, including tickets to
all 4 plays, lodgings at a local bed-and-breakfast, all meals, transportation from DC by
carpool, an arts-&-crafts fair, cast discussions, and more! For additional information
call 301-897-9314, E-mail robin.larkin@erols.com,
or see our website, www.footlightsdc.org.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — INTERNSHIPS WANTED
I'm a DC native and current Brown student who is dreading the possibility
of working in Seattle this summer. It's a wonderful town, and I've been offered a
wonderful opportunity, but I'd much rather be working in the place I love best, ideally
for a local group. I've been hunting high and low, but the vast majority of DC internship
opportunities are with the feds or other national groups. However, I'm interested in
working for any group that is engaged in local DC matters. If anyone's interested in an
articulate, computer-savvy, Urban Studies and Computer Science major as a summer intern,
please contact me.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Temporary summer rental of two bedroom townhouse in Glover Park. Available
6/13 to 7/17. Has piano, deck, books galore, clutter. Can be rented as whole house or
shared. 337-4906 or E-mail Erklein@aol.com.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
I need a handyman to repair an iron-bar front door grate. Can anyone
recommend someone? I shall be grateful for your response. Please E-mail me directly. [And
please send really good recommendations to themail, too — Gary Imhoff]
###############
themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every
Wednesday and Sunday. To subscribe, to change E-mail addresses, or to switch between HTML
and plain text versions of themail, use the subscription form at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/subscribe.htm.
To unsubscribe, send an E-mail message to themail@dcwatch.com
with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Archives of past messages are available
at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.
All postings should also be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com, and should be about life,
government, or politics in the District of Columbia in one way or another. All postings
must be signed in order to be printed, and messages should be reasonably short — one
or two brief paragraphs would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can be
put into each mailing.
