FineNew Clothes

Dear Well-Dressed Readers:

Larry Seftor, below, writes that Washingtonians are victims of the “Emperor's New Clothes” syndrome. We convince ourselves that the DC government is going fine, ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The latest example of this syndrome is the Mayor's “Citywide Strategic Scorecard Goals.” You received a copy of the scorecard in today's issue of the Washington Post. (Although it isn't acknowledged on the scorecard, the $31,000 bill to include it in the Post wasn't paid by the Mayor's office, but by the United Planning Organization, a 501(c)(3) social service agency that's supposed to serve the poor, but that receives all of its money in city government grants and federal grants funneled through the city. This keeps the expense off the city's books and allows the city to circumvent normal procurement procedures.) The Mayor claims that the goals were set by the citizen summit meetings, and grades himself at a 68 percent success rate in fulfilling the goals.

Let's ignore the fact that, at least when I went to school, 70 percent was the lowest passing grade, and 68 percent was a solid F. Instead, examine the goals themselves. Does anybody believe that the citizen summits actually set these goals; does anybody who attended these summits remember voting that a major goal for city government should be to “identify within 20 minutes and restore within 48 hours 85% of local DC Wide Area network outages,” or to “add three regularly produced department feature programs to city cable Channel 16”? Does anybody care that most of the goals that were met were either unimportant, minor, easy, or already well on their way to being met before they were set as goals; and that the goals that were incomplete or not met are all the major, important goals?

Here's a proposal: why not set and meet just a few real goals like picking up the trash and cleaning alleys and instituting effective community policing?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Traffic Light and Crosswalk Lines Desperately Needed
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

At the corner of 5th Street, S.E., and Seward Square on Capitol Hill, two stop signs were finally installed some time ago. With no crosswalk or light there, I rarely seen cars even hesitate to go right through the intersection. More than once, many of us in the neighborhood have had to put on our “walking brakes” to avoid being hit. With so many children in the neighborhood, I wonder if it will take a tragedy to get this changed.

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I Know This Is Politically Incorrect, But. . . .
Judi Kahn, jmkahn@aol.com

It amazes me that for the past eight years, there has been nary a word regarding how the incumbent administration was treating the District, the incumbent whose Justice Department argued against voting rights for the district in one of our law suits and whose only proactive act was to put a “Taxation Without Representation” license place on his limo for the last three weeks of his administration. But we appear surprised when a Republican comes into office that getting the District voting rights is not high on his priority list. Most likely, as the District has never voted for other than a Democrat, it is not on his list at all.

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The Emperor’s Clothes
Larry Seftor, lseftor@netscape.net

When I think of living in DC I always think of the story of the Emperor's new clothes. The citizens in that tale acted as if he were fully dressed, as a means of coping. Similarly, to live here people work to convince themselves that things are really fine here. I was struck by this, the first time, many years ago when I went to a community meeting and heard from a number of residents about the high quality of DC schools. Then several years later, after a heavy snow, a neighbor convinced herself that the matting down of snow by passing traffic had really represented the passage of a snow plow. And now we look at the (apparent) rise in population described by the census as proof that it is becoming more attractive to live here. Unfortunately, reality seems to strike me in a way that it doesn't affect others, perhaps because I live on the DC-Maryland line and work in Virginia. (I can actually see civilization from my front porch.) The Emperor's nakedness struck me this morning as I noted that while my street was free of sand and salt after a recent snowstorm, the streets of my neighbors in Maryland were treated, as usual. (See: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Larry_Seftor/streets.html for the pictures.)

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Tilting at Windmills
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

All the speeches at the swearing in ceremony for Florence Pendleton and Ray Browne, our newly elected representatives to Congress, by those sworn in and by the Mayor and Eleanor Norton, were tirades about the need for representation in Congress. Does anyone in their right mind think that a Republican President and a Republican dominated Congress will ever even consider giving representation to a city that will only elect Democrats to Congress? What a total waste of energy and time that could be much better spent trying to make something happen that could really happen. Our elected officials should be in concert with all their energies working together to make something achievable happen, like fixing the District's schools.

Why the schools? Because bringing a viable school system with effective educational practices and processes is the key to the long term safety and prosperity of the city. Educating our kids properly will result in a major reduction in inner city crime and, at the same time, make for real jobs for those graduating from a viable educational program. The timing is right for this city to get a major commitment from the Federal Government to fix the schools in this city. Here's my suggestion: Form a team which includes representation from the new School Board, the business community, the school administration, parents groups, and educators. The mission for this ad hoc team would be to come up with a proposal to work closely with representatives from the Dept. of Education to develop a whole new paradigm for an inner city educational system. Then a combined District/Federal team would develop a clean sheet of paper approach to the educational system. This would include a pilot District program with a schedule and multi-year funding for a five year proof of concept demonstration in three of the city's schools — one elementary, one middle school and one high school. The climate in Congress and with the new President to make this happen. The new Congress would be willing to invest in a program that would help the inner city schools nationwide. Where better to start than in the Nation's Capitol. That's where the energies of our Mayor and elected representatives should be focused, not on tilting at windmills.

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Term Limits
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com

The upcoming fiasco on the repeal of term limits shows why charters and constitutions matter. The term limits measure would have been passed as a charter amendment, had citizens the ability to initiate such. The Council, in its wisdom, seeks to amend the New Columbia Constitution for New Columbia, which leaves citizen initiative out of the amendment process. However, they have not put their amended Constitution up for a ratification vote -- because they know it will fail unless they can work out some all or nothing deal where we have to pass their version to get statehood. They also know that if they do the right thing and replace the 1974 Charter with the 1982 Constitution, which has amendment by citizen initiative, term limits will pass again in a way that they cannot change.

In response to Mr. LaRoche's comments, I was not aware that the court's statements extended beyond suits to claim voting rights in court. I had assumed, albeit wrongly, that Congress could include the District in Maryland's redistricting (with their consent) without a full retrocession. I will read the opinion online to see if this opinion is still justified. Of course, Connie Morella's ascension to the chairmanship of the DC subcommittee almost guarantees that neither retrocession nor representation in Maryland without retrocession will pass — while her party's control of Congress means statehood will not pass either.

I would suggest to DC residents that, during the next election, an initiative be placed on the ballot between retrocession and statehood. I suggest an initiative because the council is quite comfortable feathering their nests under the status quo. This is also why the problem of two constitutions will not be solved. No Congress would, or should, regardless of who the party in power is, admit the District until it gets its constitutional house order. The Council knows that and it does nothing (and District voters keep electing them). Finally, a clarification. In my prior post, the word “just” should be “must,” as in the Council MUST either withdraw or schedule a vote on their proposed constitution (I favor withdrawal)

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Against Term Limits
Rick Rosendall, rick.rosendall@glaa.org

On [term limits] I agree with and applaud Jack Evans. I think term limits are outrageously un-American. To the extent that people want to limit politicians' terms, there are things called elections. In case you didn't notice, DC voters in the past two election cycles have turned out of office Frank Smith, Harry Thomas, Hilda Mason, and Charlene Drew Jarvis, and elected Mayor the candidate who least resembled Marion Barry. If the facts matter to you at all, that list just changed your position on term limits and you now recognize how utterly unnecessary they are. But somehow I expect you to be screaming bloody murder instead. Suit yourself. Because I don't think term limits are legitimate (in addition to believing that the growing trend of voter initiatives is reckless and undermines our entire system of government), I don't care if politicians lie or break their promises on this any more than I cared whether Clinton lied about his affair (because it was nobody's business besides his own, his family's, and Monica's).

Actually, Jack insists that he doesn't plan to run again, and in this case I'm inclined to believe him. He has three children to put through college, and the Council takes away time from his billable hours. What we need is not panacea legislation like term limits or campaign donation limits, but a more robust political culture — including, for example, a Democratic State Committee that serves a purpose greater than keeping Barbara Lett Simmons off the streets one evening a month.

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Term Limits
Matt Borgia, mrb@duke.edu

While I agree that Gary Imhoff rather accurately portrays the City Council as “contemptuous of DC citizens” in their treatment of citizen-led initiatives, he forgets to mention something of critical importance when addressing term limits. We as voting citizens already enjoy an irrevocable term-limit statute: it's called an election. If you don't like what your politician is doing, vote him out of office! It's really that simple. So, if you agree with what Mr.. Imhoff says in his 1/3/01 message, remember it, and vote for a challenger in the next election.

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Against Term Limits
Josh Gibson, joshgibson@alumni.ksg.harvard.edu

Putting term limits on politicians is like putting a lock on your refrigerator when you're dieting: the fridge isn't the problem, the food isn't the problem, YOU are the problem. It's a question of willpower, self-discipline, and clear thought. If you don't want a politician reelected, don't reelect him/her. Given how important the fights for home rule and statehood are, it doesn't make sense to take away the right of any DC voter to select the candidate of his/her choice, no matter how long s/he has served.

The best case-in-point for the fact that term limits are unnecessary: the recent Adrian Fenty/Charlene Drew Jarvis race. However you feel about the result of that race, an incumbent with a powerful committee post and a giant campaign chest was unseated by a young political near-neophyte. For those who argue that the fundraising advantage enjoyed by incumbents allows them an unfair competitive edge in elections, it is essential to understand that campaign finance reform laws, and not term limits, are the answer.

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The Homicide Series
Wendy Blair, wblair@npr.org

[Bryce Suderow, streetstories@juno.com, asked whether the series on homicide case closure rates had an impact on any other readers.] Yes. I stopped my subscription to the Post in 2000, finally fed up with its paucity of decent local coverage, and so had to find the wonderful 4-part series (which starts Sunday, December 3) at the Library. It took the Post a year of reporting to document properly what Bryce Suderow has been saying in Streetstories for a long time — but without the resources to document completely. A few other Cassandras like Jonetta Rose Barras (now Loose Lips) and Carl Rowan, Jr., as well as Jim Myers (who does not always find fault with the MPD) and Jack Colhoun in my neighborhood, have also been saying for years what the Post finally concluded. The closure rate for homicides in D.C. is scandalously low. Police are not doing their job. Did the huge amount of documented police malfeasance uncovered by the Washington Post sink like a stone in our public consciousness? Was the story lost in the aftermath of the national election? Or are there going to be some results coming out of this brilliant (if very late) amount of Post reportage? Police Chief Ramsey is still on his honeymoon in D.C. Neither our Mayor nor our Council holds Mr.. Ramsey — or his deputy, Mr.. Gainer, accountable. I assume that is what Bryce Suderow is asking us to comment on. The problem is, we always seem to end with a despairing tearing of the hair, and the cry, “Aye me, what's to be done?”

On page A-8 of the New York Times, Wednesday, Jan. 3, there is a headline: “Baltimore Gladly Breaks 10-Year Homicide Streak. Under New Mayor, Killings Dip Below 300.” The great reporter Francis X. Clines writes of how Mayor O'Malley and Police Commissioner Norris consulted NYPD veterans Jack Maple and John Linder, and instituted “...a better use of manpower in the strategy of making faster arrests of homicide suspects who were previously able to linger on the streets to commit further mayhem.” That lingering, and that mayhem, are what the Washington Post detailed in sickening detail.

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New DMV at RFK
Jon Desenberg, Adams-Morgan, JonDes@hotmail.com

I just got back from being the only person at the DMV, surrounded by three very helpful staff members and their manager. Yes, it was the Washington DC DMV, but it wasn't the dreaded C Street building. It was the new satellite office in Parking Lot 8 at RFK, surrounded by acres of empty parking spaces. I got my driver's license renewed in less than ten minutes. As I told the manager, “This alone will get Mayor Williams my vote in the next election.”

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Sharon Ambrose and Constituent Services
Nick Keenan, Shaw, nbk@gsionline.com

In the last issue of themail, Dennis Dinkel wrote that he was disappointed with the level of constituent services from Sharon Ambrose and her staff. I have to say that I have had exactly the opposite experience — I have always found Ambrose and her staff to be helpful, courteous, and responsive. While other councilmembers shape their agendas to guarantee a steady flow of campaign contributions and grandstanding opportunities, she cares genuinely about the issues that affect the ultimate livability of the city and quality of life for its citizens. While issues like nuisance properties and alcohol regulation are not glamorous, and her stances tend not to favor the monied interests, her diligence, knowledgeability, and persistence have paid dividends for all city residents. I'm interested in hearing more from Mr.. Dinkel about what specific concern Ambrose was unable or unwilling to address.

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Specificity on Councilmember Ambrose
Dennis A. Dinkel, dadinkel@starpower.net

I'm glad not everyone is having the same problem with lack of responsiveness on the part of the staff of Sharon Ambrose. Maybe I'm getting the wrong person on the phone when I call. My first rather unusual encounter occurred when I called to complain about potholes on Capitol Hill. Whomever I was speaking with said, “Why don't you call and dump this problem on Carol Schwartz's plate since she was in tears when it looked like she wasn't going to get the chairmanship of Public Works.” I found it a bit unusual that a staff person would suggest “dumping” a constituent problem in the lap of another member. But that's what I was told.

I called a few months ago when cardboard boxes that I had placed at the curb weren't picked up by the people picking up the recycled material. The person who answered the phone said, “And I suppose you think I can do something about it?” On another occasion when I called, the person on the phone said, “Haven't you called us before?” implying that I was using more than my fair share of calls to my councilmember.

As I said, I'm glad people have good experiences with Ms. Ambrose and her office. I don't. And I do vote — and I do remember. I feel her staff could use a few lessons in telephone manners and responsiveness to constituents.

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Response to Mr. Dinkel
Amy Mauro, Office of Councilmember Ambrose, amauro@dccouncil.washington.dc.us

We apologize that your experience with our office has been less than satisfactory. Your message has been shared with the staff here. We do have a good track record of responding to constituent concerns in the majority of cases and regret that you feel we have been unresponsive in your case.

Just to clarify, sometimes we do ask if you have called the office before so we can pull up any files we may have with information on what has been done on your behalf already. This helps us follow up on certain cases that may continue to be unresolved or need more work. Perhaps this is what was meant when we asked if you had called before. We do have records here of responding to your concerns in writing in the past. We do have a responsibility to assist you with your complaints as a constituent. If there is something specific we can help you with, please call me at 724-8072 and I will make sure your concern is addressed.

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To B.P. or Not to B.P., That Is the Question
Richard Layman, Northeast, RichardLayman@lettera.net

Paul Michael Brown's response in the discussion on the BP Amoco proposal raises some good points. I still disagree. I'd still say (which he didn't respond to in his rebuttal post) that Amoco's negative management of the property over the past few decades has contributed significantly to the problems at that site, and it seems "unjust" that they should now benefit from their negative management practices by scaring off other potential developers. Fortunately Mr.. Brown, BP's own website claims that financial performance is not the only criterion on which they should be judged (from http://www.bp.com/alive/index.asp?page=/alive/performance/social_performance): “Social Performance is the third element of what has become known as 'the triple bottom line.' This is the idea that to judge a business by its financial performance alone is not enough, and that it should be judged by its Financial Performance, Environmental Performance and Social Performance. The concept of social performance has also developed from what is most commonly called corporate responsibility or corporate social responsibility. This is the idea that companies have broader responsibilities in society than simply the obligation to be profitable. BP is a performance driven company, so we try to define these responsibilities, manage them proactively and measure the resultant performance.” (They go on for many more web pages on this, including more than 25 case studies of how they do this around the world.)

In short, I'd say their social performance with regard to the management of this particular property has been a disaster. Although to be fair to BP, they didn't manage this property before the merger. Regardless, the intransigence of Amoco officials with respect to their position on this particular property, as communicated in their various presentations and at the BZA meeting, make me believe that the BP corporate position on “social performance” hasn't trickled down to the Atlantic business unit of BP America, Inc. Anyway, using this site as a springboard to urban renewal isn't necessarily out of the question, if what BP says about their concerns for their social performance are to be believed.

Again, check out the BP website to see what kind of gas station they are proposing. It may be state of the art, but it isn't necessarily appropriate for our community. The issue at hand is, do we want H Street to look like New York Ave., Rhode Island Ave., or US 1 in Alexandria, or any other strip highway in the U.S., or do we want the architecture to respect the historical design esthetic of Washington, DC? Plus, they are proposing a site that is probably larger than any other gas station site in the city — even the Hess gas station site at New Jersey and Rhode Island Avenues. NW might be smaller than the BP proposal. How big is the Amoco station by where you live? This site may well be the make or break issue from a "tipping point" or critical mass standpoint on the future of H Street, at least for the next few decades. I think we can look a gift horse — earning sales taxes from Maryland commuters — in the mouth.

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A Clarification for Paul Michael Brown, Capitol Hill
Danilo Pelletiere, dpelleti@gmu.edu

I remember Megafoods. It was opened by two African American entrepreneurs in the mid 1980's. My mother shopped there quite a bit and struck up an acquaintance with the owners. They closed because Safeway and I believe Murrays (then on 8th SE, and now across the street from Megafood's old store) entered into a price war with them. I remember receiving numerous flyers every week. My point is that Megafoods is a bad example of what is wrong with H Street; its failure ( as related to my mother by the owner) was due to the structure of the local and national supermarket industry, its tight margins, and the necessary economies of scale. Megafoods could not compete. It was a one-location entity. In fact, I would argue its failure to be upscale or provide specialty food or service (which provides a higher markup and a larger, perhaps regional, market area) was their downfall. Thus, unless you are arguing against the owners of the BP-Amoco opening an independent gas station, you are comparing apples and oranges as no one in these pages has proposed a full scale, independent supermarket.

The notion that the people of H street have been so successful at blocking all development in search of an ideal is odd. First, it would suggest that the development currently on H street is either ideal, which we know it is not, or that the powerful NIMBY repels more stable but less ideal investment. Yet H street has a recent strip mall with a successful Rite Aid, it has a hardware store, and a new CVS at Bladensburg Road. The street has a McDonalds, a large Texaco, and a nearby Checkers. Residents seem to be saying O.K., we have plenty of chains, and an improved investment climate, lets work toward something else. Second, this would suggest that neighborhoods where powerful neighborhood interests exist are unattractive and do not receive development. This is also patently false. Numerous neighborhoods from Eastern Market to Friendship Heights and in cities and towns across the country attest to this.

Finally, all neighborhoods have rules and guidelines for development in zoning and the comprehensive plan. Some neighborhoods are better at advocating how they want those rules written and enforced than others. Therefore, what the developer is allowed to build is a priori and all along a function of citizen involvement. Deciding how to develop is a process a healthy neighborhood must go through. If your neighborhood needs a convenience store at your BP-Amoco, work with your neighbors and the owner to get one. If Mary Vogel wants bicycle parking and passive solar she can work (and is working) to get that on H street, convincing her fellow residents, the city government, and the land owner. She knows it is an uphill fight. But to suggest that resident involvement and imagination stifles development is to misunderstand the development process and what makes a neighborhood attractive to development. This neighborhood is already served by cheap gas, convenience stores, and fast food. Neighbors are right to be concerned about the BP-Amoco plan's impact on housing values, future development, environmental health, and quality of life in general.

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DC Voting Rights by Statute
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org

In the most recent issue of themail, George LaRoche writes that, “to be 'represented' under the terms of the Constitution, one must be a citizen of a State. Congress, acting alone, cannot confer that status. Rather, the State in question must either confer it or take some action indicating that the State considers a person to be a resident of the State.”

Under the U.S. Constitution, all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the U.S. “and of the State wherein they reside.” My sister moved to England from New York twenty years ago, but still votes absentee in New York. Does anyone know how that works? Does each state have a law providing that, if a citizen of that state moves abroad, that citizen remains a citizen of her or his origin state indefinitely? Or is there some federal law conferring on my sister the continuing status of citizen of New York, and the accompanying right to vote as a citizen of New York? If the latter, why couldn't a federal law confer on DC residents voting rights in Maryland, or at least (for those not born in DC) in their state of most recent residence?

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Answering the “Call to Arms”
Mike Livingston, mlivingston@greens.org

I appreciate the sentiments conveyed by Alan Abrams in themail, January 3, but in fact many of us are doing quite a lot to back up our rhetoric. George LaRoche and his 20 Citizens did not fight alone — we (Statehood Greens and kindred activists) raised money for them and echoed their arguments in the media and on the campaign trail. Steve Donkin, Debby Hanrahan, Bette Hoover, Queen Mother ShemaYah, Tanya Snyder, Karen Szulgit and Martin Thomas addressed Congress in person to demand local budget autonomy, and six of them stood trial last fall and will stand trial again in February after a mistrial; many of us rallied around them. Tom Briggs risked his job as a D.C. schoolteacher because a misguided application of the Hatch Act federalizes city employees, making this the only jurisdiction in the country where schoolteachers cannot run for public office. (On the bright side, that means D.C. won't be producing any Gingriches or Glendenings.) The Statehood Green Party has worked with Green elected officials nationwide to lobby Congress through the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties in support of D.C. budget autonomy -- actual freedom, not to be confused with "voting rights," the tip of the iceberg. And we also succeeded in getting a presidential candidate, like it or not, to make D.C. statehood a campaign issue and to give savvy and articulate voice to the cause before national audiences — including C-SPAN and NPR audiences, before and after the election. Say what you will about Ralph Nader, but the national profile of D.C. statehood was higher on Nov. 5, 2000 (at the televised Nader super-rally here) than it had been since William Henry Harrison's inaugural address in 1840. Okay, it's not the same as being plowed down by fire hoses or getting assassinated, but it is action and it is hard work, and a lot of people are doing it for our benefit and not getting enough credit.

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Retrocession
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org

In the most recent issue of themail, David Pansegrouw points out that the area now constituting Washington, DC “is 'from' Maryland,” and wonders “why it can't return there.” Like Mr.. Pansegrouw, I find retrocession, at least in the abstract, more appealing than statehood. But lack of representation is an intolerable injustice, and political realities suggest statehood is the quickest road to address this injustice. That's based on the assumptions that (a) Congress wouldn't retrocede the District without Maryland's consent, and (b) the political establishment in Maryland would never consent to retrocession. The reason to think (b) is that (1) Maryland Republicans won't want to add Democratic voters, and (2) William Donald Schaefer notwithstanding, leaders of Maryland's Democratic Party won't want to share state party leadership with a whole new set of politicians from DC, and wouldn't support retrocession in any event until polls indicate DC voters support it. Simply put, statehood requires convincing a majority of Congress and maybe the president; retrocession requires convincing a majority of Congress and the president, plus the political establishment of Maryland and probably the political establishment of DC. Statehood is the path of least resistance. But if you think you can convince prominent Maryland Democrats besides Schaefer to promote retrocession, go ahead. More power to you, and more power to us, if you succeed. If the Democratic political leadership of both Maryland and DC supported retrocession, getting Congress and the president to go along might be easier than getting statehood. But that's a mighty big “if.”

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Representation
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com

Ultimately, I agree with Mr.. LaRoche that in the end the result must be statehood or retrocession -- as representation within an enclave will lead to one or the other. I believe that if Congress stated that for purposes of representation the District is part of Maryland it would stand up in Court — mostly for the reason that the loss of representation did not come from an official act, it just happened as part of redistricting. The reverse could also occur.

Tactically, I would rather have what I have my previous proposal or even retrocession, debated, voted on (and even enacted), than to have no debate occur in the halls of Congress, which guarantees the intolerable status quo.

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Measures, Plans, and Dreams
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

How would you measure the progress of a metro area in becoming a “world-class connected community”? How would you plan to finance many of the most important projects in revitalizing DC's commercial base and economic development? What are the 52 newspaper headlines about DC's recovery you'd most like to see this year? How would you propose to redesign DC's public schools for the new century? These topics and others are kicked around in the January update of the NARPAC web site at http://www.narpac.org. Feedback still welcome.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS AND CLASSES

The D.C. Environmental Network Brown Bag Luncheon
Larry Bohlen, lbohlen@foe.org

“Making McMillan Reservoir a Park,” with Tony Norman, Chairman, McMillan Park Committee. Have you ever seen that green space fenced behind barbed wire at North Capitol and Michigan Avenue? The one with several brick towers surrounded by grass and brush gently sloping to a large body of water? It's the McMillan Reservoir, once used to store and to clean a portion of the District's water supply. Today it is a notably large green space that could be turned into a park or it could fall to development. Learn what you can do to make it a park!

Thursday, January 11, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Friends of the Earth, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, 3rd Floor, McPherson Square Metro. For more information, call Larry Bohlen, 783-7400, x251, lbohlen@foe.org.

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Chain Reaction, Youth Bike Shop
Ondine Wilhelm, ondine@shawdc.com

Chain Reaction is now recruiting youth ages 9-19 for winter bike mechanics classes! Learn how to change a flat and overhaul a hub! Youth will learn about bike anatomy, safety and mechanics. Every participant receives one hour of shop credit for every hour of participation. Shop credit can be applied towards the "purchase" of a used bike or bike accessories within the Chain Reaction shop.

Chain Reaction has fully outfitted mechanic workstations, and all classes are taught by mechanics and other bicycle professionals. We are located at the corner of 6th and R Streets, NW at 1701 6th Street, NW. Classes begin in February and space is limited. Contact Andy Fasig, Program Director, at 265-0179 or andy@shawdc.com for more information. Chain Reaction is a program of the Shaw EcoVillage Project, a nonprofit organization providing leadership opportunities to youth in sustainable community development and design. The Chain Reaction bike shop will provide used bikes for sale to the community after its grand opening this spring. We accept donations of bicycles and accessories.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Tickets for Mark Russell, Sun., 1/21 Performance
Joan Eisenstodt jeisen@aol.com

We have two tickets for the Sun., January 21, 8 p.m., Mark Russell show at Ford's and can't use them. I have to travel on business that weekend. They were $43 each but we will sell for under that. E-mail me please at jeisen@aol.com if interested and what you can/will spend.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Dentist Wanted
Ralph Blessing, rblessin@pd.state.gov

Can anyone recommend a good family dentist who participates in the GW Health Plan?

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