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February 18, 2001

President’s Day

Dear Friends:

It's President's Day, themail is long, and I'm taking a vacation to save space. Keep a-writin'.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Harrison Square Windows
Patricia Chittams, pchittams@yahoo.com

One would think that the neighborhood organizations that have recently sprung into existence would have more issues than just windows with the Harrison project. These paper houses built for the newly rich are not a reflection of the community. I have watched these houses being built since the sticks were placed in the ground. I personally wouldn't want a home built so poorly that a 5 foot 6, 130 pound female could punch a hole through the walls connecting the houses. Was it PT Barnum that said a “sucker was born every minute”?

What has the development company done to take care of the issues related to having clear title to the property? What will happen with the increased need for parking within the community? Will the neighborhood school (Children's Studio School) be closed to make way for increased development (with the assistance and encouragement of the developers of the Harrison Project and Metro's Development arm, Metropolis)? Does this increased development also include the much rumored plans for “chi chi poo poo” stores at the expense of century old homes located on V Street? Or does it really matter . . . these homes only house the elderly and the drunks.

The entire flavor of the neighborhood is at stake. With the new upwardly mobile neighbors, perhaps they may be interested in where they live. Maybe they won't turn their homes over within five years and actually become part of the community. Perhaps they may even know who the person is who lives next door to them. I have spoken with real estate agents who have informed me that if you don't earn at least 100K per year, the idea of purchasing a three-bedroom home within the District now is fading and will be out of the question within five years. Sounds like San Francisco and the Silicon Valley doesn't it? Personally, I think that is a sad and a loss to the city as a whole, and a bit more important than windows.

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Just Thought I’d Check
Bernie Arons, barons@world.oberlin.edu

It seemed that this posting [OPA's Mission, Lawrence Hemphill, lawrence.hemphill@dcgov.org] must have been created for humorous purposes for themail, but then, again, you usually don't do that kind of thing. So, I thought I'd check to be sure. Was this for real? If so, I think I'll need a translation.

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OPA’s Mission
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org

OK I'm impressed, the Director of the Office of Public Advocate wrote to themail. I read Mr. Hemphill's posting very carefully and I only have one problem. I didn't understand any of it. I reread it three times and still don't know what OPA is supposed to do. Before this, I didn't even know that there was an OPA; now that I know that there is one, can somebody tell me what they are supposed to do for an ordinary citizen like me. I don't think that I want to ask what OPA's budget and staff is; before I ask how much it costs I think I want to know what it does.

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Part of the Solution
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com

I was puzzled by one of the things that Naomi Monk said in her letter to today's [February 14] issue of themail. She said, “I wish others as I do join you [Gloria Mobley, themail, February 11] in being a part of the solution rather than the problem.” Is she saying that people who are cheerleaders for the District are part of the solution, but people who point out the flawed system are part of the problem? Please enlighten me.

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An Open Letter to Mayor Williams
Helen Hagerty, helenmhag@aol.com

Dear Mayor Williams: I would like to be optimistic about the delivery of services here in DC, but when it comes to DPW, it's impossible to be optimistic. I am a parent of four children who attend a DC public school. The school my children attend, Anthony Hyde ES, is located in Georgetown on O St. The principal and parents have been trying for several years to get school safety signs and a crosswalk on our street near our school.

Several years ago a student was hit by a car. Luckily, it was not serious. Hyde is situated on a one way street with many different types of parking. The street has metered parking, residential parking, parking for business deliveries, no parking 9-4 in front of the school, and 15 minute parking only from 2-4 p.m. Not only are there no signs on the block indicating a school, but there is NO parking enforcement on the block in front or near the school. Occasionally, when we complain enough, a ticket writer might show up. Once when we complained, two ticket writers appeared and issued tickets to parents waiting in their cars! When parents come to pick up their kids at 3:15, it's a very dangerous free-for-all. Cars and trucks park all day in front of the school and in the 15-minute parking area designated for parents to pick up their kids.

Because of the high turn over rate at DPW, we are forced to deal with someone new every September. The people at parking enforcement are unable to send a competent ticket writer to our block. Their explanation is the shift doesn't start until 1:30 and this person can't show up until after 3 p.m. The shortage of ticket writers is creating a very dangerous situation at our school. I thought the Council had budgeted funds for 45 additional ticket writers. Why haven't they been hired?

One solution to Hyde's problem was to cut a small space in the sidewalk in front of the school to create a designated pick up spot for a car pool. This was finally completed last month, however, without proper signs and parking enforcement, it's a complete waste of money. This safety issue has gone unresolved for far too long. Please hire the additional parking enforcement personnel so that parents can safely pick up their children. We want all of the proper school signs installed before spring, and the crosswalk bricked in by the end of the year. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

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A Glimpse into the Next Mayoral Election
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

If you want to see just who will be lined up against Tony Williams in the next mayoral election you need look no further than the array of Council members who strongly oppose the mayor's proposal to turn over D.C. General's operations to a private firm. The next primary election will very likely be a contentious race-based contest with the D.C. General issue at the forefront. The posturing has already begun.

The Mayor and the Control Board have made exactly the right decision to privatize health care for the needy in the city and it will be the degree of success of the health care provider that will have a major impact on the 2002 mayoral election. You can be sure that the Council members lined up in opposition to the Mayor will not make things easy for that health care provider.

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Have We Gone Taft?
Gregory Diaz, zaidmot@aol.com

First, after having missed by mere inches being rear-ended on the north end of the Taft Bridge this morning (typical fool behind rounds the curve at south end, floors it, suddenly “realizes” traffic stops for light at Calvert, skids on wet pavement), I renew my plea for speed cameras at this and other Daytona Speedway locations in the District. This is so simple even the bow tie mayor, the D.C. Police, and the Traffic Bureaucracy should be able to figure it out and still have enough padding left over for the usual fiscal leakage. (Rock Creek Parkway could use the same — the problem there is just the usual federal lethargy and ineptness.) Grrrrrrrrrr.

Second, be happy that the water here is (at least apparently) not swimming with tiny little transparent worms, as was discovered last month in Central Florida water. Thank the stars we have bottled water.

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Water Safety and Standards
Liz Heyd, naussie@his.com

In response to Rick Otis's E-mail [DC's Drinking Water, themail, February 14], his references don't make feel very safe. The federal drinking water standards for arsenic (for one example) were 28 years old and at extremely unhealthy levels until EPA was sued and forced to update them this year, and the Army Corps of Engineers is the most dysfunctional agency around. As for calling EPA, maybe that'd be useful. I've thought of having my tap water analyzed for contaminants that might warrant a filter stronger than my Brita.

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More on DC’s Water
Rick Otis, rdotis@yahoo.com

If anyone's interested, here's a bit more on the topic: Several years ago and rather surprisingly, the Army Corps (who is responsible for the treatment plant on McArthur Blvd.) didn't keep the large sand bed filters up to snuff. This led to the problem Gary Imhoff mentioned — the presence of high levels of giardia in the finished (treated) water. One would generally think the Army Corps would be good at keeping things in ship shape. It's also possible that other new drinking water treatment requirements may have increased the difficulty of properly filtering the water. There was a long discussion of the cause when it occurred. Check back issues of the Post. Until the creation of the Water/Sewer Authority, the DC government (the entity that owns the water distribution system) didn't do much (if any) routine flushing of the pipes under the streets. This is standard good practice and helps eliminate water that may not move much in dead-end portions of the system and helps ensure all the water in the system has the proper amount of residual chlorine (the traditional disinfectant) so that nasty things don't grow in the pipes and dead ends. Failure to do this could worsen the problems caused by insufficient filtration (as was the case above). I'm not sure whether this is being done properly now.

Filtration is generally not necessary for cities whose raw water supply comes from wells. It's particularly important when the water source is a river. Potomac River water is pretty clean when it comes to industrial and pesticide contaminants -- most of the upstream watershed doesn't have much heavy industry. Contamination comes from farms and other sources of run-off gunk. Many people are getting the impression that their public drinking water quality is getting worse. Note, however, that over the past 15 years the federal government has established a growing list of drinking water quality standards that states must adopt. These standards include a requirement to inform the public of violations -- including (I think) relatively minor ones. The result is that we now hear about violations when we didn't before. Note that the standards are very conservative and presume very long term exposures, so minor or short term violations for certain chemical contaminants probably are not a big deal. Bacteria and the like are.

I think the treatment plant recently shifted from chlorine to another substance to disinfect the water. This eliminated the chlorine smell but I think it created a problem for people with fish tanks or other things that are sensitive to the replacement. The water's smell during the spring comes from the high level of organic material (rotting leaves, etc.) coming down the river during spring floods. I don't think its an indication there is a health problem with the water. The sand-bed filters and other treatment actions don't necessarily remove substances that cause smells and funny tastes. I think it can be removed with a carbon filter on your tap. Large activated carbon filters in the treatment plant would probably remove funny smells and tastes, but I understand they are expensive and a worker safety problem.

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The Real World-Emergency Preparedness and Water Quality
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com  

This is a weird question, but in the event of an emergency does the District (and FEMA) have a plan? I've never heard of one or seen drills (probably a good thing?). Over the past decade, D.C.'s federal buildings have been made more secure; and Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House is closed. Every time the U.S. uses force in the world, I wonder about DC's emergency preparedness. I lived in Georgetown when the former President Bush led the attack on Iraq a decade ago. Eerie sirens at a junior high school went off. They could be heard far away. A lot of people wanted to know what the sirens meant. We heard that someone accidentally tripped the sirens. Another time, walking home from work, there was a false alert of a "chemical" delivered in a package to a Jewish organization, which resulted in men in white suits walking around a large cordoned-off area while the material was tested. The District has an office of emergency response (there is a section for that office on the mayor's web site that lists DC's main threats). Every state has such an office. (I think this is a federal requirement, and they follow FEMA regs, but not certain). Some parts of the country have elaborate evacuation plans (Florida coasts, areas within ten miles of chemical and nuclear facilities, etc.). I've heard stories of the traffic situation in D.C. at the time of the 1968 riots. Helicopter, anyone?

Good ole Potomac River water. I drink D.C.'s public water now and then, but usually filter it — I guess that makes it cleaner. A 1999 Drinking Water Quality Report on WASA's website shows there is less of each of the contaminants WASA tests for (turbidity, coliform bacteria, chlorine, trihalomethanes, antimony, barium, beryllium, chromium, copper, lead, thallium, floride, nitrate, atrazine, simazine, alpha emitters, beta emitters, strontium-90, tritium, sulfate, nickel, chloral hydrate, chloropicrin, haloacetic acids, haloacetonitrates, haloketones) than is allowed by EPA standards, now that the water is disinfected using chloramines rather than chlorine. I sent WASA's public affairs office an E-mail, saying that often, when the water in DC emerges from the tap unfiltered, it is very cloudy. Friends who work in restaurants have shown me that if you add ice to the water, the cloudiness disappears. I asked WASA what the cloudiness is and why it “disappears” when the temperature drops (or ice is added)? Haven't heard yet.

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Signs of the Times
Willie Schatz, willie@his.com

Yeah, yeah, a thousand times yeah for Paul Dionne giving the campaign signs the violent and early deaths they deserve. My Adams Morgan 'hood still has far too many — like more than one — “Peggy Cooper Cafritz for President” signs. Nary a city “worker” has been sighted within 100 meters of any of the offending objects. I've taken down my share, but I'm feeling like Sisyphus. And he was only pushing a rock, not the District government.

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Rude and Inconsiderate
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

And an illegal case of theft, too. Over the last three days, in various parts of NW D.C., I have found three shopping carts some distance away from the stores named on those carts. One Safeway cart, with a child seat, was about a half mile south on MacArthur Boulevard. A Rodman's cart was at the bus stop on Massachusetts Avenue and 49th Street. A CVS cart was on Mass. Ave. and Van Ness St. This is a disturbing sign of disregard for the law and another sign of a "me first" attitude, damn the rest of you folks. I look forward to the day when I can catch one of these folks in the act so that I can call both the police and the store that owns that cart. Will start taking my digital camera and a cell phone on my walks through NW, D.C., so that there will be no problem of identifying the rude and inconsiderate culprits.

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Plus Ca Change
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org

In last Wednesday's issue of themail, I reported on a DMV postcard advising me to check its website for info about a DMV location in Georgetown. I also reported that, when I followed this suggestion, I found that DMV's website had nothing about a new DMV location in Georgetown. Thursday morning I received an E-mail from one Sherryl Hobbs-Newman. She claimed to have some connection to the DC Department of Motor Vehicles, gave suggestions about license renewal at the current DMV locations, and identified her E-mail address as shnewman@dc.gov. Replying to that E-mail address, I asked when DMV would likely have information about a Georgetown location. I also suggested that, until DMV's web site carries information about a Georgetown location, DMV should stop sending people postcards advising that people check its website for information about a Georgetown location. Here's the reply I got: “This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason: The following destination addresses were unknown (please check the addresses and re-mail the message): shnewman@dc.gov. Please reply to Postmaster@dc.gov if you feel this message to be in error.” Figuring that Ms. Hobbs-Newman wouldn't have sent me a message carrying a false return E-mail address (that's what spammers do, right?), I replied to Postmaster@dc.gov. Here's the reply I got: “This Message was undeliverable due to the following reason: The user(s) account is temporarily over quota. Please reply to Postmaster@dc.gov if you feel this message to be in error.” Dealing with DC government sometimes feels like performing in a play written by Franz Kafka, or maybe Samuel Beckett. Which it is depends, I guess, on your sense of humor.

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Recorder of Deeds Building
Diane Lee Schultz, cobra@tidalwave.net

Alex Padro wrote in the 11 February themail that the Recorder of Deeds Building at 515 D Street, NW, is one of Washington's most important African American Buildings. I think it is more important than that single characterization. It is accessible and beautiful and a pleasure to work in. Please support its survival.

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Reading The Evening Star from Tuesday, December 16, 1856, in 2001
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconit.com

1856: “Scientific men are now cudgeling their brains to discover the best method whereby houses may be warmed by gas.” 2001: Consumers are cudgeling their brains to discover the best method whereby they can lower their household winter hearing gas bill.

1856: “Carlyle says that each man carries under his hat a 'Private Theatre,' whereon a greater drama than is ever performed on the mimic state, is acted, beginning and ending in Eternity.” 2001: “Milan Kundera in 'Slowness' says there is a secret bond between slowness and memory, between speed and forgetting, and that in existential mathematics, that experience takes the form of two basic questions: the degree of slowness is directly proportional to the intensity of memory; the degree of speed is directly proportional to the intensity of forgetting.”

1856: Advertisement — “Pain is the forerunner of most diseases — cure the Pain and check the disease.” 2001: Advertisement — former Senator Dole tells TV viewers how Pepsi makes him feel like a kid again.

1856: “Theodore Parker preached on Thanksgiving day in Boston, on 'The Prospect for Democratic Institutions in America,' from the text 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved!'” 2001: Amen. Free DC!

Hail to DC's Democracy 7 (http://sinkers.org/dcsuperiordemoFeb0801/index.html).

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Prime-Time for “Taxation without Representation” Plates
Celia Du Bose, cdubose@dcvote.org

 In the February 11th issue, Keith Jarrell called the official new D.C. license plate, which sports the slogan “Taxation Without Representation,” a “ridiculous campaign being conducted by the mayor and others.” Actually it has been a very efficient and quite cost effective education campaign. We know from polling done by Mark David Richards that people around the country when made aware of our disenfranchisement believe that we should have the same rights that they have. Imagine the cost of placing educational ads during the following national television shows: ABC’s coverage of Bush’s inauguration with Peter Jennings, “Meet the Press,” “Politically Incorrect,” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in free national media attention — and this is what the license plate campaign has done. But the message didn’t come through as a paid ad. It came through as a news story. It came through as a startling bit of sociopolitical reality. It came through as the $64, 000 question, literally.

No one arguing for full voting rights for the District would disagree with Jarrell’s argument that we enjoy many unique amenities, but few would trust Congress to decide "how to best change the policy of our taxes." And District residents aren’t simply up in arms over being taxed more than most Americans. We are upset about paying the taxes AND having no voting representation at all in Congress. Mr. Jarrell and others claim that we are more represented than most cities because of all the congressional and presidential oversight. I can only imagine that he and others believe in the social riders that are stuck on our Appropriations bills — but there are plenty of us who do not and bristle at the annual intrusion! No matter how one feels about the medicinal use of marijuana, it was egregiously antidemocratic of Congress to deny DC voters the ability to tally their votes on the medical marijuana ballot referendum and then, once they were tallied, to refuse to implement the law.

While I do not agree with Jarrell’s sharp criticism of the Hill’s most ardent District advocate, his strong feelings should encourage him to consider the great argument he has made for demanding full enfranchisement for DC. Under the status quo, how many other candidates are going to toss their hat into the ring and vie for a position as a nonvoting congressional delegate?

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Citizens’ Summit on Trash Transfer Issues
Julie Eisenhardt, julie.eisenhardt@sierraclub.org

Come help out for a couple hours or the day! Saturday, Feb. 24, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Savoy School, 2400 Shannon Pl., SE (just across from Anacostia Metro Station). Join community activists from across the city to discuss trash transfer and waste management issues in the city and create a citizens' plan for waste management. Expert speakers will address issues of environmental justice, recycling, the private industry side of waste, public health, and more. Handicap accessible, snacks will be served, free, and open to the public. For questions or child care information, please call 610-3360.

Volunteers are needed for this event. Your help can make this event a success. Logistics, note taking, registration, and other help needed. Participate in the summit while you volunteer. To help out or for more information, please call 610-3360.

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Peggy Cooper Cafritz at Chevy Chase Citizens Assn. Meeting
Evelyn Mittman Wrin, evbobwrin@aol.com

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, President of the D.C. Board of Education, will speak to Chevy Chase Citizens Association next week. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 20, and will be held at the Chevy Chase Community Center, Connecticut Avenue and McKinley Street, N.W. Open to all interested persons. For information, call 244-5744.

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Cleveland Park Citizens Association Membership Meeting
Isabel Furlong, isabelf@email.msn.com

CPCA will meet on Saturday, March 3, at 10:15 a.m., at the Cleveland Park Library, Connecticut Avenue between Macomb and Newark Streets, NW. The featured speaker will be Councilmember-At-Large Harold Brazil, the new chairman of the DC Council's Economic Development Committee. Air your views on government, development, and the city's future. Piggyback PSA Meeting — Second District Police update on local crime wave.

Reports and Updates include Starwood and the Mazza Buildings, Rosedale, NCS Construction Liaison Committee, Commercial Overlay District, Campus Plan Roundtable, The Tenley Tower Coalition. Robert Collins, the new Planning Coordinator for Ward 3, will announce a Steering Committee for Future Planning. Join this committee and be part of the planning.

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My Community, My Children Guiding Group Meeting
Dona Jenkins, dfjenkins@cfsa-dc.org

My Community, My Children, the District's child centered, family focused Foster Care Reform Initiative, is designed to better screen children prior to their removal from their homes, bring children back to their neighborhoods, involve foster families in reunification efforts, become a neighborhood resource for families, build capacity in communities where our foster care families live, involve everyone in the recruitment effort, and establish new models of partnership for organizations, communities, foster and kinship families.

On Wednesday, February 21, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., the Guiding Group for this initiative will be meeting at People's Congregational Church, Fellowship Hall, 4707 13th Street, NW. All are invited. For more information please call My Community, My Children, Child and Family Services Agency, 442-6009.

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CLASSIFIEDS — WANTED

Basic Transportation Needed
Jean Lawrence, jkellaw@aol.com

Seeking $2,000 car that still runs. Call 703-450--0641.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Landlord-Tenant Division
Ann Van Aken, vanaken1@excite.com

Could someone please steer me in the right direction? I had an inappropriate response from Quadrangle Management (the landlord) concerning a matter related to my former tenancy, so I contacted the DCRA, Landlord/Tenant Division, to see how I would go about filing a complaint. The Landlord/Tenant Division informed me that since I was no longer a tenant, nothing could be done! What does the Landlord/Tenant Division of the D.C. Regulatory Authority DO, anyway?

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Recycling Printers
Leslie Sapp, elffdancer@aol.com

Does anybody know of an organization or person who takes donations of laser printers in need of repair? If so, please contact Leslie Sapp, at elffdancer@aol.com (please note that there are TWO letter f's in my e-mail address) or 301-270-2114.

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Construction Sites
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org 

Does anyone know who enforces or polices construction sites? I live in Georgetown and have a construction site very close to me that blocks traffic and causes a lot of difficulty. If there is an agency that enforces the conditions of construction permits I'm sure this site is in violation. Any help out there?

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