And the Big-Screen TV Goes to

Dear Oscar Watchers:

Oh, of course you watched. Admit it. You hated the show, you cringed at the acceptance speeches, you forgot all of the nominated songs before the show was over, and you didn't even see many of the nominated films, but you still watched. This year the producer of the award show promised to give a big-screen plasma television to the winner who made the shortest speech. I'll take the TV, on behalf of the shortest intro to themail.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home
John J. Feeley, Jr., feeley@attglobal. net

This past Sunday, I indulged a long standing curiosity about 49 wooded acres owned by the Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, located between Harewood Road and North Capitol Street, part of which is beside the Basilica of the National Shrine. I obtained clearance from the security office at the Soldier's Home to explore this wooded area with a few friends (one a photographer and one bird watcher). We took three hours to walk the entire perimeter and cross its center. As we roamed about, my friends and I saw hawks, woodpeckers, a turkey vulture, enormous old beech trees, poplars, oaks (some well over a hundred years old); in short, a preserve. The northern section of this 49 acres contained two scrap dumps, even this area was distinguished by some of the most magnificent trees on the property, including two enormous beech trees. These trees would need three people to span their circumference.

Unfortunately, the Soldiers' Home has put out a request for proposals on this property and hopes to develop the entire 49 acres. Their Highest and Best Use plan would require a clear cutting of the whole site and put in its place a hotel, two restaurants, apartments, retail, condominiums, 11 acres of townhouses, six or seven parking lots.

Mrs. Casey is ready to give the city $50 million for trees in this city. Here is a woodland with fabulous old growth trees. It needs to be saved for the benefit of our city's quality of life. Here is part of our native land preserved miraculously as a dump and buffer. Part of it, at least, needs to be park land so that our city's children have a sense of where they are from. Or should their sense of their home be that it was a land of leased pads, accessible only to the highest bidder?

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Washington Times Enforced Subscriptions?
John Whiteside, Logan Circle, john@Logancircle.net

For the last few weeks, copies of the Washington Times have been appearing each morning in front of my house. I'm not a subscriber, and don't want to be. At first I thought the papers must belong to one of my neighbors and had landed in the wrong yard; but they just sit there unclaimed, or wind up lying in the middle of the street. This morning, there's a Times on my front step, on my next door neighbors, and a couple littering the streets. Is this some ploy by the Times to boost circulation numbers? They can't sell it, so they are trying to give it away for free?

It bugs me because the papers turn into trash littering my block — there are papers in bright orange bags all over the place. It's bad enough having motorists and pedestrians throwing trash on the sidewalk and street without the Times throwing junk onto my block. I called them a few minutes ago but the circulation department is closed (it's Sunday). I'll try tomorrow, but has anyone else experienced this? Better yet, is someone from the Times reading who could explain? And can we give them a citation for littering?

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Why Not, Indeed
Mike Livingston, mlivingston@greens.org  

Shaun Snyder writes, “Besides, if we are going to have a shadow Congressional delegation, why not a shadow governor and shadow state legislature?” Yes: why not?

It is the office of D.C. Delegate to Congress, not the office of duly elected U.S. Representative (“shadow” Rep), that does more harm than good. People think we have a voice in Congress and that we would have the same basic political rights as other Americans if our Delegate were allowed to vote (which would not alter the paternalistic relationship between the House and our colony, never mind the Senate). The Delegate, in order to achieve anything in Congress on our behalf, has to appease suburban people's Representatives all the time. Our elected U.S. Representative, in contrast, has the political freedom (and the mandate) to advocate for statehood — and nothing less, even if it means upsetting Representatives from Fairfax, Bethesda, and the seventh district of Georgia.

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Holmes Norton Constituent Service
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org  

In last Wednesday's issue of themail, David S. Reed tries to justify the requirement that Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, at least according to one of her district-office staffers, imposes on every constituent request. That requirement consists of a form that calls for, among other information, the constituent's Social Security number and date of birth. Mr. Reed explains that requirement by reference to “a principle of the Privacy Act of 1974, that the government should generally not disclose information from its files on individuals, except for the purpose stated when the information was collected.” Of course, this principle has no connection with my request to Delegate Norton's office, which sparked the current discussion. I requested the text of the capitol police traffic regulations. Anyone who thinks these regulations constitute “files on individuals” speaks a different language from me. Moreover, I can't help but wonder if Delegate Norton's office really requires that everyone who contacts her office, in order to get assistance, provide their date of birth and Social Security number. E.g., if I identified myself as working for a major lobbying firm and made the same request, would I have been asked to fill out a form? In any event, after I received the form, I called back and spoke to district office chief Sheila Bunn, who agreed that filling out this form made no sense for my request. Ms. Bunn promised to send me the regulations without requiring that I tell her my age. We'll see. It's not encouraging to read John Olinger's report that the only time he called the Delegate's office for help he never got his call returned.

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Addendum
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org

Within a few days after my request to Ms. Sheila Bunn of Eleanor Holmes Norton's district office, I got a copy of the regulations I requested. They don't exactly answer my question — they apply only to the “Capitol Grounds,” and it's not clear how far this extends. But Ms. Bunn was prompt and helpful. So count me as someone who did get a constituent request fulfilled by the Norton office.

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Questions and Answers about DC General
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

In today's Washington Post, Mayor Anthony Williams replies to, without answering, the six questions asked about DC General in the Post's editorial of March 17. One point the Mayor makes is that “some believe that closing DC General is part of the National Capital Planning Commission's 1997 redevelopment plan. . . .” The reason people believe that is that it is. That plan says that, “For East Capitol Street at the Anacostia River — another area in need of revitalization — the plan proposes a new environmental park containing wetlands, an aquarium and a regional education center focused on making the river part of Washington’s daily life. The park would replace RFK Stadium and adjacent institutional buildings with gardens, fountains and waterfalls connected to playing fields, marinas and a riverside nature preserve. New housing and commercial development would complete the redevelopment of the area.” DC General is an institutional building adjacent to RFK Stadium. The Mayor implies that because the land is owned by the federal government and designated for health care, it must remain dedicated to health care, but the Anacostia Waterfront Park planned for the site would be designed, built, and run by the federal National Park Service, as the NCPC makes clear in its December 1999 waterfront plan. See http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/pbc-ncpc.htm. Clearing the area and building the Anacostia Waterfront Park is an integral element of the Olympic games bid that Mayor Williams strongly supports and takes credit for, submitted by the Washington-Baltimore 2012 Coalition last December (http://www.wbrc2012.com). That bid calls for a new 85,000 seat Olympic stadium to be built at the RFK site for the closing ceremony and the archery and track and field events, and optionally for the opening ceremony. The Olympic Stadium, the Coalition proposes, “could anchor an extensive Olympic sports and entertainment complex” around it.

There are two more new bits of information about DC General. I spent the last three weeks trying to get the Fire Department's Emergency Medical Services division to release its plan for transporting patients if DC General were to close. I was told first that I could get the plan immediately, and then that there was no plan on paper. Finally, the Fire Department released a memo written back in September (http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/pbc000915.htm), and I've been assured that the EMS hasn't done any more planning since then. You can judge for yourselves if the plan will work. Last Thursday, Rep. John Conyers held a Congressional hearing, almost completely ignored by the press, about the closing of DC General. At that hearing, two former Surgeon Generals of the United States — Henry Foster and Joycelyn Elders — issued statements strongly opposing it. Foster wrote, “The threatened close down., or curtailment of functioning of DC General Hospital; would be a national tragedy, and parallels similar health disasters around the country. I support very strongly the effort to keep this hospital open as a full service hospital.” (For links to all the testimony, see http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/pbc.htm.)

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Progressive Democrats will Defend The Poor, Challenge Williams
Arthur H. Jackson Jr., Ward Eight Democratic State Committeeman, ahjgroup@earthlink.net

With more than a year before the Democratic primary for Mayor, members of the DC Democratic State Committee are seeking real Democrats to challenge the anti-poor, anti-East-of-the-River and anti-children policies of Mayor Anthony Williams. National Democratic State Committeewoman Barber Lett Simmons, a veteran of grassroots politics in DC, has formed a draft committee to encourage Rodney Slater, Secretary of Transportation under President Bill Clinton, to run for Mayor. And she has enlisted the support of some prominent and influential Democrats in her effort. Former DC Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly is being pushed by a group sponsoring a Remember When fundraiser for the Democracy Seven.

While the conservative Republicans continue to point to Mayor Williams as the kind of DC Mayor they can accept, his administration's policies and actions reflect a longtime plan by plantation-minded right-wing politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, to reduce the number of low- to moderate-income African Americans residing in D.C. by: 1) closing DC General Hospital, DC's only public hospital, 2) revitalizing the Anacostia River area, without planning on controlling growth and taxes which will directly impact on long time residents living in Anacostia, the Potomac Avenue Area and the Kingsman Park/RFK areas (taxes will plummet and housing cost will rise to an all-time high), 3) reducing budget funds for DC public schools (the FY 2002 budget is underfunded by $100m), 4) disrespecting the members of the African-American clergy, by having armed security present when the Mayor met with clergy members concerned about DC General.

While I have the utmost respect for Secretary Slater, I believe we have plenty of individuals here in the City who would serve well as Mayor, without going shopping for another “outsider,” as a group of residents did when drafting Anthony Williams as Mayor. Our city has exceptional leaders such as Sandy Allen , Kevin Chavous, David Catania, Robin Denise Ijames, Arturo Griffin and numerous others active in the efforts to Save DC General and unbossed and uncontrolled by the Williams Administration. The Williams administration may have given itself an C+ on overall government management, but on balancing financial accountability with human needs, the People would rate him an F-.

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Show Me the Way to San Jose
Peter Luger, lugerpj@georgetown.edu  

I agree that changing the signs of National Airport and putting the “Taxation without Representation” license plates on busses are “conceptually identical” as Mr. Brown said, because both are politically motivated. However, adding the license plates to the busses is a political statement on behalf of local residents (and I'd venture to say that, if put to a vote, a majority would vote yes). Adding Reagan's name to the signs is a political move by some conservative republican congressmen (namely Bob Barr) who has absolutely no respect for the District as a city. (I know, the airport isn't in the District, but it is the District's airport.) There is nothing wrong with supporting one option but not the other. It's pretending one is not politically motivated while the other is. I don't think anyone for the license plate pretends it's not politically motivated. Those for “fixing” the airport signs DO pretend that it's all about informing travelers who are supposedly confused that National Airport is an entirely different airport than the one they are trying to get to, so they wander aimlessly around town and never find their way back to Duluth. The horror! (No disrespect intended to those from Duluth. I just liked the way it sounded.)

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Whose Metro Is It?
John Whiteside, Logan Circle, john@logancircle.net

Paul Michael Brown points out that renaming the National Airport Metro stop and changing the Metrobus license plates are conceptually the same thing, and it's inconsistent to oppose one but not the other. Perhaps. But the real point is that the decision ought to be local, not imposed on us by Congress. If there's local support for naming all the stops after root vegetables, I can live with it, if it's what people here want — it's the meddling of fools like Bob Barr that is the issue here.

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Wasting Metro’s Money
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso@capaccess.org

While we're on the subject, WMATA seems to have spent money in January and February to print (or misprint) new Metrorail schedules to include the completed Green Line. To the extent they are accurate (and they are, mostly), these schedules can help plan your Metrorail trip, especially at night and on weekends when the trains sometimes run only every 15-20 minutes. But over two months after their print date, very few stations — at least in the District — have copies of the new schedules. Granted, I've mostly checked stations in the District, not the suburbs. But why should the Silver Spring station have tons of up-to-date schedules while Federal Center SW, Woodley Park, and U St.-Cardozo have none -- or worse, outdated schedules? Moreover, if past practice is any indication, the January 2001 schedules will flood metro stations just as the New York Avenue station comes on line and the schedules become obsolete.

WMATA clearly has its hands full communicating accurate travel information to its customers. We may overtax their capacity to insist they devote resources to purveying propaganda like the new airport name or the new license plate.

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Reagan Metro/DC Metrobus License Plates
Tom Berry, tom@berrybest.com 

A couple of recent comments have struck a chord. First, renaming a Metro stop at National Airport for Ronnie Rayguns (full credit to Country Joe McDonald), whatever the cost, is ludicrous thinking. The man has a building and airport named after him already. Some in Congress want to skirt existing law and erect a memorial to the man, too. When is enough enough? When the District is renamed “Ronald Reagan District of Columbia?”

Second, spending $400,000 to relicense the Metrobus fleet with the new “taxation” license plates is fine with me. Why? Because that proposal has already elicited a response from Connie Morella and others in Congress. It's cutting to their bone, folks. They're getting a bit uncomfy atop that hill. The ripples of protest are being heard. So, let the message be heard far and wide across the country and the world by whatever means available. Surely there were folks in Boston who pooh-poohed the tea party. But look what the tea party did for the country. License plates alone won't win voting representation for DC residents. But they'll assuredly be the foundation for some other form of protest that will improve the message's scope until full democracy is realized. Let's keep plugging away until enough fellow citizens realize the plight of DC residents and join the cause to its just conclusion.

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The Opening of Pennsylvania Avenue
Paul “One Less Car” Karr, paulkarr@email.msn.com

I heard the City Council is attempting to have Pennsylvania Avenue reopened (between 15th and 17th, behind the White House). As a resident and a pedestrian, I have to say that I am opposed to this (certainly not because I'm necessarily interested in protecting Governor Bush). Without that traffic, it is a pleasant place to bike, skate, even play roller hockey. Lafayette Park even seems less cloudy and a little cleaner. Tourists seem to enjoy the fact that they can step way back to get the ultimate shot of the White House without having to worry about city traffic speeding by. It seems to me that any official with the City should not be spending any time trying to open a road that will serve more non-resident (MD/VA) and car drivers than it would District residents and mass transit riders. Why should we open our roads to folks who live in the suburbs? They are choosing to drive rather than take Metro, and they are choosing to live outside the city, making their commute miserable. I think the City Council should be spending more time working to bring folks back into the city and working to put more folks on Metro.

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Term Limits
Paul Dionne, Pdionne@Speakeasy.net

Judith Turner sends a dangerous message in supporting DC City Council’s efforts to overturn term limits. Since when is 62% in favor not great support? If Chairwoman Cropp does not believe 62% is great support then why does a measure only take 50%+1 (or 7 votes) to pass the city council? Why did the charter amendment that modified the school board not need a greater percentage of the electorate voting and a greater margin of victory? Turner states that those who don't like term limits should have the right to have them reconsidered. Well don’t those who support them at least have the right to have them implemented before they are repealed?

Turner is right when she states that another referendum should not be considered. But I ask why is this even an issue when our city has so many other problems it needs to deal with? A decision was made and in a democracy 100 percent of the electorate does not agree with 100 percent of the decisions 100 percent of the time. The measure passed, let’s at least give it a chance before we reexamine it. The idea that we can simply vote a councilmember out over this issue is ridiculous. Rarely does an electorate respond to one issue. If the council does not believe that incumbency is powerful, it should pass legislation banning incumbents from forming exploratory committees or campaign committees (how many have done this already?) until seven months out from an election. It should also ban money from corporations, organizations or individuals who testify before or are regulated by committees on which the incumbent serves. Lastly, it should forbid council staff from volunteering on their reelection campaigns. Challengers have none of these advantages. Do we need to pass these sorts of initiatives instead if term limits get overturned?

Let’s see the council for what they are. If those council members who were supporting this legislation were doing it out of support for a philosophical issue then the Mayor's office would be included among those offices which would have term limits repealed. The council supports overturning this legislation because the folks they didn’t like have been voted out. They see themselves as a vastly improved Council over past years, and they are. But term limits aren’t there to get the folks we don’t like out of office. They are there to recognize that there is a time for everything and eight years as a councilmember is plenty of time to implement one’s vision. Let’s be graceful about it and allow new people with new ideas have the same opportunities that our current councilmembers have had.

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Linda Cropp
Peter Luger, lugerpj@georgetown.edu  

I thought it was worth giving Linda Cropp a pat on the back, based on Judith Turner's posting. Ms. Turner said she had contacted Linda Cropp's office about term limits and got a phone call from Ms. Cropp in return. Last summer, I E-mailed Ms. Cropp (and others) regarding holding yet another special election in the middle of the summer when no one would vote. It was for the redesign of the school board. While I didn't agree with her response, she did respond to me, by phone. No one else I E-mailed bothered. Score one for responsive government.

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Churchill Quotes: Maybe They’re All Right
Rob Fleming, rflemin@mindspring.com

Maybe all the quotes about democracy being the worst form of government, except for all the rest. We know that politicians often have The Speech, which they use over and over with small variations at campaign stops. In the pre-omnimedia days of Churchill's campaigns, you could get away with that more readily than you can now.

In addition, an old sound man told me that speeches and debates in the Houses of Parliament were not recorded or broadcast live. Churchill would make a speech on the floor, then hurry over to the BBC and record it. On one occasion, he said “We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them in the hedgerows”....., then put his hand over the mike and said, “We shall hit them over the head with beer bottles, because that is all that we've got.” Politicians and writers love a nice turn of phrase, and we're not above reusing the good ones.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Klingle Valley Walk
John C. Campbell, jcamp1@earthlink.net

Discover a gem in Rock Creek Park. Walking tour led by area naturalists, local residents, and transportation specialists. Come and learn more about this urban green space and local efforts to protect it from pavement. Sponsored by the Sierra Club, Audubon Naturalist Society, Klingle Valley Park Association and East-of-the-Park-to-Save-Klingle-Valley. Saturday, March 31, at 10 a.m. Rain or Shine. Approximately 3 miles round trip. Free. Meet at the intersection of Harvard Street and Adams Mill Road, NW, just east of Rock Creek Park and the Mt. Pleasant entrance to the Zoo. Metrobus H2, H3, H4. Contact Joanne Pascale, 777-2641 x7287 or jopascale@yahoo.com.

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Women’s History Month Program
Patricia Pasqual, changedc@yahoo.com

In honor of Women's History Month there will be a reception, panel and book signing on Monday, March 26, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library (901 G St. NW) sponsored by the DC Center for the Book and Washington Independent Writers. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and the program at 6:30. The program and reception are free and open to the public. No reservations required. Authors featured: Bonnie Angelo, First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents; Catherine Allgor, Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government; Kathleen Waters Sander, The Business of Charity: The Women's Exchange Movement, 1832-1900; and Catherine Whitney, Nine and Counting, the Women of the Senate.

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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES

Mintwood Media Collective
Lauri Apple, appledc@hotmail.com

Progressive public relations firm based in Adams Morgan seeking new clients for business. We have developed media strategies for national and local pro-justice groups such as the Alliance for Democracy, Peace Action, Women's Actions for New Directions and more. Specialists in buying advertising, writing/editing publications and press releases and producing satellite media tours. Good rates. Check out http://www.mintwood.com or call 232-8997 for more information.

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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS

Host Family Wanted
Ralph Blessing, rblessin@pd.state.gov  

A host family is needed immediately for a Brazilian exchange student who is a senior at School Without Walls in Foggy Bottom. She needs housing through the end of the school year (late June). Anyone interested can get more details by contacting Ms. Hester at 547-8931.

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CLASSIFIEDS — SUMMER SCHOOL

Higher Achievement
Allison Foster, aafoster@aol.com

Higher Achievement, or HAP, believes talent is everywhere. We provide an after-school academic enrichment program focusing on Math, Literature, and Technology. If your child is in the 5th through 8th grade, and you want to strengthen his/her study skills and improve academic performance, call us at 842-5116. If you want to volunteer to mentor a student, please call us. We are now accepting student and mentor applications for Summer Academy and Fall 2001 Enrollment. Visit our website at http://www.higherachievement.org.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Mercedes Benz
Nancy S. Egermeier, dceger@aol.com 

Mercedes Benz, 1999 C280, champagne color with tan leather upholstery. Sunroof. Garaged, mint condition, cell phone and 6 CD player with Bose speakers. Leaving country. Available May 8th. Price $29,500 E-mail DCEGER@aol.com or call 363-6302.

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Honda
Brandan Hardie, bhardie@yahoo.com

1985 Honda Accord (Blue) hatchback, 160k automatic. Runs great, looks O.K., $500. Call Brandan 265-3133 or E-mail bhardie@yahoo.com

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CLASSIFIEDS -- RECOMMENDATIONS

DSL Service
Paul Penniman, mathteachingtoday@compuserve.com  

Can anyone recommend a reliable DSL provider? I am leery of calling Verizon or Starpower.

[If you've had either a good or bad experience with a DSL company, please write directly to the list. I suspect a lot of us are considering DSL, but are holding off because we've heard horror stories about connections and service. Let us know what works and what doesn't. — Gary Imhoff]

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