A Clean Sweep

Dear Sweepsters:

Since I'm replying to a posting this week, I've demoted my contribution. Please promote your contributions; let us know what's happening on your street corners.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Is Street Cleaning a Joke That Should Be Discontinued?
Phil Carney, philnopus@erols.com

This is today's small sample of a recurring problem. On Monday, May 21, along blocks with “No Parking for Street Cleaning,” while a street cleaning machine tried to clean the following blocks there were illegally parked cars with parking tickets: 1700 block of Q Street, NW, 8 cars; 1600 block of Q, 11 cars; 1700 block of P, 13 cars; and 1600 block of P, 11. Last week's count during "no parking for street cleaning" for the above blocks was an average of 12 illegally parked cars per block. The good news, unlike in years past, is that the street cleaning machine driver was really making an effort to properly clean the street. The bad news is that with all the parked cars his attempt was futile. Is it time to end street cleaning? Street cleaning is a good idea that the DC government is incapable of executing.

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Street Cleaning Should Be Brought Back
Gary Imhoff, themail@dcwatch.com

No, Phil, street cleaning isn't a joke; a city that doesn't keep itself clean soon becomes unlivable. It's only mechanical street cleaning that doesn't work. Our problem is the prejudice that the people who do manual labor should all be replaced with machines. On the contrary, people are better than machines for a wide range of manual jobs, including sweeping the streets, and they will continue to be better at those jobs until robots are perfected.

DC used manual street cleaners, real human beings with pushcarts and brooms, on its residential streets until Sharon Pratt Kelly's administration, when they were fired and replaced with the machines. Street sweepers swept around and between parked cars, so elaborate no-parking regulations weren't necessary. They worked all year round, except when the streets were actually covered with snow. And they weren't paid much, but they took some pride in their work, so the streets and sidewalks of Washington were noted for their cleanliness (at least through the 1960's and much of the 1970's).

It was the introduction of mechanical street sweepers that required alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations and that created a tremendous increase in parking tickets in residential neighborhoods. Unlike people, the machines don't clean sidewalks and the space between sidewalks and the street. The mechanical street sweepers can't work during much of the winter because the onboard water freezes, so street cleaning has to be suspended for four or five months every year. And the mechanical street cleaners and their drivers are both expensive, so replacing relatively low-paid street sweepers with them hasn't saved the city any money. The bottom line is that the streets are less clean as a result of the change. Every Business Improvement District in the city has brought back men and women with brooms to sweep its streets and sidewalks, because that's what works to keep a city clean. It's time for the city government to admit its mistake and to follow their example.

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DC Archives
Paul Kelsey Williams, PkelseyW@aol.com

Mayor Williams: As a professional historian and city resident since 1991, I often rely on the DC Archives and other city agencies to provide standard service for citizens and researchers. The loss of a professional archivist at the DC Archives (Naylor Court) was a blow, but today I showed up at that agency to perform research (after faxing in advance boxes to pull). I was turned away at the door today with the following explanation: two workers were at a funeral, and the man at the door was off to a staff meeting at another site. Nobody would be there. The archives would be closed for the remainder of the day; I had arrived at 1 p.m. I find this unacceptable; no advance notice of closure, no response to my advance notice fax request, just a locked door.

What if I were representing a lawyer or real estate agent that needed a death certificate to settle an estate or real estate closing? Or a will? This is a public repository that was closed because all the personnel (three of them) were allowed to take the same day off.

The challenges of discovering our city's history at the Washingtoniana Division of the MLK Library are enough to drive anyone crazy (broken microfilm machines, lack of AC or heat, no current research materials being ordered, major theft of personal belongings, and bathrooms turned homeless showers), so I am angered that I lost a day's work because the DC Archives are shut down!

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Steaming in Circles
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

While rearranging the deck chairs on the top deck and bridge of the bloated bureaucracy, known as the D.C. Titanic, Mayor Williams noted how hard it is to reform the D.C. Government. That's an unusual remark since the Mayor has done absolutely nothing to reform the D.C. Government. What has he done? He fixed the ineffective and inefficient medical care for underserved citizens. But his was not reform. It was the elimination of a bad bureaucracy and replacing it with an outside contractor. The so-called “goals” established for each major department are only half baked goals to begin with and, even worse, are top down goals. Go into any department of the city and ask someone in the ship's boiler room just what are the goals of your department. "Say What" will likely be the response.

You cannot reform an organization with edicts from the top. You must work from the bottom up by involving those who have to make things happen. You have to give those folks in the engine room the ability to determine where the ship is, where it needs to go, and how to get there. Until the Mayor really gets serious about reforms in the D.C government, there ain't going to be any, and the ship will continue to steam in circles.

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Kudos for the DMV!
Henry B Thomas, HThomas@erols.com

Last week I received in the mail notice that my car registration needed renewal in a couple of weeks. Normally I just mail the form and a check back, and I have always received my new registration and stickers for the old plates in plenty of time before expiration. This year, however, I wanted to change my plates to the new “Taxation Without Representation” model. After calling the DMV (another story), I learned that I only had to follow the instructions (available on the web) for replacing damaged plates. So last Thursday I removed the old plates from the car, collected my registration and insurance papers, ensured I had my driver's license with me, and took the Metro to C Street, but not without much apprehension as to what I was letting myself in for.

Well, it couldn't have been a nicer experience! I got my number, waited a few minutes, went to the designated window, paid my registration fee and received my new plates, registration and residential parking sticker all within perhaps twenty minutes. Everyone I dealt with knew their jobs, and were pleasant. Now, in other jurisdictions this sort of experience usually is taken for granted, as it should be. But to experience it in the District is something new, and worth telling others about. The DMV is really getting its act together.

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Memorial Embellishments
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com

“I understand . . . by embellishment, the instinctive effort of infant civilization to disguise its incompleteness even as God's completeness is to infant science disguised,” wrote Horatio Greenough in 1852. Forget about retrocession or statehood, your land will soon be needed! On rare occasions, I agree with George Will. So I'll take this opportunity to express common ground regarding what appears to be memorial madness in the District of Columbia! In addition to the recent World War II memorial bills, a quick scan of bills in the 107th Congress reveals the following: A bill to authorize the American Friends of the Czech Republic to establish a memorial to honor Tomas G. Masaryk in D.C., a bill to authorize the Pyramid of Remembrance Foundation to establish a memorial in D.C. or its environs to soldiers who have lost their lives during peacekeeping operations, a bill to authorize the Adams Memorial Foundation to establish a commemorative work on Federal land in D.C. and its environs to honor former President John Adams and his family, a bill to authorize the establishment of a memorial to former President Ronald Reagan within the area in the District of Columbia referred to in the Commemorative Works Act as “Area 1,” to provide for the design and construction of such memorial, and for other purposes, a bill to establish the North American Slavery Memorial Council to establish an architectural design for a national memorial and museum to slavery, an act to authorize the design and construction of a temporary education center at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C., and an act to grant a federal charter to Korean War Veterans Association, Inc., to organize, promote, and maintain for benevolent and charitable purposes an association of persons who have seen honorable service in the Armed Forces during the Korean War and of certain other persons, promoting the establishment of and establishing war and other memorials commemorative of persons who served in the Armed Forces during the Korean War. In addition, there is a bill to recognize the organization known as the National Academies of Practice and to be granted a Federal charter to honor persons who have made significant contributions to the practice of applied psychology, dentistry, medicine, nursing, optometry, osteopathy, podiatry, social work, veterinary medicine, and other health care professions, etc. Also, two more bills: the Federal building currently known as the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Building is to be changed to the Frank F. Church Federal Building, and the Old Post Office Pavilion to be changed to the Paul Leroy Robeson Old Post Office Pavilion.

Bernard de Fontenelle, in Dialogues des Morts (1693), wrote, “The earth resembles some large tables on which everyone wants to write his name. When these tables are filled up, it is necessary to erase thoroughly the names which have been written there, in order to place new ones there. What if the monuments of the ancients were to subsist? The moderns would have no room for their own.” Well, some in Congress seem to want to erase even modern tributes for more modern ones. Donald Canty (Architectural Forum, January 1963), wrote, ”The primary battleground of ideas about Washington's development is in the middle area of the power structure, inhabited by myriad agencies, boards, committees, and commissions. . . . The process of Washington's development can best be described as the bringing of chaos out of chaos.” Now to show a little ambiguity, I guess I'd like to see a bill introduced that forms a group to identify people of note who were taxpaying residents of the District of Columbia (and its former cities and counties) who contributed to the development of the nation's capital and to social progress and democracy in the neighborhoods of the District of Columbia (the original landowners, elected officials, writers, musicians, poets, people of peace, etc.), and who should be recognized in our neighborhoods. Most great cities focus at least in part on the contributions made by their own people to the nation and their area. If D.C. doesn't start making note of its contributions, it will not only remain invisible under the monumental erections of everyone in the world concerned with preserving their posterity, but residents may find their homes are needed for space needles.

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Ten Steps to Manipulate DC’s Ignorant and PC Voters
Jim Grant, DCVoyeur@AOL.COM

1. Tell voters that some one is taking money services away from them or the poor; example DC General, school vouchers. 2. Use only emotional arguments since they don't have time/capability to seek out or understand the issues; example DC General replacement plan. 3. Use racial card words, plantation, racist, chains, slavery, Uncle Tom, etc.; example DC statehood arguments and Eleanor Holmes. 4. Scream loudly at anyone who dares to disagree with you position; example bus loads of loonies and protesters. 5. If someone persists in asking embarrassing questions keep screaming and accuse then of being insensitive and look at them as if they just don't get it. 6. Roll your shoulders and say something PC/Black Solidarity/Spread blame when asked what have you done to fix the problem; Example see quotes from Holmes, City Council, Barry. 7. If accused of mismanagement of city finances blame it on lack of funds and lack of home rule since mismanagement is hard to comprehend; example tax Fannie Mae (SP) and DC commuters. 8. If some one threatens your pork then constantly bash them until it is a general consensus he/she is a problem; example busloads of protesters and Joe Mouthoff (see steps 2, 3, 4). 9. Always talk about the suffering poor and down trodden of the city if someone talks about making something more efficient; examples too many to list. 10. Tell the people that someone is taking away their rights/democracy to keep doing as you please; examples are Control Board, statehood also see revocation of council term limits and campaign funding limits.

In response to the question where do the two bus loads of loonies and protesters come from. It's the DC workers and their family who stand the most to lose if the mayor fires the incompetent from the city's payroll. For example the DC General ghost employees, yes, the same ones who are not there when the DC General emergency room fills up with broken bodies that wait twelve hours for service. I know a nurse who worked there for years and she told me about the gross incompetence, nepotism, people that did not show up for work, and those who showed up for work and played cards while those bleeding and in pain waited in the emergency room. Hey Joe Mouthoff this is where you are supposed to cry and say something PC. I hope the mayor bulldozes that abomination before the DC Council has a chance to reverse the Control Board.

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Superfluous Can
Buck Downs, bdowns@columbiabooks.com

It looks like fellow poster Ed Barron may be in need of an interim supercan — maybe you should make him an off to buy your old one cheap — good luck.

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NARPAC to Dreamland: After the Control Board, What?
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

Mike Livingston's so-called simple solution of making our nation's capital city into a 51st state (so DC can mandate a commuter tax) looks very different from way out here in Maryland (about 500 feet beyond the city line) where outstanding county services are provided by a relatively small but competent work force goaded by far fewer demagogues. But we surely agree on the need to better share both the region's wealth and its poverty. There are, however, several other possible solutions, and the time is right for Earthlings to look at the near-term ones as the Control Board goes inactive.

Those who read NARPAC's web site rather than sneer at its office address know that we stand for major reforms in Congress's constitutional oversight of DC. These include the elimination of: a) inappropriate duplication of subcommittees still aping the no longer relevant authorizing/appropriating process; b) frivolous intervention by grandstanding members; c) patently obvious conflicts of interest by having subcommittee overseers from Virginia and, yes, Maryland; and d) serious national inattention to the common need to level the socioeconomic playing fields in many US metro areas, colonies or not. Surely we shouldn't make every disadvantaged inner city into a state! Virtually overnight the Congressional leadership could carry out its assigned duties and elevate DC's oversight mechanism to the position and focus it deserves. The rest would follow. That, to us, is (relatively) simple. Over.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS AND CLASSES

Yard Sale
Ralph Blessing, rblessin88@hotmail.com

It's time for the 5th Annual Shepherd Park Yard Sale, sponsored by the Shepherd Park Citizens Association. More than 25 individual yard sales throughout Shepherd Park (between 16th and Georgia, north of Walter Reed Hospital) June 2 and 3, Saturday and Sunday, 9 - 4 p.m. For a list of sales, go to http://www.alixmyerson.com (after May 25th) or pick up a list at any participating yard sale.

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Higher Achievement Classes
Allison Foster, aafoster@aol.com

At Higher Achievement, we make learning fun. The Higher Achievement program, or HAP, is now taking student enrollment and volunteer Mentor applications for its Summer Academy. The Summer Academy, for Middle -School students from DC's under-served areas, operates from 8:00 to 4:00, Monday through Friday, from July 9th through August 17th. If you know of students who would benefit from an exciting learning environment, or if you would like to volunteer as a Learning Mentor, please call Allison Foster, or the HAP staff, at 842-5116, or visit our website at http://www.higherachievement.org. Higher Achievement is a nonprofit academic enrichment program, bringing resources and opportunities to students from the under-served areas of Washington, DC.

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U.S. Capitol Visitor Center
Wendy Blair, wblair@npr.org

For those curious about the proposed new Capitol Visitor Center — 588,000 square feet of — what? — to be built starting any day now underneath the U.S. Capitol Building (dozens of irreplaceable trees will be cut down), the National Building Museum is holding a panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29. The Capitol Visitor Center is to be the largest addition to the U.S. Capitol in 150 years. Discussants will be Alan M. Hantman, FAIA, Architect of the Capitol; Harold Adams, FAIA, Chairman and CEO of RTKL Association, designer of the underground facility; Rodman Henderer, AIA, Vice President of RTKL; Ralph Appelbaum, president of Ralph Appelbaum Associates and a designer of exhibition space at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, who will be designing exhibition space in the proposed Center.

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Speak Out on DC Housing Legislation
Janet W. Brown, nlbrown@igc.org

Three housing bills by the Mayor and Councilmembers Catania and Chavous will be discussed at a hearing on June 11th at 10:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers. Parts of these bills are meant to address the crisis in affordable housing, so they are an important first step -- but a very disappointing step, given the scale of the problem. They will barely help the disappearing supply of low- and moderate-income rental housing, which is where we see the most cruel effect of the housing shortage and rising prices.

Some provisions of these bills are meant to be technical fixes, some are incentives for developers and homeowners (with a variety of tax credits for the well-to-do), but some have potential for building new housing and keeping Section 8 HUD-subsidized buildings in the program when their contracts expire. Even the most promising sections of these bills require changes and reinforcement.

People willing to testify, call, or write Councilmembers should E-mail or call me (332-0789) for an analysis of the bills, and come this Thursday night, May 24, at 6:30, to 1419 V St. NW for a meeting of a dozen community organizations that will fashion their own peoples' housing plan for the city.

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Hands Off DC Forum
Wayne Turner, Actupdc@aol.com

The Stand Up for Democracy in DC Coalition will host a community forum, “Hands off DC — How Congress controls DC's budget and laws,” at the Cada Vez Conference Center, 1438 U Street, NW (Greenline Metro, U Street stop; bus lines 90 and 50, wheelchair accessible), on Tuesday, June 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. The forum will focus upon the DC Appropriations process, whereby Congress annually mandates local spending of the District of Columbia's budget. Congress routinely attaches a series of anti-democratic social riders to the DC budget, including restrictions on DC's clean needle exchange program, blocking the District's domestic partnership law, and the Barr amendment preventing implementation of medical marijuana Initiative 59. Other DC Democracy issues, including the future of the Financial Control Board, DC General Hospital, and the possible imposition of school vouchers will also be addressed.

In the past several years, Stand Up for Democracy in DC has organized citizen lobbying efforts, rallies, and protests against unwanted Congressional intrusions into local affairs. The forum will include a legislative review, community discussion, and a presentation of “The Last Colony,” excerpts from a documentary film outlining the history of DC's struggle for full democracy and voting rights. Stand Up for Democracy in DC is a nonpartisan coalition working for local control over DC's budget, laws, judicial system, and full voting representation in Congress. Stand Up! meets at 6:30 p.m. every 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at the National Council for Negro Women (NCNW), 633 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (Archives-Navy Memorial Metro Stop). Please join us. For more information, call Wayne Turner at 547-9404 or Anise Jenkins at 232-2500.

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TasteDC.com's July Calendar of Wine and Food Events
Charlie Adler, wine@TASTEDC.COM

1) June 11, Monday, “G'day in a Glass' at the Australian Embassy,” DC's largest Aussie wine tasting ever! Australian Embassy, 1601 Massachusetts Ave. NW, limited street parking available, nearest Metro Dupont Circle, Red Line, 6:30-8:30 p.m., $55 per person. Over 200 Aussie Wines to Taste! Join TasteDC.com and the Australian Wine Bureau for an outstanding wine tasting never matched before in the D.C. area! Wines will include bubblies from Tasmania, rich Chardonnays from Margaret River, classic Cabernets from Coonawarra and “stickies” (dessert wines) from Rutherglen, and of course the classic Shiraz, plus many many more! You'll also taste Australian lamb seasoned with wild indigenous spices, specialty cheeses, olives, and more! 2) June 16, Saturday, “Jizake: The Largest Sushi and Sake Festival in the World,” sponsored by Sake Service Institute and the Japan Sake Exporting Board, at the Sports Club/LA auditorium, 1170 22nd Street at M Street., 1-4 p.m., $49 inclusive. Over 45 super-premium microbrew sakes, six Japanese producers flown in for the festival, D.C.'s top sushi chefs in one room. Sushi, maki rolls, and other Asian dishes will be sampled with the sakes to increase your awareness of the intricate flavors of Japanese microbrew sakes. Current list of restaurants participating: Ten Penh Restaurant, Kaz Sushi Bistro, Spices Sushi Bar, Yanyu Restaurant, Fresh Fields of Georgetown. 3) July 19, Thursday, “Embassy of Austria Wine Revolution,” Embassy of Austria, 3524 International Court, NW, Metro Van Ness (Red Line), limited street parking, 7-9 p.m., $45 per person. Join us for an exciting night at the Austrian Embassy to see exactly what's hot and changing in Austrian wines! Austria is currently experiencing an upsurge in interest in the wine world due to the amazing amount of new and distinctive wine being produced and imported. New young wine producers are taking a stand and revolutionizing the taste of Austrian wines. Austrian wines are dry, as opposed to German wines. Come taste this surprisingly fresh wine for yourself along with some wonderfully paired cuisine! 7) July 24, Tuesday, “Embassy of New Zealand Wine and Food Celebration,” Embassy of New Zealand, 37 Observatory Circle, NW, behind the British Embassy off Massachusetts Avenue), limited street parking , 7-9 p.m., $55 per person. Join us at the beautiful Embassy of New Zealand for an evening of tantalizing wines that have put the country in the wine-lovers spotlight. You'll taste the world-famous energizing and racy citrus sauvignon blanc, distinctive chardonnay and many hidden gems from the tiny island in the Pacific. Ever heard of the green gooseberry? You will after this night and so will your taste buds! Plus, we'll pair the wines with some unforgettable and exotic Kiwi cuisine! Reservations: click on https://labyrinth.dgsys.com/clients/tasteusa.com/order.cgi?X_DC or call 333-5588.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Bernadette Peters Tix
Jill Bogard, Jill_Bogard@ace.nche.edu

Two tickets to Bernadette Peters at Wolf Trap, Friday, June 15, 8:30 p.m., loge row H, $32.00 each. If interested, please respond by E-mail or leave a message at 939-9428.

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CLASSIFIEDS — PETS

Free Cats to Good Home!
Yolanda F. Sonnier, ysonnier@yahoo.com

Two cats (six years old), male and female, spayed/neutered, looking for a good home. Our new daddy is allergic to us. We must go together. Please contact our mom, Yolanda, at ysonnier@yahoo.com or 410-752-0932.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Where’s the Housing?
Emil King, emil@anacostiaws.org

I hate to bring personal problems into this, but I cannot, for the life of me, find a nice place to live in this city. I moved here from central Virginia last summer, and since then I've struggled to find affordable yet adequate housing. Granted, I lucked out and found a crazy roommate from Georgetown University, but our lease is up and I've been unsuccessful at finding something. Now, it's easy to find apartments, but what's a farm boy to do in that case? Commutes are a pain from NW to Bladensburg, and since I work for an ecologically-minded nonprofit, I'm [against] harming the environment. They say Mt. Rainier is nice, which I find true. Sadly, nobody is renting at this time. I mean, I'll even start a garden for you. Classifieds are no help, and the City Paper only lists Capitol Hill, with “English Basements” in the “low $2000s” — for a single, mind you. Any help?

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CLASSIFIEDS — CITY PAPER PREVIEW
Dave Nuttycombe, webmeister@washcp.com

From washingtoncitypaper.com's LOOSE LIPS column, appearing this Friday:
PAY FOR NONPERFORMANCE: With the stunning and sometimes ridiculous behavior of its leaders, the District continues to earn its reputation as a truly unique municipality. Case in point: recent bonuses passed out by Mayor Anthony A. Williams' administration to key officials — some of whom have abysmal records.
Consider the Metropolitan Police Department: By its own admission, the MPD has one of the worst homicide closure rates in the country. The department spent so much of its budget during the first quarter of this fiscal year that it was on track to exceed its appropriations by $15 million; it needed a bailout from the recently approved supplemental budget. Further, the MPD seems to have in its employ police officers who exhibit signs of sidewalk phobia — they refuse to leave their squad cars. Others allegedly spend more time defaming gays, blacks, and women via departmental E-mails than they do protecting them. Nevertheless, in April, Police Chief Charles Ramsey received a bonus of $12,000.
LL's head is spinning — the logic is absolutely dizzying. LL and more than a few residents think Ramsey hasn't even earned his $150,000 annual salary, to say nothing of a major bonus.
Read the entire Loose Lips column here: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/lips/lips.html

From washingtoncitypaper.com's CITY LIGHTS page, here are a few early warnings for upcoming events:
WEDNESDAY: Landscape architect James van Sweden discusses his craft at 6:30 p.m. at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. $14.
THURSDAY: Jazz and Latin Music on the Plaza, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 7, to Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th and Independence Avenue SW
More details and more critics' picks are available online at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/pix/pix.html

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