Homicide
Dear Correspondents:
I think we're about talked out about the Chandra Levy case, so here's
the point that I take away from it: the Metropolitan Police Department
hasn't been fixed. A few years ago, the Control Board paid consulting
firm Booz-Allen Hamilton millions of dollars to write reports about the
problems of the MPD. The Control Board refused to make those reports
public, though some of the main points did leak out. The Memorandum of
Understanding partners, composed of representatives of the Control
Board, the Mayor, the City Council, the US Attorney's office, judges,
and the MPD, hired Chief Ramsey to put Booz-Allen's recommendations and
other reforms in place and to improve the operations of the police
department.
Those reforms haven't taken place; those operations haven't been
improved. What has improved is the public relations of the MPD. Chief
Ramsey has a great web site, a radio program, a television program, a
busy speaking schedule, and good press contacts. But the Homicide squad
is still plagued with problems and fragmented among the districts, and
the ample budget of the MPD still hasn't resulted in adequate funding of
policing at the district and street level. The problems of the MPD
haven't gone away, but for the first three years of Chief Ramsey's
regime the press stopped paying attention to them. Sure, it's unfair to
judge the MPD on the basis of one case, just like it was unfair to judge
it on the Starbucks case or the Gallaudet case. Sure, we know that a
missing person case like the Levy case, even after it is determined that
a crime may have occurred, is one of the hardest to solve. But to many
critics of the MPD, it doesn't matter if the criticism the MPD is
getting now is unfair, since Chief Ramsey and Assistant Chief Gainer
have been getting an unfair free ride for the past few years.
For those who are interested in reading more, see the MPD's internal
investigation of homicide probes (http://www.dcwatch.com/police/010612.htm)
and on the Washington Post's site look up Cheryl Thompson's
article, “Homicide Probes Still Stumbling,” June 12, 2001, and the
editorial, “Too Little Progress,” June 14, 2001.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Amending the Charter on the Role of the CFO
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com
This morning, all is supposedly peaceful in Home Fool land, as
Senator Landrieu has dropped plans to sponsor a bipartisan bill beefing
up the office of CFO without first running it by the District Government
and the Delegate -- who is the self-appointed clearinghouse on home rule
issues and who takes offense when anyone else encroaches on her fiefdom.
This sets the stage for the Charter Amendment passed by the Council to
be included in the District budget as a rider — business as usual.
Excuse me, but doesn't the Home Rule Act mandate that Council passed
amendments to the Charter be voted on in a charter referendum? There is
no provision in the Charter for bypassing this, though it seems to be
the normal course of events. Yet there is no outcry. If the Montgomery
County Council were to amend its own charter and seek ratification by
the state legislature, there would be a hue and cry heard all the way to
Philly Yet DC residents take it in stride.
The matter in question was vetted, negotiated, but never really
subjected to public debate, even though it has extreme consequences for
the conduct of DC governance for years to come. In most states, the
office of Comptroller fulfills the functions of a CFO (which is one of
those management by acronym terms). This officer is elected. The
Democratic Council is supposedly in support of statehood. Yet they don't
seem to act upon these feelings, bypassing the rights of DC citizens to
constitute their own government by making an end run to Congress. Am I
alone in my outrage over this issue? Wake up DC! In any other
jurisdiction, a Council Chair who routinely ignores the citizenry on
constitutional issues would be ousted. I doubt if Mrs. Cropp will face
even token opposition — and if she does it won't mention this issue.
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Philosophy at Ellington
Susan Gushue, DC Parents and Community for Education, smgushue@starpower.net
Duke Ellington School is a good school . It has some great teachers
and great kids. The current principal has decided that she has
“philosophical” differences with between 5-10 teachers and that this
requires they be involuntarily transferred. According to our new head of
human resources at DCPS, philosophical differences is a legitimate
reason to involuntarily transfer a teacher under the WTU contract. Does
this strike anyone else as absurd? If principals have always had the
power to involuntarily transfer teachers because of philosophical
differences, why is this the first case I've heard of in twelve years?
Why suddenly do some of the most senior, well-respected teachers at
Ellington, a school that has held together because of some of these
teachers, suddenly not “share the vision”? Our current School Board
President is in this up to her chin, and as a parent and taxpayer I'm
really tired of this kind of bullying. The Duke Ellington School of the
Arts is a public institution. The teachers who are being transferred
have spent the bulk of their careers at Ellington .They include the
Foreign Language Department Chair, the English Department Chair (who
happens to be the WTU building representative), an honors English
teacher, and on and on. I have been following this as it has unfolded
over the last four months, and I have not heard a complaint about the
quality of instruction of any of these teachers. Does anyone have any
ideas about how to stop this? My children's education keeps taking the
back seat to grown-ups who like to throw their weight around, and I'm
past tired of it. (I quote from a transfer letter [sent to a teacher] in
my use of “philosophical” and “vision.”)
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Parking downtown I often have to find a space, park, get out of car,
look at the sidewalk side of meter to see the maximum time the meter
allows (meters range from maybe 30 minutes to at least four hours), then
maybe move the car if meter won't let me stay as long as needed. DC
seems to have put clear and easy-to-read stickers on the sidewalk side
of meters. It sure would have been nice if they'd post signs everywhere
with allowed parking time, and put stickers with large numbers on street
side of meters so that people in their cars can read them before
parking. For extra credit, DC government could post a detailed street
map indicating maximum parking times block-by-block. (Hey, I said it was
a fantasy.)
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Walk, Don’t Run
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com
While on assignment here in the Big Apple, I'm staying in and
re-exploring West Greenwich Village, where I hang my hat. This is a very
exciting and vibrant venue in the city, and the traffic is even heavier
than in downtown D.C. What strikes me as strange, though, is that the
traffic seems to be moving a lot better. Cursory analysis (I'm good at
that, according to many of my critics) shows that the alternating
green/red cycles of the traffic lights are much longer than they are in
D.C. Whether or not this is a major contributor to the easier flow of
traffic, I can't be sure.
One thing that I am sure about, though, is that pedestrians benefit
from the longer cycles, and even slow crossers have no difficulty
transiting the widest streets. To make things even safer, the flashing
"Don't Walk" signs flash anywhere from ten to a dozen times
before the light cycle changes and the orange light comes on in the
other traffic lane. In D.C. the flashing “Don't Walk” signs only
flash for about five times before the light changes to orange in the
opposing lanes. These additional seven seconds allows even those who
leave the curb just before the light begins flashing to get safely
across.
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Chandra Levy Redux
Kristen Hansen, hkris@radix.net
Concerning the search for Chandra Levy, one contributor mused,
“where are the interviews with her girlfriends?” who presumably
would know habits and information about Ms. Levy's personal life. Maybe
her friends are quiet, but maybe they don't exist. Ms. Levy was new to
the area and involved in a relationship with a man who wielded enormous
power and control over her behavior. Her relative isolation maybe was
attractive to Condit and/or exacerbated by her relationship with him.
My criticism of MPD concerns their approach to missing persons cases
involving adults. Based on personal experience helping the family of a
woman who disappeared last year (and since has returned home) and media
cases, it seems MPD's assumption is that the person has chosen to leave
and is fine. I wonder if anyone (e.g. DOJ) has studied these cases and
developed a list of best practices. I'd be curious to know if the
studies support taking a “wait and see” approach to these cases.
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The Common Denominator’s Online
Archives
Kathryn Sinzinger, NewsDC@aol.com
The Common Denominator's online archives of news stories,
editorials and Consumer Law columns is now complete. As time goes on, we
may also add the old "Ward Reports," letters to the editor,
staff and local guest columns, and other short news items to the
archives. But all the major news stories back to Issue #1 are now online
and searchable, all available to the public for free, and I expect this
to remain a free public service.
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I am speechless. My mouth is so wide open, an eagle could fly in. Who
are these people; will they actually renovate the houses? Thanks for
pointing this out.
Starr, writing from Maine where I wear my Million Mom March T-Shirt
almost every day. By next year I hope to have my new DC license plate
saying “taxation without representation” on the car so Mainers and
everyone else can see it..
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I have to say that I agree with most of John DeLuca's comments (Aches
and Pains in themail). I have spoken to many people who have complained
about themail. When I raised their and my objections a few weeks ago in
themail, I felt I was shot down by the moderator, and nobody who
complained to me personally posted to themail to back me up. It seems to
me there is a lot of potential with this group that does not get tapped.
We all know that the Who's Who of DC are on this list, yet can we really
expect them to dialog when people have nothing positive or constructive
to say? People sit here and complain about the problems that our city
faces or the politicians who run it and yet few offer suggestions on how
to improve things.
Where I do disagree with Mr. DeLuca is that there have been gems
posted here, admittedly few and far between. One good conversation over
the past week has been about buying a home in DC and the wealth of
information provided by those posting to the list. If one person sought
out a Realtor because of that conversation then we did a good thing for
them and for our city. In the future, when people post a complaint I
would encourage them to include a potential solution (or ask for one). I
hope that they will be open to accepting constructive criticism of their
proposed solution, that they will try to build momentum for their ideas
and that they will work hard to see their vision implemented. I also
hope that those who have issues with how this list is run will come
forth and say something before they get to the point of frustration that
Mr. DeLuca reached last week.
[I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if you don't like what
other people post in themail, don't complain about what they write; post
your own messages, saying what you want to see here. This is an open
forum; nobody's stopping you. — Gary Imhoff]
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Historic Holt House Walk, July 25
Wanda Bubriski, wbubriski@yahoo.com
Join the Holt House Preservation Task Force of the Kalorama Citizens
Association for a one-hour sunset walk around Holt House, located on the
grounds of the National Zoo overlooking Walter Pierce Park in Adams
Morgan. Learn about this early 1800s house, its condition and the
preservation process, as well as about its links to 19th-century
industry along Rock Creek and to the history of slavery in the nation's
capital. Wednesday, July 25, 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Meet on the west
side of Walter Pierce Park, by the picnic tables under the trees,
entrance off 1900 block of Calvert St.. NW, (east end of Duke Ellington
Bridge/ Metro Bus turn around). Free, no reservations required, rain or
shine. For more information, call 232-6113.
Built in the early 1800s, Holt House is a rare example of the
Classical Revival style in Washington and, since 1973, has been listed
on the National Register of Historic Places. Under the stewardship of
the National Zoo since 1890, and used as administrative offices until
the 1980s, the house has been vacant and boarded up for over a dozen
years. Its severely deteriorated condition caused the D.C. Preservation
League to include Holt House for three years in a row on its list of the
ten most endangered places of Washington. In 2000, the Kalorama Citizens
Association (KCA) formed the Holt House Preservation Task Force (HHPTF)
to help save Holt House by raising public awareness through community
outreach and by building an alliance of other community groups and city
organizations that support the restoration of the property. One of the
HHPTF goals for 2001 is to persuade the Smithsonian, as custodian of
this historic property, to recognize the preservation of Holt House as a
priority. For more information, contact: Wanda Bubriski, 232-6113, wbubriski@yahoo.com,
or Barbara Bates, 244-2090, bbates9@juno.com.
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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS
Request for Help Watering the Bancroft
Butterfly Garden: 7/30 - 8/31
Peg Blechman, blechman@access-board.gov
We're looking for volunteers from the Mt. Pleasant area to help water
the Bancroft Elementary Butterfly Garden during July 30th - August 31st.
During the next two weeks, the first and second grade classes will be
planting two small plots in front of the school with plants to attract
butterflies. But when school is out, we'll need help making sure the
garden is watered and will survive during the heat of July and August.
So, we need your help. Because we'd like to make a schedule of
volunteers' watering so the gardens don't get over watered, please let
me know if you can help. And if you buy a smoothie at The People Garden
(3155 Mount Pleasant St. at Kilbourne St.), 10 percent goes to support
the Bancroft Butterfly Garden! In the fall, we would like to meet with
anyone who is interested in helping in any way to plan two larger
gardens at Bancroft.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Responsible female academic on leave and working at the Library of
Congress as of September 1 needs a one-bedroom or studio apartment,
preferably furnished, for 9-12 months. She would like a good, safe
neighborhood, on the Metro, Dupont Circle or such. Excellent tenant,
references available. Please respond to irinal@pitt.edu
with any leads.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Can anyone recommend a reliable, cost efficient firm to repave a
residential driveway?
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I am looking for a reputable firm to install burglar bars on the
windows of my new rowhouse in Dupont Circle. Can anyone make a
recommendation?
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