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August 12, 2001

So Many Issues

Dear Homies:

A lot of new DC issues are raised in this long edition of themail, and I don't need to add another one. Please follow up on anything here, raise your own issue, or tell us how things are on your home turf. See you next Wednesday.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Town Versus Gown
Sol Shalit, sss.sol@gte.net

The District’s private universities have grown beyond their optimum size and their net economic impact on the District is negative. They have a built-in growth bias that knows no limits and recognizes no boundaries. Their continuous expansion shifts costs from the tax-exempt university to the District and harms it. A cap on student enrollment is an appropriate, legitimate, and by far the most effective way of regulating university growth.

Policy makers have to make a judgment as to whether the District — losing many millions in tax revenue — is getting its money’s worth by continuing to subsidize private universities occupying many acres of the city’s choice residential real estate for educating students from throughout the United States and 87 foreign countries. Census 2000 shows that the District’s student population has been growing at a faster rate than the general population. Is it fair for the District to pay the costs, while the benefits flow to other jurisdictions? These are some of the issues raised by my study entitled Growth and Expansion of Private Universities in the District of Columbia: The Case of George Washington University, http://www.foxhall.org/campus/Primer.htm.

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The Same Old Gang
Larry Seftor, Larry_Seftor@compuserve.com

Yesterday's fire and smoke in the manholes in the Dupont Circle area remind me of the recent geyser of flame in Friendship Heights, and PEPCO's response. PEPCO assured us after the Friendship “event” that this was completely unconnected to the ongoing problems of exploding manholes in Georgetown. To that I would reply that the connection is obvious: the same organization is responsible for the failures in each of these events — PEPCO. The fact is that as a public utility, regardless of the quality of its service, PEPCO is going to continue to charge us money and is going to continue to provide electricity. The variables are the reliability of service and the profit that PEPCO is allowed. Local public utility commissions should penalize PEPCO by reducing PEPCO's allowed profit until these events cease. This will cause pain to stockholders who will vote to change PEPCO's management. This scenario is not perverse, it is the mechanism that we have to force a public utility to serve us well. Let's use it.

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Risks of Speed-Trap Cameras
Gabe Goldberg, gabe@gabegold.com

From the Seattle Times, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134326067_trafficam05m.html, “It was not the kind of 'Kodak moment' the city of Lakewood hoped for. Its high-tech traffic camera had just nabbed Cyn Mason for doing 38 in a 30-mph zone. The camera captured the license plate on the Tacoma woman's car as it sped through a school zone June 8. Or so it seemed.

“After receiving a notice, a thumbnail copy of the incriminating image and a demand for $71, Mason put pen to paper:

“'This is my sworn statement, under penalty of perjury, that your system cannot distinguish between the sporty coupe shown in the ticket picture, and the Honda CR-V sport-utility vehicle that I drive. In other words, I swear that you have the wrong car, since the one shown in the ticket is not my vehicle. Is this sufficient to correct your error, or would you like me to swear at you some more?” (Snipped, longer story online.)

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Who’s in Charge?
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

The DC Office of Boards and Commissions is the latest office within the Executive Office of the Mayor to be beset with turmoil. The Office's director, Ron King, is being undermined. Last spring, King forwarded several nominations to the Real Property Assessments and Appeals Board to the City Council. Without his knowledge, the nominations were withdrawn by Jackie Randolph, his Deputy Director. Apparently, the nominations didn't meet with the approval of Marie Drissel, who headed Boards and Commissions during the first year of the Williams administration, and Drissel ordered Randolph to withdraw the names. Drissel still wants to call the shots regarding political appointments to key boards and commissions, to benefit the Mayor's reelection campaign.

The word at 1 Judiciary Square is that Kelvin Robinson, the Mayor's new Chief of Staff and self-appointed “new sheriff in town,” has been told that King must go by Max Brown, the Mayor's first Deputy Chief of Staff and currently the Mayor's principal political advisor. In the meantime, numerous vacancies remain unfilled in such key boards as the Real Property Assessments and Appeals Board, which now doesn't even have a quorum to meet and vote.

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Having a Say About a New Class of Neighbors
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com

Eleanor Holmes Norton recently raised the subject of returning D.C. prisoners and the need for Halfway Houses. The social benefit of a “reentry program” — over offering no assistance — is that recidivist crimes are reduced by 75% (Norton, “Notes from Congress” in Hill Rag). In D.C.’s case, the federal government is paying for and will run them because they now control/run prison services. Norton apparently asked the mayor to take Kathy Patterson’s advice and establish a citizen’s commission by executive order. Colbert King wrote (The Post, 8-4-01) that 2,500 District felons are expected to be released over the next year, a mayoral commission “will soon propose closing the District’s Oak Hill juvenile detention and commitment facility," into "a yet-to-be established modernized network of community-based group homes.” King said “the newly created D.C. Department of Mental Health is planning to move patients from St. Elizabeths who have been 'adjudicated not criminally responsible because of mental illness' to residential facilities. King said Norton wants District leaders to come up with a 'fair share' plan that will distribute halfway houses more evenly among the city’s eight wards.”

If a neighborhood feels threatened, they will prefer the default of not having any facilities at all and letting the dominos fall where they may. Transitional facilities are stigmatized facilities, and ridding them of their stigma is tough but can probably be done. Sounds like multiple facilities will be needed at once. How large will they be? Will there be 2, or 10, per Ward? How will the government get neighbors in each Ward to comply? Here are questions that should be made clear: (1) Are these transitional facilities really needed and why? Norton highlighted the need and social benefits. Is the solution being recommended better than other solutions (centralized care, others?). The solution, in principle, needs popular support — as will the process. (2) What are the operational standards of the facilities, and which agency will have oversight? (3) What neighborhoods qualify to host a transitional facility — what are the exemptions? (Not within a stated number of blocks of a school, etc.). There shouldn’t be too many exemptions if facilities are indeed safe. (4) Could site-specific benefits be offered, as a private developer might do, to the a hosting neighborhood as an incentive to neighbors to accept a facility — recreational facilities, exemptions for other types of facilities, a small advisory group to work with the facility as liaison? (5) If benefits could be offered and negotiated, I wonder if a volunteer or “community partnering approach” would work. Maybe the ANC’s could be empowered to propose locations and negotiate a benefit/control packages. If no ANC expresses an interest within a certain amount of time, move forward with a “fair share” plan with “technical” narrowing criteria. From what Norton said, the cost of not having the facilities will be in rising crime statistics. Are there examples that have worked in other parts of the country? Some resources: Building Better Communities Network,http://www.bettercommunities.org, National Low Income Housing Coalition, http://www.nlihc.org/, Building Community Support for Housing: Ten Tips on How to Win Support for Your Affordable Housing Projects by Debra Stein, http://www.gcastrategies.com/article_ps_2.html.

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We Found the Mayor
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

No, we did not find Tony Williams, purportedly vacationing in Canada. Instead we found the Mayor of Halifax earlier this week in his office at City Hall. We walked in, chatted up the receptionist for a few minutes, and then asked if we could meet with the Mayor. Five minutes later the four of us were escorted into the Mayor's office to meet with Peter Kelly, Mayor of Halifax, a city of some 370 thousand very pleasant and courteous folks. We chatted with the Mayor and told him what we had seen, done, and liked about his vibrant city. He's a newly elected young man in a city that is rapidly growing and very prosperous. It is a diverse population, and we met only a small fraction of the 370K folks who live there. But all those we met were very respectful of others. It is a whole different culture in Halifax, and, I suspect, the other major cities of Canada. (We'll find out)

As an example, if you want to cross the street at any corner in Halifax where there is no stop sign or signal, you need only to take a step toward the street and all the cars in both directions will stop so that you can cross safely. In D.C. you can grow old waiting to cross safely at some corners. Just think about some out-of-town strangers trying to meet with Tony Williams at One Judiciary Square. After they would be searched by the security police and the laughter died down, it is possible that you might meet with someone seventeen layers removed from the Mayor who would ask you to write up your questions, and then you would be escorted out the door. It's a whole different culture up here and much like the environment in Ireland's cities, where we have traveled several times (and met the Mayor of Limerick the same way).

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DCPS Business Plan for Strategic Reform Needs Reform
Helen Hagerty, helenmhag@aol.com

If DCPS truly wants to reform our public schools, they better take a look a Special Education. After a quick glance of the DCPS Business Plan for Strategic Reform, I was disappointed to see that improving Special Ed was not one of the Six Transformational Goals. Special Ed did not even make Phase 1 of the plan, but Phase 2, and even then it was at the bottom of the list. It doesn't take a genius to figure out there is a serious problem when approximately one-third of the entire DCPS budget is spent on educating fewer than 2,000 students. These are Special Education students who attend private school programs at the expense of public school students and DC taxpayers.

DCPS has some excellent Special Ed teams in place. They must focus on delivering excellent services now, not in a year or two. Special Ed has completed the enormous task of evaluating the backlog of IEP's (Individual Educational Plans). Many of the students attending private schools can be served within DCPS. Principals and teachers need legal counsel available to them when they meet with parents trying to get a private placement. DCPS certainly cannot met the needs of all Special Ed students, but we must focus time, energy and money now to correct this problem.

Money must follow the students, and DCPS needs to track these students within the system. Currently, a principal taking a Special Ed student receives additional money depending on the Special Ed level of the child. Once a school receives this additional money, there is no way of tracking it to ensure it was adequately spent on a Special Ed student. We were told by a former DCPS Assistant Superintendent, if we needed more money for our school's operating budget, we should take a few Special Ed students! There should be plenty of money in the current DCPS budget, but there never will be enough to go around when we spend over 200 million dollars on fewer than 2,000 students. This Special Education problem should be at the top of everyone's priority list. No amount of reform, no matter how well intended, will work unless we correct Special Education now.

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Deep in the Heart of (Real Property) Taxes
Mark Eckenwiler, eck@ingot.org

Responding to an earlier posting, Nick Keenan offered some trenchant comments about the lamentable state of DCRA enforcement against nuisance properties. It's my experience as well that the only way to get any sort of action from a DCRA housing inspector is to make yourself a merciless, unrelenting, pain-in-the-ass fury of a nagging citizen. Alas, while this is a necessary condition, it is often not sufficient in itself to prompt action. Nick is absolutely on target when he criticizes the Mayor's failure to take curative steps; in my opinion, it's shameful.

As for the 1999 legislation that massively reduced the punitive class 5 tax rate for vacant properties, there used to be summaries on the DCCFO OTR web site. Oddly, these have since disappeared; luckily for the inquisitive, I have made copies available at http://www.panix.com/~eck/taxparitychart.pdf and http://www.panix.com/~eck/taxparitytext.pdf.

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More DMV Experiences
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com

I must've been at a different DMV. My experience was so easy except for the info. line. I'll agree I had no idea that's where I was to stand! I went for an ID, and the entire process, including two stops at Info, took fewer than 25 minutes. It was full yet seemed to be moving well. Everyone who worked there was pleasant and helpful. Guess it depends on when one arrives.

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Basement Apartments
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com

Dave De Seve raises an interesting question on basement rentals. He may have more legal problems than his tax status, however. As part of regulatory reform in 1998, new licensing requirements were passed. Additionally, the zoning on his house may not permit him to rent out his basement. While rent control laws do not apply to him, other laws regulating landlords do. I would advise all such landlords to contact DCRA and determine what is now required in terms of licensing and zoning -- you may need a variance and a license, may have to get out of the housing business or may have to band together to change the municipal regulations. If you are really confused, contact the Office of the Public Advocate and have them help you do the research — although they may actually have to get briefed to help you. At least you won't be in it alone.

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Neighborhood Action Plans
R.D. (Bob) Andrew, RDAndrew@erols.com

As an active participant in Neighborhood Action since the initial Summit, and having observed the careful deliberative process by which DC Office of Planning has hired new Neighborhood Planning Coordinators, I want to confirm that this is not a centralized, downtown, rubber stamp process. Neighborhood Service Coordinator Phil Heindrich and NPC Robert Collins have both gone to great lengths to ensure that local input goes into the Ward 3 neighborhood cluster plans.

I'm particularly pleased with the efforts that Robert Collins is making to ensure that the traffic management needs of the Foxhall community gets integrated into plans for Ward 3. We are currently in a political vacuum, as Councilmember Jack Evans has made it clear he does not want us involved any more in Ward 2 issues, now that we will be redistricted next year back into Ward 3, yet we are impacted by commuter traffic on Canal, Foxhall, MacArthur, and Reservoir, which are roads that traverse both Wards.

Similar kudos for citizen Chris Lively in Glover Park, who is helping gather grassroots input on reform of residential parking regulations. (To see the full text of Councilmember Kathy Patterson's bills, go to http://www.foxhall.org and see posting for 26 June 2001 with links to bills 14-0272 and 14-0273).

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SOS Is Everywhere
Willie Schatz, willie@schatzgroup.com

I'm glad E. James Liberman is bothered by the same programming on WAMU and WETA. But he shouldn't be surprised. Why should “public” radio be any different from “private” radio? Diversity of views on, in and over the air is dead. Clear Channel, Westwood and a few other conglomerates control a huge percentage of radio stations, and they all play the same songs over and over and over. Remember when WHFS really was an alternative station and it was different from any other in town? Fuhgeddaboudid. Now it's the same as DC-101, 98 Rock, Classic Rock 94.7 and all the other pretenders. The group even plays its advertisements simultaneously.

If you want to find out what's really going down, listen to WPFW (89.3), where Amy Goodman is more than a serious alternative to the “usual news.” She is the news.

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Wrong Again on B-CC Rescue Squad
Councilmember Kathy Patterson, kpattdc3@aol.com

Kenneth Lyons was wrong in the Washington Times and wrong again in themail in assertions concerning the memorandum of understanding between the District's Fire/Emergency Medical Services Department and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. He does a disservice to his union members and the taxpayers he purports to serve. The facts: when the District shut down the only rescue squad serving upper Northwest in the budget crunch in 1995, the continued availability of the B-CC Rescue Squad was a factor. The following is from a 1995 Judiciary Committee budget report: “Residents near Rescue 4 have additional life saving resources through the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, a volunteer unit located in Montgomery County which responds to 3,000 to 4,000 calls in DC per year.” The analysis estimated the savings to D.C. taxpayers from closing Rescue Squad 4 at more than $1 million a year. Reinstating that service now would cost much more. My point: the city has made policy and budget decisions based on continued service to northwest residents by the volunteer squad — which many District taxpayers pay for through annual voluntary contributions. Precluding service by B-CC would have serious budget as well as service consequences.

Other errors of fact: I did not participate in the MOU negotiations, though I have monitored the talks during my tenure on the Council. And the city's Emergency Management Agency has loaned B-CC radios to aid in their service to District residents; the Fire Department has not “given” them away. As chair of the Judiciary Committee, I take very seriously the issue of emergency medical service to District residents throughout the city, and the committee's oversight of the Fire/EMS Department demonstrates that level of seriousness.

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Come On and Rescue Me
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com

Kenneth Lyons writes in protest of the MOU between the Chevy Chase Rescue Squad and Fire/EMS. This has been a long-standing open issue, which is finally closed. I would advise the residents of other neighborhoods to investigate the EMS resources of neighboring jurisdictions and request the same kind of agreement. It is actually quite common to have such agreements for both fire and rescue, so that when there is a major event, no one is without coverage.

Of course, the other major problem is the way EMS is treated within the Department. According to EMS and hospital professionals I spoke with during the management reform process under the last administration (which was conducted jointly by the Control Board, the Mayor, the Council and the agency heads, with input from consultants), EMS workers are poorly represented by their union and are treated as poor stepchildren by the firefighter side of the department. Many believe the answer is a separate department, so that the resource needs in terms of both equipment and manpower can be separately addressed. It was estimated then that the EMS side was about 74 FTEs short of being adequately staffed. I have not heard that this has improved, as the work of all of the management reform teams was ended when Dr. Barnett was fired. The staff she brought on board was also let go and the consultant reports deposed of from the City Administrator's library. In other words, millions of dollars were wasted because the mayor many of you elected wanted to start from scratch. The Control Board kept Mr. Williams out of the process when he was CFO until the final budgetary implementation of the reforms — much to the bafflement of the other stakeholders. Hey, don't blame me — I voted for Gloster.

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BCC Rescue Squad
Adam Marshall, ajbmarshall@hotmail.com

Regarding Kenneth Lyons's knee-jerk diatribe against the Ward 3-Bethesda-Chevy Chase rescue squad compact: Mr. Lyons may be unaware of the fact that Ward 3 has fewer DCFD fire and EMS units per capita than any other area of the city, and the agreement with BCC has long served to bolster city service in this large and under-served ward.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lyons seems to have fallen victim to the old “Ward 3 is not part of DC” syndrome, as evidenced by his phrasing: “While the District of Columbia residents suffer from inadequate health care from pre-hospital care to in-hospital care, Ward 3 residents enjoy the services of free ambulance service that's just a phone call away.” Last time I checked, the 80,000 citizens of Ward 3 were also residents of the District of Columbia, and we are also part of the struggle to build a better Washington. The sarcasm evident in Mr. Lyons's letter is divisive and does little to build the solidarity we so desperately need to construct between the people of our city, no matter where they reside.

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Be Careful What You Wish For, Part II
Tom Matthes, tommatthes@earthlink.net

Timothy Cooper reports from the UN Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination that a Frankfurt University professor of racism has taken up the charge that the US Constitution is racist because it denies the privileges of statehood to DC. This is not surprising. Expecting a professor of racism to let the constitutional rule of law whittle away his or her chances for tenure is like expecting a raptor to become a vegetarian. Mr. Cooper’s honest efforts deserve everyone’s respect, but this is another detour from the road to DC voting rights. The DC issue will just be added to the growing list of the UN’s Humpty (“Words mean whatever I want them to mean”) Dumpty debates over the alleged "racism" of Zionism, AIDS, unemployment, education, spouse abuse and so on.

Getting the UN to declare the US Constitution racist isn’t going to win support for DC statehood, retrocession or special status from Flyover Country, USA. It is more likely to lose support outside the Beltway, especially after the UN has shown its contempt for the constitutional rights to own property and bear arms. Still, it's good news to find that Michael Piacsek agrees that this issue is a constitutional matter. He doesn't agree that statehood requires a constitutional amendment, but the UN won't resolve that debate either.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

“West Wing,” Anyone?
Dru Sefton, drusefton@hotmail.com

Anybody out there interested in forming a “West Wing” viewing club? No dues, just assorted munchies (I bake cheesecakes!) and the opportunity to get together weekly with (presumably) fun folks to watch a kick-ass TV show set in Our Nation's Capital. Season premiere is coming up September 19, so E-mail me soon!

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CLASSIFIEDS — FOR SALE

Bunk Bed
Kathleen McLynn, kdmclynn@starpower.net

For sale, bunk bed, very sturdy, bright red metal, integral ladder, good condition, $40. Call 966-9837 or kdmclynn@starpower.net.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE

DC Registers
Jim McLeod, jmcleod@attglobal.net

The Horseshoe Alliance Resource Center has a set of DC Registers from January 1999 to the present (minus a few volumes) it would like to give to a nonprofit group. Delivery not included; you must arrange to pickup the approximately six-foot-long collection in Foggy Bottom. Call or E-mail Jim McLeod, 223-0457, jmcleod@attglobal.net.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Unfurnished Apartment for Rent
Amy Nathan, ANATHAN@fcc.gov

One-bedroom, English basement apt. on quiet tree-lined street in upper Northwest D.C. Five blocks from Friendship Heights metro, two blocks from Connecticut Avenue bus. Private, separate entrance, light-filled L-shaped living room/kitchen with walk-in pantry. Two other big closets. On street parking. Available for rent, minimum 1 year lease — $1200 per mo. includes heat, air conditioning, and premium cable TV. Call Amy, 418-1552.

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One Bedroom Sought
Faye Brown, fbrown@dc-cares.org

Nonsmoking, young professional, new transplant to DC, working for nonprofit organization seeking housing in the greater DC area. Close to Metro. One bedroom. Please contact brownfd@hotmail.com

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CLASSIFIEDS — CAUSES

Creating a Political Movement to End Injustice in Health Care
Charlie Baase, cbaase@dcpca.org

The Health Justice League has been created to engage voters in the District and draw attention to the injustice in health care for the District's poor. The League is raising public awareness and informing voters of complex health care financing and delivery problems. Members of the League agree to support public policy that promotes health justice, attend at least one voter forum in the upcoming election year and contact policymakers about the issue.

The uninsured include thousands of working poor who man the entry level jobs across the country: people who cook and serve food in restaurants, drive cabs, clean hotel rooms, work at stores, and take care of kids. More than $1.4 billion is spent annually to provide health care to the District's medically vulnerable, and despite this huge sum these residents are sicker and die younger than their insured neighbors. There are 210,000 medically vulnerable residents of the District. 130,000 are enrolled in Medicaid, and 80,000 are uninsured.

League members can also tune into the “Health Justice Cafe,” a weekly television created to help District residents stay on top of health care issues affecting them. The show brings together a group of regulars discussing issues around access to health care and dispels myths that the average insured citizen holds about the uninsured. The show airs at 11:30 am on Mondays and Fridays, and at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. The show is broadcast on DC's public access station DCTV, Comcast Channel 5 and Starpower's Channel 10. The DCPCA can be found online at www.dcpca.org. To join the Health Justice League, call 638-0252 or E-mail hjl@dcpca.org.

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