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September 12, 2001

The Terrorist Victory

Dear Washingtonians:

After yesterday's terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, most of our concerns about daily life and local government can seem petty by comparison. Our problems are not those of the stoic New York City paramedic at the World Trade Center site, interviewed on CBS, who said, “We're just here to help patients,” and then, choking back tears, said, “but we can't find any patients.” This brief issue of themail reflects that — most messages were sent before Tuesday, and few have been received since then. But yesterday's events will have a tremendous effect on all our lives, and if any of you want to write to your fellow Washingtonians about the impact on your and your neighbors' lives, please use themail to do so.

A few years ago, David Brinkley published Everybody Is Entitled to My Opinion, a collection of the short musings with which he closed the ABC News program, “This Week with David Brinkley.” One of those pieces was a recollection from his early days in Washington. Brinkley was driving down Pennsylvania Avenue in an open convertible when a sudden shower began, so he pulled into an oval driveway to get under a porch canopy. Once he was under the canopy, a butler came out from the house to help him put up his convertible's roof, and then waved to him as he drove away from the White House. Today, none of us is free to drive up the White House driveway; none of us is free to drive on Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House. Brinkley's story strikes us as a nostalgic look at a lost age of civility and freedom.

When we enter a government building, federal or local, we are treated as suspects, as potentially dangerous, and we have come to accept that as normal. Some of us even feel that the restrictions and the limitations and the searches and the x-rays and the questioning are reassuring and comforting. Tomorrow and in the days to come, there will be calls for us to surrender more liberties, in the forlorn hope that closing our society and limiting our movements can make us a safe and secure nation. This morning, President Bush spoke a few words that have given me the most hope that I have had in the past two days: “We will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.” We mourn the deaths of thousands of people in yesterday's terrorist attacks, but the killing of thousands of people and the destruction of buildings is a tragedy caused by terrorists, not a terrorist victory. Making our society less free and more like theirs — that would be the terrorist victory.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Public Schools Overspending
Richard Schmitt, seabsct@smart.net

I am a cynic, I admit it. The Washington Post reports that the Public Schools' payroll manager and assistant manager have been terminated due to the $80 million overspending (September 8, page A20). The immediate issue for the education of the District's children is whether the Board of Education has made sure that lower echelon school employees are capable of producing the payroll checks for the school teachers. Or, if the employees are not able to perform the task, have the responsible parties initiated the process to retain short term workers or consultants to get the payroll checks to the teachers while replacements are hired?

This concern springs to mind because the Public School administration seems to always have excuses instead of acting to accomplish tasks. The Washington Post editorial unfortunately does not immediately dismiss the false accusation that special education recipients and the courts are the cause of the cost overruns. The problem is the Public Schools' long term unwillingness to provide special education to students or to properly administer the programs. It is troubling that students have to resort to the courts to obtain the education to which they are entitled.

It is sad that the president of the School Board, as well as the Public School administration, blame those who need special education.

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Accountability Never
Anne Heutte, Brookland, heuttea@earthlink.net

Well, I have no notion of how to make the powers who run things be accountable to the amorphous mass of us, but I do celebrate the fact that all over this city we are neighborhoods. Once, a friend of mine asked me: where can I find a community? I said: You have to make one. We are doing it here in the most neglected political jurisdiction in the U.S of A.. So keep complaining.

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“If You Can Keep Your Head. . .
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

. . . while all about you are losing theirs. . . ,” wrote Kipling. Here are the subject lines and total texts of two E-mails sent yesterday to the employees at One Judiciary Square. At 10:17 a.m., Chief of Staff Kelvin Robinson wrote, under the subject “Emergency,” “ALL EMPLOYEES PLEASE EVACUATE BUILDING NOW!!!!!” At 10:20 a.m., City Administrator John Koskinen replied, under the title, “Re: Emergency,” “I agree that everyone not in a sensitive position should leave. However, we need to keep the government functioning and anyone providing a needed service for us to respond should stay available. Many thanks.”

Kipling ended the poem “If” with the phrase, “you’ll be a Man, my son!”

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Trees
Ralph Blessing, rblessin88@hotmail.com

Having observed the city's tree plantings over the years in my neighborhood and also along Connecticut Avenue near Van Ness where I formerly worked, I have concluded that most of the dead saplings are those planted in the spring. The few spring plantings that have survived either were planted in a rare year when we had plentiful summer rains or had the good fortune to have a guardian angel with a long garden hose.

Most arborists recommend planting trees in the fall since roots get better established in cool weather. But city contractors continue to do much of their planting in the spring, just in time for our annual summer drought. If they insist on doing that, then at least the city should add a watering clause to their contract. While it's nice that some residents adopt a tree and see that it gets sufficient water, the overall public good of having a stable citywide tree cover should not depend on the willingness or ability of individual residents to assume responsibility for a particular tree's well-being.

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Marked Tree
Paul J. Fekete, pfekete@samuelsinternational.com

A tree across the street has been marked by someone with a white painted dot. Does anyone know what this might mean and who one should contact about it? Since I've been nursing this admittedly sickly tree back to health, I'd be more than a bit disappointed if the mark indicates some plan for removal. Several years ago, I had successfully returned another tree in the public space back to health only to come home one day and find that it had been cut down because of an imagined disease. Thanks in advance to anyone with info about this.

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Deregulation
Nick Kauffman, Palisades, nicholas.kauffman@dc.gov

Gary, unfortunately you're on the mark with your analysis [of utilities' customer service]. “Deregulation” has led us to where we are at the present time. I was recently in Harper's Ferry and stopped to call my wife, at home in DC. I dialed 0 and then my home number, using my AT&T calling card, and spoke for just one single minute. I just got a bill from Verizon with LD services billed on behalf of First Call Communications, Inc., the private LD service provider in that area of West Virginia. A one minute call was billed at $10.59, +.36 Fed Tax, + 1.57 for “UNIV SVC FND”; a total of $12.52 for that minute! I called to complain and was told that this level of charge had the approval of the FCC! With this level of “rip-off” we need to think about going towards Ralph Nader's consumer cooperatives like his “Buyers Up” coop for home heating oil. I remain skeptical regarding meaningful government help, considering that the DC Council rescinded statutory consumer protection during the fiscal crisis. What else can I say?

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Speed Traps in themail
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc@aol.com

Ed T. Barron suggests speed traps on Delcarlia Parkway. I agree with him. The problem is, it is unlawful for the MPD to hide police cars. An officer in the traffic division told me that doing so was prohibited and that the patrol cars must be in full view. That would at least slow the traffic. To the extent that we have automatic cameras ticketing speeders, we should do it there.

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27th Street, NW
John Dorsey, jmdorsey@earthlink.net

In response to Greg Jones's query in the September 9 edition: the storms washed away part of the bridge [at 27th Street and Broadbranch Road, NW]. It's not really passable by auto now. I'm not sure whether repair duties fall to the District or the Park Service, but whoever is in charge is making no visible effort to fix it. I don't know what the holdup is. When I'm feeling charitable I figure that they're using the time to consider installing an entirely new bridge, rather than just patch up the old one, which was awfully narrow and showing its age to boot. (Though I sort of liked it that way.)

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An Incredible Response
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

From my 5th floor office in Brooklyn, I could see the top of the World Trade Center buildings early last Tuesday morning. That scene is no longer there. The tragic attack brought an immediate emergency response by all uniformed services and medical facilities. The response of the emergency services personnel in this huge city was phenomenal in both quality and amount. But, the most wonderful outpouring of volunteers doing what they could to help across the entire city, actually brought tears to my eyes. As people with breathing masks streamed across the Brooklyn Bridge to get to Brooklyn from Lower Manhattan they were met by volunteers offering sandwiches and cups of bottled water.

The subways stopped for several hours on Tuesday and when they reopened there were transit police holding doors open for free entry to all riders. The lines to give blood at Red Cross and other donation centers are long at all times of the day and into the late evening hours. That will continue for several days. It is very eerie in Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village. There are absolutely no cars on the streets as late as Wednesday at mid day. Things are slowly getting back to normal in the rest of the city. It is an incredible display of compassion, resilience and grit on the part of the residents of this big city as they respond to the crisis.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Baillamos
Lois Kirkpatrick, lois.kirkpatrick@co.fairfax.va.us

The Fairfax County Public Library invites you to an afternoon of Latin music, dance, and storytelling starting at 1:00 on September 16 on the Herndon Green near the Herndon Fortnightly Library. This event celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month with performances highlighting the traditions of countries such as El Salvador, Venezuela, Guatemala, and Bolivia. This program is free; for more information call 703-437-8855 or check the Library's Web site at www.co.fairfax.va.us/library.

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CityDance Ensemble
Alan Salgado, alan@y3h.org

If you have never been to a modern dance repertory, here's a chance to see one up close, just one week before their full concert opening at the Kennedy Center! CityDance Ensemble, Your 3 Hosts, and DC One Magazine invite you to an open dress rehearsal performance at The Saint , 1520 14th Street, NW, this coming Monday, September 17, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., performance to start at around 7 p.m. Live music provided by Bottomland. All Proceeds to benefit my Leukemia Society Campaign: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/marketing/manandwoman/salgado.html.

$10 donation at the door. There will be an hors d'oeuvres buffet provided by the BA Lounge Restaurant, and the first cocktail is complimentary. Visit http://www.citydance.net for more info on this fabulous dance company. Space is very limited as the performance requires ample space. You can RSVP and pay in advance on-line. To ensure your $10 donation goes directly to the Leukemia Society, visit http://prodpub.wavesys.com/cw/donations.asp?charity=leukemia and make sure to select SALGADO, ALAN on the drop down menu to the lower left on the form. Put my E-mail address, alan@y3h.org, in the bottom center box and I will make sure you are on the list at the door. Print a receipt and bring it to make sure. Please E-mail me for more info or to RSVP. CityDance will have their full concert performance at the Kennedy Center on September 25, at 7:30 p.m. $5 of each ticket purchased online at http://www.kennedy-center.org/tickets will benefit the Leukemia Society as well.

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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES

House History
Paul K. Williams, DChouseHistory@aol.com

Can you answer when people ask you about your house or building history? When it was built, who built it, who lived there, and what they did? Ever wondered when that rear addition was added or your fence repaired? Find out! A professional house history narrative, complete with copies of your building permit, deeds, wills, maps, and sometimes even historic photographs. A terrific and unusual gift for the upcoming holiday season!

Our prices range from $535 to $735 for the average DC townhouse. Call or contact us with your address for a free estimate, or visit http://www.WashingtonHistory.com. Many happy themail customers served! Kelsey & Associates, 462-3389.

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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS

Tutors for Teens, Thursdays 6:45-8:15 p.m.
Susan Ousley, Slousley@aol.com

Community Club, at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, started our 40th year last week. We usually work, one-with-one, with 150 students, and newcomers generally trickle in after school is well started. But last Thursday almost 40 new students appeared! We need more tutors! We are looking for tutors who can work with 7th-12th graders once a week on homework and be reliable, available friends/mentors. We ask that you commit at least a year, but most tutors stay with their students until graduation and remain lifelong friends.

Next orientation is 8/13 at 6:15 p.m. sharp, 5th floor, 1313 New York Avenue, NW. To read more, see http://www.nyapc.org. To ask questions, call Co-Director Dave Brown 484-8626.

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CLASSIFIEDS — OOPS

Oops!
Matthew Kessler, matthew@stand.org

I made an arrangement through themail with a young lady named Isabella for our organization to sell her some clipboards and panels. I unfortunately have lost her contact information. Isabella, please contact me at matthew@stand.org.

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