Another Excellent Issue
Dear Contributors:
Occasionally, the quality of contributions to themail, the breadth
and depth of your interests and knowledge, just astounds me, and I have
to say what a good job you do. So this Thanksgiving week, I'm giving my
thanks a few days early. I have some brief comments on some of your
contributions. For decades, community development corporations in this
town have run the gamut from a low of totally corrupt to a high of
totally inept, but CDC's have had nearly unqualified support from
elected officials, against the interests and vocal opposition of the
communities that they exploit. Richard Layman, below, reports a lonely
hopeful sign that, at least on the federal level, this uncritical
support may be wavering.
Victoria McKernan makes a Swiftian suggestion that may please even
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: eat the DPW. This raises an
interesting question: does cannibalism violate a vegetarian diet? For
those whose dietary preferences don't run to government workers, there
are plenty of suggestions for Italian, Mexican, and other restaurants
below. You may want to consider them if you're doing your Thanksgiving
week vacationing at home this year.
So write in and let us know which items in this issue of themail
interest you, or what other topics you want to raise.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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On Friday, I attended a grant application Q&A session at the
Dept. of Housing and Community Development for the Neighborhood
Development Assistance Program (NDAP), which distributes federal
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) monies within the District.
Traditionally, these monies have been disbursed primarily to Community
Development Corporations throughout the city. NDAP monies have been used
for years to provide a base level of organizational support for CDCs, at
$200,000/year (I believe).
According to a policy statement distributed at the meeting, after a
HUD audit and determination in early November, DHCD was directed to 1)
cease providing base funding monies to CDCs; and 2) to open up NDAP
funding availability beyond CDCs. Further, all funds disbursed are to be
project specific; no base funding will be provided to any organization
and personnel costs paid for have to be directly related to the funded
project. Recently, DHCD stopped providing base funding to a couple CDCs,
but this extends that action to all CDCs in the city. Because some of us
around the city have concerns about how a CDC affects our particular
neighborhood, often, in our humble opinions, negatively, this may be
considered a welcome development.
But now I wonder, what will CDCs do now? In the new funding scenario,
they have to be committed to carrying out projects in the defined
service areas, usually projects specifically outlined in the RFP process
(which DHCD calls an RFA process, the “A” standing for
“Application”), such as job training, tenant counseling, single
family housing rehabilitation, commercial storefront facade improvement,
etc. If CDCs have been taking on projects only to get base funding year
after year, if the CDC isn't really committed to doing much for the
neighborhood it purports to serve, will it even seek NDAP monies now,
now that these monies won't provide much in the way of organizational
support? Thoughts? Discussion?
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Where Are Our Cops?
Nick Keenan, Shaw, nbk@gsionline.com
With all the talk lately of the police being stretched so thin that
neighborhood policing is suffering, I was a little surprised to see an
MPD officer out with a “red hat” patrol on Saturday afternoon. So
surprised, in fact, that I asked the officer if he was on duty, and he
responded that he was, and that he had been instructed by his lieutenant
to be there. Why is this surprising? The patrol organization, COPE,
really has nothing to do with law enforcement, but is a political
instrument. Saturday afternoon is not a high-crime time, and this
particular “patrol” consisted of just two people, both of whom had
run for office in November 2000. More startling, one of them, the leader
of the “patrol,” was Leroy Thorpe.
Leroy's outrageous behavior has made him locally famous for years,
but he achieved international notice on September 11, when he gave an
interview saying that it was a "great day," that the terrorist
attacks were justified, and that America deserved to be attacked. The
story was picked up by news services and ran in papers around the
country and internationally, although the Post chose to bury it at the
bottom of an article inside the District Weekly on September 20. I spoke
with Leroy on Saturday, and I can report that he has not changed his
view on the matter. I was dumbfounded to see that at a time when law
enforcement is facing unprecedented demands all over the country, the
resources of the MPD are being used to advance the political agenda of
someone who feels that the murder of 70 officers and 5,000 civilians was
a “great day.”
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In my experience, I find that asking MPD about MPD issues is
fruitful. For example, speeding ticket issues, parking tickets issues,
and the like can be addressed by the Public Information Office. PIO's
number is 727-4383. In my many interactions about MPD policies and
practices, I have been satisfied with PIO and Sgt. Joe Gentile's
responses.
The larger issue about the knowledge base of all officers is another
issue and an important one. On that front, I think there is some work to
be done; I do that by contacting the commander (in District-related
matters), assistant chiefs (in ROC or special unit matters) or other
officials as necessary.
###############
In Saturday's Washington Post it is reported that DCPS will be
making across-the-board school level cuts to make up for the sixty plus
million dollar shortfall. A little math tells me that this will be a cut
of about 8 percent for every child attending DCPS. The main way left to
cut expenses is to cut teachers. Can anyone explain why the children who
are already getting much less instruction than they need taking this
cut? Children whose cases are being monitored by the courts because they
have special needs are awarded services on the basis of need, but the
children who are fortunate enough not to need special services have no
such guarantee that their educational needs will be met. All the
children should be guaranteed what they need. Isn't there an adult in
this city willing to say that we will improve our schools for all
children no matter what the cost? Let's be clear -- city leaders would
like to have acceptable schools, but it is just too damn expensive.
I would like people who don't go into the schools on a regular basis
to understand that at the school level there is almost no fat to trim. I
guess since children don't vote this move won't cost the
"education" mayor or council any votes. The city is in hard
times but denying children the basics needed to graduate from high
school is no way to make things better.
###############
Rarely does so exquisite a solution come along for such a vexation.
Several months ago my Columbia Heights neighborhood was plastered with
vegetarian exhortations — “Does your food have a face?” (mostly
affixed to the bottom of utility poles, where the neighborhood dogs
repeatedly rendered their own opinions on the subject). On November 14,
I saw a DPW “rapid response” van parked at the corner of 15th and
Columbia Road and one worker ambling slowly across the street with a
spray bottle in hand.
Beyond my surprise at any city services at all being directed to this
forlorn corner of the world, I didn't think much of it until the next
morning when I saw the proud results of my tax dollars at work. Four
posters were partly scraped from one pole, leaving torn sticky wet
shards of paper all over the sidewalk, and the whole mess was decorated
throughout with used razor blades.
I am used to city services ranging from hapless to worthless, but —
hello — ! What kind of idiot leaves razor blades lying all over a
public sidewalk? (By a bank of pay phones no less, in a neighborhood
full of small children.) So the animal-rights people don't want us to
eat animals, but we've got to eat something, don't we? And the DPW are
obviously expendable, aren't they? And judging from the minimal
expenditure of energy either for brain or muscle power in performance of
their duties, they are probably quite plump and tasty as well.
###############
Here we go again! It's the attack of the mystery no-parking signs.
Last week, it was three days of restricted parking on my block near
Logan Circle — at some point a few hours of street repair were done.
This week, a few more no-parking days — no sign of any work so far.
Not that there isn't a lot to do: the sidewalks are a mess, and it
appears that our street has never been cleaned, to judge by the litter
and broken glass that never goes away. But at least the city has time to
post emergency parking restrictions and ticket cars for parking during
street cleaning hours (blocking the imaginary street sweeper).
Oh, sure, you can use the city's call center or web site to complain,
but my experience is that nothing ever happens. If you do get in touch
with DPW, you get expressions of concern from people who promise to look
into it — and then vanish. I even tried E-mailing the man at the top
(Mayor Williams) — no response. But then, why should this be a
priority — my neighbors and I are just citizens and taxpayers, and
elections are a ways away.
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What Is It with WMATA?
Annie McCormick, amccormick@itic.org
On Monday, November 12 (Veterans' Day), I took the subway from
Virginia Square to McPherson Square, the Orange Line. Usually a 15-20
minute commute. I was in the station at 7:40. I assume that WMATA was
running trains on a holiday schedule, but this was not posted in the
station. The trains were running about 10-12 minutes apart, even though
the conductor (when I finally got on the fourth train) said they were
running 5 minutes apart. I could not get on the first three trains that
came into the station. The reason? As usual, the trains were jam-packed
with people. All the trains had only four cars. I finally managed to get
on the fourth train that came into the station, but by sheer willpower,
since that one was packed, too. Even though it was a holiday, there are
people in this city who don't work for a bank or a Government office and
have to work on holidays. I don't understand why WMATA says ridership is
down. I certainly do not see evidence to support that claim. Every
morning I take that commute and the trains are always packed — with
six-car trains. I finally made it into my office at 8:30.
###############
I've created a web site advocating red light cameras, Red Means Stop.
While this site was designed to get a red light camera at one
particularly dangerous intersection, Connecticut Avenue and Ordway
Street, the information at Red Means Stop is helpful to anyone who's
trying to coax the city to put in a red light camera at other Washington
intersections. Red Means Stop is at www.redmeansstop.com.
The site also has information on how red light cameras save lives.
###############
Infant Mortality and Other Health Care Issues
(Continued)
Rene Wallis, rwallis@dcpca.org
Health care issues that make it hard for the providers: 1) chaotic
reimbursement. Health care costs money. (Here are some of the ways we
reimburse providers who take care of low-income women: Medicaid -- $1.2
billion in DC's current budget. Seventy percent of this money is
federal. It is done on a match, so the more DC spends, the more the feds
contribute. Families with incomes up to two hundred percent of poverty
qualify, the extremely poor elderly and the disabled. $230 million goes
to families with children, the rest goes to the elderly and disabled.
More than 80% of the Medicaid money goes for nonprimary and preventative
care. Primary care reimbursement rates are really low; for example, $11
for a dental visit. The majority of Medicaid dollars go to institutions
-- nursing homes, hospitals and in-patient drug treatment. DC has a very
generous Medicaid policy, one of the most generous in the nation. 2) The
Health Care Safety Net (formerly Public Benefit Corporation dollars) --
$90 million for the uninsured up to 200% of poverty -- childless adults.
This money pays for the Alliance, which is a contract with Greater SE.
Chartered Health Plan is handling the reimbursements for this. The
Alliance is currently not paying historical DC safety net providers for
care, but conversations are underway to include them, which is critical
to improving neighborhood care. Most of this money also goes to
institutional and specialty care. So far, there has been no public
disclosure of expenditures on this money since the PBC was shut down.
This is one of the largest local programs in the nation for the
uninsured, and theoretically, DC should be able to reverse its awful
health statistics. 3) Ryan White HIV/AIDS funding — $24 million in
federal dollars that is distributed annually through the Department of
Health. No coordination with Medicaid or the Alliance. Given as block
grants. The person responsible for HIV/AIDS funding is also responsible
for Child and Maternal Health money, and his name is Ron Lewis. He is a
Senior Deputy at DOH. 4) Charitable giving — astonishingly, DC has one
of the most successful fund raising networks in the country to pay for
primary care for the poor. The nonprofit clinics raise millions annually
to pay for prenatal care, insulin, asthma care, and other primary care
conditions. Charitable giving, however is an inherently unstable way to
fund health care — the recent tragic events of 911 may have a direct
impact on the ability of these clinics to raise cash. It is also
difficult to raise both operating money and money to build and improve
facilities, and, of course, people want you to keep your costs down with
their charitable gift, and health care is extremely expensive.
In addition to the chaos of the “public health” system, DC's
health statistics are also bad because we are an urban core community
— we don't have the suburbs to average into our urban inner city core.
On the other hand, we have a small population of uninsured, and a small
geographic area, so we could, if we could get ourselves organized and
focused, reverse these horrible statistics. Investing in a strong,
coordinated primary care safety net is critical, but it is politically
boring when compared to the emotion of closing a public hospital.
By the way, while the Mayor and the Council all spoke fervently
during the PBC crisis about the importance of primary care, but not one
dollar has been invested since the shutdown in improving the primary
care safety net, even though two clinics are ready to build now. One of
those was to be the home of the horrible Anacostia Quonset Hut, the 35
year old “temporary” home of the one of the former PBC, former DOH
clinics. DOH told both Bread for the City and La Clinica del Pueblo a
few weeks ago that it was reconsidering its capital budget priorities,
even though it spent only 17% of its capital budget in 2001. Go figure.
[This concludes a posting begun in the last issue of themail at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2001/01-11-14.htm#wallis.
Rene Wallis also wants to correct a sentence in the first half of the
posting — the $8 million in federal Maternal and Child Health grant
funds goes to the DC Department of Health, not to the DC Primary Health
Care Association. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
While there has been a GWU plan for years, I can recall when the
University sold it to a for-profit provider. There were some glitches
then but it settled out. As a DC employee I currently have AETNA HMO,
and honestly cannot recommend it. We had NYLCare as our only choice when
I started here, and it was bought out by AETNA at the time of the buyout
— over a year ago, my doctor of twenty years told me to expect a
massive bailout of physicians, especially specialists. I have been
seeing that. Slowly all of my physicians have withdrawn from the plan,
even though AETNA's computer site still lists them. My primary care
physician will see no new AETNA patients. Additionally, she reports that
AETNA give them (physicians) and patients the most difficulty with
access to emergency room treatment. AETNA also does not answer phone
after 5 p.m. With GWU I could call the nurses line and get advice and a
decision whether to seek immediate or urgent care or wait for my own
doctor. I was also able to get permission when visiting my brother in
Hawaii and I got bronchitis. GWU advised me to go to an urgent care
site, and then they paid the bill. On the next visit (to Hawaii), my
husband got quite ill; it took me ten calls to get the
"correct" part of AETNA (I had to get to the eastern region
office, and depending on where you are when you dial the 800 number, you
get a different part of the country) and then
despite his symptoms they told me that had no provisions for coverage
of a member if they were out of the area. When we got home he was
treated for a serious case of bronchitis, a sinus infection, and some
intestinal thing.
With GWU we could have gotten a nurse on the phone and had treatment
authorized. AETNA kept telling us we had to get authorization from his
primary care doctor to see a specialist, none of whom are in Hawaii. The
most disturbing part of this all is the fact that if you are outside of
the coverage area and need help you may be in serious trouble. On any of
these plans, I would find out if my regular doctors participated by
calling the doctor's office, not relying on their brochure. With Kaiser,
people in this town who have been raised in Kaiser love it, I simply
didn't choose it, as I already had established relationships with my
doctors and you have to use their sites.
Finally with AETNA PPO, one of my employees' son's had an emergency
room visit and did not have a card (only the member gets a card in the
PPO). After many calls we thought it had been straightened out and
Howard University Hospital was paid, that is until Howard sued him.
AETNA never did cover the visit, as required in their policy and as they
had promised me.
###############
When I went to the various cost analysis meetings while an Air Force
Cost Analyst, training funds were used for tuition and all related fees
were considered training costs. I expect the IGs are doing the same
thing for their conference, which allows them to keep Dorothy and the
rest of us out.
###############
I'd like to add my two cents regarding Italian restaurants in D.C.
— while I am generally in agreement as to the dearth of good, low-cost
eateries, I encourage everyone to try Bistro Italiano on the Hill (D
Street, NE between 3rd and 4th, I believe, just behind Schneider's
Liquors) — a great, down-home kind of place.
###############
I've got to put my 2 cents' worth regarding this topic. I have been
complaining about the lack of decent cheap Italian food in this city
since I moved here from upstate NY. Personally, I think AV is terrible,
and the service is even worse. Especially since the owner called my
partner and I fags last year after we requested to be moved away from a
large incoming party. Plus, the place is gross, someone should set fire
to it, although it will probably happen on it own from the accumulation
of dust. I do have to say that they make a decent pizza though. Pizza,
is another topic entirely that we can visit another time.
Now for the positive: Vivo is simply the best restaurant — Italian
or otherwise — in Dupont Circle for the money. I can't say enough
about it. It is not traditional southern Italian fare, but they do have
some basic pasta dishes and excellent pizza. Everything I have eaten
there has been superb, and they recently dropped the prices. The menu
seems huge and really does honor most regional Italian cuisine from
Tuscan to coastal to southern. Try it out, especially during the week,
as the weekends tend to be crowded. Also, Luigi's is pretty good and
Coppi's on U is excellent (the one in Cleveland Park is a little bit of
a rip off).
###############
Any list of quality Italian restaurants in DC must include San Marco,
rated by an Italian-American friend and her even more Italian-American
parents as excellent. They also have the biggest selection of Grappa in
the USA . Check out the bottle signed by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton,
Madeine Albright, and others.
San Marco is at the corner of 18th and Kalorama. It was a perpetual
favorite of Phyllis Richman. Also, be sure to get on their mailing list:
once a month, they have a special prix fixe multi-course dinner matched
expertly with wines and liquors.
The bread selection is limited to crusty Italian bread and olive oil,
so you peanut butter and cinnamon raisin bagel folks will have to go
elsewhere.
###############
After all this talk the past few weeks about bagels and pasta, it's
about time that someone pointed out the total lack of Sonoran-style
Mexican food in the District. Thank you, Oscar Abeyta.
For those of us who have lived in Arizona, Southern California, or
the Southwest generally, one of the simple pleasures in life is the
neighborhood burrito stand, where you can swing in and grab incredibly
tasty, yet very inexpensive, Mexican food most hours of the day or
night. Cactus Cantina, Lauriol Plaza, Austin Grill, Red River Grill, La
Loma/La Lomita, Chipolte . . . nothing in the District measures up.
(When did melted Velveta w/ green chiles (i.e., “queso sauce”)
become Mexican food?) Having scoured the region for most of the past
seven years, the closest thing I have found is The Tortilla Factory in
Herndon. The food there actually has one encouraging family and friends
to fly in/out of Dulles just to have an excuse to stop for a quick bite
to eat. If anyone can suggest comparable food in closer proximity, I'm
sure that the many transplanted Southwesterners who read this list would
love to know.
###############
Restaurant Week Report
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
DC's first Restaurant Week ended today. Modeled on New York City's
annual restaurant week, it was a seven-day-long promotion sponsored by
the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation and the Restaurant
Association of Metropolitan Washington during which over one hundred DC
restaurants offered special prix fixe lunches and dinners —
$20.01 for lunch and $30.01 for dinner. During the week, Gary and I
visited seven restaurants, making our small contribution to the
District's economy and at the same time getting some bargain meals at
some of Washington's best and costliest restaurants.
The promotion seems to have been a success, especially for the
industry's first try. The restaurants were crowded, with few if any
empty tables, and most people seemed to be ordering the specials. And if
our experience is any indication, many customers who tried new
restaurants will return. Some restaurants did an especially good job of
using the promotion to offer a culinary introduction for new diners.
Galileo's specials didn't skimp on the quality or expensiveness of the
menu's ingredients, and both the preparation and the service were
perfect. The Prime Rib, one of downtown's classy steak houses, included
its signature prime rib as a special, and had a pianist even at lunch.
Ten Penh limited the choice of appetizers, but allowed diners to choose
any main dish and dessert on the menu, which allowed for some culinary
surprises, such as red Thai curry shrimp and macadamia nut and panko
crusted halibut. Taberna del Alabardero had a no-choice special, but the
food and decor really transported us to Spain, and reminded me of Los
Caracoles in Barcelona.
Do DC tourism and restaurant industry officials have a follow-up plan
to keep diners returning, and to attract even more new customers? My
suggestion to them, based on the success of the promotion, is to
encourage restaurants that have been relying on the expense account and
billable hours crowd to offer a regular prix fixe menu at lunch
and dinner, like most European restaurants do, for those diners who pay
their own bills.
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Vacationing in Town
Gwen Southerland, gwensouth@aol.com
I would do a weekend in town. I'd start on Friday by checking into a
nice hotel (rates should be low). Then I would have a nice dinner at one
of the downtown restaurants, take in a movie, stop for a nice dessert
and go back to the hotel, catch some zzzzz's.
I'd head out on Saturday, do breakfast at the hotel, do some museum
visiting, catch a show, have a late night dessert go to bed. Sunday,
check out and go back home — refreshed. I know this is generic as I
haven't figured out which hotel, restaurants, movie, shows or dessert.
But that's what I'd do. I think a weekend in DC would be a rather nice
way to enjoy oneself.
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OAS Historic Decision
Timothy Cooper, Worldright@aol.com
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is empowered
under the auspices of the Organization of American States, a regional
agency of the United Nations, to protect and defend the human rights of
individuals anywhere in the Western Hemisphere has examined a human
rights petition filed by 23 District of Columbia residents in 1993 and
determined that human rights violations are, in fact, taking place in
the national capital of the United States of America, due to the
continuing denial by the US government of equal political rights to the
nearly 600,000 residents who live there. During the Commission's 113th
Regular Period of Sessions, it examined the case of Statehood Solidarity
Committee v. United States of America and approved Confidential Report
No. 115/01, pursuant to the Commission's Rules of Procedure. In
correspondence communicated to the Statehood Solidarity Committee on
October 26, 2001, the Commission stated that its confidential report
“has been transmitted to the Government of the United States so that
it may inform the Commission, within a period of 60 days, as to the
measures taken to comply with the recommendations made to resolve the
situation addressed. [I]f within three months from the transmittal of
the preliminary report the matter has not been solved, the Commission
may subsequently issue a final report that contains its opinion and
final conclusions and recommendations.”
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is composed of leading
human rights experts in the Western hemisphere who are authorized under
the Charter of the Organization of American States to examine human
rights complaints filed by individuals or organizations against their
national governments. Under Articles 2 and 20 of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, which defines the human
rights referred to in the OAS Charter, and which the US government is
legally bound to guarantee, the right to equality before the law and to
political participation in national government through duly elected
representatives constitute fundamental human rights. In its 1993
petition as well as in subsequent submissions to the Commission during
the course of the eight and a half year litigation with the US State
Department, which represented the US government before the OAS
Commission, members of the Statehood Solidarity Committee claimed that
the US government was continually violating their fundamental human
rights by denying them equal representation in Congress as well as full
self-government, enjoyed by the residents of the 50 states.
The fact that the Inter-American Commission has finally issued its
report to the US government and that it has directed the US to inform
the Commission as to the measures taken to comply with its
recommendations indicates that human rights violations of DC residents
have, in fact, been found, based in whole or in part on the claims made
by the members of the Statehood Solidarity Committee in 1993. The
Commission's final decision will likely be made at the end of its next
sessions in March, 2002. While the precise language of the Commission's
report will not be made public until the conclusion of the Commission's
next sessions, one thing is now certain: the Inter-American Commission
has found that the denial of equal political rights to Washingtonians
constitute violations under international law and must be remedied. The
23 DC residents who filed the petition are calling on the US government
to pass such national legislation as is necessary to bring the political
status of DC residents under the US constitution into conformity with US
international legal obligations under the OAS Charter. The US
government's day of reckoning has finally come.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
Books to Donate
William H. Mazer, Wmmazer@aol.com
I would like to donate a number of technical and general interest
books to a worthwhile, preferably needy educational institution. wmmazer@aol.com.
###############
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