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December 23, 2001

Season of Greetings

Dear Greeters:

I'm happy to report that themail's correspondents have not been infected with any gooey, goopy, sticky sweet seasonal sentimentality. We aren't dispensing any of that indiscriminate good will and forgiveness. We're more like a tough minded Santa Claus — taking names, checking them twice, finding out who's been naughty and nice, and getting ready to issue indictments. Auld lang syne isn't going to be forgot by us, and neither are any auld quarrels, wrongs, or slights.

Are you ready to rumble?

By the way, in case you've always wondered, “auld lang syne” means simply “old long ago,” or “old times.”

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
 

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Why I Won’t Be Voting For Tony Williams Next Year
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com 

As I look at the performance, and mostly nonperformance, of Mayor Tony Williams over the past three years, I have concluded that I will not vote for him next year. The Mayor has done some good things, like closing DC General and providing needed health care via outside contracting. Setting up a hybrid School Board and eliminating that elected School Board packed with self-serving nonentities, looked like another good thing, but that gang has been the overseers of a $100 M deficit and now claim that the deficit does not exist. They are trying to make up for this nonexistent deficit by cutting the school year short and decimating some programs that help the kids in the public schools. The Mayor has also done some very dumb things like using funds collected under the name of a charitable cause for his own political purposes instead of using them for the intended charitable purposes. If, as the Mayor claims, he knew nothing about this, then he should accept responsibility since it occurred on his watch.

The primary reasons I will not vote again for Anthony Williams are: he has done absolutely nothing to help improve the educational system in the District; he has made no progress in improving the policing in DC; he has made no effort to reform the inefficient and ineffective bureaucracies under his command; he has not even tried a single pilot program to reform any of the dysfunctional units in the District government. No, I will not be voting for any those usual suspects, the empty suits from the “family circle,” who come out of the woodwork every four years. I would, however, vote for a challenger who had the background and courage to try to make things in the DC Government work better. That notwithstanding, I'll pass on the next mayoral election.

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Taxi Fares: Zone or Meter?
Joan Eisenstodt, jeisen@aol.com 

In the last few days, I have taken taxis to similar locations from the Hill and gone more ways than even I knew existed! The zone fares may, as was pointed out in the Post, may be more expensive for some rides than what was reported for potential meter fares. My concern is that rarely do any taxi drivers go the same route, sometimes because, on the Hill or elsewhere, streets are blocked.

With zone fares, I know what I'm gonna have to pay. With meters, it's gonna take a lot of second guessing to get a driver to go the way that may be the best fare, and then hope one will be driven that way. What can we do?

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Trash from Metrobuses
Gloria White, GMarieW@aol.com 

Recently my street, which is a bus route, has been the site of an unusual trash problem . . . torn Metro transfer slips. Several times in recent weeks our street has been liberally sprinkled with these. It looks almost as if the driver takes the used transfer slips, tears them in half and just tosses them out the bus window as they drive down the street. Is anyone else experiencing this? Comments, suggestions?

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Starpower Bait and Switch?
Phil Greene, pgreene@doc.gov 

Has anyone had a situation similar to mine occur over the past few weeks? On December 3d, I got a call from a Denver-based telemarketer representing Starpower Digital Cable. He was offering what seemed to be a great deal, digital cable service, all the basic channels plus nearly a dozen premium channels (such as HBO), digital music channels, first month free, all for $34.95 a month, first converter box free, $3.99 a month for extra boxes. It sounded like a good deal, so I agreed to set up an appointment, however I asked him to fax me the details of the plan so I could make sure what I was getting into, and he promised to do so. He handed the call to another Denver-based scheduler, who made an installation appointment for Thursday, December 6.

Of course, the 6th came and went, no Starpower, my wife having stayed home all day for nothing. I called the next day (it took me many calls to figure out whom to talk to), got a run-around for several days, and have since learned that the local folks have no idea who authorized the Denver people to offer this deal, what the deal is, etc. Apparently, the headquarters of the parent company up in New York/New Jersey, RCN, may have hired this Denver outfit, but there is some kind of disconnect between Denver and DC. So what is Starpower DC now offering me? A similar package for $45 a month for the first six months, at which point the cost jumps another $10 or $15. In short, it's nothing like the plan that was promised to me over the phone from Denver. I'm still in the process of talking with them, they're still trying to get to the bottom of this Denver promotion, however I wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else.

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What Does It Take to Shut Down a Licensed Establishment in DC?
Nick Keenan, Shaw, nbk@gsionline.com  

I was a little surprised to read last week that the Foxy Playground had been shut down -- I thought I read that the place had been shut down years ago. But the Foxy Playground is an example of how liquor is regulated in DC — there is almost nothing that will cause a licensed establishment to be closed, and they never seem to stay shut long. The article in the Post mentioned in passing that the Foxy Playground had its building declared structurally unsound in February, was found to be violating the terms of its liquor license in June, and was shut for health code violations in July. By the evening of the day it was shut in July, it was operating again, and a patron was shot, leading to another temporary closure. In November, it was closed again, for violating the terms of its certificate of occupancy. It should come as no surprise that he owner was quoted as saying he plans to reopen.

The Foxy Playground has attracted trouble for years. I did a search for “Foxy Playground” on the Post web site, and here is a sample of the headlines returned: “Council Member, Club Owners Embroiled in Dispute” (8/23/01), “Two Killed, Four Hurt in District Attacks” (7/14/01), “Chief Soulsby's Plan Targets Seven Neighborhoods” (3/7/97), “$10 Incentive Helps Club Draw Support at Hearing; Liquor License at Issue for NW Strip Lounge” (3/6/97), “SE Man, 19, Killed in Greenway Shooting” (9/4/91), “Man Killed in NW Club, Guard Said to Be Involved” (9/1/91), “22 DC Businesses Hit in Alcohol Crackdown, Stores Allegedly Sold Liquor to Minors” (3/31/91), “Body of Hyattsville Woman Identified” (12/2/87), “An Infant's Disturbing Death, Questions Raised on Handling Child Abuse” (7/26/87), “Officer's Handgun Was Not Registered, Questions Arise About Nightclub Shooting” (10/15/86), “DC Officer Kills Man Outside NW Nightclub, Off-Duty Policemen Left Bar with Victim” (10/7/86).

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A Couple Images of Christmas Past in Washington City
Mark Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com 

Apparently, in the early 1800s, “idle” Washington City residents enjoyed playing with gun-power this time of year. In 1828, Mayor Joseph Gales, Jr. issued the following Proclamation: “A PROCLAMATION. Mayor's Office, Washington, Dec. 23, 1828. WHEREAS it has been too much the habit of idle and inconsiderate persons, on Christmas and New Year's Day and Eve to indulge in firing off guns, pistols, squibs, and crackers, and burning of gun-powder in divers other ways, to the great annoyance of the peaceable inhabitants of this city, and to the manifest danger of their persons and property — all which practices, where they are not contrary to the express ordinances of the corporation, amount to ‘disorderly conduct,’ and as such are punishable by law: Now, therefore, with a view to prevent such disorderly practices, I, Joseph Gales, jr. Mayor of Washington, do enjoin upon all Police Constables, Ward Commissioners, and others, whose duty it is to preserve peace and good order, to be diligent in the execution of their several duties, and to apprehend and bring to justice all persons so offending against the laws. Given under my hand, at the City of Washington, this 23d day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. Dec 24 — JO. GALES, jr. Mayor.” (From An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera, Library of Congress)

For three great photographs of Christmas at the main Washington post office, taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1938, go to the American Memory collection at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html and type into the “search” box the words “Washington, DC Handling Christmas packages at the main post office.”

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Support for Cut in School Year
Larry Gray, liberal47@juno.com 

As a lead opponent of the School Board Governance changes last year, let me suggest your attack on the Board of Education for the “unanticipated” annual shortfall in the DC school budget is excessive if not dead wrong. During last years school debates I said the financial management structure of this city is designed to fail to deliver for our children. They are victims of this system but so is the hybrid school board. I fully support the unanimous vote of the Board which declares for all to see, that 183 days of high quality education for every child may not be possible within allowed finances. We may be forced to shorten the school year rather than gut school reform efforts and fire up to 600 newly hired teachers. This option still only saves $9.8 million but it affects everyone equally. Alternative selective cuts of either 6 percent or 3 percent in combination with firings of teachers would have disproportionately affected our largest schools in our poorest neighborhoods where most of our children reside. That approach violates fairness and District law. The school system does not control its own financing through local tax authority, as do 75 percent of all school districts. It cannot obtain reliable spending information from the school system CFO. He works for the city's CFO who works for the Mayor. This is a chronic problem which has yet to be corrected.

Half the Board of Education is selected by the Mayor and half elected. We were told this combination would lead to budget transparency and accountability. We must support this group of well intentioned citizens to arrive at the truth. Pending the results of an independent audit requested by the Board, the only alternative available was to enact standby budget cuts which would cause the least harm to the District's children. This they did. Direction for these cuts was provided by the Council in budget hearings last year when a Patterson/Ambrose amendment eliminated twice-a-year testing and funds for Summer School. The Council also directed reductions of $17 million dollars in transportation costs and cuts in Special Education funds. Central Administration funding has been reduced from almost 11 percent of the annual school budget to around 3 percent. Still the Mayor undercut the Superintendent's budget by $31 million.

An increase in the school budget request for SY 2002-2003 can be expected to exceed $100 million to reflect the actual spending of DC's schools plus Superintendent transformation initiatives. There must be a commitment to education in the District that lasts more than 365 days at any one time. Only the Board of Education, the Education and Libraries Chairman Kevin Chavous and the Mayor working together can bring that about. Medicare payments have been disallowed ($38 million). A long overdue teacher pay raise is taking effect ($9.5 million). An arbitration award to support staff has finally been ordered ($9 million). Coupled with increased costs for Charter Schools exceeding those allowed neighborhood schools and burgeoning special education needs; the school system under Dr. Vance deserves relief. The blame game must end! We must support “every child” with “one voice.” Full funding of education must be the District's top priority to truly become a world class Capital City.

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Klingle Road Fallout
Ralph Blessing, rblessin88@hotmail.com 

Gabe Fineman pointed out that the new section of Porter Road was built in accordance with FHA standards for roads with 50 mph speed limits. I suspect that the city, in true Orwellian fashion, will address this problem by raising the speed limit from 25 to 50!

As for the mayoral decision not to rebuild Klingle Road, maybe themail should sponsor a contest so we can guess which celebrity donor the refurbished Klingle Valley will be named in honor of. Will it be Tim Russert? Mary McGrory? Whoever it is, I hope they don't mind if we riff-raff park in their driveways so that we can visit their own personal nature preserve.

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Klingle Road Redux
Ann Loikow, Cleveland Park, 

Gabe Finerman stated that “(B)ecause Klingle Road is closed” his street (Porter) “is being structurally rebuilt to promote speeding in order to increase traffic flow,” “neighboring streets are filled with frustrated drivers trying to bypass this needless traffic bottleneck,” “the District is even more divided between east and west that it need be,” and “a few people have a calm place to walk their dogs while I and hundreds of my neighbors have the roar of traffic racing over innumerable concrete groves.”

As the Mayor and DPW recognized in making their decision to keep the closed portion of Klingle Road closed to automobile traffic, development and traffic in the Cleveland Park area have dramatically increased over the ten years that Klingle Road has been closed to traffic for reasons that have nothing to do with Klingle Road’s closing (it was flooded out 11 years ago as it is a very narrow right of way just a few feet from the creek running through Klingle Valley). In addition to the current development on the Cathedral Close (which includes the 100,000 sq. ft. athletic center for NCS currently under construction and, according to the 1999 Cathedral Master Plan, will include a conference center, additional offices for the Diocese and tourist facilities, parking garages and improvements to the three Cathedral schools), GFS Realty, Inc. (Ahold/Giant Food) is redeveloping the Friendship Shopping Center at Wisconsin and Newark Streets, NW, the Sikh's are building a temple on Mass. Avenue and Alban Towers, a major apartment complex at Wisconsin and Massachusetts Avenues, is reopening after being closed for years, with additional townhouses being built in back. There also has been significant development along portions of Connecticut Avenue, particularly around Van Ness, along Wisconsin Ave. in Glover Park, in Tenley and Friendship Heights, and the International Center at Van Ness and Reno Road (34th Street extended) is almost at capacity with several new embassies to open soon.

All this development adversely impacts the road system in the area. The issue is much more than a few people losing a shortcut and being diverted onto Porter Street. As a 22-year resident of the area, I can say from personal experience that there are more cars in the neighborhood than there were when Klingle was closed. This is most likely due to there being more cars per household and per dwelling (due in part to an increase in the number of single family houses adding legal or illegal apartments or becoming group homes). Problems with finding on-street parking, even on streets with residential parking restrictions, are a indication of this. Most of the traffic on Porter and other neighborhood streets is not traffic diverted from Klingle Road. Traffic generators and traffic patterns have changed over the past decade as described above and traffic volume will be intensifying due to the other development in upper northwest and Chevy Chase under construction or being planned.

DPW has been working with the community on ways to calm the traffic and divert through traffic back to major arterials such as Connecticut Avenue. One recent example is the restriping of the lower portion of the 34th Street/Reno Road corridor. This has had the effect of slowing traffic and making the corridor less of a “shortcut” than it has been in the past. DPW is working with the ANC and residents of Porter on how to include traffic calming devices on the rebuilt Porter Street. I should add that Porter Street was not rebuilt to promote speeding but rather because, like many DC streets, it was falling apart.

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Peoples Involvement Corp. Cuts Ribbon on Rittenhouse Condos
Malcolm L Wiseman. Jr., wiseman@us.net 

Peoples Involvement Corporation, a Community Development Corporation (CDC) focused on the Georgia Avenue corridor in DC, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday to welcome new homeowners to the Rittenhouse Condominiums (www.piccdc.org). The occasion was well-attended by community leaders, councilmember Adrian Fenty, Mayor Williams, and regular Joe-citizens. The brand new units are spacious and bright and feature walk-to Safeway shopping, post office, and other services. Chief among the amenities is an overlook onto the historic Fort Stevens Civil War battlefield, where occurred the only instance of a U.S. president (Lincoln) being fired upon in battle.

The condo has sold briskly and only a few of the 17 units remain. The prices are affordable, so you better hurry. As I stated in a previous post to themail, some CDC's, however troubled with finances and paperwork they may be, do get the job done and deserve your support.

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Public Art
Malcolm L. Wiseman, Jr., wiseman@us.net 

[In reply to Anne Heutte's post, themail, December 19]: Speaking of the art that decorates the H Street overpass just east of N. Capital Street: it is colorful, to me cubistic and gives one pause to ponder. It's been there for years. To Anne Heutte I say, “Everyone won't like everything.” I could be wrong, but I believe some local school or organization had something to do with its production.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Conservationists: Live in Nature While You Work to Save It
Mary Vogel, maryvogel@yahoo.com 

Conservationists wanted to share 3BR, 2.5BA home only ten minutes to downtown DC. Huge bedroom with walk-in closet and balcony. Finished basement, large screened porch, hardwood floors and beautiful woodwork throughout. Clothesline, storm windows, composter, water and shower filters, houseplants, native plants and low-e light bulbs are resource-conserving amenities. CAC, DW, FP, W/D as well. Available January 1. Current lease is through June 2002. Rent is $475 plus one-third utilities. Strongly prefer vegetarians. Must be willing to compost vegetable wastes and to conserve, reuse, and recycle resources and share housework and yard work, including English ivy removal.

Best of both worlds: heavily wooded backyard of big native shade trees, 1 block to large forested nature park with trails. Clean, safe neighborhood, with strong sense of community and environmental ethic, yet convenient to so much. Lovely .8 mile walk or bike ride from Metro (Orange Line, New Carrollton to Vienna); 20 minutes to Annapolis, 10 minutes to Beltsville, 30 minutes to Baltimore, 7 minute to Beltway; only 5 minutes to the National Arboretum or Aquatic Gardens. We're especially convenient to Capitol Hill. I'm active in Sierra Club, Maryland Native Plant Society and The Potomac Conservancy. I'm also an environmental planner for the county. I'd like you to be doing your part too. Call me 301-772-9276 or write maryvogel@yahoo.com

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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS

Volunteer Recruiting
Susan Russell-Smith, pcamw@juno.com 

Prevent Child Abuse of Metropolitan Washington (PCA/MW) is dedicated to empowering children and families to live in a safe and nurturing environment, free from violence, and to reducing the circumstances that lead to child maltreatment through public education, community partnerships, and supportive services. PhoneFriend is a free and confidential telephone support line for children in metropolitan Washington, between the ages of 5 and 15, who are home without adult supervision. It provides comfort and support to children who are lonely, afraid, or just want to talk. PhoneFriend operates weekdays from 3-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 1-5 p.m. The Crisis & Family Stress Hotline is Washington’s oldest 24-hour telephone counseling service, providing comprehensive crisis intervention, support, referrals and information to anyone experiencing a crisis or stress.

I am writing to request your assistance in recruiting volunteers. Since both of our phone lines are staffed exclusively by volunteers, it is critical that we find conscientious, concerned Washingtonians to aid us in providing support and counseling to the hundreds of needy callers we talk to each month. Volunteers are provided with extensive training in counseling, listening, and problem-solving skills, as well as with supervised practical experience. The next training sessions for both PhoneFriend and the Crisis and Family Stress Hotline will begin in the end of January.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 223-0020. Thank you for your support on behalf of the children and families we serve.

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Yet Another Suggestion, Please: Mover
Dru Sefton, drusefton@hotmail.com 

The good news: I've finally found a great apartment on Dupont! Huzzah! So I won't need to be pestering all you good people anymore about real estate, etc. The bad news: I need one more recommendation, please — anyone know of a reliable yet inexpensive mover? And happy holidays!

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