Building a Great City
Dear Builders:
There are many things to write about in this issue, but I'll skip all
of them in deference to waiting for your responses. Instead, I'll write
about a subject that was touched on in the last issue of themail, the
perennial topic of whether we complain too much about good old DC.
Here's my rule: boosters never built a great city; great cities are
built by their critics. Boosters have energy, enthusiasm, and the desire
to promote, but they are too limited in imagination and vision to make
their cities great. Boosters build mediocre cities; they are satisfied
with them and take pride in them. They see nothing that needs
improvement in Dallas, or Cleveland, or Indianapolis. I am reminded of
the attitude that I saw typified in a television news report in Seattle.
A Hollywood celebrity came to town and had taken a few steps off the
plane into the airport, when he was met by a reporter whose first
question was, “Tell me, what do you love most about Seattle?” That
attitude is why, as an acquaintance of mine once said about Seattle,
"They found one of the most beautiful locations in the world, and
made it into another Kansas City."
Great cities, the world around, abound with critics, not boosters.
New York and San Francisco, Paris and London, Rome and Hong Kong —
and, yes, Washington — have multitudes of faultfinders. It is these
critics, these perennially dissatisfied critics for whom good enough is
just not good enough, who impel a city to greatness, who force it to
face its faults and aspire to be better.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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I haven't seen any postings on the District's efforts to collect
unpaid parking tickets. I recently received several letters from a
collection agency, one for a FedEx truck (I was definitely not at the
wheel), stating I owe hundreds of dollars in penalties. I have lived out
of the District for years; they must have spent a lot of time tracking
me down. Have others had experiences with this collection agency? Any
advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.
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The DMV and Anthony Williams
Alverda Muhammad, alverdaa@msn.com
I read Scott Vicary's story in themail, 5/19, about the difficulty
she had obtaining current registration for her car, her subsequent $100
ticket and the lack of reasoning that would have automatically canceled
the ticket because of the circumstances. His story made me consider how
lucky I was regarding current tags for my car because the notice did not
arrive in the mail until two weeks after my tags had expired. It just so
happened that I had gone to Jiffy Lube for an oil change and was not in
their computer. I gave my registration to the gentleman who was helping
me and he made the notation, “Miss, do you know your registration is
about to expire!” I had about one week to rush out and purchase tags.
I went to the Northeast H Street office a day before they were to close
— and saw no notice that they were going to close — but I was lucky.
Mr. Vicary also questions a conspiracy. One certainly wonders because
his question is causing me to relate another story with the DMV. I
received a $100 photocop ticket for traveling 44 in a 25 mph zone. I
marked the back and requested a hearing, photocopied the form, and
mailed it back Certified Mail: Return Receipt Requested. My neighbor,
who went to the post office with me, said, “Oh, there is no need to
send it certified. You can just drop it in the mail.” Well, I was
lucky again! I received a series of notices of failure to respond which
had doubled my fine to $200, but no notice of a hearing. When I
telephoned to inquire, it was only after I told them that I had proof
that I had mailed in the form requesting a hearing that they admitted,
“Oh, oh, it was a mistake. We will send you a hearing notice, and
remove the penalty and the hold we have placed on your registration.”
I don't want to take up so much space, but I just wanted to ask
Dorothy Brizill, who reported on Mayor Williams' travels to Las Vegas
and Rome if I am misinformed in the notion that Mayor Williams is not a
property owner in the District of Columbia, has no children attending
public schools here, etc., and therefore, has no real ties to this city?
Is this his HOME?
[The City Council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment has
scheduled a public roundtable on the DMV's Destiny Computer System on
Tuesday, June 11, at 3:00 p.m., in room 412 of the John Wilson Building.
If you want to register to testify, or want to send your experience with
DMV to Carol Schwartz, the Committee's Chair, E-mail it to Adrienne
Carter, the committee's clerk, at acarter@dccouncil.washington.dc.us.
— Gary Imhoff]
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I am still raising the devil with parking enforcement. It is pure
hell in the area with all the illegal parking that is going on because
of the subway and the charter schools. What I don't understand is that
why hasn't an energetic attorney filed a class action suit against DPW
for not enforcing the parking restrictions on a daily basis and still
taking money from the residents for zone parking stickers. The parkers
park even through the days designated for street sweeping without
getting a ticket. Gwen Mitchell should be fired because she cannot
manage the resources of the parking aids that are on the rolls,
including the ones that are coming onboard with the new budget
allocation. On U Street cars are parked all day without a ticket, and
they are on the meter. Even with the Republic Gardens shut down, there
are times that it is very difficult to get a parking space, especially
when there is a show at the Lincoln Theater. The agency is nothing more
then an inadequate tool of the government because of the myopic
concentration on the downtown core and Georgetown in lieu of spreading
out over the city to provide comprehensive enforcement. So as long as
they can continue to milk the residents for the $10 for zone stickers
the government is happy that they do not have to enforce the parking
regulations in other parts of the city.
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The real estate agent who replied about buyer brokers prompted me to
ask: what is going on in Anacostia that houses are now selling for
100,000?
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A History of the Retrocession of the Southwest
Portion of DC to Virginia in 1846
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
You can find a history of the retrocession of the southwest portion
of DC to Virginia in 1846 at http://www.dcwatch.com/richards/020509.htm.
I presented it to the Alexandria Historical Society on May 9, 2002. As
you will see, the effort involved the following: a referendum of the
citizens of Alexandria City initiated by the Council and not including
the County, appeals by Alexandria City to Congress, Governors, and state
legislatures, approval of the Virginia legislature, approval of Congress
and the President, contingent on another referendum of the citizens of
both Alexandria City and County. Citizens of Alexandria County (now
called Arlington County) opposed retrocession, but their population was
low and they were outvoted by Alexandria City. Free blacks were not
included in the vote. The story is rather interesting.
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Finding Your PSA
Randy Wells, Shaw, wells@shawdc.com
When I used http://mpdc.dc.gov/info/districts/districts.shtm,
the PSA for my address appeared in the address or location line. For
example, “1628 5th Street NW” returns the following: "http://mpdc.dc.gov/info/districts/3rd/main.shtm?
The address, <b>1628 5th Street NW</b>, is in <a href=http://mpdc.dc.gov/info/districts/3rd/312.shtm
class=red>Police Service Area (PSA) 312</a> which is located in
the Third District.” Which is actually correct, but many users would
never know to look there. How many others have used this to no avail? I
today sent an E-mail explaining the problem to the dc.gov webmaster and
will report on any reply. It should be a rather simple programming fix.
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The following is an easy way to find out PSA's, current crime
statistics and other pertinent data about your PSA. Go to the web site http://www.mpdc.dc.gov.
Look at the index at the left had side of the first page. Under MPDC,
Information, click your mouse on Police Districts & Service Areas.
All seven police districts are shown. Click on your district. All PSA's
in your district are shown on a map. In addition to this, a list of
other pertinent data about your PSA is shown which you can click on.
Click on: The Community, PSAs, Commander's Letter, District Calendar,
District Commander, District Roster, Success Stories, Crime Statistics,
and Direction. You might want to add a church under Community or change
a point of contact under your civic association or the like. If you find
that you have difficulty in finding your PSA, etc., please E-mail me at
nmonk10501@aol.com.
If the PSA does not have a web site for a specific PSA crime
statistics, call the specific District Commander's office and ask for
the monthly Crime Statistics. These statistics show the types of and
locations of the crimes for each month. It includes the time of day of
arrests, burglaries, assaults, burglaries and car thefts, etc. District
1 has this report available for pickup at their Citizen Advisory Council
(CAC) meeting monthly. Please note that the US Attorney's office at each
District has a separate monthly crime report on drug arrests. This
report can also be easily obtained by calling the District Commander's
office for the specific telephone contact. I for one compliment our
Mayor Anthony Williams and Chief Charles Ramsey and other officials for
this easy to find and comprehensive data on PSA's, current crime
statistics, and other pertinent data.
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I Have No Problems Eating My Own Words Either
Harold Foster, Harold.Foster@ppd.mncppc.org
Mr. Padro's response to my post about development around the new
Convention Center is correct in some respects, intentionally misleading
in one, and either irrelevant or insulting in yet another. First, I am
happy to stand corrected about the fate of the tenants in the apartment
buildings immediately adjoining the new Convention Center. My own post
was erroneous on this point. Second, several investor (and two business
news) web sites cited "their successful bid on the new hotel
adjoining Washington DC's new convention center" as grounds for
upgrading Marriott stock. As of this reply to Mr. Padro, three of those
sites still post this reference. So, while I may have “mis-posted”
by stating or implying that Marriott had actually bought property near
the new CC, Marriott clearly has a significant presence at the new CC,
as Mr. Padro's own reply, which intentionally misunderstood my principal
point, states.
Third, as to what I “know” that others don't: the are very few
“others” in this town — African-American or anything else — who
don't know what I know. The demographic trends that I, and just about
everyone else who has lived in this City more than ten New York minutes,
know, represent the so-called Plan, not some X-Files-class cabal being
hatched in the basement of the EOB, the Washington Post building
or the DC Chamber of Commerce. As for how I know it, if Mr. Padro can't
or won't read the latest Census figures or Brookings Institution
demographic reports for the District — never mind the market analyses
being done for this City by something like one-third of the Fortune 500
service and retail industry — then my arguing with him about it here,
or anywhere, else wouldn't change his mind. However, neither would it
alter the essence of the point I was trying to make.
The issue whenever this comes up has to do with power, more
specifically, with empowerment, not numbers. And Mr. Padro had to know
that, to be able to misstate the so-called Plan the way he did. No one I
know attributes wiping out the African-American population of the City
to the so-called Plan, any more than apartheid in South Africa, or Jim
Crow in the US south, for that matter, was about wiping out (as opposed
to controlling) the majority African population there. Besides, as with
the matter of just what Marriott now owns and is doing at the new CC, we
also can both afford and are happy to be proven wrong about where those
sloping demographic trend lines leave us in this City. I doubt that the
same is true of Mr. Padro. In any case, as Malcolm X always said:
“Time will tell.” I plan on still being here to eat these words as
well, if it comes to that.
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Len Sullivan lampooned Gary Imhoff in themail's May 19 edition:
“Gary's assertion that his Hated DC Government cares more about sports
promoters than the citizens of River Terrace, Kingman Park, and Capitol
East makes about as much sense to me as claiming that DC cares more
about hiring good doctors than curing the ill.” In contrast with Mr.
Sullivan, I believe Gary Imhoff's assertion is beyond question. The DC
government does not genuinely seek meaningful input from citizen in
advance of decisions on such matters as a baseball stadium, the
Olympics, or the recently-reported, heinous race car event. Instead,
commissioners sit at meetings which are not announced to the pubic with
an open invitation, and they award mega contracts to lawyers and
architects and public relations firms for these big projects, and
wouldn't you know it, often these firms have contributed to incumbent
officeholders! No, I don't agree with Mr. Sullivan at all. The DC
government's priorities too often are meshed with the interests of those
who fill up the campaign treasure chests of incumbent elected officials
— or formidable candidates running for seats.
Gary Imhoff has written many a provocative comment (thank God!). His
assertion that the DC government “cares more about sports promoters
than the citizens,” however, isn't one of them! Frankly, his comment
was a no-brainer. I don't mean that in a pejorative way, which I realize
it might sound like that. I just mean that to not see the truth inherent
in Mr. Imhoff's comment is to deny the reality around us! Further, I am
taken aback by Mr. Sullivan's seeing a parallel between the “sports
promoters — citizens” relationship and the “good doctors —
ill” relationship. People who are ill go to a doctor to improve their
health. The citizens did NOT go to the sports promoters and ask for
something that would increase noise in their backyards.
If the comparison he was making was intended to suggest that those
who are poor are asking for economic relief, then it would behoove the
care-providing agencies bringing us these events to uh, you know, really
consult with those for whom they're providing the care. My understanding
of taking care of the “ill” is that the doctor is supposed to
consult with the patient. Indeed, by Mr. Sullivan's analogy, those of us
who feel that mega sports events are not in this city's best interests,
should sue the DC government for malpractice. “We're doing this for
your own good” just doesn't cut it for me.
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Agreement in themail
Timothy Cooper, worldright@aol.com
With regard to Gary Imhoff's question: “But wouldn't the case for
self-government and voting rights be strengthened if its advocates also
led the fight for good government?” I couldn't agree more.
My question is: does the DC Council, as it is currently structured,
constitute a legislative body that is both representative of the people
and capable of effectively and efficiently governing the affairs of a
quasi-state?
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The Disjunction
Anne Anderson, psysrusa@cs.com
Thanks for bringing up the disjunction of working for good government
and self-government. I am for both. I am very frustrated by the ongoing
cronyism, lack of oversight, waste, fraud, impunity, etc., of our
government, including the bad judgment and poor management being
practiced by our current mayor. I am, however, putting my limited time
and energy towards the issue of gaining full and equal citizenship
status in both theory and practice because my analysis of the situation
is that our elected officials are placed in impossible positions by our
current system. In Washington, DC, under this current home rule system,
elected officials are handed all sorts of responsibility for fixing
problems, but not provided with the appropriate authority to carry out
the responsibility. Please note that I am not talking about the kind of
autocratic farce like control boards — this is not appropriate
authority if you want to motivate people to cooperatively come together
to solve problems.
Our elected officials are also hampered by having to respond to
constituencies that are often systemically in conflict — they have to
try to get reelected, which means that they have to respond to their
voters, but in order to be effective in their jobs, they have to pay
attention to the Congress, which does not have the same agenda, and has
no stake in working with our officials since they can overrule at any
time. So I will continue to work for Statehood in order to resolve this
systemic problem. In the meantime, I would hope that our elected
officials will have the moral gumption to maintain high standards for
their own behavior, and that we as voters, will help them do that by
demanding high-quality management, transparency, and responsiveness to
our needs, or vote them out of office.
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Two Tracks for the DC Train —
Self-government and Good Government
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
Rude drivers. Miami TV reports that a national survey found DC scores
third nationally for the rudest drivers. Boston scored second and Miami
first. Schools. Jeb Bush is running TV ads touting his record on public
schools. The Miami news is now reporting that a popular Coconut Creek
Elementary School physical ed teacher in Broward County, who had been on
the TV show Temptation Island II, was moved from his job to another one
earlier this year when it was discovered he was also a gay Internet porn
star. He will probably lose his job, but his attorney argues that he
violated no laws. Compare that to DC, where high school teacher Tom
Briggs lost his job because he ran for public office and violated the
Hatch Act; now he is an unpaid volunteer at his school. DC and Miami,
two very different places. Self-government is no guarantee for good
government. Self-government is a birthright for most Americans, but not
for DC residents. Good government is up to DC citizens, and we all need
to be involved to make it happen.
Too bad DC has to spend so much energy fighting for the same rights
other people take for granted. Gary Imhoff expressed concern that two
main threads in themail — self-government and good government — do
not seem to overlap. He asked if the argument for self-government
wouldn't be strengthened if its advocates also led the fight for good
government. The case for DC self-government would likely be strengthened
if DC had an excellent record of honest, efficient, and effective
government. Bad performance (and even the perception of bad performance)
hurts DC's efforts to secure self-government. I don't think perfection
is possible — everywhere I go, there are problems. But DC residents
would no doubt be happier if our government functioned properly and if
we could feel safer on our streets. The few people who are civically
involved focus on a few issues they care about; most have to work to pay
our way and have limited time. Most single-issue organizations
advocating on behalf of self-government and equal rights don't (often)
publicly enter the local debates about good government because they have
limited human and economic resources and must stay focused on their
missions. However, many of the organizations members participate with
good government groups on their own (and share information in meetings).
I believe the Statehood Party advocates for both. DCWatch/themail plays
an important role in spotlighting poor performance in government and is
a forum that unites both self-government and good government groups. I
am not concerned that different people highlight different issues. We
all play different roles and can support one another. But, for every
complaint about DC's government, I expect there is an example of how it,
or individuals working within it, perform well. Good performance is
rarely “news,” and that’s a shame. In the end our “DC train”
needs both tracks.
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Good Government in themail
Michael Bindner, mbindner at aol dot com
Our esteemed moderator calls voting rights advocates to task for not
insisting that good government is necessary for statehood and full-self
determination. I cannot help but agree. As a democracy advocate, I have
also consistently called for changes in the structure of DC government,
as have every member of the DC Statehood Green Party who posts on this
list, as well as several of its associates in the StandUp! for Democracy
in DC coalition. Most of us also believe that the best way to achieve
good government is statehood. Under the 1982 Constitution for New
Columbia, government will be improved. There will be a 40-member
legislature (which is harder to buy with campaign contributions because
smaller districts are cheaper to run in). The District budget will be
better managed because it can be enacted way in advance of the fiscal
year. A nonresident income tax will improve the financial stability of
the District Government, as the Virginia and Maryland governments will
no longer be able to ride free on funds that in any other jurisdiction
would already be in the District's coffers. The legislature will no
longer have to waste time passing the same bill three times to deal with
the congressional approval process. Finally, all constitutional changes
would be presented to the voters rather than Congress, which will lead
to a much more responsive state government (currently the Council passes
resolutions which a friendly congressman uses to draft an amendment to
the Home Fool Act, bypassing a vote by District residents).
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Self Government and Good Government
Lyla Winer, mrscalabash@att.net
Answer to your “duh” question — it's yes!
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Prisoner’s Legal Services Responds
Marie Sennett, msennett@rcn.com
I wanted to provide the background needed on DC Prisoners' Legal
Services Project (the Project). I also wanted to inform you as to why we
contracted with the Justice Policy Institute to conduct research on what
happens to crime rates and property values when a community based
program that works with ex-offenders operates in a neighborhood. The
Project, a private nonprofit organization, also found that the city
government and these programs often are non-responsive to the questions
and concerns of the community. Programs and government staff also failed
to educate the community on the operations of the programs. Nor do they
teach the community why our returning men and women need these programs
to become productive members of society. One of the questions that
continued to be raised is whether or not these programs affect the
quality of life in the community. Anecdotes had been relied upon to
claim crime goes up and property values go down. This research proved
what we suspected was true. Neighbors can expect that their property
values will continue to rise and that more crime will not be foisted
upon them because a community based program for ex-offenders has moved
into the neighborhood.
The Project does not seek to promote halfway houses in residential
neighborhoods. In fact, as a legal services organization, we would sue
halfway houses when they violate the rights of the men and women in the
program. We do know that there is a shortage of halfway house space to
help our men and women have the support they need to relearn how to live
in the community and to become productive members of the community.
There is also a shortage of drug treatment and mental health slots. The
Project received a grant from the Open Society Institute's After Prison
Initiative and the Meyer Foundation to work educate the community and to
provide a voice to the neighborhood where new community based reentry
programs are opening. The community is provided a voice by developing a
partnership between the community and the new program. The goal of these
partnerships is to benefit the community and the participants of these
programs. In Ward 5, where a new halfway house is sited, we facilitated
an agreement between the halfway house company and the ANC chairs to
develop a Memorandum of Understanding. This memorandum will give
preferences in hiring and business contracts for the neighborhood and
Ward, as well as look at volunteers from the community coming into the
facility and residents of the facility participating in community
functions. We will also be conducting study circles with the community
members to provide them a larger voice. Anyone wishing to become
involved, contact our Community Organizer, James Crawford, at 775-0323.
James is also available to discuss this and other reentry issues at
community and other public meetings. The reports will be online soon.
Anyone wishing a copy please E-mail dcprisonerhelp@rcn.com.
The Project's web site is http://www.dcprisonerhelp.org.
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Prisoner’s Legal Services Responds II
Jason Ziedenberg, Justice Policy Institute, jcdc@cjcj.org
I appreciate where Gary Imhoff was coming from in his introductory
comments to the last issue of themail, when he addressed the research we
did on crime rates and property values around the city's halfway houses
and community based treatment facilities. There are many real problems
with Washington, DC's, criminal justice system, and some government
agencies, and I'll be the first to admit that some service providers do
not address these problems, even when community leaders clearly
articulate these problems. There are a lot of reasons why that is, and
it is a real problem.
However, I don't believe there is anything in our research briefs
“that denies that these facilities cause any problems.” The research
we did was geared to help to flesh out what the real problems are. With
respect to the research brief that we put together that Gary Imhoff
refers to, it only addresses two problems: that people think that
halfway houses and treatment facilities incubate crime, when they don't,
and that property values are depressed solely because of their proximity
to a facility, when that isn't the case. Our research does not address
many of the other issues any of us could identify with these places, the
philosophy behind them, and the way they are run. I think the biggest
problem with the way the city manages its community corrections
facilities is that we are too stuck on the “halfway house” model.
Why put 150 people in a halfway house at all, when you could spread
returning ex-offenders throughout the city, in smaller apartments and
houses, close to jobs and treatment options? That, in my mind, is the
big halfway house problem — and it is one we will never get to address
because we keep focusing on only on halfway house escapes, the perceived
threat of crime, and other problems that are more rooted in fear, than
truth.
There are other problems, too, and we never get to talk about them.
How about the problem that the city is short 300 spaces for returning
ex-offenders, who have completed their prison sentences, and in need of
treatment? How about the problem that, without more treatment and
halfway house beds, it is more likely that returning ex-offenders will
re-offend? How about the problem that DC has one of the highest
incarceration rates in the country, but community opposition does not
allow us to build the kind of treatment centers that could successful
rehabilitate people? How about the problem that these centers are only
depicted as bad thing in a community, when they have real economic,
social and community value? Let's not deny anything: let's focus on
addressing all the communities concerns, and all the problems, including
the massive problem of how to end the District's sad reputation of being
the nation incarceration capital. Please E-mail me if you have questions
about this, or the research briefs published by DC Prisoner's Legal
Service Project.
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Celebrate The Common Denominator’s Fifth
Year
Kathy Sinzinger, NewsDC@aol.com
Join us this Friday evening as The Common Denominator
celebrates the beginning of its fifth year of publication as
Washington's independent hometown newspaper. This month's
“Conversations With Newsmakers,” our free monthly after-work
networking opportunity, focuses on The Common Denominator itself.
Join editor and publisher Kathy Sinzinger, reporter John DeVault, and
columnist Diana Winthrop from 6:30-8:30 p.m. this Friday, May 24, at
Kelly's Ellis Island Restaurant and Pub, 3908 12th Street, NE, in
Brookland, to share your thoughts about how The Common Denominator
can better serve DC residents' needs citywide for local news and
information. No reservations are necessary. Ellis Island is within
walking distance of the Brookland/CUA station on Metro's Red Line (exit
on the side with buses). Free parking also is available on and off the
street. For more information, call 635-6397.
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DC We Read 2002 Event
Patricia Pasqual, changedc@yahoo.com
The Community Foundation for the National Capital and The Humanities
Council of Washington, DC, in conjunction with the District of Columbia
Public Library’s DC WE READ 2002 first city book reading of HAVING OUR
SAY present Your Job Is to Help Somebody, a panel discussion on
community service and philanthropy, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 23, at the
Martin Luther King, Jr., Library. The panel features Terri Lee Freeman,
president of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region,
and Rodney M. Jackson, president and CEO of the National Center for
Black Philanthropy, Inc. The panel will be facilitated by Joy F. Austin,
executive director of the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. For more
information, contact Michon Boston, Director of Programs, The Humanities
Council of Washington, DC, at 387-8391, ext. 13; or E-mail mboston1@wdchumanities.org.
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Organizers with Health Care Now!, a DC health care consumer advocacy
group, will host a press conference and rally on Tuesday, May 28, at
5:30 p.m., at One Judiciary Square, 441 4th Street, NW, immediately
preceding the first public hearing conducted by DC Insurance
Commissioner Larry Mirel, on the proposed privatization and sale of
CareFirst, DC's nonprofit Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance plan,
to the California-based Wellpoint Health Networks, Inc.
"Health Care Now! opposes the proposed conversion of CareFirst
because it threatens increased premiums, loss of coverage for thousands,
closure of open enrollment, and increased ranks of the uninsured,"
states Sam Jordan, Project Director for Health Care Now! “There is no
public benefit, only windfall profits for management and
shareholders.” Following the press conference and rally, Health Care
Now! and a coalition of supporters will testify at the DC Insurance
Commissioner's public hearing.
Organizations on the record opposing CareFirst conversion and sale:
AFL-CIO (DC), DC Medical Society, Fair Care Foundation, Gray Panthers,
DC Hospital Association, Health Care Now!, Non Profit Clinic Consortium.
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
LLM Student at Georgetown. Seeking English basement or one bedroom
near Union Station and Georgetown Law School. Particularly interested in
Capitol Hill and southwest waterfront areas, close to Metro. Up to
$1000/month. Contact: LaTanya at ltshonuff@yahoo.com.
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CLASSIFIEDS — PETS
Stocked Aquarium
Christopher Anderson, chrisnhamp@mac.com
20 gallon fish tank (including fish) free to a good home. Anyone
interested in a 20-gallon glass fish tank including filter, rocks,
light, fish and several other fashionable accessories is welcome to it,
free. Our condo is too small and I need the space. The tank is currently
home to about six fish who seem friendly enough. I don't want them to
end up in the DC sewer, so please only take the tank if you promise to
give the fish a nice home, too. I'll be honest, there is some algae on
the tank right now (it gets too much sunlight from a nearby window), but
I will scrub it clean for no extra charge. Interested? Contact chrisnhamp@mac.com.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
Need Help with Your Computer Needs at Home or
in the Office?
Nick Chang, nick@embassy.org
PC hardware/software installation and upgrades; maintenance,
troubleshooting and network support; Back-up and archive your files and
E-mail on CD-ROM; setup computer network for the small office; build
customized database in Access or other programs; web training and web
page development; Reasonable rates. Excellent references. 237-0130.
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CLASSIFIEDS — VOLUNTEERS
Volunteer for David Catania’s Reelection
Campaign
Shaun Snyder, shaun@davidcatania.com
If you're interested in helping reelect Councilmember David Catania
to his At-Large seat on the Council, please send me an E-mail (shaun@davidcatania.com)
or go to http://www.davidcatania.com
for more information. Right now we're working on collecting signatures
to put David on the ballot and would love to have the help of themail
subscribers!
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Lawn Care
Alan Henney, Takoma, alan@henney.com
We recommend Page Blake, he does a great job with lawns in DC and
suburban Maryland, including our lawn! He does each one personally and
reasonably. He can be reached at 301-434-0406.
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Looking for Information on the Presidents
Church
Beth Cornell, bacornell@earthlink.net
I am looking for historical and religious information on the
President's Church, St. John's Episcopal Church. Can anyone help?
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Trash Hauler Recommendations?
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Can anyone recommend a service for hauling away bulk trash? I prefer
dealing with sole proprietors rather than larger companies, but I'd love
to hear any recommendations.
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