Cassandra’s Blessing

Dear Cassandras:

In Greek mythology, Apollo so loved the Trojan woman Cassandra that he gave her the gift of being able to foretell the future. Unfortunately, Cassandra didn't return Apollo's love, so he then cursed her so that no one would believe her predictions. Because her warnings were disregarded, she was unable to prevent the disasters she foresaw (including, eventually, her own murder). But, at least until that last tragedy, all that Cassandra needed to do to live happily with her curse was to change her attitude. With a stance of ironic detachment instead of sympathetic involvement, think what fun Cassandra could have had with the defeated Trojan warriors returning from battle. “So, did you find anything inside that big wooden horse that you let inside the city gates? Greek soldiers? Who could have known? If only someone could have told you that in advance. Oh, wait, I did. Idiots.”

David Catania, and indeed the entire City Council, should feel like Cassandra today. Two years ago, Mayor Williams, backed by the power of the Control Board, insisted on dismantling DC's only public hospital and replacing it with a more costly contract with Doctor's Community HealthCare Corporation, the financially shaky organization that owns Greater Southeast Community Hospital and that declared bankruptcy today. The City Council objected strenuously, and Cassandra Catania exposed the fragile house of cards on which Doctors Community rested. The Council even passed legislation requiring that the contract with Doctors Community include a clause indemnifying the city if the corporation failed financially. Alice Rivlin, the chair of the Control Board, insisted that that clause be struck from the contract, thereby making what may soon prove to be the most expensive single mistake in the history of the city's government.

Since the start of the Mayor's healthcare “plan,” most of the press has studiously ignored or underplayed its failures in healthcare delivery. The news story in tomorrow's Washington Post continues to display the bias the paper's reporting has held for nearly two years now, insisting without evidence either of consensus or of financial savings that, "The consensus in the city has been that the DC Healthcare Alliance, which consisted of Greater Southeast, several other hospitals, and a network of clinics, was performing adequately and saving money compared with DC General, which had been a continual financial drain on the city." (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14816-2002Nov20.html) But now bankruptcy has been declared and the story of how many bills Greater Southeast has failed to pay — to Washington Hospital Center and other hospitals, to its own doctors and nurses, and to health care providers and suppliers — is slowly beginning to come out. The impending collapse of Greater Southeast, the inevitable exposure of its finances, and the cost to those dependent on public healthcare and to the taxpayers who will be stuck with the bill, will be too big to ignore, and that bias will prove embarrassing, indefensible, and impossible to maintain.

Straighter reporting on the situation is available on the editorial page of today's Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12654-2002Nov19.html), which graciously acknowledges that Catania was right two years ago when he raised the alarm about Doctor's Community HealthCare Corporation. I look forward to similar acknowledgments and apologies from Mayor Williams and Ms. Rivlin. The Cassandras on the City Council deserve a short moment to gloat about how right they were before they start the hard and costly work of rescuing us from the Trojan Horse that Mr. Williams and Ms. Rivlin dragged into our city.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Health Care Now Urges DC to Drop Greater Southeast
Sam Jordan, sjordan@communitycare.org

Health Care Now!, a health care consumer advocacy organization, insists that District officials prepare now to deliver health care services without Greater Southeast Community Hospital. The financially troubled leader of the DC Healthcare Alliance faces an uncertain future due to insolvency of its principal short-term lender. The irony that we face, is that we began as an organization in the defense of Greater Southeast when the hospital faced certain bankruptcy about three and a half years ago. Health Care Now! was granted historic status as a third party intervenor to represent the interests of the community in order to give Greater Southeast time to find a buyer. They found Doctor's Community Healthcare Corp. in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since then, we have not been particularly pleased with delivery of services or management practices."

HCN! encourages the District's health care consumers to write the Department of Health (DOH) and the Mayor to develop a comprehensive plan to provide health care services for the city's indigent and uninsured population through a combination of providers remaining in the DC Healthcare Alliance as the first phase of a plan to return to a publicly owned and operated system offering greater control of costs and services options. The cost of money in the commercial market for short-term receivables financing is

brutal. There is no prospect of Greater Southeast finding a source of funding that will charge less than consumer credit card rates. The public should not bail them out again. HCN! also noted in its letter (11-19-02) to the Director of DOH that the department should give leadership to the examination of an “all-payer” system or similar arrangements as utilized in Maryland and other jurisdictions. Under the Maryland system, all payers pay the same rates and there is no ghettoization of health care in public hospitals. At the root of Greater Southeast's problems are the insurers who have the market strength to delay payments on claims. They withhold payments on claims in order to earn interest and support investments and other commercial activities. In the meantime, the hospitals and clinics are left with aging receivables. After 60 or 90 days without payment, hospitals are glad to find an agent who will give them 80 cents, even 70 cents on the dollar. The result is that the entire private health care system is dependent upon deficit financing schemes held together by surgical gauze and dental floss. The prospect of double-digit general cost increases and the threat of a conversion of the area's Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, CareFirst, promises a costly abyss for health care consumers. Escape will be possible only through forceful, creative leadership and planning by the Mayor, DOH, DC Council, the DC Hospital Association and consumer groups. They have to step up now. They have been spectators long enough while health care financing has hit rock bottom in DC.

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Paying DC Parking Tickets Online
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

For those of you who haven't tried it, I highly recommend paying DC parking tickets online. It's such a convenience! Go to http://dmv.washingtondc.gov and see right-hand column: “Ticket Payments.” For me, this service saves quite a lot of check writing each month. I only wish you could pay tickets right after they are issued. (You currently need to wait 72-hours for the ticket info to be entered into the web site.) After receiving a ticket I'd love to be able to drive right over to a cybercafe, double-park for a few minutes, and pay the ticket online.

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As Easy as ABC
Ed T. Barron, edtbataoldotcom

I'm not a big fan of folks from La La land, but I have to concede that these free thinkers in CA sometimes come up with some clever ideas. One that they have implemented in Los Angeles is a rating system for all the eating establishments in the city of LA.. A rigid set of standards has been established by the Health Dept. of Los Angeles County based on a 100 point system where points are deducted from 100 for any health standard violations. The system works very well.

Restaurants with scores from 90 to 100 are awarded an “A” rating. Rating cards must be prominently displayed at the entrance to the eating establishment. Eighty-three percent of the eating establishments have earned an “A” grade in LA. Surveys show that more than three quarters of diners only eat in “A” rated restaurants. At the other end of the scale, only 3 out of 100 diners will eat in a “C” rated restaurant (with a grade of 70 to 80 points). This would be a welcome system to have in DC, and would be a lot more helpful than Zagats. I wonder what scores the DC public school cafeterias would rate.

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New York, the City that Gets a Good Night’s Sleep?
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at logancircle dot net

Up in New York, Mayor Bloomberg has launched “Operation Silent Night,” an effort to reduce noise disturbances in the city. The Silent Night team combed the city measuring noise levels in various places, and designated 24 locations as trouble spots. In those areas, police are actually enforcing noise ordinances, writing tickets to people honking their horns in the middle of the night, cracking down on clubs that aren't properly soundproofed, and so on. Another recent New York quality of life measure: there are areas where drivers can't turn off of main streets during rush hour, so that pedestrians can safely cross.

Meanwhile, here in DC, I listen to the roar and my house vibrates to its foundation as trucks (some city vehicles) ignore posted signs banning them from my narrow street. I've tried to get some action on this but the city essentially refuses to enforce the law — it might inconvenience contracts building the new convention center, I suppose. And crossing in a crosswalk is an act of bravery, since drivers can run red lights with impunity here. It must be nice to have a government that actually has the quality of life of its citizens on its agenda.

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Texas Senator May Deny US Coin Collectors Washington, DC, Addition
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com

Mark Plotkin reported previously, and The Washington Post reported today (“DC Coin Legislation Hits Snag in Senate,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12688-2002Nov19.html) that at least one Republican senator opposes the bill creating a coin to commemorate Washington, DC, and the US Territories as part of the statehood quarter dollar commemorate coin program, and that under Senate rules, any member can anonymously block passage. The Post reported that a spokesperson from Senator Daschle's office said, “I've heard rumors that it is [ranking Senate banking committee Republican] Phil Gramm, but I can't confirm that.” The Post also reported that “A spokeswoman for Gramm (R-TX) said she did not know his position on the bill.” The mayor called this news very disappointing.

If this story is accurate, Senator Gramm's reasoning for blocking the development of a Washington, DC, coin is not related at all to cost, since the commemorate coin program brings in large amounts of revenues to the treasury. Senator Gramm should recognize that DC has been a part of this Union for as long as the 13 colonies, and longer than over thirty states. Denying a Washington, DC, commemorate coin to Americans, many of whom are collecting these commemorate coins as a hobby, is quite selfish at best and seems to be an exercise in ideological spite. As a DC resident, that action seems ungrateful to those who have hosted the federal government for over two centuries, the whole time without a meaningful voice in the nation's decision-making bodies. For goodness sake, a coin isn't a real vote — it is nothing but symbolism that all Americans can enjoy, at a profit to the Treasury and at no cost to the GOP. Sigh. OTHER: For an view of what is happening in DC from Puerto Rico, see: http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2002/vol6n41/WashUpdate0641-en.shtml .

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Constructive Layoffs
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

You might ask how layoffs in the DC bureaucracies can be constructive. It's the same as constructive criticism, it is meant to make the end product better. Wednesday's Post describes layoffs in the Mental Health Department. These layoffs purportedly will be made in both management and non-management levels in that organization. Most importantly, the organization's Director, Knisley, is asking the question, “Is this job critical and necessary?” That is an approach that every one of the departments in the city should be asking. To make an organization effective and efficient you need to know: What is being done? How are we doing these tasks? Who is doing it? And, most importantly, why are we doing it?

If every one of the city's bureaucracies would follow this process the city would find ways to make cuts in personnel without cutting vital services to DC's citizens. In fact, there is one more question that should be asked. What are we not doing that we should be doing? If people were shifted from nonessential tasks, unmasked by the initial questions, and put to work on needed tasks not currently being done, layoffs could be avoided (if the skill mix was right), and better services could be provided.

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Baseball
David Pansegrouw, dpansegrouw@atpco.net

I love baseball. But DC taxpayers should not pay one dime for a new stadium in DC. I seriously wonder about those who think DC will support a major league baseball team. I do not doubt if DC can, but rather if DC would. Look at baseball coverage in DC — the Post, WTOP, WTEM — the morning after Barry Bonds joined the very select group of Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays with more than 600 home runs; the Post ran a small picture below the fold. Above the fold was a big picture of the University of Maryland quarterback shaking hands with fellow players and an article about his knee. The Monday morning after the Sunday night World Series win by Anaheim, I had to search for details. The Washington, DC, NFL franchise losing yet again was far bigger news than the World Series winner. The rest of the NFL was bigger news too. Driving home every night from Dulles to DC during the baseball season, it was easier to get the Buffalo, New York, minor league game (The Bison) on the radio to within the beltway than to get the Orioles on WTEM.

Football dominates here, and it will take lots of effort to change that. Perhaps money could be better spent so that my son's t-ball league does not have to compete with dog owners who call baseball fields in DC parks “dog parks” (with left overs). All sorts of studies show tax payer funding of stadiums to be just another form of corporate welfare. We already have enough of that.

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Comcast: Defrauding Customers or Just Serving Them Badly?
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at earthlink dot net

In light of the recent discussion of Comcast follies here, the postcard from them today amused me. It told me that “this letter” (What letter? It was a postcard.) was to warn me that in order to bring fabulous digital cable to my area, I might have service interruptions between October 28 and October 30. Today is November 19. Of course, this is the company that is sending me lots of flyers to sign up for digital cable. None of the flyers tell me what it costs or what channels are included. Nor does their web site; although I can enter my address and find out that digital service is available at my home, it can't tell me what it costs or what I get. But I can go ahead and place an order. Hey, why would I want to know what it costs? One of the poorest examples of web services I've ever seen (and in my job I see some pretty awful stuff).

Incompetence? Maybe. But I recall my first interaction with them. After getting cable, I would pay the bill within a day or so of getting it. Then, Comcast would hold onto my check for two weeks, until my bill was late, and charge me a late fee. I'd call them and they'd waive it. Then the next month, the same thing would happen. So after a couple of months, I wrote a letter to Comcast, cc'ing the DC government's Office of Telecom and Cable TV, and miraculously, they started cashing my checks promptly and stopped charging bogus late fees (which, incidentally, came out to an annual percentage rate of about 150 percent). DC cable customers, beware: Comcast is either one of the most incompetent companies on the face of the earth, or actively trying to defraud you. I don't have enough evidence to know which, but either way, be sure to check your bill carefully.

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The Mayor’s Wheels
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at logancircle dot net

This morning, as I sat in northern Virginia traffic watching the daily dance of the SUVs — a unique spectacle of aggression and poor driving skills — and thought about how these vehicles were using three times the gas needed to transport their single occupants, resulting in more oil being bought by gas companies, and more money flowing back to middle Eastern sponsors of terrorism, a question occurred to me: Is our mayor still riding around in that Lincoln Navigator? I remember hearing about the shameful thing, but I don't know whether it's still his ride of choice. Anybody know?

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Alternative Ski Route
Ann Loikow, Cleveland Park, john1@erols.com

In the November 17 edition of the Mail, Clyde E. Howard, Jr., suggested that rebuilding the closed portion of Klingle Road, NW, could provide an alternative route during the heavy snows that clog our major arterials with folks trying to get home. If you travel this road, you would greatly doubt whether this very steep section of Klingle Road (a 6.5 grade), which has three blind hairpin turns and a narrow right of way (only 30 to 52 feet), would ever be a viable alternative route in heavy snow or icy weather. Under such conditions, skis or sleds would be far more appropriate modes of transit. In fact, historically the District government routinely closed this portion of Klingle Road during snow or sleet storms and during heavy rains (because the road would be routinely flooded). Having lived for several decades just off Reno Road, a much wider and better road, and having seen the skidding and accidents on the hills there during bad weather, I can easily understand why this portion of Klingle Road would more likely be closed for dangerous conditions during adverse weather conditions than provide a viable alternative route.

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Klingling
John Capozzi, suecapozzi@aol.com

Clyde Howard, Jr., indicated that two reasons that Klingle Road needs to be open is: “it can facilitate emergency vehicles” and also “especially now that we have the terrorists to contend with.” Other pro-road advocates have told me that “this is a civil rights issue.” This debate can be framed in a lot of ways but it is clear that building (or rebuilding) of roads through a National Park is not a trend that I want to follow. If an east-west route is a matter of National Security or that will provide equal rights for DC citizens then I might reconsider my opposition to the road. Also, advocates keep referring to ambulances and fire trucks that are thwarted by the lack of access to Klingle Road, but never suggest that opening the road just for those emergency vehicles as the top priority.

What they want is a short-cut drive through Rock Creek Park. Plain and simple. In the future please acknowledge this fact so we can decide if that is good for the Park. Then at least we could have an honest debate. What tactic is left: Chicken Little, the sky is falling? Finally, unlike Jon Desenberg I will refrain from suggesting that road advocates change their tactics. I am hopeful that they continue on the same path that keeps the status quo. Note to future City Council candidates however; every at-large challenger who had the backing of the Roadies lost badly.

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Klingle Valley Parkway
Peter McGee, peterm@lcsystems.com

We who want Klingle Valley Parkway restored are fighting for what rightfully is ours. Our fight is grounded in fairness. By contrast, the genesis for closing our public road was the selfish and greedy act of a few, wellheeled individuals, who brokered back-room deals and extracted political promises for their own personal gain, to the detriment of many. Our motivation is genuine and grounded in truth. We welcome similarly-based challenges. We reject public ridicule based on distortion and myth. In fact, we received written permission from the Sierra Club national to use their logo on our web site to represent our Sierra Club members who reject the local chapter's position. We agree with tenets of the local Sierra Club's "Restore the Core" campaign, which supports maintaining existing transportation infrastructure, including local roads. Any claim that the Sierra Club endorses us is prima facie nonsense.

Similarly idle are claims that we “trashed” Mayor Williams or Phil Mendelson. We disagree strongly and vocally with their impolitic support of closing Klingle Valley Parkway and Beach Drive, which they brazenly brandish as bargaining chips in undemocratic political deals struck with “environmental” groups. The Adams Morgan ANC may have reversed itself (overturning a unanimous position by a single vote), so now they have voted both ways, but we enjoy broad and growing public support, including many more ANCs and the citywide ANC assembly, along with dozens of community and business organizations. Significantly, fire and ambulance companies want the road back, and most recently, the DC chapter of the American Lung Association. Overall, we represent a broad spectrum of local citizens and concerns, not narrow, special interests.

In our efforts to restore access to our road, we have responded in kind to many public postings. We reject solutions that sacrifice local access in favor of commuters, or compromise public safety for the benefit of a few. Restoring Klingle is a simple solution that makes sense to a traffic- and pollution-choked city. Klingle connects communities. Restore Klingle Valley Parkway and return it to its rightful owners.

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Pro-Klingle Road Spin Doctors Miss the Point
Ralph Scott, rscott@aeclp.org

Pro-road enthusiasts miss Jack McKay's main point about Klingle Valley: that the traffic analysis that the pro-road folks have been touting to support their position is fatally flawed. It's stunning to see them spin McKay's letter showing them to be deceitful about the facts into an opportunity repeat the myth that the controversy is one of unreasonable “elitists” versus “the people.” In reality, it's a policy battle between citizens who care about green space, preventing pollution and keeping cars and trucks off a little-used road that could never be built under today's environmental standards and a vocal minority who want their convenient shortcut back and are willing to use outrageous distortions about public safety, the environment and taxpayer entitlement to lobby for their dubious cause.

Peter McGee deriding the mayor's plan for Klingle as “multi-million dollar bike facility” is classic roadie spin. As McGee knows, the Berger Report (from which he so often quotes selectively) says the cost of adding an environmentally friendly biking/hiking path to Klingle Valley drainage and sewer repairs (which must be done no matter what) is $273,000. That's about $3 million dollars less than the cost of rebuilding the road for cars! McGee's repaired Klingle Rd. would be one of the most expensive 0.7 miles of road ever built in the District. Let's spend that $3 million for improvements that would have a real impact on traffic congestion problems.

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Cost-Benefit Analysis of Klingle Road
Jack McKay, jack.mckay@verizon.net

In the November 17 themail, Laurie Collins defends the analysis that her group commissioned from MCV Associates, claiming that it “provides the cost-benefit analysis that is conspicuously absent from the Berger study, and concludes that repairing Klingle Road is economically desirable.” But let's look closely at that calculation. MCV begins with the Berger computer model prediction that eastbound drivers crossing Connecticut at Porter must wait for an average of 15 minutes to clear the intersection. If Klingle is reopened, this theoretical wait time is reduced to less than 5 minutes. That's a savings of 10 minutes per car, which we multiply by 550 cars per hour (simplifying things a bit), then by six hours (MCV makes a very generous estimate of rush hour duration), and 250 work days per year, to get a total time savings of 137,500 hours per year. This is the bulk of MCV's presumed driver time savings of 180,000 hours per year. Valuing that time at about $10 per hour, the result is a benefit on the order of $1.4M (or $1.8M) per year due to opening Klingle. Plainly, if rebuilding the road costs $4M, then one has a short payback time, and, over the lifetime of the road, a positive cost-benefit result.

But is that 15 minutes wait time per car sensible? Is the six hours duration sensible? We should be observing these things right now, the current situation being the “no build” condition. In fact, nothing of the sort occurs. Watching this intersection myself, at 8:00 in the morning and 4:30 in the evening, I observed an average wait time of less than two minutes, not 15. Most of the eastbound wait time is due to the 90-second cycle of the traffic light. No, there are not thousands of drivers waiting 15 minutes each to cross Connecticut at Porter, and there is certainly no such monster backup in place for six hours a day. One doesn't have to be a traffic engineer to see that the MCV Associates cost-benefit calculation is invalid, because the supposed 15-minute wait time that might be mitigated by opening Klingle does not exist.

If one replaces the supposed 10-minute wait time reduction with a barely plausible one minute, for perhaps two hours a day, then the MCV calculation yields benefits far short of the costs of repairing Klingle Road. The MCV cost-benefit analysis, with plausible data input instead of the obviously invalid computer model predictions, indicates that the rebuilding of Klingle Road cannot be financially justified. This is not much help to those of us who are on the record in favor of at least a partial reopening of the road to traffic.

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Klingle Valley
Lisa Colson, Mt. Pleasant, mo_nat@hotmail.com

I keep hearing people call Klingle road an alternate route to Porter that crosses Connecticut Avenue. Klingle road does not go to Connecticut. Connecticut crosses far above Klingle Road via a bridge. Klingle was a narrow, windy road connecting Mt. Pleasant with Woodley Park. As the old road came up out of Klingle Valley (going southwest), the road continued through a residential neighborhood. This is not my idea of cutting across town. What Maryland or Virginia resident would use this road to get to work? Plus, I don't know who would find this small, windy road as a way out of the city. From Mt. Pleasant, I would take 16th Street north and from Woodley Park, I would take Connecticut Avenue north because there are no bridges to the north, but one has to cross a bridge if going south out of the city. So, Klingle road would only help a few people get from one side of Rock Creek to the other. Use a bus! You are in the city.

Don’t be fooled that this is about emergency vehicle access. It is about nostalgia. Nostalgia that is outdated. Just because something once was a road, doesn’t mean that it should be a road again. With that type of logic, women would still be denied the right to vote. Klingle Valley is an environmentally sensitive area because of its steep slopes and its creek. Recognize its sensitivity and support real solutions to air pollution, like mass transit, commuting by bicycle and walking. Klingle Valley Park would support commuting by bicycle and walking.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

HIPS Fundraiser at Urban Essentials, November 21
Jon Katz, jon at markskatz dot com

HIPS (Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive) presents its November fundraising night at Urban Essentials furniture store, 1330 U Street, NW, on Thursday, November 21, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Now through November 21, just mention HIPS, and ten percent of all sales in the store will benefit HIPS. Your $15 admission ticket goes to a fabulous night of fundraising, hors d'oeuvres, and drinks. HIPS is a local organization that uses a harm-reduction non-paternalistic approach to benefit the welfare of sex workers (e.g., providing HIV/AIDS information and condoms from HIPS's outreach van on weekend nights, and operating a 24-hour support hotline). For more information, contact me or visit http://www.hips.org.

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Prescription Benefits Cut for DC Seniors, November 23
Vanessa Dixon, vmdixon@earthlink.net

Stand up for our valued senior citizens who are being denied prescription medications at no charge from public health clinics and pharmacies. Attend this action planning meeting sponsored by the “Emergency Coalition to Restore Prescription Benefits” to hear how our seniors are being denied lifesaving prescriptions. Saturday, November 23, 1:00 p.m., St. Aloysius Church, North Capitol Street, NW, between H and I Streets, next to Gonzaga High School. Barrier free ramp available at the church. Metro: Union Station (Red Line); Buses: 80, 96, X2, X3.

For the past thirty years, citizens living in the District and eligible for Medicare have been able to get prescription medications at no charge from public health clinics and pharmacies. Now they have been abruptly cut off with no real alternatives. Last year, when DC General Hospital and the public health clinic system was privatized, responsibility for public health was transferred to the DC Healthcare Alliance, which is managed by a private, for profit company. Mayor Williams promised that the new system would provide better and more effective health care.

However, the DC Healthcare Alliance has cut all Medicare-eligible citizens from the prescription drug program, leaving them without access to lifesaving medications. For many, especially those on low, fixed incomes, the cost for prescription drugs is prohibitive, yet most are ineligible for Medicaid prescription benefits. Many elders must choose between food and rent versus taking their medications. Several emergencies caused by the lack of lifesaving prescription drugs already have been reported. The Emergency Coalition, initiated by the Gray Panthers of Metro Washington, is led by the affected elders themselves. The group demands an immediate reinstatement of prescription benefits, and calls on the DC City Council to declare a crisis. According to Luci Murphy, Convener of the Gray Panthers, “The mayor privatized public healthcare. It is his responsibility to step up to the plate and resolve this crisis . . . immediately.” The Emergency Coalition (in formation) consists of: Gray Panthers, Emmaus Services for the Elderly, Project WISH (Washington Inner City Self Help), City Center Community Corporation, MOMS (Mothers On the Move Spiritually), Perry School Community Services Center, Holy Redeemer Church, St. Aloysius Church, DC Statehood Green Party, and the DC Health Care Coalition. Contact 667-0376 for info.

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Video Producers of DC, November 23
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

Video Producers of DC, a no-dues group of people learning video production techniques, will be meeting this coming Saturday, November 23, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the upstairs auditorium of Cleveland Park Branch Library. Newcomers to video particularly welcome. The purpose of this group is to elevate the quantity and quality of community-produced video in the city. Further info and E-mail list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoproducersofdc/. At this meeting we'll be explaining about putting video on the web. Sample video snippet at http://storymakers.net/bobdylansdreamsnippet.mov (QuickTime 6 is required to view this video. QuickTime is a free download for Windows and Mac at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/).

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

Shaw EcoVillage Program Director
Alexander M. Padro, PadroANC2C@aol.com

Shaw EcoVillage is seeking a full-time Program Director for it's EcoDesign Corps. EcoDesign Corps interns apply the cognitive and technical skills of design, sustainability, and community development to local problems in Washington, DC. The Program Director is responsible for managing and evaluating programs and student projects, teaching student workshops, and collaborating with community-based organizations. Candidates should have a minimum of three years experience in urban design, community planning, smart growth, green building and/or youth development. For a full job description, contact shawecovillage@shawdc.com, or call 265-8899. Salary range: $28-34,000, with four weeks paid vacation and health benefits. For more information on Shaw EcoVillage, visit www.shawecovillage.com.

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