All Politics Is Local in themail
Dear Localists:
I often repeat that themail is about living on the ground in the city
of DC, and not about the national politics that swirl around us. We
address local political issues, but don't get into national issue
debates except as they affect us locally. I got, but didn't print,
messages about how Mr. Clinton was the sleaziest liar on the face on the
earth, and now I get, but don't print, messages about how Mr. Bush is
the fount of all evil for needlessly provoking that nice Mr. Hussein.
You can find plenty of other sources for pro and con opinions on
national issues; themail is for what happens here.
In the past two weeks, two national issues have edged their way into
themail — health care policy and educational policy. I believe that
both the District of Columbia's current health care system and its
public school system are failing us in important ways. I also believe
that any repairs to or ameliorations of these broken systems will
eventually come from us locally. That is, those repairs may come from us
locally, if they are not prevented both by the refusal to acknowledge
the problems of the DC HealthCare Alliance and the DC Public Schools and
by the iron grip of the national ideological debates that prevent us
from trying any solutions except for those that have already failed
repeatedly.
Because the door was opened, this issue of themail contains two
messages opposing school choice, but that doesn't mean that we're going
to repeat here the long national debate over choice and vouchers. On the
other hand, if you want to write about a local school or student, about
a neighborhood success or failure that you know about, please do so.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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The residents of Capitol Hill for the most part did a good job
clearing their sidewalks after last week's snow storm. As a walker, I
couldn't help but notice that on any city park or other sidewalk along
city owned or maintained property there was no effort at snow removal,
sanding, or salting. This includes block-long areas of Pennsylvania
Avenue on both sides of the street near the Eastern Market Metro stop.
I wonder if the city does a better job of this in other parts of the
city . . . and the mayor gave himself a B?
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Real Property Appeals to BRPAA
Mark Eckenwiler, themale@ingot.org
A tip for those embroiled in appealing their property assessments to
the Board of Real Property Assessment and Appeals. Under DC Code
47-825.01(f-1)(6), “[t]he real property owner is entitled to obtain
any response made by the Mayor to an appeal filed by the owner with the
Board. The Mayor shall make the response available at a reasonable time
upon the request of the real property owner and no less than 5 business
days prior to a scheduled hearing.” In other words, the Office of the
Assessor isn't allowed to sandbag you at the hearing with a response
you've never seen, assuming you ask to see it in advance.
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I came home one night last week to my apartment to find a three page
survey under my door. (I live in a “secure” building). No contact
name(s), no number, no address was given on this survey. It stated
"This survey is being conducted by a student research group at The
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The survey is in no
way affiliated with your respective real estate management firm. All
information collected is confidential and for research purposes only.
Your participation in this project will be greatly appreciated. You'll
also have the chance to win $100 in a raffle we will be conducting among
survey participants. All surveys can be returned to your management
office. The purpose of this survey is to study the apartment rental
market and correlations between [sic] a variety of preferences,
lifestyles, backgrounds, and behavior related to searching for and
purchasing apartments."
I called the Wharton School and spoke with Anne Marie Urban at the
Dean's office (215/898-4155). She said this survey is in no way
connected with the University of Pennsylvania or The Wharton School and
that no such student research group exists. The survey asks you to give
personal information which is not your management company's business.
Just wondering if this has appeared in apartment buildings elsewhere?
Who would go to the time, effort and expense to do this?
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Ramsey in the Post
Jonathan Tannenwald, University of Pennsylvania Class
of 2006, jtannenw@sas.upenn.edu
So I read Charles Ramsey's piece in the Outlook section of the online
version of today's Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51041-2002Dec13.html).
And I was pretty impressed with what he had to say, especially regarding
protests.
Yet I know that many on this listserv haven't got much nice to say
about our Chief of Police. So I ask, what part of the picture am I
missing, not living in the District anymore? Or is Mr. Ramsey actually
making a good-faith effort to respond to our criticisms of a program
that might just be used properly?
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Campaign Poster Scofflaws Revealed
Kathy Chamberlain, ANC 7B, kechamber@erols.com
Tired of seeing campaign posters? Tired of taking them down?
Candidates were required to remove their posters within 30 days after
the general election or face a fine. We're past the 30-day mark. When
candidates picked up their materials from the DC Board of Elections,
they signed a pledge to remove their posters within 39 days. The Clean
City web site links to a “scofflaws” list, a list of candidates and
the locations of their posters, as reported by citizens. Check out http://www.cleancity.dc.gov/campaign_posters.htm.
As of this writing, the top two scofflaws are Chris Ray and Dwight
Singleton, with 79 and 71 posters respectively. The web page tells you
how to report posters to have them show up on the list. Hopefully the
list will help candidates locate their posters and remove them. If the
threat of fines won't work, maybe a little public embarrassment will do
the trick.
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No Planning, No Estimating
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
Fumigation of the Brentwood postal facility begins this weekend to
rid the facility of anthrax spores that resulted in the deaths of two
postal workers over a year ago. We seem to be getting our mail without
that facility, but there seems to be an uncontrolled effort to reopen
it. This is so uncontrolled that over $100 million has already been
spent on reopening it to date. It is likely that another forty or fifty
million will be spent before it reopens (if ever). Doesn't anyone in the
federal government know how to perform a cost benefit analysis? (Nobody
in the DC government does, by the way.) A little planning and estimating
up front would clearly have shown that it would be far better to abandon
that facility and either convert some other existing space in DC to that
purpose or build an entirely new facility. It would have been far
cheaper to implement either of those alternatives than to pour money
into that dump at Brentwood.
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John Whiteside wrote: “Are there rules about when insurance
companies can cancel auto policies in DC? I just received notice that my
company is going to cancel my policy because of two claims in 2001 . . .
it seems like I'm being punished for actually needing the insurance I've
paid good money for.” I forwarded his message to the DC Insurance
Commissioner, Lawrence Mirel. Here's Mr. Mirel's educational reply,
which smart people will take to heart:
“Insurance is a highly competitive industry and companies carve out
their individual 'niches.' Some are 'preferred' companies that will sell
only to persons with essentially perfect driving records. Some are
'standard' companies that sell to persons with a couple of accidents or
speeding tickets, but not many. Others are 'substandard' writers who
will sell to persons with significant numbers of claims. What category
you fall into determines what rate you pay. The rate for 'preferred'
policyholders is obviously less than for standard or substandard. Many
insurers have both 'preferred' and 'standard' companies and will move
people back and forth between those companies depending on their record
(although of course people always have the option to change from one
carrier to another). Two claims within a couple of years will cause
someone to be moved from a preferred company to a standard company. A
'clean' record for 3 or 5 years (depending on the company) will give you
a chance to move up from 'standard' to 'preferred.' Obviously this
system provides a disincentive to file claims — indeed, it is intended
to do so — which is why I always advise people to buy a policy with
the highest deductible they can reasonably manage (which results in a
lower insurance premium) and then pay the small stuff out of pocket
without filing claims. The message you forwarded to me suggests that Mr.
Whiteside had two very small losses which probably could easily have
been paid by the insured out of pocket. That is what he should have
done, to avoid being non-renewed. And he would have paid lower premiums.
“My frustration is that people don't understand that this is how
the insurance system works. That is partly a failure on the part of
insurance companies (and insurance regulators, like me) to get the
message out, and partly a pervasive sense of entitlement that people who
buy insurance have that their policies should pay for any losses, no
matter how small. That is why people insist on buying policies with the
smallest possible deductibles when they should be picking the highest
deductibles. Insurers will pay for covered losses above the deductibles,
but policyholders will pay higher premiums when claims are made, or will
be non-renewed.
“The same principles apply, by the way, to health insurance, but
try to explain to people that they should take high deductibles on their
health insurance policies and pay small bills themselves. They look at
you like you are crazy.”
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So Much for an Effective School Board
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
The hybrid School Board was ballyhooed as one that would work
together to make DC's school system effective and efficient. The old
School Board could not even agree on when to go to lunch and just passed
on the outrageous proposed school budgets to the City Council for them
to make the cuts. Well, guess what? The hybrid School Board is doing the
same thing. The budget they have passed on to a financially strapped
city calls for a 14 plus percent increase in their budget for the next
fiscal year. Take a good look at the line items in that budget and you
will find about 20 percent that can be cut without any impact on what
happens in the classrooms.
The school system is so unorganized (to characterize it as
disorganized would imply that, at some time, it was organized) that they
still don't know how many employees are on the payroll. There are
probably some dead persons still receiving checks. As for how many
students are in the system they still don't know and base their costs on
some fictitious highly inflated numbers. If the DC school system could
get the special ed programs under control they could probably do quite
well with a lot less money than was spent last year. A fourteen percent
increase — fuggedaboutit.
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Fixing Public Schools by Funding Private
Schools
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark@bisconti.com
Gary Imhoff described a forum at the Cato Institute featuring, Peggy
Cooper Cafritz, elected President, DC Board of Education; Virginia
Walden-Ford, Black Alliance for Educational Options, and Casey J.
Lartigue, Jr., policy analyst with the Cato Institute's Center for
Educational Freedom. After reading a number of Mr. Lartigue's papers,
including “The Need for Educational Freedom in the Nation's
Capital,” http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa461.pdf,
I can see why Ms. Cafritz would take issue with Mr. Lartigue and feel he
has little to offer in the way of assistance to DCPS. Lartigue reviews
the history of DCPS since 1804 and concludes the system has never
worked. He writes, “[T]oo many people have focused on saving the
system as a whole, even at the cost of students being poorly educated. .
. . [A]ny solution limited to the DC public schools would have little
benefit. What is needed is a system that allows parents and children to
opt out of the DC schools and select another provider. A competitive
system that used a combination of vouchers, tuition tax credits, and
contracting would be the best way to increase educational quality.”
In fact, Lartigue offers no specific solutions in his article for
fixing the current public school system from within, although he says
there is evidence that “public schools made a strong push to improve
achievement in the face of competition from vouchers.” (What about
charter?) He suggests Opportunity Scholarships (as proposed by Rep.
Armey), a GI Bill for K-12 (in which students could go to schools
Virginia and Maryland), Tuition Tax Credits, and contracting the poorest
performing schools to private entrepreneurs. Lartigue notes that “The
District is not the only urban school system struggling with educating
its residents, but it is the only one for which Congress has clear
constitutional authority to 'exercise exclusive legislation in all cases
whatsoever,'” but he bemoans how DC residents and elected officials
resist having Congress use its power to impose voucher proposals. (Is
that libertarian?) Lartigue writes, “DC politicians have used the
issue of statehood to block positive reforms for DC public schools. It
is time for DC politicians to stop putting their political concerns
ahead of their concerns of students. District officials must stop
blocking the exits to school choice. . . .”
DC officials seem to be reasonably in line with DC voters on
vouchers. A poll of 603 DC voters sponsored by the National School
Boards Association, conducted Nov. 6-15, 2002 by Zogby International,
found 76 percent opposed to “giving taxpayer-funded vouchers to
parents to pay for their children to attend private or religious
schools, even if that means less money for public school students.”
Eighty-five percent of DC African Americans opposed. Polling questions
that suggest vouchers will cause public schools to lose money elicit
higher levels of opposition. Eighty percent agreed that “private
schools that accept taxpayer-funded vouchers should be required to meet
the same public accountability standards as public schools.” Mr.
Lartigue (“Education by Polls” 3/21/02) notes, “Many polls simply
show that Americans are uninformed about public policy issues,” and
says, “We can't be sure how many people really support public schools
until they are given an option to leave them.” The Washington
Afro-American (editorial, Dec. 14-20, 2002) reminded readers that
the late Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of
Teachers in 1971, said that “public schools were facing extinction. .
. . Vouchers are not an experiment, the conclusion of which is unknown.
The result is inevitable, the end of public schools and the
establishment of a system of tax-financed private education.” The Afro
notes (as does Mr. Lartigue) that schools which succeed are ones in
which parents and the community are involved. The Afro concludes,
“[I]f public schools are to survive, the community must stop acting
like everything is alright [sic]. Otherwise, Al Shanker's prediction of
the end of public schools will become a reality.”
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The Campaign Against DC Public Education
Larry Gray, liberal47@juno.com
Those who are regularly involved in efforts to reform the DC Public
School system, rather than carping from afar and usually with outdated
criticisms, will say, “Three cheers for Peggy Cafritz for standing up
to the right-wing voucher bullies.” While neither Cafritz nor I have
ever said the DC Public Schools are either turned around nor perfect, at
least we see when progress has been made under qualified school
administrators. The game of who can make the most outrageous claims of
malfeasance and dysfunction in DC schools must end. It is counter
productive. It affects system morale, funding options, the attraction of
ever better qualified employees, etc.
To say there is no choice and no progress in DC schools is to ignore
some existing public charter schools, out of boundary transfers, cluster
schools, schools of excellence, enterprise schools, magnet schools,
early childhood initiatives, the Superintendent's transformation school
efforts (not imposed from the outside), teacher recruitment efforts, pay
scale improvements, the long term facilities plan and the first new
construction in well over twenty years, perceptible improvements in
student test scores at virtually every level in reading and math, the
development of improved curriculum standards, improved teacher training
initiatives, new efforts in bilingual education, the implementation of
the textbook replacement program (begun under Alderman), technology
infusion progress, and on and on. Take a look at the progress instead of
endorsing the ongoing efforts by many to insert their pet political pork
into the regular budgeting process in which the entire parent and school
community attempts to work its well informed will. This administration
is also better aligning Federal spending before use of scarce local
dollars and launching efforts to improve grants and outside
contributions from private sources.
As one who has worked tirelessly for many years to help form the
political will for positive change in the city's education
infrastructure and has called for reform to take place “brick by
brick.” I know when a brick is being laid or brickbats are merely
being thrown. Get with the processes and programs in place under the
current reform initiatives and make your voices heard! Advocate for the
funds necessary to continue improvements. It's time for the annual DC
School's Budget Debate.
The Mayor and Council will probably attempt to freeze current school
funding at 2002FY levels. (about $740 million) While the schools were
funded at $220 million less than the Superintendent's request for FY2003
(that budget is still hung up on Capitol Hill and spending is frozen),
the Superintendent has reduced his request by $100 million and the Board
of Education has worked diligently to wring tens of millions in savings
to cover the first unfunded year of teacher pay increases. The
Superintendent, having continued to streamline Central Administration,
is seeking $860 million to continue ongoing reform efforts including
Special Education reform, school transformation, inclusion of a regular
school repair and maintenance effort, some increase over last years
disastrous cuts in Summer school, AP program expansion in high schools,
and continued initiatives in early childhood programs to name a few.
The name calling is in high gear once again from CATO type voucher
and choice advocates who are never satisfied unless they can rob the
system for their pet priorities, free from government accountability,
teacher pay standards, gain free buildings, use of central
administration services when possible and are often free of the
responsibility to provide special education options. They would remain
unaccountable for use of public funds when their students drop out and
return to public classrooms or student outcomes fail to improve. They
continue to propose sapping the resources from concerted public action
to improve every neighborhood school for the benefit of the
comparatively few voucher or special Charter School beneficiaries.
Cheers to Board President Cafritz for taking the heat and standing up
to the perennial bullies. A united Board of Education backed by parents
and an informed community should resist their simplistic solutions and
band aids which only postpone the painstaking efforts required to bring
real substantial and quantifiable change for every student in the public
school system.
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Don’t Forget the Mule
Jeffrey Itell, Itell@comcast.net
Bill Adler’s perusal of DC laws, which led to his finding the
prohibition against dueling, reminded me of a similar search I conducted
several years ago. Should I have chosen to declare personal bankruptcy
— which I didn’t — I would have been allowed to keep one, and only
one, mule.
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Kathy Patterson has introduced bill 14-636, the “Elimination of
Outdated Crimes Amendment Act of 2002,” in order to delete the laws
regarding dueling challenges — as mentioned by Bill Adler in themail
— and other archaic laws. Every body of laws needs a little house
keeping now and again to remove laws that once seemed important and now
seem silly. A hearing was held on December 5. Although the bill will
have to be reintroduced in 2003, it will not need another hearing, and
will be able to proceed through the legislative process with no apparent
obstacle. Cropp, Allen, Ambrose, Catania, Evans, Fenty, Graham, and
Mendelson are cosponsors.
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Ed T. Barron wrote that “The Peace Pageant with the Christmas Tree
lighting on the White House ellipse was definitely not fun.” I
couldn't agree more. My family tried to go by the National Christmas
tree on Friday night after seeing the Revels, as we had a friend with us
who had never seen it. We drove up 17th Street and could barely see it
beyond the blockades and security vehicles. We drove around the block
(or
more like around half a dozen blocks as the streets are closed around
the Ellipse and White House) and when we came down to Constitution
Avenue and looked for the tree, it was gone! As my husband said, we have
a "stealth tree" or else the President is saving power to use
for his war (it was 11 p.m.). Given all the fences around the Ellipse,
it appears there are very few ways one can walk up to the Pageant of
Peace. Makes you wonder who it is for. Appears what it needed to
properly finish the scene is to install a crenelated wall with turrets
around the Ellipse and White House Precinct to properly reflect our new
imperial presidency.
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Being Like Suburbanites
Gabe Goldberg, gabe@goldberg.com
John Whiteside said, "The store is enormous and understaffed,
just like every other Home Depot I've ever been to." I'm neither
gloating nor suggesting you come to Annandale, VA, to shop, but the
(enormous, yes) former-Hechingers Home Depot here is great. Accessible,
knowledgeable, helpful staff makes us happy it's not Hechingers every
time we shop there.
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New York’s 311 Help Line
Richard Layman, Northeast DC, richlaymandc@yahoo.com
[With regard to Gabriel Goldberg's posting]: It's four more numbers
to dial, but the City Call Center, 727-1000, is, basically the same
thing and it's been in place for at least three years.
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Of course DC has had 727-1000 for several years now. While you can't
always find everything you need there, it is a damn sight better than it
was when I first moved to DC
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How to Fight an Automated Speeding Ticket?
Gabe Goldberg, gabe@gabegold.com
[Phil Greene wrote asking how to fight an speeding camera ticket sent
to his wife.] Was she doing 37 mph? Do you object to the ticket being
automated, her not knowing she was ticketed (a likely unavoidable
consequence of the ticket being automated), it arriving in the mail, or
the fact that she received a ticket? I'm not taking a position here on
automated tickets, though I did receive an automated red light ticket a
while ago that I wasn't happy about, tried to fight, and failed to beat.
It's just not clear to me whether you want to fight an unfair ticket or
beat a legitimate one.
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Fighting a Speeding Ticket
Bill Starrels, Georgetown, mortgagecorp@hotmail.com
Considering the fact that the writer's wife (presuming she was the
driver) got a ticket for driving 37 in a 25 zone — let's see, that is
12 miles per hour over the posted limit — unless the driver knows
something the rest of us do not, I would suggest that she: 1) pays the
ticket, 2) is thankful that there are no points, 3) slows down, 4) has a
happier holiday season.
[Both replies assume that automated speed cameras do not make
mistakes. Two weeks ago, the MPD revealed that for some period it issued
wrongful tickets at two speed cameras that were set to the wrong speed
limit. Is it also possible that a camera could malfunction, or should we
assume that automated speed tickets based on camera surveillance are all
correct and incontestable? — Gary Imhoff]
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This is to advise that the December 2002 on-line edition has been
uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com.
Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports,
editorials (including prior months' archived), restaurant reviews (prior
months' also archived), and the text from the ever-popular "Scenes
from the Past" feature. Also included are all current classified
ads. The complete issue (along with prior issues back to August 2001)
also is available in PDF file format by direct access from our home page
at no charge simply by clicking the link provided. Here you will be able
to view the entire issue as it looks in print, including the new ABC
Board actions report, all photos and advertisements.
The next issue will publish on January 10. The complete PDF version
will be posted by early that Friday morning, following which the text of
the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded
shortly thereafter. To read this month's lead stories, simply click the
link on the home page to the following headlines: 1) “Major Anchor
Project for Columbia Heights Seen Getting Boost from Target Stores”;
2) “Street Call Boxes Well on Way to Being Saved -- Dupont Circle
Neighborhood Groups Join Effort”; 3) “Art a Major Force in the East
End — Winter 'Open Studios' Event Rewards Art Lovers.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Public Hearing on Mansion Land Expansion,
December 16
Bob Andrew, Casey Mansion Committee, rdandrew@erols.com
Plan to come to Georgetown Library at Wisconsin Avenue and R Streets,
NW, Monday night December 16, at 7:00 p.m., to participate in the only
public hearing the National Park Service will hold on a proposed Casey
Mansion Foundation plan to buy four acres of Whitehaven Parkway park
reserve in addition to more than sixteen acres they already own for
building the actual Mayoral mansion. Under the proposal, the foundation
would buy the land to fence it in, add a secure driveway and gatehouse.
The money would be used to buy two or three private townhouses on
Potomac River waterfront in Georgetown that would be torn down to make
way for a new (institutional?) boathouse, on the west end of a new
Georgetown Waterfront Park.
Foxhall Community Citizens Association, ANC2E, and ANC3D have already
unanimously voted to oppose this expansion, though do support building
the mansion itself on the former Brady estate as the alternative to
maybe a 100 or more houses that could be built as of right under R1B
zoning. See http://www.foxhall.org/mansion/summary.htm
for summary of the key issues, also http://www.foxhall.org/mansion
for chronological details of key events to date, the notice about this
hearing, and link to the 133-page Environmental Assessment (EA) report
that NPS plan to present on Monday. If you have a question to ask, read
the material and have it ready, so all affected community residents can
be effective in the use of time in this public hearing opportunity.
Written comments on the environmental assessment are due by January 2,
2003, to joe_cook@nps.gov.
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CHIME’S “Music Around the World” Library
Programs on DCTV, December 17
Dorothy Marschak, chime-dc@erols.com
CHIME’s program on traditional Appalachian folk music and tales,
filmed during the live performance by dulcimer player Ralph Lee Smith
and banjo player Lee Coryell at Mount Pleasant Library on October 12, is
being aired three more times this month at the following times on DCTV
Channels 6 (Comcast) and 11 (Starpower): December 17, 5:30 p.m.;
December 22, 3:30 p.m.; and December 28, 8:00 p.m. Our October 6 program
at Benning Library, great women jazz singers with Cynthia Lin, was aired
many times on the same stations in November, and will be shown again at
various times in the future. Cynthia is now performing in "South
Pacific" at the Arena Stage.
Our library series begins again on January 11 with “Music of Arabic
Peoples” at Francis Gregory Library in Ward 7 presented by Grant
Chamberlain and eminent Jordanian musician Seifed-Din Abbdod (performing
on Oud). There will be sixteen Saturday afternoon programs in the series
on music with Asian, African and European roots given at nine libraries
between January 11 and May 12. The complete schedule, with descriptions
of the programs, can be viewed on our web site, http://www.chime-dc.org.
(There is currently a problem accessing this site from rcn (Starpower)
servers that we hope Starpower can resolve soon).
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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Two bedroom, 1.5 bath house for rent; $1425/month + utilities; 1124 K
Street, SE; near the US Marine Barracks on Capital Hill; approximately
five blocks from Eastern Market Metro stop; wall to wall carpet;
fireplace; brick patio; available immediately.
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CLASSIFIEDS — DONATIONS
Please Donate New and Gently Used Toys to Kids
Who Really Need Them!
Kathleen McLynn, kdmclynn@starpower.net
Do your kids have toys, infant items, clothing, games, books, or
sports stuff (roller blades, cleats, bikes, helmets, etc.) that they
have outgrown? Are you looking for a way to help disadvantaged kids have
a happy holiday? In the spirit of the season, please consider donating
them to Mt. Rona Baptist Church. Each year, Mt. Rona (13th and Monroe
Streets, NW) holds a Christmas celebration where toys find their way
into the hands of less fortunate children, including kids from the local
shelter. All items in good condition are welcome and your donation is
tax deductible.
This grass roots effort first started twelve years ago when families
at Stoddert School, where Bernice McCallum taught for thirteen years,
first adopted the program in support of her volunteer work at Mt. Rona
Church with DC children. Now families in Cleveland Park, AU Park and
other neighborhoods support this great cause as well. (It is all
volunteer, with no administrative waste). If you would like to make a
contribution, please drop toys off at the porch of any of these
locations 24/7: 3723 Veazy Street, NW; 4332 Albemarle Street, NW; 4209
Warren Street, NW; 4120 Garrison Street, NW; 3929 Benton Street, NW;
5124 Chevy Chase Pkwy (use alley, BACK porch). Please make your donation
no later than Thursday, December 19. If you have questions, please call
Bernice McCallum, 726-5852, Mt. Rona Church; or Kathleen McLynn,
966-9837, St. Columba’s Church.
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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
I strongly recommend Delbe Home Improvement, 237-0187. Our contact
there is Dewayne Jiles. This is not just a general contractor, but a
contractor service. You pay a membership to join and you get a personal
representative. Then, whenever you need a contractor, they find one for
you, someone they have checked out and usually worked with before, so
they have some leverage in case something goes wrong. They have
negotiated rates with the contractors, too, so you don't have to deal
with the financial hanky-panky so prevalent in these situations.
Last year, on September 10th, the contractor they found us was a day
away from finishing a big job in our house. On September 11th, the
contractor vanished from the contact. Delbe found him and forced him to
come finish up our job, which must have seemed really trivial to him at
that point — it turned out he was called to help rebuild the Pentagon.
Delbe will also come let contractors in if you cannot get away from
work, and will even water plants and feed pets when you are gone, if
that is what you need. We have been very happy with them and we
recommend them highly.
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and should be about life, government, or politics in the District of
Columbia in one way or another. All postings must be signed in order to
be printed, and messages should be reasonably short — one or two brief
paragraphs would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can
be put into each mailing.