Lowered Expectations
Dear Expecters:
Does everyone remember Vanessa Dale Burns, Mayor Williams's first
director of the Department of Public Works, who dubbed herself the
“snow queen” because she said that she knew how to handle snow
storms? After DPW failed miserably to handle its first moderate snowfall
under her administration, Burns identified the problem in testimony at a
City Council hearing: the residents' expectations were too high, and
they had to be educated not to expect better services. Burns' public
honesty about her intentions may have cost her her job, but it seems
that her strategy was accepted by the city government, and may be
achieving some success with the residents.
The city did clear the major downtown streets, with a great deal of
federal aid, in a reasonable period of time. And the Mayor, DPW Director
Leslie Hotaling, and DOT Director Dan Tangherlini made several public
appearances to congratulate each other for having done a great job. But
it is now the stated goal — the stated goal, not the actuality — of
the city is to get a plow to each neighborhood street at least once
within sixty hours after a snow storm ends. Sixty hours is two and a
half days. That's the goal. Not only that, but the administration seems
to have convinced a number of residents that if they actually succeeded
in responding within two and a half days that that would be acceptable
or even good performance. It is the triumph of the Burns strategy: get
the citizens to expect less and the government can deliver fewer and
poorer services without elected officials being held responsible.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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A Real City Compared to a Rinky-Dink One
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom
If anyone needs more data to reveal just how much of a rinky-dink
operation the District is, they need only to compare how New York City
to DC in snow removal. New York City had more than 23 inches of snow
which stopped late on Monday evening. By 6 p.m. Tuesday, less than 24
hours after the snow stopped, every single street in the city had been
plowed once. New York City has more than 6300 miles of city streets. How
many miles does the District have? 800?
The Mayor promised that all streets would be plowed once within sixty
hours after the snow stopped. They could have used teaspoons in NY City
and cleared the streets in sixty hours. NY City's subways were back to
full operation by Thursday morning. The latest news bulletin (on
Thursday, noon) is that the DC Metrorail system will be back to normal
by next Monday. Only once in my memory was NY City stymied by a heavy
snowfall. I was in grade school in Brooklyn in 1947 when about three
feet of snow fell. I seem to remember that it took about four days to
get the city back to normal. If it ever snowed three feet in DC we'd
likely be shut down for a month.
[The District Department of Transportation estimates that DC has
1,100 miles of streets. — Gary Imhoff]
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I was in New York when the snow hit. All day, businesses that stayed
open and landlords shoveled their sidewalks in the snow. When the snow
ended at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, people and businesses shoveled their
sidewalks. Both avenues and side streets were plowed or being plowed,
and police officers shoveled the streets that a snow plow couldn't get
through. The piles of snow that built up on corners where a plow had
gone by (sometimes seven feet high) were cleared by police officers. I
drove back to DC on Tuesday, and I was angered to find that nothing had
been cleared. I got stuck in the snow twice on the same block (thank you
to the family that saw I was stuck) trying to find a place to park
because the alleyway behind my apartment building hadn't been plowed
either. Some patches of sidewalk were cleared but many were not and many
still are not. Don't people have to shovel their sidewalks; isn't there
a law somewhere? How hard is it to attach a snow plow blade to every
garbage truck in this city? Is this how a city this size with all the
importance it holds functions (or doesn't function) after snow? What
happens when something more frightening — like, oh, say, a terrorist
attack occurs? What happens when Mayor Williams gets 100,000 more people
to live here and basic city services are still this inefficient? Am I
being spoiled and naive? (PS: I shoveled the snow/slush in the alleyway
behind my apartment building to get to the garage door mid-block. I'm
not that spoiled!)
###############
Problems with Snow in DC
Buddy Yingling, Western Avenue, buddydc1@msn.com
I sent the following to Mayor Williams and the DC Council on Friday:
“Snow Emergency parking restrictions are lifted, but parking lanes are
not clear. This results in people parking their cars in the travel lanes
on major thoroughfares. Many, if not most, sidewalks abutting property
owned by the DC government have still not been cleared as of Friday,
February 21, 2003. Many, if not most, sidewalks abutting property owned
by the Federal government have still not been cleared as of Friday,
February 21, 2003. Many, if not most, sidewalks abutting property owned
by the WMATA (Metro) have still not been cleared as of Friday, February
21, 2003.
“The DC government has asked for volunteers to clear snow around
schools. The city has workers whose job descriptions include this task.
DC needs to do the work that our taxes have paid them to do. DC schools
are open on Friday, February 21, 2003, although the streets and
sidewalks are still not safe for young children. I suspect the sole
reason is a numbers game, i.e. they want to get a school day in so they
will have one less to make up. Children's safety does not seem to be a
consideration in this instance. I would suggest that they could have
opened the high schools but left the elementary schools closed. It does
no good to clear main roads when many residential streets have still not
even had one pass by a plow. The city should come up with a plan to plow
and sand all streets to make them passable before it starts clearing
main roads all the way to the pavement.”
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Actually, Parks and Wreck did have crews out on Monday. I saw a mixed
Wrecks and DPW crew shoveling the sidewalk and plowing the parking lot
at the DPR headquarters at 16th and Lamont, NW. The good news is that I
was able to persuade the DPW supervisor to come down with the plow and
dig out the berm at the end of the driveway at Neighbors' Consejo, where
the Hypothermia Patrol van was snowed in. I also saw a "conga
line" of three plows that had apparently come across Porter, up
Park, across Mount Pleasant Street, and out on Irving. This was a
welcome change from years gone by, when the cross town streets got
attention long after the commuter roads. Irving, the other cross-town
street in Mount Pleasant, also got early and frequent plowing, but only
one of two lanes because of parked cars.
However, on Wednesday, 16th Street was only a lane and a half wide
northbound and the bus stops had not been dug out. This meant that the
bus had to stop in the middle of the street to let people on and off,
dragging a long tail of cars behind it. Mount Pleasant's business
district was also only about two lanes wide, resulting in gridlock when
the delivery trucks double parked. Many cars remained on Irving on the
block that is supposed to be two lanes, no parking during rush hours. So
it seems to me that we have, for the first time in a long while, a real
good first strike capability on main roads. What we need now is a more
flexible response to switch to the secondaries, tertiaries, and mopping
up, like schools, bus stops, etc., as snow levels and plowing resources
allow, not according to a rigid schedule that results in plowing dry
roads.
And I think a certain amount of volunteerism is necessary, if not
desirable. I'm off to dig out some bus stops. So I went and dug out a
few crosswalks and started working on the bus stop on 16th. My plastic
shovel was having trouble with the crust, but a guy at the construction
site across the street offered me a steel shovel. I just finished
digging a four foot wide sally port dug in the wall when two guys from
Eagle Maintenance showed up and finished the job. At least I got the
cardio exercise I haven't gotten because I don't jog in the snow.
###############
Comment on Volunteer Shoveling
Edward Cowan, Northwest, edcowan1114@yahoo.com
Gary Imhoff's refusal to shovel snow in front of schools and parks in
his neighborhood carries his self-appointed role as gadfly and critic
too far. In a perfect world, DC employees would do that work. Alas, the
world is imperfect, the DC government — as we know — profoundly
imperfect — short of resources, sometimes disorganized, sometimes
short of leadership. Eighteen inches of snow is more than most any
government can cope with expeditiously and comprehensively. Gary's
refusal to pick up a shovel and help might be defensible if it could
plausibly be believed that refusal would lead to better performance by
the local government. It won't. Next best thing might be to pick up a
shovel and make the community's sidewalks safer and its schools and
recreation facilities more accessible to the people who need to use
them. Get off your high horse, Gary.
###############
Being the good citizen that I am, I thought I would get a jump on the
snow removal process. So on Sunday evening, when we got the first break
from the snow, I spent about two hours shoveling all of the snow away
from the two cars that I own, which were parked in front of my house on
17th Street, SE. I completely cleared the snow, shoveling it onto the
sidewalk, not out into the street. If the roads were clear at the time,
I could have driven away. When I woke up Monday morning, I found that
the snow plows had done a great job clearing a lane down 17th Street,
but, to my horror, they had completely refilled the area that I’d
previously cleared around my two cars! And to make matters worse, they
had plowed more snow in place of what was previously there! You would
think that they would have noticed that I had obviously shoveled a path
around my cars, and therefore, would not just plow new snow into the
cleared area! Nope.
So, I spent another three hours Monday morning, again shoveling the
snow away from my cars, and my sidewalk. While I, and my neighbors, were
shoveling away the snow, the snow plow trucks were coming down 17th
Street, plowing snow right back onto our side of the street and into the
areas that we were in the process of clearing! They did this as we were
standing there shoveling snow away! This, of course, required us to keep
re-shoveling more snow. The next time a snow plow came down the street,
I literally stood in its way, forcing it to go around me and not shovel
more snow my way. At one point, two plows came down 17th Street. The
first plow moved some snow from the left side of the street (where no
cars were parked) and deposited it into the middle of the street. And
then the 2nd plow, which was right behind the first one, deposited that
snow to the right side of the street (where all of the cars were parked
and where my neighbors and I were attempting to shovel the snow).
Once I finally cleared the snow, I removed my car, ran some errands
and returned home. When I returned, I found once again that the snow
plows had deposited more snow into the area that I cleared. So much so
that I was not able to park, and had to spend another hour in the
evening clearing more snow. This whole process was absurd and
ridiculous! I imagine that others experienced the same type of issues,
and I think it was an outrage. There must be some written procedures
outlining snow plowing practices that are resident-friendly? I will give
them some credit though — the main streets were plowed pretty quickly
— unfortunately at the expense of the early birds.
###############
Snow Removal
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at earthlink dot net
In my neighborhood (Logan Circle) it's been the opposite of what
people are reporting. Streets have been cleared pretty efficiently; some
of the smaller streets weren't passable till late Tuesday or early
Wednesday, but all in all, the city has done a good job. On Tuesday I
drove to my office in Fairfax County and found that it was more of a
mess than anything near my house.
Now, if only property owners in the neighborhood did as good a job.
There are tons of unshoveled walks, forcing pedestrians into streets
narrowed by snowdrifts to take their chances on being hit by a car.
According to a story in the Post a few days ago, the fine for failing to
shovel your sidewalk is $25 (which is about a tenth of what it needs to
be) and since no enforcement rules have been written, no tickets can be
issued for the violation. Talk about a complete failure on the city's
part. Unshoveled walks are a safety hazard; property owners who don't
want to shovel should pay someone to do it. Or rent.
###############
Pedestrian Bridge at Minnesota Avenue Metro
Never Cleared of Snow
Dan Durett, ddurett@ncseonline.org
The bridge at Metro's orange line Minnesota station (Minnesota
Avenue, north of Grant Street) is the only safe link and passageway for
residents who live on the north side of I-295 and who need to access
either the Metro station itself or need to gain foot access to the
commercial strip at Minnesota and Benning Road. Along with many of my
neighbors, I have had to contend with a slippery journey to and from the
Metro station. Why is it never cleared? I fear that the answer lies in a
jurisdictional boundary dispute between DC government and Metro. Be that
as it may, the reality is shameful for all persons connected with the
operations of this city. Far be it from me to suggest that the absence
of proper attention to snow removal on this pedestrian bridge has
anything to do with the location of the bridge “across the river,”
the demographics of the community, or other factors traditionally
associated with poor municipal service delivery.
This current snowstorm has seen a dramatic increase in the city's
responsiveness to clearing major avenues and side streets. Many of my
fellow District residents and I applaud that improvement in snow removal
overall. The greatest choir, the most formidable track relay team, the
most skilled architect stand for nothing if there is the slightest
discord in their efforts. I submit that the continuing invisibility of
cleanup at the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station pedestrian bridge
represents a tremendous blemish on the city's efforts to improve service
to customers (voters/consumers/visitors).
###############
Truly Diabolical, Stewart-Style
Star Lawrence, jkellaw@aol.com
Bob Levine commented: “How did the terrorists manage to make it
snow so much? We know all harm and all of our ills come from either Iraq
or Al Queda.” This threat was fully explored by Jon Stewart on The
Daily Show. Not only did the terrorists make it snow, but they are so
diabolical, no two flakes are alike, so scientists cannot determine the
origin of this crystalline and strangely cold white substance.
###############
I would like to know if a citizen living in Arizona Terrace would get
a discount on real estate taxes due to the fact that the street
apparently does not exist in the City Hall map and probably for this
reason has never been plowed. The snow plows were sent to the nearby
Hawthorne Place, but we had to dig ourselves out to reach Hawthorne
Place and the spotlessly clean Arizona Avenue. If we are not considered
eligible for the only thing the municipality is expected to do, I do not
see why we have to pay them to clean other peoples' streets even more
than was necessary (such as Massachusetts Avenue, where people are
complaining about too many snow plows doing nothing but making noise)
and leaving us alone with our emergency.
###############
Property Tax Assessments for FY 2004
Peter S. Craig, swedecraig@aol.com
The weeks following March 1 are likely to be marked by widespread
public outcries over the assessments scheduled to be issued that day.
Part of the problem is that property owners are left in the dark about
the reasons for their specific assessments. To help avoid this problem,
I sent the following request to Thomas Branham, Chief Assessor, on
February 13: “Soon OTR will be issuing proposed assessments for Tax
Year 2004 to all owners of residential properties in former Triennial
Groups 1, 2 and 3. On behalf of myself and other owners of residential
properties in the District of Columbia, I respectfully request that such
notices include at least the following information:
“1) The address, lot, square, use and class of the real property.
2) The assessed value of the land and improvements (shown separately and
in total) for the current tax year (2003) and the proposed assessed
value of the same for tax year 2004. 3) The amount and percentage of
change in assessed value for the land and improvements in tax year 2004
compared with 2003. 4) A clear and precise indication of the reason or
basis for the proposed change, indicating the methodology used in
deriving the new assessment, with an indication of the precise OTR
regulation authorizing the same. (E.g., based on cost of replacement new
less depreciation of your property, as authorized by Municipal
Regulations, Title 9, Section 307.4.) If the methodology is not
described in full in such Municipal Regulations, enclose a copy of the
order authorizing the methodology and describe the methodology in terms
which the average layman will understand. (E.g., based on a
"trending" multiplier of 38% for your neighborhood derived by
John Doe from an assessment-sales ratio study). 5) A statement of appeal
procedures under the D. C. Code, including a statement of the property
owner's right to intervene in the class action litigation now pending in
the Tax Division of the Superior Court (Peter S. Craig, et al., v.
District of Columbia, et al., Tax Division Docket No. 8112-02) which
challenges the lawfulness of "trending" based on
assessment-sales ratio studies. 6) A copy of the CAMA sheet and/or
property record of the property being assessed showing how the
assessment figures were derived. 7) A statement of the location of the
complete assessment roll, assessment-sales ratio studies, lists of sales
of residential properties, relevant cost manuals or assessors' manuals,
CAMA sheets on other properties, maps, field books, surveys and plats
and the hours during which such information is available for inspection
and copying.
“In addition, I respectfully request that the cost manual used to
develop market value of residential properties for Tax Year 2004 be
placed on the OTR's Internet website, as has been the case in Montgomery
County. The failure to include the above information in assessment
notices and the failure to post the cost manual information on the
website will cause wasteful confusion and distress and a deprivation of
the taxpayers' rights to fair notice of the rationale for their
particular assessments. It will also cause a severe and costly waste of
time and resources, not only for the taxpayers but also for OTR
personnel if not provided at the time the assessment notices are issued.
Therefore, I trust you will act to accommodate the taxpayers' rights to
know, in timely fashion, the basis of their own property assessments so
that they may intelligently decide whether an appeal is justified and,
if so, what issues need to be addressed on appeal.”
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Real Property Assessments for the Whole of DC
William Haskett, gollum@earthlink.net
I should like to urge the members of the DC Council to pay prompt and
careful attention to the requests and to the implied argument of Dr.
Peter Craig, relating to the terms of real property assessments, and
sent to Thomas H. Branham, Chief Assessor in the Office of Tax and
Revenue, on February 13. This is a long-term issue that merits attention
from everyone at all concerned with the operations of the District
Administration, and the real prospects for serious autonomy for its
citizens. It is not so deep as a well, but it will serve. It reaches to
social policy and residence, so far as both are directly affected by
tax-policy, and especially in a period of likely-deficits in revenue.
My own view that much of what is said reflects the reality that the
Assessor's Office does not have the staff that would be required to
carry out its assigned task in full, but also that this assigned task
(an annual assessment of every taxable property in DC at 100 percent of
its market value) is probably undesirable, and certainly impossible.
This is unwise government because it appears to prepare a long period of
dispute over both the actual level of assessments, and over the process
by which an impossible task is muddled through. I understand that the
government of DC is in deficit at present, and probably for the
foreseeable future, but would argue that we are not Arkansas' travelers,
and should provide remedy, and apply corrective measures, whenever we
can, and before we are pushed further into undesirable outcomes.
###############
I know we just finished elections, but potential candidates are
already positioning themselves for the 2004 election. Calls are being
made and possible supporters and campaign workers are being identified.
Here are some of the early players advancing themselves or being
advanced by others for 2004 — many of them using their current
government jobs to develop contacts. In Wards 2 and 4, Councilmember
Evans and Fenty don't have any major opponents yet. In Ward 7, Kevin
Chavous could run against Stan Jackson, the current director of the
Department of Housing and Community Development; Rodney Newman, at the
Department of Transportation (formerly at the Clean City Initiative); or
Vincent Gray, former director of the Department of Human Services under
Sharon Pratt Kelly and now executive director of Covenant House. On the
other hand, Chavous is floating the idea of running for an at-large
seat, challenging Harold Brazil. In Ward 8, candidates lining up against
Sandy Allen include Carlton Pressley, director of the Mayor's Office of
Religious Affairs; Eugene Kinlow, Jr., who ran as an independent for an
at-large seat last year; Linda Moody, the president of the DC Congress
of PTAs; and William Lockridge, a school board member for District 4.
The two at-large Council seats up in 2004 are held by Harold Brazil and
Carol Schwartz. Brazil chairs the powerful Council Committee on Economic
Development, but is viewed as very vulnerable; however, his only
possible challengers as of now seem to be Chavous and Bill Rice, who ran
at-large in 1998 and now is in charge of public relations for the
Department of Transportation. Schwartz, in a post-election interview
last November, indicated that she may not seek elective office again in
the future, but she doesn't seem to have any opposition in the
Republican Party, and the Republicans could well lose her seat if she
doesn't run again.
The most interesting development is the early expression of interest
of mayoral candidates, or of their supporters, either for 2006 or in
case Mayor Williams doesn't serve out his full term, either because he
takes another job, succumbs to continuing scandals, or resigns to take
care of family obligations. Three being mentioned are Eric Holder,
former US Attorney for DC and Deputy US Attorney General; A. Scott
Bolden, former chair of the DC Chamber of Commerce and lawyer with Reed,
Smith; and Michael Rogers, former City Administrator under Mayor Barry,
executive director of the Council of Governments, and now an executive
vice president with MedStar Health. Of course, the usual Council names
-- Evans, Brazil, and Chavous — are also being tossed into the mix.
And today, in an interview with Donna Brazile in the New York Times, she
publicly revealed that she would like to succeed Eleanor Holmes Norton
in Congress, though she won't run against her.
On Thursday, February 20, Natwar Gandhi, the Chief Financial Officer,
and Mayor Williams held a press conference at which they revealed that
at this point in the fiscal year the DC government was facing $128
million in “budget pressures,” which is this administration's
euphemism for overspending, and outlined their proposals for revenue
sources and budget cuts to bring the budget back into balance. However,
they didn't mention that the DC Public Schools are also facing an
additional $35 million shortfall, which the Board of Education discussed
at its meeting the evening before. Apparently, none of the savings
promised by DCPS in special education have actually been achieved. When
Gandhi and Williams were asked about the school deficit, they replied
essentially that it was the Board of Education's problem, and that the
city would not bail them out from the general fund as it had done last
year.
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All right, I have a question for the list and for our police
department. What kind of authority is necessary for a DC police officer
to turn on his emergency lights and siren? It’s 3:30 p.m. on Saturday,
February 22, Wisconsin and Q Street, NW, and I just saw a police car
#269 doing doughnuts in the street. He pulled two 360 degree reverses on
Wisconsin Avenue and then did one on Q Street before pulling out up on
Wisconsin Avenue. He was able to do this because he had his lights and
siren on, so traffic stopped for him while he figured out where he
wanted to go. My question is what kind of authority is necessary for him
to put on his lights and siren? Does he have to report doing so and is
it necessary for a superior officer to authorize use of emergency
lights, or are these people just allowed to play with them on our city
streets?
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We have all had the experience of a tune running through our heads,
over and over. Lately I keep hearing Ray Bolger as the scarecrow in the
Wizard of Oz singing, “. . . if I only had a brain.” It's funny, but
the tune always seems to hit me whenever I hear about the latest from
the DC Government or Metro. I know that it is not politically correct to
say that someone is not smart enough to do a job, but recent events
speak volumes. For example, who in the DC Government every thought that
one person on duty on the 911 phones would be sufficient? I don't know
anything about 911 services, but I do know that one person can never be
enough. Allowing time for toilet breaks or responding the occasional
long call would require the services of at least two people, regardless
of the size of the population supported. If scheduled operators don't
show up for work, someone in the DC Government, up to and including the
mayor, must stand in. (“If I only had a brain.”) Metro management,
knowing that a substantial storm was coming, left rail cars outside to
be trapped. To state of obvious, parts of Metro, particularly in high
density areas, are underground. The system, at a minimum, should husband
resources to sustain service on the underground part of the system,
regardless of the weather. (“If I only had a brain.”)
Our police chief thinks that rather than redeploying his officers to
better meet law enforcement needs, he'll just decorate the few on patrol
by having them turn their colored lights on. This provides no additional
coverage and just desensitizes us all to the flashing police lights that
were designed to command attention. (“If I only had a brain.”) The
public works supervisors had their troops continue to plow a clear
Massachusetts Avenue when all the surrounding side streets were
untouched. (“If I only had a brain.”)
In the private sector I like to think that people are given
responsibility based on merit. Of course, that isn't always true. The
difference is that in the private sector companies fail and die due to
stupid management decisions. Through this Darwinian pruning we tend to
eliminate those people not smart or talented enough. It is only in the
public sector that we apparently must continually suffer through the
failings of those who have jobs that they don't merit. Both the DC
Government and Metro should do a little pruning of those who make poor
decisions. There is no reason these individuals should be given more
opportunities to harm our health, welfare, and safety.
###############
Six 911 Operators Missing in Action During
Dupont Fire
John Aravosis, john@safestreetsdc.com
The Washington Post reported Saturday that four DC Police 911
employees were “unaccounted for” the morning of the deadly Dupont
Circle house fire, and that two more employees ended their shift early,
leaving the city's 911 call center woefully understaffed at the exact
time of the Dupont fire that killed one young man, destroyed one home
and severely damaged several others. You can read the Washington Post
story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45309-2003Feb21.html.
The Post noted that the official police version of how the 911
office handled the fire is constantly changing (the Metropolitan Police
Department (MPD) runs the city's 911 communications center). A week ago,
the police held a press conference in which they exonerated themselves
of any wrongdoing in the fire, claiming they had a full compliment of
thirteen operators working the 911 lines the morning of the fatal fire.
The Post reported this fact here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5201-2003Feb13.html.
The police told the media that twenty-seven calls had come into 911
around the time of the fire, and that's why the thirteen call takers
were understandably overwhelmed and thus couldn't answer the calls about
the Dupont Fire. Listen to a snippet of FOX 5 reporting that fact: http://www.safestreetsdc.com/graphics/ramseykca220/fox5.wav.
But then the story changed, and the police issued a press release in
which they said they didn't have thirteen operators answering calls, but
that they had eleven operators on duty that morning. See paragraph five
of this police press release from last week: http://www.mpdc.dc.gov/news/news.shtm.
Then Thursday, the story changed again. Chief Ramsey told a public
gathering in Adams Morgan that it wasn't thirteen or even eleven 911
operators working the morning of the fire. Now we're told there were
only six operators taking calls that morning. (Ramsey revealed that
there should have been fourteen operators working at the time, but two
of the MPD 911 operators were on authorized breaks, two had chosen on
their own to end their shift early, and four operators were
missing-in-action and unaccounted for while young Christopher Duncan
Smith sustained burns that would eventually kill him.) Watch a video
snippet of Chief Ramsey's latest revelation: http://www.safestreetsdc.com/graphics/ramseykca220/ramsey_mia.avi.
Which raises a few questions. Why does the official police version of
events keep changing, when last week the police exonerated themselves of
all wrongdoing? Is it because the police have appointed the head of the
911 office to investigate himself in this probe, a clear conflict of
interest? Also, if twenty-seven calls had come in that morning around 6
a.m., and the police can only account for six operators taking calls at
the time, then what happened to the twenty-one other calls? Were they
too dropped while these five 911 employees went missing? And if so, what
other urgent appeals for help may have been ignored that day? Fire
victim Nicolas Gutman has now publicly called for an independent outside
(non-MPD) investigation of 911's handling of the fire which destroyed
his home and killed his friend.
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Department of Motor Vehicle Tickets
Renata Serafin, ata0001@aol.com
This is in response to Jason Ziedenberg's DMV comments: I feel your
pain! Last year I bought a car and in the process, tried to switch auto
insurance to a less expensive policy. (I won't even go into the debacle
of getting my new tags. The saga stretched more than days — that's
three sets of temporary tags that get renewed every thirty days)!
Anyhow, the new insurance agent called to let me know they couldn't
issue me a policy because my license was pending suspension. What? I
too, was never notified. After taking time off from work and getting my
driving records from the clerk at C Street, I found out that the DC DMV
had never recorded a past speeding ticket as having been paid to the
state of Maryland in 2000 — two years earlier. As Jason described, I
also had to gather all of my evidence (cancelled check, etc.) and bring
it downtown before the clerk struck it from my record and restored my
license. I kept a copy of my cleared record, which has proved
invaluable.
Six months later, I'm pulled over for an “improper turn” (I'm not
a reckless driver, I swear). The officer runs my tags and finds out that
— guess what — my license is “pending suspension.” Too bad I
didn't have that copy with me! Once again, I trek to the DMV, this time
to 65 K Street. They pull up my driving record and assure me that it is
indeed clean. A year later, last week, I'm shopping for car insurance
again. A different agent runs my records and informs me that he cannot
issue a policy because my license is (sigh) pending suspension for that
very same infraction, now nearly three years old. My copy of the clean
driving record is proving to be priceless. I didn't criticize the DMV
three years again when I moved here. Getting my driver's license and
tags switched was a breeze, but this is getting ridiculous! I am
extremely lucky that I wasn't thrown in jail, too! Does anyone know how
to get this solved once and for all? Going to 65 K Street doesn't seem
to help the situation.
###############
Now you see why rent control is an illegitimate interference in the
free market. This type of legislative socialism almost always has
unintended consequences.
Cities with imposed rent control have caused a loss of rental housing
stock, and the limitation of maintenance that you see here. Why would an
entrepreneur, forced to accept rents lower than the prevailing market
and demand would bring, maximize his/her expense, unless showing a loss
is important for tax purposes. With the phoniness of our tax laws, we
often cause people to do things that make no economic sense, but that
doesn't make it wise.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Benjamin Banneker at Smithsonian, February 27
Alexander M. Padro, PadroANC2C@aol.com
Learn more about Benjamin Banneker, the first African American man of
science, an astronomer and mathematician who also helped survey the
District of Columbia in 1791, at a Black History Month Event on
Thursday, February 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue,
SW. The event, entitled “Uplifting Benjamin Banneker to His Rightful
Place in American History” and featuring the author of a recent
biography of Banneker and a Banneker reenactor, is free and no
reservations are required. The event is being cosponsored by the
Washington Interdependence Council, sponsors of the Benjamin Banneker
Memorial planned for the L'Enfant Promenade in Southwest Washington, in
conjunction with the National Museum of African Art.
The event will mark the establishment of the Banneker Ambassador
Society, dedicated to advancing the cause of erecting a memorial in
Washington. Participants will hear from Charles Cerami, author of
Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot, and
actor/storyteller Bill Grimmette, portraying Benjamin Banneker. The
co-chairs for the event are Jeannine Clark, Regent Emeritus, Smithsonian
Institution, and Charles Hicks, Chair, DC Black History Commission. For
more information on the event and the Benjamin Banneker Memorial,
contact the Washington Interdependence Council at 387-3380.
###############
One More Chance to See Silver Spring
Documentary, February 28
Jerry A. McCoy, sshistory@yahoo.com
The acclaimed historical documentary “Silver Spring: Story of an
American Suburb” will air one last time on Friday evening, February
28, at 9:00 p.m. on PBS affiliate WETA TV 26 in Washington, DC. If you
would like to receive an order form for the video, E-mail your name and
address to sshistory@yahoo.com.
For the documentary's official web site see http://home.earthlink.net/~chaosmos/silverhome.html.
For WETA's press release on the documentary see http://www2.weta.org/tv/silverspring.html.
I hope you enjoy the program!
###############
For Surviving the Snow, Treat Yourself to the
Opera, February 28 and March 2
Mary Alice Levine, levines5@erols.com
Here’s an opportunity to hear (and see) opera, live, in Tenleytown,
and at movie prices. On February 28 and March 2, the Eldbrooke Artist
Series will present Giuseppi Verdi’s La Traviata (The Transgressor),
to be sung in Italian, with area professionals in principal roles and in
the chamber orchestra. Friday performance at 7:30; Sunday at 1:30
Admission $10 for adults and $5 for students under age 18. At Eldbrooke
United Methodist Church, on River Road around the corner from Tenleytown
Metro. Questions? Call 966-4975.
Based on a story by Alexander Dumas the younger, “The Lady of the
Camellias” is the tale of a courtesan who gives up her lover to save
his family's good name. Violetta’s idyllic happiness is ended and her
frail health, foreshadowed early on, worsens. Her unselfish character
and her sacrifice lead to a reunion with her lover, which occurs when
she is on her deathbed. The story has been written as a play, and has
been filmed more than once, most famously with Greta Garbo as Camille
and Robert Taylor as her lover. (Ask your parents, or indeed your
grandparents; that version was produced in 1937.) The role of the tragic
heroine will be sung by soprano Marje Palmieri, whose last appearance at
Eldbrooke was in the role of Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. She
has sung the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with this company, Madam
Butterfly at the Kennedy Center, and Anna in The King and I. Her lover,
Alfredo, will be played by David Holovac, one of the founders of
Eldbrooke opera and premier tenor in several productions. He has won the
Princess in Magic Flute, stabbed Carmen in despair, abandoned the lovely
Marguerite in Faust, and mourned the dying Mimi in La Boheme. Alfredo’s
father, Giorgio Germont, will be sung by baritone Sterling Scroggins,
director of the Eldbrooke Artist Series, local music teacher, and
Washington Opera chorus member. And Violetta’s friend Flora will be
sung by a young mezzo-soprano currently based in the Washington area;
Bridgette Cooper has sung at Carnegie Hall in New York and with the
Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has also sung with the Charleston Symphony
Tour of Porgy and Bess, and with a national tour of Show Boat.
Eldbrooke productions are fully staged, with imaginative use of the
choir loft, balcony, and aisles. This story is set in Paris, among the
upper classes; costumes will be evocative of high fashion from a century
and a half ago. Two good web sites for learning about Verdi and La
Traviata are http://www.r-ds.com/opera/verdiana/traviata.htm
and http://www.operaed.org/learningcenter/frames/fs_trav.htm.
###############
Porches at the National Building Museum, March
12
Michael Dolan, emdolan@erols.com
Michael Dolan, author of The American Porch: An Informal History
of an Informal Place, appears 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, at
the National Building Museum. Based on his 2002 book (now in its second
printing), Dolan's lecture will address the porch as architectural and
cultural icon. Show includes hundreds of slides, plus video and film.
Book signing afterwards. (Building Museum, 401 F Street NW,
202/272-2448; http://www.theamericanporch.com)
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — FREE
Refrigerator available for donation to nonprofit. Maureenflanagan@starpower.net.
###############
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