Hard-Boiled Eggs for Easter

Dear Hard-Boiled Readers:

It's a short Easter issue of themail, so I'll ramble on longer than usual. For the past eight months, small gangs of children in Columbia Heights have been breaking house and car windows, causing tens of thousands of dollars of damage. Today, three of those children who have been breaking windows in the southern part of Columbia Heights broke the back windshield and driver's side window in our car, parked in the driveway in our side yard. Dorothy saw them, watched them run, and traced them back to the house where they live, where she saw them sitting on their front porch. We called the 911 emergency number, and told the dispatcher what had happened and that we knew where the children were; the operator said she would dispatch the first available car. An hour later, after no officer had arrived, Dorothy called 911 again and demanded to speak with a supervisor. She was told that no car had ever been dispatched because our complaint was classified as a minor property crime. When the police cars arrived fifteen or twenty minutes after the second call, Dorothy took the responding officer to the children's house, and the children admitted that they had broken our car windows. The officer insisted that we try to work something out with the children's parents so that no crime report would have to be filed. We said that the children breaking windows in the neighborhood had been getting away with it for months without being caught, that the kids knew that they could get away with it, and if nothing happened even after they had been caught and identified they would learn that they could continue with no consequences. We asked to speak to the officer's supervisor. The Sergeant, when he arrived at the scene, also tried to talk us out of proceeding. (They were young children; Dorothy couldn't testify that she had witnessed the actual blows against both windows; the children's confessions couldn't be used in court; we'd just have to get involved in a lengthy community diversion process; and so on.) Finally, after much argument and although the Sergeant dismissed us angrily, we received a promise that an incident report would be filed, but goodness knows what that report will say and how much good it will do.

This is just one small example, multiplied hundreds of times every week, of the way that the Metropolitan Police Department runs after several years of Chief Charles Ramsey's management. This is the performance that pleases Mayor Williams so much. This is the why citizens are driven to despair and eventually driven to leave the city. “I'm just tired of everything in this city being a hassle,” Dorothy said to me this afternoon. “Maybe we should sell out and move.” Yep, I know how she feels.

Thomas Ruffin, Jr., and Horace Bradshaw, Jr., have filed a class action lawsuit over the way that DC runs its red-light camera program. (There was a brief article about the lawsuit in the Washington Post on Wednesday, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42302-2003Apr16.html (scroll down to the bottom), and a longer article in the Washington Times, http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030417-31580248.htm. The lawsuit was also mentioned in Adrienne Washington's column, http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20030418-15590035.htm, and in an editorial in Friday's Times, http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20030418-84984039.htm. As soon as we get a copy of the lawsuit, we'll post it on DCWatch.com.) George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr commented on this lawsuit in the popular weblog The Volokh Conspiracy, http://volokh.blogspot.com/: “I took a look at this issue back in August 2001 when the DC traffic camera law was first enacted. At first blush, the law certainly struck me as constitutionally suspect, and I was all set to make a big stink about the issue. Then I read some of the relevant cases. It turns out that the DC Court of Appeals has held that traffic violations in the District of Columbia are civil violations, not criminal violations. The difference gives the government much more flexibility, and makes challenging the traffic law very much of an uphill climb. Not completely impossible, but an uphill climb.” If Kerr is correct, then any relief will have to come from the City Council, and that won't happen. If the City Council has a choice between our constitutional rights and the city's profits, then write off any possibility that the City Council will do the right thing.

Everyone who wrote disagreed with my discomfort at Justice Ginsburg's attendance at an event honoring Lee Bollinger, who is the named defendant in the affirmative action case now being heard by the Supreme Court. Let me propose a thought experiment. Let's say that Justice Ginsburg had attended an event honoring Barry Black, the Ku Klux Klan member who was the named defendant in Virginia v. Black, the recent cross-burning case decided by the Supreme Court, and that Black had used the occasion to argue his position before her. Would those who wrote approve of that? If not, why not? Because they disapprove of Black and his actions? If so, then doesn't attending the Bollinger event indicate approval of Bollinger and his actions, and signal Justice Ginsburg's bias in the case?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Officer Krupke
Bob Levine, rilevine@cpcug.org

It’s a nice Easter gift. There are high school students threatening locals in Georgetown after school. We have out-of-control kids getting out of school on our streets and the city does nothing to control them. In February I complained to the mayor's office and on Easter Sunday I get a call back. In April. Not action but a call back. It takes two months to get even a phone call out of MPD. A Sgt. Griffin promised to stay in touch, or maybe to do something.

My city in action. The funniest thing about this is the solution to the problem is simply to station a cop on the corner. That’s probably the oldest police action known.

My tax dollars at work. Where is Officer Krupke when you need him?

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Neighborhoods and Police
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

Last Thursday, the Greater Washington Research Program at the Brookings Institution held a roundtable forum on “Revitalizing Washington's Neighborhoods.” At the forum, Alice Rivlin released a new study she wrote for Brookings, “Revitalizing Washington's Neighborhoods: A Vision Takes Shape” (http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/gwrp/publinks/2003/rivlinrevitalizing.htm). This report is essentially a reformulation of a study that Rivlin and Carol O'Cleireacain did for Brookings in June 2001, “Envisioning a Future Washington” (http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/gwrp/dcfuture.htm). In conducting the research for the report, Rivlin and her staff at Brookings relied almost exclusively on information provided by District government officials, particularly by the Office of Planning, and they did not attempt to meet with neighborhood groups or residents or to do any independent analysis. Compounding the problem of planning for neighborhoods without neighborhood input, no civic or community leaders or representatives of neighborhoods were invited to the Brookings forum. Instead the invited audience consisted of representatives of government, business, foundations, community development corporations, developers, universities, hospitals, and other large institutions.

Also at the forum, Mayor Williams announced “Neighborhood 10: Ten Strategies for a Stronger Washington,” which are supposed to be “ten key strategies designed to form a comprehensive and collaborative approach for strengthening District neighborhoods.” These ten strategies turned out to be a repackaging and rehashing of already existing governmental program initiatives, with no new elements except for the title “Neighborhood 10.” Meanwhile, there was no mention of public safety as an integral part of revitalizing neighborhoods and attracting 100,000 new residents to the District over the next decade.

Over the past week, Mayor Williams has criticized Councilmember Kathy Patterson and the Council Judiciary Committee for trimming the sizable budget increase for the Metropolitan Police Department in his proposed FY 2004 budget. For months, Williams has been maintaining that crime is down in the District of Columbia. His newfound interest in increasing the number of officers in the MPD to 3,800 comes as news is finally filtering out that the District is well on its way to recapturing its title as murder capital of the United States (see “District's Homicide Rate on the Rise,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58533-2003Apr19.html). Williams seems to be having some success in his cynical ploy to blame the Council for “understaffing” the police force. For the past several years, the Council has repeatedly adopted budgets for MPD that called for 3,800 sworn officers. Chief Ramsey and Mayor Williams have not attempted to recruit these additional officers, and have instead diverted the funds intended for additional staffing to other uses. At 3,600 sworn officers, the District's ratio of officers to residents, 631/100,000, is already twice as high as any other state, and well above the level of any other city (New York City's ratio is second at 513/100,000, and Philadelphia's is third at 481/100,000.) This year, the Council cut the personnel budget to reflect the level that Ramsey and Williams have maintained for several years and reprogramed the money to pay for salary increases that the administration had already negotiated and promised to officers, and that the administration did not intend to honor. As a result, Mayor Williams has taken political advantage by attacking the Councilmembers as soft on crime.

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The City’s Web Site, or the Mayor’s Web Site?
John Whiteside, johnwhiteside at earthlink dot net

I assume that the city web site, http://www.washingtondc.gov, is maintained by the city and paid for by our tax dollars. Thus, I was quite surprised to find a press release there today that was basically a political statement by the mayor (http://www.washingtondc.gov/mayor/news/release.asp?cp=1&id=483). I expect the Mayor's statements to reflect his point of view, but a press release calling for citizens to lobby their city councilors to support the mayor's position on a budget matter? This seems to cross a line to me. Especially with quotes like this: “'Don't forget,' added the Mayor, 'that these are the same councilmembers who complain that spending is out of control and services aren't improving fast enough. Yet here they are ramping up salaries across the board, rather than investing in public safety.'”

It reminds me of when I lived in Virginia and DMV mailings would include a flyer on “Governor Jim Gilmore's Car Tax Rollback.” Slimy.

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He Don’t Want to Run Nothin’ But His Mouth
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom

With apologies to a former mayor of DC who used those words to describe the effectiveness of Jesse Jackson, I bring that quote back because it is timely. It is timely to think of that very quote with regard to our current mayor, Tony Williams. The Mayor came out strong with a laundry list of things he would have the DC government working on in his second term. I seem to remember that the improvement of our schools was high up on that list. That gave me some hope.

My comments, at that time, indicated that this was the right time for tough reforming of a dilapidated and dysfunctional school system that was ineffective in delivering education to most of the kids in DC. So, where's the beef? Where is the action that follows up the big talk? There's still three years left, Mr. Mayor. Anything good you do now will put something positive on a very iffy resume' to date.

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Dialing for Dullards
Mark Eckenwiler, themale@ingot.org

Last fall, a telemarketer called my house at 5:24 a.m., an hour at which I had the unthinkable audacity to be sleeping quietly. Because space limits in themail preclude reciting here the complete tale, I have put together a web page describing how I thereafter identified and successfully sued the perpetrator for a substantial sum of money. The page includes extensive information on DC Small Claims Court, the DC and federal laws under which telemarketers may be sued by private citizens, and methods for hunting down and identifying elusive telemarketing vermin.

Anyone in DC who has suffered at the hands of telemarketers — approximately 97.6 percent of the population, I estimate conservatively — may have a use for http://www.panix.com/~eck/telemarket.html.

Comments welcome.

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Realism Strikes Home
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom

Peggy Cooper Cafritz, president of the DC School Board, is under fire for her change in position on school vouchers. She has “evolved” her stance on vouchers as a result of the realism that the DC School System cannot be reformed in her lifetime. Ms Cafritz crafted an incredibly good blueprint a few months ago on how to rework the DC Public School System to make it effective and efficient. Recognizing now that the School Board does not have the power to implement that blueprint, Ms. Cafritz is willing to accept that it is better to agree to any offers that will result in improving the education of some of DC's kids.

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Tax Parity Act of 1999
Warren Gorlick, wgorlick@cftc.gov

In the prior issue, Mark Eckenwiler provided helpful links to web sites that explain the details of the 1999 Tax Parity Act that led a reduction of the property tax for apartment building owners from $1.54/100 in assessed valuation, to only $.96/100 of assessed valuation. The bottom line is that, while commercial landlords received a windfall reduction in the property taxes that they paid through full implementation of the 1999 Tax Parity Act, the parts of the Tax Parity Act that apply to individuals, particularly the reduction in the DC income tax, were "suspended" (see E-mail below) last year on the grounds that there were insufficient funds, and Mayor Williams has now proposed an increase in the income tax that would apply to all singles or couples earning over $100,000. One has to wonder why the Council and the Mayor still seem so willing to increase taxes on residents (through higher property tax assessments and the Mayor's proposed income tax increases), but seem quite happy to drastically reduce taxes for landlords. I am also forwarding below an E-mail from Councilman Patterson, that was forwarded to me by someone who had read my earlier postings, that sheds further light on the Tax Parity Act. Councilman Patterson's E-mail follows:

“In 1998, the DC Tax Revision Commission recommended establishing a single tax rate for residential property, for purposes of equity and administrative simplicity. At the time, the District taxed owner-occupied (Class 1) real property at $0.96 per $100 of assessed value, with a separate tax (Class 2) for renter-occupied residential property of $1.54 per $100 of assessed value. As a result of the Tax Parity Act of 1999, Class 2 was gradually phased out over a three-year period ending on October 1, 2001, and all residential real property is now taxed at $0.96 per $100 of assessed value. The homestead exemption still ensures a lower property tax rate for owner-occupied properties by exempting the first $30,000 from the tax and there is an additional exemption of 50 percent available to senior citizens.

“The Tax Parity Act of 1999 also includes phased reductions (suspended in midstream due to the District's fiscal crisis) in the individual income tax, the commercial real property tax, and in business franchise taxes. Taxes eliminated by the District include the Arena Tax (charged to businesses) and the sales tax on snack foods (which was difficult to administer given the fine line between what is and is not a 'snack').”

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DCMR Online
Buddy Yingling, Western Avenue, buddydc1@msn.com

I want to thank Dorothy Brizill for letting themail readers know about the availability of the DCMR online (at least partially). Now, what are we all going to do about the fact the DC government wants to charge for access to it? I believe it should be available for free and I am going to let the Mayor and Council know about my view.

[The DCMR comes in a free version without search capability and a paid subscription version that can be searched. But Mr. Yingling's position is a good one. The Amlegal web site is not adding any proprietary information to the municipal regulations: it has no additional research, citations, or explications. Why should citizens have to pay for online access to their city's legal documents? — Gary Imhoff]

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Ethical Behavior
Edward Cowan, Friendship Heights, edcowan1114@yahoo.com

I think you are looking too hard for unseemly or unethical behavior. I certainly don't fault Columbia President Lee Bollinger for talking to a group of Columbia alumni gathered in Washington about a topic that is germane to university life, and on which his position is well known. One could argue that Justice Ginsberg should have stayed away from this event because of the pendancy of the Michigan case, but I would not argue that. She knows Bollinger's position, having read the briefs and heard the oral argument. To argue that she could not go to this public event — not an ex parte communication — would require one to go on to say that she may not read or view news accounts of the arguments before the court or of any speech that Bolinger (or any party) makes on this subject. All of which would be absurd.

I have every confidence that Justice Ginsberg was not influenced unduly by what she heard at the Washington meeting of Columbia alumni. Don't you?

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Supreme Ethics
Peter Luger, lugerpj at georgetown dot educational institution

I think our moderator should stick to his own rule and not comment on non-local related issues. I doubt Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could be unduly influenced (or duly influenced) by attending the Bollinger event. For one, she probably already knows how she is going to vote on the affirmative action issue. Second, if she and Bollinger are already well acquainted and quite possibly friends, whatever influence he might have is already a done deal. Third, what does she have to gain by allowing herself to be influenced? Isn't that the issue of ethics in politics . . . being influenced for gain? I would make the same defense for all of the Justices, a number of whom I can't stand. Even during the 2000 Presidential Election debacle, one could argue that they wimped out or towed the party line instead of looking at the law, but I don't think any of them were unduly influenced by anyone in particular nor did they act unethically due to some influence. That's the beauty of our Supreme Court . . . it's fairly well insulated from this nonsense so perfected by Mayor Williams. To compare Justice Ginsburg to him is an insult.

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Bollinger
Bill McColl, University of Michigan ’86, wmccoll@drugpolicy.org

Why should Lee Bollinger shy away from the tough issues of the day, particularly those in which he's deeply involved?? He's the President of an ivy-league university; he should have something worth saying about this. If there happens to be a Supreme Court Justice present, well, that's just his good luck. I'm sure there's not a gag order on the parties. I imagine that there are probably more than a few events at which Justice Department officials speak before Supreme Court Justices. Of course, Justice seems to be afraid to talk about their opinion.

Per Ginsburg, there is some tension in what is and is not appropriate for Supreme Court Justices. A recent book about William Douglas (about which I've only read reviews) seems to indicate that there is a standard of behavior that Justices need to meet to retain the respect of the nation. However, this isn't an ex parte conversation and Supreme Court justices aren't the triers of fact (which is why we sequester juries). Truly, they aren't supposed to be in some kind of insulated bubble. In fact, one of the major criticisms of this court is that they are highly intellectual and seem to have no sense whatsoever about the humanity behind the rulings that they issue (a critique made best by Baltimore Sun Supreme Court reporter Lyle Denniston, whom I got to talk to a couple of times while in law school). From the opposite side, Justice Rehnquist has spoken out quite a bit about a number of issues of the day, as have Scalia and others. Most recently, Justice Kennedy spoke about mandatory minimum sentencing issues and the shame of prison systems reaching two million inmates. Undoubtedly he will hear mandatory minimum cases in the future (incidentally this may be the only issue which I agree with him on). If they can speak out, why can't they listen?

Finally, it is interesting that some DC-based Columbia alumni, judging by your applause line comment, are either disinterested in or opposed to certain forms of affirmative action. A striking contrast from the passionate affirmative action supporters who demonstrated at the Supreme Court during oral arguments. Perhaps that's something worth contemplating. Finally, of course it might just be delivery -- I've heard Bollinger speak before and I can well imagine people not realizing that he's reading an applause line. Anyway, he's a good guy and I hope Columbia Alums'll give him a shot.

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DC Voting Rights Day Rally and the Post Office
Annie McCormick, amccormick@itic.org

On Thursday, April 17, I received in the USPS mail a postcard which stated that the DC Voting Rights Day Rally, sponsored by DC Vote, would be held on Tuesday April 15, at 5 p.m. at Freedom Plaza. I don't know if I would have gone or not, but it sure seemed to me to be a pity to send such a nicely printed post card to be received two full days after the event.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC’s First-in-the-Nation Primary Teach-In, April 22
Anise Jenkins, anisej@hotmail.com

Learn about the movement to make Washington, DC the nation's first primary in the 2004 presidential campaign! Can this help DC get first-class citizenship? Will this put the spotlight on housing, health care, and other urban issues? Will the candidates come? Get it straight from the organizer's mouths! Join Sean Tenner of the DC Democracy Fund; Commissioner Lawrence Guyot, member of the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Party; and others. Find out what we can do to keep this movement moving! Refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, April 22, 6:30 p.m., National Council of Negro Women, 633 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, (across from the Archives Metro at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). Sponsored by Stand Up for Democracy in DC Coalition. Call 232-2500 ext. 2 or see http://www.standupfordemocracy.org.

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DC Youth Orchestra, Toho Koto Society, and Duke Ellington School Concert Choir, April 27
Barbara Ormond, tahlersdc@yahoo.com

The DC Youth Orchestra will give a free concert at the historic Lincoln Theater, 1215 U Street, NW, on Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. to promote its upcoming summer tour to Japan. Joining the orchestra on stage will be musicians from the Washington Toho Koto Society and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Concert Choir. The concert will be co-hosted by Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato, Secretary of Education Rod Paige, DC Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Vance, and DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Chair Dorothy McSweeny. Juan Williams, NPR senior correspondent and author, will preside over the evening's festivities.

The concert program will include Brahms' Symphony No. 3 and Borodin's “Polovetsian Dances” from Prince Igor, performed with the 80-voice Ellington Concert Choir. There will also be a rare performance of Japanese composer Kengiyo Yatsuhashi's Rokudan, with the Washington Toho Koto Society joining the orchestra. The Toho group will also perform the Japanese congratulatory music, Yachiyojishi. The koto, or thirteen-string zither, is an ancient Japanese instrument. For more information visit the DCYOP's web site at http://dcyop.cpb.org or call 723-1612.

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Bike to Work Day, May 2
Eric Gilliland, Washington Area Bicyclist Association, gill@waba.org

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) invites to you to join thousands of bike commuters for a celebration of clean transportation at Bike to Work Day 2003 on Friday, May 2. Celebrations will be taking place at fifteen different locations around the region, with the main celebration occurring at Freedom Plaza in downtown DC. Each pit stop will offer breakfast, entertainment, dynamic speakers, and chances to win bicycles and other prizes. Register now and receive a free Bike to Work Day T-shirt! Supplies are limited, but each registration will be entered into a drawing for a Jamis bike courtesy of City Bikes of Adams Morgan. For more information and registration, please visit http://www.waba.org.

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