More Tricks Reloaded

Dear Friends:

Well, we're back. I must admit to a bit of schadenfreude in finding in San Francisco a city that is as misgoverned as DC. Admittedly, San Francisco glories in its shabby splendor, and it is a great place for tourists. Restaurants are wonderful in all parts of the city, and Dorothy and I ate our way through every neighborhood. The city still has several major retail areas, including a large, very high-end downtown shopping district that has several department stores. It has maintained a diversified economy that accommodates even light industry and manufacturing within city limits. (There may be nearly as many manufacturing plants as there are storefronts for psychics or massage and hot tub parlors.) Even the collapse of the dotcom sector of the economy, while it has slowed economic growth, hasn't crippled the city. However, San Francisco is now an early-to-bed burg in which nearly everything is shuttered by 10:00 p.m., largely because the night belongs to the army of aggressive beggars that, for ideological reasons, the city's politicians can't bring themselves to confront. And Washington definitely outclasses San Francisco in the quality of political discourse; in SF the political dialogue and debates are shallow and lame, dominated by ritualistic, outdated sloganeering.

But what a time for us to be out of DC. The mayor endorsed school vouchers, and in response Eleanor Holmes Norton went off her meds. (Here are some articles about it that you may not have seen: USA Today, Http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-05-05-voucher-usat_x.htm; The National Review, http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock050703.asp; and the Wall Street Journal, http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003480.) The rampant salary inflation at the top levels of the DC government over the past few years finally began to get some reluctant attention from Congress, thanks to a Washington Times campaign. AOL and Travel and Leisure magazine sponsored a survey in which a half million respondents, both nationwide and local, rated DC dead last as a travel destination in a list of twenty-five major American cities (http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/cities.cfm?city=14). Even though we topped the list for historical attractions, value of attractions and sights, and our spring, we rated at the very bottom for shopping, dining out, bar hopping and clubbing, Valentine's Day and New Years, and, most stingingly, for steamy encounters.

Mayor Williams and MPD Chief Ramsey unveiled a plan to double the size of patrol service areas, thus reducing the number of PSA's from 83 to 40. For those who remember, when the MPD belatedly introduced community policing it divided the city into individual police beats, and the goal was to give individual officers personal responsibility for the areas that they were expected to cover. When MPD Chief Soulsby introduced the PSA system at the instigation of the Control Board's consultants (who at the time included Margaret Kellems, who became the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety), the excuse given was that individual beats weren't being staffed and patrolled consistently, and that combining two, three, or four individual beats into PSA's would ensure that PSA's would always be covered. Of course, they weren't. The new plan retreats further from the goal of individual police beats and personal responsibility, with the same empty tradeoff promise that this time PSA's will be fully staffed. The only advantage of the new plan is that it will cut the number of understaffed and underserved PSA's by more than half, from 83 to 40. The City Council voted to repair Klingle Road, thus finally settling the controversy once and for all, until it is reopened again (and you can take that "it" to refer either to the controversy or the Road itself). Tell me, tell us all, what else happened in your neighborhood while we were gone?

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Conflicting Tales from St. Coletta
Jim Myers, Hilleast@aol.com

Is prevarication acceptable if you think your cause is just? Or at some point does slipping, sliding and changing your story work against you? St. Coletta of Greater Washington, the school for the handicapped that wants a plot of public land on the DC General campus for $1 a year for 99 years, seems to be wrestling with this dilemma. A growing shadow over the school's plans involves trust: School officials don't tell quite the same story two days running. One question that's been particularly hard to pin down is whether the school also wants to run residential facilities and retail outlets — yes, retail outlets. Both are mentioned in the lease now before City Council. But residential facilities and retail outlets were not mentioned at St. Coletta-sponsored May 5 community meeting at RFK, largely because no such facilities showed up on plans, drawings, and models unveiled there.

When questioned thereafter about the residential/retail proposals, St. Coletta's answered in a May 12 E-mail, “We have not answered the questions regarding residential or retail use on the expansion property — south of the building along 19th Street — because that property is no longer in the proposed lease.” The next night, St. Coletta's was again asked about the residential/retail proposals at a packed ANC meeting. “It's off the table,” said Sharon Raimo, the school's executive director. That was about 8 p.m. At about 11:30 the next morning, at a City Council “roundtable” hearing, Raimo told Council Member Jim Graham that the school currently doesn't have money for the residential/retail projects but hopes the council will provide the land mentioned in the lease anyway. Otherwise, she said, St. Coletta would just have to request more land at another time.

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Building a Private School With Public Money
Beth Purcell, eap1@mindspring.com

A City Council hearing on Wednesday revealed how to build a private school in the District of Columbia and get taxpayers to pay for it. Step 1: get free land. The hearing was on a lease to grant the St. Coletta School of Alexandria various acres of public land on the DC General campus for $1 year for 99 years. The Council must decide if St. Coletta will get four or seven acres, which is what they want. Step 2: corral some pork barrel spending from Congress. Councilmember Jim Graham asked how much money St. Coletta's had raised toward the $24 million project, which includes a building designed by Target teapot guru Michael Graves. St. Coletta Executive Director Sharon Raimo, wife of Bernard Raimo, counsel to the minority leader of the House, said the school has raised $10 million in cash and pledges, and Graham seemed impressed. But a visit to the St. Coletta's web site (http://www.stcoletta.org) reveals that the school has been collecting congressional earmarks for three years — $7.45 million worth. That means 75 percent of the school's building fund also comes from taxpayers. Step 3: Sell your services to local government. All of the school's operating expenses come from local school districts that pay $31,500 a child in tuition plus other changes, putting the bill closer to $40,000 a child, according to Raymond Bryant, the DC schools head of special ed. And while you're at the St. Coletta web site, take a gander at what taxpayers are getting for their outlay. Graves' design, which Raimo calls “whimsical,” is quite an eyeful.

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Save DC’s Trees with Whose Money?
Patricia Violante Cassetta, pvc@tvspots.com

I am a bit weary about the ever-present articles in the Washington Post about the efforts of the DC Division of Transportation and the Casey Foundation to save the District's canopy. The only applause I have for the effort so far is that new trees have been planted in Anacostia where, if you are to believe what you read, the tree loss has been greatest. For the rest, the inventory has been conducted by volunteers, and the DC Council has put the onus for tree care squarely on the shoulders of the taxpayer.

I live on Foxhall Road, and for seven years I have been trying to get someone from the DC government to save the historic centennial oaks. Only recently, when my regular phone calls and letters became more angry, have I received any response, and that response is, basically, “Sick tree, it's your problem.” The result is that most of the centennial oaks are dying, and now ours is too. The cost of the neglect to me, as “caretaker,” since the DC government claims no responsibility for these formerly magnificent specimens, has been estimated at between $6,000 and $12,000. The real issue is something called “public parking.” It is a mysterious area that is the property of the District, but whose upkeep the District at one point claims to have magnanimously transferred to the homeowner. My understanding of upkeep and care also does not seem to match with the government's interpretation. My view is that we pick up the leaves and fallen branches, make certain that the area remains clean, remove snow and ice, etc. It does not extend to extraordinary maintenance of century-plus trees. Is it any wonder why people flee to the suburbs?

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Fallen Out of a Tree
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom

Perhaps the president of the School Board, Ms. Cafritz, has fallen out of a tree and landed on her head. She is quoted in this week's issue of the NW Current as having a concern that the prestigious private schools in DC, National Cathedral, St. Albans, Gonzaga, et al., will not be eligible to accept vouchers from needy families who qualify for those vouchers. Let us note that the tuition in these prestigious schools is north of $16,000 per year, and it is virtually certain that no DC needy families would be applying for admission to these schools with their $3,000 vouchers.

In a much more lucid moment, Ms Cafritz, about a year ago, proposed an outstanding outline for real reformation of the DC School System. This outline got very little press and yet was a significant set of steps that could result in an efficient and effective school system, one that would not require a huge infusion of new monies. . Right now we have a school system with a largely impotent administration, and a School Board that is much more like an advisory board than a “make things happen” board. This is a system in which the major policies are determined by a corrupt and greedy Teacher's Union and the custodial unions. The administration cannot accurately tell us how many teachers are really alive and working effectively in the schools. We do not know how many residents of DC are really students in our schools. And we have an out-of-control Special Education mess bleeding the schools dry of needed funds.

Without external intervention it does not appear that the system can be reformed. I would hope that the Department of Education in the federal government would take a look at Ms. Cafritz' outline for this reformation and use it to develop a model for inner city school reformation. It is not at all likely, though, that any voucher students in DC will be applying to St. Albans, et al. I hope your head is feeling better, Ms. Cafritz.

[Actually, at least from the article on vouchers that appeared in USA Today (see the link above), it appears that school vouchers in DC could be worth up to $11,000 a year, depending on the private school's tuition. That alone would make most schools accessible and, paired with modest subsidies, scholarships, or price reductions from the most expensive private schools, it could bring nearly any school within reach. — Gary Imhoff]

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Hoodwinked
Karen Alston, Kalston266@aol.com

Members of the Eckington community are feeling left out and angry at the ANC process for liquor license renewals. Has anyone or any community had success in fighting the single sales of liquor in the District?

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Dog Owners and Stop Signs
Christopher Koppel, Capitol Hill, ctkoppel@earthlink.net

I am writing about two matters that I think drastically decrease one's quality of life, at least in my neighborhood of Capitol Hill, SE. One is those people who allow their dogs to defecate on the sidewalk, in tree boxes, etc., and do not clean it up. It's bad enough if they don't pick up in a dog park, but to leave dog feces right on the sidewalk is beyond disgusting. Plus, it almost always appears that it was a large dog which relieved itself. If people cannot care for a dog, they should not be allowed to have one, and cleaning up after your dog is part of caring for it. (Don't get me started on the litterers!) Also, dogs that are vicious should be kept on the owner's premises; my miniature schnauzer had his rear torso ripped open by a German shepherd that has never been socialized with other dogs, in our dog park. Fortunately there were no severe internal injuries.

The other matter is drivers not stopping at stop signs. I can honestly say that on my block, at 7th and E, SE, it is a rarity indeed to see someone come to a full stop. Almost always it is a question of whether they will slow down at all to see if any traffic is coming in the opposite direction before soaring through the stop sign (more often than not in an SUV). Plus they are generally driving far too fast for a residential neighborhood. Why don't our police do something about this problem? They could make thousands of dollars in revenue daily simply by issuing tickets at 7th and E all day long. It would be a true cash cow. Plus they would actually be reducing crime. But no, all they can do is cruise around aimlessly with their lights flashing pointlessly.

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The FOP and Chief Ramsey
Ron Eberhardt, rge1022@aol.com

I found curious as well as a day late and dollar short the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) ad in the Washington Post (B5, May 8, 2003) seeking to rally public support and admonish the Mayor and the Chief for their “lack of support.” Where was the FOP as the Mayor offered and Ramsey accepted a new employment contract? Undoubtedly, Ramsey is a poor police chief, although not for the same reasons the FOP promotes. Ramsey has done nothing effective to reduce crime or improve the capability or integrity of the police department. He should not have received a new contract. Generally, the FOP is concerned about two things: defending police officers who are accused of official misconduct (who in most cases should be terminated from the force) and making more and more money for less and less service.

Don't you feel sorry for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Washington annually who do not understand why the police car behind them has its lights flashing but make no effort to pull them over? Another absolutely stupid and embarrassing idea of Ramsey's that ought to be terminated just like he should have been.

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Fire Ramsey Now
John Aravosis, john@safestreetsdc.com

Chief Ramsey should be fired, today. According to today's [May 14] Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51887-2003May13.html), Chief Ramsey lied to us again about the Dupont Circle fire, and his slow response in actually investigating the incident has now cost us the investigation. He also is now blaming the victim of the fire, Nicolas Gutman who was in the burning house and barely survived, for thwarting the investigation. I know Nicolas would be glad to speak with the media about this.

Ramsey told us that he knew definitively what time the various calls came in to 911 that morning. Now we're told that the MPD was never really sure what time calls came in, and they didn't know whether they even had all the records of everyone who tried to call. Meaning that others may have tried to call even earlier, even though Ramsey told us “no.” Ramsey's slow response in investigating the fire, in spite of the fact that the from day one residents and neighbors say they tried to call 911 to no avail, has now cost us the investigation. According to the Post, one 911 operator wasn't interviewed for six weeks about what she was doing that morning, and by that time she couldn't remember! Six weeks. Six weeks! The city council, the media, and the public was screaming about the investigation at that point, and they never interviewed the operators once?

Ramsey is now blaming Nicolas Gutman, who lived in the house that burned down, for impeding the investigation. Ramsey claims that the fact that Nicolas says he believed he tried to call 911 at 5:20 in the morning somehow impeded the investigation, and that's why they took so long to interview the operators. First, there were only four or five people who said they tried to call 911 that morning and couldn't get through — how is that some insurmountable number that took them too long to sift through? Not to mention that the Mayor and the MPD didn't even believe us when we told them the witnesses had called. They blew them off. Nicolas Gutman wasn't even interviewed until the end of February. How did he slow the investigation down when they didn't even get to him for six weeks? This is absolutely ridiculous. Ramsey is still lying about the Dupont Fire, still blaming DC residents and victims for his own mistakes. Forget the pay raise, he should be fired.

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Reporting Crime in themail
Michael Bindner, mbindnerdc at aol

Bob Levine asked, before our spring hiatus, what to do when MPD won't take a crime report. I would suggest that you call the FBI, the Park Police, or any of the other police services. If enough individuals do so, MPD will get the message. The other option is to notify the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department that this is occurring.

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Video Archive of DC LEARNs 2003 Award Ceremony
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com

For those of you who are interested in literacy efforts in the city, a video archive of the DC LEARNs 2003 annual meeting and award ceremony has been posted on the web at http://teachme.blogspot.com. You'll need a high speed Internet connection (DSL, cable or T1 line) to view this using the free RealPlayer software from http://www.real.com. If you don't have time to watch the entire hour-long video, do check out the two-minute tribute to Tom Brown, Literacy Volunteer of the Year, at Academy of Hope. (http://www.aohdc.org) As I calculate it, Tom Brown has given more than 5000 volunteer hours teaching adult literacy classes since 1985. Grateful thanks to all the individual and corporate supporters of DC LEARNs. The corporate supporters include Verizon, Starbucks, Borders Books and many independent bookstores in the city. I'm a big fan of Amazon.com, but I'll be taking my book buying business to Borders.com — and independent bookstores in DC — because of their support of literacy in the city. If you know of any individuals or organizations who would like to join DC LEARNs, the annual dues of $50 gets you The Coalition Builder newsletter and helps you support incredible volunteers like Tom Brown. People can get in touch with DC LEARNs via the executive director, Jackie Pliskin, at dclearns@yahoo.com. Donated working laptops are also needed by adult learners to practice their typing and writing skills. If you have a working laptop to donate to an adult learner, I can drive anywhere in the DC area to pick it up.

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Constitutional Law Refresher
Mark Eckenwiler, themale@ingot.org

In the April 27 issue, Gary wrote that “we have a constitutional right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and to have a meaningful opportunity to confront the government's accusations against us. That's called due process, and DC's red-light camera law denies it to us.” With all due respect, the final conclusion drawn here is, to use the technical legal term, BS.

First off, the presumption of innocence (established by In re Winship) and the Confrontation Clause of the 6th Amendment apply only in criminal cases. As noted elsewhere by George Washington law prof Orin Kerr (who by sheer happenstance is a friend and former colleague of mine), the penalties under DC's red-light camera law are civil in nature, not criminal. And as for due process, the process that's due is the right to appear and contest the evidence presented; that's what red-light-runners get. Using red-light camera evidence is no more constitutionally objectionable than using fingerprint evidence or, say, the images from a bank's ATM camera in a civil suit for trespass — which is to say not objectionable at all.

As I think I've acknowledged in themail's past logomachy over red-light cameras, there may be sound public policy reasons not to deploy cameras in certain ways or not to tie contractor compensation to number of tickets issued. But let's not confuse the public policy debate with con law, because the latter ain't implicated.

[Owen Kerr did make the point about civil, rather than criminal penalties, in the Volokh Conspiracy (http://volokh.blogspot.com), but at the same time he said that a legal challenge to DC's red-light camera program could be successful. The DC government may think it can violate constitutional rights in traffic cases by classifying those cases as civil infractions, but Ruffin and Bradshaw make a convincing argument that the presumption of guilt in DC's law violates due process requirements, which are not restricted to criminal cases, and that the burden of proof remains with the government accusers, not with the defendants (see http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/privacy15.htm). A good new article on “camera-based law enforcement” by Michael S. Klein has been published in the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/la-vo-klein10may10,0,6282889.story. — Gary Imhoff]

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Web Site Dedicated to Local DC Culture Launched
Kelly Rader, kelly@our-dc.com

On May 1, http://www.our-dc.com, a new web site that highlights the local culture of Washington, DC, went live. Our-dc connects residents and visitors to the vital communities that define DC beyond its role as the nation’s capital. In particular, the site promotes the elements of the city that are invisible to guidebooks and the mainstream media. Our-dc’s cofounders, a DC area native and an Atlanta transplant, created Our-dc after noticing a lack of comprehensive online information about the local side of DC. Unlike other DC-themed web sites, Our-dc focuses exclusively on the nonfederal city, per its motto: “All local, all the time.” Users of the site will find a calendar detailing upcoming events around the city. The culture section links to music, visual and performance art, writing, and film scenes. “Destinations” reviews restaurants, clubs, and museums and lists public art, parks, points of interest, and sports leagues. Out-of-towners and curious residents can get suggestions for afternoon itineraries or guided tours. Through links to volunteer and political organizations, residents can become involved in their communities. Finally, the Our-dc lists local newspapers, radio and television programs, and research for further information about DC.

Our-dc is a clearinghouse for the web sites and organizations that already serve DC or explore a particular aspect of the city’s culture. Links to and reviews of those groups compose much of the site. Our-dc strives to give a voice to the parts of the city not currently on the Internet or known beyond their immediate communities. Our-dc is online at http://www.our-dc.com. For more information, contact Deborah Kobes (deborah@our-dc.com or 345-8982) or Kelly Rader (kelly@our-dc.com or 413-3179).

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Squandering City Resources on Worthy Causes
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

Why does DC barge ahead allocating some of its potentially most revenue-productive real estate parcels to non-revenue-producing causes? Aren't there better alternatives? Isn't there anyone in the Williams administration or on the DC Council paid to say "wait a minute"? How could DC planners compensate for squandering over half of St. Elizabeth's best acreage? Did you take a look at the latest French Bus Rapid Transit candidate? Want to learn about DC's first high-density "robotic vault parking system" and how it differs from our recent naive suggestions? NARPAC's answers can be found in the May update of its web site at http://www.narpac.org/INTHOM.HTM. Try a new approach to making DC better. Get positively involved. It might help.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Senator James Jeffords at Women’s National Democratic Club
Pat Bitondo, pbitondo@aol.com

The Woman's National Democratic Club Educational Foundation presents a symposium on Politics vs. Science, 2003, on Thursday, May 22, with keynote speaker Senator James M. Jeffords, ranking member, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, at the luncheon. The symposium begins at 9:30 a.m., but luncheon is available to individuals who do not attend. Lunch bar opens 11:30 a.m., and lunch is served at 12:30 p.m. Price: members, $16.50; nonmembers, $19.50 (tax deductible). Make checks payable to WNDC-EF. Credit cards also accepted.

The Woman's National Democratic Club is at 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW. For more information on the symposium, call Alice Day, 293-4798.

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Women in the Political Arena, May 19
Isabel Barranzuela, ibarranzuela@arenastage.org

Join us on the First Think Tank Series discussion. The Political Front: Women in the Political Arena on May 19 at 8:00 p.m. at Arena Stage. Think Tanks are roundtable discussions with locally and nationally prominent guest panelists talking about some of the border themes and issues surrounding selected Arena Stage productions. The inauguration of the series will relate to Wendy Wasserstein's comic political drama "An American Daughter." The discussion, moderated by esteemed journalist Gwen Ifill, will feature women who are active in American politics and news media. Tickets are $10, plus applicable handling fees. Please call 488-3300. Reservations are required and seating is limited, so be sure to get your tickets today!

American Daughter: Lyssa Hughes is nominated by the president for Surgeon General. Connected, wealthy and thin, what more can a woman want? Lyssa wants it all — her political career and personal life in DC. However, a revealed skeleton in Lyssa's closet would cause a media scandal affecting her nomination. But the play is not only about women in politics, it's also about friendship, betrayal, and other social changes during the 1990's Washingtonian generation. Thousands of women have seen it already, so if you haven't, mention this E-mail and save 15 percent on any full price ticket. For additional information, call 488-3300 or go to http://www.arenastage.org and join Arena Stage in this exciting exploration of women's role in our society.

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Beautiful Little Comedy, June 8
Robin Larkin, rlarkin@footlightsdc.org

In a rural community devastated by drought, two shy, lonely people are too proud to admit they need each other. Suddenly a charming stranger appears, promising to bring rain -- for a price. London's Daily Mail called “The Rainmaker” “a beautiful little comedy with a catch in its throat.” The Chicago Sun-Times called it a “classic.” Footlights, DC's only modern-drama discussion group, will attend a performance of “The Rainmaker” on Sunday, June 8, at 2 p.m. Tickets are only $22 and include a post-show discussion. The performance takes place at Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert Street in downtown Baltimore. We can provide free transportation from DC-area Metro stations. Send your check, payable to “Footlights,” to Robin Larkin, 5403 Nibud Court, Rockville, MD 20852. For more info go to http://www.footlightsdc.org, call 301-897-9314, or E-mail Rlarkin@footlightsdc.org.

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Jewish-Catholic Family Network Brunch, June 8
Brenda Benesch, bbenesch@comcast.net

Jewish-Catholic Family Network in the Greater Washington Area is now forming! Couples and families who are exploring the ins and outs of Jewish-Catholic relationships are invited to the first meeting of the Jewish-Catholic Family Network of Greater Washington. An informational brunch will be held on Sunday, June 8, at 11:30 a.m., in McLean, Virginia. Contact Eve Edwards at 703-893-4447, Brenda Benesch at 256-4644, or Patrice Thomas at 301-299-6821, or by E-mail at JewishCatholicFamily@yahoo.com. Children are welcome — we will provide a babysitter.

Topics for discussion will include goals for this new, supportive network of couples and families; resources available for couples considering interfaith marriage; raising children in a Jewish-Catholic home; ideas for future adult education and dialog seminars; and planning social activities to help foster a sense of community. Participants will have the opportunity to become more involved in organizing future activities. If you are not able to make it to the brunch, but are interested in learning more, feel free to contact us. We look forward to meeting you.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HELP WANTED

Bilingual Secretarial Positions Available
Jon Katz, jon at markskatz dot com

Our Silver Spring law firm has an immediate need for a part-time bilingual (Spanish-English) secretary, a bilingual summer clerical assistant, and a bilingual temporary legal assistant. The full job postings are at http://www.markskatz.com/jobs.htm.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Summer Rooms Available
Paul Penniman, paul@mathteachingtoday.com

Rooms are available this summer in our house near the Van Ness Metro. One is vacant for the whole summer, and another one is available from late June to early August. The details, respectively, are at http://www.mathteachingtoday.com/room.htm and http://www.mathteachingtoday.com/room1.htm.

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