Democracy Is the Problem
Dear Suckers:
Mayor Anthony Williams and a majority of the members of the city
council agreed this week that democracy is a failed governmental system
that should be abandoned. “The people are too stupid to be allowed to
have any say in running schools for their children,” said the Mayor.
“They can't be trusted to determine what's best for them. It's time
for a strong man to take charge.”
“Mussolini made the trains run on time,” agreed councilmember
Sharon Ambrose. “As soon as we take the vote away from citizens and
reduce them to powerlessness, all the problems with the school system
will disappear, as if by magic.” Councilmember Vincent Orange also
approved. “We don't want to do any hard work to impose standards on
the schools. Instead, as soon as we get rid of any elected members of
the school board, we'll shut down all communication from the schools to
the public, and people won't have the information to be able to
complain.”
“Accountability?” asked Councilmember Kevin Chavous. “The mayor
said he'd be the education mayor when he was first elected five years
ago. The mayor and councilmembers promised we'd be accountable for
education when the voters approved of the hybrid elected-appointed
school board. We didn't mean it then. The mayor wouldn't even return the
calls of his own appointed Board of Education members, and I've wasted
very little of my time on my Education Committee on the council. What do
you think has changed? Accountability is just a campaign slogan, and
nobody means what he says in a campaign.”
Mayor Williams and councilmembers agreed that the citizens should not
pay any attention to the vast property holdings now controlled by the
Board of Education. “This has nothing at all to do with getting
control of the property so that I can give it to my favored developers
and biggest campaign contributors,” said Mayor Williams. “That won't
be done with any notice to the public or oversight by them, so it
shouldn't concern them. Pay no attention to that or to what I can do
with all the money that's being wasted on the school budget, when it
could be going to sports promoters. It never entered my mind.”
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
DC Teachers to Get 9 Percent Raises
Toby Doloboff, toby1414@aol.com
The threat of a strike must have been taken seriously by the School
Board to vote to restore the already negotiated 9 percent raise they
wanted to keep from DC teachers. Just to think that the School Board
holds teachers in such low esteem to have denied us a salary increase is
troubling. Society as a whole does not value our work. Teachers seem to
be viewed as blue collar, lumped together with police and fire-fighters,
whose service to the community is invaluable but distinct from that of
educators. We are not thought of as on par with editors, social workers,
therapists, or counselors yet most of us have as much education as they
do. Many teachers could have worked in other professions but have chosen
to be educators, serving and educating children as well as advocating
for them and their families. This 9 percent raise will do its share to
increase DC teachers' low morale just a bit, and the School Board came
to its senses.
[The Board of Education Resolution rescinding their previous
elimination of the pay raises is at http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/030926.htm.
— Gary Imhoff]
###############
Will a Mayor-Appointed School Board Improve DCPS?
Erich Martel, ehmartel@starpower.net
This past week, the mayor proposed either the replacement of the
hybrid elected-appointed Board of Education with one entirely appointed
by the mayor or the entire elimination of the Board, with the position
of school superintendent turned into a cabinet-level position directly
responsible to the mayor. The Board of Education, regardless of how its
members are selected, does not run the schools; the central
administration, from superintendent on down, runs the schools and sets
policy. Although the Board is charged with the legal authority to make
policy decisions regarding teacher certification requirements,
standards, curricula and standardized testing requirements, with rare
exception, these policies are drawn up by the superintendent's staff and
submitted to the Board for approval. Administration claims that an
educational program will produce dramatic improvements are rarely met
with Board members' skepticism or demands to provide documentation of a
proposed program's purported success.
When school boards actually delve into curricular matters and demand
changes, except for the rare member who actually reads research journals
and can tell the difference between the anecdotal claims of success and
documented research, they are at the mercy of central administration
specialists and staff who gather their information from marketing
brochures, vendors, or consultants. Not only are they unaware of what
works, they are uninterested in finding out.
Although he considers the Board useless and fit for elimination or
reduced authority, the mayor still considers it good enough to be
responsible for “policy and curriculum matters”! In other
words, as his offhand comment in the Washington Post reveals
(“[Mayor] Williams said he is trying to decide whether to back a
new school board structure in which all members are appointed, whether
to confine the board to policy and curriculum matters or to abolish it
altogether,” September 26, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2227-2003Sep25.html],
the single most important causes of educational failure in DCPS, “policy and curriculum matters,” will be handed down the chain
of mismanagement. [An expanded version of this article is online at http://www.dcpswatch.com/martel/030928.htm.]
###############
Perhaps someone has spiked Mayor Williams' Yoo Hoo. Whatever caused
the enlightenment and the shift from reactive to proactive, the Mayor
now seems very interested in fixing the DC schools. This should have
been one of his very top priorities since his first election. It is
never too late, however, to do something that is right and sorely
needed.
The push for vouchers was his first step and now the Mayor wants to
control the schools through the budget process. Williams has
acknowledged that reform has failed and something new must be tried. His
first proposal is to do away with the School Board. That's probably a
good move if he is willing to establish some form of team to advise him
on how to make the schools work. This team should consist of successful
school system reformers, local business leaders who are willing to spend
money and time helping in any reformation of the school system, and some
parents who are interested in a good public school system in DC. The
second step is to rid the DC Public schools of a dysfunctional teacher's
union that takes money out of the teachers pockets and lines the pockets
of the union leadership. A very good start would be to ensure that the
criminal leaders of the teacher's union go to jail for their criminal
activities that looted more than $5 of the teachers monies.
Dare I suspect that this whole power play might just be a desperate
measure to save money in the DC budget and not a real reform move?
###############
DCPS History Standards Flunk Again
Erich Martel, ehmartel@starpower.net
The Fordham Foundation released its evaluation of the DCPS history standards
this week. The history standards received a grade of F for a score of
twelve out of a possible thirty points. The reviewer was Sheldon M.
Stern, former historian at the John F. Kennedy Library. “This
limited U.S. history sequence, which lacks any sequential development
since no period is recapitulated at a more advanced level, is starved
for specific historical content. History teaching and learning in the DC
plan are confined in a virtual straitjacket of social studies jargon,
making it extremely difficult to identify what teachers should teach and
what students should learn.” For the full report, go to the Fordham
Foundation web site, http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/publication/pf_publication.cfm?id=320.
Fordham will also send a single hard copy on request.
###############
It's now more than three weeks since the NFL/Pepsi travesty on the
Mall and I've still to see a shovel turned to rehabilitate the ruined
turf where the event was staged. Instead, what one sees in the section
of the Mall bordered by 4th Street are massive tire ruts alongside
heavily compacted soil where grass once grew. About one hundred feet
west of 4th Street is a large area that the promoters covered with
mulch, presumably to make the muddy turf more welcoming for Brittany's
fans. The NFL has finally reimbursed Metro for running late on the night
of the event, but when will it (and its coconspirators at the Park
Service) repair the extensive damage it inflicted on our nation's front
yard?
And while on the subject, did the NFL also reimburse the MPD for the
nonstop use of DC police to block roadways during the few days of its
bash? On the day before the event itself, I counted seven MPD vehicles,
and at least that many officers, on loan to the NFL. And that was just
on 4th Street. Add a few more days and other locations, and you get a
fairly sizable MPD commitment to the NFL party. How many of our
neighborhoods, I wonder, were short staffed as a result?
###############
Recently I drove twice from Dupont Circle into Maryland using two
different routes. Along both routes, I saw many signs in public space
advertising one Maryland business. Saw their signs only in the District.
Saw none of their signs after crossing into Maryland. In both Maryland
and in the District, it is illegal to post advertising signs in public
space. Maryland businesses apparently understand that they must comply
with the law in Maryland, but it is OK to ignore DC law.
What does it say about us when even out of state businesses know it
is OK to trash and break the law in the District?
###############
What to Do With Tree Limbs, Debris
Mary Myers, DPW, mary.myers@dc.gov
As the cleanup following Hurricane Isabel enters its second week,
crews will be picking up the large sections of tree trunks, stumps, and
limbs remaining on the side of roadways. The District will choose a
vendor this week to assume this responsibility so that city employees
can return to their primary operations, providing regularly scheduled
services to the residents of the District of Columbia. Residents and
business owners are asked to be patient, as the collection and removal
of all of this debris from city streets, sidewalks and alleys may take
upwards of a month to complete.
To facilitate collection of hurricane-related trees and debris,
residents are asked to bag small fragments, like yard waste, leaves and
twigs. These bags may be set out at the regular point of trash
collection. Spoiled food should be bagged and placed in trash containers
with lids secured to deter rats. Carry or drag sizable sticks and
branches to the curb for collection. Pile them into the curbside tree
boxes. Do not throw debris into parking or traffic lanes. City officials
are discussing a number of options for the disposal of an estimated
30,000 tons of tree debris. Chipped trees and branches will likely be
used for certain city projects and may be offered to various
institutions, parks and recreation areas, and may also be made available
to the public. Residents should feel free to take any curbside logs and
branches for use as firewood.
Residents who do not want to wait for collection may take moveable
brush, branches, debris, and other trash to the city's Fort Totten Trash
Transfer Station at 4900 Bates Road, NE, from 1 - 5 p.m. weekdays and
from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
###############
In the June 8 issue of themail, http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2003/03-06-08.htm,
I wrote about the three schools in Adams Morgan that I had designated to
receive my Safeway and Giant bonus bucks. I stated that I had called
each school twice, once in the fall to ask them to enroll and then again
in June to ask them why they had not enrolled when there was money being
held in escrow for their schools (Adams Elementary, $120.72; H.D. Cook,
$60.31; Marie Reed, $121.60). Giant had sent me three postcards, one for
each school, telling me to encourage the schools I had designated to
sign up. And that was for Giant alone; I did not check to see what
Safeway had held in escrow because I found the affiliate that runs their
program difficult to navigate. But there is a large Safeway right in the
Adams Morgan neighborhood.
In the Thursday, September 25, Washington Post, District Extra
Section (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58189-2003Sep24.html),
there was an article “Principals Speak Out” that stated that
principals from each of those three schools attended an education forum.
The article said the principals, "praised the support their schools
receive from their neighbors, but they outlined concerns about budget
cuts, building maintenance and a loss of AmeriCorps federally funded
volunteers." If the principals are truly concerned about budget
cuts, etc., then I wonder why they will not go after any program they
can in order to get extra money. Ironically (or maybe not?), on the
other half of the page there was a Giant advertisement for Bonus Bucks
stating “Sign up your school and start changing the future
today.” Well, this year, I am designating Bob Levy's school. At
least I know the money will go to a school that is actually interested
in using the money. It seems to me that the administrations of those
three schools are not sincerely interested in changing the future for
their kids.
###############
Poverty Rising in DC
Ann Pierre, pierre@cbpp.org
On September 26, the Census Bureau released new figures on poverty
and income in 2002. A DC Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of the figures
for the District of Columbia shows that poverty is rising and incomes
are falling, largely as a result of the economic downturn. The analysis
can be found at http://www.dcfpi.org/9-26-03pov.htm
and http://www.dcfpi.org/9-26-03pov.pdf.
###############
No sooner had District of Columbia officials dissed political
tradition by moving the city's primary to January 13, making it the
nation's first presidential test, than Democratic leaders trashed it as
unofficial, meaningless, and disrespectful to Iowa and New Hampshire.
They also urged candidates to avoid it. But most of the Democrats
running have dissed the party leadership, recognizing the symbolism of
Washington as a majority African-American city and the only jurisdiction
in the United States without a voting representative in Congress.
Sean Tenner, executive director of the DC Democracy Fund, a political
action committee that supports candidates who favor voting rights for
the city, said all but Senator Bob Graham and General Clark have
campaigned in the District or have sent aides on their behalf. Jack
Evans, one of six City Council members endorsing Dr. Dean, said the
primary provided an early forum on issues important to urban residents
like crime and race relations, which don't necessarily get play in Iowa
and New Hampshire. “Regardless of how some people want to put down
the DC primary,” Mr. Evans said, “to win the first primary,
that's a big deal.”
###############
Public Education Without Socioeconomics?
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
With all due respect to the attention Eric Martel paid to
inconsistencies in academic record keeping at Wilson High School two
years ago, his last posting was a little dumbfounding. His contention
that “the primary obstacles to student achievement are to be found
in the policies and practices of the DC Public Schools, not in external
socioeconomic factors” is bewildering. As a teacher of AP US
History and African Studies, he should be painfully clear on the fact
that public education exists to address socioeconomic conditions and its
failure reflects the public's acceptance of the socioeconomic status
quo.
Need I delve into the Age of Reform and Boston's Superintendent
Thomas Mann? Do I need to discuss the prohibition on educating
African-Americans in Virginia and Maryland during the majority of this
country's history? Do I need to go over Chief Justice Warren's opinion
in Brown vs. the Board of Education? Do I need to bring up the out of
bounds program at Wilson High School that draws hundreds of children
from outside Ward 3 with the hope that some of that Ward 3 green stuff
might rub off on them? Come on, get serious.
###############
As a resident of the District, this shutdown of the entire Metro
system is only the latest in a long list of acts of disservice to
District residents. It has been obvious for a long time that this city
is being run, under the current mayor, for the benefit of those in
power, and to hell with anyone else. Many people depend on public
transportation to get to and from work, and many people, not being able
to do so, lost income. Businesses lost income from their employees and
customers not being able to go about their normal business.
From where I live in northwest DC, it was calm all day until evening,
when there was a slight amount of rain; the only strong wind came after
1:30 a.m. There was plenty of time to go about a normal day of business
as usual. Having lived here most of my life, I have seen many tropical
storms with strong winds and torrential downpours during which business
took place as usual. On this day of the Metro shutdown, and through the
evening, none of this happened. This is only one of a great number of
times during which I have given Marion Barry credit for being the cause,
thankfully, of the two term limit to mayor being put in effect. There
will be a day when inept incompetents are not running the city into the
ground!
[Although term limits for councilmembers and the mayor were approved
by the voters in an initiative, the city council overturned them. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
Metro Shutdown
Alan Heymann, Columbia Heights, alan@alanheymann.com
Your latest posting in themail just solidifies what I've always
thought of your role as editor — to find fault, piece by piece, with as
many aspects as possible of life in the District of Columbia. Is it my
imagination, or did you criticize Metro last winter for not being able
to clear the tracks? Now, as transit officials shut down the system as a
precaution, you criticize again. You choose a single quote from Jim
Graham as evidence that our transit system has a condescending
paternalism.
Is it at all possible that perhaps Metro was only part of the
coordinated effort to get people to stay home? Perhaps this effort
included the federal government, the DC government, the National Weather
Service, among others? Given the wind, the rains, the flooding, the
downed trees, perhaps it's a good thing that we stayed home after all? I
suppose you would have been happier if a strong wind gust swept a
passenger onto the tracks in front of an ongoing train. No, I take that
back; you would have criticized that too.
I know it's a waste of keystrokes for me to do this every time, but I
will do so again nonetheless. I challenge you, Gary Imhoff, to describe
what you would do differently as chairman of Metro in the event of a
weather emergency. Again, you have not responded to these sorts of
challenges in the past, so I don't expect you to do so now. I suppose to
be destructive, rather than constructive, is hardwired into your nature.
[A more reasonable and responsible policy was cited by Charles Freund
in his article: “Metro, which has never before dealt with an
oncoming hurricane, was originally going to adopt the rules that Miami's
experienced transportation system uses, and curtail service once
sustained winds reached 40 mph” (http://www.reason.com/links/links091903.shtml).
In other words, shut down when and if conditions became dangerous and
don't shut down when conditions aren't dangerous. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
Metro Shutdown
Jeffrey Hops, Dupont Circle, jeffhops@yahoo.com
Per your request (encouraging dispute with your comments about the
Metro closing during Isabel), I think you and Freund are being extremely
unfair to Councilman Graham and the Metro board. As you note, the
article states, “If officials had really shut the system down
because employees and riders were in danger, no one could reasonably
have objected. But that isn't why they closed the turnstiles; they did
so, in their own words, to keep people home. . . .” Metro wasn't “keeping people home” on some arbitrary whim; it was
encouraging people to stay home precisely in order to keep them out of
danger. Arguably there is an element of paternalism with respect to
those few would-be Metro customers foolish enough to want to risk travel
during a hurricane, in the same way that it was paternalism to force the
evacuation of seacoast towns. However, for Metro employees who would
have had no choice in the matter, keeping the system open potentially
would have been sending them on suicide missions. Are the lives of Metro
employees worth sacrificing to protect our God-given right to put
ourselves in harm's way if we so choose? I should hope that your answer
would be “no.”
###############
I agree with you about Metro's preemptive shutdown last Thursday. I'd
go a step further, however. I think all the shutdowns occurred way too
early, especially that of the federal government. I think officials are
overreacting to the criticism they got from refusing to shut down
earlier during last winter's snow storms.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Latino Cultural Fair and Town Hall Meeting, September 29
Alexander M. Padro, PadroANC2C@aol.com
Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the Office on Latino Affairs will host
a Latino Cultural Fair and Town Hall Meeting on Monday, September 29,
from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at Cardozo High School, 1300 Clifton
Street, NW. This event was rescheduled from September 18 due to
Hurricane Isabel.
The Latino Cultural Fair and Town Hall is open to all District
residents. The evening will begin at 5:00 p.m. with music, food,
entertainment, and artistic displays in the front foyer of the school.
The town hall meeting with Mayor Williams, agency directors and other
city officials, will follow at 6:30 p.m.
###############
Can the Democrats Retain the Latino Vote, September 30
Jessi Baden, jbaden@democraticwoman.org
The Woman's National Democratic Club invites you on Tuesday,
September 30, to hear Robert Suro, Director of the Pew Hispanic Center,
discuss Latino opinion on domestic and foreign policy issues, in “Can the Democrats Retain the Latino Vote in the 2004
Election?” Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United
States, so their vote is important. Suro has had nearly thirty years of
experience writing on Hispanic issues and immigration for the Washington
Post, the New York Times, and Time Magazine, and has served abroad as a
foreign correspondent in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. He
is a graduate of Yale University and holds an advanced degree from
Columbia University. Bar opens 11:30 a.m., lunch 12:30 p.m. Price:
members $19, nonmembers $25. A WNDC Educational Foundation event. Make
checks payable to WNDC-EF. For reservations, please contact Patricia
Fitzgerald at pfitzgerald@democraticwoman.org
or call 232-7363, ext:
3003.
###############
Gear up for the upcoming World Series by attending a free event on
Thursday, October 2, at 7 p.m. at the George Mason Regional Library in
Annandale, VA. Latinos in Baseball will feature a live presentation by
Baseball Hall-of-Famer Orlando Cepeda. Joining the discussion will be
author Tim Wendel, whose latest book is The New Face of Baseball: The
One-Hundred-Year Rise and Triumph of Latinos in America's Favorite
Sport. For details check http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library.
###############
Art Show by Older Visionaries, October 3
Jeannine Mjoseth, mjosethj@nia.nih.gov
Each year, the American Visionary Art Museum on Baltimore Harbor,
http://www.avam.org, mounts a “megaexhibition,” dedicating
five of its seven galleries to exploring a theme that inspires human
beings to acts of fresh creation. AVAM's unique, socially relevant
exhibitions and innovative educational programs have drawn widespread
media attention. The new show, “Golden Blessings of Old Age and Out
of the Mouths of Babes” opens October 3, and will run from October
2003 to September 2004. By showcasing the work of older people liberated
by their age to create art, “Golden Blessings” will fuel a
palpable sense of hope for everyone approaching their golden years. The
primary message of the exhibition is the importance of attitude to
happy, healthy later years. Exhibit wall text will be based on
conclusions of the MacArthur Foundation Study on Aging in America, that
lifestyle and attitude are significantly more important than genetics in
determining whether one's golden years are healthy ones.
###############
Workshop in Transformational Thinking, October 4
Juliet Bruce, juliet@arts-for-life.org
For counselors, coaches, teachers, consultants, managers, people in
transition. There are a couple of spaces left in a workshop I'm
presenting on October 4, 1-4 p.m., at the Center for Being and Becoming,
2352 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, in upper Georgetown. The cost is $35. This
workshop uses a five-step process based on creating story to transform
circumstances by changing our perception of them and deepening our
understanding of hidden dynamics and possibilities inherent in them. For
more information about this workshop, visit the web site of Institute
for Transformation Through the Arts, http://www.arts-for-life.org.
To
reserve a place, call me at 667-3766 or E-mail me at juliet@arts-for-life.org.
###############
End-of-Life Choices, October 5
E. James Lieberman, ejl at gwu dot edu
The Hemlock Society of the National Capital Area presents “How
to Communicate with Your Family and Physician," a panel discussion
on end-of-life choices. Sunday, October 5, at 2 p.m., Unitarian
Universalist Church of Arlington, 4444 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, VA.
All are welcome.
###############
DC Center for the Book Events, October 15 and 22
Patricia Pasqual, changedc@yahoo.com
On Wednesday, October 15, at 7:00 p.m., The Arts Club of Washington,
2017 Eye Street, NW, presents Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust: Reading
for Every Mood, Moment and Reason. Pearl, executive director, of the
Washington Center for the Book, created the reading promotion, “If
All Seattle Read the Same Book,” which has been used as a model
around the country. DC's citywide reading promotion is entitled DC We
Read. Pearl regularly reviews books for Seattle public radio and writes
reviews for a variety of publications. She is also the model for the new
controversial action figure librarian doll being distributed by
Accouterments this fall! This program is a collaboration between the DC
Center for the Book, the DC Library Association, and the Arts Club of
Washington.
On Wednesday, October 22, at 6:30 p.m., at Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, the D. C. Center for the Book: First
Annual Children’s Literature Lecture will feature Marianne Carus,
editor of Cricket Magazine, who will discuss children’s literature in
general, how it has evolved over the past 3-5 decades, how it has been
affected by international and multicultural literature and how it has
succeeded and failed in shaping young minds. Joining Ms. Carus will be
Jewel Stoddard, director of the children’s department at Politics and
Prose bookstore, and Susan Helper, author and Children’s Literature Specialist. For more information call 727-2313.
###############
Reel Affirmations Film Festival, October 16-25
Sarah Barnett, sbbarnett@duanemorris.com
Come join us for the most fun you can have in the dark! The
Thirteenth Annual Reel Affirmations Film Festival, Washington, DC's,
International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, will be held Thursday,
October 16, through Saturday, October 25, at the Lincoln Theatre (13th
and U Streets, NW), the Cecile Goldman Theatre in the DC Jewish
Community Center (17th and Q Streets, NW), the Goethe-Institut Inter
Nationes (814 7th Street, NW), and Visions (1927 Florida Avenue). This
year's festival will feature some of the best and newest gay and lesbian
films from around the world. For more information, film listings and
show times, please visit the Reel Affirmations web site at http://www.reelaffirmations.org
or call 986-1119. VIP patron and venue passes can be purchased at the
web site or at http://www.boxofficetickets.com/oit.
###############
Dupont Circle House Tour, October 19
Phil Carney, philandscoop@yahoo.com
On Sunday, October 19, noon to 5 p.m., tour seventeen unique and
trend-setting private spaces in the northeast Dupont area, including row
houses, apartments, an artist's studio, and conversions of commercial
buildings to residential living space emphasizing innovation, variety
and personal style. Tea at the House of the Temple, Supreme Council,
33° is included.
Convenient to the Dupont Circle and U Street Metro stations. Tour
information: http://www.dupont-circle.com/housetour.htm.
Scottish Rite
tea site virtual tour: http://www.srmason-sj.org/web/temple.htm.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Room in Foxhall/Georgetown
Erica Nash, nashe@starpower.net
Room in house available September 27. Foxhall/Georgetown. $740
monthly. I live in a large three-bedroom, beautiful, single standing
home in Foxhall/Georgetown area. A quiet private street. One room is
available. I occupy one, and a girlfriend occupies another. Fully
furnished, walk-in closet, TV with cable, telephone hookup, high-speed
computer hookup, and a sliding door leading to the beautiful back
garden. The house is very clean, very sunny, spacious, with a large
garden. The atmosphere is quiet, and friendly. There is a nice, but
large, dog. You will have full access to house amenities, kitchen,
laundry, parking. Call Erica, 333-0262, nashe@starpower.net.
###############
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