Good News

Dear Good News Bears:

Since themail isn't about national or international issues, you know that when I say "good news" I don't mean the rising economic indicators or today's capture of Saddam Hussein. I'm talking about local news, and good things have been happening here lately. The City Council has had second thoughts about defacing the DC flag; the Council seems likely to cap the increases in property assessments at a merely crippling rate of 10 percent annually, rather than at the current bankrupting rate of 25 percent; and the idea of building a luxurious palace to house the mayor in isolated splendor has been shelved, with the decision of Betty Brown Casey to withdraw her offer of a $50 million grant (http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/mansion18.htm).

Of course, I don't trust good news to last. No doubt in the next few months someone will propose promoting DC voting rights by covering City Hall and One Judiciary Square and the Reeves Building with graffiti slogans, and the City Council will rush to support the proposal and buy the spray paint. The high-tax faction of the Council, lead by Councilmembers Mendelson, Graham, and Fenty, is fighting against the 10 percent cap to ensure that property tax assessments rise as fast and become as burdensome as possible. And undoubtedly, now that the Casey Mansion deal is dead, the mayor will propose spending tens of millions of taxpayer money to fund a mayoral mansion and a staff of mayoral personal servants, on the theory that American politicians should have their lifestyles supported like European royalty. But enough of dark forebodings. For this week, at least, we're not doing too much that is foolish and embarrassing.

Even the New York Times, which usually heaps scorn on our city (remember the Frank Rich article a few months ago) has a few good words for us today. The travel section features Washington for a winter trip. "The politicians flee during December, but holiday visitors will find a vibrant city that appeals to both singles and families," was how DC was described in the Times' travel E-mail: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/travel/14wdwash.html?8td.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Where Are the Snow Plows?
Shaun Snyder, Chevy Chase, shaunsnyder at starpower dot net

The District didn't bother to plow my street, nor any of the residential streets that I saw in Chevy Chase. Montgomery County was plowing, though. Why do we pay taxes in this city? It's not a stupid or rhetorical question. Usually citizens are asked to pay taxes in order to receive services from the government, which I learned in kindergarten. I'm sure the Council budgets money for snow removal.

Imagine if we contracted this service out. Would we pay a company when it failed to plow? Of course not. If the District can't or won't plow, then send us a partial refund on our taxes.

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Freecycle Network
Madeleine Fletcher, madfletcher@hotmail.com

This E-mail list may be of interest to readers. To subscribe (get the daily digest option), go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freecycledc. Welcome to the Washington, DC Freecycle Network! The goal of the Washington, DC Freecycle Network is to reduce waste by connecting people who are throwing away goods with others who are seeking the same goods. Whether you're looking to discard or acquire an item, you've come to the right place. Computers, furniture, clothing, magazines — no item is too big or too small. Since this is a freecycle list, all items must be 100 percent free. The Washington, DC, Freecycle Network is inspired by the Tucson Freecycle Network, the original freecyclers. Find out more about the international freecycle movement at http://www.freecycle.org. Questions? Comments? E-mail the Washington, DC, Freecycle Network at freecycledc@yahoogroups.com. Happy Freecycling! For a discussion forum on freecycling, visit: http://www.freecycling.com.

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The Mayor’s and Council’s Slow Moving Train Wreck
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com

Anthony Williams' runaway train pulled into town in November of 1998. Promising teacher pay raises, Williams won the endorsement of Washington Teacher Union (WTU) President Barbara Bullock. The first two years of the Williams administration brought regular increases to the DCPS payrolls. By FY 2002, a collective bargaining agreement had been reached among the Mayor, the Board of Education, the Federal City Council-backed superintendent Dr. Paul Vance and the WTU. The contract legally bound the city to increase teachers wages over three years straight; the highest increase, 9 percent, coming at the end in FY 2004. Shortly before the agreement was signed (in a non-election year) Bullock, Democratic labor operative Gwendolyn Hemphill and her husband sweetened the deal for Williams with a $4000 contribution to the Mayor's coffers in June of 2001. Shortly after the agreement, Hemphill dropped off another $1000 reminder as preparations for the spring budget legislative session were underway. Bullock and Hemphill never made another recorded campaign contribution to the Mayor in the year and a half leading up to the 2002 election. But Democratic operatives close to the campaign stated that the 2002 Williams campaign was awash with WTU money. Reportedly, Hemphill's son-in-law threw parties with union money and Bullock had spent thousands on professional sporting events, a favorite meeting place for big wig deal makers. Bullock and Hemphill had pulled so much money out of the union till that they told DCPS in April of 2002 to increase the payroll deduction. The WTU was having difficulty paying the AFT membership dues, and workers began to complain about the larger deductions.

That same spring, half the Council was up for re-election and resolution 14-432 (allowing the appropriation of city revenues for the collective bargaining agreement) was in the docket. Every Councilmember voted in favor of the tens of millions of dollars in pay increases. Needless to say the WTU turned out the vote, and the 2002 election results honored the incumbents with new four-year terms.

Within weeks the Council and the Mayor turned coats in a special legislative session and deducted $30 million from the approved DCPS FY2003 budget. As the FY 2004 budget season began, DCPS requested the salary increases be allocated. No budget increases were appropriated. DCPS was attacked for its inability to provide a sound education. And its substantial financial needs have been dismissed. As elected leaders prepare to relax over the holidays, almost eight hundred city employees will be strong out to dry and told to look for new work. More than sixty thousand students and their parents will be waiting to see what happens not only to class sizes but also to classes by February. All because of the slow moving train wreck.

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What Went Wrong with the Mayoral Mansion
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

On Friday afternoon, Mayor Williams issued a press release stating that the Casey Mansion Foundation had “announced that it will abandon its efforts to construct and endow a permanent mayoral residence in the District of Columbia and convey the Foxhall property to the Salvation Army” (http://www.dcwatch.com/issues/mansion18.htm)  The decision surprised many, both government officials and community leaders alike. While none of the parties close to the decision was talking on Friday, it is possible that any or all of the following factors led to the abandonment of the mayoral mansion project. 1) Betty Brown Casey, who heads the Casey Mansion Foundation, is 74 years old. When she announced the mayoral residence, it was assumed that the project was on the fast track, but it has already taken more than two and a half years in a bureaucratic maze of Council hearings, negotiations with the National Park Service, and review by the National Capital Planning Commission. Like Jack Kent Cooke, who sought to build a new football stadium when he was in his 80's, time is not on Mrs. Casey's side. 2) Mrs. Casey has a history of acquiring real estate for charitable purposes without first determining its suitability. In 1996, she bought the F Street Woodward and Lothrop store with the stated intention of gutting its interior to house the Washington Opera company. When the estimated cost of renovation rose to $200 million and the Opera Society's support for the project waned, Mrs. Casey abandoned the project. In the case of the Foxhall site, after she bulldozed the historic house on the site because she envisioned a grander mansion for the mayor, Mrs. Casey unwittingly sabotaged her own plans by trying to annex four and a half acres of national parkland to the already ample acreage she owned. The complications this added to the project increased not only community opposition, but the time it required and its expense.

3) The veil of secrecy that had surrounded the questionable negotiations on the project was about to be pierced. Foxhall resident Howard Bray had filed a freedom of information request to obtain government documents and records on the Casey Mansion project. When the District government falsely claimed that it had no documents from the two years that the mayor's office had been planning and negotiating with the Casey Mansion Foundation, Bray filed a suit in Superior Court to compel the government to comply with his FOI request. Moreover, DCWatch had publicly raised questions about $1.8 million that the Casey Mansion Foundation reported to the Internal Revenue Service that it had already spent for furniture and equipment, presumably for the planned mansion. 4) In 2004, Mayor Williams will likely face a serious, organized recall effort by a broad-based coalition of opponents, who will use his closure of DC General Hospital, support for school vouchers, and support for public financing for a baseball stadium to argue that his priorities are divorced from the interests of most city residents. The construction of an expensive mayoral mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the District would support the perception that Williams is aloof and detached from the vast majority of DC residents. 5) Those who know the demanding, controlling personalities — involved in the secretive, closed-door negotiations between the city and the Casey Mansion Foundation -- for the city, Steve Green, special assistant to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development; and for the Foundation, developer Richard Carr and attorney Brendan Sullivan  speculate that the clash of egos may well have been the factor that ultimately undermined the agreement.

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Hoist by Their Own Petard
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom

Whatever a petard is. If that means something like shooting ones self in the foot, then that is just what the Foxhall residents have done. These anti-change residents overdelayed the land gift by Mrs. Casey for the building of a single family Mayor's house (albeit, even by Foxhall standards, a mansion) have just opened the door to the highest bidder for that sixteen-acre land parcel.

Back up folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. The bidders for that land will be big time growth folks who will build, not one, but more like eighty big townhouses on those sixteen acres. Or, alternatively, that growth monster GWU will outbid all and build wall-to-wall dorms on the property. Be careful what you wish for Foxhallers. Enjoy your petard.

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Children’s Books with an Environmental Message
Mary Vogel, MaryVogel@yahoo.com

Longtime DC resident Lynne Cherry is an internationally known author/illustrator of children’s books with an environmental message. Even my friends from Alaska had read one of her books and were thrilled to meet her at a recent book signing at Union Station! themail readers may not have heard about her because the Washington Post has steadfastly refused to feature Lynne — even though she gets great coverage in newspapers elsewhere when she’s in their town for a book signing. So I want themail readers to know about a couple of her local events and her web site. Lynne's fabulous illustrations make the books popular with adults as well.

On December 20 Lynne Cherry will be signing her new book, How Groundhog's Garden Grew, at the River Road Whole Foods Store from noon-2:00 p.m. or later. She will be accompanied by Little Groundhog himself, whom children will love! This not-so-little Groundhog will show kids how to cut up potatoes to plant them in their own gardens. To read more about How Groundhog's Garden Grew see Lynne's web page on that book at http://www.lynnecherry.com/works.htm.

On January 29, 2004, in the evening Lynne will be signing all her books at the Bethesda Barnes & Noble. And on February 19, 2004, Lynne will be a guest on Martha Stewart Living. For local listing to find out the local network and broadcast time, check your TV guide.

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Lloyd Jordan
Sheryl Isaac, Swji@aol.com

I would like to know why Lloyd Jordan continues to pop up as one of Mayor Williams' choices as a DC government official. After leaving the DC Department of Consumer Affairs in not-so-great shape, he emerges here and there as a candidate for different offices. As if the DC Sports Commission isn't looking bad enough, he is now a candidate for that job. The City Paper wrote a long article back in 1998 about his less-than-honest dealings while serving in St. Louis City government. I personally have firsthand knowledge of his dishonest dealings while with DC government. In January 2004, the Office of Employee Appeals will hear its first whistleblower's case against him for his actions while he was the head of DCRA. The hearing was set for January 6, but has been rescheduled to a later date in January. I will let you know the new date. It is open to the public. Come to listen and hear about his inner workings. There are many honest professionals in DC who have DC as a number one interest. Why not submit names to the Mayor to assist him in making the right choice!

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White House Rules; Peasants Drool
Willie Schatz, willie@schatzgroup.com

Phil Greene is spot on about the de facto “No Parking” (under penalty of death?) zone on the Ellipse. Why reserve the people's space for the people when they might do something threatening, such as park legally? Compared to this power grab, closing E Street behind the mansion legitimate is absolutely justifiable. I swear some rock group said something about this state-of-mind. Oh, right; it was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: “Paranoia strikes deep; Into your heart it will creep.”

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For the Property Tax Cap
Pleasant Mann, pleasant@chesapeake.net

In the December 7 edition of themail, Ed Lazare (“Against the Property Cap”) expresses opposition to the DC Council measure which intends to place a 10 percent annual cap on DC property taxes. In a short paper, he opposes the measure as inequitable because it does not spread its benefits over all the District's homeowners. Instead, Mr. Lazare suggests consideration of an increase in the Homestead Deduction or a reduction in the overall property tax rate if the city wants to provide tax relief. This position ignores the fact that the push for the proposed 10 percent tax cap arose out of a specific set of circumstances. First, in the late 1990s, the District's Chief Financial Officer, now its Mayor, argued that property assessments for houses should be conducted every three years, rather than annually. Unfortunately, the system of triennial assessments was implemented during one of the largest residential real estate booms in the District's history. When the city moved back to annual assessments, a number of residents found their tax bills increasing at rates far higher than their incomes. While a 25 percent cap was implemented, the continuing surge in property values in some neighborhoods quickly made the cap appear inadequate to shelter homeowners from the shock.

My own house in the Shaw area is a vivid illustration of the problem. Starting with a triennial assessment of $149,000, the first annual assessment last year moved to $211,000, a one-year increase of 42 percent. Now the 2004 assessment has gone up to $393,000, an additional 86 percent increase. The assessment on my house, whose only improvement was a new address plate out front, has increased by 160 percent in only three years! Needless to say, my income has not made a comparable rise. Neither have the incomes of my aging neighbors, some of whom feel that these new assessments will prevent them from staying in homes that they have occupied for thirty years or more.

For my neighbors and myself, who just want to stay in the houses and neighborhoods we picked years ago, Mr. Lazare's recommendations will not help much. A $20,000 increase in the Homestead Deduction or a slight reduction in the property tax rate will not come close to addressing the shock of our enormous assessment increases. It would also give property tax relief to homes with much more modest increases in assessments for no good reason. I believe that everyone would like to pay a fair share of property taxes. The 10 percent cap is just a mechanism to allow long-term homeowners in the District to adjust to sudden increases in neighborhood property values, just as our system of rent control protects long-term apartment dwellers from sudden increases in housing costs.

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Re: Ad Hominem Attack: Not Exactly Guilty as Charged, But Willing to Take the Credit
Clare Feinson, cfeinson at erols dot com

I must admit that I thought long and hard before sending off my tongue-in-cheek response to Ed Barron. But then, he did ask us to remind him to move, so I was merely fulfilling his request. As Oscar Wilde said, "I can resist anything except temptation."

In all seriousness, though, I apologize to anyone who may have misconstrued my feeble attempt at humor as an ad hominem attack, which constitutes behavior I would never condone in anyone, least of all myself. As much as I disagree with almost everything Ed Barron says, I would go to the mat to defend his right to say it, without harassment (although maybe with a little bit of good-natured ribbing). And I was impressed that his story about spending homeland security money on bicycles for the mayor and his aides made it to TV -- maybe there’s some baby in the bath water I’ve been tossing, after all.

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December 2003 InTowner
Peter Wolff, intowner@intowner.com

This is to advise that the December 2003 on-line edition has been uploaded and may be accessed at http://www.intowner.com. Included are the lead stories, community news items and crime reports, editorials (including prior months' archived), restaurant reviews (prior months' also archived), and the text from the ever-popular "Scenes from the Past" feature. Also included are all current classified ads. The complete issue (along with prior issues back to March 2002) also is available in PDF file format by direct access from our home page at no charge simply by clicking the link provided. Here you will be able to view the entire issue as it appears in print, including all photos and advertisements.

The next issue will publish on January 9. The complete PDF version will be posted by early that Friday morning, following which the text of the lead stories, community news, and selected features will be uploaded shortly thereafter. To read this month's lead stories, simply click the link on the home page to the following headlines: 1) “City's Permit Office Revealed as Culprit Leading to Removal of Decorative Ironwork”; 2) “Adams Morgan Main Street Benefits from Americorp Workers Assigned to Neighborhood”; 3) “City Museum Joins With Other Venues Offering Stimulating Lectures.”

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Crime on the Streets and Parking on the Streets
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

Crime in DC has returned to the headlines, but a closer look indicates that DC's crime rates across the spectrum (not just homicides) are not that far out of line with other cities, and given the circumstances of DC's demographics. Lowering crime will require better parenting, not just better policing. Take a look at http://www.narpac.org/SJCRIME.HTM. Meanwhile, a fully automated "robotic" parking garage has been in operation in Hoboken, NJ, for more than a year, and demonstrates that current technology can provide a far more efficient union between public and private transportation. DC and Metro planners take note. See how it works at http://www.narpac.org/METROPRK.HTM#robotic. Check out these and other additions to the December update of NARPAC's web site at http://www.narpac.org/INTHOM.HTM and enjoy a very happy holiday season.

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS AND CLASSES

Looking to Stay Fit over the Holidays?
Marilyn Myers, myers8163@aol.com

Aerobic dancing classes are offered at Daumit Dance Studio, 3333 Connecticut Avenue, 2nd Floor, Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. No prior experience is necessary. Beginners are welcome as well as any age and size! December special is $7.00 a class. Work abs, tone and trim, work cardio -- get energized! Preview the winter session, which starts January 3, 2004. Pre-register for the winter session by December 21 and get a free session T-shirt. E-mail Marilyn at myers8163@aol.com.

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CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING

Room Wanted for May and June
Heinz Hoelbling, heinzi5@gmx.net

I am a 23-year old history student from Austria. I plan to do archive research for my master thesis on American History and the predominance US Foreign Relations: “The struggle between Woodrow Wilson and Congress over the ratification of the League of Nations Covenant” in Washington, DC for two months in April and May 2004.

I am desperately looking for a room to stay during this period. Since I heavily depend on financial support from my home University of Graz, Austria, for my stay, I have to look for a room that does not cost more than $400 a month. As I am looking for private accommodation (because of the rates) I would also be willing to help with domestic work besides my research, etc., if that would cut down room costs. Maybe you or one of your staff members by chance has knowledge of such a possibility.

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