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February 8, 2004

Real People

Dear Real People:

The Mayor’s State of the District speech (http://www.dcwatch.com/mayor/040205.htm) opened with the story of how as an eleven-year-old boy he started taking his lunches high in the bell tower of his school. “The fact is, I still take any chance I get to climb to the top of a building or mountain, especially here. It doesn't matter if it's the Washington Monument, the National Cathedral or Saint Elizabeth's: if you up go high enough, you will see our city from an entirely different perspective. Instead of the sharp lines that too often divide us by neighborhood, by race, by income, you can see the big picture: how interconnected we all are; how far we've come as one city; and how much more we can accomplish if we all stand together.” It ends with his story of flying over Washington. “A few years ago, I was flying back to our city. It was a clear winter night. And you could see for miles. And as we made our approach into National Airport, I looked down toward Washington and saw all the lights shining up. I almost had to pinch myself as I thought, ‘I’m the Mayor of this beautiful city.’ Gazing down, I knew that every one of those lights was something precious: a family trying to make it, a single mother supporting her kids, a businesswoman trying to get her restaurant off the ground, a student working his way through college — a child struggling just to do better in this world.” The mayor presented his distant perspective, looking down at the city and its people from a height, as inspiring, but the fact is that it is primarily distant. Looking down from a height is a nice perspective to get once in a while, but you learn more and accomplish more when you are on the ground with and among the people.

That distant perspective, from which individual people are invisible and can only be imagined, in which they count for less than the “big picture,” leads to an antidemocratic impulse. When it comes to education, that antidemocratic impulse is shared by both of our daily newspapers. The mayor, the Times, and the Post all agree that the people of this city aren't ready for self-rule; they aren't wise enough or capable of choosing the people who will run the city's schools. What is needed, they agree, is a strong man system, in which a benevolent dictator makes the decisions without any of the inconveniences of answering to that stupid mob, the public. The mayor envisions himself as the strong man who can choose a manager for the schools, answerable only to him, who will solve the schools' problems. But the mayor's power grab isn't going to succeed because the city council will block it. This is to the Council's considerable credit, not to its discredit, as the Post foolishly editorialized today (“The State of the Mayor,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22331-2004Feb7.html). The Council will block it because they have taken the measure of the mayor, and have determined that they do not trust him with that power. He has flouted his four-year-old promise to be accountable for the schools, as Craig Timberg pointed out just two days earlier in the Post: “The mayor's inability to make improvements so far has become a liability in his fight to get more authority over schools, council members say. They note that since the mayor won the power to appoint school board members, several members have resigned in frustration and seats have remained unfilled for months at a time.” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17066-2004Feb5.html). And he and his supporters have shown their basic misunderstanding of the problem by saying repeatedly that the superintendent, or “chancellor,” as the mayor prefers, should be a businessman who will straighten out the schools' finances and management, rather than an educator whose primary concern would be to help the students learn. (Certainly the school system wastes a great amount of the money that is given to it, but it is more troubling that it isn't educating most of its students well.) If there were a different mayor in office, the council would probably rush to abolish the school board or gut its power, and to endorse the antidemocratic, strongman option. After all, all that councilmembers have to do is to look around at a Committee of the Whole meeting to convince themselves that the people can't choose wise leaders.

The antidemocratic impulse also shows up in this city's planning process. Len Sullivan correctly and aptly described the administration's philosophy of planning in themail last week (“Planning in DC: We've Met the Enemy and He Is Us,” February 1): “Clearly, the ‘need’ of some residents will always conflict with the ‘desires’ of others, and there are many key stakeholders beyond residents. These include the thriving commercial businesses and their employees (that pay a good chunk of DC's bills); the federal government and its varied camp followers (the only reason DC exists, and doesn't resemble Camden, NJ); and all US citizens who expect their national capital city to reflect the best of our national lifestyle, not just the pettiness of single-purpose activists. . . . [T]he real problem with DC's leadership and those hired to plan our capital city's physical and economic future is that they seem preoccupied with humoring residents' whims. Those legally picked to drive this very special moving train focus too much on a few riders bouncing in their seats, and too little on analyzing, explaining, and doing what it takes to keep the engine running and the tracks clear, as Congress and the world watch!” Sullivan summarized well what the mayor and the Office of Planning believe, that the residents of the city are not the ones who should govern the city, or for whom it should be governed. They are only one special interest group, one of many groups of “stakeholders,” and one of the less important ones, at that. To keep the trains running on time, the pesky and self-involved citizens, whose narrow concern is how planning decisions will affect their lives, need to be kept out of the picture and out of power. It's the view from the airplane, looking down at the city as a map of lights, and only having to imagine the people.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Mayor Pronounces Banneker Overlook “Now Available” for a Stadium
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com

It's standard operating procedure for the mayor and DC's baseball effort, that his first comments on the consideration of Banneker Overlook for a baseball stadium are not officially announced to the public as a possibility to be examined but are disseminated in a web chat, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13478-2004Feb4.html, where they are alluded to as an available site already submitted to for consideration to Major League Baseball (which of course has already toured the site). The mayor said in the “State of the District” chat that “We believe that we have three great sites — third site is now available on the waterfront and on a gateway into the city — and a great financial package for MLB.” So much for the public process that the mayor and officials with the DC MLB effort indicated would have to accompany any site that would be considered for a stadium. Apparently a word from Herb Miller's lips to the ears of the mayor or Jack Evans is enough to make a site that was previously insufficient to make the cut of the 32 preliminary sites during the extensive and expensive site evaluation process is suddenly among the city's three “great” sites and available to MLB, despite there having been nary a word to the public on this.

At least the other two sites — which the Post article this week indicated were at New York Avenue and North Capitol Street and M Street, SE, — not only met the preliminary requirements of the city and the consultants hired to evaluate potential stadium sites, but also had initial cost estimates and logistical concerns addressed during the site evaluation process as well as having been subject to a semblance of a public process that allowed the public to be heard and submit input to a certain, if severely limited, degree. There’s not even a pretense of public participation for this site, only decisions made behind closed doors that the public hears about after the fact and only via whispers, tidbits here and there, and offhand comments in sports sections and web chats! Perish the thought that we be engaged from the beginning of the process, not after it’s a done deal. And of course, we don’t hear a word about the unprecedented challenges that this site, with its inordinate amount of logistical, political, and financial pitfalls from the mayor, only a quote from the mayor that equates to a line from another Tony: “It‘s GRRRRREAT!” Pardon me if I don’t take the mayor’s word for it and rather demand answers before he and MLB have practically worked out a deal that will dramatically impacts DC‘s citizens! The mayor concludes with a gem of a Freudian slip: “The ultimate decision is in [MLB‘s] hands.” Actually, that’s not quite right, Mayor Williams. The ultimate decision is not in their hands but in the hands of the DC citizenry, and no matter how hard you try to run from that reality, we’re going to make sure you don’t forget that!

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Political Shuffleboard
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com

According to Wilson Building sources, Linda Cropp will not seek reelection as council chairman after her current term, thus making the position an open seat. Councilmembers Kathy Patterson, Ward 3, and Vincent Orange, Ward 5, have both indicated an interest in running for the chairmanship in 2006. Recently, however, Orange has also signaled that he may run for mayor, especially if Tony Williams doesn't seek reelection. Orange joins a growing list of people who have been sounding the waters for a mayoral run, including his fellow councilmembers Kevin Chavous, Harold Brazil, and Adrian Fenty; Democratic State Committee Chair A. Scott Bolden; soon-to-retire Verizon executive Marie Johns; former Deputy US Attorney General Eric Holder; and Boxing Commission member Michael Brown.

In recent weeks, Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham has told several of his Council colleagues and others that he may run this year in the Democratic primary for the at-large council seat currently held by Harold Brazil. Graham's run would not jeopardize his current ward council seat, where his term lasts through 2006. Graham's challenge to a fellow councilmember, however, would be highly unusual. Graham and Brazil are Mayor Williams's staunchest supporters and water boys on the council. A contentious race between them would force Mayor Williams to support one or the other — or neither — and their rivalry would weaken Williams's influence on the council. Graham's run for an at-large seat would be an effort to build a citywide constituency for a future mayoral candidacy. Already announced candidates for the at-large seat are political newcomers Sam Brooks and Kwame Brown.

East of the Anacostia, the council races in Wards 7 and 8 will be highly contentious this year. In Ward 7, Kevin Chavous is likely to face one or more of three contenders: Union Temple pastor Reverend Willie Wilson, former Ward 7 Councilmember H.R. Crawford, and Covenant House director Vincent Gray. In Ward 8, Sandy Allen may face off against former Mayor Marion Barry (who has a recent history, though, of hinting about possible political runs that he has no intention of making), and community activists Sandra Seegars and Eugene Kinlow, Jr.

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WASA
Doreen P. Conrad, dpconrad_dcwriter@yahoo.com

When I wrote the check for my water bill a couple of days ago, I had to strongly restrain the urge to write “Get the lead out” on the bill stub.

Seems I've finally gained an almost perfect Buddhist attitude vis-a-vis our uniformly messed-up DC agencies.

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WASA and the Lead in Our Water
Jay E. Vinton, Jayvinton@nih.gov

As I understand it, WASA knows of 23,000 houses in DC that have lead service lines from the street into the house, has tested 6,000 of those houses, and found two thirds of them to be over the EPA limit for lead in the water. I also understand that WASA has publicized a phone number that residents can call to find out if their house is one of the 23,000, and to request a test kit for lead in the water. I think that, instead of waiting for every resident in DC to call WASA to find out if they are one of the 23,000 residences, WASA should be notifying each of those 23,000 residents that they have lead service lines, and offer to send them the lead test kit.

WASA should also send notices to the other households letting them know either that WASA knows they don't have lead service lines or that WASA doesn't know whether they do or not, and include information useful on figuring out whether one has a lead service line or not. WASA also, of course, should be trying to figure out how to reverse the increase in lead levels which appears to have occurred around 2000.

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Lead in Our Water
Bill Adler, billonline@adlerbooks.com

I am outraged over the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority's hushing up of excessive lead in our drinking water. WASA should have alerted all District residents about this the moment they knew. When our water bill arrived last week, I expected it to include information about the lead problem that WASA has known about since at least 2002. Instead, there was a cheerful newsletter with information about storm water and wastewater treatment upgrades, a suggestion that timing your shower can help conserve water and save money, and some Valentine's Day recipes. There wasn't a single word in WASA's February newsletter, “What’s On Tap,” about lead. Not one word.

WASA's web site says “The water treated by the Washington Aqueduct for and delivered to property owners in the District of Columbia meets all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The water contains extremely low levels of lead (less than 2 parts per billion).” That makes it sound like all of our drinking water is safe, but it's not. While WASA kept quiet about this, thousands of District residents, including children and pregnant women, were needlessly exposed to harmful levels of lead. There should be a criminal investigation of WASA's attempt to hide problems with the District's drinking water. WASA put our health at risk.

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Lead and Water
Melody R. Webb, melodywebb@lobbyline.com

There has been a lot of talk recently about high levels of lead in the drinking water. I am very concerned about this, I believe that there are too many unanswered questions, and there are some steps I would like the government to take. Here is a summary of this: you can read more (much more) at http://www.lobbyline.com/waterfordckidsnow. First, while I have read a lot about what middle class residents are doing about this, we must ask ourselves: what about those who do not have the resources to buy bottled water or filters? In particular, our indigent neighbors who are pregnant, who are mixing formula (boiling water does not remove lead), and who have young children under six (my children are). The city should be acting to help these people immediately, until it is ascertained that their water is lead-free. I propose that this should be done through an extension of the WIC program to distribute either bottled water or vouchers for water to the poor. Second, I am pressing for a tax credit or direct grant to all affected DC residents (largely families with infants, pregnant women, nursing moms and children) who have bought bottled water or filters based on this confusing news.

Third, I have found the communications from WASA to me personally and through the media to be confusing. In particular, the whole question about whether the problem is just confined to those whose homes are serviced by public lead lines. (What about the schools and multifamily dwellings?) The implication is that others are not affected. Is this is a conclusion based on experiment or a hypothesis? I have found in my research that many copper pipes were soldered with lead, so I am not convinced prima facie that they pose no risk. Although I could have copper pipes, WASA failed to offer me a testing kit. despite the fact that they could be soldered with lead. I had to inform them of the risk of leaching from my solders before they agreed to send a kit.

Fourth, I am pressing for full disclosure, outreach, and a thorough and public testing regimen of the lead levels throughout the city. I want the federal government, which cut the funding for corrosion control programs nationally, to help foot the bill. To read more and learn about how to address the problem, go to http://www.lobbyline.com.

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Good Web Site about Water Quality in DC
Darrell Duane, d@duane.com

What to do about lead in your drinking water: http://www.purewaterdc.com.

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Keeping the Constituents Happy, But Ignoring the Bottom Line
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net

DC's Office of Planning is giving away the store, to coin a phrase, along upper Wisconsin Avenue to placate its nearby NIMBYs. Is that why Census Tract 11 looks like an underdeveloped suburb of DC's edge city, Friendship Heights, MD, rather than vice versa? Check our analysis at http://www.narpac.org/REXTRAX#wisconsin=. Meanwhile, the DC Council has decided to accept less revenues from its contented cash cows as a consequence of asking for less revenues from its discontented marginal producers. Surely there are less self-defeating alternatives. See http://www.narpac.org/BUDI.HTM#taxcaps. And, as explained at http://www.narpac.org/METROLIT#trucks, DC's DDOT seems to be leaning towards means of reducing truck traffic around town without considering revenue-producing fees as incentives. Check out these revenue-wasting plans and other additions to the February update of NARPAC's web site at http://www.narpac.org/INTHOM.HTM, and wonder why DC thinks it deserves subsidies from others.

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Newborn Home Visit Initiative
Gregory Alden Betor, gbetor@aol.com

[Alverda Muhammad, “Newborn Home Visit Initiative Ads,” themail, February 4, wrote:] “The problem with the ad is that the nurse in the ad was Asian.” If race was not the point of the posting then why was this statement made and continued reference to the fact that there is only one nurse of the obviously preferred race?

[I have to defend Alverda Muhammad’s posting. Granted, she does emphasize that the actress who portrays the Newborn Home Visit nurse is Asian American, while the nurse who staffs the program is African-American, but I think her larger point was that a television ad for this program is being broadcast repeatedly (I’ve seen it several times) when it consists of only one nurse, who provides only one home visit during the first four weeks after birth, while the Birth to Eight Project, which provided child raising and nursing assistance for the first eight years, is currently completely unstaffed. — Gary Imhoff]

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

Washington Savoyards Performances, February 11-13, 15
Kathleen Mitchell, savoyards@comcast.net

The Washington Savoyards, Washington's premier Gilbert and Sullivan light opera company, presents Stompin' at the Savoy, cabaret performances in the heart of the downtown arts district. Join company members for a musical journey, as old favorites and new combine to add a classical twist to modern day cabaret. Highlights include Gilbert and Sullivan favorites, Cole Porter standards, contemporary classics from Sondheim to Jason Robert Brown and much, much more. Each performance will surprise: come often! February 11-13, 15 at Flashpoint, 916 G Street, NW. Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30, tickets, $15; Friday at 8:00, tickets $20; Saturday at 8:00, tickets $25. Sunday at 2:00, tickets $15, children under 17 are free if accompanied by a paying adult

Join the Savoyards as well for a festive Valentine's Day gala at Flashpoint, February 14 at 7:00 -- dinner (catered by Fresh Start), entertainment (song after song by members of the Savoyards), and opportunities to support the Savoyards (silent auction). Please reserve your places no later than February 11 at 315-1323. Tickets to all events are available from http://www.ticketmaster.com, by calling 315-1323, and at TicketPlace in the Old Post Office (1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW). Tickets to the cabaret performances are also available at the performance.

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Spotlight on Design Lecture at the National Building Museum, February 18
Briana Hensold, bhensold@nbm.org

Tucson-based architect Rick Joy approaches his projects with the goal of making spaces that emphasize the visitor's sensory experiences. His architecture specifically responds to the rugged Arizona landscape, using color, texture, and native materials. Principal of Rick Joy Architects, he will discuss his body of work that, through its simplicity and sensitivity, is appropriate to the vast natural landscape in which it sits. After the lecture, he will sign copies of his book Rick Joy: Desert Works, Princeton Architectural Press. Wednesday, February 18, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tickets, $12 for museum members; $17 for nonmembers; $10 for students. Prepaid registration required. National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW (Judiciary Square Metro, Red Line).

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DC Public Library Events, February 18, 23, 24
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

African American Tea Ceremony Commemorating Carter G. Woodson, Wednesday, February 18, 7:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW, Main Lobby. Johnetta Bagby presents a tea ceremony commemorating the legacy and contributions of Carter Godwin Woodson the founder of Black History Week that has evolved into Black History Month. Bagby is the creator of African American Tea Praises, an African-American-themed tea party service, which incorporates social graces, fun and history for children and adults. Public contact: 727-1211.

Audism: What Is It? What Can We Do About It? Monday, February 23, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. Dirksen Bauman, associate professor of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University, will discuss “audism.” This new term is used to describe discrimination against persons based on hearing status. The room is equipped with an assistive listening system. Sign language and voice interpreters will be available. Public contact: 727-2145 (TTY and voice).

Black Excellence Through Words and Song. Tuesday, February 24, 4:00 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Avenue, NW. Sopranos Lee-Folia Brunt and Valerie Harris-Gregory perform for Black History Month. Public contact: 541-6100. Anime Films and Discussions, Tuesday, February 24, 3:45 p.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416 Cedar Street, NW. Riding Bean will be shown and discussed. Public contact: 576-7252.

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Brown Versus Board of Education at Fifty, February 20
Joe Libertelli, jlibertelli@udc.edu

Please join us Brown v. Board at 50, with Hon. David Tatel, Judith Winston, Charles Ogletree, Ross Wiener, and William Robinson. Friday, February 20, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Building 38, 2nd Floor. RSVP to JLibertelli@Udc.edu or 274-7349.

12:00-2:00 p.m., lunch and key note address: The Unfinished Business of Brown v Board of Education: Professor Charles Ogletree. Professor Ogletree will discuss the impact that the landmark decision in Brown had in changing society as a whole; whether Brown has lived up to its promise of providing racially integrated and equal educational opportunities; and the impact of the recent decisions on affirmative action in higher education in achieving educational equity. 2:00-5:00 p.m., panel discussion, Implementing Brown v Board of Education: Lessons from the Past; Strategies for the Future. Panelists: Hon. David S. Tatel, William L Taylor, Ross Wiener, and Judith A. Winston; moderator: William L. Robinson. The panelists will discuss the success and failure of Brown in provoking widespread legal and social changes and equal educational opportunity. After a short break, the panelists will discuss strategies for the future: what steps are necessary to further the legacy of Brown. Beyond the mandate of Brown? What reforms are needed to eliminate educational disparities and provide high quality education to all children? A reception at the Howard University Law School, one block away, will follow!

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Washington Storytellers Theater, February 21
Brad Hills, bradhills@washingtonstorytellers.org

Washington Storytellers Theater proudly present Susan O'Halloran, “Crossing The Tracks.” From the neighborhood front porches of her childhood home on Chicago's South Side to a perilous bus ride with her sons through the mountains of Guatemala, Susan O'Halloran is making her mark in the storytelling world with stories that explore the complex issues of race, politics and social justice. Whether telling personal stories or original fables, she engages her audience with empathy for human suffering and a passionate, wiry wit.

Companies have called her storytelling "a new approach of politics with soul" and "a brilliant synthesis of information." The Chicago Reader’s Critic Choice says O’Halloran "has mastered the Irish art of telling stories that are funny and heart-wrenching at the same time" but her best endorsements come from her audiences: "Sue opened our minds to a much broader view of why society excludes or includes different groups and energized us to deepen our commitment to transforming our world!" Place: Westmoreland Congregational Church, 1 Westmoreland Circle at Massachusetts Avenue, Saturday, February 21, 8 p.m. Ticket price: $12 ($10 seniors and students, $9 for WST members). Purchase at the door or in advance by calling 301-891-1129. For more information, go to http://www.washingtonstorytellers.org.

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