Humble
Dear Humblers:
Certain know-it-all blowhards have an unattractive tendency to
trumpet the occasions when they are proven right. Therefore, I would
never want to call undue attention to the article by Brian DeBose in the
Washington Times on the day before the Democratic ward caucuses,
titled “Council Regrets Early Nonbinding Primary” (http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20040212-102857-6526r.htm).
I would not like to dwell on the statement by Ward One Councilmember Jim
Graham that, “This is the worst situation we could have put into
place, and I think we all agree that we will never do this again,” or
to the statement by Ward Seven Councilmember Kevin Chavous that, “We
stumbled through this [primary] with the best of intentions, and it
backfired on us because we didn't get the attention we wanted and we
somehow awkwardly outsmarted ourselves.” I would never gloat that the
results of the nonbinding beauty contest held last month were completely
overturned by the results of the caucus held this month.
I'm just glad that I'm modest enough to let the situation speak for
itself, without rubbing it in. To do otherwise would be boastful, and
I'm much too humble to do that.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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PSA Restructuring Plan Weakens Community
Policing
Lars Hydle, Larshhydle@aol.com
The deadline is close of business on Thursday to sign up as a witness
in the Council Judiciary Committee's hearings on Tuesday, February 24,
on the Metropolitan Police Department's Police Service Area
Restructuring Plan. Written testimony may be submitted by March 9.
Details of the hearing are on Council Member Patterson's web site.
Details of the PSA restructuring plan itself can be found on the MPD's
website, http://mpdc.dc.gov. The Chief
of Police and the Mayor presented the plan to the Council January 12.
Under special emergency legislation the Council has sixty days to review
it, ending March 12. By its terms the legislation does not require
Council action before the plan is implemented, but the Council has
authority under the Home Rule Charter to “create, abolish and
organize” DC government departments, and could act on the plan if it
wished. Individual changes in the overall plan are still possible during
the review period, though the MPD did brief most Council members
individually and seemingly is not expecting significant changes.
The plan would create 43 new PSAs, whose boundaries crisscross with
the existing ANCs to establish 97 ANC/PSA combinations. The PSAs also
overlap functionally with the ANCs, which are empowered by law to offer
advice to government departments on many things, including safety.
Government departments are supposed to notify ANCs of proposed policy
changes, but the MPD did not do that. Nineteen ANCs, representing more
than half the population of DC, passed resolutions which generally
called upon the MPD to align PSA and ANC boundaries, to notify ANCs of
its PSA plans, and to give “great weight” to applicable ANC
resolutions, but in the plan only three ANCs ended up with PSAs
identical to them, while most ANCs are divided into two or more PSAs,
and most PSAs into two or more ANCs. An ANC could be divided into many
PSAs, each of which in turn may be divided into several ANCs, so that
none of these ANCs will have any influence over community policing in
their areas.
At first glance such geographic and functional disarray seems merely
stupid, but more likely the MPD does not want to have to deal with
annoying local elected officials who can pass resolutions on policing
which the MPD must read and respect or explain why not. As for the
Mayor, since the beginning of his administration he had sought to weaken
and bypass the ANCs by creating rival, bureaucratically controlled
neighborhood institutions, first the “neighborhood clusters” and now
PSAs which, the Mayor's statement indicates, will be the neighborhood
government units into which city services will be integrated and
coordinated. While not abolishing the popularly elected ANCs, the
administration would take away their power, rather like the Congress
does to the District from time to time. Readers who are concerned about
the implications of the PSA plan for community policing and neighborhood
democracy may wish to testify at the hearings and/or lobby their Council
members.
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Think Traffic is Bad in DC?
Ed Barron, edtb@aol.com
For those who think traffic and drivers are bad in DC, they should
drive for one hour on the streets and elevated highways of Cairo, Egypt.
Traffic lights on the city streets are not even considered guidelines.
Every unpoliced intersection is a traffic jam with barge in as the only
rule. On the three lane elevated highways that crisscross the city (you
know that they are three lanes because there are two striped lines on
the roadway) cars drive four and, sometimes, five abreast. That leaves
about two inches of clearance between cars (and they show it). Cairo has
to be the most chaotic city in the world for driving. Fortunately, for
our week in Cairo, we traveled on a large bus with police escort in
front, armed military vehicle in back, and intersections cleared in
advance as we rolled along.
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Telephone Reference in the DC Public Libraries
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Since moving to the DC area more than twenty years ago, I've made
frequent use of the DC Public Libraries. One of the most useful services
I've encountered is telephone reference, where a quick call to MLK
library gets me the answer to almost any city-related question I can
think of. I've sometimes wondered whether the people who answer these
questions are truly omniscient — or just appear so. I've used
telephone reference for personal information needs as well as
work-related information needs. A few months ago I surprised my
supervisor at work by quickly getting an answer to a question he asked
me. How did I do it? I called telephone reference, a service that makes
me look smarter than I am.
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Tuesday night at one of Capitol Hill's churches, a crowd of about two
hundred angry citizens closely questioned a panel of experts on the
subject of lead in the DC Water Supply. Among the panelists were WASA's
engineer, a couple of doctors, City Councilmember Sharon Ambrose and a
representative of Mayor Williams. The behavior of the panel was surreal.
WASA's engineer admitted that the lead content was higher than any other
location in the nation and told the audience that they should run their
tap water for five minutes before drinking any of it to give the lead
time to clear. However, he had no immediate plans to deal with the
problem. He told the audience that WASA planned to keep replacing
offending water pipes with modern ones. At the current rate of
replacement, one person estimated it would take fourteen years. Not
exactly a rapid reaction to the crisis.
Sharon Ambrose seemed hurt when members of the audience said the city
council should have known two years ago that WASA had found
unprecedentedly high lead rates in the water. She said defensively that
WASA hadn't told them about the contamination, so how was the City
Council to know? Can anyone tell Sharon how to spell o-v-e-r-s-i-g-h-t?
When asked what she planned to do about the water crisis, Ambrose said
she planned to continue to hold community meetings. The Mayor's
representative said that he could speak for the Mayor in stating that
their office would insure that the citizens of DC got lead-free water. I
hope other attendees will feel free to discuss what they saw and heard
at this meeting.
###############
DC Democratic Presidential Caucus Results by
Ward?
John Vaught LaBeaume, Dupont Circle, jvlab@yahoo.com
Since Saturday's Presidential caucus was run by the state Democratic
Party and not the District, dcboee.org has not posted results. The only
results I saw were from the AP, listed at large, not broken down by ward
as the DC Board of Elections and Ethics commonly lists results. I'm
curious, as I received a postcard from Councilmember Jack Evans's
campaign reiterating his endorsement of Howard Dean and urging Ward Two
Dems to vote for Governor Dean. Outside the Ward Two caucus location,
Dean folks were out in force, many sporting Jack Evans stickers next to
their Howard Dean buttons.
It would be interesting to see if Councilmember Evans' endorsement
boosted Dean's vote, especially against Kerry's in Ward Two, and
compared to other wards. Can any one point me in the right direction? Do
any DC Dem state committee members have any information as to whether
the party might release such detail?
[Your wish is our command. Courtesy of the good staffers of the DC
BOEE, here are the Democratic Caucus results by ward: http://www.dcwatch.com/election2004/040214.htm.
— Gary Imhoff]
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As a simple foreigner/immigrant, I have wondered why the issue of
statehood is so difficult. In one sense it is simple: the District is a
constitutional entity, not a political one. The constitution contains
references to three entities that are held to be governed by it: the
states, defined as the bodies to be represented in the Federal Senate
and in the House, on different grounds that are specified for each of
them; prospective territories, that might at some future date be
governed by the Congressional creation of governors and assemblies, and
could be transformed into states; and the federal district, which is
placed by Article I, clause 17, alongside arsenals and other military or
federal areas, and without any indication of how its future status might
be changed. I take it that the proponents of statehood for the federal
district are placed at a disadvantage, since they either have to amend
the fundamental constitution (which can be done, but is difficult at
best); or argue that political interest or progress in the development
of civil-rights thought requires a broader interpretation of the first
clause of the fourteenth (or other) amendment; or that something
fundamentally contrary to natural or human rights was/is involved in
this particular clause of the American constitution.
The method of amendment of the Constitution has been tried, but
failed to get the required majorities in the States. The method of legal
reinterpretation is chancy in the courts, and dubious when compared with
the method of fundamental Amendment. The argument that is to be based on
the ruling of the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Organization is open to many objections, I suppose, but I do not have to
specify what they are, given the number of Americans who will do so for
each other. They must include the proposition that there are some items
which cannot be included in any constitution without negating a natural
right that can be recognized by anyone, anywhere, and at once; viz., the
right of the residents of a capital city to the same voting rights and
representation as the citizens of any other constitutional entity.
Precedents and actual practice would seem to be against this view, but
it might work, if there were no other way of achieving these ends
through available political means, e.g., by proposals to move the larger
part of the Federal District into Maryland, at least for purposes of
voting.
###############
What is Easterbrook talking about? I thought that democratic
representation involved the election of a person to participate in a
decision making body on behalf of constituents; how then is it possible
for the District to be currently over-represented in the federal
government? The table referenced as evidence in Easterbrook’s column
measures “Federal expenditures by state per capita,” not “quantify
of Congressional representation” or anything like it. If we were to
follow the daredevil Easterbrook on his death-defying leap of nonsense,
we would conclude that the most well-represented states are, in order,
Alaska, North Dakota, Virginia, New Mexico, and Maryland, solely because
of the amount of federal money they receive. Meanwhile, the first-class
citizens of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, New Hampshire, and Nevada
apparently suffer from second-class representation — perhaps,
Easterbrook might lead us to conclude, providing sufficient
justification to grant a third senator to those malnourished states,
until they may swallow a greater share of the federal pork.
Easterbrook goes on to assert that the District is naturally well
represented in Congress because “Many members of the House, Senate,
and cabinet live in the District and are keenly aware of its needs.”
For example, Senator Hatch’s keen awareness of the ease with which a
person can acquire a handgun in the District led him to introduce
legislation to make gun ownership even easier, in contravention of a
District law approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor. (I assure
you, the Senator is keenly unaware of what the NRA wants.) Likewise,
Congressman Tom Davis was so moved by the District’s shameful
underinvestment in public education that he decided to appropriate
federal money for private school vouchers, over the strenuous objections
of the District’s elected delegate to Congress.
If representative democracy is necessary for the existence of
political liberty, and if liberty is indeed an inalienable right of
human beings, then it must be true that the denial of democratic
representation to District residents violates their human rights.
###############
In response to February 17 New Republic easterblogg posting
about the OAS ruling on DC human rights: although the US Senate was
intended to represent all Americans, I have never heard anyone claim
that it attempts to represent us equally. Is Rhode Island too small to
have two senators or Alaska too large? Is Wyoming too rural or Florida
too elderly? Connecticut too homogenous? Utah too Republican? Why is an
entirely unrepresented district labeled too urban to be individually
represented in the Senate? Are you really saying DC is too black for two
Senators? Too gay? I moved to Washington almost two years ago from the
Midwest. I have never felt so voiceless and disenfranchised and angry in
my life. Here I could walk to the Capitol and yet I had no one there to
speak to. I will not rest until this district has representation equal
to — or better than — the rest of America. After 200 years of no
representation, I think “over-representation” would not be such a
terrible thing even if it were the case.
If the unrepresented capital argument is a valid model, then why
don't state governments exclude the residents of their capital cities
from their state legislatures? Are Jefferson City residents way, way,
way over-represented in Missouri? Do not belittle my circumstance or
that of my 570,000 neighbors or our ancestors who for 200 years have
been unrepresented in our national legislature. I am not motivated by
politics, as you imply all “statehood types” are. I am motivated by
democracy and it's founding principle of government by the governed.
Walk around our neighborhoods sometime and see who the people of
Washington really are. Stop stereotyping us as all political insiders
and see that we are teachers, accountants, janitors, homemakers,
hairdressers, nurses, writers, bus drivers, artists. We are often too
busy making ends meet to work for our fundamental human right to govern
ourselves!
I ask that you rethink your strong statements and take another look
at the carefully considered OAS ruling. And then ask yourself if
half-a-million Baghdad residents will accept exclusion from their new
democratic legislature based on presumed influence by proximity.
###############
Easterbrook’s Cheap Rhetoric
Karl Rudder, krudder222@aol.com
Mr. Easterbrook exercises very cheap rhetoric by saying, “DC
residents ought to have a full vote for the House and Senate, but the
idea that they are suffering some form of human-rights violation is the
sort of absurdity that could only be given hearing in an institution
divorced from reality. If anything, DC residents are over-represented in
the United States Congress. The federal government spends far more per
capita on DC than in any state; about five times more per capita than on
the highest-ranked state, Alaska.” The residents of the capital city
of the United States of America have yet to ever be represented in
either the House of Representatives or the Senate. A cheap concession to
the need for this to end is expressed by the beginning of the first
sentence, only to immediately be followed by a complete denial of the
insulting aspect to such a means of social, economic and political
oppression as expressed in the end of the sentence. A further challenge
to the sincerity of the sentence is then expressed by the second
sentence. Why would Mr. Easterbrook begin with a thought of what he
thought DC should have, only to inform the reader two sentences later,
“If anything, DC residents are over-represented in the United States
Congress.” His contradiction in thought is beginning to become
insulting at this point of his delivery.
This presentation by Mr. Easterbrook ends with an insulting,
unsupported lie. The issue is just how well DC residents are able to
control their own tax revenue and not in any shape, manner, or form is
this an issue of how much money the Federal government spends in DC. Any
statement to the effect of what the Federal government spends per capita
deserves supporting data. I was taught in high school that I should
research and be ready to support any thought that I intended to do my
best at intelligently expressing. Mr. Easterbrook is in my view, part of
the problem and not part of the solution. I welcome any exchange with
Mr. Easterbrook to better explain why he expressed himself in such a
shallow manner. I'm a nice guy, so I am willing to accept a Doctor's
statement that excuses Mr. Easterbrook from being a normal, intelligent,
sincere person. That statement must be notarized.
###############
I read the three paragraphs [from Gregg Easterbrook] quoted [in
themail, February 15]. What can one say about someone so ignorant of
history, so unknowledgeable about politics, and so unable to accurately
read a budget. Nine will get you ten that he doesn't know that citizens
of the District pay taxes. Sadly a lot of other ignorant people will
read what he wrote and be influenced.
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UDC Pool
Clare Feinson, cfeinson at erols dot com
I called the University of the District of Columbia's main
switchboard, and they forwarded me to the pool. The direct number is
274-5066. Anyone can get a pool pass for $30/month. Sign up at the
Athletic Department office, in the same building as the pool (Building
47), any weekday before 4:30 p.m. (I'm not a morning person, so I didn't
ask what time they open.)
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
Gateway Outreach Ministry Winter Benefit
Musical, February 21
Sylvia Watson, watsons@law.edu
Gateway Outreach Ministry presents a winter benefit musical, Lift
Every Voice and Shout for Joy!, Psalm 150, featuring The Mighty Sons of
Faith and Gateway’s own The Christianstone, Saturday, February 21,
6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. at Gateway to Heaven Pentecostal Holiness Church,
1910 West Virginia Avenue, NE. This event is to support the Gateway
Outreach Ministry “Blessing Others By Giving.” The ministry is
dedicated to helping the lost find their way to Christ. For more
information, contact Elder Deborah Tice-Powell, 301-848-6102. All
donations will help fill our food pantry. All contributions are tax
deductible. Please see Elder Powell if you need a receipt.
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Free Spay/Neuter Days, February 21-22, 24
Clare Feinson, cfeinson at erols dot com
In observance of the Doris Day Animal Foundation's tenth annual Spay
Day USA on February 24, the Spay/Neuter Coalition of the DC-Metro Area
will spay or neuter up to five hundred cats and dogs of guardians in
need of financial assistance for free! Please help us get the word out
to people who might need this service — it's good only through the
month of February, with the following major events taking place:
February 21-22: 24-hour spay/neuter-a-thon at Friendship Hospital for
Animals; February 22: male cat neuter-a-thon at SPCA/HS of Prince
Georges County; February 24, Spay Day USA: spay/neuters taking place at
Brentwood Animal Hospital, Southern Maryland Veterinary Hospital, SPCA/HS
of Prince Georges County, Washington Animal Rescue League, and
Washington Humane Society
If you've been putting off spaying or neutering your cat or dog
because you can't afford the surgery, now is the perfect time to get
your animal altered! To apply for a free spay/neuter, cat and dog
guardians should call 546-1761, ext. 26 ASAP! For more information,
please visit: http://www.spaydaydc.org.
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Forum on the 2005 Budget, February 23
Ann Pierre, pierre@cbpp.org
The DC Fiscal Policy Institute is cosponsoring a forum on the key
issues that will affect the upcoming debates on the FY 2005 budget. The
event will be on Monday, February 23, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., at
1616 P Street, NW. Prior registration is not required. The forum will
start with a panel discussion followed by a question-and-answer period.
The panelists include Arte Blitzstein, Director of the Council Budget
Office; Dallas Allen and Julia Friedman from the Office of the Chief
Financial Officer; Noel Bravo, Senior Adviser on the Budget to Mayor
Williams; Lori Parker, Interim Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth, Family,
and Elders (invited); Ed Lazere, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy
Institute. Please come to learn more about critical issues facing the DC
budget.
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Washington Storytellers Theater Speak Easy Season 03/04 presents
Below the Mason Dixon: Stories from and about the South, Tuesday, March
9, 8 p.m. at HR-57, 1610 14th Street, NW (between Corcoran and Q
Streets). $5 admission. Featuring Bill Grimmette, Bill Mayhew, and Kathy
McGregor. Doors open at 7:30. Show up early to get your name on the open
mic list. Listen to some of the area's best storytellers and then get up
on stage to tell us your story. Because no one else can. For more
information, go to http://www.washingtonstorytellers.org.
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