Celebrate
Dear Celebrants:
Give them credit: the American Experience Foundation, the Washington,
DC, Convention and Tourism Corporation, and Cultural Tourism DC have
published a great booklet to accompany the summer-long commemoration of
World War II that will be taking place in town. "America Celebrates
the Greatest Generation" is designed primarily as a resource for
tourists, but we hometowners will find it useful, too. If you can't find
a copy of it, the web version is at http://www.washington.org/americacelebrates
(the alternate URL, http://www.americasgreatestgeneration.com,
simply forwards to this address), and it's well worth browsing through
it.
More practically, and in the short term, if you're trying to find
your way around town over the Memorial Day weekend, with the dedication
of the WWII Memorial and its attendant events, first check out the
street closings and parking restrictions at http://mpdc.dc.gov/news/news.asp?sid=2727.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
###############
Yesterday a gas line replacement project began on my block in Mount
Pleasant, initiated with a barrage of “Emergency No Parking”
posters, and expected to last a full month. So the residents are
commanded to park their cars elsewhere during the day throughout the
month; but where? All the adjacent blocks are Residential Parking
Permit-zoned, only ours resisting the tide. I asked the Department of
Public Works if they would relax enforcement for the duration, allowing
residents to park on these blocks; but no, “we can only administer
what the regs say.” I asked the Department of Transportation if they
would suspend RPP on the adjacent blocks, or give the residents
temporary RPP permits; but no, "it's not a DDOT project."
No one has ever been able to explain to me why the District denies
RPP privileges to residents of unzoned blocks, and thus divides
neighborhoods into residents granted superior parking privileges, and
residents denied those privileges. I know of residents who wanted their
blocks zoned not because they had a commuter parking problem, but simply
so that they, too, could get RPP stickers.
The Mayor's Parking Task Force report, released this month [http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/dot0312.htm],
had this to say: “The current block-by-block approach in the RPP
program was cited by the Taskforce as one of the major flaws in the
current system. Under the current system, RPP areas are not necessarily
contiguous or consistent due to the peculiarities of the ballot process.
If one lives in the area with the generally restrictive parking
conditions, but does not live on an RPP block, one cannot get a parking
sticker and is effectively treated in the same way as a visitor or
commuter.”
###############
Under Mayor Williams's latest school governance proposal (http://www.dcpswatch.com/dcps/040423.htm),
the current Board of Education would become a “State Board of
Education” — an independent policymaking body that would establish
broad educational policies for all public schools and some private
schools in the District (e.g., student achievement guidelines, teacher
certification and licensure requirements, attendance rules and
regulations). The District's problem-plagued State Education Office (SEO),
headed by Connie Spinner, would serve as the board's administrative
staff and would "monitor and enforce the policies established by
the Board of Education, execute high level policy analysis, perform best
practice research, and serve as the pass through agency for federal
grants."
Since it was first established in October 2000 as an agency in the
Executive Office of the Mayor, the SEO has been beset by a series of
management problems. The agency's inability to manage the Special
Nutrition and Commodities (SNAC) program, and especially its
mismanagement of the Summer Food Service Program and its failure to
utilize federal resources fully over the past two years has meant that
many poor children in the District were not enrolled for the summer
feeding programs. The US Department of Agriculture has consistently
expressed concerns about the SEO, criticizing its "persistent
understaffing, inadequate program implementation, inconsistent
leadership, and inability to fully maximize available resources."
In response to a chorus of criticism, on October 23, 2003, Mayor
Williams created a Blue Ribbon Task Force to "improve service
delivery and expand nutrition programs citywide." On March 24,
2004, the task force issued its report and final recommendations to the
Mayor (http://www.dcpswatch.com/stateed/040323.htm).
One of the task force's first recommendations for this summer's
feeding program was that the State Education Office publicize its
program, and publish a list of feeding program sites during May, before
the summer program begins. In response, the SEO did publish a colorful
single-page flyer, "Come to the Table," that it distributed to
councilmembers offices last week to be given out to constituents. But
what seemed like progress turned out instead to be another of the SEO's
trademark missteps — over half of the feeding locations on the flyer
were listed either in the wrong ward or with the wrong address. On
Monday, Councilmember Phil Mendelson wrote to the SEO to alert them to
the mistakes on the flyer. At today's press conference, I raised the
issue with the mayor, whose immediate reaction was to defend the SEO, to
dismiss concerns about the numerous mistakes on the flyer, and to try to
pass off the professionally printed color flyer as just “a draft.”
Later this afternoon, SEO staffers visited council offices to try to
recall and retrieve all copies of the flyer.
###############
Killing All Initiatives
Michael Tacelosky, Smokefree DC, tac@smokefreedc.org
Last week's court decision to disallow a ballot initiative to make
workplaces in DC smokefree should ring alarms for all citizens here. If
this decision stands, for all practical purposes the initiative process
in DC will be dead. Anyone will be able to successfully prevent an
initiative from being placed on the ballot by challenging it in court,
pointing to this case law and saying “We think there might be an
economic impact that will impede the City Council from creating a
budget.” A ballot initiative cannot be “a law appropriating funds”
— i.e., it cannot force the Council to allocate money.
Obviously, a smokefree workplace initiative doesn't dictate Council
spending. But the tobacco industry, through the restaurant association,
claimed that smokefree environments will lead to lower sales tax
revenues, and somehow, this interferes with the Council's ability to set
a budget. Amazingly, the judge bought it. [See the memorandum decision
at http://www.smokefreedc.org.]
What nonsense! The proposed smokefree workplace proposal won't
interfere in the least with the Council's budget-making ability. (And
just for the record, there is no evidence anywhere that city tax
revenues are lowered by smokefree workplace laws. Every reputable study
shows that businesses do just as well, if not better, after smokefree
workplace laws are passed.) The tobacco industry is the only industry
that will be hurt when DC finally joins the many other cities that honor
their citizens' right to work in a safe, smokefree environment. Note
that the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington receives
funding from the tobacco industry. The association has done the tobacco
industry bidding in the past (getting an exception to the cigarette
vending machine ban in food services place, promoting the Philip Morris
"Accommodation" program, etc.).
Even if you don't agree that everyone deserves a smokefree air while
they're working, citizens should be outraged that the recent decision
will disallow all meaningful initiatives in the future.
###############
RAMW Keeps Smoking Ban Off Ballot
Lynn Breaux, Executive Director, Restaurant Association
of Metropolitan Washington, lynne@ramw.org
Today, May 21, 2004, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan
Washington (RAMW) successfully defeated the “D.C. Smokefree Workplaces
Initiative of 2004.” Judge Mary Terrell, ruled that the proposed
Initiative, if it had been approved by the voters, would have banned
smoking in bars and restaurants in the District of Columbia, was not an
appropriate subject matter for consideration. “We’re pleased that
Judge Terrell correctly applied the law in determining that this
proposed initiative should not be on the ballot,” said Andrew J.
Kline, General Counsel to RAMW.
The decision from Judge Terrell, which came after almost two hours of
oral argument on May 6, 2004, vindicates RAMW’s strong belief that
issues pertaining to fiscal impact must be reserved for our elected
officials. “Today’s decision further distinguishes the role of our
elected officials when it comes to making decisions related to financial
management in the District of Columbia. If passed, this initiative would
have negatively impacted our local economy, and could have adversely
affected the sales tax and cigarette tax revenues collected by the
District. That is not a decision that should be put to the electorate
for vote,” Kline added.
RAMW continues to advocate for the freedom of choice and views this
decision as a positive step forward. This debate has never been about
being pro-smoking; our organization is not. Rather, we favor both the
restaurant’s and the patron’s freedom to choose the type of
environment in which they want to operate or patronize.
###############
Last week At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil voted to extend the
hours of liquor sales in D.C. from 10 p.m. to midnight. The measure
passed 7-6. However, in a statement put out by his office on March 16,
Brazil said, “[C]itizens have told me that they are concerned about
the potential impact of extending the hours of Class A and Class B
establishments. They are concerned that longer hours will threaten the
peace and security of many neighborhoods. I have been at the forefront
of anti-crime legislation and initiatives, and I do not want to do
anything to jeopardize citizen safety.”
Apparently Brazil's earlier position was nothing more than lip
service. In March he was worried about his reelection prospects and must
have felt compelled to heed the concerns of residents (aka
“voters”). Now, however, with only two well-intentioned but
lesser-known horses left in the race Brazil sees a cakewalk to the
finish line and is apparently at ease dining on waffles.
###############
Film in the Style of “My Dinner with
Andre”
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Do you recall the 1981 film, “My Dinner with Andre,” where the
entire film is an engaging restaurant conversation? When I saw that film
I promised myself that one day I would make one or more similar films of
engaging, long-form conversations. I've now got the video skills and the
video equipment and am on the lookout for the right conversations to
film. Do you know the people I ought to be filming? Send me an E-mail if
you know of a person or conversation worth filming. Themes I'm
particularly interested in include: the nature of human dignity, the
nature of human creativity, and the nature of human determination. I'm
also interested in stories of people who choose to live by their own
rules and people who are enterprising in ways that are surprising and
inspiring. If you know of someone who is the raconteur, I'd like
to meet him or her.
###############
Politically Correct School Issue
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com
At last all of us liberals can get riled up over a politically
correct DC school issue. I'm referring of course to the charges that
Hardy School discriminated against black school children by putting them
all in a class for backward kids. Black liberals refused to get angry
over a school system that has graduated illiterate kids for years and
condemns them to either become clerks at minimum wage, welfare mothers,
or drug dealers. Why wouldn't DC's black liberals get upset? Because
there were only blacks to blame — black teachers, black principals, a
black board of education, and a black school superintendent — and
that's so embarrassing. Why didn't DC's white liberals protest the
school system's perennial problems? Because we refuse to blame blacks
for anything. We think it smacks of racism. So I say hurray, hurray for
the principal of Hardy School!
###############
Video of DC LEARNs Essay Contest Award Winner
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
Linda Lyles, who is studying to get her GED, is a woman of remarkable
talent and determination. When asked to write an essay about a
"woman of change," a person who has had a positive impact on
the world, she skipped writing about Rosa Parks and Dorothy Height and
Maya Angelou. She wrote about herself. And her essay was the grand prize
winner in the annual DC LEARNs essay competition, http://www.dclearns.org.
I recently went over to her house to learn more about her story and life
journey. For those who might be interested, I've placed a video of this
visit up on the web at http://mytvstation.blogspot.com.
This video is about 25 minutes in duration and is in QuickTime format.
You will need a high speed Internet connection (i.e. DSL, cable modem,
or T1, etc.) If you consider literacy an important issue in this city,
the end of the video clip is worth watching. If you'd like to send a
short congratulatory E-mail to Linda Lyles, she can be reached at lyles_911@hotmail.com.
This year was the 8th year of the annual DC LEARNs essay competition. If
you'd like to support this kind of thing, you might want to join DC
LEARNs as a individual member — and/or convince any literacy
organizations you know that organizational membership in DC LEARNs
brings unified strength to all adult learners in the city. Thanks are
owed to all the judges, volunteers and DC LEARNs staff members for
making this competition — an honored DC tradition — such an
inspiring success.
###############
[Re: “Signs, Signs, Everywhere,” themail, May 23]: I note the
complaint about Arturo [Griffith]'s infusion of political signs in front
of the Wilson Building. Having covered city politics for more than a few
years, I'll do a public service and point out that no candidate who has
ever flooded the front of the Wilson Building (or One Judiciary Square
in the interim period) has ever won election. Some successful candidates
(Jack Evans) may have had one or two signs in the area, but not the
blizzard favored by long-shot candidates. In short, it doesn't work. It
just irritates people.
[Arturo Griffith has withdrawn his candidacy for the Statehood-Green
Party nomination for at-large councilmember. — Gary Imhoff]
###############
Old School Yesterdaze, Today’s Cicadas and
Tomorrow’s Buzz
Lea Adams, workinprogress247@mac.com
I've now survived my fourth occurrence of Cicada Brood X in DC, and
my first away from the Crestwood home my parents bought in 1953 and I
sold last November. I recall my fascination with the army of shells that
littered the lawn around the "umbrella" tree that shaded our
entire back yard, which were marched into every imaginable formation,
pattern and maneuver! The fun we had with urban nature was a lot
healthier and cheaper than action figures, video games, and real-life
“shock and awe.” 1953 was the summer after my kindergarten year at
Green Acres School in Rockville. My parents wanted integrated schools
for their daughter. As it happened, the tuition they paid bought me a
seat as the only child of color in my class and on the school bus. Five
is pretty young to serve as an integration army of one: I don't
recommend it.
Gen X was the first group of kids to grow up with E-mail supplanting
the “snail” that took over where the Pony X-press left off. The
marvelous convenience they take for granted, buried for hours and days
and weeks before the screen, often comes at the sacrifice of actual,
flesh-to-flesh interspecies contact. No wonder they invented Rave
parties -- a phenomenon my own Gen X-er discovered a few (24) hours
after graduating from high school. A quote from the Smithsonian web site
(thanks for the link), reminds me of my impression of “Buzz,” which
I sneaked into a few years back and have yet to recover from: “Their
ability to emerge by the millions as flying, gregarious adults within
hours after spending 13 or 17 years underground as solitary juveniles is
unparalleled in the animal kingdom;" only the bugs don't need X-tasy
to experience "couplings [that] last at least an hour.”
If I live as long as my mother did, I have two Brood X appearances to
go in DC. I can't imagine what life above ground will be like by 2038,
but it's likely some of us will be in subterranean dwellings by then.
Pity the poor, silent cicadas when the human buzz goes underground.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
The Frogs 2K4: Showdown in Hades, May 27
Nancy Schwalb, nschwalb@dccww@org
On Thursday, May 27, at 7 p.m., students from the DC Creative Writing
Workshop at Charles Hart Middle School, 601 Mississippi Avenue, SE, will
be performing their original adaptation of Aristophanes' "The
Frogs." Hart students have rebounded strongly from the effects of
this year's series of troubles and tragedies in the surrounding Congress
Heights neighborhood. In fact, just yesterday, as police were rushing to
the scene of a nearby double shooting, cast members of “The Frogs”
were practicing their lines. Tickets are $5, $2 for students. For more
information, call 297-1957.
Each year since 2001, Hart students have read a classic of Greek
drama, rewritten it in their own words, and performed it for friends,
family, and other members of the community. With “Oedipus Rex,” “Antigone,”
and “Medea” under their belts, the students chose to work on their
first comedy this year. As far as I know, this is the only middle school
drama program in the country that produces original adaptations of Greek
classics, an accomplishment even more notable because it comes from a
school not often recognized for its educational successes.
###############
Democratic Unity Reception, May 27 (Correction
of date)
Dorinda White, dorinda@indimedia.com
A Democratic Unity Reception will take place on Thursday, May 27, at
the Palette Restaurant located at 1177 15th Street, NW (The Madison
Hotel) from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Honorees include Leonard Manning, Chief
Executive Officer, Lottery Technology Enterprises; Tony Hollinger,
Acting General Manager; Joslyn N. Williams, President of Metropolitan
Washington Council, AFL-CIO and The Honorable Jack Evans, D.C.
Councilmember, Ward 2. Tickets are available at various sponsor levels.
Please E-mail Ernestine McNair at emcnair@reedsmith.com
for ticket information. Valet parking is available.
###############
Cocktail Party and Silent Auction for John
Wiebenson Playground, June 11
Ed Grimm, execdirector@dupontcircle.biz
Dupont Circle Citizens Association Education Committee Chair, Maureen
Diner, announced that tickets for the Friday, June 11, cocktail party
and silent auction at the stately Carnegie Institution are now on sale.
Proceeds from this event will help defer the costs of renovating the
Ross Elementary School playground, renamed and dedicated to the memory
of John Wiebenson, a well-loved Dupont Circle resident. As an architect,
John Wiebenson was well known for creating affordable, welcoming spaces
for local community-serving nonprofit organizations. At the time of his
death last September, John was beginning to plan the playground space
that was badly in need of change. The existing space does not meet the
needs of all ages of children, the equipment is dated and the current
layout is very unsafe. The new playground areas will be fun, safe, and
open to all children in the Dupont Circle community. Visit the Ross
School website for more information about the playground: http://www.rosselementary.org.
Mark your calendars for Friday, June 11, 7-10 p.m., at the Carnegie
Institution, 16th and P Streets, NW. There will be food from local
restaurants and a cash bar. Cocktail/festive attire requested. And bring
your checkbooks. Over 75 local businesses, artists and residents have
donated auctions items including paintings, sculptures, vintage wines,
dinners for two, and weekend getaways. Tickets are $25 and may be
obtained at the Sunday Farm Market, at Swift Cleaners at 17th and R,
Java House at 17th and Q, and at Ross School.
###############
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Title VII
Joe Libertelli, jlibertelli@udc.edu
Please join us to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the passage of
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by attending a series of panel
discussions that will explore the dynamic development of this
legislation outlawing workplace discrimination on the basis of race,
color, national origin, religion, and sex. Panel participants -- judges,
lawyers, and activists -- will examine the original Act, subsequent
amendments, and Supreme Court decisions, as we continue the effort to
achieve Title VII's promise of workplace equality. For more information
or to request an accommodation contact Daniel Vail, 663-4571, or Megumi
Fujita, 663-4813 (TTY: 663-7093). Georgetown University Law Center, 600
New Jersey Avenue, NW, Moot Court Room; all sessions 9:00 a.m.-12:00
p.m. All sessions are free and open to the public.
Panel I, Tuesday, June 22, First Principles: Enacting the Civil
Rights Act and using the courts to challenge and remedy workplace
discrimination. William L. Robinson, Esq., Moderator, Professor of Law,
David A. Clarke School of Law; Robert Belton, Esq., Professor of Law,
Vanderbilt University Law School; William Brown, Esq., Partner, Schnader,
Harrison, Segal & Lewis; Julius L. Chambers, Esq., Partner,
Ferguson, Stein, Chambers, Charlotte, NC; Michael H. Gottesman, Esq.,
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Honorable Donald P.
Lay, Senior Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit David L.
Rose, Esq., Partner, Rose & Rose. Panel II, Wednesday, June 23,
Expanding the Reach: Making Title VII work for women and national origin
minorities: pregnancy, harassment, and language discrimination.
Honorable Lloyd B. Zimmerman, Moderator; District Court Judge, Hennepin
County, MN; Maria Blanco, Esq., Executive Director, Lawyers' Committee
for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Area; Jean M. Boler, Esq.,
Attorney for plaintiffs, Jensen v. Eveleth Taconite Co.; Jocelyn Frye,
Esq., Director, Legal and Public Policy, National Partnership for Women
& Families; Christopher Ho, Esq., Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Aid
Society-Employment Center; Elizabeth Holtzman, Member of Congress,
1973-1981; Melissa Josephs, Director of Equal Opportunity Policy, Women
Employed; Honorable Donald P. Lay, Senior Judge, US Court of Appeals for
the Eighth Circuit. Panel III, Wednesday, June 30, Closing the Gaps:
Making Title VII more effective: damages, jury trials, and the Civil
Rights Act of 1991. Samuel A. Marcosson, Esq., Moderator, Associate
Professor of Law, Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville;
Barbara Arnwine, Esq., Executive Director, Lawyers' Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law; Honorable Mark W. Bennett, Chief Judge, US District
Court for the Northern District of Iowa; Jeffrey H. Blattner Esq.,
Partner, Hogan & Hartson Ann Hopkins, Former Partner, Price
Waterhouse; Joseph M. Sellers, Esq., Partner, Cohen Millstein Hausfeld
& Toll; Charles A. Shanor, Esq., Professor of Law, Emory University.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
As a former lawn owner, my suggestion for R. Kelley and other
lawn-owners is to walk (or bike slowly) about a two-block radius from
home, including through the alleys. Note the yards around homes similar
to yours that look like you wish yours did. If someone is outside
working -- as well they may be, especially on weekends — politely ask
them who keeps the place up to snuff. If not, write a “Dear
Neighbor” note complimenting what you saw and asking for a referral
(make sure to include your name/address/phone/E-mail). I did that and
was introduced to useful gardening tips; an honest, industrious
high-school student who took care of my lawn/leaf/snow management for
three years; and neighbors I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. For
do-it-yourselfers, there are a number of good books — Small Space
Gardens comes to mind — and Joel Lerner's terrific column in the Post.
###############
themail@dcwatch is an E-mail discussion forum that is published every
Wednesday and Sunday. To subscribe, to change E-mail addresses, or to
switch between HTML and plain text versions of themail, use the
subscription form at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/subscribe.htm.
To unsubscribe, send an E-mail message to themail@dcwatch.com
with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. Archives of past messages
are available at http://www.dcwatch.com/themail.
All postings should also be submitted to themail@dcwatch.com,
and should be about life, government, or politics in the District of
Columbia in one way or another. All postings must be signed in order to
be printed, and messages should be reasonably short — one or two brief
paragraphs would be ideal — so that as many messages as possible can
be put into each mailing.
