Education
Dear Educators:
It's much too early, and we know too little about him, for anyone to
make any judgment about Carl Cohn, the former superintendent of the Long
Beach, California, school system who is the current leading candidate
being courted to become DC's new school superintendent. However, we are
already in his debt. He has already done our city a great service by
persuading Mayor Tony Williams finally to abandon his destructive,
ill-advised, and selfish power grab to abolish the school board and
seize control over the schools. (http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20040610-105842-5502r.htm)
(Parenthetically, another positive development last week was the
resignation of Connie Spinner as the director of the DC State Education
Office. Spinner had proven herself incapable of managing even her
office's summer feeding program, but Williams had designated her to play
a key role in running the entire school system, should he have succeeded
in taking it over.)
Washington Times columnist Adrienne Washington passes along a
good question about Cohn and Williams that she says was asked by a civic
activist: “Should DC voters be offended by a mayor who dismisses their
objections to his school takeover plan but is willing to drop it when an
outsider — a prospective employee, at that — opposes it? Who's
playing whom here?” But for once I'm not complaining. We already knew
that Williams wouldn't respond to citizens; it can only be good that
someone, anyone, could get him to change course on this issue and do
what is in the best interest of the schools.
Now the issue is whether Cohn or anyone else can turn around the
Mayor, his administration, and the City Council, and get them to work
together to improve education. This isn't a budget issue. We will not
improve our schools by spending more money on them; if the money is
spent wisely and well, we allocate more than enough money now to pay for
high-quality teachers and to keep the schools well maintained. It is not
a management issue, though the management of schools and the handling of
the school budget could obviously be improved. We will not improve our
schools by hiring more teachers; if the proportion of teachers to
students that the school system reports is to be believed, there is
already one teacher for every fifteen students. It is an issue of
priorities, of convincing teachers, students, and parents that education
really is important. We must show by example that the adults of this
city believe that the most important skills to learn in school are still
reading, writing, and arithmetic, not football, basketball, and gospel
choir. We must show that we expect all students to attend school, behave
properly, and pay attention, and we will no longer allow them to skate
through school without applying themselves to the work they must do. And
we must convince teachers that we value the work that they do; that we
expect them, too, to apply themselves faithfully to the work they do;
and that we appreciate it when they do their work well. I don't expect
Carl Cohn or any other superintendent candidate to do that work alone; I
don't really expect the city's politicians to accomplish it themselves;
but I expect all of them to show that their primary concern with the
schools is not the real estate that they sit on and not the profit that
can be made from school system contracts, but the kids who must be
taught, and taught well, inside those buildings.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Home for DC Animals Needed Urgently
Pat Yates, WHS Volunteer, PatEdCats@aol.com
At this time of year, because of vacations and maybe summer ennui,
more and more cats and dogs get turned in to the DC Animal Shelter, and
fewer and fewer people apply to adopt. This does not bode well for the
animals!
The Washington Humane Society is again running the DC Animal Shelter
at 1201 New York Avenue, NE, and invites you to consider adopting (or
fostering -- or even volunteering to work in the shelter). Complete
information is on the WHS web site, http://www.washhumane.org, or E-mail
me for information. This is a terrific way to help our City's abandoned
and neglected companion animals (and there are many), and at the same
time garner some happiness and companionship for yourself.
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On Tuesday I got home at 11:25 a.m. and parked in front of my house,
when a Parking Enforcement officer pulled up and told me (very nicely
and politely) that I couldn't park there because it was a
street-sweeping zone from 9-11:30.
I moved my car ('tis the law), but I thought it funny — the street
had already been swept, so these spaces were being kept empty for no
reason! I suppose people can't be trusted to make that judgment (I can
predict lots of 9:15 parkers protesting, "I thought they'd already
swept") but it still seemed counterintuitive.
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I’m not a crank, I'm middle aged and still laughing at the Three
Stooges, but about the panda statute that’s at the World Bank in
downtown, decorated with a US currency design, and the “In God We
Trust” printed across its butt . . . well, public art ought to be more
subtle. You think?
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Raising the Gambling Stakes
Dorothy Brizill, dorothy@dcwatch.com
You would think that the secretive, furtive, and so-far unknown
national gambling money interests who are financing the slot machine
initiative in DC would want their representatives here to keep a low
profile and not add to people’s preconceptions of gambling interests
as sleazy. But the local front men the gamblers are paying to promote a
slot machine gambling parlor in DC — attorney John Ray; Pedro Alfonso,
chairman of Greater Southeast Community Hospital; and three public
relations firms run by Margaret Gentry, Ann Walker Marchant, and Sharon
Robinson — seem determined instead to act in an underhanded, ruthless,
and illegal manner, exploiting every political connection.
First, as I wrote in themail last week, they privately printed and
distributed a phony supplemental issue of the DC Register that
was required to be published before last Wednesday's meeting of the
Board of Elections and Ethics. At that meeting, the Board of Elections
rewarded the gambling promoters for their illegal publication by
pretending that "proper notice was given" to the public by a
privately printed and distributed Register, and by refusing to
acknowledge what everyone at the hearing knew — that it wasn’t an
official publication. At that hearing, John Ray was testy and cagey when
he was asked whether another "supplemental" Register
would be published last Friday, and the chair of the Board of Elections,
former US Attorney Wilma Lewis, tried to evade my question about a
second irregular publication, and reacted angrily and argumentatively
when I pressed the issue.
But the Office of the Secretary did publish a second irregular
supplemental Register for the gambling proponents last Friday,
with the highly questionable intervention of Councilmember Vincent
Orange. DC Secretary Sherryl Hobbs Newman raised real questions about
the extent of her personal involvement in her office’s collusion with
the gambling interests. She allowed her office to publish a second
irregular issue through an illegal procedure, even after the first one
had already been exposed. In one sense, this is business as usual for
DC, destroying the illusion that corruption in this city’s government
has been reformed. But in this case the extent to which governmental
agencies will collude openly to break the law and condone lawbreaking in
full view of the public in order to benefit the gambling interests is
astounding, even for Washington.
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I feel like I'm back in Chicago in the '50s when, under the first
Mayor Daley, the town was wide open to corruption.
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Higher Achievement Program Graduation Ceremony
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
I recently attended the annual “Green Apples” graduation ceremony
for the Higher Achievement Program (HAP), held at the U. S. Dept. of
Commerce auditorium. I've seen many a graduation ceremony, but none more
invigorating and inspiring. This large auditorium was packed full of
students, tutors, friends, and supporters of HAP. At four sites around
town, HAP brings intensive academic enrichment to public school students
in grades 5 to 8. Students who are enrolled in HAP receive 700 hours of
additional instruction over those four formative years. And the result?
You have to see it to believe it. HAP is producing scholars who are
ready for high school — scholars with poise, confidence, and a hunger
for learning. At the graduation ceremony, a middle school scholar
delivered an essay he wrote. His oratory was much stronger than most
college students could deliver — and certainly much better than I
could deliver. Fittingly enough, it was no stretch of the imagination to
visualize his running the US Dept. of Commerce one day.
Before the graduation ceremony I chatted with some of the HAP
students and tutors during the pre-ceremony reception. One tutor, an
American University student, volunteers three times a week. (HAP's hours
are from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.) “Why would such a student give so much
of her time?” I wondered. The only thing I can think of is that she
feels closely bonded to the mission of the organization and feels that
the sacrifices she makes are well worth it. When I asked the director of
HAP whether it's unusual for HAP volunteers to tutor more than once a
week, I learned it's not unusual. The icing on the cake was a chat I had
with HAP's chess coach. I know I wouldn't stand a chance beating HAP
students at chess. And that's just fine with me. http://www.higherachievement.org.
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Details on DC’s Desperate Scheme Leak Out in
Baltimore Sun
Ed Delaney, profeddel@yahoo.com
Details on DC’s desperate scheme leak out in Baltimore Sun
article (story in quotes; my editorial comments in brackets): “Mayor
Anthony A. Williams thinks a stadium is worth the money because he
expects $28 million in annual tax revenues [though his own CFO expects
much less, having said the estimates from DC's baseball brigade could be
way off], along with nearly $48 million in fan-fueled economic activity
outside the ballpark [ditto]. 'It would just add a lot of hustle and
bustle to the city,' said Barbara Lang, president and chief executive of
the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, who added that she thinks hotels and
restaurants especially would get a boost.” [Please; the tradeoff of
much higher business taxes kills any benefit that a baseball stadium
figures to bring, especially since the MCI Center project took DC‘s
development prospects off the critical list seven years ago and extended
the city's entertainment zones as far as they will go.]
“The Chamber of Commerce is poring over the numbers [which they
must have just gotten, since no one else has, and since Lang said three
weeks ago of the role of DC business in the plan that "I don't have
a clue what it is"] before it decides whether to support the plan,
which is in flux [code word for the schemers' trying to figure out what
they can get away with next to please MLB's ever-growing demand for more
and more public money]. One tax possibility could hit companies with
large capital assets for as much as $100,000 a year, compared with a
proposed business income tax add-on of no more than $11,500, Lang
said.” [The mind reels with what the other tax possibilities are,
which of course would be revealed after a team is on the way and the
city has already committed itself to the project, with MLB's filling in
the invoice as they go along.] Link: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.bz.senators13jun13,0,6135121.story?coll=bal-home-headlines.
Also today, another story lays bare another stadium plan in a major
city high on rosy estimates but low on numbers that pass the smell test.
Its headline: “Portland's major league pitch is big on optimism [and
short on workable financing, just like DC's baseball brigade]: A
preliminary $344 million plan to a team uses projections and assumptions
that look unrealistic to some [also just like DC's baseball brigade]”
Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian, June 13, http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1087041987218220.xml?oregonian?fpfp.
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The Debates over the Retrocession of the
District of Columbia, 1801-2004
Mark David Richards, Dupont East, mark at
markdavidrichards dotcom
Washington History magazine, available through the City Museum
(available at the museum bookstore and a feature of membership that is
available over the Internet), published my work on the history of
retrocession debates in the most recent issue (Spring/Summer). The
magazine features other interesting articles, including a photo tribute
to the late Mayor Walter Washington. My retrocession article expands
significantly upon early work, based on a chapter of my dissertation and
presented to the Arlington Historical Society and published on DC Watch.
The final work published by Washington History magazine adds new
details on the subject (including a more in-depth examination of the
role of the slavery debates). It features maps and illustrations,
including elegant maps by Matthew Gilmore, Artemas C. Harmon (courtesy
Kenneth Bowling), and T.G. Bradford (courtesy LOC); as well as a
fabulous imaginary architectural drawing by Robert Kanak and Jeanine
Quaglia depicting what the District might look like if the L'Enfant
design had been expanded to the former southwestern portion of the
District, now located in Virginia. The Alexandria Library Special
Collections in Alexandria was very helpful and provided several photos
and copies of newspaper articles from the period, and the City Museum,
the Washingtoniana Section of the DCPL, the Library of Congress, and the
National Archives were very helpful over the past few years as I have
researched this topic and sought illustrations.
The historians of Washington History who reviewed my text, including
Kenneth Bowling, who encouraged me to write the definitive history on
this topic (time will judge whether I have succeeded), provided
excellent critiques and asked good questions. Laura Croghan Kamoie
(senior editor) and Peter Lindeman (managing editor) were a pleasure to
work with and a tremendous help in improving the flow of my dense text.
Many people contributed to this study and asked questions that caused me
to keep digging into the records to try to understand some of the
mysteries.
Although I am not a supporter of a contemporary retrocession of the
District to Maryland, the retrocession debates illustrate the District's
struggle for democracy over two centuries and show how one part of the
District solved the problem of being second/third class citizens under
federal rule. Ironically, the representatives to Congress from the
Arlington Town and County section of the former District today have more
power over the District than the District's own elected officials.
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Education Policy on the Fly
Ed Dixon, Georgetown Reservoir, jedxn@erols.com
The list of private schools setting aside slots for federally funded
students was published last week (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A33270-2004Jun10).
Though the Washington Times story (http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20040611-111024-1774r.htm)
ran the news as a great success, the Washington Post was a little
more skeptical. The Post's concerns were, first, the shortfall in
the number of applicants compared to the number of potentially funded
tuitions and, second, that 15 percent of the coming year's recipients
were already in private schools this year.
Perhaps most interesting about the list of voucher schools, though,
was the group of private schools that weren't on it. None of the private
schools that have collectively received over $125 million in public
financing provided slots for voucher students. Two bond receiving
private schools, Gonzaga and Lowell, were listed in a quasi-inclusionary
fashion as allowing students, who had already been accepted this year,
to use vouchers. No new slots were set aside for students at Gonzaga or
Lowell. At least nine other private schools that have received major
public financing are not on the list and therefore presumably not part
of the voucher program in any way.
The city's voucher program and the city's revenue bond program are
not connected by any one agency. Joe Roberts' private Washington
Scholarship Fund (WSF) is administering the voucher program under
Department of Education guidelines. DCPS has generated a list, which WSF
is using, of fifteen DCPS schools as priority targets for voucher
recruitment (http://www.dcscholarship.org/eligible.php).
Eric Price in the Office of Economic Development, in coordination with
Harold Brazil, has been issuing revenue bonds to private schools at a
pretty good clip for the past five years (http://dcbiz.dc.gov/info/list.shtm).
The players are all known. So, with all the building expansions that the
city has created with these bonds, it seems odd that none of those
schools can make room for voucher students.
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Findings of the Washington Times
Baseball Poll
T.J. Sutcliffe, So Others Might Eat, tjsutcliffe@some.org
Many thanks to Ed Delaney, who on April 14 notified readers of
themail that the Washington Times was conducting a poll: “Do
you support Mayor Williams' plan to fund a baseball stadium fully with
tax dollars?” I was curious to know if Ed or anyone else has seen the
results of the poll.
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WASA graciously replied (themail, June 9) to my missive regarding
their failure to remove lead pipes from the water main to meters under
our street which is undergoing “some sort of activity by DDOT.” I
put that last phrase in quotes because the residents have been informed
that our street is being reconstructed. WASA was informed that the
street is being resurfaced. Based on that information, WASA therefore
said that, in light of other factors, our street is not eligible to have
its lead pipes replaced with copper ones. I envision a major opportunity
lost because information is not correctly shared among DC's various
agencies, including WASA.
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Leila Afzal should beware of getting what she wishes for. About a
month ago, a construction crew excavated my block of 44th Street in
Foxhall Village and replaced the service lines leading to our meters. In
the intervening weeks they continued to work on nearby streets. Last
Wednesday, I arrived home after work to find that a large hole had been
dug in my front yard and my carefully tended perennial garden destroyed.
Most of my neighbors had excavations in their yards as well. The
curbside tree boxes, which the contractor had planted with grass after
finishing work last month, had been dug up again. The construction
foreman explained to me that they were replacing the lead service lines
for each residence extending from the meters to fifteen feet out from
the curb.
WASA informed me when I called the next day that, at the time of the
first excavation, the DC Department of Health prohibited the contractor
from cutting lead pipe, preventing them from finishing their replacement
work. Pipe cutting procedures have now been approved, so the contractor
is returning to streets previously excavated to resume work. WASA
apologized for the lack of information — they have plans to send out a
mailing and the contractor was supposed to inform residents that they
would be digging in yards. I have probably received three mailings from
WASA since the lead crisis began, but the one mailing that would have
provided time-sensitive information was not sent in time to be useful.
If I had known that my front yard were to be excavated, I could have
temporarily removed the plants I wanted to save. For those living in
neighborhoods where streets have been excavated recently, I'd recommend
calling WASA to ensure that work is actually finished — the planting
of grass in tree boxes does not mean that the contractor won't return to
dig up the grass weeks later.
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The 80 Percent (or 72 Percent or 47 Percent)
Solution — Redux
Larry Seftor, larry underscore seftor .the757 at
zoemail.net
Sometimes the really interesting thing about themail is not the
issues that people raise, but the fact that the same issues get raised
again and again. Recently I wrote to complain (again) about DMV. And Mr.
James Treworgy, like others before him, wrote to say that for him it
really wasn’t too bad [themail, June 9]. I could write a new response
to Mr. Treworgy, but actually I wrote the needed response in June of
2002 (specifically, June 23). You can read it in the themail archive.
Everyone should peruse the archive sometime. The lesson is of the
archive is that we really haven’t come far at all.
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[Reply to Bryce Suderow, June 9:] We live in such a racially and
politically charged society that it is easy to misconstrue any comment.
And it is easy to apply easy to apply the “race card,” because
racism is alive and well in America, especially in DC. You don't
understand it or appreciate it because it does not always touch you. Yet
in light of these facts, it doesn't mean the issue of “race” or
“discrimination” applies to every situation.
Your points about parental involvement and advocacy and strong and
involved parenting are right on target. Yet to many of us it's hard to
hear because we want to blame it on circumstances — on somebody else.
It should be quite a well known fact that a child will do better when
there is strong parental involvement. Everybody did not start out with
wealth whether black, white, or green. But there are certain common
values, work ethic, and drive that are present among people who seek to
achieve that is not based upon skin color.
If only, if only we could move away from issues of black and white,
and move toward discussion of community and join in that fight . . .
well, you know what could happen. The issue is that all neighborhoods
should have decent schools and parents should work together for that. It
is a hard truth, but the fact is glaringly clear, parents must step up
to the plate in their homes and in advocating for education. You should
be careful in what you say, but stating what is true is the bitter pill
we need. I'm glad that you shared your views.
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Re: “Public Preferences (Hardy Middle
School),” May 16
Melody R. Webb, melodywebb@lobbyline.com
The allegations of Ms. Chittams' E-mail are troubling and serious. In
reviewing some of the E-mails written on this topic, it appears that we
are in danger of losing sight of the problem raised by Ms. Chittams of
actual or perceived disparate treatment of black children at Hardy
Middle School. Ms. Chittams has reported that African American children
are on the receiving end of discriminatory treatment in the education
that they are receiving at Hardy Middle School; this, even though
African American children are in the majority — albeit a slim one.
Putting aside how great a majority they are, even as a majority members
of a racial group can indeed be the victims of discrimination. (The DCPS
web site has been alluded to for demographic information on Hardy Middle
School. I was not able to find a page dedicated to the demographics of
each school at the DCPS web site. Under that site's test results, at http://silicon.k12.dc.us/NCLB/index.asp
one can bring up the “AYP reports” and “Report Cards” for each
school in DCPS. For Hardy, the two reports are roughly similar in the
demographic information reported for 2003, showing a total of 401
students, with 212 African American, 112 white, 58 Hispanic, 18 Asian,
and 1 American Indian. The data on their web site does not state whether
it is counting the entire student body or only those who are subject to
testing)
The perception that schools west of the park receive special
treatment and fail to be inclusive of out of boundary students is a
provocative one. It may speak to the existence of a belief that those
schools, even when predominantly black, are heavily influenced by the
affluent and predominantly white communities in which they reside. Could
it be that the presence of better-off neighborhood families in these
schools west of the park creates a belief that by virtue of the affluent
families' proximity to the school, that they have more influence with
the staff and administration of these schools than the families who do
not reside in the community or who are not like those who reside in that
community? Could it be that the investment of more financial and time
resources by more-resourced families creates this perception, and could
there be some merit to the argument that children whose parents have
more money and more time to give get special treatment? Is that fair to
the children whose parents do not have or give the money and time? Could
it be that the families residing in or nearer these schools rely on
their own neighborhood social networks in a way that enables them as a
group to sway the staff and administration to the benefit of their
children — consciously or unconsciously? Could it be that these
families, wittingly or unwittingly, thereby work to behave as a group
that excludes and disadvantages those families and students who are not
a part of their neighborhood-based social network?
We risk exacerbating the injustice of disparate treatment when we
fail to respectfully explore and examine claims of such on their merits.
Let's focus on the reports of mistreatment by fleshing them out with
reports from other families, staff and members of that school community;
then let's explore solutions to the real or perceived problems of this
particular situation. Let's embrace this concept as well: a school (and
its system) has a problem if there is undue white influence resulting in
discrimination against black children; but a school also has a problem
if black families at a school perceive that there is an undue white
influence that results in discrimination against their children.
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DCPS Misperceptions
Don Squires, dsquires(at)erols(dot)com
Thank you to Victoria Lord [themail, June 9] for correcting some of
the misperceptions so recklessly bandied about recently in themail about
DC public schools. Here's another one (offered by Nora Bawa [themail,
June 9]) that also needs correcting -- contrary to Ms. Bawa, many
Shepherd Park residents (myself included) do send (and have sent) their
children to Shepherd Elementary, which is a fine elementary school. It
has many wonderful teachers, an active PTA, and many high achieving
students. The neighborhood's support for our school is growing. Just
last week, many families donated the proceeds of their share of our
neighborhood yard sale to the Shepherd PTA.
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Reduce the Military Occupation, Increase
Economic Development Right Here in DC!
Len Sullivan, lsnarpac@bellatlantic.net
Most observers understand that half of DC's land is not available for
DC to develop, and some recognize that only about four thousand DC acres
generate more in revenues than they consume in expenditures. Few may
realize that DC's defense-related installations occupy about 1850 mostly
underutilized acres or that none of their locations is vital or unique
to their largely outdated missions. Even fewer may know that there is a
formal federal process for military base realignment and closure, or
that the impending opportunity only comes around about twice as often as
the cicadas.
NARPAC summarizes once again DC's need for more unencumbered acreage
for first-class, high density development (see http://www.narpac.org/REXBRAC.HTM#bracsum).
Using the newly available aerial photos from the city's “DC Guide”
web site, we have developed “target folders” for fourteen relevant
military installations. Six, occupying 1400 acres, are overdue for
closing; two are already helping DC's economy; three could do more for
DC with proper encouragement; and three just outside DC could absorb
whatever worthwhile functions are now being done inside DC (see http://www.narpac.org/REXBRAC.HTM#sixtogo).
Finally, we explain the history of the “BRAC process,” what it has
already done for DC (thanks in part to DC Delegate Norton), and how DC
can get into the ongoing round (see http://www.narpac.org/REXBRAC.HTM#bracproc).
Check out these offbeat additions to the June update of NARPAC's web
site at http://www.narpac.org/INTHOM.HTM.
You too can help improve DC's ability to be pay for the genuine needs of
our national capital city.
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This is to advise that the June 2004 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 July 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) “Dupont's Neighborhood School Not
Universally Applauded, Some Argue Out-of-Place; ANC Disagrees, Supports
Playground Plan”; 2) “Neighbors Are Wondering: What's With All these
Collapsing Buildings?”; 3) “Questions Again Surfacing Whether Permit
Applicants Receiving Fair Treatment.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
DC Public Library Events, June 15, 17
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov
Tuesday, June 15, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial
Library, 901 G Street, NW, Main Lobby. Hannah Joyner, independent
historian and author, will discuss her book, From Pity to Pride:
Growing Up Deaf in the Old South. Public contact: 727-2145
(TTY or Voice).
Tuesday, June 15, 7:30 p.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V
Street, NW, Palisades book and stamp clubs monthly meetings. Public
contact: 202/282-3139.
Thursday, June 17, 7:00 p.m., Washington Highlands Neighborhood
Library, 115 Atlantic Street, SW. Art exhibit by Anthony T. Rice, Sr.,
will discuss his drawings of African Americans, which will be on display
at the library. A musical performance by Richard Flowers and a reception
will follow the program. Public contact: 645-5880.
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Will the DC Tuition Assistance Program be
Renewed by Congress?, June 18
James S. Bubar, DC Affairs Section of the DC Bar, JBubar@aol.com
Have kids in college? Are your kids going to college soon? Come learn
about whether the expiring federal DC Tuition Assistance Program will be
renewed by Congress. A panel of Congressional staffers from the House
and Senate will discuss the program's reauthorization and appropriation
prospects on June 18, at 12:30 p.m. at the law firm Hogan and Hartson,
555 13th Street, NW, 13th Floor. The program is free, but you are
encouraged to bring a brown bag lunch. Beverages will be supplied.
Please RSVP to Sally Kram (kram@consortium.org)
or Jon Bouker (Bouker.Jon@ARENTFOX.com)
so that we have appropriate space for this dynamic program. This forum
is being sponsored by the Legislative Committee of the DC Affairs
Section of the DC Bar, but you needn't be a member of the Bar or the
Section to attend.
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Help Save the Jesse Baltimore House, June 24
Mary Rowse, merowse@aol.com
On June 24, the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) will
rule on whether to include the Jesse Baltimore House in the DC Inventory
of Historic Sites. The Jesse Baltimore House is an authentic 1925 Sears
Roebuck “Fullerton” kit house that has stood for nearly eighty years
at 5136 Sherier Place, NW, in Washington's Palisades neighborhood. The
DC Department of Parks and Recreation is currently seeking a permit to
raze this historically significant property, which is actually owned by
the National Parks Service. In its place, they propose planting some
bushes as part of a landscape plan for the driveway entrance to the
fourteen-acre Palisades Recreation Center. The Jesse Baltimore House,
Washington's most intact and original Sears “Fullerton,” is a
monument to DC's blue collar builders of kit houses and to the
“streetcar suburbs” within the city. It is a beautiful example of
the kit house phenomenon that permitted so many people in the city to
build and own their own homes in the early part of the 20th century.
Sears offered a quality of craftsmanship and design, that today, makes
their homes distinctive and highly sought-after. The Jesse Baltimore
House has a rich history, documented with hitherto unseen photographs of
the depression era Palisades, presented on the web through: http://www.lostlandmarks.org/jbhouse.html.
This is going to be an uphill battle in the spirit of “Don't Tear
It Down.” Historic Washington Architecture is asking all friends of DC
history and preservation to take a look at our three web pages and, if
you agree that the cause is worthy, to send a letter by Monday, June 21,
to Mr. Tersh Boasberg, Chairman, DC Historic Preservation Review Board,
801 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 3000, 20002. Or, you may E-mail your
letter to me. I will see that both HPRB and the city's Historic
Preservation Office receive a copy. The Jesse Baltimore House
preservation effort involves some additional policy issues: First, it is
a public property — owned by everyone in the United States — that
has been shamefully neglected by its stewards for more than ten years.
It's a testament to the quality of materials used in Sears houses that
the property is still in structurally sound condition. Second, it is an
asset that is valued at $525,000 on the DC Tax Rolls and approximately
$700,000+ on the open market. In a city that is laying off school
teachers and canceling educational programs, why should this house be
demolished at an estimated cost of $100,000 when it could be sold by the
National Park Service to a private owner with a protective easement on
its exterior?
Please see our display ads in the Current Newspapers of June
9th (page 23) and June 16th. The Jesse Baltimore House was also featured
in the March-April 2004 issue of Preservation Magazine. (See http://www.nationaltrust.org/Magazine/archives/arc_mag/ma04news.htm.)
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — HOUSING
Roommate Wanted to Share Group House
Apryl Wimes, aprylwime@hotmail.com
A second roommate is wanted today. Must be able to complete and
submit an application, security deposit of $660, background credit check
($35) no later than Thursday. Only serious applicants ready to move in
now, please. I'm am trying to keep a group lease that has been in place
since 1997. The bedroom is large and sunny and quiet. It is one of four
bedrooms on one level and is the largest. There is a full bath upstairs
and a half bath downstairs. We usually do two people to a bathroom,
however I admit I'd love my own bathroom. I have the smallest room in
the house. It has the most closets, though it is also the noisiest and
uses the downstairs half-bath. I have lived in the house the longest —
three years. My interest is in keeping the group lease together more
than in taking over the largest room. Also, the house is nonsmoking. And
we need a television. There is cable access and DSL. We also have
amenities like a dishwasher and a washer/dryer. We are a group house
located at 3820 Military Road, NW, between Connecticut Avenue and 39th
Streets. People often walk to the Friendship Heights Metro or take one
of several Metrobus routes. There is a driveway on 39th street. A zone
permit is required for street parking. It is a safe neighborhood. The
Avalon Theater, American City Diner, Pumpernickels, and a Safeway are
within walking distance.
I'm quiet and spend most of my time planting flowers. I describe
myself as a Christian work-in-progress with an offbeat since of humor.
On Monday I received a $660 security deposit for the smaller of the two
rooms available and a $35 check for credit references, but I still have
to find one more roommate by Friday, with the application completed and
the two deposits. The landlord will not approve only one tenant. Please
call Apryl at work, 244-7223, Monday-Friday until 5 p.m., though I'll be
at an appointment at 8:30 Wednesday morning. After 5 leave a recorded
message at 537-1559. I encourage you to come by today to see the room,
located in beautiful Chevy Chase, DC.
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CLASSIFIEDS — SERVICES
The AHJ Group, Washington's award-winning business development and
public policy consultants and planners, are accepting new clients to
become certified as local, small, minority or women-owned businesses,
which will allow you to bid on District of Columbia, Federal, Maryland,
or Virginia government contracts. The firm will also assist in preparing
business and marketing plans. E-mail us today.
###############
CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS
Satellite (which I have used with Direcway for the past eight months)
should be the choice of those with no other choice. It goes out
erratically when there are atmospheric disturbances, is harder to
network, and latent delays in transmissions make it slower for small
file exchanges.
I used Verizon DSL for almost five years with about a half dozen
issues over that time . . . so how many times has your TV cable gone out
over that period. I honestly think it is a toss of the dice between
cable and DSL for the vast majority of us. These technologies have
matured and are, largely, very reliable.
But if you really want to compare and get notes on specific
providers, then nothing beats http://www.dslreports.com/.
###############
You asked for public replies about broadband. I wanted to pass on
something we learned by accident. When we moved near the Potomac Avenue
Metro stop (SE Capitol Hill or Capitol East) about two years ago,
Comcast told me that it didn't have cable lines buried beneath the
streets in that area yet. They put me on a list for notification when
they did. When I could stand it no longer and wanted to dump our
dial-up, I was about to sign up for DSL at Atlantech (which has a good
reputation, by the way, and was very reliable for our dial-up) but my
neighbor told me that when he got his cable TV turned back on, Comcast
told him he could get broadband as well. I was surprised by this, went
to Comcast's web site, and plugged in our address. It replied that
broadband was not yet available at that address. But when I called, the
person on the phone said that it was. We've had Comcast cable broadband
for a couple of months now and it's worked out fine — which is what we
wanted, based on reports that cable is often more reliable than DSL —
but I never would have known it was available if I hadn't happened to
have talked to my neighbor. I wouldn't be surprised if Comcast's web
site still said that cable was not available for my address. So be sure
to call Comcast rather than rely on their web site.
###############
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