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July 28, 2004

Summer Delights

Dear Delights Yourselves:

Jon Desenberg asks a serious question which deserves a serious answer, but I’m too exhausted to address it tonight. Instead, I’ll just share a funny moment from today’s hearing in the Board of Elections and Ethics. John Ray, the attorney for the proponents of the slots initiative, is questioning Pedro Alfonso, the chairman of the committee proposing the slots casino initiative, and trying to lead him through a series of questions to make the committee appear in the best possible light. But Alfonso is giving long-winded, evasive, and unhelpful answers, and Ray is getting more and more frustrated. Finally, Ray asks him a question this way: “We met the exact same night? Answer yes.” As the audience, the petition challengers, and even the Board members break into laughter, Ron Drake, an attorney opposing Ray, muses, “There’s an objection there somewhere," and then even Ray and Alfonso join in the amusement.

We take our pleasures where we may.

Gary Imhoff

themail@dcwatch.com

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Summer Reading
Anne Heutte, heauttea@earthlink.net

What ever happened to the quaint notion of summer reading? Has it become a fiction? Not for me, although in my case, it has undergone a sea-change. Thanks to the generous perspicacity of a friend, I am listening to the unabridged Ulysses by James Joyce, all twenty-two CDs of it. Not all at once, to be sure. This year is the one hundredth anniversary of the day, June 16, 1904, when Joyce‘s two fictional characters, Stephen Daedalus and Leopold Bloom, took their epic one-day journeys around "dear dirty Dublin." All over the world, even here in DC, people now celebrate June 16 as “Bloomsday.”

The book, a daunting one to be sure, opens up for me as I listen to the narrator take on a myriad of voices, even sing, and my love of spoken language is wholly satisfied. My dream is that some day a local Joyce will do the same for DC. In the meantime, there must be DC readers who have encountered our city in fiction. I am not thinking of the likes of Margaret Truman's detective stories. It would be fun to hear from them.

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Summer Delights
Katie Hodge, khodge@biglizard.net

What have I been enjoying this summer? We got a great dog from the NY Avenue Shelter that is more than we could have hoped for (http://www.washhumane.org). We've been taking him to Congressional Cemetery and meeting our neighbors and getting to know the neighborhood better. I don't know why I hadn't visited before, the cemetery is an interesting place filled with interesting people, as I'm sure many cemeteries around here are (http://www.congressionalcemetery.org). They have a third Saturday morning volunteer project and through the next several months the work is restoring tombstones. This weekend, I went on the DC Preservation League’s endangered historical site tour, an event I learned about from this week, and it was quite a pleasure.

I tried a month or so ago, to follow the signage for the “interim Anacostia Trail.” I picked up the signs at about 13th, and I went in a long weaving fashion down to the 11th Street Bridge, by the Navy Yard, and then was surprised to find myself pointed back to where I came! That was confusing. Near as I could determine the Anacostia Trail takes you on a tour of public housing on the southern edges of Capitol Hill. I suspect that is not really the intent. Has anyone else tried to follow these signs? Or know where the trail actually is and what it is like?

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Metrorail Diary, July 28
Matt Forman, Matthew.Forman2@verizon.net

This morning I awoke to learn on the TV news that the red line was delayed due to flooding of the Silver Spring station. Of course, the flooding goes with the territory of the “unanticipated” events that Metro hasn't thought of. They didn't “anticipate” the snow or hurricanes that ground the system to a halt last year. They didn't anticipate that someone might drive their car through an unreinforced fence at the end of dead-end street, leading directly onto the tracks. They didn't anticipate that if they built escalators exposed to the outdoors, that rain might cause them to break down. Most recently, they didn't anticipate that if they required everyone to use a SmarTrip card at Metro parking lots, that they should order a whole lot more cards from the supplier.

So given the unanticipated rainstorm last night, the Red Line was delayed this morning, at least according the news. The Metrorail E-alert system, which is supposed to send me an E-mail of any disruptions in service, didn't do so. So I had to rely on the news, which provided little useful information, as usual, due to Metro's extremely poor communications department. Were the delays only around the Silver Spring station, as the news implied, or, more likely, was the whole line delayed? Not wanting to take any chances, I decided to take the bus to get to the Orange/Blue line. As usual, two buses arrived exactly together, instead of spaced out as they should be. But I was too far away to catch them, so I waited for another. I got on the bus to find many of the seats filled with water. I guess Metro didn't anticipate that it might rain, and that they should design buses with windows that don't let in the water. But I found a dry seat — and let me tell you, Metro didn't anticipate the size of the average adult rider, as small as the seats are. The bus took me to Farragut West to get the Orange/Blue line. Upon arrival, I found everyone exiting the station , because it was closed due to a fire inside. So I walked over to Farragut North, taking my chances on the Red line, which took me to my final destination, L'Enfant Plaza, where they apparently can't be bothered to get the air conditioning to work.

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Thanks Gary and Dorothy, But Why Bother?
Jon Desenberg, JonDes@hotmail.com

Dorothy and Gary, thanks for working so hard to keep slots out of DC where it really doesn't belong. But one question, why bother when Congress would never let it happen anyway? Perhaps you just want to keep the democratic process clean of fraud and abuse? I'm curious. Perhaps you can explain it to us.

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Bike Parking on the National Mall
David Sobelsohn, dsobelso -at- capaccess dot org

Apparently the federal takeover of National Mall parking has extended to bicycle parking. Last weekend, on my way to the National Gallery of Art (East Building), I was parking my bike at my usual parking spot, one of the sign poles on the north side of Madison just east of 4th Street, NW. This particular sign pole is on the curb, on the other side of the sidewalk from (but the same side of the street as) the National Gallery (East Building) lawn. DC law permits bicycle parking at any curbside sign pole except one marking a bus stop (which this does not). Nevertheless, as I was locking up my bike, one of the National Gallery security personnel shouted to me “You can't park your bike there!” He insisted I park my bike across 4th Street at the West Building (the East Building has no bike rack). I found a more convenient spot out of his sight. My bicycle was left undisturbed there. The friend I was meeting followed orders and parked her scooter at the crowded West Building bike rack. A new scooter, it ended up badly scratched by all the other bikes and scooters parked there.

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Ag Parking on the National Mall
Gabe Goldberg, gabe@gabegold.com

Michael Bindner [themail, July 25] misinterpreted my question about National Mall parking thusly: “. . . opined that Department of Agriculture employees are somehow below him in regards to parking near their offices. . . . DC is designed as a federal city where federal employees actually work and live. Don't mess with the core functions.” Sorry, the street I mentioned was changed from being fully available to tourists to 24-hour permit-only parking. What new “core function” requires evening and weekend fully reserved parking? In any case, are you seriously arguing that convenience to visitors and tourists — on the National Mall — is not a core function? That's a mixed-use area and it's unreasonable for the Feds to keep grabbing more parking just because they can.

Paul Wilson said [themail, July 25], ”I will agree with Mr. Goldberg that a land grab of sorts ensued after 9/11, in which various agencies and the Congress closed streets altogether or instituted parking permits in the name of security.” Certainly true, but given that there are no restrictions on traffic driving along Jefferson Drive (where 24-hour permit parking was instituted) claiming or theorizing that the parking regs were changed to enhance security doesn't pass the laugh test. Bogus security (“security theater,” it's been correctly called) is bad enough, but claiming that the street is safer because only employees can park there while anyone — in any vehicle — can drive there is ridiculous.

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Re: Got Milk
Mark Sutton, msutton@phoenix.seabrook.usra.edu

"Isn't it weird that we drink milk, stuff designed to nourish baby cows? How did that happen? Did some cattleman once say, "Oh, man, I can't wait till them calves are done so I can get me a hit of that stuff." (Attributed to Jerry Seinfeld)

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

DC Public Library Events
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

Monday, August 2, 10:30 a.m., Chevy Chase Neighborhood Library, 5625 Connecticut Avenue, NW. Storyteller Arianna Ross weaves tales she has gathered from countries around the world. Her performance blends the power of movement, music and the performing arts to engage the audience in stories that both educate and heal. Her stories from countries as different as Egypt and Ireland or Indonesia and Spain impart the lessons of life. Ages 7-12. Public contact: 282-0021.

Diane "Silky Smooth" Macklin imparts motivating tales of how individuals and communities unite to resolve conflicts. Her dramatic storytelling will help children understand how people have struggled for freedom. Ages 8 to 14. Public contact: 282-3090. Schedule:

Monday, August 2, 10:30 a.m., at Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library, 4450 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Monday, August 2, 1:30 p.m., Palisades Neighborhood Library, 4901 V Street, NW
Tuesday, August 3, 10:30 a.m., Francis A. Gregory Neighborhood Library, 3660 Alabama Ave., SE
Tuesday, August 3, 1:30 p.m., Anacostia Neighborhood Library, 1800 Good Hope Road, SE
Wednesday, August 4, 10:30 a.m., at Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library, 5001 Central Avenue, SE
Wednesday, August 4, 1:30 p.m., Woodridge Neighborhood Library, 1801 Hamlin Street, NE
Thursday, August 5, 10:30 a.m., Petworth Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Ave, NW
Thursday, August 5, 1:30 p.m., Juanita E. Thornton/Shepherd Park Neighborhood Library, 7420 Georgia Ave, NW
riday, August 6, 10:30 a.m., Takoma Park Neighborhood Library, 416 Cedar Street, NW
Friday, August 6, 1:30 p.m., Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library, 3160 16th Street, NW
Wednesday, August 11, 10:30 a.m., Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Wednesday, August 11, 1:30 p.m., Georgetown Neighborhood Library, 3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW

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CLASSIFIEDS — RECOMMENDATIONS

Contractor
Clyde E. Howard, Jr., ceohoward@hotmail.com

Contractor needed for painting interior wall, wall papering, wall preparation and awning repairs. Contact ceohoward@hotmail.com or call 462-6885

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