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August 11, 2004

Elections

Elections in themail, August 11, 2004

Dear Electors:

West of the Anacostia, we’re having a dull set of elections this year. In Wards 2 and 4, nobody is running against incumbent councilmembers Jack Evans and Adrian Fenty. Not only do they have no competition in their Democratic primaries, but also no Republican or Statehood-Green candidate has even entered their parties’ primaries. It’s possible that at-large councilmembers Harold Brazil and Carol Schwartz will have real competition in their party primaries, but so far neither appears to be very worried. It’s only in Wards 7 and 8 that something unexpected, by which I mean the defeat or even the close call of an incumbent, could happen. And nobody in any race, neither incumber nor challenger, has put out any interesting, inspiring, or even intriguing campaign literature; there’s a dearth of any political literature at all. We’re a city with plenty of problems and plenty of room for politicians’ plans and promises. Why aren’t more ambitious potential public servants vying for our favor this year? Are am I overlooking somebody?

DCWatch’s coverage of the candidates, admittedly skimpy so far, is at http://www.dcwatch.com/election2004. Click on the candidate’s name for any literature we have on the DCWatch web site, and follow the links to candidates’ own web sites. Let us know if you have any additional information on any of the candidates and, as always during election seasons, write to themail about your favorite and least favorites candidates -- persuade your fellow voters to vote the right way.

Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com

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Real Property Tax Relief — Bogus Analysis in Washington Post
Matt Forman, Matthew.Forman2@verizon.net

A week ago Saturday, the Washington Post reported the results of a purported analysis conducted by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) concerning the effects of the 12 percent cap on annual real property tax increases enacted this year by the City Council. The DCFPI study claims that the residents of certain wards collectively received more dollar benefits than those in other wards. Hmmm. Maybe because some wards have more homeowners than other wards? Indeed, from my own analysis of the tax rolls, Ward 3 has around 13,000 homeowners, while Ward 8 has only around 2,700. So it's no wonder Ward 3 got more dollar benefits — there are simply more taxpayers there! Perhaps the Post should have used the following headline: “Study reveals that five people get five times as much benefit as one person. That's not news. It's multiplication.

OK. So I've exaggerated a little. Even when calculated on a per resident basis, that the relief per household was higher in some wards compared to others, both in terms of absolute dollars saved per household (still a deceptive measure because of varying home values) as well as the percent of tax bill saved per household (a more informative comparison). There are two obvious explanations for this differential. First, the wards receiving the least benefit simply pay the least in taxes. Ward 8 generates a mere 1 percent of the total residential real property tax revenue generated in the City. So even if the Council eliminated the property tax tomorrow, then Ward 8 would get only 1 percent of it. I suppose DCFPI would consider that to be unfair as well? Second, the whole point of the cap was to provide tax relief to people whose property taxes were outpacing their incomes. So by definition, the relief was only intended to go to the people whose assessments were increasing above 12 percent. As it turns out, assessments were increasing faster in certain wards compared to others. So naturally the wards with the highest increases would get the greatest relief. That was the whole point -- to give the greatest relief to people who needed it the most. But DCFPI (and, as indicated in the Post, Phil Mendelson and Vincent Orange) argued that relief should be instead provided to those whose taxes had not increased at all, and therefore had suffered no hardship. To argue that the homeowners whose taxes were not increasing should get the same relief from those whose were is like arguing that WASA should not replace lead water supply pipes in Ward 1, which has 38 percent of the city's lead pipes, because Ward 7, which has only 8.4 percent, won't get as much benefit.

For a more in-depth analysis of the analytical errors in the DCFPI report, please visit http://www.KaloramaCitizens.org/news.

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Near Mall Experiences
Ralph Blessing, rblessin88@hotmail.com

I'd always thought of it as nothing more than a punch line to jokes about clueless tourists. Then a few days ago, while walking past the Air and Space Museum on 4th Street, I get stopped by a car full of young women from Florida. They wanted to know where the mall was. I told them it was just a half block back, that long stretch of green running between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. No, they said, we're looking for the National Mall, “You know, the one where you can shop.”

Continuing up 4th Street, I crossed Pennsylvania Avenue and strolled through the plaza that separates the Canadian Embassy from the US District Courthouse. There I spotted four young men huddling around the lifelike statue of two businessmen engaged in a game of chess. Though the four were speaking a language other than English that I couldn't make out, it was obvious from their gestures that they were strategizing what moves they would make were play to resume.

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Busting People for Beer in Farragut Square
Amy Hubbard, ahubbarddc@yahoo.com

Last night I watched while three men (presumably DC undercover police) confronted a group of young men with bikes (presumably bicycle messengers) for drinking beer in Farragut Square. They handcuffed two of the young men and took them away. I realized this was happening because one of the policemen stood in the restaurant where I was having dinner and watched the bicycle messengers with binoculars while reporting their actions to someone else via cell phone. I thought at the time there was a drug bust coming down and I was surprised to find out that it was all about drinking beer in the park.

Granted, I don't know the details. Possibly these young men have been a regular public nuisance and the police were only cleaning up the park after repeated complaints. But it certainly looked as if the DC government was expending way more of my tax money than necessary to harass a bunch of bike messengers when there is so much other more serious crime happening in our city. Three undercover policemen? Is that really necessary? And was the point just to stop people from drinking beer in Farragut Square or was it also a way of keeping black working class bike messengers from congregating downtown? I don't frequent Farragut Square and I also know there may be important details of which I'm unaware, but it certainly makes me question Chief Ramsey's and Mayor Williams's priorities.

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I, Robot
Larry Seftor, larry underscore seftor .the757 at zoemail.net

I’ve sometimes wondered if there is a living, breathing, thinking person in control at the front of a Metro train. The recent incident where an operator left a train unattended showed that while she was living and breathing, she wasn’t thinking. When given an order to leave a train full of passengers, she didn’t think to question the order in light of the fact that there was no one to take control of the train as she left. I’m sure that Metro will deal with this issue by talking about training, as if training can deal with every situation that might arise. The fact is that the world is unpredictable and it is impossible to train someone for every conceivable situation. Sometimes thinking is the only answer and, in light of the uncertain world we face, Metro needs to provide staff who can think well enough to meet current and future challenges.

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Still Looking in All the Wrong Places
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aol.com

Just back from a family reunion and wedding and find that the DC School system is still looking for a top school administrator. Like the little match girl was told, “Look where there is light.” The folks hunting for a new school chief are looking in all the wrong places. Instead of getting a worn out and used school administrator from the merry-go-round of rotating school chiefs, try a whole new approach. Look for a proven business leader who is looking for a real challenge and a mid life career change. And I use the word “leader,” not manager, not administrator, because there is a world of difference between management and leadership. In all the seventeen years I have been here in Washington, I can not find a mayor or top school administrator who qualifies as a leader.

By selecting a nonacademic person as a school leader one will find a whole new approach to running the school system. A good leader will be more able to break through the traditional bureaucracies and form functional teams within the schools. It's time for DC to think outside the box (or is that a coffin I se downtown).

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Norton Comments About Our Neighborhood
Richard Layman, rlaymandc@yahoo.com

[Re: Where Is 14th and F, NE?, themail, August 8] I had a conversation with someone before this tragic incident, and in my opinion their attitude was that everyone who lives north of H Street is extremely poor, on welfare, and is a food stamp recipient. I was at a workshop last fall about charter schools, and a woman was describing the neighborhood around the Soldiers Home as extremely bad, and I bristled. It turned out she was from Gaithersburg. It's common for people unfamiliar with areas to be uncomfortable in them, but this is ridiculous, and no less out of touch than Delegate Norton's comments.

Yes, frankly, I am uncomfortable in many areas in the neighborhood due to rampant trash, vacant properties, habitual public drunkenness, large numbers of people hanging on the street, drug selling, etc., but that doesn't prevent me from going about my business, exploring, or picking up trash, anywhere in the neighborhood, at all times of the day and night. What happened to Myesha Lowe is a tragedy. And it is another indicator that we have a serious problem in the entire city about certain segments of the youth population, the availability of guns, and the eager willingness to use guns to “solve” disputes."

I will say that another problem is the Washington Post. I don't normally criticize the Post, because it is a high quality newspaper, but I don't think it covers DC neighborhoods very well. In the work that I do, I read other newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch on an almost daily basis. These newspapers run many more positive stories about changes in neighborhoods in their equivalent of the “Metro” section (which for the Post I joke that it should be retitled “Bad Things”). I am not saying that these papers do not report about murders and other crimes. They do. But they, particularly the Baltimore Sun and the Philadelphia Inquirer, run many more stories about community revitalization activities on a almost daily basis. The Inquirer even runs a localized editorial page on page 2 of their local news section (Monday-Friday) so that the Philadelphia local news section has its own “commentary page” different from the one for South Jersey, the Philly suburbs, or outstate Pennsylvania. This gives the community additional opportunity to comment on matters important to them. If people not from particular neighborhoods only hear, see, or read from the media negative stories about our neighborhood, and since the only "news" in DC that tends to make the local TV news is crime-related, what else can we expect them to believe but the negative about our neighborhoods and about our city?

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Metro Police Response Should Fit the “Offense”
Elizabeth Buchanan, elizabethabuchanan@yahoo.com

I'm rather surprised at the number of my fellow DC citizens who support the Metro police officers' extreme response to the riders' offense of chewing a payday while entering a metro station. While I won't dispute the fact that this particular customer seemed to be childish and unpleasant, her behavior did not warrant the officer's response.

We should expect law enforcement officers — who are given significant power over other citizens — to use good judgment and common sense. Her overzealous reaction was a waste of her taxpayer-funded time; unduly punished the customer; and denigrated the other, more important priorities that need metro police officers' attention (i.e., serious security threats to a vulnerable public transit system). Put simply, the woman should have received a ticket and been sent on her way.

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Zero Tolerance and Enforcing the Rules
Ed T. Barron, edtb@aoldotcom

After considerable thought about the brouhaha surrounding the Payday candy bar eating incident in the entrance to a Metro station, I have decided that the law enforcement folks were right in issuing a citation. I'm sure there were some unreasonable behavior actions by both the ticketer and the ticketee during the fracas, but the bottom line is that zero tolerance works. Just look at the results in New York City. Under Rudy Guiliani's leadership the city cracked down on turnstile jumpers, arrested the "squeegee men," those who would streak your windshield with a snot filled rag and demand a payment, and gave citations to those who littered the streets.

Zero tolerance worked. New York City is so much cleaner and neater now, the attitudes of those who use public transit are measurably better, and the subways much safer. For some reason there are no posted rules banning eating or drinking on the NY City subways, and folks bring their coffee and rolls aboard as they head to work. There's no litter, though, that is definitely a no-no.

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Doesn’t DC Have Enough to Worry About?
Erica Nash, eyzarblu at aol dot com

Good grief, doesn't DC have enough to worry about without tossing in eating on the Metro and who's not wearing a head set to talk on their cell phone while driving?

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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS

History of Gallaudet, August 18
Debra Truhart, debra.truhart@dc.gov

Wednesday, August 18, 12:00 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW. Lance J. Fischer, coeditor of History of the College for the Deaf, 1857-1907, which was written by Edward Miner Gallaudet. Gallaudet was the founder and president of what is now known as Gallaudet University. The book was published 66 years after Gallaudet’s death. Public contact: 282-0021.

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AARP District Council Candidate Forums, August 18-19, September 8
Grier Mendel, gmendel@aarp.org

On August 18, 19 and September 8, AARP DC is offering the opportunity to compare candidates in three of the District’s most competitive council races — Ward 7, At-Large and Ward 8. The Ward 7 and Ward 8 forums will be moderated by Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes. Bruce DePuyt, host of NewsTalk on NEWSCHANNEL 8, will moderate the At-Large Forum. Candidates will be questioned by a panel including AARP members about key concerns of DC’s older voters: ensuring prescription drug affordability, improving nursing home quality and assisting grandparents raising grandchildren. Audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions as time permits. AARP is nonpartisan and does not have a political action committee (PAC), endorse political candidates or contribute money to political parities or political candidates' campaigns.

District Council Ward 7 Candidate Forum, with candidates Kevin Chavous (D), Donna Daniels (D), Vincent C. Gray (D), Mary Jackson (D), Steven Pettus (D), Michele Tingling-Clemmons (Statehood Green), and Jerod Tolson (R). Wednesday, August 18, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church, 3000 Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

District Council At-Large Candidate Forum, with candidates Harold Brazil (D), Sam Brooks (D), Kwame Brown (D), Don Folden Sr. (R), Robert Pittman (R), and Carol Schwartz (R). Thursday, August 19, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW.

District Council Ward 8 Candidate Forum, with candidates Sandy Allen (D), Marion Barry (D), William O. Lockridge (D), Jacque Patterson (D), Joyce Scott (D), Sandra “SS” Seegars (D), and Cardell Shelton (R). Wednesday, September 8, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Washington Highlands Library, 115 Atlantic Street SW.

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Vincent James Lecture at the National Building Museum, August 24
Brie Hensold, bhensold@nbm.org

Spotlight on Design Lecture: The Minneapolis-based firm Vincent James Associates Architects produces innovative buildings through the synthesis of research and design. Working closely with highly qualified specialists to develop technologically advanced designs, the firm believes that architecture can play an important role in addressing social, cultural, and environmental issues. Principal Vincent James will present the firm's work, which includes the student center at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. The firm is internationally acclaimed and the recipient of four consecutive Progressive Architecture awards for the Minneapolis Rowing Club Boathouse, the Tulane University Center in New Orleans, the Cable Natural History Museum in Wisconsin, and the Longitudinal House(s), which is featured in the exhibition Liquid Stone.

Tuesday, August 24, 6:30-8:00 p.m., at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW (Judiciary Square Metro, Red Line). Tickets: $12 museum members; $17 nonmembers; $10 students. Prepaid registration required. For more information, contact Brie Hensold, Public Affairs Office, 272-2448, x3458, or bhensold@nbm.org.

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CLASSIFIEDS — FREE

National Geographics
Bell Clement, bell@kspinc.com

Does anyone out here in DCWatch-land know of anyone who could make use of seventy years’ worth of the National Geographic magazine? The set is pretty solid from 1930 to around 2000. I am happy to box it up for anyone who wishes to have it and can come and fetch it. (Warning: heavy!) Please reply with any interest.

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